Robert Salvatore: The Pirate King

The Crow considered the cryptic clues for a moment then his eyes widened and he seemed as near to panic as anyone had ever seen him. “Greeth,” he mumbled.

“Arklem Greeth himself,” said the voice. “Seeking revenge on Deudermont.”

The Crow began to stalk the room, eyes darting all around.

“Arklem Greeth will not challenge you,” the voice in the darkness promised. “His days of ruling Luskan are at an end. He accepted this before Deudermont moved on the Hosttower.”

“But he aligns with Kurth. Whatever your assurances regarding the archmage arcane, you cannot make the same with regard to Kurth!”

“The lich will not go against us, whatever High Captain Kurth might ask of him,” the unseen speaker said with confidence.

“You cannot know that!”

A soft chuckle came from the darkness, one that ended any further debate on the subject, and one that sent a shiver coursing Kensidan’s spine, a reminder of who it was he was dealing with, of who he had trusted—trusted! — throughout his entire ordeal.

“Move decisively,” the voice prompted. “You are correct in your assessment that this day determines Luskan’s future. There is nothing but the angled wall of a corner behind you now.”

W e should be on the shore with the captain!” one woman cried.

“Aye, we can’t be letting him fight that mob alone!” said another of Sea Sprite ’s increasingly impatient and upset crew. “Half the city’s come against him.”

“We were told to guard Sea Sprite,” Waillan Micanty shouted above them all. “Captain Deudermont put no ‘unless’ in our orders! He said stay with Sea Sprite and keep her safe, and that’s what we’re to do—all of us!”

“While he gets himself killed?”

“He’s got Robillard with him, and Drizzt Do’Urden,” Waillan argued back, and the mention of those two names did seem to have a calming effect on the crew. “He’ll get to us if he needs to get to us—and what a sorry bunch of sailors we’d be to lose the ship and his one chance at escaping!

“Now, to your stations, one and all,” he ordered. “Turn your eyes to the sea and the many pirates moored just outside the harbor.”

“They all fought with us,” a crewman remarked.

“Aye, against Arklem Greeth,” said Waillan. “And most of those coming against Captain Deudermont now marched with him to the Hosttower. The game’s changed, so be on your guard.”

There was a bit of grumbling, but Sea Sprite ’s veteran crew scurried back to their respective watch and gunnery posts and most managed to tear their eyes from the signs of fighting in the city proper to focus again on any possible threats to their own position.

And not a moment too soon, for Waillan Micanty had barely finished speaking when the crewman in the crow’s nest shouted down, “Starboard!” Then clarified, “The water line!” as Micanty and others rushed to the rail.

As chance would have it, the first lacedon scaling Sea Sprite ’s hull pulled over the rail right in front of Micanty himself, who met it with a heavy slash of his saber.

“Ghouls!” he cried. “Ghouls aboard Sea Sprite!”

And so came Arklem Greeth’s horrid minions, splashing out of the water all around the pirate hunter. Crewmen rushed to and fro, weapons drawn, determined to cut the beasts down before they could get a foothold, for if the lacedons managed to get onto the deck, they all knew that their own ranks would quickly thin. Waillan Micanty led the way, bludgeoning and cutting ghoul after ghoul, rushing from starboard to port just in time to drive back over the rail the first of the lacedons attacking that side of the vessel.

“Too many!” came a cry from aft, near the catapult, and Waillan turned to see ghouls standing up straight on the deck, and to see a pair of the catapult crew fall paralyzed to the deck. His gaze immediately went out to the deeper waters and the many ships anchored there. The catapult was down. Sea Sprite was vulnerable.

He charged the breach, calling for crewmen to join him, but when one rushed into his wake, Waillan, recognizing the terrible danger, stopped the woman. “Contact Robillard,” he bade her. “Tell him of our situation.”

“We can win,” the woman, an apprentice of Robillard’s, replied.

But Waillan was hearing none of it. “Now! Tell him!”

The mage nodded reluctantly, her gaze still locked on the fight on the aft deck. She did turn, though, and scrambled down the bulkhead.

Sitting invisibly in Sea Sprite ’s hold, Arklem Greeth watched her move to the crystal ball with great anticipation and amusement.

“The same force that destroyed the Waterdhavian flotilla,” Deudermont remarked when Robillard relayed the predicament of Sea Sprite. “Perhaps they followed the one surviving ship to us.”

The wizard considered the reasoning for a moment then nodded, but he was thinking of much more sinister possibilities given the nature and coordination of the lacedon attack, and the fact that it was occurring right in Luskan Harbor, where such attacks were unprecedented.

“Go to them and clear Sea Sprite,” Deudermont bade his friend.

“We have our own problems here, Captain,” Robillard reminded him, but it was clear from his tone that he didn’t really disagree with Deudermont’s command.

“Be quick then,” said the captain. “Above all else, that ship must remain secure!”

Robillard glanced at the door leading to the stairs and the palace’s front exit. “I will go, and hopefully return at once,” the wizard announced. “But only on your promise that you will find Drizzt Do’Urden and stay tight to his side.”

Deudermont couldn’t suppress a grin. “I survived for many years without him, and without you,” he said.

“True, and your old arms aren’t nearly as swift with your sword anymore,” the wizard replied without hesitation. He threw the captain a wink and collected his gear then began casting a spell to transport him to Sea Sprite ’s deck.

High Captain Baram slapped aside the frantic scout and took a clearer look at the influx swarming through the square just three blocks from Suljack’s palace and Deudermont.

Taerl rushed up beside him, similarly holding his breath, for they both knew at once the identity of the new and overpowering force that had come on the scene. Ship Rethnor was about to join the fight in full.

“For us, or for Deudermont?” Taerl asked. Even as he finished, one small group of Baram’s boys inadvertently charged out in front of Rethnor’s swarm. Baram’s eyes widened, and Taerl let out a gasp.

But the dwarf leading the way for Rethnor engaged those men with words, not morningstars, and as the forces parted, Ship Rethnor’s contingent angling off to the side, the two high captains found their hoped-for answer.

Ship Rethnor had come out in full against Deudermont.

“Oh oh,” Regis said from his perch on a low roof overlooking an alley from which Drizzt had just chased a trio of Taerl’s ruffians.

Drizzt started to ask the halfling for a clarification, but when he saw the look on Regis’s face, he just ran to the spot, leaped and spun to catch the trim of the roof in a double backhanded grasp then curled and tucked his legs, rolling them right up over him to the roof. As soon as he set himself up there, he understood the halfling’s sentiments.

Like a swarm of ants, Ship Rethnor’s warriors streamed along several of the streets, chasing Deudermont’s forces before them with ease.

“And out there,” Regis remarked pointing to the northwest.