'What can we do?" asked Releana.
The captain looked back at the Breeton — wistfully, J'role thought-and then said, "We've got to back her up. Get to the wheelhouse and turn the paddle the other way." With that she ran for the edge of the riverboat and threw herself over, grabbing a rope at the last moment and flinging herself over to the Breeton. J'role could think of nothing he would rather do than try to keep up with the captain's headlong, reckless energy. He rushed forward and imitated her, swinging back over to the Breeton. Releana followed immediately behind, shouting, “I just hope I live so I can tell someone about all this!"
When they reached the deck of the Breeton, J'role grabbed a sword from off the deck, prying it out of the hands of a dead sailor. He waved it once through the air, the swishing sound making him suddenly giddy. The captain looked down at him, winked, and then the three were on their way, running along the deck to the rear of the riverboat. The wheelhouse was located on the top deck at the stern, and they had a long way to go.
They fought their way through the mutineers, engaging them in groups of up to six at a time. The captain fought with her skillful swordplay. Releana with her magic. And J'role, slipping his thief magic around him, sneaked up around their opponents, striking from behind. Skirmish after skirmish they fought, each of them taking nicks and cuts. By the time they were halfway there, each was trailing drops of blood in his or her wake.
The captain, who had taken the worst of the damage, finally fell to her knees. "Go on, go on," she said. "Pull the lever all the way back. ."
"But …," Releana said.
"GO!"
They went. They fought on. They made their way along decks and up ropes. They were wary now, avoiding fights when they could, fighting quickly when they couldn't. Around them a choppy sea of conflict-swords, shouts, the clinks of rapier against rapier …
They reached the wheelhouses a square room sitting atop a platform and surrounded by windows on all sides. They came up low, under the windows, intending to catch the mutineers inside off guard. With a signal to Releana to wait a moment, J'role walked up the stairs to the wheelhouse door, and tried it. Locked. Inside he saw two mutineers. They seemed content to wait safely inside as the battle raged around them. Nikronallia was not among them.
It occurred to J'role that, being a thief, he should be able to unlock a door. He didn't k now how to do it exactly, but like so many other things about being a thief, he trusted it would come to him if he lost himself in the magic. He quieted his thoughts. Let the loneliness soak into his muscles and bones … Yes. It came to him now. He placed his fingertips against the lock … Yes …
No. He felt his magic falter. He was positive he should be able to manipulate the lock by using magic; he sensed the magic within, wanting him to do it. But he knew the task was simply too difficult to accomplish without some practice and thought. That was for a later time.
He signaled Releana to come up the stairs, then stood and smashed the glass of the door with the pommel of his sword. Quickly he reached in and undid the lock. As he pulled his hand out, one of the mutineers jabbed his rapier into J'role's arm. He fell back just as Releana cast a spell. She dropped to the ground and breathed onto the floor. A thick layer of ice rushed across the room, suddenly sliding under the feet of the startled mutineers, who slipped and tumbled to the floor.
J'role jumped into the room, driving his rapier into the chest of one of the t'skrang.
Releana killed the other one with an ice spear she produced from her hands.
J 'role spotted the lever. Though it was labeled in t'skrang, it was pushed all the way forward, and it seemed obvious that pulling it all the way back would reverse the Breeton's direction. J'role scrambled for the device, slipping on the blood and ice that covered the floor. He reached it, and pulled it all the way, then he and Releana breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the paddle grind to a halt and start up again. He looked out the rear window and saw the wheel in full reverse. Slowly the ship began to back up.
J'role turned toward Releana His smile quickly vanished, for right behind her stood Nikronallia, blood stained and grim.
Even as Releana turned in response to J'role's visible fear, Nikronallia was pulling back on his sword, getting ready to run Releana through. Releana just had time to cry out in surprise and terror when a knife flashed in the door frame and caught Nikronallia full in the neck. The mutiny leader gurgled blood for a moment, then fell backward over the stairway railing.
"Lad!" Garlthik One-Eye exclaimed, his bulky ork body filling the doorway. "Are you all right?" He paused for a moment, taking in J'role's reaction. When J'role only stood there impassively, he said, "Thank the gods and goddesses you found help. I've been a prisoner to these-"
J'role rushed forward and slammed into Garlthik, sending the ork over the railing. The ork bounced on the deck below, then plunged into the Serpent.
"We've got to get off!" shouted Releana. As if confirming the urgency of the danger, the ship listed sharply and threw them to the deck.
26
Her dreamed of her putting the thing in him. His mother stood beside his bed, her fingertips pressed against his chest, gently massaging his skin. "Like this?" she asked.
The white shadow in the corner replied, "Yes."
As the ship rocked and listed sharply, J'role and Releana fell to the deck. Dazed, he lost the impulse to get up and move, but Releana was quickly at his side and tugging on his armn. The Chakara isn't holding the Breeton up any more," she said. "We've got to go!"
J'role came out of his strange disorientation, and the two of them fled across the upper deck, trying to get to the Chakara before the Breeton capsized. Balancing carefully on the deck's steep angle, they worked their way through the corpses and the blood. The fighting had stopped, and both the Chakara's crew and the Breeton mutineers who wanted to surrender had begun a retreat. Ahead dozens of t'skrang swung from the sinking ship over to the Chakara.
J'role and Releana were halfway down the length of the ship when J'role suddenly thought of his father.
Where was he? Was he still alive?
Releana ran on a few steps more, then turned to look when she realized J'role had fallen behind. He waved her on toward the Chakara, then turned toward a passage leading to the lower decks. Releana must have read his mind. Running back toward him, she said,
"They might have found him already, Grim … J'role. Some of the Chakara's sailors might have gotten him off the ship."
J'role hesitated. She might be right. But he couldn't wait. He started down the stairs.
A moment later he heard Releana following. He felt much better.
With the ship now tilted at a forty-five degree angle, J'role and Releana had to walk with one foot on the floor and one foot at the base of the wall. They ran through the ship, Releana calling, ”Hello? Hello?" over and over again. They found corpses, but no Bevarden. Eventually they reached the lower decks and as they headed toward the starboard side they saw passages filling with water; further on some cabins were completely submerged.
J'role wondered if the ship would soon begin to sink faster, with he and Releana trapped aboard, unable to find an exit before the decks they now wandered flooded with water.
J role tapped Releana on the arm, then pointed one way for her, and another for himself.