The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [114]
As he got to his feet, the young sailor noticed the lightning bolt fading in the high sheen of the bracer on his left arm. The bracer had somehow protected him from the magical assault.
Black spots whirled in his vision as he gazed around the main cavern. Two of Tarnar's sailors-the two he'd been thrown into-were down, alive but unconscious. Jherek looked for his cutlass but didn't see it. The sounds of battle and the screams of dying men continued above.
He started to take one of the sailors' cutlasses, but impulse drew his eyes to the chasm in the center of the cavern. Looking down over the edge, he spotted a man-made entrance cut in the left side six feet below him. Before he knew quite what he was doing, feeling pulled to get back to Sabyna's side, he hung over the ledge, staring down into a pit that looked fathoms deep. Thankfully, the chasm walls provided finger and toeholds.
When he looked into the opening, he saw the sword hanging on the wall at the other end of what looked like a man-sized pink pearl box. Glancing at the other side of the chasm, he noticed what appeared to be the other side to the pink pearl room. The sword's steel glistened with a lambent pink light.
Ignoring the reluctance that filled him, Jherek clambered into the room. It stood to reason that if a sword had been hidden as cleverly as this one, it had to be a powerful weapon. The question of whether the sword was good or evil only touched his mind fleetingly. As powerful as the mage in the other room was, Jherek needed a powerful weapon.
Wrapping his hand around the sword hilt, Jherek felt a small tingle run through his arm. He almost released they sword, but the tingle was gone before he did. He thrust his blade through his sash and climbed the chasm wall again. then he jumped up the ledge and ran back to the second cave.
Tarnar looked at him with a surprised smile and said, "I thought you were dead."
Iridea's Tear saved me." Jherek drew the sword from his waist, surprised that the blade was a curved cutlass and not the long sword he'd thought it was. The blade still held the pink glow.
Two of Steadfast's crew lay dead inside the second cavern.
Peering into the shadows, Jherek saw Sabyna and Glawinn battling koalinths rising from the pool. Vurgrom's men took advantage of the situation and rushed forward.
Azla stepped from behind a column, batted aside the pirate's clumsy attack, then slid her scimitar across the man's stomach, spilling his guts. Still on the move, the pirate queen engaged her next attacker. Steel gleamed as it moved, then she sank the dirk in her left hand between the man's ribs, stiffening him up at once.
Lifting his arm, Jherek willed the bracer into a shield, then stepped into the cavern. One of the pirates rushed at him. The young sailor stepped sideways at the last moment, letting the pirate's overhead swing go past him, then he slammed the shield into his attacker with all his weight behind it.
The pirate hit the wall and sagged, dazed by the impact. Before he recovered, Jherek knocked the man's blade from his hand.
Tarnar stepped up and grabbed the pirate by the shirt, yanking him into a stumbling run and passing him back to one of his men.
"I've got him," the captain growled.
"Don't kill him if you don't have to," Jherek said.
"In that, my friend," Tarnar said, "we are in agreement."
Vurgrom bellowed orders from hiding but didn't make a move to engage Jherek as the young sailor moved forward.
Iakhovas stood his ground, glancing at Jherek with real curiosity. "Who are you, boy?"
Jherek shook his head, peering over the shield and hoping it would hold against any further magic. "I'm no one," he said.
"What are you doing here?"
Jherek thought he detected suspicion in the dark male's tattooed face and mismatched eyes. "Let my friends go," Jherek demanded.
"I don't know you, do I?" Iakhovas asked.
"I'm only going to ask you once."
The man's eyes narrowed and he said, "Boy, I've eaten creatures bigger than you."
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