blue-gray haze of dawn.
The wind rushed past them as they shot into the west, the chariot rocking
wildly from side to side, up and down. Bruenor fought frantically to hold his
course; Catti-brie fought frantically just to hold on. The sides wobbled, the
back dipped and climbed, and once they even spun in a complete vertical circle,
though it happened so fast - luckily - that neither of the riders had time to
fall out!
A few minutes later, a single thundercloud loomed ahead of them. Bruenor saw
it, and Catti-brie yelled a warning, but the dwarf hadn't mastered the
subtleties of driving the chariot well enough to do anything about their course.
They blew through the darkness, leaving a hissing steam tail in their wake, and
rocketed out above the cloud.
And then Bruenor, his face glistening with wetness, found the measure of the
reins. He leveled off the chariot's course and put the rising sun behind his
right shoulder. Catti-brie, too, found her footing, though she still clung
tightly to the chariot's rail with one hand, and to the dwarf's heavy cloak with
the other.
* * *
The silver dragon rolled over onto its back lazily, riding the morning winds
with its legs - all four - crossed over it and its sleepy eyes half closed. The
good dragon loved its morning glide, leaving the bustle of the world far below
and catching the sun's untainted rays above the cloud level.
But the dragon's marvelous orbs popped open wide when it saw the fiery
streak rushing at it from the east. Thinking the flames to be the forerunning
fires of an evil red dragon, the silver swooped around into a high cloud and
poised to ambush the thing. But the fury left the dragon's eyes when it
recognized the strange craft, a fiery chariot, with just the helm of the driver,
a one-horned contraption, sticking above the front of the carriage and a young
human woman standing behind, her auburn locks flying back over her shoulders.
Its huge mouth agape, the silver dragon watched as the chariot sped past.
Few things piqued the curiosity of this ancient creature, who had lived so very
many years, but it seriously considered following this unlikely scene.
A cool breeze wafted in then and washed all other thoughts from the silver
dragon's mind. "Peoples," it muttered, rolling again onto its back and shaking
its head in disbelief.
* * *
Catti-brie and Bruenor never even saw the dragon. Their eyes were fixed
squarely ahead, where the wide sea was already in sight on the western horizon,
blanketed by a heavy morning mist. A half-hour later, they saw the high towers
of Waterdeep to the north and moved out from the Sword Coast and over the water.
Bruenor, getting a better feel of the reins, swung the chariot to the south and
dropped it low.
Too low.
Diving into the gray shroud of mist, they heard the lapping of the waves
below them and the hiss of steam as the spray hit their fiery craft.
"Bring her up!" Catti-brie yelled. "Ye're too low!"
"Need to be low!" Bruenor gasped, fighting the reins. He tried to mask his
incompetence, but he fully realized that they were indeed too close to the
water. Struggling with all his might, he managed to bring the chariot up a few
more feet and level it off. "There," he boasted. "Got it straight, and got it
low."
He looked over his shoulder at Catti-brie. "Need to be low," he said again
into her doubting expression. "We have to see the durn ship to find it!"
Catti-brie only shook her head.
But then they did see a ship. Not the ship, but a ship nonetheless, looming
up in the mist barely thirty yards ahead.
Catti-brie screamed - Bruenor did, too - and the dwarf fell back with the
reins, forcing the chariot upward at as steep an angle as possible. The ship's
deck rolled out below them.
And the masts still towered above them!
If all the ghosts of every sailor who had ever died on the sea had risen
from their watery graves and sought vengeance on this particular vessel, the
lookout's face would not have held a truer expression of terror. Possibly he
leaped from his perch - more likely he toppled in fright - but either way, he
missed the deck and dropped safely into the water at the very last second before
the chariot streaked past his crow's nest and nipped the top of the mainmast.
Catti-brie and Bruenor composed themselves and looked back to see the tip of
the ship's mast burning like a single candle in the gray mist.
"Ye're too low," Catti-brie reiterated.
11
Hot Winds
The Sea Sprite cruised easily under clear blue skies and the lazy warmth of
the southern Realms. A strong trade wind kept its sails filled, and only six
days after their departure from Baldur's Gate, the western tip of the Tethyr
Peninsula was already in sight - a journey that normally took more than a week.
But a wizard's call traveled faster still.
Captain Deudermont took the Sea Sprite down the center of Asavir's Channel,
trying to keep a safe distance from the peninsula's sheltered bays - bays that
often held pirates poised for passing merchant vessels - and also cautious to
keep a healthy gap of water between his ship and the islands on his west: the
Nelanther, the infamous Pirate Isles. The captain felt safe enough in the
crowded sea lane, with the banner of Calimport flying above his craft and the
sails of several other merchant ships dotting the horizon every so often both in
front of and behind the Sea Sprite.
Using a common merchant's trick, Deudermont closed in on a vessel and
shadowed its course, keeping the Sea Sprite in its wake. Less maneuverable and
slower than the Sea Sprite and flying the flag of Murann, a lesser city on the
Sword Coast, this second ship would provide a much easier target to any pirates
in the area.
Eighty feet above the water, taking a turn in the crow's nest, Wulfgar had
the clearest view of the deck of the ship ahead. With his strength and agility,
the barbarian was fast becoming quite a sailor, eagerly taking his turn at every
job alongside the rest of the crew. His favorite duty was the crow's nest,
though it was a tight fit for a man of his size. He was at peace in the warm
breeze and solitude. He rested against the mast, using one hand to block out the
daytime glare, and studied the crew's activities on the ship ahead.
He heard the front ship's lookout call something down, though he couldn't
make out the words, then saw the crew rushing about frantically, most heading
for the prow to watch the horizon. Wulfgar jolted upright and leaned over the
nest, straining his eyes to the south.
* * *
"How do they feel, having us in tow?" Drizzt, standing beside Deudermont on
the bridge, asked the captain. While Wulfgar had been building a rapport working
beside the crew, Drizzt had struck a solid friendship with the captain. And
realizing the value of the elf's opinions, Deudermont gladly shared his
knowledge of his station, and of the sea, with Drizzt. "Do they understand their
role as fodder?"
"They know our purpose in shadowing them, and their captain - if he is an
experienced sailor - would do the same if our positions were reversed,"
Deudermont replied. "Yet we bring them an extra measure of safety as well. Just
having a ship from Calimport in sight will deter many of the pirates."
"And perhaps they feel that we would come to their aid in the face of such
an attack?" Drizzt was quick to ask.
Deudermont knew that Drizzt was interested in discovering if the Sea Sprite
would indeed go to the other ship's aid. Drizzt had a strong streak of honor in
him, Deudermont understood, and the captain, of similar morals, admired him for
it. But Deudermont's responsibilities as the captain of a vessel were too
involved for such a hypothetical situation. "Perhaps," he replied.
Drizzt let the line of questioning end, satisfied that Deudermont kept the
scales of duty and morality in proper balance.
"Sails to the south!" came Wulfgar's call from above, bringing many of the
Sea Sprite's crew to the forward rail.
Deudermont's eyes went to the horizon, then to Wulfgar. "How many?"
"Two ships!" Wulfgar called back. "Running north and even, and wide apart!"
"Port and starboard?" Deudermont asked.
Wulfgar took a close measure of the intercepting course then affirmed the
captain's suspicions. "We will pass between them!"
"Pirates?" Drizzt asked, knowing the answer.
"So it would seem," the captain replied. The distant sails came into view to
the men on the deck.
"I see no flag," one of the sailors near the bridge called to the captain.
Drizzt pointed to the merchant ship ahead. "Are they the target?"
Deudermont nodded grimly. "So it would seem," he said again.
"Then let us close up with them," the drow said. "Two against two seems a
fairer fight."
Deudermont stared into Drizzt's lavender eyes and was almost stunned by
their sudden gleam. How could the captain hope to make this honorable warrior
understand their place in the scenario? The Sea Sprite flew Calimport's flag,
the other ship, Murann's. The two were hardly allies.
"The encounter may not come to blows," he told Drizzt. "The Murann vessel
would be wise to surrender peacefully."
Drizzt began to see the reasoning. "So flying Calimport's flag holds
responsibilities as well as benefits?"
Deudermont shrugged helplessly. "Think of the thieves' guilds in the cities
you have known," he explained. "Pirates are much the same an unavoidable
nuisance. If we sail in to fight, we would dispel any self-restraint the pirates
hold upon themselves, most probably bringing more trouble than need be."
"And we would mark every ship under Calimport's flag sailing the Channel,"
Drizzt added, no longer looking at the captain, but watching the spectacle
unfold before him. The light dropped from his eyes.
Deudermont, inspired by Drizzt's grasp of principles - a grip that would not
allow such acceptance of rogues - put a hand on the elf's shoulder. "If the
encounter comes to blows," the captain said, drawing Drizzt's gaze back to his
own, "the Sea Sprite will join the battle."
Drizzt turned back to the horizon and clapped Deudermont's hand with his
own. The eager fire returned to his eyes as Deudermont ordered the crew to stand
ready.
The captain really didn't expect a fight. He had seen dozens of engagements
such as this, and normally when the pirates outnumbered their intended victim,
the looting was accomplished without bloodshed. But Deudermont, with so many
years of experience on the sea, soon realized that something was strange this
time. The pirate ships kept their course wide, passing too far abreast of the
Murann ship to board it. At first, Deudermont thought the pirates meant to
launch a distance strike - one of the pirate vessels had a catapult mounted to
its afterdeck - to cripple their victim, though the act seemed unnecessary.
Then the captain understood the truth. The pirates had no interest in the
Murann ship. The Sea Sprite was their target.
From his high perch, Wulfgar, too, realized that the pirates were sailing
right by the lead ship. "Take up arms!" he cried to the crew. "They aim for us!"
"You may indeed get your fight," Deudermont said to Drizzt. "It seems that
Calimport's flag will not protect us this time."
To Drizzt's night-attuned eyes, the distant ships appeared as no more than
tiny black dots in the glare of the shining water, but the drow could make out
what was happening well enough. He couldn't understand the logic of the pirates'
choice, though, and he had a strange feeling that he and Wulfgar might be
somehow connected to the unfolding events. "Why us?" he asked Deudermont.
The captain shrugged. "Perhaps they have heard a rumor that one of
Calimport's ships will be laden with a valuable cargo."
The image of the fireballs exploding in the night sky over Baldur's Gate
flashed in Drizzt's mind. A signal? he wondered again. He couldn't yet put all
of the pieces together, but his suspicions led him invariably to the theory that
he and Wulfgar were somehow involved in the pirates' choice of ships.
"Do we fight?" he started to ask Deudermont, but he saw that the captain was
already laying the plans.
"Starboard!" Deudermont told the helmsman. "Put us west to the Pirate Isles.
Let us see if these dogs have a belly for the reefs!" He motioned another man to
the crow's nest, wanting Wulfgar's strength for the more important duties on the
deck.
The Sea Sprite bit into the waves and bowed low in a sharp right turn. The
pirate vessel on the east, now the farthest away, cut its angle to pursue
directly while the other, the bulkier of the two, kept its course straight, each
second bringing the Sea Sprite closer for a shot of its catapult.
Deudermont pointed to the largest of the few islands visible in the west.
"Skim her close," he told the helmsman, "but ware the single reef. Tide's low,
and she should be visible."
Wulfgar dropped to the deck beside the captain.
"On that line," Deudermont ordered him. "You've the mainmast. If I bid you
