Kleef rested Watcher’s tip on the edge of the wharf. “Falrinn, didn’t I tell you what would happen if you ever showed your face in Marsember again?”
“Try that, and I’ll ventilate your chest armor,” Falrinn Greatorm warned. “Besides, I’m not in Marsember. I haven’t set foot off the Lonely Roamer.”
Joelle stepped to Kleef’s side and looked down at the gnome. “Captain Greatorm, I presume?”
Greatorm’s face lit briefly in surprise, then he scowled in Kleef’s direction. “Has this windbag been bothering you, Heartwarder?” he asked. “Say the word, and it never happens again.”
“That’s a very sweet offer,” Joelle said, smiling. “But no. We’re going to need him.”
The gnome glared at her out of one eye. “Why would we need the likes of him?” he demanded. “I have plenty of ballast.” Joelle chuckled. “They told me you were quite the wit.” She sprang across ten feet of open water and landed atop the Roamer’s deck as light as a bird. The gnome scowled at her audacity in boarding his ship without permission, but before he could object, she stepped to his side and placed a hand on the crossbow.
“Kleef is very good with a sword,” Joelle continued. “You’ll be glad to have him along when the Shadovar find us.”
As soon as Joelle mentioned the Shadovar, the crowd began to murmur and back away from the Roamer-and the aggravation in Greatorm’s face changed to reluctance.
“Shadovar?” The gnome shook his head. “No one said anything about shadowalkers when I took this job.”
“Then we’ll renegotiate,” said Elbertina. She pulled a small purse from her rucksack and tossed it onto the Roamer’s deck. “That will be enough.”
“And remember that this is Starmouth Harbor.” Kleef brandished his sword. “And that I have good enough reason to seize your boat.”
Greatorm’s expression grew hard. He glowered over at Joelle for a moment, then finally turned to the purse on the deck.
“That silver in there?” he asked. “Or gold?”
Elbertina closed her rucksack, then flashed him a condescending smile. “It’s platinum.”
Greatorm’s face lit with delight. “In that case, welcome aboard,” he said. “But I can only take eight of you. This isn’t the Queen Filfaeril, you know.”
“Eight is madness!” Malik objected. “The Shadovar have many times that number!”
“Aye, and I was hired to dodge trouble, not look for it,” Greatorm said. “Eight is all I can carry. We take any more, and those Shadovar you’re worried about will run us down before we leave the harbor.”
“Then eight will have to be enough,” Elbertina said.
She gathered herself up and leaped down onto the deck. Though her landing was a bit heavier and less graceful than Joelle’s, she managed to keep her feet and avoid smashing the lyre tucked beneath the flap of her rucksack. Still, Kleef did not jump down behind her. Greatorm was the kind of stubborn smuggler who always thought ahead and never gave up. Kleef actually liked that about him, but he suspected the gnome was just trying to limit the odds he would face when the time came to double-cross them.
Kleef turned to his troop and summoned Rathul, who had spent three decades in the Cormyrean navy before a third ship-sinking finally convinced him to seek a livelihood ashore.
“What do you think?” he asked. “How many can Falrinn take in this boat?”
Rathul studied the ketch for a moment, his rheumy eyes taking it in from bow to stern, then finally shrugged. “I’d say twenty or twenty-five, as long as the day is clear and you don’t leave harbor.” As he spoke, his gaze grew unsteady and his hands began to tremble. “But to go to sea, you need provisions and you need to be ready for heavy weather. I would have said fifteen or so, but you’d better take the captain at his word. He knows his own vessel.”
Kleef glanced at Rathul’s trembling hands. “Don’t worry, Rathul,” he said. “You won’t be coming with us.”
Rathul scowled. “Why not?” he asked. “I have more experience at sea than any man here.”
“You’re volunteering?” Kleef asked, surprised.
Rathul looked confused for a moment, then finally nodded. “I guess so,” he said. “The Shadovar catch you out there, you’re going to need someone who knows how to sink a ship.”
“True enough, but …” Kleef made a point of looking at Rathul’s hands. “Are you sure about this?”
Rathul glanced down, then smiled. “This?” he asked, raising his hands. “Don’t you worry. They’ll be steady enough, once they’re holding a boarding axe.”
“Then, good,” Kleef said. “Thank you.”
He turned to select the rest of the crew and was surprised to find not only Jang but his entire troop stepping forward. And standing next to them were Carlton and his men-at-arms.
Kleef didn’t know what to make of so much unexpected bravery. “Look, coming along won’t be any better than staying here to defend Marsember. In fact, it’ll probably get you killed. The Shadovar are still looking for our friends.”
“Which means you’ll need help protecting them,” Tanner said. He hesitated, clearly as surprised as Kleef by his words, then shrugged. “You deserve better than we’ve given you, Topsword. You’ve been fair, even when we didn’t respect you the way you’d earned. Maybe we just figure we owe it to you to do our duty for once.”
“That’s right,” said Ardul. “I’ll go, too.”
“Well, the boat won’t hold all of us,” Carlton said, stepping to Kleef’s side. “Even I can see that.”
Kleef nodded and turned back to the Roamer, which Greatorm was slowly drawing toward the wharf by means of a windlass connected to both of the ship’s mooring lines. Joelle was standing well forward, ready to grab a boarding ladder fixed to the wharf, while Elbertina was standing behind the gnome, ready to draw her sword if he tried anything shifty. Kleef liked her instincts.
He shifted his attention to the gnome. “How many of us can you take?” he asked. “Truly?”
Greatorm barely looked up. “Eight.”
“Twenty,” Kleef countered.
Greatorm’s head rose, an expression of true fear on his face. “No more than twelve,” he said. “And if the seas turn heavy, you’ll be dumping your armor.”
Kleef looked to Rathul, who gave a curt nod. “At sea, armor is a mixed blessing anyway.”
Kleef turned back to Greatorm. “Done.”
Greatorm let out his breath. Then Carlton picked three of his own men-at-arms to accompany them, and Kleef distributed the merchant’s bribe among the surviving members of his troop. Ten minutes later the Roamer was pushing away from the wharf.
The gnome ducked into a compartment beneath the windlass, then a muffled clunk sounded below decks. The windlass began to rise, drawing beneath it a trio of tall, slender sails mounted around a vertical axis. When the sails reached a height of six feet, another thump sounded, and Greatorm reappeared. He removed a locking pin from the base of the structure, and two of the small sails immediately caught the wind and began to spin. The Roamer began to move forward as though propelled by invisible oars and soon fell into the long line of ships departing Starmouth Harbor.
Kleef took a moment to assign watch zones and order his men and Carlton’s to remain hidden behind the ketch’s bulwarks. Then he stepped to Jang’s side and spoke in a quiet voice.
“All this volunteering doesn’t feel right,” he said, nodding to Tanner and the others. “What are they up to?”
Jang shrugged, then answered just as quietly. “It must be the platinum.” He glanced aft, to where Elbertina and Malik stood near the strange windmill. “I think they smell treasure on the minstrel.”
“Could be,” Kleef agreed. “If anyone gets too interested in that rucksack of hers, discourage him.”
“I will,” Jang said. He glanced down at Kleef’s bloodied limbs. “How are your wounds?”