Authors: R.A. Salvatore
The callousness of the words struck Pony hard, but only for a moment. She understood the truth of war and knew that her friend had to be thinking like a warrior. His words were unsympathetic because he had to be callous, to a degree, if they were going to have any chance of mounting a full-fledged war with Aydrian.
“You have no desire for any of this,” she said. “Yet you surely have the belly for
it.”
Now it was Midalis’ turn to look curiously at his friend. “The belly for it?”
“When Elbryan and I had to turn our fight from goblins and the monstrous minions of the demon dactyl to the human minions of Father Abbot Markwart, it nearly broke us,” the woman admitted. “There is such a profound difference between battling a creature you know to be evil and one that you understand is without true choice. I have little heart to kill a man, and yet, I know that is precisely what I will likely find myself doing, if I am to ride beside you.”
“But you do so, as do I,” the prince remarked. “Because we both understand that the end result will be less tragic for the people than avoidance of the battle.”
“That is my sustaining hope,” Pony said quietly, and she stared out at the rolling dark waters of the wintry Mirianic. “In a strange way, I think Aydrian feels the same.”
“By stealing the throne?”
“By claiming what he erroneously believes to be his birthright,” the woman explained. “I expect that he sees the world under his control as a world he can influence positively.”
“Would any tyrant view it otherwise?”
“No, of course not,” the woman said, her voice even quieter. She reached into her pouch and brought forth a handful of various magical gemstones. “How many will I kill when I loose the energies of these?” she asked.
Prince Midalis put his hand on her shoulder and gave a squeeze, then leaned in so that he was very close to her as he whispered his assurance. “As few as possible.”
Pony offered him a grateful return look, and the man backed away.
“We have caught a strong tail wind on the heels of the storm,” he said. “A couple more days and we will have our first victory.”
They came within striking distance of Pireth Vanguard one dark night without incident, and without, as far as Pony could tell, any storms brewing anywhere to the west of them along the gulf. Once again, her spirit-walking proved invaluable, allowing the fleet to regroup just outside the viewing and hearing range of their enemies. While Midalis organized the strike forces, Pony again went to the moored dozen warships, her ghost moving through each of them in turn to make sure that none was heavily crewed.
“Now the question is, how do we get there without alerting those along the docks, and those ships moored closer in?” Midalis asked when the woman returned to her physical body and walked out on deck to join him, Captain Al’u’met, Bruinhelde, and Andacanavar. “And how shall we find all of the proper targets in the dark of night?”
“My boats go in under sail alone,” Bruinhelde told them.
“And I will mark the way,” Pony added. She fished out a piece of amber and held it up for the others to see. “With this, I can walk across the water, silently and swiftly. I will go from ship to ship and set a candle, unseen by the crew.” She looked to Al’u’met, and the captain nodded and moved to a small hold to the side.
He reached under the lid of the box, produced a small sack, and handed it to her.
Pony set it down and fished through it, retrieving a hollow half globe carved of wood. “The captain and I thought it might come to this,” she explained. “And so he had one of his skilled woodcarvers make these.” To demonstrate, she placed the candle into the globe and set it upon the deck. “The only ones who will see the light of the candle will be those at whom the hollow is aimed,” she explained. “Those on the docks or in the other ships will remain oblivious.”
“The girl thinks o’ everything,” Bradwarden said with a great snort. “Ah, but I’ve trained that one well, I have!”
“There is one ship grander than the others,” Pony continued, turning to face Midalis directly. “And she is the most heavily crewed, with a score of men, at least, aboard her.”
“Then that is my target,” the prince replied.
A dozen Alpinadoran longboats set out soon after, gliding quietly toward the distant island, barely a dark blot on the horizon under the light of a quarter moon. Pony stood beside Midalis and Bradwarden, who held his great longbow in hand.
“I fear to let you run off alone in the darkness,” Midalis admitted to her.
Pony turned an incredulous look over him.
“Yes, yes,” the man said, waving his hands in the air to ward off her retort before she could scream at him.
But Pony merely chuckled. “Then come with me,” she offered. “Let us run together to mark the outer ship, then you and I will take the flagship before this boat even arrives.”
“You can do that?”
Pony smiled all the wider and offered him her hand. When he took it, she led him to the very edge of the boat as it glided along barely above the dark water. With a glance back and a wink at Bradwarden, the woman casually stepped off, pulling Midalis behind her.
It was an easy enough task for Pony to coordinate the two stones, hematite and amber, so that she could include Midalis within the power of the water-walking. Together the two ran ahead of the slow-moving fleet. Soon enough, they were in sight of the dark warships’ silhouettes, skeletal masts rising into the night sky. To the side loomed Pireth Dancard, darkened at this late hour, with only the hint of a glow coming from one window halfway up the main tower.
Pony led Midalis to the far left first, coming to the warship farthest out. They reached her and managed to scramble up over her side without incident. Pony motioned the proper direction to the prince, then reached into another belt pouch and pulled forth a candle and a shielding globe. She set it down low on the rail, between two balustrades, blocking the light with the globe from all directions save one, the one facing out toward the approaching fleet.
Then the two went over the side and on to the next ship in line, repeating the process. They had five marked when they noted the approach of the silent fleet, and knew that they were running short on time.
“They will find the others without our assistance,” Pony assured Midalis, and she took his hand and started off toward the vessel moored in the center of the second rank, the closest ship to the wharves.
They went aboard easily, and both knew at once that this ship wasn’t nearly as deserted as the others. Pony didn’t hesitate, though, but motioned for Midalis to follow as she headed straight for the large deck cabin set at the stern of the large three-master.
“Are you ready?” Pony asked.
The man just grinned, obviously thrilled by his companion’s unexpected daring.
Pony walked through the door, guiding Midalis to the side of the outside jamb as she did.
The men inside, nearly a dozen, looked up from the coin-covered table that was set between them.
“What’re …?” one started to say.
“Greetings,” said Pony.
Several of the men stood up; a couple went for their weapons.
“Earl DePaunch sent us a bit of funning, did he?” one sailor asked lewdly.
“Bah, this one’s a bit old for that!” another added.
“Do none of you recognize me?” Pony replied, filling her voice with sad resignation. “And for all those years that I sailed beside you, on
River Palace
.”
That widened a few eyes.
“Queen Jilseponie!” one man gasped, and now they seemed even more confused, and more went for their weapons, though those who already held theirs let them slip down toward the floor.
“So quick were you all to forget,” Pony scolded. “Me, and your proper royal line!” As she finished, she pulled Prince Midalis from around the corner.
One man screamed, another fell over trying to leap up from his seat, and two lifted weapons, gave a unified battle cry, and leaped forward to attack.
But Pony was the quicker, lifting her hand and jolting the pair with a sudden blast of lightning that lifted them into the air and threw them to the back of the room.
Other men moved as if to ready an attack, but Pony waved her hand about. “Shame on you all!” she scolded. “I bring you your rightful king!”
“Aydrian is king!” one sailor growled back.
“So says Aydrian,” Prince Midalis calmly replied. “I intend to tell him differently, and you”—he paused and pointed all around at them—“all of you, would do well to consider the choices that lie before you. I understand that you have been misled, and will pardon you to a man. But only if you choose wisely!”
As he finished, they all heard a commotion on the deck behind.
“Bah, now ye’re to get yers, phony prince!” one man cried, and the others growled and bristled, some shaking their weapons.
But then they all dropped back as the giant centaur came in the door between
Pony and the prince, Bradwarden’s huge bow drawn and readied with an arrow that seemed more a spear.
“I’m thinkin’ that any smart ones among ye might be dropping yer weapons to the floor,” he said. “One o’ yerselfs that don’t’ll be getting pinned to the back wall, to be sure!”
Pony lifted her gemstone again to add her weight to the threat, and Midalis drew out his fine sword.
“Weigh anchor!” came a cry from the deck. “Four ships taken already, milord! And more to fall soon enough.”
“You will pardon me if I borrow your ship, good soldiers of Honce-the-Bear,” Prince Midalis said, offering a salute with his sword. “Any who wish to sail with me, may indeed. Any who prefer Pireth Dancard will be placed on a rowboat and shoved away!”
“I must be away,” Pony said, and she slipped to the side and kissed Midalis on the cheek for luck. “Don’t you be sailing too far from me!” she added. “And keep your beacons bright against the darkness.”
She ran out then, pausing to salute the men, Alpinadoran and Bearman alike working hard at pulling up the anchor. Pony went over the side without hesitation, engaging the amber’s water-walking powers once more. She rushed for the shore, where a bit of activity was beginning—likely the soldiers reacting to the noises out in the bay.
Pony came up on the wharf a moment later, stepping lightly onto the planks and dropping the amber’s power, replacing it almost immediately with the blue-white sheen of the serpentine shield. Her glowing appearance at once drew attention, with confused defenders screaming and pointing.
From there she ran to the deck of the ship to the left of the wharf, the one appearing the most seaworthy. Several sailors opposed her, moving all about and drawing forth their short swords.
Pony lifted her hand, holding a ruby, and brought forth a pillar of flame about herself. “You know me as Queen Jilseponie!” she shouted at them, and the pillar flared outward briefly, warding them away. “You know my power with the magical gemstones. I warn you only once to be gone from this ship, and from the one across the wharf!” As she talked, she headed for the ladder leading belowdecks, and she quickly went down, leaving a trail of smoking footprints behind. She nodded gratefully when she heard the men scrambling above, their footfalls moving toward the wharf. She even heard one go splashing into the water.
Pony reached deep inside the ruby, gathering its power.
And then she let it loose, in a tremendous fireball that roared up through the cracks in the planking, blowing out many planks as it went, igniting all the ship.
Pony ran up the ladder before it was consumed, feeling just a little warmth from the conflagration. She held her serpentine defensive shield strong and ran across the wharf and onto the opposing ship.
An arrow whistled past her head!
The woman didn’t waver, but went right to the middle of the open deck. She noted a sailor still aboard—there might have been several.
But she couldn’t hesitate, not now. Not with the island coming awake and all the soldiers on their guard.
The second ship went up in flames. A man, engulfed in fire, leaped from the burning deck into the water.
Pony ran out, not onto the wharf, but the other way, calling forth the amber again and dropping the serpentine shield as soon as she was free of the second conflagration. She ran full out for the shore and the third and final ship, the one in dry dock, and she quickly put that one, too, to the ruby’s consuming fires.
Then she ran down the beach and waded out into the cold water, moving near the second flaming ship to find the man who had leaped off in flames. She found him bobbing in the surf, near death. Gently she reached under his heaving chest and turned him to his back, then slowly dragged him around the bow of the ship, out of sight from the wharves and land.
Pony pulled forth her hematite; she knew that this was insanity, but simply couldn’t bring herself to leave this poor unfortunate soul in so much agony. She held him close and fell into the soul stone, calling up its healing powers and sending them with all her strength into the dying man. She felt his spirit falling away from her, but charged down the dark path after it, reaching for him, calling to him.
The man’s eyes opened, and he gasped and spat out some water.
“Know that Prince Midalis’ mercy saved you this day,” the woman said. “He is the rightful king of Honce-the-Bear and will come again in glory to defeat Aydrian. Tell your friends, in quiet confidence, that Prince Midalis dreads the blood he knows must be shed to restore him to his rightful throne.”
She helped the man stand on his own then, and pointed him toward the shore, and only then did she realize that a pair of other soldiers were watching her, with drawn bows.
She looked at them, knowing that they had her dead to rights. She even started to lift her arms in a show of surrender.
But the two soldiers looked at their miraculously healed mate wading toward them, and lowered their bows. One of them went to the wounded man to help him ashore and the other offered Pony a nod.
The woman went out into the darkness, bringing forth the amber to lift herself from the numbingly cold water. She heard much commotion out there on the water, including the sounds of battle from more than one of the warships.