Troy Denning - The Sentinel

Before pushing through the crowd, Kleef paused and turned to Joelle. “Will the captain know you?”

Joelle nodded. “By sight,” she said, “as I will him. But how can you be sure this is the right ship? I haven’t even told you what it’s called.”

Kleef looked around the wharf, confirming that this was the only vessel not yet taking on passengers. “It’s the one.” He motioned Jang and Carlton forward, gesturing for them to clear the way. “We’ll need to board quickly, if we don’t want half the city coming with us.”

Jang led the way into the crowd, bellowing orders to make way for the Watch and shoving aside those who were too slow to obey. But even with more than a dozen armed men helping him, the mob seemed to sense that someone was about to board the vessel and quickly began to push back. Finally, Kleef unsheathed Watcher and brandished the blade above their heads.

“Stand aside now !”

All eyes turned toward Kleef. A hush fell over the area, but the crowd seemed more transfixed than intimidated by the sight of his drawn sword, and no one moved.

Then Elbertina stepped to his side. “I suggest you do as he commands,” she said, speaking in a soft voice. She still carried her weapons, and had slung a leather rucksack she had fetched from the grand duke’s mansion over one shoulder. “This company is on a mission for the Crown, and anyone standing in its way will pay a heavy price.”

A murmur of discontent rolled through the crowd, but it reluctantly opened a path. Kleef led the way forward and soon found himself staring down at the deck of a small ketch. The vessel was manned by only a short, dark-skinned captain with a close-cropped beard and a sharp nose.

Kleef stepped to the edge of the deck and looked down at the gnome, who was standing amidships behind a chest-height deckhouse, resting a peculiar six-armed crossbow on its roof. With six quarrels arranged in vertical firing slots, and six strings tensioned behind them, it was an odd contraption-but one that looked dangerous enough to hold an angry crowd at bay.

When the gnome saw who had stepped to the edge of the wharf, he pivoted the weapon, aiming at Kleef’s chest.

“I’ve done nothing that’s any concern of yours, Kenric,” he said. “Go and bother someone who deserves the trouble.”

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.”