"What business do you have with Vurgrom?" the bartender asked.
"Personal," Jherek said.
The bartender looked over the young sailor's shoulder. "Him too?"
Without glancing back, Jherek knew the man was talking about Glawinn. The knight stood out in the dark den of the tavern. When he'd first entered, sailors standing close to the paladin had drawn back and found other tables and places to stand.
"Aye," Jherek answered.
The bartender shook his head. "Don't know no Vurgrom."
Jherek looked the man in the face, hard, knowing it was a lie. "We were told he'd be here."
"By who?"
Jherek ignored the question. The old sailor who'd given them the information had no love for the pirate leader. "We were told Vurgrom arrived here three days ago."
According to the old sailor, the pirate captain had taken a ship in from the River Tun, sailing in from the Storm Horn Mountains while Jherek and his companions had been forced to cross the distance overland.
"Somebody told you wrong," the bartender said.
Anger flared through Jherek. The journey had been hard and made even harder by the tension that seemed to exist between Sabyna and him. Glawinn had noticed it, the young sailor had been sure, but had refrained from making comment.
The only times he'd really felt relaxed during the journey had been when he and the knight had practiced swordcraft. The young sailor had gotten sore from the daily exertion at first, but had quickly come up to speed, surprising the knight with his skill. Still, there were skills and tricks that Glawinn had taught him and continued to teach him.
"Malorrie."
Jherek heard Sabyna's voice at his side, then felt her touch upon his arm. "Aye, lady," he said, turning to her because he didn't want to be disrespectful.
"Leave it."
The young sailor thought briefly of arguing. Returning the pearl disk was his task to accomplish, and no matter how she felt about helping him because of what he'd done for her, she obviously didn't feel as strongly about it as he did. He knew the pirate was inside the tavern.
"Please," the ship's mage said in a soft voice. Her copper-colored eyes held his.
Jherek let out a deep breath. "Aye. I'm done here, anyway."
"You going to be drinking anything?" the bartender asked.
"Not if I wiped those glasses myself," Jherek told him, venting a little of the hostility he felt.
"Then you need to clear out of my tavern," the man told him. "I got a rule about people coming in to take up tables and not spending any coin."
"Do you have any rules about the clientele you serve?" Jherek asked. "I definitely see no scruples." He was aware that his words drew the attention of a dozen men around the front of the bar.
The sailors shifted in their chairs, taking offense. Jherek didn't feel badly because he knew no honest sailor would patronize the Bent Mermaid, but he was afraid for a moment he'd overstepped his bounds and endangered Sabyna recklessly.
Glawinn strode forward and glared harshly at the men. The paladin carried his shiny helm in the crook of his arm, but his hand rested casually on the hilt of bis broadsword. "I'd not," he said in a low, steady voice.
For a moment, the group of sailors held his gaze, then they turned away and hunkered back over their drinks.
"I only got one rule," the bartender said, deliberately looking Jherek from head to toe, making the young sailor aware of his shoddy appearance. "I don't serve vagrants."
The men who'd backed down from Glawinn laughed contemptuously, slapping the table. Jherek's face flamed in embarrassment. Glawinn had offered clothing, but none of the knight's fit the young sailor's bigger frame. Jherek wished he had something clever to say, a cutting remark that heroes in the romances always seemed to have at the tips of their tongues, but he didn't.
Sabyna tugged on his arm and he went, suddenly aware how she looked leading him away. Gently, he tried to disengage himself but she kept her grip fast. Glawinn covered their backs as she led them from the tavern. She didn't stop until they were half a block away, standing at one of the railings overlooking the docks and cattle yards below.
"The man back there was lying," Jherek said.
"Aye," Sabyna answered. The wind blew her jaw-length copper tresses around her face. She had her arms crossed, standing an arm's length away from him to create distance even though they were close. "And what were you going to do? Beat it out of him with a whole room full of men watching on?"
Feeling himself willing to visit some of his anger on her, Jherek got control of himself. "Lady," he said softly, "I apologize for my behavior. You deserve my thanks. You probably saved me from making a serious mistake."
"Yes," Glawinn agreed, "she did."
Jherek looked back at the Bent Mermaid, feeling angry at the obscene sign that hung so large and proudly over the door.
"Vurgrom is inside," Sabyna asked. "He has ten men with him. They're waiting on his ship, Maelstrom, to arrive."
"How do you know that?"
The ship's mage smiled. "I asked one of the serving girls. If you want to know something, ask someone who has the most reason to tell it. The bartender's major profits are made from the pirates, but most of the girls despise Vurgrom and his ilk. None of the women work there very long. If you've been around taverns like the Bent Mermaid, you know that,"
"Aye," Jherek said, feeling chagrined. He hadn't been around taverns much, not good ones or bad ones, and not even the ones in Velen more than enough to be marginally social with Butterfly's crew. "I hadn't thought of that."
"It doesn't make it any easier," Sabyna said. "Vurgrom's on the third floor and I was told he has it sealed off. He's conducting some kind of business there."
"What business?" Glawinn asked.
"The girl I talked to didn't know."
Jherek studied the building, feeling the anger hi him dissipate as he recognized the new course of action open to him. "The building next to the tavern is as tall," he pointed out.
"You're thinking of crossing over to get Vurgrom now?" Sabyna asked.
"Aye," Jherek answered and saw Glawinn smile.
"Do it," he said.
Glawinn prayed to Lathander, gesturing Jherek to bend his head as well, then inscribed designs in the air. When the paladin finished, Jherek felt as though he'd suddenly gone deaf.
He looked up and tried to speak but no words came out.
The paladin shook his head and drew a hand across his throat, letting the young sailor know verbal communication was no longer possible. The spell even took away all the sounds coming from the docks, the pinging of rigging against masts, shouted commands, and the slap of the surf against the shore and pilings. Glawinn waved toward the other building.
Gathering himself, Jherek leaped across the distance from the flophouse roof to the Bent Mermaid next door. When his feet hit, there was no sound at all. He turned and watched as the paladin, then the ship's mage jumped across the distance as well. The roof trembled beneath his feet, but there was no noise.
He hunkered down and went around the roof to the harbor side. Clinging to the roof's edge, forty feet above where the ocean smashed up against the side of the Bent Mermaid, he lowered himself and peered through the windows along the wall.
A dozen men sat around tables inside the large room that ran the length of the building's harbor side. Pitchers of ale sat on tables burdened with platters of food. Jherek recognized Vurgrom at one end of the center table.