The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [92]
"Borran Kiosk,
Still reeking fresh from the grave,
Faced down the Alaghфn Watch
–At least, those who were brave.
Heroes died that night,
Eaten by the… fry the flames
Of the mohrg's evil wizardry.
Borran Kiosk, just another of death's names."
Borran Kiosk looked at Allis and said, "They sing of me."
Allis nodded, but her gaze was on the merchanter.
"We are taking this ship?" Borran Kiosk asked, divining her interest.
He hadn't sailed much, hadn't been aboard a ship since he'd been brought back from the grave, and only a few times when he'd worn flesh and blood.
Nodding, the werespider said, "I booked passage for us to Sespech."
"I don't want to go to Sespech," Borran Kiosk said, and he had no intention of doing so.
"We're not," Allis said. "That's where the ship is bound. The destination will change when we take over the ship." She looked at him with her opal gaze and added, "You have the power to turn men to you, to kill them and reuse them again from the dead, and you have more power than that. The ship will be ours."
Borran Kiosk looked at the frigate with clearer understanding and some humor. Turning to face her, Borran Kiosk leaned in closely, so closely that she wouldn't be able to miss the fires that binned in his hollow eyes.
"Not ours," he told her. "Mine. They will be mine."
Nostrils flaring and color showing on her cheeks, Allis hesitated a moment, pride warred with fear. Fear won, he could see it in her eyes, and she nodded.
"As you say," she said.
Allis turned from him, giving her attention to the sailor standing at the boarding ramp. "We have passage," she said.
"Aye, ma'am," the sailor replied. He was short and lean, his clothing heavily tarred against the elements. Til be after havin' yer names, I will. To check against the ship's manifests the quartermaster keeps, ye see. Cap'n Ralant runs a tight ship, he does." He looked up, placed his fingers in his teeth, and whistled. "Hey! Vonnis!"
One of the men aboard Mistress Talia turned and looked down. "What do ye want, Durgel?"
"Two to ship aboard, sir," Durgel responded.
"Awfully damned early, if you ask me," the older man said, taking a stylus and ship's log from under his arm.
"We didn't ask you," Allis said.
Bristling, the sailor said, "Don't go getting airs with me, woman."
Unleashing the anger that filled him, Borran Kiosk spoke and gestured. The sailor at the top of the gangplank grabbed his neck and dropped to his knees. His face reddened, and he couldn't breathe.
"Vonnis!" Durgel cried, racing up the gangplank.
Allis turned to Borran Kiosk with an angry look. "What are you doing?" the werespider asked.
"Getting us aboard," Borran Kiosk replied, "in a manner that will be more… tolerable."
He started up the gangplank as the first sailor tried to tend to the second.
"You will alert them," Allis whispered, hesitating for an instant before she followed him up the gangplank.
Borran Kiosk swept the ship's deck with his gaze. Durgel tried valiantly to help Vonnis, but the sailor wasn't even aware of the magical constriction the mohrg used. The other men around the dockyards kept to their work, and only a few curious stares came from Mistress Talia's crew.
Drawing even with the two sailors as Durgel fought to hold Vonnis down while crying out for help, Borran Kiosk gazed down at the man he'd afflicted.
"Someone get a healer!" Durgel told one of the nearby crewmen. "01' Vonnis is havin' himself an attack of some kind, he is!"
Borran Kiosk spoke again, removing the constriction from around the quartermaster's neck.
Vonnis gasped like a dog on a too-hot day. His eyes filled with fear as he gazed at Borran Kiosk.
"Ye did this?" Durgel demanded, rising and reaching for the skinning knife that hung at his hip.
Before he could pull his knife, Allis had one of her own only an inch