Under Fallen Stars - Mel Odom [69]
Looking at the leather shoe, Jherek took small satisfaction from the knowledge that the fight that had cost him his berth aboard Breezerunner hadn't left Aysel unmarked.
"Is Sabyna all right?" Jherek asked. He tried not to think about Sabyna being alone topside with Vurgrom and his pirates, or what could have happened to her.
"Aye," Tynnel replied. "So far. She's a mage, though still fairly new to her craft, but enough of one that none of Vur-grom's curs has tried to touch her." The captain's hawk's face tightened, and white spots of anger showed in his cheeks. "She could probably have gotten away from them if not for us. Vurgrom told her if she left, our lives would be forfeit. Likewise, if we try to escape, she'll suffer."
"We're not at sea," Jherek said. He assembled the information he had, working through the pieces as Malorrie had always trained him to.
"No," Tynnel agreed. "We're on the River Chionthar, heading east."
"Why?"
A pirate walked by the iron-barred hold above, never even glancing down into the cargo area. All of Breezerunner's crew watched the man, and no few curses and epithets were muttered.
A sour look darkened Tynnel's face and he asked, "You've never heard of Vurgrom the pirate, self-styled Vurgrom the Mighty?"
Jherek shook his head. From his exposure while on his father's ship, he'd learned names and stories of most of the pirates of the Nelanther Isles. Vurgrom was new to him, as was any reason why a Nelanther pirate would head inland across Faerun.
"If you get a chance to talk to the arrogant son of a bitch," Tynnel said, "he'll tell you all about himself. As he tells it, he's the Pirate Lord of Immurk's Hold in the Sea of Fallen Stars. He's planning on taking Breezerunner as far east as she'll go."
"That's not possible," Jherek said. "The River Chionthar doesn't run all the way to the Sea of Fallen Stars. It branches out at the Reaching Woods, going on north and south and ending in the Sunset Mountains and the Giant's Plain, respectively. Both are still leagues from the Dragonmere and the Sea of Fallen Stars."
Tynnel eyed the young sailor with renewed curiosity. "You seem to be well aware of the lay of the land here. Most of the men aboard Breezerunner couldn't have told you anything more than that the River Chionthar was where Baldur's Gate was."
"I've never been there," Jherek said. "I had a harsh schoolmaster who had a love of cartography. He taught me how to find my way around by the heavens at night, and the places those star readings could take me."
"An education is a wonderful thing," Tynnel said. "If you've had one, I have to wonder why you've settled for the life of a sailor."
"Settled?" Jherek echoed. "Captain Tynnel, living out on the sea is all I've ever aspired to do."
"She's as harsh and demanding a mistress as ever was," Hullyn said, interrupting the tension that had come up between Tynnel and Jherek, "ain't she, Cap'n?"
Tynnel remained quiet for a moment, eyeing Jherek suspiciously. "Quite right, Hullyn."
The pounding inside Jherek's head was unrelenting. He cradled his head in his hands and wished the pain would subside while Hullyn continued ministering to him. A momentary lightness touched his senses. He waited it out, then took a deep breath, feeling some of the pain seem to leave when he exhaled through his mouth, controlling the pain the way Malorrie had taught him.
"Steady, lad," the big man said gruffly. "Now that you're awake and the bleeding seems to have stopped, let's see about getting you cleaned up."
Breezerunner suddenly came about, throwing everyone off-balance as she crested the river flow.
"She's against the wind," Jherek said. "He's tacking her from shore to shore to get any distance from her sails."
Tynnel nodded. "Aye, and she's fighting the magery Vur-grom's forcing on her."
"What magery?" Jherek asked.
"Using Sabyna to keep us in check was only one of the reasons Vurgrom kept her. He took us so we couldn't report to the watch in Baldur's Gate and maybe stir up some kind of pursuit. He knew he couldn't