The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [98]
With a shudder, the other hobgoblin dropped to the cavern floor. Chomack stepped back, holding his bloody sword aloft in victory.
Opening her perspective of the view offered, Krystarn saw that the hobgoblin chieftain was surrounded by nearly four times as many hobgoblins as the day she'd found him. Evidently the one-on-one fight had been for the control of the tribe recently encountered.
"Chomack," Krystarn said into the crystal ball.
The hobgoblin chieftain stared up, searching. "What do you want?"
The other hobgoblins drew their weapons and stepped back. Some of them yelled for Chomack to take cover.
"I look in on you today," Krystarn said, "only to offer my congratulations. Your tribe has grown."
"Because I am strong enough to take them," the chieftain roared back.
A ragged cheer broke from the ranks of the hobgoblins. Many of them beat their swords against their shields.
"I also remind you of your promise to me," Krystarn said.
"I will keep it," the hobgoblin growled. "As long as you keep your end of the bargain."
"Chomack," Krystarn said, thinking of the gold and silver that must be secreted away in the library, "I shall give you even more than I promised." She waved over the crystal ball and picked the next ship on her list. Its name was Tsunami Dancer. She had scried it twice before, feeling an empathy within it when she'd searched for Baylee Arnvold.
20
"Uziraff Fireblade is in the back, but I wouldn't go in there if I was you."
Baylee looked at the whiskered barkeep behind the scarred counter of the Fickle Mermaid. The place was one the ranger vaguely remembered from a time when he and Golsway had been through the area to talk to Uziraff before. The decor was bawdy, featuring a few dozen carved mermaid statues in various forms of debauchery with mermen, humans, and even unicorns. All of the statues had been glued to whatever surface they sat on to keep the tavern's patrons from walking off with them.
"And why not?" Baylee asked.
"He's talking business with someone."
From behind the door to the barkeep's left came the sound of blows being struck, leaving no illusions about what was going on.
"Talking?" Baylee asked. "Or listening?"
The barkeep gave an evil grin. "Uziraff owns the Fickle Mermaid. I don't
think anyone could make him listen in here."
Baylee walked around the end of the bar as someone groaned in pain.
The barkeep reached for a belaying pin he kept under the counter. He fisted it and came at Baylee. "I told you stay out of this."
Before the man knew it, Civva Cthulad had his long sword at the end of the man's nose. "Unless," the old ranger said in a calm voice, "you wish to learn to start breathing through your ears, step away."
The barkeep went cross-eyed looking at the unwavering sword tip. Conversation across the rest of the bar died as heads turned to the counter. A few men got up, their hands going to their hilts.
"Gentlemen," Cthulad said, addressing the crowd, "I assure you taking part in this would be your greatest mistake. I will kill the first man to interfere with us just to let the ones who follow have no surprise what their fates may be."
"This isn't exactly the quiet kind of entrance I had in mind when we came here," Baylee said in a low voice.
"You dealt the play when you threw the dice," the old ranger replied. "You could have waited till Uziraff was finished with his business."
But Baylee couldn't have, because he thought he knew what kind of business it was that Uziraff was conducting. He watched as the men in the bar stood their ground, wary of Cthulad's sword. Baylee placed his hand on the doorknob and found it locked. He knelt and used a set of lock picks he carried with him, then passed through.
The room on the other side of the door looked nothing like the rest of the bar. A few books lined one wall, a hodgepodge of subjects, titles,