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would not be sought until she was delivered to safety.
Caught by a rising wave,Crow pitched, and the wheel clattered with a rattle
like old bones as her helmsman strove to hold her bow to windward. Although
Tathagres was land bred, she braved the quarterdeck on braced feet, white hair
lashed into tangles by the gale. The cling of sodden velvet shamelessly
accentuated her femininity; but the captain who confronted her had little
appetite, no matter how alluring her curves. His gesture of protest withered
under her scornful re-gard, and his mouth gaped speechlessly open.
Tathagres laughed. The oath she uttered belied her delicacy, as did the
command which followed. "Slaughter them, then, but get those oar-portsclosed."
Her violet eyes narrowed an-grily. "They're only slaves. If they drown,
they'll be just as dead. So will we all, if you don't act quickly."
A gust slammed into the spanker, which men still labored to furl. The captain
lost his balance. Testily, he grabbed a stay, and barely missed jostling
Tathagres. He began a plea for temperance. "Lady-"
The woman returned no threats. Yet the captain felt a quiver in his knees.
"I'll see it done," he said quickly, though he had intended different words.
Reduced to subservience on his own vessel, he hastened toward the companionway
and almost col-lided with Hearvin, who had just arrived topside with the boy.
Tathagres transferred her displeasure to the sorcerer. "By the Great Fall,"
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she exclaimed fiercely. "You owe me an ex-planation, Hearvin. Anskiere's
possessions were scuttled, you said. How in Kor's Name could that stormfalcon
get a homing fix on us?''
A wave smackedCrow onto her beam ends. The quarter-master wrestled the helm,
and Tathagres slammed into the rail, knocked breathless. As Hearvin fetched up
beside her, she noticed that Emien seemed strangely passive in the sorcerer's
grip. She began at once to comment, but Hearvin interrupted.
"I did tell you. At the time I knew of no means by which the stormfalcon
could track anything other than its original key of return." He regarded the
woman without apprehension. "I also counseled caution, which you unwisely
ignored. My two colleagues are dead."
Tathagres flung her head back, drenched by spray asCrow wallowed, lee rails
awash in the waist. The galleass recovered sluggishly. An officer shouted
frantic orders; the deckhands abandoned the spanker and slashed the halyards.
But not even the pandemonium and canting decks disrupted Tathagres'
ob-session.
"Anskiere? Has he defied me?"
Hearvin's mouth twitched. "He has escaped. At what cost, I cannot guess. But
this much I promise: the frostwargs are roused, but not free, and the
stormfalcon circles Kisburn's fleet. Your plans are balked."
"Not balked." Tathagres released the rail as the galleass swung level. "Never
that. We have the boy." She detailed two deckhands to readyCrow's pinnace for
launch, intending to sail directly and confront Anskiere at Cliffhaven.
Hearvin watched her until rain fell in sheets and quenched the stern lantern.
Familiar with her temper, he had prudently avoided telling Tathagres how close
she had come to losing the boy. Neither did he mention the fact that he
guessed the pinnace would not make landfall at the Kielmark's isle.Crow
quivered, battered by ever steepening waves. The wind skirled like demonsong
through her masts. Hearvin heard its violence, and was not fooled. Unlike his
dead companions, he did not underestimate the threat Anskiere's falcon had
unleashed. The Free Isles might condemn the Stormwarden whose powers had
leveled Tierl Enneth; but Anskiere's loyalty would never change. Kisburn's
warships would be smashed like toys.
The gale worsened. Towering whitecaps tumbled across the galleass' decks,
sweeping gear and human life into the sea with equal abandon. The effort to
launch the pinnace soon became a struggle for survival. Awash up to her oar
deck,Crow plowed clumsily into the waves, unresponsive to the helm. Despite
the efforts of her crew, the galleass could not be saved. Hoarsely, the
captain ordered the longboats unlashed. But no man would board until the
King's officers were away in the pinnace. Beaten and tired the captain left
the quartermaster at the helm and sought Tathagres.
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