Windwalker - Elaine Cunningham [29]
Xzorsh tipped his spear skyward in a gesture of peace. "Greetings, Coralay. Do you seek me in particular, or did I swim into the wrong trap?"
The female lowered her trident but kept it at the ready. "A bul-lywug swarm gathered and sang songs of war. Why didn't you summon help?"
"None was needed," Xzorsh said.
Another elf swam to Coralay's side, a young male with a seagoing swagger and a spear still unblemished by battle. "What need has Xzorsh, the great sea ranger, of our help?" he said scornfully. "What need for sea elves at all, when Xzorsh counts every monster of the deep among his friends?"
Xzorsh stiffened at this sneering reference to Sittl, his long-time friend and partner, recently revealed as a deadly traitor to the Sea People. Sittl had been a malenti, a mutant of the evil sahuagin race. Like all malenti, Sittl hid a dark heart beneath the fair form of a sea elf.
"If you accuse me of treason," Xzorsh asked coolly, "you speak at cross currents with the Council of Waves. The court has heard the matter and declared me blameless."
"The malenti made a fool of you," persisted the youth.
"He fooled us all," Coralay said in a tone that demanded an end to the matter. She fixed a steady gaze upon the scout. "We're not here to swim yesterday's tides."
Xzorsh nodded, encouraging her to continue.
"Many bullywugs attacked that ship. Only eleven returned to the sea, dead or alive. You are known as a friend to human folk. You would not have left one of their ships in the hands of those monsters while you could still stand and fight."
"For those words, I thank you," Xzorsh said cautiously.
"Yet here you are."
For long moments they faced each other. "The bullywugs were defeated," he said at last.
"That many?" she said incredulously. "What manner of humankind sails that ship?"
"Northmen pirates, for the most part. With them sails a warrior from a land far to the east, and a powerful wizard."
The female's face hardened. "Speak of this magic user."
Xzorsh spread his hands. "The battle was won. What more need be said?"
"I have heard wordier tales told of another battle recently won," Coralay countered, "a battle fought on the shores and seas of Ruathym. There was magic there, as well. Tell me plainly: Is the drow priestess of Ruathym aboard that ship?"
"Why do you seek this knowledge? What use will you make of it?"
Coralay's eyes narrowed. "A strange response from a ranger, whose duty it is to inform the People."
"To inform, yes, but also to protect," Xzorsh added. To ensure that his meaning left no room for doubt, he lowered his spear back to guard position.
Astonished rifts of bubbles burst from the sea folk. "You would defend an evil drow against your own people?" one of them demanded.
The sea elf ranger turned his gaze toward the speaker. "Have you ever met this dark elf?"
The other elf blinked. "No."
"In that case, I respectfully suggest that you are in no position to judge her. Liriel is a princess in her land, trained since childhood in the ways of magic. She is a proven friend both to the humans of Ruathym and to the Sea People. It might interest you to know that she too was raised on stories of evil, deadly elves, with one difference: The villains of her childhood tales were the fair-skinned elves of the sky and sea!"
Coralay scowled. "It is not the same thing."
"Isn't it?" persisted Xzorsh. "People are not always what they seem. Night-black skin does not prove an evil heart any more than a fair, familiar face offers guarantee of friendship. The malenti Sittl wrote this lesson in runes of blood."
The elf war leader regarded him in silence for a long moment. "We will consider your words. Will you also consider mine?"
Xzorsh inclined his head respectfully.
"As you say, people are not always what they seem. We often see what we expect to see, or what we wish to see. Perhaps you are right about this drow. She has fought at your side