The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [99]
"There's going to be more of them, you know," the young man said. "Every one of us he slays rises up against the rest."
A crooked grin twisted Ridnow's lips. "Well, that damned corpse ain't killed us yet, Deich. Ye an' me, we still got a chance to be heroes."
"I don't want to be a hero," Deich said. "I just want to get off this ship alive."
Thunder rumbled outside the ship and Mistress Talia heeled over hard to port. Deich stumbled and almost fell but caught himself against the line of crates that Barnaby hid behind.
Another man screamed, this one closer.
"They're coming for us now," Deich said.
He shifted, taking up a position to the left and behind Ridnow. The younger sailor's only weapon was a skinning knife.
"Aye," Ridnow growled, "won't be long now an' well see if them damned monsters bleed, too."
As Deich tried to stand firm and Ridnow made his preparations, Barnaby realized that an unaccustomed silence had descended inside the ship's hold. The roaring noise of the storm hadn't quieted, of course, nor the creaking protests of the merchanter as she still managed to dive and glide between the hills and valleys of the raging sea.
There were no more screams.
"C'mon then, ye great gout o' black air an' pestilence!" Ridnow challenged. "C'mon an' see if n ye got the guts what's needed to take the life of a true fightin' man!"
Barnaby glanced around the crate. There, at the other end of the cargo hold, stood Borron Kiosk. The light from Ridnow's waving lantern illuminated the skeletal figure, highlighting the naked bone.
"I killed your captain, your ship's mage, and the rest of your crew," Borran Kiosk said.
The purple tongue flipped out of the grinning jaws and flicked the air.
Tears leaked down Barnaby's face, but he didn't know how he could be crying without knowing it. Pain knotted his guts.
"Mayhap ye have," Ridnow acknowledged, "but ye ain't finished with ol' Talia yet, an' she ain't proper finished with ye."
Borran Kiosk started forward. Barnaby saw no undue haste in the monster's movements, but his thoughts were immediately drawn to the unseen spider-woman. Where was she?
Borran Kiosk came on as if unconcerned about the dwarven battle-axe the sailor held.
Movement high above the cargo, trapped for a moment in the dulled glow of the lantern Ridnow held, captured Barnaby's attention. He glanced up just in time to spot the spider-woman scuttling across the beams above. She had an insect's head with only vaguely human features. He didn't know how he'd ever thought her beautiful when he'd first laid eyes on her.
He thought only briefly of calling out a warning to Ridnow and Deich, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to save them. Ridnow and Deich were going to die. It was better not to die with them.
The spider-woman dropped, sliding along a length of gossamer. Her fat body fell over Deich and her eight legs wrapped tight around him. Deich screamed but only once.
Horrified, Barnaby watched as the spider-woman bent down and seemed to kiss Deich's neck. When she brought her ugly head away, crimson stained her mouth and dribbled down her misshapen chin. Barnaby clapped both hands over his mouth and tried not to scream. He hoped the muffled noise that escaped him would be lost in the sounds of the storm and the creaking ship.
"Deich!" Ridnow called helplessly.
"You lost him," Borran Kiosk said. "Now you stand nearly alone." His purple tongue flicked the air. "Only one more remains after you."
He knows! He knows! The panicked thought filled Barnaby's mind.
He was scarcely able to restrain himself from hurling out of the hiding place he'd found and-and-
Only the fact that he had nowhere to go stopped him.
"Aye, monster," Ridnow said fiercely. "Mayhap I have lost me captain and me crew, but I ain't a-gonna let ye have leave o' this ship. In case ye ain't been proper piped aboard, welcome to yer own death!"
Whirling, he turned and smashed his axe through the end of a barrel. The astringent smell of alcohol laced the cargo hold and