Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (30 page)

Jerick the Red

 
         
Jerick
the Red prowled the deck of his galleon like an angry wolf, barking orders to
his crew. His men swung supplies onto the quarterdeck with heavy ropes and
pulleys,
then
secured the reserves below. His ship,
Red Wake
, seemed in fine shape, with
newer sails and rigging, a fresh coat of red and blue paint on the trim, and
the barnacles recently scraped from its hull. From the way Red ordered his crew
about, though, you’d have thought the ship was on the verge of disaster.

 
          
“It’s
a wonder,” Mik called up to him from the dock, “that you can get anyone to sign
aboard, with you prowling around like a mother cat.”

 
          
Jerick
turned,
an angry retort on his bearded lips. Then he
recognized Mik and broke into a broad smile. “Mik Vardan! While I live and
breathe,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

 
          
“Nor
did I,” Mik replied. “I thought you were dead.”

 
          
“That’s
quite a story, me lad,” Jerick said. “Perhaps I’ll tell it to you later. You
know, someone was just asking me about you.
Said he wanted to
go find you in Darthalla or some such rubbish.”

 
          
“That
was me!” piped Trip, throwing back the hood of his sea serpent cloak. Ula, who
was standing next to him, winced from the sudden odor. Mik and Shimmer kept
upwind.

 
          
The
red-bearded captain leaned on the rail and peered down at the four of them. “So
it was,” he said, nodding. Turning to Mik he added, “I’d have thought that
consorting with kender would be bad for the salvage business—no offense, little
master. I approve of your shapely companion, though.” He bowed toward Ula, who
nodded curtly in acknowledgment. “And one can never have enough warriors,” he
said, looking at Shimmer.

 
          
“Trip’s
a fine diver,” Mik replied. “And he has a positive knack for finding treasure.”

 
          
“I
should say so,” Jerick said. “He paid me with a very strange assortment of
coin.” He frowned. “I suppose you’ll
be wanting
your
money back now, master kender.”

 
          
“Oh,
no,” Trip said buoyantly. “We want to hire you for an even bigger job.”

 
          
Jerick
raised his bushy eyebrows. “Well, in that case, you’d best come aboard.”

 
          
They
walked up the gangplank, and Jerick showed them into his cabin—a roomy chamber
in the stem, just off the quarterdeck. His cabin boy brought them all mm, and
they settled in around the table in the center of the room. Shimmer stood by
the door.

 
          
“Excuse
the mess,” Jerick said, indicating the room’s general state of untidiness, “hut
it’s the maid’s day off.” He grinned, showing off a large golden tooth right in
front.

 
          
“You
have a maid?” Trip said. “Sleek. You should get a maid, Mik. Next time you have
a ship, I mean.”

 
          
“So,”
Jerick said, “you’re between ships, are you?”

 
          
Mik’s
jaw tightened.
“Aye.
At the moment.”

 
          
“A
dragon sank our last ship,” Trip added.

 
          
“Did
it, now?” Jerick said. “Not one of ‘ours,’ I hope.” “No,” Trip said. “It was a
big old sea dragon named Tempest. Scuttled us outside the Veil, but Shimmer
found us and took us in. He and Ula are old friends.”

 
          
“That’s
the gist of the story, anyway,” Mik said.

 
          
“Most
outsiders arrive here in a similar manner,” Jerick said. “Only a few are good
enough—or lucky enough—to find the way on their own.”

 
          
“Which
were you?” Ula asked, arching one platinum eyebrow.

 
          
Jerick
smiled at her. “Neither. I was a pirate—as Mik here could tell you—plying my
trade in the waters beyond the Veil. Well, as it happened, I shared a common
enemy with one of the lords of the isles. Sinking the blighter damaged my ship
severely, but put me in good with the dragon. That earned me a spot as one of
the isles’ privateers. Been waylaying scoundrels for lord and realm ever since.
Haven’t been beyond the Veil lately, though.
That sea
dragon is a menace to shipping.”

 
          
“As
we found out,” Mik said.

 
          
“Aye,”
Jerick replied. “I hope you didn’t lose much that was dear to you.”

 
          
“Only
shipmates,” Mik replied.

 
          
“Aye.
I know how that is,” Jerick said. He raised his mug.
“Here’s to ’em—and to the death of that dragon!”

 
          
They
all raised their mugs in salute and drank, even Shimmer.

 
          
Jerick
leaned back in his chair. “So,” he said, “what kind of job is it
you’re needing
me for?”

 
          
“We’re
going to find a temple full of treasure,” Trip blurted. “If we can figure out
where it is.”

 
          
“I
think Mik should do the talking from now on,” Ula said, staring dangerously
into Trip’s hazel eyes. “Understand?” Trip nodded.

 
          
“Fiery,
isn’t she?” Jerick said, winking at Trip. Ula frowned, but the red-bearded
captain only laughed. “Of course, I
like
’em that way.” Turning back to Mik, he asked, “How much of what the kender said
is true?”

 
          
“The
general outline of it,” Mik replied. “We’ve come a long way on prophecy and
prayer, and recovered three out of the four keys we need to reach our goal.”

 
          
“The
last one came from the Dragonheights!” Trip put in. Jerick’s eyes widened. “You
came back from the Dragonheights? How? There’s a spell on the heights that
won’t be lifted ’til the good
dragons
return—if it’s
ever
lifted at all. Those that venture
atop the cliffs don’t usually come back.” “Shimanloreth and I didn’t have too
much trouble,” Mik averred.

 
          
“Shim
. . .” Jerick began. His blue eyes widened. “I’ve heard of him. Then your
pretty friend must be Ula Landwalker. I didn’t make the connection before.
Doubly pleased to make your acquaintance, miss. We ‘black dolphins’ need to
swim together, you know.
Glad to meet you, too, sir.”
He bobbed his head deferentially at Shimmer. “So, how long will you be
needing
me boat for?”

 
          
“A
week or two,” Mik said. “Perhaps less if the haul is not
so
good as we believe.”

 
          
The
red-bearded captain raised his bushy eyebrows. “Is that so? One or two days I
might have done for friendship’s sake, but shirking my ‘patrols’ for a week or
two . . .” He shook his head. “That’ll cost more than a fair bucket of steel.”
“We have money,” Trip put in, emptying his pockets on the table.

 
          
Jerick
eyed the assortment of coins, rocks,
strips
of leather
thong, buttons, and other oddments. He looked at Mik. “I might have missed it,
Mik, old boy, but I didn’t see a coin pouch on you when you came in.”

 
          
Mik
shook his head. “We’re cash poor at the moment, unless ...” He looked hopefully
at Shimmer.

 
          
The
bronze knight shook his head. “My reserves are nearly depleted as well.”

 
          
“I’m
afraid we’re pretty tapped out,” Mik said.

 
          
The
privateer captain nodded knowingly.
“Aye.
You’ve
already admitted that your ship’s been lost,” he said. “As I see it, there’s no
way you can pay the bill you’d run up on this venture—not if this lovely
stripped off every bit of jewelry right down to her blue skin. I agreed to take
one kender to Darthalla—an expensive idea in itself—not
three
people on a fishing expedition.”

 
          
“Four,”
Trip corrected.

 
          
Jerick
patted the kender’s tawny head. “In any case, Mik, my old friend, I don’t think
you can afford me or my ship.” He leaned back in his chair.

 
          
For
a moment, only the creak of the Red Wake as it gently swayed in the water broke
the room’s silence.

 
          
Ula
stood. “Come on. We’ll look elsewhere.”

 
          
“Now
hold on there, missy,” Jerick said. “I said you couldn’t
afford
me. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”

 
          
“So
what is it you want?” Mik asked.

 
          
The
red-bearded man smiled.
“A slice of the action, of course.”

 
          
Ula
frowned.
“How big a slice?”

 
          
“I’d
say six shares out of ten—in
my
favor, naturally.” Mikal Vardan threw back his head and laughed. “Without our
expedition,” he said, “you have no slice at all. We’re supplying the goal, the
location, and the recovery team. We can put four people—expert treasure
finders—into the deep if need be. How many can you dive?” Without waiting for
an answer, he continued. “I suspected as much. I think that
one
share in ten would be a reasonable
fee.”

 
          
“But
I bear the majority of the risks as well as most of die costs,” Jerick
countered. “The ship is mine, the crew is mine. If we run into trouble, I’m far
more likely to suffer losses.
Five
shares in ten would seem a reasonable cut.”

 
          
Ula
and Trip shrugged at each other and kept out of the dickering. Shimmer remained
silent.

 
          
“We
both know that
it’s
experts that get shares on a
voyage,” Mik said. “The harpooner gets abetter cut than the deck hand. That
only makes sense. You have one expert, yourself, and perhaps two more—assuming your
mates are any good. The rest are mostly ballast. I think two and a half shares
out of ten
is
a good deal.”

 
          
“Ha!”
Jerick said.
“Maybe if you’ve been raised in Khur, far from
the sea!
I’m tired of haggling, lad, so here’s my final offer. Six
shares out of ten, but you and your friends get the six.”

 
          
“And
you’ll refund Trip’s money?” Mik said.

 
          
Jerick
frowned. “That seems a bit unreasonable. You’ll pay your share of equipment
costs?”

 
          
“Done,”
said Mik.