A nondescript wagon creaked down a dark street of the Inner City, the back piled high with canvas-covered wares and the caravaneers perched on the seat and rails. A single horseman rode beside the wagon, looking ill at ease in the saddle. The wagon stopped just before entering a wide, curved avenue, across which loomed an impressive stone mansion. To the casual eye, it looked just like one of the dozens or hundreds of wagons that passed through Katapesh each day.
It wasn't.
"If the wizard I paid was any good, Celeste's up there." Torius pointed to the tower atop the mansion.
"Looks like Brojanni's still up," Snick said from the driver's seat, nodding up at the lights blazing through the upper windows.
"That can't be helped." It had taken four days to set this up; Torius was not going to let Celeste remain prisoner one night longer.
A spiked wrought iron fence encircled the place, inside which strode four human guards, each bearing a loaded crossbow and the leashes of two snarling hyenas.
"Don't like dogs," the pirate beside Snick complained.
"Shouldn't have to deal with them." Torius nodded to the nearest guard. "Him, however, you'll have to take out, or he'll shoot me and you'll need a new captain."
"And the downside of that would be..." Snick said with a grin.
"Just get us set up, Snick!" Torius wiped his brow and checked his bag of tricks. His hands were shaking again, blast it, and he couldn't stop sweating. He'd finally realized the source of his symptoms: the absence of his navigator, or more precisely, her venom, to which he apparently had become both inured and addicted.
"Here." Snick passed him a small bottle. "Drink it."
"What is it?"
"Pesh brandy; it'll help the shakes."
He wondered how much she knew about the origin of his shakes, then unstoppered the bottle and took a pull, feeling its sweet warmth set his stomach afire. "Thanks."
"Get ready." She glanced at the hourglass that synchronized them with three similar wagons on parallel streets. "It's almost time."
Torius doffed his kaftan, revealing a stout harness over studded leather armor. He took a bottle from his belt and downed the contents; Brojanni was a poison master, so a preemptive cure seemed a good precaution.
The crewmen pulled the canvas off of Snick's baby, already loaded with a special stone-biter bolt. A long, light rope was threaded through the bolt's eye; one end they clipped to the horse's saddle, the other to a heavy ring in the front of Torius's harness. A second line, which was wound around a spring-tensioned drum bolted to the wagon, they clipped to the back of his harness. This was a tensioning line; without it he would be dragged right into the menacing fence.
"You're sure about all this, Snick?" He took a deep, calming breath.
"Trust me, Captain." She gave him another grin, holding up the glass and gripping the ballista's trip cord. "I triple-checked everything. Ready?"
"Hell no!"
"Too bad." Snick pulled the cord. The ballista cracked sharply as it shot the bolt into the night. From adjacent streets, three more bolts shot toward the mansion. Three of the four hit their marks, lodging deep in the stone above the tower's highest window; one glanced off an embrasure and fell. Their assault force had just been reduced by one quarter.
Torius said a short prayer and snapped, "Go!" to the horseman.
The man applied his spurs and the horse bolted back down the street, pulling the line though the bolt's eye and yanking Torius from the wagon. He felt like he was being torn in half; one rope pulled him forward while the tensioning line pulled him back to keep the angle of his ascent above the deadly fence. As he cleared the tines, he saw a guard below raise his crossbow, but a hail of bolts cut him down before he could fire and Torius allowed himself to breathe. Glancing to his left, he saw Grogul and Joss also ascending toward the window.
When his feet were firmly planted against the window's narrow ledge, he unclipped the tensioning line. Grogul and Joss arrived, the former grinning his tusky grin, the latter looking pale but ready.
He had no doubt that Brojanni had some type of ward on his tower windows, but this was where another of his preparations came into play. Torius slipped out the wand he had purchased for this venture—at a cost that made him nauseous when he thought about it—pointed it at the window frame and whispered, "Negate."
Nothing happened.
Three possibilities flashed into Torius' mind: the wand was a fake and he would have to hunt down and kill the merchant he'd purchased it from, the window had no enchantment for the wand to dispel and he had just wasted a charge, or the wand had worked and it was safe. Only one out of the three would get him killed, which wasn't bad odds considering the stupidity of attacking a spellcaster in his own home. He glanced at Grogul and shrugged.
"Bah!" The boatswain kicked in the ornate leaded glass and swung through the opening. Torius followed, and Joss came last.
As they rolled to their feet, he heard the sound he had been dreading; the chanting of a wizard casting magic. He swept his wand in an arc, looking for the source. There were myriad tables, cages, boxes, barrels, shelves and alchemical apparatuses, but no wizard. Then he realized his mistake, and discharged the wand in the direction of the wizard's voice.
Too late.
Brojanni learned a valuable lesson about dealing with pirates. Or perhaps not.
Lightning cracked out of thin air, blasting Grogul against the wall. Torius leapt to the attack, wand in one hand, sword in the other, as Brojanni winked into visibility. Before he could close the gap, the wizard cast a handful of dust before him and began another spell, but Torius was ready this time.
"Negate!"
Nothing happened.
Torius grinned and advanced.
The wizard threw a vial at his assailants' feet, and it burst into a noxious cloud. The acrid vapor stung Torius' eyes and nose, but he felt no other ill effects. Chalk one up for the pre-emptive cure, he thought triumphantly.
Torius and Joss stepped forward, swords poised to strike.
Brojanni backed against the door. "How dare you invade my home, you damned pirate!"
"How dare you steal my navigator, you trite bastard!" Torius shot back. "Tell us where she is and you live."
"I didn't steal your pet naga, Captain. Your own first mate did that for me. I am not going to hand over my property to a common thief, and my guild will have your head if you kill me."
"And my guild will have your head for arranging her kidnapping!" Torius placed the tip of his cutlass against the man's chest. "Now, hand her over."
Brojanni's face abruptly softened from a sneer to a smile.
"Captain, please, we're both businessmen. The naga's venom is all I want. When mixed with refined pesh, it makes an interesting poison. I expect to make a fortune from it. A fortune we could share." He raised his hands in submission. "This is simply a misunderstanding in a delicate matter of commerce. I see no reason why we can't reach a mutually beneficial agreement with no guild involvement."
"Like what?"
"Sell me her venom! If you sign a contract to bring me regular shipments, I'll give you the naga."
Torius opened his mouth to tell the wizard what he could do with his contract, then heard distant shouts from beyond the door.
"Those are my guards, Captain, and I daresay there are more than you can oppose. Decide quickly!"
Torius's mind raced. "Five hundred gold per ounce, six ounces per month, guaranteed."
"Three hundred and ten ounces per month."
"Four hundred and eight per month."
"Done!"
Torius lowered his sword. "Where is she?"
"Just behind that wall, Captain." Brojanni produced a key from his sleeve.
"Joss, see to Grogul. We just made a deal."
"Aye, sir!"
"This way, Captain." Brojanni stepped to the shelf-lined wall. He moved a pot and fit the key into a hole. Silently, the entire wall swung out.
Inside, Celeste lay restrained by an iron collar chained to two bolts in the walls. The room was crowded with other devices and a table laden with vials of pearly white liquid.
She rose on her coils, her dark eyes wide. "My captain!"
"Release her!" Torius's hand began to sweat on his sword hilt.
"Captain, please. The monster is dangerous without the enspelled collar. Let me place a charm on it for our protection."
"Fine. Do it now."
Torius tensed as the wizard cast his spell, then stepped over and touched the iron collar; it glowed briefly and fell away. "Your owner has come for you, Celeste. You can go with him as soon as we sign a simple contract."
"Of course," she said, slithering submissively after them.
Back in the outer room, Brojanni bent over his desk to gather paper and quill. Torius sidled over next to Celeste and aimed his wand.
"Negate!" he whispered
This time, something happened.
Celeste coiled and struck, sinking her fangs into Brojanni's neck. He reeled, and again she bit him, hissing with rage. The wizard fell against the desk, and she sunk her fangs into his chest, flexing her powerful body before releasing him. Brojanni slumped to the floor, gasping for breath, his skin nearly as pale as Celeste's. Once more, she reared back, ready to strike.
"Celeste! Enough!" Torius stepped forward, but she turned and hissed at him.
"This man..." she seethed, "this beast chained me and kept me from seeing the stars! He forced me to trade my venom for a mere glimpse of the sky! I'll have him dead!"
"Wait, Celeste! Please. It's complicated. We can't kill him. It'll start a guild war." He stepped between them and turned to give her a secret wink. "In fact, I'll need to give him the antidote to your venom right away." He turned to Brojanni and handed him a large flask. "Drink this. It'll ease the poison. Quickly!"
The wizard took the flask and drank greedily, then slumped back. His hand dropped to the floor, releasing the flask as his eyes glazed over with forgetfulness.
Celeste hissed angrily. "You...you mean to let him live? After what he did to me?" She lashed her tail. He'd seen her agitated before when she'd been too long from the stars, but never this bad.
"At least he won't remember it." Torius looked down at the man's slack face. "Trust me, if I could kill him, I would. Do you have any idea how much that elixir he just gargled was worth?"
"We gotta go, Captain!" Grogul rumbled. He and Joss were busy barricading the door.
"Grogul! You okay?"
"Bah! Nothin' but a little burn." He brushed charred leather away from the healing scar on his chest. "Joss fixed me up. But we better get before this door gives way."
"We've got to go, Celeste. Now! I'll make it up to you." He pulled out a potion vial and held it while she drank. He heard Joss gasp as she morphed into a beautiful nude woman, but he didn't have time to deal with that right now. He draped a cloak across her shoulders and the four of them dashed for the window.
∗ ∗ ∗
The stars shone like jewels overhead as Stargazer sailed beyond the glow of Katapesh. Torius stepped out onto the deck, his hands behind his back. Celeste was coiled at the rail, gazing up and swaying sinuously with the roll of the ship while the crew tended to their duties around her.
"For you." Torius held out an exquisite sextant wrought in bright silver.
Celeste's smile gleamed as she floated it out of his hands. She peered through the lens and hissed with delight. Leaning close, she nipped his neck; the faint rush of weakness and euphoria was like a breath of sea breeze, and Torius sighed.
"You must have done well with the sale of the Gods' Tears to afford such an instrument," she said.
Torius looked around guiltily to ensure that none of the crew stood within hearing, then whispered, "Actually, after paying the crew and buying that, the money's mostly gone. We've got to find a rich merchant ship if we're to keep in provisions."
"Then I will find one for you," Celeste agreed, turning her face to the night sky. "And the stars will be our guide!"
Coming Next Week: A brand new story featuring Tantaerra from Ed Greenwood's new novel, The Wizard's Mask!
Read more about Torius, Celeste, and the crew of the Stargazer in the new Pathfinder Tales novel Pirate's Honor, available now!
Chris A. Jackson is the author of the Scimitar Seas nautical fantasy series, which has won sequential gold medal awards for fantasy from ForeWord Reviews, as well as Weapon of Flesh, Deathmask, A Soul for Tsing, and the Cornerstones Trilogy. He lives with his wife on a sailboat in the Caribbean. For samples of his work, his blog, and his convention schedule, visit jaxbooks.com.
Illustration by Greg Opalinski