Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis [10]
“Caramon—” Tanis warned, holding out his hand restrainingly.
“Kof—!” Maquesta snapped with an angry look meant to remind her first mate that these were paying customers and were not to be handled roughly, at least while in sight of land.
The minotaur scowled, but the dirk disappeared as quickly as it had flashed into the open. Koraf turned and walked away disdainfully, the crew muttering in disappointment, but still cheerful. It promised already to be an interesting voyage.
Maquesta helped Tanis to his feet, studying the half-elf with the same intense scrutiny she fixed on a man wanting to sign on as a crew member. She saw at once that the half-elf had changed drastically since she had seen him only four days before, when he and the big man behind him closed the bargain for passage aboard the Perechon.
He looks like he’s been through the Abyss and back. Probably in some sort of trouble, she decided ruefully. Well, I’m not getting him out of it! Not at the risk of my ship. Still, he and his friends had paid for half their passage. And she needed the money. It was hard these days for a pirate to compete with the Highlords.…
“Come to my cabin,” Maq said ungraciously, leading the way below.
“Stay with the others, Caramon,” the half-elf told his companion. The big man nodded. Glancing darkly at the minotaur, Caramon went back over to stand with the rest of the companions, who stood silently, huddled around their meager belongings.
Tanis followed Maq down to her cabin and squeezed inside. Even two people in the small cabin were a tight fit. The Perechon was a trim vessel, designed for swift sailing and quick maneuvers. Ideal for Maquesta’s trade, for which it was necessary to slip in and out of harbors quickly, unloading or picking up cargo that wasn’t necessarily hers either to pick up or deliver. On occasion, she might enhance her income by catching a fat merchant ship sailing out of Palanthas or Tarsis and slip up on it before it knew what was happening. Then board it quickly, loot it, and make good her escape.
She was adept at outrunning the massive ships of the Dragon Highlords, too, although she made it a point to leave them strictly alone. Too often now, though, the Highlords’ ships were seen “escorting” the merchant vessels. Maquesta had lost money on her last two voyages, one reason why she had deigned to carry passengers—something she would never do under normal circumstances.
Removing his helm, the half-elf sat down at the table, or rather fell down, since he was unaccustomed to the motion of the rocking ship. Maquesta remained standing, balancing easily.
“Well, what is it you want?” she demanded, yawning. “I told you we can’t sail. The seas are—”
“We have to,” Tanis said abruptly.
“Look,” Maquesta said patiently (reminding herself he was a paying customer), “if you’re in some kind of trouble, it’s not my concern! I’m not risking my ship or my crew—”
“Not me,” Tanis interrupted, looking at Maquesta intently, “you.”
“Me?” Maquesta said, drawing back, amazed.
Tanis folded his hands on the table and gazed down at them. The pitching and tossing of the vessel at anchor, combined with his exhaustion from the past few days, made him nauseous. Seeing the faint green tinge of his skin beneath his beard and the dark shadows under his hollow eyes, Maquesta thought she’d seen corpses that looked better than this half-elf.
“What do you mean?” she asked tightly.
“I—I was captured by a Dragon Highlord … three days ago,” Tanis began, speaking in a low voice, staring at his hands. “No, I guess ‘captured’ is the wrong word. H-He saw me dressed like this and assumed I was one of his men. I had to accompany h-him back to his camp. I’ve been there, in camp, the last few days, and I—I found out something. I know why the Highlord and the draconians are searching Flotsam. I know what—who—they’re looking for.”
“Yes?” Maquesta prompted, feeling his fear creep over her like a contagious disease. “Not the Perechon—”
“Your helmsman.” Tanis finally looked up at her. “Berem.”
“Berem!” Maquesta repeated, stunned.