The Binding Stone

CHAPTER 8

Dandra bit her lip to hold back her laughter as Natrac spun out the punchline of a long and embarrassingly self-deprecating anecdote. He probably wouldn’t have noticed if she had smiled, though. All of his attention was on Singe. The wizard sat near the head of the captain’s table, to the right of Vennet’s empty chair. His face was a stern mask of disapproval. He had to be working even harder than her, Dandra knew, to keep a straight face against Natrac’s frantic attempts to ingratiate himself.

In truth, Singe had told her their first night on Lighting on Water, Natrac had been right all along. House Deneith had no interest in such a small, isolated operation as Natrac’s. Still, he hadn’t been able to resist winding up the blustering half-orc. The ship’s other passengers had picked up on the joke as well. Even thin, hunched Pandon kept his face buried in a goblet to hide his grin as Natrac’s anecdote lurched to an end. The cabin was silent. Dandra was certain she saw a drop of sweat run down the half-orc’s face as he waited for a reaction from Singe.

In the back of her mind, Tetkashtai gave a silent sniff of disapproval. Childish. Dandra ignored her. Singe straightened and she could see a grave and measured response growing in his eyes.

It never reached his lips. The door of the cabin swung open and a panting crewman burst through to point at Natrac. “Captain says get yourself a ft!”

Natrac’s gray skin grew even paler and for a moment he seemed frozen between responding to the captain and toadying to Singe. The urgency in the crewman’s face was obvious, though.

“Go!” Singe shouted at Natrac. “Go!”

The half-orc leaped from his seat and raced out of the cabin. Vennet’s crewman went with him. The silence around the captain’s table was real.

Dandra stood up. “We should see what it is.”

Singe nodded and rose as well.

They reached the hatch of the aft hold hard on Natrac’s heels. Dandra could hear the sounds of fighting below. A brawl had broken out. The crew of Lightning on Water were clustered around the hatch. Vennet, Geth, and two big crewmen were disappearing down into the hold.

Only a heartbeat later, a terrible snarl ripped up from below.

“Geth!” Dandra exclaimed.

“Twelve moons,” cursed Singe. “That can’t be good!”

He pushed through the clustered crew, shoved past Natrac, and darted down the steps into the hold. Dandra followed close behind him. Down below, the two big crewmen were laying into Natrac’s brawling clients. Vennet had waded into the fight as well, pulling the combatants apart with a ferocious ease that belied his slight frame, cursing blasphemously the whole time.

Geth, however, was bounding straight to the heart of the free-for-all. The tall woman who fought there whirled at his approach. Anger washed over a face flushed from combat and Ashi gave the screaming battle cry of the Bonetree hunters.

Light of il-Yannah! wailed Tetkashtai. Where did she come from?

Dandra watched Geth shift as he charged-his hair bristling and growing thicker, his body becoming subtly tougher, even the features of his face turning coarser and more beastlike. As he closed with Ashi, the hunter snapped a leg around in a fast kick that smashed into his side. Geth shrugged it off.

He responded with hammering punches of his own. Ashi stumbled backward under the flurry, barely able to block the shifter’s fists. When she managed to react with punches and kicks herself, Geth swung his right arm to defend himself with blocks that just as often turned into heavy blows. Dandra could see why Geth’s weapon of choice was the massive great-gauntlet-it was a extension of his own natural fighting style. Spinning and darting around Ashi, he took all of the punishment that she served out and returned it in equal measure.

But the Bonetree hunter had the advantage of height and the beams in the ceiling of the hold ran only a couple of feet above her head. Ashi caught Geth with a solid, double-fisted blow that seemed to rattle even the tough shifter, then as he shook off the strike, jumped up and wrapped her hands around the top of one beam. Hanging from it, she snapped her body forward, putting her entire weight behind a stomping kick with both feet square to Geth’s chest. The shifter made a wheezing noise and flailed back away from her.

Ashi dropped to the ground in a crouch. Across the hold, her eyes met Dandra’s. The kalashtar froze. Geth was down. The burly sailors had their hands full keeping back Natrac’s struggling brawlers. Singe stood in front of her protectively, but he was unarmed-and his fiery spells were as useless on a wooden ship as most of her own powers. Most, though not all. She reached desperately for the vayhatana she had used to move the stone in the Bull Hole. If she was fast, she could use it hold Ashi back. Tetkashtai, I need your help!

The only response from the presence was another wail of despair.

To one side of the hold, though, Vennet turned from bashing a man’s head against a barrel. Dandra saw his eyes narrow as he took in the hunter’s menacing stance. He shoved the man he had been struggling with away and turned to face Ashi. Even as her crouch turned into an outstretched leap for Dandra, concentration flickered across the half-elf’s features. The dragonmark that patterned the back of his neck shimmered.

The roaring of a gale filled the hold. Dandra felt it only as a strong breeze, but in a path in front of Vennet, loose objects and abandoned clothing flapped and tumbled, blown up into the air. The worst of the windstorm, however, was focused directly on Ashi. Its unseen force snatched the leaping hunter out of the air and slammed her back into a stack of crates. Her impact scattered them and left her sprawled on the floor, struggling to climb back to her feet in the face of the howling wind. She grabbed at a big, heavy barrel and clung to it.

Now, Tetkashtai, urged Dandra. She reached into herself and forced an image of what they needed to do onto Tetkashtai. The frightened presence finally responded, entwining her skill with Dandra’s raw power.

A ripple of force passed through the air as invisible vayhatana wrapped around Ashi’s taut body-and around the barrel she clung to. With all of her will, Dandra held the two together. Trapped even as Vennet’s wind died away, Ashi spat and struggled, but the best she could do was rock the barrel from side to side.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dandra could see Vennet staring at her. All of Natrac’s other “clients” were staring, too-at her, Vennet, and a slowly rising Geth. The brawlers were silent, shifting uncomfortably.

Natrac peered down from above. “Is it over?” he asked.

Vennet’s angry gaze shifted to the half-orc and rage fell over his face. Natrac flinched and slowly slipped back through the hatch.

The mood around the captain’s table a short time later was far grimmer than it had been earlier in the evening. Vennet sat at the table’s head, Natrac and Geth to one side, Dandra and Singe to the other. In the aft hold, Ashi had been placed in shackles and chained to bolts driven into the wood of the ship. Lightning on Water had no brig. Chains had been the best solution Vennet could come up with. For the remainder of their voyage, the rest of the men and women who had taken Natrac’s offer of passage would sleep on the ship’s deck, their good behavior guaranteed by a promise from the captain that if they stepped out of line they would have to deal with him and Geth directly.

A few swift questions had already uncovered the instigator of the brawl: an ugly man who was still unconscious after Ashi had slammed the back of his head against the floor of the hold three or four times in quick succession. It was generally acknowledged that she had been defending herself against the man and two of his cronies-at least initially. Once the fighting had started, everyone had joined in, most siding with the ugly man. Ashi, it seemed, had not made herself popular among Natrac’s clients.

Natrac also held the key to how the Bonetree hunter had come to be aboard the ship in the first place. “It happened at the last moment,” the half-orc said, shrinking back from the combined gazes of the others at the table. “I was loading my clients on the pier at Yrlag when she came running up and demanded a place onboard. When I explained that there was no more room, she turned to the biggest man in line and hit him so hard that she broke his jaw with a single blow.” He spread his hands. “How was I supposed to pass over someone who fights like that?”

“Grandfather Rat,” cursed Geth. Dandra watched as he glowered at Singe. “I knew I saw her in Yrlag. She must have run ahead of the other hunters and guessed where we were heading-on her own, she could have slipped past us. The Yrlag Bridge is the only way across the Grithic from the north. All she had to do was wait for us there, then follow us through the town.”

“And when she found out we were taking passage on Lightning on Water, decided to get on, too,” Dandra added. She shivered. “She could have crept out and killed us at any time. We should be lucky that she was the only one.”

Vennet glared at all of them. “So she’s on my ship because of you three,” he said angrily. “Whatever’s going on here, I’d like to know about it now!”

Dandra hesitated, unsure of what to tell the dragonmarked half-elf. Singe came to her rescue. “Her name is Ashi, Vennet. She’s part of a Shadow March clan called the Bonetree. They’re a cult of the Dragon Below.”

“Sovereign Host protect us,” said Natrac.

Vennet’s face settled into a mask of intensity. “Tell me what this is about,” he said tightly. His eyes grew hard and bright as Singe recounted Dandra’s flight from the Bonetree, the attack on Bull Hollow, the trio’s escape to Yrlag, and their determination to see an end to Dah’mir’s power. The wizard made no mention of Tetkashtai, Medalashana, Virikhad or the cult leader’s terrible experiments, instead implying only that Dandra had been abducted as a potential sacrifice to the dark powers that the cult worshipped.

When he was finished, Vennet sat back, his expression blank. Natrac, on the other hand, was pale. The half-orc stood slowly. “Vennet,” he said, “if there’s nothing else you need from me, I’d like the return to my cabin and barricade myself inside until we reach Zarash’ak.” He made a sign of protection against evil. “If you do the sensible thing and drop that cultist over the side, let me know.”

“I’m not going to drop anyone over the side, Natrac,” Vennet growled. “House Lyrandar has rules against that. She’s chained up well enough. If you want to shut yourself in your cabin for two days, you’re welcome to. Keep what you know to yourself. I don’t want a panic onboard.”

Natrac nodded tightly. “I’ll be in my cabin as long as she’s alive.” He turned to go, but laid one heavy hand on Dandra’s shoulder on the way out. “You’re lucky to have escaped,” he said. “I had a cousin who was taken by a cult in Zarash’ak itself. We kept finding pieces of him in the canals for a week. And they say the cults in the marshes are even worse.”

He walked out, shutting the door softly behind himself. Vennet looked after him for a moment, then glanced at Dandra. “Is it true?” he asked. “Are they worse?”

Her belly tightened. The horrific memories she had shared with Singe and Geth surged back at her, forcing a whimper from Tetkashtai. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “I don’t have anything to compare them to.”

“If Dah’mir commands dolgrims and a dolgaunt, he must be very powerful,” Vennet said.

“You know what dolgrims are?” asked Singe.

“I’ve seen a lot of things I’ve tried to forget.” said Vennet. Dandra thought she saw his eyes dart briefly toward Geth.

The shifter only grunted. “What are we going to do with Ashi? Dropping her over the side sounds like a good idea.”

“Dropping people over the side is bad for business,” the half-elf said firmly. “The crew sees it, they start talking, word gets around …”

He sat back in his chair. “When we reach Zarash’ak, we turn her over to the authorities there.”

“I’ve been to Zarash’ak,” Dandra reminded him. “The authorities there seemed as likely to turn her loose as imprison her-if she didn’t just escape from them. Either way, she’s going to start tracking us again!”

Vennet frowned. “What am I supposed to do then? Carry her all the way to my next stop at Sharn?”

Dandra glanced at Singe and Geth. The wizard raised his eyebrows. “Why not?” he asked. “Even if she escapes or is turned loose there, she’s going to be hundreds of miles away from us.”

“You’re asking me to carry a dangerous cargo,” Vennet said darkly. He steepled his fingers in front of his face for a moment, then looked up. “An extra five hundred gold from your letter of credit when we reach Zarash’ak and I’ll do it.”

Singe’s eyebrows climbed even higher. “Twelve moons, you’re mercenary!”

“No,” said Vennet, “that would be the province of House Deneith.” He gave the wizard a biting smile. “And unlike Natrac, I wouldn’t dream of cutting into Deneith’s business.” There was a knock at the door. “Come in!” Vennet called.

One of the big crewmen who had gone into the hold along with Geth and Vennet opened the door. “Beg you pardon, captain, but we may have found out why the fighting started. It sounds like the woman had valuables with her-the first men into the fight were trying to intimidate her into handing them over.”

“Not a very successful attempt,” commented Vennet. “Have you looked for these valuables, Karth?”

The crewman shook his head and flushed. “They’d be in the hold, captain, and none of us want to go down with …”

His voice trailed off, but Dandra could guess what he meant. None of the crew wanted to be around Ashi. The hunter had done a lot of damage and even chained up she was intimidating.

Vennet rolled his eyes. “Is there any word what kind of valuables we’re talking about?” he asked crossly.

“Some kind of jewelry,” said the crewman. “Some of Natrac’s gang say it was like a headband set with diamonds.”

“I find it hard to believe that a Marcher savage is going to be carrying a diamond bloody headband, Karth. Or that one of Natrac’s thugs would recognize diamonds if he saw them.”

Tetkashtai stirred uneasily within Dandra’s mind. Dandra, a headpiece set with crystals … An image of the spidery, crystal-studded devices Dah’mir’s mind flayers had used on them flickered within her light.

I know, said Dandra. “Vennet,” she said aloud, “I’d like to look for this headband.”

Geth and Singe stared at her, but Vennet tilted his head, then nodded slowly. “If you want to,” he said. “You can’t go down alone, though-”

“I’ll go with her,” Singe said. He shot a glance at Geth. The shifter growled agreement as well.

“We’ll all go,” said Vennet. “Karth, fetch a couple of lanterns. We’ll need more light down there.”

As they left the captain’s cabin and paced back along the ship’s length, Vennet leaned close to Dandra. “You think there’s something special about this headband?”

Dandra clenched her teeth. “I think it might be connected to the cult of the Dragon Below.” The half-truth seemed to satisfy Vennet.

Karth was waiting by the hatch down to the aft hold, two everbright lanterns in his hands. Vennet took them, passing one to Singe, then nodded at Karth to raise the hatch.

The hold was silent. Geth crouched down and peered into the dimness, then nodded and went in all the way. Vennet followed. Singe gestured for Dandra to go ahead of him, but she swallowed and stepped aside. Ashi might have been shackled, but facing the hunter was still going to be difficult. “After you,” she said. Singe nodded and descended the steps. Dandra swallowed. Tetkashtai had already drawn herself into a tight, tense spark. Cautiously, Dandra stepped down into the hold.

From where she sat chained to the floor, bound hand and foot, Ashi glared at her. The Bonetree hunter’s face was bruised and swelling from the brawl and her ferocious fight with Geth, and there was fierce hatred in her eyes.

Vennet and Singe kept their distance from the bound hunter, but Geth strode right up to her. His lips peeled back from his teeth and he growled in Ashi’s face. The hunter’s gaze shifted slowly from Dandra to Geth. Her lips twitched as well, but they didn’t part. She kept her silence. Her arms, however, tensed against her shackles.

“Get away from her,” said Vennet. He grabbed Geth and pulled him away, then faced Ashi himself. “Where’s this headband trinket that started the fight?” he demanded.

Ashi didn’t answer. Her eyes didn’t waver from Geth. The shifter growled again. “Beat it out of her,” he said, his voice thick and almost irrational.

Ashi’s jaw tightened, but her expression of angry resolve didn’t change.

“Geth!” Dandra hissed. A part of Dandra understood what Geth wanted: a measure of revenge against their enemy. The temptation to hurt Ashi as she had been hurt herself was strong. Dandra pushed the urge away. She stepped up to Geth and grabbed his shoulders. The shifter’s chest was heaving. “We’re better than that,” she said. “Beat her while she’s bound or kill her in cold blood and we bring ourselves down to her level.”

To her surprise, the statement provoked more of a reaction from Ashi than any of Geth’s threats-the hunter drew a sharp breath and spat out a harsh, deeply accented rebuke. “Blood in your mouth, outclanner! I’m not a torturer. Or a murderer either!”

Geth turned on her. “One of your clan murdered Adolan!”

Ashi’s eyes narrowed. “The Gatekeeper? He died fighting, like the hunters you killed, shifter. If that’s murder, then there’s more of my clan’s blood on your blade than yours on mine!”

Dandra felt Geth’s body stiffen under her hands, his massive muscles flexing. She shoved him back several more steps from the bound hunter. Singe grabbed him from the other side, helping to restrain him, though Dandra was reasonably certain that he could have wrenched himself away from both of them easily. After a moment, he slowly relaxed. Dandra let him go, then looked at Ashi.

“The headband,” she said. “Where is it?”

The hunter lapsed back into sullen silence. Dandra looked around the hold. Searching the stacks of crates, barrels, and sacks-not to mention the blankets and packs Natrac’s clients had left behind-would take hours. There was another possibility though. If the “diamond headband” was, as both she and Tetkashtai suspected, some kind of psionic-empowered creation, it would more than just a physical presence. She cleared her thoughts and opened her mind’s eye.

A swirling mist took shape in her vision, similar to Tetkashtai’s presence but shadowy instead of glowing with light. The feel of it filled her dread, but she focused her mind and pointed where the aura seemed strongest. A heavy sack rested in front of a pile of crates. “Behind there,” she said.

The slight tightening of Ashi’s face told her she was right. Singe stepped forward and dragged the sack aside to reveal a gap between the crates. He held his lantern close, peering inside, then got down on the floor and stretched one arm deep into the gap. His hand emerged with a well-worn pouch of soft leather. He passed it to Geth. Dandra watched Ashi for any further reaction, but the hunter’s expression had taken on the harsh coldness of stone. Geth drew the string on the pouch open and spilled its contents into his palm.

A band, perhaps three fingers wide, of loosely woven copper wire studded with large, roughly cut crystals slid out. The crystals caught the lantern light and flashed brightly, but Vennet said, “Those aren’t diamonds.”

“No,” agreed Dandra, “they aren’t.”

There was something strangely familiar about the aura of the band, like a face half-recognized. She reached out to touch the band.

The aura that surrounded it flickered and reacted like a living thing, rearing back then snapping toward her hungrily. Dandra snatched her hand back with a gasp. The band sought a living host-it clearly had little power on its own-but there was still a mind behind it, a mind reaching out for a connection. And the mind behind the band …

Tetkashtai recognized that mind only a moment before Dandra did. A name echoed in Dandra’s mind. A haze of horror settled on her as she turned and stared at Ashi.

“Medalashana,” she said, her voice trembling. “Medalashana is alive. This band lets you communicate with her.”

The hunter’s face went pale with a mix of anger and surprise. She looked away-enough of an answer to tell Dandra that she was right.

“Who’s Medalashana?” asked Vennet.

Dandra hesitated, then answered. “A friend. Dah’mir took her at the same time he took me. I thought she was dead.”

“You don’t look happy to know she’s alive.”

“I …” Dandra looked back to the crystal band. Geth was still holding it, though he looked a little unsettled. He’d be even more unsettled if he could see what she saw: the aura of the device, coiled and writhing like a snake. “I don’t think I am. The band has a sense of her mind about it, but it’s dark. Mad. If Medalashana’s alive, if she has her powers …” She swallowed. “It’s only because she’s given herself to Dah’mir and become one of his followers.”

Geth’s hands trembled. Dandra gestured for him to put the band away and he slid it back into the pouch, then quickly handed it to her. Dandra could still feel the device’s aura, seething inside the leather.

“Twelve moons,” said Singe from the floor. “Natrac’s thugs saw Ashi with the headband, didn’t they? That means she used it while she’s been on the ship. Dah’mir knows we’re coming!”

“If he doesn’t,” Dandra said grimly, “he at least knows we’re on our way to Zarash’ak.” She looked at Vennet. “We can go now.”

“Wait, Dandra,” said Singe. He leaned back down to the gap between the crates and wriggled his arm inside again. “I felt something else in-”

Ashi howled at his words and lunged forward as far as her shackles would allow. Dandra gasped, the disembodied chorus of whitefire snapping into her mind out of instinct. Geth growled and brought up his fists. Vennet’s hand went to a cutlass he had strapped on in his cabin. Ashi paid no attention to any of them, however. Her eyes were fixed on Singe.

“Outclanner! Touch that and I promise I will hunt you down and kill you!”

The hunter’s threat washed over Singe. He looked at her as he sat up. “I thought you were trying to do that anyway, Ashi,” he said calmly. He held out the long bundle, wrapped in a length of torn blanket, that his fingers had found jammed into the gap. A flick of his wrist and the cloth fell away to reveal a sheathed sword.

Vennet spat at the sight of it as Ashi let loose another howl of outrage. “Storm at dawn! I told Natrac to make his thugs didn’t bring any weapons onboard!”

“If Natrac was as eager to get Ashi onboard as he says, I don’t imagine she had any trouble slipping it past him.”

Singe stood up to examine the sword in lantern light. The scabbard that it rested in was crude, but the sword was much more sophisticated work, fifty years old or more to judge by its shape and the design of its hilt. The pommel had been worn almost smooth, but hints of gilt clung to the metal and there was still a trace of some kind of symbol on it. He turned it to the light.

The faded remains of a lion, a ram, and a dragon stared back at him-the heads of a chimera. Singe gasped in surprise and whipped the sword free of the scabbard. Light flashed on a fine magewrought blade, patiently honed to razor sharpness. The years had not, however, obscured the inscription on the bright metal: Words teach and spirit guides.

“Grandmother Wolf!” said Geth. “That’s the sword Ner used when I fought him.”

“It’s the sword of the huntmaster of the Bonetree!” Ashi raged. “Sheathe it, outclanner, or I’ll tear out your innards with my bare hands!”

“What it is,” said Singe, “is an honor blade of the Sentinel Marshals of House Deneith. These aren’t given out to just anyone.” He looked at Ashi. “Where did a Marcher clan get this?”

The hunter closed her mouth and snarled at him.

Singe shrugged. “It should be returned to House Deneith. They’ll know who it was presented to.” He slid the sword back into its scabbard and looked at Ashi again. “If it was Ner’s weapon, why isn’t he carrying it now?”

“Ner is dead,” Ashi said. She glared at Dandra. “Medala killed him when we failed to capture you.”

Dandra’s hands tightened on the pouch containing the crystal band. Vennet glanced at Ashi, then leaned in close to Singe and the kalashtar. “I’d keep those safe if I were you,” he murmured. “I have a strongbox in my cabin …”

Singe glanced at Dandra, then shook his head as he sheathed the honor blade. “I think we’ll keep both of these close.”

“What about her?” asked Geth, jerking his head toward Ashi. The hunter glared back at them, hunched over in her bonds.

“Two days to Zarash’ak,” Vennet promised. “I’ll put a watch on her and check in myself. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

The next two days passed with a strange tension onboard the ship. Vennet’s crew trod warily around Natrac’s clients, who themselves seemed intimidated by the powers and strength that Geth, Dandra, and Vennet had displayed in taking down Ashi. Natrac remained locked away in his cabin, his absence causing great confusion among the other passengers. All of them knew about the brawl and somehow word got around that Vennet had confined Natrac to his cabin as punishment for bringing Ashi onboard. There were no more meals at the captain’s table-the passengers took their meals with the crew or in their own cabins. Singe didn’t see Natrac emerge from his frightened seclusion even for food.

True to his word, Vennet made sure two big sailors kept watch on the aft hold at all times. Ashi herself remained disturbingly silent. For his own part, Singe spent time with his spellshard, studying magic that he could use against the hunter-should she escape-without risk of setting Lightning on Water on fire. As she had on previous occasions when he had studied the arcane text captured in the fist-sized dragonshard, Dandra watched him with quiet fascination.

“Why fire?” she asked as he finished his studies in the ship’s bow late in the morning of the second day.

Singe smiled at her, then looked out beyond the rail. Some time during the night they had entered Zarash Bay, the gateway to the Shadow Marches. The low marshy southern coast of the Marches lay across the horizon like a haze, drawing closer as the day passed. “Fire challenges me,” he said. “You have to be careful with it. Spells of fire only have one purpose: to destroy. And if you’re not careful, you can destroy a lot more than you intend to.” His grin twitched to one side as he looked back to her. “Most people, even a lot of other wizards, are afraid of fire for that reason.”

“But you’re not?”

“Probably less than I should be.” He tucked his spellshard away in the belt pouch that kept it close to him at all times-the only reason it had stayed with him at Bull Hollow and through all kinds of battles over the years-and held out his left hand to show Dandra the ring he wore. “This was an inheritance from my great-grandfather. I was given it on my sixteenth birthday. It protects me from fire. Probably not the best gift to give a rebellious adolescent, but I don’t think my parents knew what it really was.”

Dandra examined the ring. “I know a power that does the same thing,” she said. She reached out and took his hand, her fingers parting his to look at the ring from all sides. Her touch tickled.

“What about your powers?” he asked and immediately regretted it as Dandra stiffened. He felt blood rush to his face. “I mean, what about Tetkashtai’s …” he began again awkwardly but Dandra shook her head.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I know what you mean.” She released his hand and sat back. “A psion’s powers are a reflection of her psyche. Tetkashtai is … forceful. She’s a fighter and she chose to follow a path suited to swift victory: the powers that she honed, her combat skills-” Dandra pressed fingers to her chest “-even her creation of me to augment her own resolve. Fire suits Tetkashtai.”

Singe hesitated for a moment, then asked a question that had lingered in his mind since Dandra had opened her memories to him and Geth. “Is that why Virikhad loved her?”

“Loved? I-” Dandra winced, then shook her head. “Tetkashtai would prefer we didn’t talk about that.”

“Oh.” Singe glanced at the yellow-green crystal around Dandra’s neck and shifted uncomfortably. “Sorry, Tetkashtai.” He looked back at Dandra. “She can hear me, right?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Is it very different being …” He gestured to the crystal.

Dandra nodded. “To Tetkashtai, it’s torture, able to see and hear but unable to do anything more,” she said. “The only influence she has on the world is through me and even that’s limited. We share our powers-we both have the knowledge, but I have most of the raw energy and she has most of the skill. Do you remember after the Bull Hole, when I was so drained? It was because Tetkashtai was trying to punish me by drawing away. Without her, I exhausted myself moving the stone that capped the Hole. But without me to work through, Tetkashtai can’t use her powers at all.”

Singe cocked his head. “How is Medalashana able to use her powers to communicate through the crystal band?”

Dandra’s lips pressed together and she hesitated before answering. “Singe, when I told you that Medalashana could only be alive if she yielded to Dah’mir, there was … something else. I couldn’t say it because Vennet was with us and later, I wasn’t sure how to tell you.” She looked him in the eyes. “If Medalashana has her powers back, it’s because she has been returned to her body, either by Dah’mir or by her own twisted will. Either way, it means it’s possible to reverse what Dah’mir did.”

“That’s good!” Singe said-then the underlying meaning of what Dandra was saying hit him. He struggled to keep a smile on his face. “So you and Tetkashtai would switch back if you could?”

“It’s her body.”

“I guess it is.” He stood up. “What about Virikhad?”

“What about him?” Dandra asked, rising as well. Singe felt blood rush to his face again.

“I mean, do you think he’s alive?” he said quickly. “Like Medalashana?”

Dandra paused, then said. “Tetkashtai hopes he is.”

“And you?”

She shook her head.

A shout interrupted them. “Shallows ahead!” called a lookout. “Approaching land.”

Up ahead, the long bay narrowed to the mouth of a meandering river, by no means large enough to allow Lightning on Water to progress at her full speed. As they came up on the river, the elemental gale that had howled in Singe’s ears for five days faded away. The misty ring that bound the elemental to the ship shimmered and solidified once more and their speed dropped. Without the elemental’s speed, the hull of the ship slid back down into the water, hiding the great running-fins once more. It seemed like they were crawling through the water, though Singe knew they were still making as good time as any conventional ship could hope for.

Glancing back, he saw Vennet surrender the helm to a junior officer, then make his way forward, collecting Geth as he went. Shifter and half-elf joined them in the bow of the ship. Vennet gathered them all close together in a conspiratorial huddle. “Listen,” he said quietly, “we’ll reach Zarash’ak at about dusk. You can disembark with the other passengers then if you want to, but I’ve got a problem I’d appreciate if you help me with.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the stern of the ship. “I have cargo in that aft hold that needs to be taken ashore here.”

“And you can’t unload it with Ashi tied down in the middle of the hold,” guessed Dandra.

Vennet nodded. “Aye. I have a plan, though.” He glanced at each of them. “I know a man who lives close to the docks and he has a strongroom in his house. Between the four of us and Karth, I think we can walk Ashi that far. Because we’re docking so close to dark, it won’t seem odd if I give the crew the night on shore and leave unloading for the morning. Once they’re all off the ship, we can get Ashi away without anyone getting alarmed. Then when the unloading is finished …”

“… we bring her back onboard, shackle her down again, and you carry her off for Sharn.” Singe scratched at his chin under his beard. The plan struck him as risky. “Can’t you unload the forward hold, move her up there, then unload the aft?”

Vennet looked at him like he was an idiot. “The ship needs to be balanced, Singe.”

“Really?” He felt half like the captain was pulling his leg, but Vennet’s expression was serious.

“Leave questions of sailing to House Lyrandar and I’ll leave questions of defense to House Deneith.” Vennet glanced at them all, then looked back to Singe. “Help me with this and I’ll waive the fee for taking her to Sharn.”

That was five hundred gold. “Done,” Singe said quickly. Vennet clapped him on the shoulder.

“Good man. Thank you.” The half-elf stepped back. “It won’t take long for the crew to clear off once we’re tied up. Be ready.” He grinned at them all. “In the meantime, you might want to keep yourselves out of the way. If you thought leaving port was busy onboard a ship, you don’t want to see how busy the crew is coming into port.”

Vennet hadn’t been joking about how busy the crew would be. As Lightning on Water slid up the river, the ship’s crew scrambled all over her, above deck and below. Vennet was as busy as his men, maybe even busier. Singe and Dandra tried to find a moment to get into the forward hold to collect their meager gear-including the honor blade Singe had taken from Ashi and the crystal band, cunningly hidden by Dandra to avoid the necessity of carrying it constantly-but so many sailors moved through the hatch that it was easier to avoid it.

“It will only take a few moments to gather,” Dandra pointed out. “It can wait.”

Singe grimaced. “I’d feel better about having everything to hand.” Geth grinned at him and patted his own gear, brought up on deck days earlier. Singe gave him a cool glare.

At least he and Dandra were unencumbered as they gathered with the other passengers to watch as the ship came into port at Zarash’ak. The City of Stilts was, Singe thought critically, far from the most impressive port he had ever seen. True to its name, the city’s wooden buildings and plank streets sprawled above river and marsh on a forest of stilts, props, and piles. Singe couldn’t help but think of a child’s makeshift fort carried to extremes. Still, there was something curious to the way Zarash’ak almost hovered above the water, long rickety bridges leaping from platform to platform. Small boats skimmed the shadowed water around and between the piles. Smoke rose above the city, mingling with evening mist and merging with the twilight sky. Croaking frogs and calling marsh birds made a soft chorus, broken only by the rhythmic shouts between dockworkers and sailors as Lightning was guided into her berth. The entire scene was surprisingly beautiful.

As the ship bumped against the dock and the other passengers waited patiently for the gangplank to be lowered, Singe looked around. There was a figure missing from the small crowd. The wizard reached out and tapped Pandon. “Where’s Natrac?” he asked. He would have assumed the half-orc would be among the most eager to disembark.

Pandon, however, gave him an awkward look. “I suppose you wouldn’t have heard,” he said.

“Heard what?”

The thin man shifted and sighed. “He’s not coming ashore at Zarash’ak. He’s staying in his cabin and going on to Sharn. He’s afraid that you’ve ruined his business and House Deneith will be investigating him.”

“What?” said Singe. “Pandon, you know that was just a joke!”

“Apparently Natrac thought otherwise,” Pandon said. “Captain Vennet told me himself. Natrac has even released his clients from their contracts. They’re free to do as they please.”

He pointed. Singe followed his gesture and his eyes widened as he took in the sight of the Natrac’s thugs, held back by the crew, waiting eagerly in the stern of the ship for their turn at the gangplank. Singe smacked a hand against his forehead and groaned.

“Twelve moons! What is he thinking? Dandra!” The kalashtar looked around. “I have to go to find Natrac and talk to him,” he told her. “Can you gather my gear when you fetch yours? You know where all of it is.”

Dandra nodded and Singe strode back toward the hatch that led to the tiny passenger cabins. The thud of the gangplank hitting the dock followed him. Shortly afterward, he heard the murmur of Vennet’s disembarking passengers, then the excited calls of Natrac’s former clients as they rushed to embrace a new life.

The crew would follow next; they had certainly already abandoned the rest of the ship. Singe stopped at the door of Natrac’s cabin and banged loudly on the thin wood. “Natrac!” he called. “We need to talk. You’re making a mistake. There’s no House Deneith investigation. I was just having you on!”

There was no response. “Natrac!” Singe called again. Was the half-orc even inside? He paused and listened closely at the door.

A soft moaning met his ear-and a vile smell his nose. A wretched stink like an overflowing chamber pot wafted through the door. “Natrac?”

He tested the door. It was latched, but nothing more. It opened easily.

Natrac lay on the narrow bed, struggling fitfully. His clothes were soiled with his own excrement and only an open porthole vented the reek out of the ship. His face was flushed. His wrists and ankles had been lashed securely to the bed’s frame and a gag forced into his mouth. Singe bit back a curse.

A heavy bottle nestled in a little boxshelf attached to the wall inside. Singe eased carefully into the cabin and fished it out. When he opened the bottle, a sickly sweet smell wafted out. There was a bluish stain around the cork. Singe hissed and glanced at Natrac’s flushed face. A matching blue stain colored his lips and trickled down his face. Singe hesitated for a moment, then stepped out of the cabin and hurried back up to the deck.

Dandra met him at the hatch. She had her spear, but not their gear. Her face was pale. “The crystal band and the honor blade are gone!”

Singe clenched his teeth and touched the rapier at his side. “Something’s wrong. Where’s Geth?”

“He wandered down onto the dock with the other passengers. He said he wanted to feel something solid under his feet again.” Dandra’s nose crinkled. “What’s that smell?”

“Natrac,” said Singe grimly. “He’s been drugged.” The ship was entirely silent around them. Everyone had gone. “We should join Geth.” He started across the deck toward the gangplank.

A curved sailor’s cutlass swept out of the shadow of the captain’s cabin, barring his way. He leaped back as Vennet followed the weapon into the light. The crystal band was clutched in his free hand. Behind him, Ashi glided out the shadows as well, the unsheathed honor blade held low before her.

“I have a better idea,” said Vennet. “Let’s wait for Geth to come back and join us.”