Wrath of the Blue Lady (18 page)

“Yes.”

“But he looks so … so … small!’

“Small?” Kwan Yung raised offended eyebrows and stretched himself to his full height, barely topping Shang-Li’s shoulder. “I am not small.”

“No, of course you aren’t, Master Kwan,” Thava said quickly. “My humblest apologies. But from Shang-Li’s description of you, I’d just expected someone much larger, more fierce, and possessing the temperament of an owlbear.”

“That was his description of me?”

“No. It was more the … manner he said you had regarding him. The interpretive image was my own.” Thava smiled. “But I see I was mistaken. Hail and well met, Kwan Yung, father of my friend. I am most pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Shang-Li didn’t know if his father was more upset over the description or by the bone-bruising hug Thava insisted on giving him. When she sat him down on the floor again, his father glared indignantly at Shang-Li.

“Please forgive my companion, Master Kwan,” Iados said smoothly as he stepped into the mix. “I am Iados Lockhyr. A … traveler and entrepreneur.” He bowed. “Your son has spoken of you with nothing but the utmost respect.”

“You are a much better swordsman than you are a liar,” Kwan Yung said.

“I respectfully beg to differ,” Iados objected. “I’ll wager

that you’ll find I am a most excellent liar, this topic notwithstanding.”

“Lying is not one of his most endearing qualities,” Thava said. “But I feel obligated to let you know that he is one of the best liars I have ever seen. Do not overtrust him.”

“Thank you, Thava.” Iados looked confused, obviously wondering if he’d been complimented or condemned, but he gestured to the table Thava had righted. “Shall we sit?”

“Aren’t you concerned that the men you fought earlier might return?” Kwan Yung asked.

Thava and Iados looked at each other and smiled. Then Iados said, “No. Not really. And if they do, if would be their mistake. We’ve already paid for the damage to the tavern.” He turned to Lukkob. “If I’ve paid for the tavern, perhaps I could get some service.”

Lukkob grinned at him. “Aye. And I’ll even name one of the new rooms in your honor when I have them built.”

“You’re much too kind,” Iados replied dryly.

One of the servers brought over a bottle of ale for Iados and Thava and fresh tea for Shang-Li and his father.

“Would you like supper as well?” Lukkob asked. “At least the oven is still of a piece.”

“Gentlemen?” Iados asked. “Thava and I had just sat down to eat when we were interrupted.” He leaned forward and pretended to speak so that Thava couldn’t hear. “But I must warn you: it isn’t safe to let a dragonborn get too long between meals. If you know what I mean.”

“I take offense at that,” Thava said.

“Do so,” Iados warned, “and you’ll be washing dishes for your supper.”

“Perhaps I’m not as offended as I’d first thought.” She drummed her large fingers on the table top.

“Supper would be good,” Shang-Li said. “We have much to discuss.”

His father looked at him doubtfully.

“Lukkob sets a fine table,” Iados said, picking up on

the unspoken question. “If you’ve been aboardship for the last few days, you’ll find yourself rewarded. And it will be my treat.”

You’ve just won my father’s heart, Shang-Li thought. “Very well,” Kwan Yung said as he moved to take one of the chairs at the table. “Thank you.”

ŚŠŚ <5> -ŠŚ-ŠŚ -ŠŚ

Supper came and went, and it wasn’t long before the candles on the table guttered in the wind that blew through the broken windows. Lukkob had covered the empty spaces with pieces of sailcloth for the time being, but the bitter wind slipped around them carrying the stink of salt and dead fish. The heat from the fireplace didn’t quite fill the room and there was just enough warmth to make Shang-Li long for more.

“You plan to find the shipwreck and the Blue Lady?” Iados asked after Shang-Li had finished his tale.

“I’d rather find only the shipwreck,” Shang-Li said, “but I have the feeling that I won’t find one far from the other. Given that she has proven to be dangerous in the past, I thought it might be a good idea to look for you two while we were here in Westgate.”

“How do you propose to do this?” Thava leaned forward, intent and attentive.

“I’ve got the coordinates where Grayling went down. Ships tend to drift through the ocean when they go down, so I don’t expect to find the wreckage there, but it gives us a point of origin to begin with.” Shang-Li marshaled his thoughts. “I’ve dived for shipwrecks before. Sometimes you get lucky and find them in a short time, but you need to know that this could take a while.”

“Shipwrecks also mean the possibility of salvage.” Iados grinned. “I’ve dived a few of those myself. If you have good information to begin with and stick to the effort, the time

you put into the exploration can be quite lucrative. I’m willing to invest some time after everything you’ve told me. Grayling isn’t the only ship that’s been taken in that area.”

“No.” Shang-Li remembered all the ships he’d seen broken and scattered across the sea floor. “But that’s part of the problem. This woman—whatever she is—is incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous.”

“Then why is she appearing in your dreams?”

Shang-Li shook his head.

Iados leaned back in his chair, which creaked under his weight. “If she has the book, and the potential to read about these portals, why would she need you?”

Although his father hadn’t been comfortable with telling Iados and Thava everything about Liou’s books, Shang-Li had make it a sticking point of their continued joint efforts. In the end, it had been Thava and her gentle ways that had won over his father.

His father spoke quietly. “In the seventy years she has had Liou’s books, she hasn’t opened a portal. We can assume that she hasn’t yet learned the power to do so.”

“Or that the information was wrong and the spell doesn’t work.” Iados’s tail flicked casually across the floor.

“The information is correct.” Kwan Yung didn’t raise his voice, but the authority resonated in his words.

“Of course, Master Kwan. I meant no disrespect.” Iados inclined his horned head.

“No disrespect taken, Iados. But the spells are a danger if they fall into the wrong hands. I cannot stress that enough.”

“And if the Blue Lady thought the spells were deficient, she wouldn’t be interested in attracting Shang-Li to her.” Thava fixed her gaze on Shang-Li. “But she is. And since she is, I want to point out the possibility that perhaps she needs you to translate Liou’s books. You said they were all written in code.”

Shang-Li nodded. “They are. I don’t know if I can read them. My father and I—and the Standing Tree

Monastery—only want to secure those books before they fall into the wrong hands.”

Iados took in a breath and let it out. He scratched at the tabletop with a long talon. “What must books like that be worth?”

Thava frowned at him.

“What?” Iados did his best to look innocent but the horns didn’t help him pull that effort off. “I was just thinking.”

“In going to rescue those books, you also pose a serious threat to them.” Thava studied Shang-Li. “Maybe it would be better if you stayed out of this.”

“Sit back and wait to hear?” That appalled Shang-Li. He’d never been one to sit when there was action.

“It would be safest.”

Kwan Yung shrugged. “My son and I are also the only authorities on Liou Chang’s works. We cannot risk that forgeries are found instead of the real books. We have no choice about going.”

“We are at an impasse then.” Thava nodded. “There is no way to do this or not do this without risk.”

“Exactly as I see it.”

“All right.” Iados leaned forward again. “So we stock the ship for a long voyage and we begin searching for Grayling. What’s left of her. What do we do about the Blue Lady?”

“I’m still working that out.” Shang-Li looked around the table. “So if any of you have any ideas, I’m open to them.”

The candlelight flickered along the tiefling’s horns, chipping away the shadows that had gathered in the tavern. The effect made him look even more demonic. His smile was chilling. No one in the Edge sat close by them.

“Sounds dangerous.” Iados pulled at his chin whiskers.

“She’s pulled whole ships to the bottom of the Sea of Fallen Stars,” Shang-Li said. There was no way to make that sound any less threatening.

“Dangerous is more expensive.”

“Nonsense,” Thava said. “You were telling me only a few days ago that you were tired of protecting caravans along the trade roads. You were longing for the sea. And we haven’t had a good adventure in several tendays.”

Shang-Li hid a smile. Iados had a restless nature and tended to always look for the next patch of green grass.

“I might remind you,” Iados said, “that our last adventure nearly killed me.”

“Would you rather die old and feeble?”

“I find the whole idea of dying unappealing, if you must know.”

Thava snorted. “You enjoy gold and spending gold too much to be careful.”

Iados sighed and swirled the ale in his tankard. “This is probably true. Careful doesn’t pay very well. And if you pursue safety, you might as well long for a pauper’s life.” He glanced at Shang-Li. “So how much are you willing to pay?”

“A percentage of everything we find.”

“This is not a treasure hunt,” his father said.

“Of course not.” Thava patted Kwan Yung’s hand. “We go to find lost history. That is a noble quest. But Iados?” She sighed and several men closest to them moved away because the noise sounded too threatening. “Iados must find his own reasons for doing things. It is a failing within him that you must accept. He is much more … superficial than we are.”

“Don’t be so sanctimonious,” Iados warned. “You know I have a low-retch threshold when it comes to such things. Especially after a big meal.”

“I can see why he and my son are such good friends,” Kwan Yung stated, “but I don’t understand your involvement with either of them.”

“I don’t question Bahamut’s motives for the people he puts in my life,” Thava said. “I only know that I was given Iados to look over—”

“I paid the bar bill,” Iados argued.

“—and sometimes look out for Shang-Li.” “I thank you for that.” “You’re very welcome.”

“I am going to be sick,” Iados declared. “At least tell me that Grayling had a rich cargo on her when she went down.”

“Not much of one, I’m afraid,” Shang-Li said. “She was on a mission of exploration.”

Iados drained his cup sourly.

“But while I talked with the Blue Lady,” Shang-Li went on, “I saw several other ships in the vicinity. None of them looked disturbed. There could be treasure aboard them.”

Iados leaned forward. “You said you had to recruit crewmen as well.”

“Yes. I’ve got the feeling that several of our crewmen have probably already jumped ship.”

“Not a brave lot, are they?”

“Obviously they prefer safe and secure lives,” Thava interjected. “Some people do, you know.”

Iados grimaced but refused to look at his companion. “Crew shouldn’t be a problem. There are many desperate sailors and mercenaries in Westgate these days. There are fortunes to be made if you’re strong enough and brave enough. And don’t hang about with paladins that long for pious poverty.”

“Every gold coin in your purse weighs you down with worry,” Thava said.

“If that’s true, we’re considerably less worried than we were a short time ago.”

“You’re welcome.”

“That wasn’t intended as a good thing.”

“Eye of the beholder,” Thava replied. She picked up a hambone and crunched it thoughtfully in her beak, then sucked out the marrow.

“You want us to do what?” Gorrick, Swallow’s ship’s mage, looked apoplectic. He was old and gray, a bent stick of a man in elegant robes. He didn’t have many friends on the ship because he was so demanding.

Several of the crewmen started muttering. None of them looked pleased at the prospect of going hunting for a ship sunken by a malevolent spirit or avatar of Umberlee.

Still, it was going better than Shang-Li had thought it might. None of them had charged up the sterncastle from amidships yet. He held up his hands and the crew gradually quieted.

“There is some risk.” Shang-Li kept his voice level. He’d had to tell the men what they faced. Captain Chiang hadn’t been happy about the venture when Shang-Li had told him in private, but the Captain also served the Standing Tree Monastery. The monastery owned the ship, and he believed in their efforts. Of course, Chiang had never been asked to willingly risk so much before.

“Some risk?” Gorrick shook a fist at Shang-Li. “You’d send us to your doom if you have your way.” He waved a bony hand at the coastline. “These taverns are full of talk of the Blue Lady and the ships she has dragged down.”

Iados leaned toward Shang-Li and whispered. “If I were you, I wouldn’t tell them about the dreams.”

Shang-Li silently agreed.

“I’ve been in Westgate for some time now,” Thava said. “Until today I’ve never heard of the Blue Lady.”

“I suggest that you don’t keep the same kind of company a sailing man keeps.” Gorrick’s beard quivered with his outrage.

“Way I hear it,” someone in the crowd said, “the paladin likes throwing sailors through windows.”

“I have been in those taverns—” Gorrick pointed again.

“Wenching and drinking ale, no doubt.”

Several of the crew tittered at that. Gorrick had quite a reputation as a would-be lothario.

Gorrick scowled at the crew for the interruption and they drew back from him. “While in those taverns, I’ve heard talk of the Blue Lady. They say she’s the ghost of a ship come calling for vengeance for the pirates that sunk her. They say she went down when the Spellplague came and somehow she was given form and command over the seas where she is.”

Several of the sailors spat and reached for sacred symbols.

“The mission we have undertaken on part of the monastery is very important.” Shang-Li leaned on the sterncastle railing and pierced each man with his gaze. “You’ve served on the ship they’ve given you, eaten of the larder they’ve provided, and enjoyed fairly comfortable lives. They need you—we need you—at this, our most desperate hour, to be the warriors and sailing men you are.”