Robert Salvatore - The Spine of the World

"So you have come to beat me again," Morik said when the brutish gaoler walked into the natural stone chamber where the rogue was chained to the wall. "Have you brought the holy man with you? Or the magistrate, perhaps? Is he to join us to order me up to the carnival?"

"No beatin' today, Morik the Rogue," the gaoler said. "They're not wantin' anything more from ye. Captain Deudermont's not needin' ye anymore."

"He died?" Morik asked, and he couldn't mask a bit of concern in his tone. If Deudermont had died, the charge against Wulfgar and Morik would be heinous murder, and Morik had been around Luskan long enough to witness more than a few executions of people so charged, executions by torture that lasted the better part of a day, at least.

"Nah," the gaoler said with obvious sadness in his tone. "Nah, we're not so lucky. Deudermont's livin' and all the better, so it looks like yerself and Wulfgar'll get killed quick and easy."

"Oh, joy," said Morik.

The brute paused for a moment and looked around, then waded in close to Morik and hit him a series of wicked blows about the stomach and chest.

"I'm thinkin' that Magistrate Jharkheld'll be callin' ye up to carnival soon enough," the gaoler explained. "Wanted to get in a few partin's, is all."

"My thanks," the ever-sarcastic rogue replied, and that got him a left hook across the jaw that knocked out a tooth and filled his mouth with warm blood.

*****

Deudermont's strength was fast returning, so much so that the priests had a very difficult task in keeping the man in his bed. Still they prayed over him, offering spells of healing, and the old herbalist woman came in with pots of tea and another soothing salve.

"It could not have been Wulfgar," Deudermont protested to Robillard, who had told him the entire story since the near tragedy in front of the Cutlass.

"Wulfgar and Morik," Robillard said firmly. "I watched it, Captain, and a good thing for you that I was watching!"

"It makes no sense to me," Deudermont replied. "I know Wulfgar."

"Knew," Robillard corrected.

"But he is a friend of Drizzt and Catti-brie, and we both know that those two would have nothing to do with an assassin-nothing good, at least."

"Was a friend," Robillard stubbornly corrected. "Now Wulfgar makes friends the likes of Morik the Rogue, a notorious street thug, and another pair, I believe, worse by far."

"Another pair?" Deudermont asked, and even as he did, Waillan Micanty and another crewman from Sea Sprite entered the room. They went to the captain first, bowed and saluted, both smiling widely, for Deudermont seemed even better than he had earlier in the day when all the crew had come running to Robillard's joyous call.

"Have you found them?" the wizard asked impatiently.

"I believe we have," a smug-looking Waillan replied. "Hiding in the hold of a boat just two berths down from Sea Sprite ."

"They haven't come out much of late," the other crewman offered, "but we talked to some men at the Cutlass who thought they knew the pair and claimed that the one-eyed sailor was dropping gold coins without regard."

Robillard nodded knowingly. So it was a contracted attack, and those two were a part of the plan.

"With your permission, Captain," the wizard said, "I should like to take Sea Sprite out of dock."

Deudermont looked at him curiously, for the captain had no idea what this talk might be about.

"I sent Mister Micanty on a search for two other accomplices in the attack against you," Robillard explained. "It appears that we may have located them."

"But Mister Micanty just said they were in port," Deudermont reasoned.

"They're aboard Bowlegged Lady , as paying passengers. When I put Sea Sprite behind them, all weapons to bear, they will likely turn the pair over without a fight," Robillard reasoned, his eyes aglow.

Now Deudermont managed a chuckle. "I only wish that I could go with you," he said. The three took that as their cue and turned immediately for the door.

"What of Magistrate Jharkheld?" Deudermont asked quickly before they could skitter away.

"I bade him to hold on the justice for the pair," Robillard replied, "as you requested. We shall need them to confirm that these newest two were in on the attack, as well."

Deudermont nodded and waved the trio away, falling into his own thoughts. He still didn't believe that Wulfgar could be involved, though he had no idea how he might prove it. In Luskan, as in most of the cities of Faerun, even the appearance of criminal activity could get a man hanged, or drawn and quartered, or whatever unpleasant manner of death the presiding magistrate could think up.

*****

"An honest trader, I be, and ye got no proof otherways," Captain Pinnickers of Bowlegged Lady declared, leaning over the taffrail and calling out protests against the appearance of the imposing Sea Sprite , catapult and ballista and ranks of archers trained on his decks.

"As I have already told you, Captain Pinnickers, we have come not for your ship, nor for you, but for a pair you harbor," Robillard answered with all due respect.

"Bah! Go away with ye, or I'll be callin' out the city guard!" the tough, old sea dog declared.

"No difficult task," Robillard replied smugly, and he motioned to the wharves beside Bowlegged Lady . Captain Pinnickers turned to see a hundred city soldiers or more lining the dock, grim-faced and armed for battle.

"You have nowhere to run or hide," Robillard explained. "I ask your permission one more time as a courtesy to you. For your own sake, allow me and my crew to board your ship and find the pair we seek."

"My ship!" Pinnicker said, poking a finger into his chest.

"Or I shall order my gunners to have at it," Robillard explained, standing tall and imposing at Sea Sprite 's rail, all pretense of politeness flown. "I shall join in with spells of destruction you cannot even begin to imagine. Then we will search the wreckage for the pair ourselves."

Pinnicker seemed to shrink back just a bit, but he held fast his grim and determined visage.

"I offer you the choice one last time," Robillard said, his mock politeness returning.

"Fine choice," Pinnicker grumbled. He gave a helpless little wave, indicating that Robillard and the others should cross to his deck.

They found Creeps Sharky and Tee-a-nicknick in short order, with Robillard easily identifying them. They also found an interesting item on a beam near the tattooed man-creature: a hollow tube.

"Blowgun," Waillan Micanty explained, presenting it to Robillard.

"Indeed," said the wizard, examining the exotic weapon and quickly confirming its use from the design. "What might someone shoot from it?"

"Something small with an end shaped to fill the tube," Micanty explained. He took the weapon hack, pursed his lips, and blew through the tube. "It wouldn't work well if too much wind escaped around the dart."

"Small, you say. Like a cat's claw?" Robillard asked, eyeing the captured pair. "With a pliable, feathered end?"

Following Robillard's gaze at the miserable prisoners, Waillan Micanty nodded grimly.

*****

Wulfgar was lost somewhere far beyond pain, hanging limply from his shackled wrists, both bloody and torn. The muscles on the back of his neck and shoulders had long ago knotted, and even if he had been released and dropped to the floor, only gravity would have changed his posture.

The pain had pushed too far and too hard and had released Wulfgar from his present prison. Unfortunately for the big man, that escape had only taken him to another prison, a darker place by far, with torments beyond anything these mortal men could inflict upon him. Tempting, naked, and wickedly beautiful succubi flew about him. The great pincer-armed glabrezu came at him repeatedly, snapping, snapping, nipping pieces of his body away. All the while he heard the demonic laughter of Errtu the conqueror. Errtu the great balor who hated Drizzt Do'Urden above all other mortals and played out that anger continually upon Wulfgar.