The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [109]
"Agreed. But we will be vulnerable to attack while we descend to the lifeboat."
Not entirely, Xuxa put in. I can watch.
The lifeboat was lowered over the side. "Go first," Cthulad invited.
"In a moment." Baylee drew the snap-together composite bow from its
waterproof quiver and assembled it smoothly, locking the sections into place. He took up four of the heavy flight arrows, nocking one of them into place while he held the other three in his fist, and stepped over the side. The lifeboat was less than eight feet below and maybe three feet out. He landed in it, crouching to regain his balance, and managed to remain standing. The bow stayed at the ready. "Come on down."
Cthulad turned and clambered over the side, stepping down quickly into the lifeboat.
One of the pirates heaved an oil lantern toward the lifeboat, hoping to drench the occupants with flaming liquid.
Baylee loosed the shaft he held in his fingers, punching the heavy war arrow through the man's chest. Another man started raking at his face, coming away bloodied. Xuxa was a leathery whisper of movement just above him a moment later.
The oil from the lantern spread across the ocean's surface and caught fire. The flames twisted and licked at the lifeboat. Cthulad grabbed the oars and started rowing them away from the cog as well as the flames.
Only two other attacks were made on the lifeboat. Baylee put a shaft through the eye of an archer, and Xuxa ripped the face of another. Then Uziraff's voice split the night air, calling the pirates into order. Windchaser's sails filled and she pulled away.
Baylee took the bow apart and put it back into the waterproof quiver. He knelt down and checked the stores under the bench seat in the prow. The dive into the ocean, despite the potion, had taxed his reserves. With wet clothing draping his body, he felt the chill of the night air.
"You're quite good with the bow," Cthulad said, putting the oars to rest.
"When I have to be," Baylee agreed. He found a water flask as well as a wine flask, and a pouch with foodstuffs. For the moment he ignored the food, offering the wine to the old ranger. "I've found fighting gets in the way of discovering."
"But sometimes you can't have one without the other." Cthulad hoisted the wine flask in a salute. "To the times of exploration without fighting."
Baylee drank to that. In spite of the situation, he couldn't help grinning.
"Why are you so amused?" Cthulad asked.
Because, Xuxa said, he found the ship.
"Yet we're stranded out to sea, Tyr alone knows how far from any coast."
"No more than seven or eight miles, actually," Baylee replied. "The ship was only two hundred feet or so down. I studied nautical charts on the trip out here. The coastal plains don't drop off sharply into the ocean bed for another three miles or so. We need to head west and south to get to shore. Chalice of the Crowns would not have sailed to the south of Mintarn to reach Evermeet; they would have gone north." He gestured toward the sky. "We have a clear night, so it should be no problem to steer in the right direction."
Baylee freed the small mast laying in the bottom of the lifeboat and pushed it into the locks designed for it. When it snapped into place, he pulled the mast rigging into place with Cthulad's help.
"We're lucky they didn't kill us," the old ranger declared. "Or did you think that Uziraff would play fairly with you?"
"Never once," Baylee said.
"Then why deal with him at all?"
"Because he had the location of the wreck."
"And you knew he had that magical map," Cthulad said.
Baylee moved the sail into position, then dropped the small tiller into the water. "I had heard about it, and I saw it once. I was sure it was what it turned out to be."
"So he used you to verify the veracity of the ship," the old ranger said.
"And I used him and his mystical map to locate the shipwreck much more quickly than dredging the ocean bottom for miles. There have been others who were looking for that ship." In terse sentences, Baylee revealed what had happened