Under Fallen Stars - Mel Odom [68]
"Easy there," the deep voice advised. "Else you'll be throwing up everything we've managed to put down you the last day or so."
The back of Jherek's throat was raw. He cracked his eyelids open, feeling a sticky and gummy substance binding them. Sunlight stabbed into his eyes and exploded with the ferocity of smoke powder, blinding him. He groaned and his stomach rolled again.
"You still live, lad, and Selune willing, that's a good sign. Come on around and let me see if you've still got your wits about you." A big, callused hand patted his cheek sharply enough to sting without jarring his head. "I've seen such blows as you've taken leave a man addled for the rest of his life, not knowing much more than a child."
Jherek tried his eyes again, squinting against the harsh light. Tears ran down his face but he kept them open. He quickly discovered he was on a ship, but he was in the cargo hold, in a portion that had obviously been set up as a makeshift brig. Iron bars above let the sunlight in but he couldn't tell if it was morning or afternoon. The sound of rigging creaking in the wind and someone calling out sharp orders reached his ears.
"Don't know if you remember me, lad, but the name's Hullyn." He was a short man, but nearly as broad as a dwarf, with thick sloping shoulders heavy with muscle. His skin carried a permanent windburn red from weathering the elements. He wore his graying blond hair tied back, letting his great beard and mustache roam free.
"I remember you," Jherek said. Hullyn was part of Breeze-runner's crew. That gave the young sailor some hope. "Where's Sabyna?" He sat up with assistance, putting his back against the bulwark for support.
Hullyn scowled. "She's topside with those thrice-damned pirates what's got our ship. They're using her as blackmail to keep us in line." He reached to a small bowl and took out a damp cloth, then pressed it against Jherek's head.
Jherek winced in pain, but he looked around the brig. From his previous experience aboard her, he knew Breeze-runner carried a crew of twenty men. All of them appeared to be there, including Captain Tynnel.
The captain stood leaning against the iron bars that separated them from the empty ship's hold. His arms crossed his chest and he looked disapprovingly at Jherek. He was short and had a small stature, but fierceness showed in every inch. Blond hair the color of bleached bone was tied back from his hatchet face. Bright blue eyes held the cutting edge of diamond. For the first time ever, his clothing appeared disheveled.
"You going to live?" Tynnel asked.
Jherek nodded, then regretted it immediately when pain shot down his neck and back. "Aye sir."
"You're a lucky man," Tynnel commented. "Vurgrom and his people were going to kill you, but Sabyna talked them out of it."
"They came looking for her."
"I know. From what I've gathered, they were in Baldur's Gate on bad business. Perhaps they even had something to do with the sahuagin raid as Vurgrom claims. I'm not certain."
"They took the ship?"
Tynnel blew out a short breath. "Would have been nine or ten of them against us, but they had Sabyna. If we hadn't cooperated, Vurgrom told me he would kill her. I believed him."
"Bastards like as not will kill us all afore it's over with. We'll have just put our necks in the executioner's noose for nothing."
Jherek turned his head slightly, spotting Aysel against the left side of the brig. Large and hairy, Aysel resembled an ape trying to pass itself off as a sailor. He was broad shouldered and heavy bellied, covered in scars. His shaggy black hair hung to his shoulders, almost covering the finger-length daggers that hung from ear hoops. He held his hands one on top of the other, two digits missing from his left hand. A soft