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By Root 412 0

them where Sabyna had gone to study her spellbook. He'd been hesitant about letting her go off but in the end he hadn't had a choice. She'd been adamant about not missing her studies, though Jherek also thought she wanted to be alone to deal with what had happened with Tynnel and Breezerunner. He quickly brought the knight up to speed on the events at Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, and the ships that had been taken in that time as well, because Glawinn hadn't heard of that either.

"The sahuagin are uprising?" the knight asked when he finished. "Does anyone know why?"

Jherek shook his head.

"Surely no one believes these are unrelated events?"

"I don't know," Jherek answered. "Sabyna and I were kidnapped from Baldur's Gate the night of the attack."

Glawinn gazed into the campfire for a moment, obviously thinking about what he'd been told. "You and your mates only just escaped the pirates from the Inner Sea who took part in this attack?"

"That's what Captain Tynnel told me the pirate captain Vurgrom said. You could probably ask Sabyna for more in-depth information."

"Have you ever heard of Vurgrom before?"

Jherek shook his head.

"So he could be telling the truth and he could be telling a lie?"

"Aye, and I wouldn't know the right of it."

"Then why do you pursue him?" Glawinn asked.

"Personal reasons."

"With the demeanor and focus you're wearing, I wouldn't have thought it was any less," the knight said sagely.

Jherek didn't feel comfortable not telling the knight all of it, so he did. He tried to trim down the way he'd felt about being the recipient of the pearl disk, but he found he couldn't do that completely either.

"So you don't think the old priest was right in giving that disk to you?" Glawinn asked.

"No."

"Why?"

Jherek shook his head and forced a smile he didn't feel. "If you knew me better, Sir Glawinn, you wouldn't even need to ask that question." He felt the burn of his father's tattoo on the inside of his arm.

"Ah, the wisdom of youth."

"What do you mean by that?" Jherek asked.

"To be young and think I know so much again," Glawinn said. "That would be properly painful. I'd much rather know for certain there is much I still yet need to learn." He looked at Jherek. "Meaning no disrespect, young warrior, but you've hardly put in enough years to give any real weight to the guesses you make about what the gods would or wouldn't do."

"One thing I do know and am sure of," Jherek said, "is that they wouldn't have anything to do with me."

Still, Jherek remembered the voice that had haunted him since childhood. He almost asked the knight about it, but stopped himself. Once he'd dealt with one fantasy, he didn't need to start working on another.

Glawinn let the topic slide. "So now you pursue Vurgrom to the Inner Sea?"

"That's where he's got to be headed. He told Tynnel he was from the Pirate Isles, and even claimed to be the pirate king of Immurk's Hold."

"Oh, I agree entirely, young warrior. Have you ever been to Westgate?"

Jherek shook his head.

"That will be the first city Vurgrom heads for," Glawinn said confidently. "He may pass through Teziir, but it'll be Westgate that's his destination. It's a pirate's haven, and he's sure to have men waiting for him there."

"You've been there?" Jherek asked.

"A number of times. None of them pleasant or particularly long. Nor were they in any way uneventful." Glawinn fixed him with his green-eyed stare. "Which begs the question of how you think you're going to get something back from Vurgrom if he doesn't want to give it back?"

"I don't know," Jherek admitted.

"The trip to Westgate is at least a tenday's ride, young warrior, even at the pace we've been pushing these poor horses and with the shortcuts I know from having journeyed there before. You'd better give your actions some thought."

"I will," Jherek said, then added: "I am."

"And Westgate is no place for a lady."

"Aye," Jherek replied. "I tried to get her to listen to reason and go back with Breezerunner, but she'd have none of it."

"I gathered that from the way she was acting toward the captain