“That’ll work, if they have healing at all and if we can afford to pay them,” Rade said. “Olga is the saint of mercy, so her healers work cheaply compared to others, but even the Olgaitescharge more than we can afford at the best of times. What will a sailor’s saint charge to save these two?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll persuade them somehow.” This was profoundly frustrating. We’d gone adventuring to earn our keep, and instead, we were going to end up in greater debt. But we’d already lost two students today—one to stupidity, and one to treachery—and I’d be damned if we were going to lose two more if I could help it.
We rowed as fast as we could toward the distant lights of the city. Tiny Morton was useless with an oar, so he was manning the bailing pot.
“This is all my fault. I waited for Ms. Walker, but I was unaware that I was being watched by those ruffians. As soon as she arrived, I told her our tale, but then we were set upon by surprise and taken prisoner.”
“Too bad she didn’t use her shadow magic to kill them all. It was nasty to fight against in the arena.”
“She tried, but there were too many and it was too bright out. Gerzog struck her down, took her charms, then tied us up and gagged us and carried us aboard their craft. The entire time, they made cruel jokes about throwing me overboard, wondering aloud if gnomes float.”
Krachma frowned. “Do you?”
“The answer is no. No, we do not.”
More than anything else right then, I wanted Gerzog dead. That hate motivated me to row harder. “Did they say anything about where they’d go afterwards?”
Morton chucked another potful of water over the side. “Alas, no. All I can tell you is that the Tooth and Claw are a mean and degenerate lot, motivated entirely by greed, who rejoice in spite, not just against their victims, but to each other as well. Even during our short journey, I saw several of them get into fights with each other, and the only thing staying their handsfrom murder was the threats of their captain. From what I could discern, most were new hires from the city’s lowest pits of scum, recently recruited by Gerzog’s company.”
That explained why only some of them had possessed magical defenses. Protective charms were expensive. Gerzog hadn’t had any loyalty to his longer serving, more capable men either, because he’d abandoned wounded Aziz to his fate, and that mage obviously hadn’t been some new recruit. I had bruises everywhere from getting slammed about by that spectral hand, and it was only Krachma’s lucky leg break that saved my life. I assumed they hadn’t been lying when Aziz claimed to be a rank two.
“Gerzog fled and didn’t even bother trying to save his wounded.” The rocking of boat was making me ill, but I was too cold to vomit, which was a bizarre and uncomfortable combination. At least talking helped me to focus my mind on something other than the discomfort. “He mentioned selling the lamp to the Council or the Tempus cult, but in a gang of cutthroats like that, surely he’s got to tread carefully to not get robbed or betrayed first. We might be able to use that to our advantage somehow.”
“You’re thinking of going after the lamp again?” Rade was incredulous. “We were lucky to survive that fight. We’ll be lucky to not sink and drown now.”
“I’m mad too, but we’re in no shape to take on an entire mercenary company,” Azarin said.
You knew it was bad when the impulsive one was the voice of reason. “He can’t get away with this.”
“Just tell Carcalla what happened and let him send his goons after Gerzog. Carcalla’s got an army.”
She had a point. We’d done as Carcalla commanded. Surely our efforts would be satisfactory enough to avoid eviction. It wasn’t our fault we’d gotten screwed over. We were studentwizards, not adventurers. Maybe it was time to go home and lick our wounds. That would be the sensible thing to do. I followed Saint Persistence, so the idea of giving up galled me, but I needed to put the wellbeing of the Academy first. It might be the worst academy in the Core, but Gaul Haddar had left me in charge of it, and I couldn’t let my temper get us all killed.
“Besides,” Azarin continued. “If Dathka is who she claims to be, then Carcalla is going to move heaven and hell to get her back. Do you want to get in the way of that?”
“You’re probably right.”
“Of course I’m right. Kidnapping and ransoms are a normal part of doing business in Stormwolk. All the important families have been through it. I’m something of an expert.”
“On doing the kidnapping, or being kidnapped?”
“Both,” Azarin said proudly.
“Hello.”Trax’s fin broke the surface besides us.
Morton saw the fin, screamed, “Shark!” and reflexively tried to hit it with his pot, which he promptly lost and dropped into the ocean.
“Relax. It’s just Trax.”
It was ironic that the presence of a sleek carnivorous killing machine would cause us all to breathe a sigh of relief, but such is the odd nature of friendship. A big grey hand rose from the water to hand the pot back. Embarrassed, Morton took it.
“Would you like for me to assist you? You are very slow and bad at this.”
Rade was already throwing the end of the rope overboard. “We’re glad to see you, Mr. Bloodtrail.”
The rope snapped taut, and Trax immediately began pulling us toward shore. “I observed where the orc made landfall.”He sent me a mind picture of an unfamiliar part of the bay where many large ships were docked. “Should I go directly there?”
“No. Take us to the place we launched from. There’s a church near there. We need a healer before we need vengeance.”
