Tina Daniell: Maquesta Kar-Thon

Once on deck, the crew surrounded the minotaur lord, and Ilyatha rushed forward to grab his daughter and hold her close. Fritz gently laid Melas on the deck, and Maquesta sat beside him. His dark eyes fluttered open, and he coughed and winced in pain.

"Remember the lesson of my life, Maquesta," Melas whispered. "Trust no one." His mouth opened again, and she leaned closer so she could hear. "Take good care of the Perechon , Captain Kar-Thon."

Melas took his last breath, and Maq sobbed openly.

Fritz placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll bury him at sea," he said softly.

She nodded and let him help her to her feet. A sailor brushed by her with a tarp. Behind her, the longboat returned from its second trip to the dock. As Tailonna, Koraf, and a group of former prisoners started up the rope ladder, the Perechon was engulfed in a flash of bright light.

With a scream of anger, Belwar appeared in the sky above the ship's mainmast. He dived toward the deck, and the sailors surrounding Attat fled in panic, leaving their prisoner an easy target. The ki-rin's horn, aimed at the quivering minotaur lord, crackled with lightning.

"You slew my brother!" Belwar shouted. "Now I shall do the same to you!"

The ki-rin's horn sank into Attat's shoulder, and the minotaur's body was instantly covered in a pale gold, crackling light. Belwar shook the minotaur free, and let his quaking form fall to the deck, then the ki-rin placed his front hooves on Attat's chest and peered into his dark eyes. The minotaur lord was whimpering, begging for his life. Belwar ignored his feeble protests.

"You are part of the evil that is spreading across the Blood Sea. Ending your pitiable life will serve justice and revenge."

Belwar shook his mane and glanced about at the crewmembers. "You!" he called to Koraf and Fritzen. "Pull up the morkoth's cage."

Maquesta watched as Kof, aided by the half-ogre, complied, winching up the steel cage and breaking the weld on the top. As Koraf slowly opened the top of the cage, Belwar opened his mouth and grabbed the minotaur lord's tunic. Dragging the protesting lord across the deck, the ki-rin tossed Attat into the cage.

"Let Lord Attat have his precious trophy," the ki-rin stated. He nodded to Koraf, and the minotaur lowered the cage's lid.

The ki-rin touched his horn to the mechanism holding the cage to the Perechon , and the metal clasp severed. The cage dropped to the floor of the harbor, and the water instantly churned red about the ship, signaling the end of the Lacynos minotaur lord.

Satisfied, Belwar rose slowly above the deck and floated toward Maquesta. "I am sorry for the death of your father," the ki-rin offered. "There was nothing even I could have done to save him. But know that his spirit is in a kinder place, and that he sails on a beautiful, endless sea." The ki-rin's horn shimmered, and the creature soared higher. "I will watch the morkoth and make sure it kills no innocent souls in Lacynos. And from time to time I will watch you, Maquesta Kar-Thon."

Another flash lit the growing night sky, then the ki-rin was gone.

Maquesta looked about the deck. Ilyatha still hugged Sando, his webbed arms wrapped about the diminutive shadowperson. Maq intended to drop the pair off on the other side of Mithas. From there they could get home easily enough.

Tailonna was escorting the last of Attat's former prisoners over the railing. Maquesta wondered how many of them would stay on. She needed more sailors, and she had gems with which to pay the crew their wages. Some of the gems would also pay for new masts, and would buy the gnome plenty of equipment and parts.

Vartan was directing a crew to raise the sails on the mainmast. Another group of sailors was lighting lanterns and hanging them about the aft deck and near the bow.

From somewhere belowdecks she heard a groaning and sputtering racket. Lendle had his oar machine working. She felt the ship surge and looked over the side to see the oars already in motion. A gout of smoke erupted from the cargo hold, and the Perechon was under way.

Fritzen, stepping up behind Maquesta, hugged her fiercely. "You're going to be all right," he told her.

She nodded and glanced at the tarp covering her father's body. "I know. But it will take a while."

"Any orders, Captain?" Koraf called. The minotaur had made his way to the aft deck and was behind the wheel.

"Take us out of the harbor, Kof," she said, her voice brightening slightly. "I want to go as far away from Lacynos as the wind and waves will take us."