City of Torment

CHAPTER NINE

The Year of the Secret (1396 DR) Green Siren docked in Veltalar, Aglarond

Raidon sat, his back against the port rail with his legs folded, watching the wizard.

Seren paced Green Siren's deck. She paused, bent, and with quick strokes made a change to a sigil she'd chalked earlier The alteration was too subtle for Raidon to tell any real difference. The sigil was just one of hundreds that, in sum, formed a wide circle of arcane script in the open area between the central masts.

Seren scribed, Raidon watched, and every so often Thoster turned up with a vaguely worried expression. He heard Green Siren's crew going about general repairs and, farther off, other ships on the dock being loaded and unloaded. The squealing cries of gulls were an omnipresent counterpoint.

The monk knew the broad outline of Seren's plan to enhance the ship, she said she could make it briefly able to travel the deeps. Something to do with creating the proper resonance between the ship, its crew, and the elemental creatures she hoped to summon.

Raidon was content to watch, but Thoster kept popping up to pester the wizard. And… there he was again. The monk fixed the captain with a scowl, but the man failed to notice.

"What's that for?" said Thoster.

Seren had replaced her chalk with an odiferous fish corpse. It was the gleamtail jack she'd retrieved from the pool on Gethshemeth's isle. She bent, and with a wide stroke gave one of the sigils a greasy highlight.

The captain said, "I doubt that's sanitary."

Raidon considered asking Thoster to stop bothering Seren. She had things in hand and didn't need distractions.

Watching the woman eye each symbol critically before moving to the next, he decided to remain silent. If she were perturbed, she would tell Thoster to leave off herself. She wasn't shy.

He recalled his and Seren's visit to Rose Keep and recognized again he didn't know much about the wizard. He wondered why she'd decided to renounce Thay…

Raidon breathed out and tried once more to let go of worry and embrace his focus. He had a quest to fulfill.

Nothing else really mattered. Seren rolled a scroll out on a barrelhead and fixed the ends down with ballast stones. The gleamtail jack had stained her white clothing with streaks of green and brown. He couldn't recall ever seeing the woman's garments so dirty before.

The wizard noticed him looking, and with a wink and a whispered syllable, her gown was as unsoiled as ever.

She said, aDon*t worry, Raidon. I'm usually clean as the driven snow."

"Ah… good to know." "Hey," said Thoster, "done?"

"With the preparations. Now comes the incantation. Performing this part of the ritual will require another few hours, I think. It's hard to say for certain."

"Hmm. Seems like the kind of thing you'd know with greater certainty," said Thoster. "If you're calling up some swarm of beasties from the Chaos, I think-"

Seren said, "Captain, I'm adapting a rite meant for another purpose to our needs. I've already explained this is somewhat experimental."

The captain grunted. Then he said, "So you have. Sorry." He doffed his hat and continued, "I promise not to trouble you again until you ask for help."

Seren said, "Thanks." She placed the dead and ragged gleamtail jack in the center of the summoning circle.

Thoster said, "Poor little fish. A sadder symbol to launch our epic voyage I can't imagine."

Seren broke out laughing, and Thoster joined her. Raidon frowned.

"So," said Thoster, "since this ain't been tried before, care to hazard a guess on what else to watch for?"

The wizard said, "I'll be calling into the realm where boundaries mean little and where gleamtail jacks school through the Chaos. I'm after the fish, but it's possible something else could get caught up in the summoning- something more dangerous and hungry."

"What are the chances of that happening?" Raidon said.

"Small. But real," Seren said. "When I near the end of the ritual, it wouldn't hurt for us to be on our guard."

"Should I cast off, then?" said Thoster Seren considered. "Yes. When I finish performing the ritual, the gleamtails appearing through the portal could draw quite a crowd. I don't relish such attention."

The captain said, "I can't imagine anything better!" Then he shouted to his crew, "Listen up, you miserable sacks! Cast off! Take us out of port. Take a heading due west until I tell you different!"

Sailors jumped at Thoster's voice. Even before he was done speaking, men and women began preparations to disembark. Activity swarmed the deck.

Raidon paid the bustling crew no attention, he closed his eyes and meditated. When he was able to force all thoughts from his head, he could achieve a singularly peaceful-

A voice from the dock broke into his blank sanctuary. "Hold, Green Siren! You're not cleared to depart!"

Raidon opened his eyes. A small force of soldiers was assembled at the end of the gangplank. He didn't know how long they'd been there.

The captain, who had made his way some distance down the deck, turned and yelled, "What're you going on about? We paid the docking fee!"

A man with a dagger naked in his hand stepped forward. He wore black leather armor and a red face mask. His eyes glittered with winter ice. He said, "I'm not the dockmaster- my name is Morgenthel. You are sheltering a criminal Thay has ordered her repatriation so she can face her crimes. Her name is Seren Juramot!" He pointed at the wizard. "Send her across!"

Seren said to no one in particular, "Dhenna Shavres, you bitch."

Raidon flexed his hands and stretched his legs.

Thoster yelled, "A criminal? I'm surprised Aglarond would take Thay's side in anything."

"I am not of Aglarond. I am collecting a bounty set by the regent. "

Seren put a hand to her mouth.

Raidon said, "She's not going anywhere. Seren forswore Thay. She's-"

Morgenthel interrupted, "Wrong! Seren didn't forswear Thay. The opposite. She made the smart move, she proclaimed Szass Tam her regent."

Raidon, Thoster, and several nearby crew members glanced at the wizard.

Seren tried to meet Raidon's gaze. "I…" The man in the red face mask continued, "She can't deny it. Truth is, to demonstrate her loyalty to the new regime, she pledged the Raven's Bluff Red Wizard enclave's treasury to Szass Tam's war coffers!"

Thoster said, "Seren's worked on Green Siren for mercenary pay at least a year. I'm certain she ain't got a treasury tucked away anywhere. You sure you got your facts straight?"

Morgenthel nodded. "It's her. She retrieved the treasury, but she never brought it to Thay. A failure that rose to Szass Tam's attention. Not a healthy status to attain. He declared her a traitor and put a price on her head."

Seren said, "It wasn't my fault! I secured the hoard, I was on my way. But think, Morgenthel! I was waylaid by the Year of Blue Fire just like everyone else. I lost the treasury and, for a time, even my magic! It's not my fault!"

Morgenthel shrugged. "None of that really matters, does it? A bounty's been placed on you, and I'm here to collect you, alive or dead. The regent can interrogate your corpse if you don't come willingly."

Raidon wondered if the wizard was so desperate for treasure because she needed it to make amends with Thay.

Whatever the truth, it was interfering with his own need. He didn't want messy complications. He expanded his chest to accommodate a slow, deep breath.

The monk said, "She's not coming with you. Seren is in my employ. When we finish our task, Seren's reward will be a treasure perhaps twice as large as she lost. Enough to pay off the price on her head."

Morgenthel snickered. "Do you really think that matters?"

Seren said, "Enough!" She pulled her wand. It spat green flames across the railing at the bounty hunter.

Morgenthel raised the dagger in his hand. The flame veered and caught on the dagger's tip. There, it spat and burned, caught like an animal brought up short by its leash. He yelled to his force, "Take the ship!"

People in leather armor surged up the gangplank, though the gangway's width only allowed two at a time.

"Cast off!" Thoster bellowed and unsheathed his golemwork sword. He slashed one of the thick hawser tie- downs holding the ship at dock. His crew rushed to emulate their captain.

Raidon stepped to the head of the plank to meet the boarders. He felt energy unfurling through his body, anticipating the contest.

The first two down the plank wielded hatchets. One charged him, the other threw her hatchet before closing.

The monk knocked the spinning hatchet out of the air with a slapping parry. The other axe, still clutched in its attacker's hand, he sidestepped. Even as the strike whistled past his shoulder, he swung one arm around and caught the wrist holding the weapon. He twisted the man's wrist and pulled it simultaneously. The man gasped and the hatchet fell free.

Raidon kept his grip on the wrist and held it just so, bones cracked. Then he shoved on the limb, keeping it rigidly twisted as he pushed. The man tripped backward, screaming in pain at his now loosely flopping arm, and slammed into the boarder immediately behind him. Both fell, one into the water.

Seren brandished her wand again. This time she ignored Morgenthel. A miniature ice storm erupted across the gangplank. The angled path became a winter slide. With cries of dismay, a quarter of the attacking force slid off either side and down the icy slope.

The bounty hunter's confident visage melted into a glower of hate. He yelled, "Take them!"

The majority of the boarders managed to keep their feet on the ice-slicked plank. They scrambled forward.

Raidon's roundhouse kick broke the first one's ribs even as it propelled him diagonally into the water. The second attacker, wielding a chain, spun and released.

The half-elf dipped his head back just enough to avoid the iron ball at the chain's end, then cut forward inside the radius of the swing. Before the chain wielder could whip the chain around a second time, Raidon stomped his instep, kneed him in the groin, and punched him in the throat. The fellow crumpled, losing his grip on his chain, which sailed backward toward the dock.

The plank shuddered, sending three more attackers into the bay. The monk retreated to solid ship decking. With a rending shriek, the gangplank suddenly ripped free of its pier mooring. Those closest to the dock leaped back to safety, but the remaining would-be boarders fell into the chop.

Green Siren had caught some wind in its deployed sails and was heading out of dock. A cheer leaped from the mouths of the crew. Thoster grinned and raised his sword.

Raidon watched Morgenthel. The man was livid. He yelled across the widening gap, "I'll find you again!" He raised his dagger, on which green fire still glimmered, and pointed it at Seren. "I have your scent!" Seren's eyes narrowed with concern. But she raised her chin. "The regent doesn't accept failure from his underlings, Morgenthel, no matter how insignificant they are in his hierarchy. I'm proof of that. This marks your first failure. How many more before he replaces you?"

She sniffed and turned away.

Raidon stayed on deck. He watched the furious bounty hunter and Veltalar slowly recede as Green Siren sailed west.

The man's revelation concerning Seren disturbed Raidon. She hadn't been forthright with him. He couldn't do anything about it now, he didn't want to take the time trying to replace her with a spellcaster shadowed with less history and fewer enemies. Also, Seren had a strategy for reaching Xxiphu. How many wizards could do the same, especially given how many had lost their spells altogether? There was nothing for it but to move ahead with the plan.

Besides, if they reached Xxiphu, Seren's history wouldn't matter. In Raidon's estimation, neither she, nor he, nor anyone aboard Green Siren was likely to survive the trip.