Mel Odom - The Lost Library of Cormanthyr

Cordyan swapped looks with Calebaan. She looked back at the old sailor. "What was the message?"

"That the person you're looking for is aboard Windchaser."

"A ship?"

"Aye, lady, and a bad one at that. She's under the command of Uziraff Fireblade. And a worse pirate there's never been."

"Where might I find this ship?" Cordyan asked. She felt some constriction at the back of her throat. Why had Baylee turned to someone like Uziraff Fireblade?

"Windchaser's already left," the sailor answered.

"Where?"

"Sailing north," the man answered. "I talked to some of her crew before she left as the old warrior suggested, helping them load the supplies for a few silver pieces. They talked of going to Mintarn."

"What's in Mintarn?"

"Lady, I could not say."

"Thank you." Cordyan reached into her purse for a few coins.

Floon held up his hands. "I could not. The old warrior, he more than adequately paid me for my time."

"You would know Windchaser, though, wouldn't you?"

The man nodded.

"And you're familiar with the sea in this area, and Mintarn?"

"Aye, lady."

"Then perhaps I could hire you to guide us. Our captain is not overly familiar with these waters."

The man smiled and nodded. "It's been many a day since I was out for a real sail, lady. I'd appreciate the opportunity to be of service."

"Then you're hired, Floon." Cordyan turned to her sergeant. "Hammal."

The sergeant turned to face her.

"Get the supplies loaded quickly. We need to cast off again at once."

The man gave her a crisp salute. Then he turned and started shouting orders to the other members of the watch.

"How long ago did Windchaser leave?" Cordyan asked.

"She set sail three hours ago, lady."

"Have we a chance of catching her?"

The man hesitated, then shook his head. "She's a cog, lady, much like your own. But Uziraff has her set up to sail in these islands. She is as fleet as they come."

Then we'll do the best we can. I'll have you taken to the captain. Tell him I want you to take a look over the provisions. If there is anything we need to purchase that we don't have, let him know to buy it." She called for a nearby guard and sent the old sailor off with the man. She turned to Calebaan, who was regarding the sea with amusement. "Why would Cthulad tip us off as to where they were going and who they were going with?"

"There is the possibility he lied," Calebaan pointed out. "Do you think that's probable? You spent more time with him than I did."

"No. I said that in jest. With Ciwa Cthulad's real name being used, you know the message was given by him. And he is not a man prone to lying to escape trouble."

"He might, if he thought we were offering him or Baylee any harm, yet did not want to harm us either."

Calebaan regarded her. "You've been given too much time to think. What do your instincts tell you?"

Cordyan took a deep breath and let it out. "Only that Cthulad realized Baylee was getting them in over their heads and he guessed that we might be following."

"So he's using what he has available to manage the situation as best as he can." Calebaan nodded. "Now that sounds more like the man I talked with."

"Then let us hope this three hour lead Windchaser has doesn't get us there too late to help them," Cordyan said.

"The pictograph came up in a lizard man's net," Uziraff Fire-blade yelled over the whip and crack of the sailcloth. "He didn't understand what he'd found, but he took it to a man I do business with in Mintarn. The lizard man got a couple gold pieces and was very happy. The man I do business with got a hundred gold for his time, and considered himself fortunate. I, on the other hand, got a few thousand from Golsway. And now I'm starting to think I was made a fool of too."

Baylee stared down into the murky green depths, ignoring Uziraff s complaints, thinking about the long dive that awaited him. Dusk was already starting to drink down the sun. It would be full dark by the time he dropped into the ocean. But that didn't matter much, because at the depth he thought he might be diving, it wouldn't be light anyway. He'd come prepared for that, however.

"You've heard of nothing else ever being found in this spot before?" he asked.

"I've never heard of anything being found out here." The pirate captain said. He was backlighted by the lanterns hanging from the masts and rigging above the wide pots of sand placed there in case the lanterns fell. "Have you?"

"No," Baylee answered honestly.

Xuxa hung from the rigging above Baylee's head, and Ciwa Cthulad stood to one side by the railing, alone.

"The one discovery sparked an intense search by someone," Uziraff said. "Had there been another, I'm sure it would have done the same. That pictograph had been down there for a long time. No one has been looking."

Baylee silently concurred. "Why are you so sure this is the spot from the lizard man's description?"

"Because I can see what you can't." Uziraff took a tube from inside his jacket and uncapped it. He handled the sheaf of parchment inside tenderly, carefully unrolling it. He displayed it to the two rangers. The parchment was completely blank. "What do you see?"

"Nothing," Baylee replied. Cthulad agreed.

"But I do," Uziraff said. "This map possesses great magic. It only has a limited number of uses, so I don't use it often. I didn't use it when the lizard man brought me out here, but now that you're here, following up the trail Golsway gave you before he died, I felt it was well worth the investment. And it was. The ship you're seeking lies just beneath us, two hundred feet down."

"I've never heard of such a map," Cthulad said.

Baylee had, though he knew that they were very rare. On the sea, it could automatically map a circle sixty miles across, even though the ship had not been there. And it would include avian creatures over twenty-five feet long, and sea creatures over twenty feet long. On land, that distance was cut to forty miles.

Only the map's user could activate the magic inherent in the map.

The ship is down there?" Baylee asked.

"A ship is," Uziraff agreed. "I can think of no others that would be. From what I have seen in the map, the shipwreck is broken into a number of pieces."

Baylee's sudden enthusiasm outweighed even his wariness of the pirate captain. "Then it's time we found out." He reached into his bag of holding and found one of the vials he'd gotten from the apothecary.

I must admit, Xuxa said, this is the one part of your plan that disturbs me most. I don't like the idea of being separated from you. And you will be out of range of my call should you need me.

There's no help for it. Baylee unstoppered the vial and drank deeply. The liquid burned the back of his throat going down, and filled him with a lightness of being that felt almost euphoric.

"You'll be careful down there, lad," Cthulad said quietly.

"I think you're the one who has the more dangerous part," Baylee replied.

"A yard of good steel makes a warrior a mighty good neighbor," the old ranger said. 'These baying dogs won't dare attack me without feeling they have the upper hand. And Xuxa is waiting in the wings, so to speak, to tilt the scales."

"Get a net over the side," Uziraff bellowed.

A half-dozen sailors ran to do his bidding, heaving a mass of weighted nets over the side.

Baylee looked at the pirate captain.

"I claim rights of salvage," Uziraff said. "You paid me to bring you here, not to transport anything back for you."

"I expected no less from you," Baylee replied. "All I want is a look."

Uziraff looked somewhat troubled by the way the ranger took the announcement.

Does he have a clue? Baylee asked Xuxa.

That you are lying to him? the azmyth bat asked. No. From his surface thoughts that I have access to, he clearly believes he has the upper hand.