The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [30]
“What do you think this is about?” Daine said, watching the creature. The conversation with the captain seemed cordial enough, but something about the creature set him on edge.
“Helais said that we were about to enter Shargon’s Teeth. From what I’ve heard, that’s dangerous water—full of hidden reefs and … well, sahuagin. My guess is that the captain is paying for protection. Or a guide.”
Lei’s instincts were correct. A moment later, the captain handed a leather purse to the fish-man and gave a slight bow. Thaask echoed this with a slight nod of his angular head. The captain turned and spoke to the crew, and the sailors scattered across the decks, raising the sails and pulling up the anchor.
“If we’re entering the Straits, we’re almost to Stormreach,” Lei said. “It won’t be long now.”
“It can’t be soon enough for me … now what?”
Thaask was coming toward them. He had a strange, lopsided gait; it was clear that he preferred swimming to walking. He spoke, but the sound was a croaking gargle; Daine couldn’t make out the words. Daine still had his sword in his hand, but Lei stepped in front of him.
“What did you say?” Lei said. “I couldn’t understand.”
Thaask spoke again, slower and more clearly. “I give you greetings, daughter of air. Many storms have passed since last we met.”
Daine shot a sharp glance at Lei, but she seemed to be just as surprised as he was. “Since last we … I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
The sahuagin made a rasping sound that could just as easily have been a laugh or a cry of outrage. Eventually it spoke again. “I forget the way that age takes you creatures of earth and air. You would not wear the face in my memory if you were the one I met before, so you must be the daughter.”
“What are you talking about?” Lei said, her voice beginning to rise. Daine put a hand on her shoulder.
“Aleisa. This name is known to you?”
“That’s my mother!” Surprise diffused the growing anger, and Lei loosened her grip on her staff.
“It is she whom I took you to be. As a guardian of these waters, I never forget my charges, and you and she are one and the same.”
“You met my mother? Sailing to Xen’drik?”
“Yes. Perhaps thirty of your years ago. An interesting one, she was, strong currents flowing, not like the man who was with her; he was ice in the deepest water, cold and still.”
“My father …” Lei said. She glanced at Daine. “I told you that they’d been to Xen’drik.” She turned her attention back to Thaask. “What can you tell me about them? Why were they traveling?”
“The cold one did not speak to me, but Aleisa and I talked often. She was curious about the secrets hidden in the deep waters, the ruins of those who went before. As we spoke, she told me of her own questing.”
Daine found the whole conversation hard to swallow. Here they were in the middle of the Thunder Sea, speaking with a walking fish that just happened to have met Lei’s parents. “Lei. This is some sort of trick …”
“No,” Lei said, holding up her hand. “Thaask, please. What was she looking for? It would mean a great deal to me.”
“Mean a great deal, hssh? When one has a thing of value, it is customary to offer a trade.”
“I knew it,” Daine growled. “He’s just trying to catch you in his net and reel you in, Lei.” He took Lei’s arm, but she pulled away and stood her ground.
“This is my choice. What is it you want?”
“Your mother gave me a gift—a stone of music, which would play when held. It was taken from me long ago by a tooth of the Devourer. I would have such a thing again.”
Lei nodded. “I could probably make you such a thing by the time we arrive at Stormreach.”
“I trust you to hold to this bargain, for the honor of your mother,” Thaask said, “and I will tell you what I know between my warning rounds. Two things were foremost on her mind, and I can speak of those now, before my work begins.”
“Please!” Lei said.
Daine sighed and sat down on the deck.
“She traveled with the other in search of the ruins of those who went before. Her people had given life to the unliving, to create weapons of war—”
“The warforged,