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[talien]

“I don’t care how good Baldric is,” muttered Ilmarė. She had her eyes closed, enjoying the warm temperature of Nyambe’s calmer seas. The sun felt good on her skin. “These pirates can’t be trusted.”

Kham rubbed his throat. It had been three days since they had boarded the Nǎoké. The men muttered to each other in Khitani. Only Kham could understand them, but he didn’t share what they said.

“They’re the only crew we’ve got.” Kham’s voice was still gravelly. “We gave them a choice: join us or be marooned. They joined us.” Sometimes it hurt to speak.

Ilmarė opened her eyes. “Then tell me how that ship got so close to us without the lookout spotting it.”

Kham blinked. “What…” He looked over the side. “…ship?”

“All hands to battle stations!” shouted Baldric.

A smaller ship had pulled along side of the Nǎoké. On its sails was painted a yellow dwarf head.

“It’s the Fang!” Kham clambered up the main mast.

“The Fang?” Beldin picked up Windcutter and his shield. “It’s captained by Yulfario, a mean dwarf if there ever was one.”

Ilmarė watched the dwarf in disbelief. “Where are you going?”

“To go talk to him.” And with that the dwarf hopped overboard. A moment later they caught a glimpse of Beldin walking along the waters, buoyed by the magic of Cho Sun’s ring.

A volley flew back and forth between the two ships, peppering the decks with arrows and bolts.

Kham wrapped one arm around some of the rigging, Coomb’s knife clenched between his teeth. He raised Talon up and slashed the rigging, sending him sailing across the gap between the two ships.

Kham landed on the ship’s mainmast, facing Yulfario himself.

“Ye can’t board me ship!” snarled Yulfario. He hacked at Kham’s head, forcing the val to dance back along the yardarm. “I’m boardin’ YER ship!”

Kham didn’t say anything. He sheathed Talon and gripped Coomb’s knife with both hands. Then he lunged at the sail.

The air whistling past him, Kham sliced his way down the sail, cleaving it in twain. He landed in front of the ship’s wheel.

The first mate that was at the helm drew his blade in a flash. Kham jumped backwards to avoid the attack.

Yulfario landed behind him. “Now yer tryin’ t’ take over tha Fang? I’ll send yer head back to yer crewmates!” He swung his blade in a wicked arc. Kham ducked.

The blade connected squarely in the center of the wheel where it was connected to the rest of the ship. It groaned and fell right off, landing on the first mate.

The ship lurched hard, sending Kham, Yulfario, and the first mate flying.

“They’re going to ram the Nǎoké!” Vlad was in a rowboat with Ilmarė between the two ships.

“Not if Beldin can help it.” Ilmarė pointed. “Look.”

The dwarf, standing calmly on the surface of the ocean as if he were merely lingering on a beach, stretched out one hand towards the ship’s rudder. Ice formed in a growing fin from Beldin to the Fang, engulfing the ship’s rudder. The Fang yawed drastically with a terrible shriek of wood and metal.

“My ship!” shouted Yulfario on the deck, spittle flying from his lips. “You’ll pay fer this!”

The Fang, its course abruptly corrected, couldn’t handle the strain of the ice on the rudder. With a terrific crack, much of the aft began to splinter apart.

Kham winked at the pirate captain and hopped off the deck, landing safely in Vlad’s rowboat.

Yulfario raised a crossbow, but he was struck down by the sudden crash of the Fang’s mast, smashing him into the sodden deck. The Fang was rapidly disintegrating.

Vlad rowed Kham and Ilmarė back to their ship. The ocean lifted them up gently with a wave of his hand and deposited them on the Nǎoké’s deck, courtesy of Beldin’s ring.

“We lost some men,” muttered Baldric. He nodded at Kham.

Kham stood before the drenched pirates, smiling. “I’m giving you a choice…”