James Wyatt - In the Claws of the Tiger

But if she was no longer working with Krael, then why was she doing any of this? If she didn’t work for the Emerald Claw any more, who did she work for? Why would she be trying to free an imprisoned fiend, if not on Emerald Claw orders? Could Dania be right-that Maija had become irredeemably evil?

“No!” Janik shouted aloud, drawing some alarmed stares from passersby on the street. Scowling, he lowered his head and kept his eyes on the cobblestone street, quickening his pace toward the inn. He gritted his teeth. He simply could not accept that he would never have Maija back, that she was forever lost to him.

He reached the inn, stumbled up to his room, and collapsed in his bed.

Dawn’s light and a gnawing hunger woke Janik early, and he looked blearily around his room. He jumped to his feet when he realized that the contents of his pack were strewn across the floor near the door. He couldn’t be absolutely certain, but he was fairly sure that they had been neatly in place when he returned to his room the night before.

“Damn you, Krael,” he muttered as he knelt on the floor. Without touching anything, he took inventory of the items-the pack was empty, but nothing seemed to be missing. Then he noticed that several items lay right in front of the door, which opened inward. The door could not have opened since the gear was spread over the floor. That meant two things. First, someone had definitely been in the room while Janik was sleeping. Second, that someone had not left by way of the door. Janik drew his sword and thoroughly searched the room. It was small, and there was no place to hide. The window was directly over the bed, which meant that someone using it to leave the room would have had to step right over Janik as he slept. He was a fairly heavy sleeper, but he was confident that would have awakened him.

“Now you’re just showing off,” he said. Shaking his head, he stowed his gear back into his pack.

“Turned to mist,” Dania said. They were walking to the dock-Janik hoped they could encourage Breddan to set sail early, staying ahead of Krael. “Gered told me that vampires can turn to mist, and I saw Havoc do it in Atur.”

“That’s probably it,” Mathas said. “He could have turned to mist outside your door-or anywhere, really-and slipped through the crack under the door. Then he returned to solid form inside your room, spread out your belongings to let you know he had been there, and left the same way.”

“He’s just trying to scare you,” Dania added.

“Well, it damn well worked!” Janik said. “There was a vampire in my room while I slept last night! I made sure to check for bite marks when I got dressed this morning.”

“Did you find any?” Auftane asked. He looked genuinely worried.

“No, I did not. And the point is, he could have done anything he wanted.”

“That’s exactly the point he was trying to make,” Mathas said. “He wants you to think he’s in control, that he’s the one with the power.”

“He’s driving home the point that I walked away from our little encounter last night, not him,” Janik said. “Rubbing his victory in my face.”

“That wasn’t a victory, Janik,” Dania said. “And walking away from a confrontation in the street is not a defeat. We have more important work than brawling with Krael, Janik. Don’t let him intimidate you.”

“I’m not worried about him intimidating me. I’m worried about him drinking my blood while I sleep! But he can’t do that while we’re sailing across the Phoenix Basin … can he?”

“No,” Mathas said, “he won’t be able to move as fast as the ship travels. Unless he’s stowed away on the ship.”

“Or Breddan’s ship is more of a wreck than you let on,” Auftane said, drawing laughter from everyone.

“Janik, if he had wanted to kill you, or drink your blood, he would have done it last night,” Dania said.

“Maybe he got in there and realized he wasn’t hungry,” Janik said. “It doesn’t matter. I just want to leave town as quickly as we can, whether Krael has any designs on my blood or not. The fact that he’s here means he has caught up to us. We need to stay a step ahead of him, so we need to leave now. And,” he added, pointing at Mathas, “we need to make sure he isn’t stowed away on the ship. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m going to inspect the ship’s stores crate by crate before we weigh anchor. If you would help me, I’d appreciate it-I’m not sure I’d recognize a vampire who had turned to mist.”

“He would have a hard time concealing his presence from me,” Dania said. “The stink of his evil is as strong as Maija’s. I’ll help you look.”

“Thank you. Oh, look at this.” They reached the docks, and Janik was leading them toward Breddan’s berth. But he pointed now at a different ship- Hope’s Endeavor . “It’s Nashan’s ship-the one Krael stole out from under us. Let’s have a word with Captain Nashan, shall we?”

“A word,” Dania said firmly. “There’s no need to hurt him.”

“You don’t think so?” Janik said, but he smiled. “Don’t worry, Dania. I am capable of restraining my temper. We’ll just have a civil conversation.” He stepped onto the gangplank leading up to the ship’s main deck. “Ho there, Hope’s Endeavor!” he called. “Permission to come aboard!”

No one moved on the deck or in the rigging. Janik looked at his friends, then walked up the gangplank to the deck. “Anyone here?” The ship creaked and water lapped at its sides, but no one answered Janik’s call.

“They must have all gone ashore,” Auftane said, making his way slowly up the gangplank.

“And left the ship unguarded?” Dania replied. “Unlikely. I’d say something is definitely wrong.”

Janik moved to the forward cabin and pushed the door open. “Sea of Fire! Nashan!” Ducking his head, he rushed into the dark cabin.

Shutters were closed over all the portholes, and the cabin smelled of illness and death. The ship’s captain lay on the floor, his legs and arms spread-eagled, blank white eyes staring up at the ceiling. Janik kneeled beside him, and Nashan took a long, painfully slow, rasping breath.

“Should’ve … waited … for you,” he wheezed. His skin was chalk-white, and as Janik looked him over he quickly noticed the angry red wound at his neck. The skin was puckered and the twin punctures were white inside.

“He bribed you to take him instead, then killed you instead of paying you,” Janik said quietly. “Nashan, you were the spawn of a sea devil, but you didn’t deserve this.”

A flicker of a smile passed over Nashan’s face, but he said no more.

Dania appeared in the doorway, casting a long shadow into the room. “There’s no sign of the crew,” she said. “Nashan is dead?”

Janik nodded, pushing the captain’s eyelids closed. “Send Auftane to tell the wharf guard, will you?” he said. “I want to look through Nashan’s log before they get here.” Dania stepped away from the door and Janik stood up. He opened all the shutters to let in the daylight, then began rustling through the parchments scattered across the desk and floor.

When Dania returned a quarter hour later, she found him sitting beside Nashan’s body, a neat stack of parchments beside him and the leather-bound captain’s log open in his lap, showing two blank pages. He was staring vaguely toward a porthole.

“Janik?” she said.

“He fed on Nashan every day for the month it took them to get here,” Janik said, still staring toward the porthole. “His lackeys killed off the sailors one by one. Apparently the Emerald Claw agents with him could sail the ship by themselves, at least well enough to get them here once they were through Shargon’s Teeth. Nashan was the last one alive, the only one to see port. And Krael left him in no shape to get off the ship.” He shook his head. “And for no reason. He writes that they just seemed to enjoy killing people-the warforged most of all. Nashan seemed unsure whether to be more afraid of Krael or Sever. But he was powerless-he wrote that whenever Krael looked at him, he just went limp.”