Desdichado
Hero
Heh, heh. Good memory. She's not, although I think her father was in the trenches in France in that thur Great War. I'm not entirely sure; he died long before I was born.
Barsoom Tales I - COMPLETE
- Thread starter barsoomcore
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barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Make It There -- Part One
All tied up, bound hand and foot, gagged, placed in a circle facing each other, Isaac, Elena, Nevid, Arrafin and Etienne pondered their situation.
Pirate John had turned out to be less blood-thirsty and more charming than anyone had expected. His ship, dwarfing their little fishing vessel, drifted alongside and aboard came swinging Pirate John -- bluff, hearty and with a twinkle in his eye. As pirates went, he was practically a good guy.
Bound and determined, however, to hold his new captives for ransom, especially when he heard they were del Maraviez employees.
"del Maraviez, eh? And just what do they pay you for, I wonder? Delivering messages, perhaps?"
He yanked the document from Nevid's belt and perused it.
"The King himself? Very nice."
With an elaborate flourish he handed back the paper.
"I'm sure the family would pay handsomely to have that returned to them in a timely fashion. No more than they would pay for your health and well-being, of course. I don't mean to imply that they would value some musty document more than your own self."
He bowed. Arrafin giggled. All of them, struck somewhat confused by their captor's courtesy, filed aboard the pirate ship and waved goodbye to the captain who'd surrendered so easily.
"The stars! The stars have fallen! The nine-fold stars have fallen!"
"That's Crazy Adil. Don't pay any attention to him."
Pirate John waved at the raving Naridic man. The other crew members grinned and seemed to treat the elderly maniac with tolerant sympathy, pushing him gently aside whenever he got in the way, and agreeably nodding to all his dire pronouncements.
"The nine-fold stars have fallen! Awake! Awake! Tabbadur has been thrown open! Awake! The stars!"
"Thanks. We'll ponder that. This way, please."
Now here they were, trapped, tied up and stuck in a sort of attic chamber on Pirate John's island. A makeshift wooden door led to the stairs down to water level, and one entire wall of the chamber was open, revealing a drop of eighty feet or so to the water. The island was peculiarly put together, with a sort of a grotto cutting through it, high enough for John's ship to berth inside, forming a natural hiding place, complete with a dock, various chambers for crew members and loot, and this upper chamber where they were currently imprisoned.
With Crazy Adil, who seemed to have attached himself to Arrafin.
"Hejan of tomorrow! Awake! The stars! The stars!"
Elena growled through her gag. "Rrrr. Rrrr. Rrrr, rrrr."
Isaac answered. "Rrrr. Rrrr."
Pirate John's ship was not in the grotto; the pirate had left immediately, promising to bring word of their ransom.
"What if the del Maraviez won't pay for us?"
John shrugged.
"Then I let you go. I'm not a savage, my dear sir. Merely an honest businessman."
He considered.
"A dishonest businessman, I suppose. Pirate, you know."
With a jaunty salute, Pirate John strode from the chamber and then his ship sailed away and here they were, watching each other try to speak through their gags. Pirate John had cleverly lashed them to each other so they were unable to reach each other's bonds and so they sat for a while, listening to the guards left downstairs sing a sea shanty.
Arrafin looked around for a pencil to jot down the words.
Nevid hoped Isabella wouldn't be too disappointed in him.
Isaac replayed the duel with Juan Antonio in his head, grim satisfaction filling him as he watched the del Orofin's head tumble to the cobblestones.
Etienne, entirely new to this group, watched his compatriots carefully. They seemed strangely non-plussed at their sudden captivity. He knew very little about them, only that they were agents of the del Maraviez, as was he himself, and that he was to bring them to Pavairelle safe and sound.
Not doing so well on that one, he mused.
Elena concentrated. She could recall the way in which she had touched Juan Antonio's mind, and it seemed to her that she ought to be able to do something similar to physical objects. She tried to focus.
Pirate John had left three candles burning up here. One was no more than a few feet away. Elena stared at it, the slick wax dripping down onto the brass holder. A small flame but probably enough. If it would just... come here.
A quiet scraping startled her. It had moved. She tried again, tentatively, groping for the "muscle" in her brain that would make the candle draw towards her. Again, the round brass plate on which the candle stood scraped across the stone towards her. And again. Elena's confidence grew as she guided the candle behind her, twisting to watch its progress. At last it sat just an inch or so away from her wrists, and she turned back to face forwards.
To confront five very cautious stares.
Elena was suddenly glad nobody could speak. She held her wrists out behind her, hoping the intense heat on her wrists meant that the candle flame was near enough to burn the rope. Wincing, gritting her teeth as the pain grew, Elena started to yank her wrists apart rhythmically, and was rewarded at last with a simple, quiet tearing sound and her hands were free.
She clawed at the gag in her mouth and tore it loose, then disentangled herself from the ropes binding her legs.
With a look round at all her friends, still bound uncomfortably, Elena stretched and yawned a deep, satisfying breath.
"THAT'S so much better, I gotta say."
She smirked at the angry glares all around and then set about untying her friends.
Queries about how she'd managed to make a candle move across the floor she handled by saying "Kalibar taught me some tricks. Path of the mother, you know." Eventually the others stopped asking and started looking around their prison.
Etienne made a quick motion and led Elena and Isaac to the back of the room. Behind some crates he'd noticed an opening. The others understood and began silently moving boxes and barrels aside. Soon they'd exposed an alcove. Within sat a sort of marble box, eight feet long and about three feet across, waist-high. Situated on top of the box a human skull grinned at them.
Even more interesting than all of that, beyond the box another opening showed a flight of stairs leading up. The three looked at each other in cautious excitement. If they could just keep everything perfectly silent.
"The stars! The nine-fold stars have fallen! Awake!"
Isaac hissed, "Arrafin! Can you shut him up!"
Arrafin shook her head, dark curls going in all directions. Adil followed her everywhere and kept shouting these crazy statements. She turned to him and spoke in Naridic.
"Hush! Stop that!"
To her surprise, the elderly man immediately closed his mouth and stood silently staring at her. She smiled and put up a hand to wave at him.
"Hi."
"I am Adil. Adil al-Mula beni Nasir."
There was a moment of silence.
Arrafin looked around at the others, but nobody had anything useful to suggest. She turned back to Adil.
"Hi Adil. How are you?"
Looking more closely at the poor man, Arrafin noticed his face was covered in an incredible network of scars. It was as though he'd been shattered and put back together somehow.
"I'm tired."
For just a second he seemed completely rational. Then he smiled at her, and turned and raced off, over the edge of the room, into the grotto. They heard him splash, and a sudden thrashing punctuated by screams. Arrafin started for the edge to look down, but Nevid grabbed her, put a finger to his lips and shook his head.
Down below they heard startled voices. Standing perfectly still, only a few feet from the lip, Arrafin heard one of the pirates clearly say, "It's only Adil, getting eaten again."
All tied up, bound hand and foot, gagged, placed in a circle facing each other, Isaac, Elena, Nevid, Arrafin and Etienne pondered their situation.
Pirate John had turned out to be less blood-thirsty and more charming than anyone had expected. His ship, dwarfing their little fishing vessel, drifted alongside and aboard came swinging Pirate John -- bluff, hearty and with a twinkle in his eye. As pirates went, he was practically a good guy.
Bound and determined, however, to hold his new captives for ransom, especially when he heard they were del Maraviez employees.
"del Maraviez, eh? And just what do they pay you for, I wonder? Delivering messages, perhaps?"
He yanked the document from Nevid's belt and perused it.
"The King himself? Very nice."
With an elaborate flourish he handed back the paper.
"I'm sure the family would pay handsomely to have that returned to them in a timely fashion. No more than they would pay for your health and well-being, of course. I don't mean to imply that they would value some musty document more than your own self."
He bowed. Arrafin giggled. All of them, struck somewhat confused by their captor's courtesy, filed aboard the pirate ship and waved goodbye to the captain who'd surrendered so easily.
"The stars! The stars have fallen! The nine-fold stars have fallen!"
"That's Crazy Adil. Don't pay any attention to him."
Pirate John waved at the raving Naridic man. The other crew members grinned and seemed to treat the elderly maniac with tolerant sympathy, pushing him gently aside whenever he got in the way, and agreeably nodding to all his dire pronouncements.
"The nine-fold stars have fallen! Awake! Awake! Tabbadur has been thrown open! Awake! The stars!"
"Thanks. We'll ponder that. This way, please."
Now here they were, trapped, tied up and stuck in a sort of attic chamber on Pirate John's island. A makeshift wooden door led to the stairs down to water level, and one entire wall of the chamber was open, revealing a drop of eighty feet or so to the water. The island was peculiarly put together, with a sort of a grotto cutting through it, high enough for John's ship to berth inside, forming a natural hiding place, complete with a dock, various chambers for crew members and loot, and this upper chamber where they were currently imprisoned.
With Crazy Adil, who seemed to have attached himself to Arrafin.
"Hejan of tomorrow! Awake! The stars! The stars!"
Elena growled through her gag. "Rrrr. Rrrr. Rrrr, rrrr."
Isaac answered. "Rrrr. Rrrr."
Pirate John's ship was not in the grotto; the pirate had left immediately, promising to bring word of their ransom.
"What if the del Maraviez won't pay for us?"
John shrugged.
"Then I let you go. I'm not a savage, my dear sir. Merely an honest businessman."
He considered.
"A dishonest businessman, I suppose. Pirate, you know."
With a jaunty salute, Pirate John strode from the chamber and then his ship sailed away and here they were, watching each other try to speak through their gags. Pirate John had cleverly lashed them to each other so they were unable to reach each other's bonds and so they sat for a while, listening to the guards left downstairs sing a sea shanty.
Arrafin looked around for a pencil to jot down the words.
Nevid hoped Isabella wouldn't be too disappointed in him.
Isaac replayed the duel with Juan Antonio in his head, grim satisfaction filling him as he watched the del Orofin's head tumble to the cobblestones.
Etienne, entirely new to this group, watched his compatriots carefully. They seemed strangely non-plussed at their sudden captivity. He knew very little about them, only that they were agents of the del Maraviez, as was he himself, and that he was to bring them to Pavairelle safe and sound.
Not doing so well on that one, he mused.
Elena concentrated. She could recall the way in which she had touched Juan Antonio's mind, and it seemed to her that she ought to be able to do something similar to physical objects. She tried to focus.
Pirate John had left three candles burning up here. One was no more than a few feet away. Elena stared at it, the slick wax dripping down onto the brass holder. A small flame but probably enough. If it would just... come here.
A quiet scraping startled her. It had moved. She tried again, tentatively, groping for the "muscle" in her brain that would make the candle draw towards her. Again, the round brass plate on which the candle stood scraped across the stone towards her. And again. Elena's confidence grew as she guided the candle behind her, twisting to watch its progress. At last it sat just an inch or so away from her wrists, and she turned back to face forwards.
To confront five very cautious stares.
Elena was suddenly glad nobody could speak. She held her wrists out behind her, hoping the intense heat on her wrists meant that the candle flame was near enough to burn the rope. Wincing, gritting her teeth as the pain grew, Elena started to yank her wrists apart rhythmically, and was rewarded at last with a simple, quiet tearing sound and her hands were free.
She clawed at the gag in her mouth and tore it loose, then disentangled herself from the ropes binding her legs.
With a look round at all her friends, still bound uncomfortably, Elena stretched and yawned a deep, satisfying breath.
"THAT'S so much better, I gotta say."
She smirked at the angry glares all around and then set about untying her friends.
Queries about how she'd managed to make a candle move across the floor she handled by saying "Kalibar taught me some tricks. Path of the mother, you know." Eventually the others stopped asking and started looking around their prison.
Etienne made a quick motion and led Elena and Isaac to the back of the room. Behind some crates he'd noticed an opening. The others understood and began silently moving boxes and barrels aside. Soon they'd exposed an alcove. Within sat a sort of marble box, eight feet long and about three feet across, waist-high. Situated on top of the box a human skull grinned at them.
Even more interesting than all of that, beyond the box another opening showed a flight of stairs leading up. The three looked at each other in cautious excitement. If they could just keep everything perfectly silent.
"The stars! The nine-fold stars have fallen! Awake!"
Isaac hissed, "Arrafin! Can you shut him up!"
Arrafin shook her head, dark curls going in all directions. Adil followed her everywhere and kept shouting these crazy statements. She turned to him and spoke in Naridic.
"Hush! Stop that!"
To her surprise, the elderly man immediately closed his mouth and stood silently staring at her. She smiled and put up a hand to wave at him.
"Hi."
"I am Adil. Adil al-Mula beni Nasir."
There was a moment of silence.
Arrafin looked around at the others, but nobody had anything useful to suggest. She turned back to Adil.
"Hi Adil. How are you?"
Looking more closely at the poor man, Arrafin noticed his face was covered in an incredible network of scars. It was as though he'd been shattered and put back together somehow.
"I'm tired."
For just a second he seemed completely rational. Then he smiled at her, and turned and raced off, over the edge of the room, into the grotto. They heard him splash, and a sudden thrashing punctuated by screams. Arrafin started for the edge to look down, but Nevid grabbed her, put a finger to his lips and shook his head.
Down below they heard startled voices. Standing perfectly still, only a few feet from the lip, Arrafin heard one of the pirates clearly say, "It's only Adil, getting eaten again."
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
You should have seen the players' faces. Fortunately I wasn't standing right in front of anyone...Avarice said:
Serpenteye
First Post
I can't think of anything sufficiently clever to write right now so; Bump
Joshua Randall
Hero
Hey barsoomcore - I enjoy this story hour, but I'm having a devil of a time keeping track of all the strange family names, places, and so forth. Is there a sort of glossary somewhere that I could read?
(And if it's on a link in your .sig, would you mind posting the link here? Some of us have .sigs turned off. Thanks!)
(And if it's on a link in your .sig, would you mind posting the link here? Some of us have .sigs turned off. Thanks!)
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Hm. First off, JR, could you tell me which names are getting confusamated for you? I'm really really trying to deliver my exposition in media res, so if it's not getting through I'd like to make sure I improve that way.
But yeah, I'll add a link to the campaign website back in the initial thread post, just for you non-siggers. How's that?
But yeah, I'll add a link to the campaign website back in the initial thread post, just for you non-siggers. How's that?
Joshua Randall
Hero
All the family names (e.g., del Maraveiz, del Orofin). And, y'know, I even studied Spanish in high school and college, so it's not the concept of the names - it's just that without some external reference, I can't keep strait which family is the wealthy merchant family, which one is the shipbuilding family, which one is close with the royalty....
The place names. I have a very visual memory and I simply must know where things are if I am to have any hope of remembering them. Where is The Gap? Where is Saijadan? Where are the various cities that are referenced? A map would be ideal (ooh... meesa LOVE maps!), but a general description would also work. ("Cleveland, a city of the northlands, sits on the shores of a vast lake known as Erie; the river Cuyahoga bisects the city.")
Edit: of course, there is a nifty map on Barsoomcore's web site. Oops. That's what I get for going off half-cocked.
The names of some of the dinosaurs keep jarring me out of the story. I know those are a central element of your gameworld, but I need more background detail on how they fit into it. (Just like in a story set in the contemporary real world you couldn't toss off a sentence about dragons in the barn without raising people's eyebrows.)
Anyway, I don't want you to think I dislike the story - far from it. I am just frustrated by my inability to comprehend it better. (Of course it doens't help that I read it in fits and starts rather than all in one sitting.) It's probably my own denseness rather than any failing on your part that makes it hard for me to understand.
The place names. I have a very visual memory and I simply must know where things are if I am to have any hope of remembering them. Where is The Gap? Where is Saijadan? Where are the various cities that are referenced? A map would be ideal (ooh... meesa LOVE maps!), but a general description would also work. ("Cleveland, a city of the northlands, sits on the shores of a vast lake known as Erie; the river Cuyahoga bisects the city.")
Edit: of course, there is a nifty map on Barsoomcore's web site. Oops. That's what I get for going off half-cocked.
The names of some of the dinosaurs keep jarring me out of the story. I know those are a central element of your gameworld, but I need more background detail on how they fit into it. (Just like in a story set in the contemporary real world you couldn't toss off a sentence about dragons in the barn without raising people's eyebrows.)
Anyway, I don't want you to think I dislike the story - far from it. I am just frustrated by my inability to comprehend it better. (Of course it doens't help that I read it in fits and starts rather than all in one sitting.) It's probably my own denseness rather than any failing on your part that makes it hard for me to understand.
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barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Gotcha! Thanks -- I can address those sorts of issues in the story itself, I think.
Look for a little exposition in the next episode (but not until after the explosions).
Look for a little exposition in the next episode (but not until after the explosions).
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Elena whispered, "We're never going to shift all that stone. Not without making a whole lot of noise."
She regarded the half-Kishak lad standing next to her. Etienne had not revealed very much about himself since they first encountered him. She knew what he'd told them -- that he worked for Marques del Maraviez in Pavairelle. He was wiry and graceful, constantly studying everything around him as though a potential threat lurked in every corner.
He nodded at her comment, still examining the mass of stone that clogged the stairway they'd found leading up out of their prison. Behind them stood Isaac, Nevid and Arrafin, the Naridic girl still staring in a shocked fashion at the lip of the grotto.
The group gathered in a tight circle to discuss their options.
Isaac growled, "We're not sitting here waiting for that crazy pirate to get back."
Arrafin looked at him. "I like him. He's funny."
"Well, sure, we like him, but, you know, pirate? Dishonest?"
Etienne spoke up. "We have to get out of here. There's no way we're sitting around waiting. No way."
"Fine," said Elena, "Then we have to deal with guards downstairs. We don't even know how many there are."
Etienne eyed a coil of rope among the stored supplies.
"I have an idea."
*****
The halfbreed was heavier than he looked. Isaac suppressed a grunt of effort as he strained at the rope supporting Etienne. The half-Kishak hung upside down, far above the waters of the grotto, trying to keep from spinning as he slowly dropped past the rock face. Simultaneously trying not to think about the horrible growling sounds and shrieks that had come from the water after Adil splashed into it. As he approached the top of the dock cavern below, he signalled for a slower descent.
His head dropped below the level of the roof of the cavern that lay directly beneath where his fellow prisoners were assembled. He saw a broad warehouse-sort of space, littered with crates and boxes and coils of rope. Seated around a flaming brazier sat three rough-looking chaps whom he recognized as members of Pirate John's crew. A door sealed the room at either end, which was open along one long side to the grotto. Thick posts showed where the pirate's ship would normally be tied up.
Etienne studied carefully, estimating distances, and then signalled for Isaac and the others to pull him up.
"Okay, we're about sixty feet above the water. You go over the edge here, and there's thirty feet of rock wall and then you're hanging in front of another room like this one, only bigger. There's one door pretty much right where that one is," he pointed to the door at the far end of the room, "And another one at the opposite end. There's three guys sitting around a fire, pretty much right in the middle of the room, maybe... twenty feet in from the edge."
The others tried to picture the scene in their minds.
Nevid nodded. "The doors downstairs are closed?"
"Yep."
Nevid walked over to the door and tested it. It opened, and without a word he passed through and closed it behind him. Etienne looked at the others.
"What's he doing?"
"Don't ask us. We never know what he's doing."
Arrafin had gone and collected the skull that lay on the marble slab in the alcove and stood turning it over in her hands.
"I wonder whose skull this is and why those pirates never took it?"
"We can do all the investigating we want, Arrafin," said Isaac, "After those pirates are dealt with."
The Naridic girl smiled happily. "Really?"
Elena grinned and turned to Etienne. "They got lots of supplies down there? Crates, boxes, crap like that?"
"Yeah."
"You see any gunpowder?"
*****
Once again Etienne dangled from a rope high above the glittering waters of the grotto. Both to his right and his left, sunlight streamed in through the high cave openings on either side of the island, giving rise to endless patterns of dappled reflection along all the walls of the long tunnel.
This time, he was right-side-up, and bracing himself against the cavern wall, just above the lower cavern. He took up a bunch of slack on the rope and held the coils loosely in one hand, tying a knot where he figured the right length would be. He wasn't sure what to think about these folks, but this whole trip had turned out a lot more exciting than he'd expected. The woman Elena's ability to make candlesticks walk notwithstanding, they seemed like pretty straightforward folks.
"Wait for the explosion."
He could imagine that being able to move candles around in an environment containing gunpowder could produce an explosion pretty easily. He just hoped they didn't blow the entire cavern to smithereens.
He hung there, wondering what on earth that skinny Naridic girl was doing with the rest of them.
*****
"Okay, brace yourself."
Elena peered through a knothole in the downstairs door. She could see, across a jumbled vista of disorganized supplies, the three pirates gathered around the brazier. With greater confidence than she'd had previously, she reached out and mentally gripped a flaming brand from the brass bowl.
Ignoring the startled cries of the pirates, she lifted the brand into the air and carried it to a gunpowder barrel. The effect was everything she could have hoped for.
With a thunderous roar, the room erupted in flame and smoke and flying debris. The door crashed inward, knocking Elena back against the steps, coughing. Nevid held his crossbow up, peering into the thick smoke. He could hear yelling, so the pirates hadn't been killed outright.
Up in the grotto, Etienne leapt into the billowing cloud of smoke, hoping he'd judged the distance right, gritting his teeth as he plunged downward in a swift arc.
He didn't hit the water, but the smoke was still too dense for him to see anything as the swing started up the other side, so without any real idea as to how far from the ground he was, Etienne let go.
The instant the rope went slack, Isaac hauled it in, grabbed it where the half-Kishak had tied a knot, and, to Arrafin's horror, charged straight out over the edge.
"Some half-Kishak daredevil thinks he can outdo a Saijadani..."
*****
As the cloud began to disperse, Nevid saw Isaac. He was flying.
Clinging to the rope with one hand, clamping his hat to his head with the other, still with his omnipresent cigar clenched in his teeth, the big Saijadani swooped in from the grotto and let go, sailing through the air to crash into a mass of splintered crates.
Etienne had already drawn a longknife and was circling one pirate who kept slapping at a smouldering patch on his breeches. Nevid saw another pirate getting to his feet and fired his crossbow at the man. The bolt slammed into the man's shoulder and pitched him forward onto his face.
Isaac staggered to his feet, spinning to check his surroundings, and saw a stunned-looking fellow with major burns to his face. Which probably really stung, reflected the Saijadani, after his fist connected so solidly with the poor chap's jaw. Isaac pulled out his big sword, saw the opposite door opening and charged.
Etienne feinted forward, dropped his shoulder and when the other guy slashed at him, spun back and cut in a long arc down the man's side. He shrieked and dropped his knife and the Kishak lad kicked him hard and let him fall. He whirled to see Isaac charging the far door, and saw the barrel of the firearm a second before the Saijadani did.
Isaac sat down heavily at the impact of the ball, on the ground before he really registered what had happened. He looked down just in time to see the blood from his chest wound suddenly gush out down his shirt.
"That's gonna hurt."
Nevid, at the report of the pistol, pointed his just-reloaded crossbow at the far door and released. The bolt smashed into the doorframe, but the pirate hiding there withdrew. Etienne had gotten to the wall alongside the door and stood there motionless, watching Nevid for some sign.
Isaac groaned and collapsed. Elena swore.
"We have to get out there. He's going to die. I'm going. That bastard sticks his head out again, Nevid, you shoot him."
"What?"
Elena crouched low and ran for where Isaac lay. Etienne tried to wave her back but she paid no attention. She did pay attention when Nevid yelled, "Get down!"
There was another pistol shot, followed immediately by the heavy metal twang of Nevid's crossbow. Elena fell to her hands and knees and, feeling no terrible impact, she kept going.
As soon as the gun and the crossbow went off, Etienne wrenched open the door and grabbed the weapon away from the startled pirate standing there. So startled was he that he stood perfectly still as Etienne slipped a knife up under his ribs. He groaned quietly and fell to the ground. Etienne turned and saw Elena's ashen face look up from where she knelt next to Isaac.
"He's going to die."
*****
"Isaac? Isaac, drink this, okay? Some water for you."
Arrafin tried not to look at the wound in Isaac's chest. The others were upstairs, moving aside the blocks of stone that had blocked the stairs up there. Nobody wanted to try the waters in grotto, as they had turned out to be populated with extremely agressive and toothy predators of some indistinct type. Loud grinding sounds and occasional bursts of swearing came from above as she tried to smile at Isaac's watery eyes.
"We'll get out of here soon, Isaac. Don't worry. You have to help me investigate the skull, remember? You have to help me."
She sat next to the man, his laboured breathing setting off her nerves. Awkwardly she reached out and patted his shoulder.
"So, del Valencia, huh? From Petrahegna, is that right? It must be beautiful. Of course, I've never been so, don't know, ha ha. But I read. Poetry. You know. Can you read?"
"I can read."
Isaac's lips hadn't moved. Arrafin leaned closer, frowning.
"I can read."
Isaac also couldn't speak Naridic, as far as she knew. It occured that maybe somebody else was speaking and she turned around.
Adil, dripping wet and stark naked, stood there.
*****
They'd almost gotten the last stones pulled free when they heard her screaming.
She regarded the half-Kishak lad standing next to her. Etienne had not revealed very much about himself since they first encountered him. She knew what he'd told them -- that he worked for Marques del Maraviez in Pavairelle. He was wiry and graceful, constantly studying everything around him as though a potential threat lurked in every corner.
He nodded at her comment, still examining the mass of stone that clogged the stairway they'd found leading up out of their prison. Behind them stood Isaac, Nevid and Arrafin, the Naridic girl still staring in a shocked fashion at the lip of the grotto.
The group gathered in a tight circle to discuss their options.
Isaac growled, "We're not sitting here waiting for that crazy pirate to get back."
Arrafin looked at him. "I like him. He's funny."
"Well, sure, we like him, but, you know, pirate? Dishonest?"
Etienne spoke up. "We have to get out of here. There's no way we're sitting around waiting. No way."
"Fine," said Elena, "Then we have to deal with guards downstairs. We don't even know how many there are."
Etienne eyed a coil of rope among the stored supplies.
"I have an idea."
*****
The halfbreed was heavier than he looked. Isaac suppressed a grunt of effort as he strained at the rope supporting Etienne. The half-Kishak hung upside down, far above the waters of the grotto, trying to keep from spinning as he slowly dropped past the rock face. Simultaneously trying not to think about the horrible growling sounds and shrieks that had come from the water after Adil splashed into it. As he approached the top of the dock cavern below, he signalled for a slower descent.
His head dropped below the level of the roof of the cavern that lay directly beneath where his fellow prisoners were assembled. He saw a broad warehouse-sort of space, littered with crates and boxes and coils of rope. Seated around a flaming brazier sat three rough-looking chaps whom he recognized as members of Pirate John's crew. A door sealed the room at either end, which was open along one long side to the grotto. Thick posts showed where the pirate's ship would normally be tied up.
Etienne studied carefully, estimating distances, and then signalled for Isaac and the others to pull him up.
"Okay, we're about sixty feet above the water. You go over the edge here, and there's thirty feet of rock wall and then you're hanging in front of another room like this one, only bigger. There's one door pretty much right where that one is," he pointed to the door at the far end of the room, "And another one at the opposite end. There's three guys sitting around a fire, pretty much right in the middle of the room, maybe... twenty feet in from the edge."
The others tried to picture the scene in their minds.
Nevid nodded. "The doors downstairs are closed?"
"Yep."
Nevid walked over to the door and tested it. It opened, and without a word he passed through and closed it behind him. Etienne looked at the others.
"What's he doing?"
"Don't ask us. We never know what he's doing."
Arrafin had gone and collected the skull that lay on the marble slab in the alcove and stood turning it over in her hands.
"I wonder whose skull this is and why those pirates never took it?"
"We can do all the investigating we want, Arrafin," said Isaac, "After those pirates are dealt with."
The Naridic girl smiled happily. "Really?"
Elena grinned and turned to Etienne. "They got lots of supplies down there? Crates, boxes, crap like that?"
"Yeah."
"You see any gunpowder?"
*****
Once again Etienne dangled from a rope high above the glittering waters of the grotto. Both to his right and his left, sunlight streamed in through the high cave openings on either side of the island, giving rise to endless patterns of dappled reflection along all the walls of the long tunnel.
This time, he was right-side-up, and bracing himself against the cavern wall, just above the lower cavern. He took up a bunch of slack on the rope and held the coils loosely in one hand, tying a knot where he figured the right length would be. He wasn't sure what to think about these folks, but this whole trip had turned out a lot more exciting than he'd expected. The woman Elena's ability to make candlesticks walk notwithstanding, they seemed like pretty straightforward folks.
"Wait for the explosion."
He could imagine that being able to move candles around in an environment containing gunpowder could produce an explosion pretty easily. He just hoped they didn't blow the entire cavern to smithereens.
He hung there, wondering what on earth that skinny Naridic girl was doing with the rest of them.
*****
"Okay, brace yourself."
Elena peered through a knothole in the downstairs door. She could see, across a jumbled vista of disorganized supplies, the three pirates gathered around the brazier. With greater confidence than she'd had previously, she reached out and mentally gripped a flaming brand from the brass bowl.
Ignoring the startled cries of the pirates, she lifted the brand into the air and carried it to a gunpowder barrel. The effect was everything she could have hoped for.
With a thunderous roar, the room erupted in flame and smoke and flying debris. The door crashed inward, knocking Elena back against the steps, coughing. Nevid held his crossbow up, peering into the thick smoke. He could hear yelling, so the pirates hadn't been killed outright.
Up in the grotto, Etienne leapt into the billowing cloud of smoke, hoping he'd judged the distance right, gritting his teeth as he plunged downward in a swift arc.
He didn't hit the water, but the smoke was still too dense for him to see anything as the swing started up the other side, so without any real idea as to how far from the ground he was, Etienne let go.
The instant the rope went slack, Isaac hauled it in, grabbed it where the half-Kishak had tied a knot, and, to Arrafin's horror, charged straight out over the edge.
"Some half-Kishak daredevil thinks he can outdo a Saijadani..."
*****
As the cloud began to disperse, Nevid saw Isaac. He was flying.
Clinging to the rope with one hand, clamping his hat to his head with the other, still with his omnipresent cigar clenched in his teeth, the big Saijadani swooped in from the grotto and let go, sailing through the air to crash into a mass of splintered crates.
Etienne had already drawn a longknife and was circling one pirate who kept slapping at a smouldering patch on his breeches. Nevid saw another pirate getting to his feet and fired his crossbow at the man. The bolt slammed into the man's shoulder and pitched him forward onto his face.
Isaac staggered to his feet, spinning to check his surroundings, and saw a stunned-looking fellow with major burns to his face. Which probably really stung, reflected the Saijadani, after his fist connected so solidly with the poor chap's jaw. Isaac pulled out his big sword, saw the opposite door opening and charged.
Etienne feinted forward, dropped his shoulder and when the other guy slashed at him, spun back and cut in a long arc down the man's side. He shrieked and dropped his knife and the Kishak lad kicked him hard and let him fall. He whirled to see Isaac charging the far door, and saw the barrel of the firearm a second before the Saijadani did.
Isaac sat down heavily at the impact of the ball, on the ground before he really registered what had happened. He looked down just in time to see the blood from his chest wound suddenly gush out down his shirt.
"That's gonna hurt."
Nevid, at the report of the pistol, pointed his just-reloaded crossbow at the far door and released. The bolt smashed into the doorframe, but the pirate hiding there withdrew. Etienne had gotten to the wall alongside the door and stood there motionless, watching Nevid for some sign.
Isaac groaned and collapsed. Elena swore.
"We have to get out there. He's going to die. I'm going. That bastard sticks his head out again, Nevid, you shoot him."
"What?"
Elena crouched low and ran for where Isaac lay. Etienne tried to wave her back but she paid no attention. She did pay attention when Nevid yelled, "Get down!"
There was another pistol shot, followed immediately by the heavy metal twang of Nevid's crossbow. Elena fell to her hands and knees and, feeling no terrible impact, she kept going.
As soon as the gun and the crossbow went off, Etienne wrenched open the door and grabbed the weapon away from the startled pirate standing there. So startled was he that he stood perfectly still as Etienne slipped a knife up under his ribs. He groaned quietly and fell to the ground. Etienne turned and saw Elena's ashen face look up from where she knelt next to Isaac.
"He's going to die."
*****
"Isaac? Isaac, drink this, okay? Some water for you."
Arrafin tried not to look at the wound in Isaac's chest. The others were upstairs, moving aside the blocks of stone that had blocked the stairs up there. Nobody wanted to try the waters in grotto, as they had turned out to be populated with extremely agressive and toothy predators of some indistinct type. Loud grinding sounds and occasional bursts of swearing came from above as she tried to smile at Isaac's watery eyes.
"We'll get out of here soon, Isaac. Don't worry. You have to help me investigate the skull, remember? You have to help me."
She sat next to the man, his laboured breathing setting off her nerves. Awkwardly she reached out and patted his shoulder.
"So, del Valencia, huh? From Petrahegna, is that right? It must be beautiful. Of course, I've never been so, don't know, ha ha. But I read. Poetry. You know. Can you read?"
"I can read."
Isaac's lips hadn't moved. Arrafin leaned closer, frowning.
"I can read."
Isaac also couldn't speak Naridic, as far as she knew. It occured that maybe somebody else was speaking and she turned around.
Adil, dripping wet and stark naked, stood there.
*****
They'd almost gotten the last stones pulled free when they heard her screaming.
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