Chasing the Dragon (23 page)

Alto drew his sword as the distance to the guards halved and then halved again. "Figure out how. I'll tell you when," he said before he smashed a scimitar aside and punched the guard wielding it in the face.

With Alto at the head of the van
, he lost sight of Patrina on his right and Carson on his left for a moment. He heard Patrina's more feminine grunts as she lashed out and was struck in return. He risked a glance and saw her faring well in spite of his worst fears. Wielding an axe was an offensive tactic that left little opportunity for her to defend herself. With her armor offering so many targets, he was amazed how time and again the strikes landed on the parts protected by metal.

Carson surged into his view a moment later, carving his way through the guards with both of his blades. Unlike Patrina
, he bled from a few minor wounds, but nothing seemed capable of stopping the dual wielding warrior. Garrick and Mordrim were the final fighters on each wing of the vee that speared into the Shazamir guards, both men striking blows that the city would remember for years to come.

Kar channeled his quickest and simplest magical spells to the Shazamir wizards
who thought to create a wondrous magical effect certain to stop their enemies and earn them fame and position. He set one wizard's yellow shirt on fire while he was trying to craft an elaborate spell. The other he startled with a clap of thunder in his face that made him stumble back and fall off the edge of the dock into the water below.

Karthor alone seemed to have time to breathe and think. He guarded the open rear of the companion
's angled line, keeping his father safe to work his magic and discouraging any who thought to try to flank them.

In moments
, they were through the demolished Shazamir line of defenders. Alto veered to the right and ran down the walkway until he led them to a dock. He turned down it without waiting and ran ahead.

"Alto!" Patrina cried out, earning a glance over his shoulder at her.

"What?" he said as he passed the halfway point of the dock.

"The ship you want is too big!" Patrina panted. "We can't sail it."

"We make her captain sail it then," Alto said.

She shook her head. "I have a better idea."

"We're out of dock, you'd better," he said as he was forced to slow or run off the end of the pier.

A single man sat in the longboat moored to the dock. He'd been watching them as they approached and now stood with a cutlass drawn. "Move along," he spat at them. "Whatever trouble you've got I want no part of."

Patrina launched herself at him, batting his sword aside with her arm and then crashing into him and driving him onto his back on the boat. Alto stood and watched her as she wrestled with the stunned sailor. In moments, she had him unconscious.

Garrick moved up to Alto and asked, "She ever do that to you?"

Alto glanced at the grinning barbarian and found himself smiling with him. "No, but maybe I should ask her to."

Garrick let out a laugh and clapped Alto on the shoulder.

"Come on." Patrina motioned for them while she struggled to heave the sailor up onto the dock. Alto reached down and grabbed the man by the back of the shirt. He heaved on him and pulled him up onto the dock. Alto was the last to board the boat just as Carson and Patrina cut the ropes. Garrick and Mordrim worked two sets of oars, pushing the boat out towards deeper water. Alto moved to the back of the boat and stood ready as guards rushed down the dock. One even leapt off but fell just short. He splashed the grinning Alto and sputtered as he thrashed about in the water.

"Don't think he can swim," Carson observed.

"Then he shouldn't have jumped in the water," Kar said.

"Father!" Karthor reprimanded.

"Don't blame me. A man fool enough not to use his own wits doesn't deserve to live."

"We've got other things to worry
about," Patrina said from the bow of the longboat. She pointed at docks to either side of them. "Looks like the guards are trying to commandeer some ships."

"Don't they have their own navy?" Kar muttered.

"Yes, but not close by. These are trading ships, transports, and fishing vessels," she explained.

"Now, those are longboats," Alto said. "They have to convince the captains of the ships when they get there still."

"True," Patrina agreed. "But the alternative is death or not being allowed to dock at Shazamir anymore. We've got to get to the
Kraken
, then we can worry about the others."

Alto looked a
t the boat and saw two more sets of oars. He moved to take the rearmost set and called out, "Carson, are you as good with two oars as you are with two swords?"

"Carson Twinoar doesn't have the same ring to it," he said with a chuckle. He slipped into the seat between Mordrim and Alto and took the oars in hand. After a few strokes
, he found a rhythm with the other men and helped propel the boat through the water fast enough to leave a wake.

"Come
starboard," Patrina navigated from the bow. It took a few attempts and a lot of yelling and swearing on her part until her landlubbing crew could figure out what she wanted and how to give it to her.

"Kar, are you ready?"

"Ready? For the dragon? I suppose so. Don't see what good it will do. They'll know it's a fake when it can't hurt anyone. These aren't insects; these are people."

Alto shook his head. "No, burn us up."

"Somebody check Alto for head wounds."

"No, have the dragon breathe fire on us. We'll soak the boat with oil and make it look like we were burnt up."

"Um, Alto, what about escaping? How do we do that without a ship?" Patrina voiced the hole in his plan.

"We swim. Everyone can swim, last I knew."

"Well yes, but, what if the
Kraken
isn't close enough?" she asked.

"And I'm a poor swimmer at best. Not a swimmer at all in my armor," Mordrim said.

Alto stripped his chain shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor of the boat. "We can buy or make more armor," he said. "Not so easy to buy a new Mordrim."

Garrick snorted. Between the deep breaths he took making the boat surge through the water with his powerful strokes he said, "Maybe we can get a new and improved one?"

Mordrim's next oar stroke twisted in his hands, spraying water behind him and soaking Garrick and, to a lesser extent, Patrina. "Oars slipped," he cackled.

"Karthor, take Mordrim's spot," Alto said.

The priest shifted past Carson and Alto and waited for the dwarf to rise and then move past him. He began to remove his armor, muttering all the while about the loss of good dwarf armor. In a few minutes, he stood in his doublet and pants.

"I think we're close enough to swim," Patrina said after a few more minutes passed.

"Drown a dwarf and you'll be cursed to never mine a single ingot of gold again," Mordrim growled as he judged the distance.

Alto twisted in his seat and studied the distance. He nodded. "Kar, do it."

"Never so much as a, 'if you please,'" the wizard muttered before he closed his eyes and raised his hands.

"Trina, there's a lantern near your feet
. Is there any spare oil?"

Patrina
moved the lantern aside and looked through a small box with ropes, some pins and other hardware, and a spare flask of lamp oil. "Found it!"

"Spread it around up there, then pass it back."

Patrina did as he bade and then sprinkled the tankard near Garrick before she gave it to Karthor. The priest did the same and then handed it to Mordrim for him to finish emptying the flask at the stern of the boat.

Kar's chanting came to an abrupt end and a flash of light lit the morning sky.
They looked to the south and saw a massive beast that looked a lot like a dragon rising into the sky. It stood still in mid-air, flapping its mighty wings, and then dove forward and came towards them. "Be ready!" Alto warned. He dug some flint and steel from his pouch and waited as the illusory dragon approached.

"Damn, you sure that's not real?" Garrick asked.

Kar grinned at the barbarian's unintentional praise. "Stand ready," he warned. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One! Jump!"

Flames that looked real blasted from the dragon's maw. They raked across the surface of the water and then found the longboat. For three full seconds
, the magical dragon circled and immolated the boat. It was time enough for everyone save Alto to leap free of the boat and then for Alto to strike sparks to the oil. As soon as it lit, he jumped off the boat and began the three hundred-foot swim towards the
Kraken
.

The dragon flew on, circling around once and blasting the water with another fiery strike between the pursuing boats and the Kraken,
and then it took off to the south whence it had come. Alto kept trying to see it with every stroke he did until it was little more than a speck, and then it disappeared. He smirked and then coughed as some of the sea water slipped into his mouth.

By the time Alto reached the
Kraken
and was hauled out of the water by the hands of the crew, only Mordrim, Kar, and Karthor remained in the water. As Alto looked for Taldar, he saw the smuggler who he'd let go near the bow of the long ship. He nodded to him and spied Taldar. Before he could go to the captain, he heard a commotion behind him and saw Kar being pulled out of the water. Karthor was behind him and a small shape bobbed in the water behind them a couple dozen feet. Mordrim was dog-paddling his way to them.

"Taldar," Alto greeted the captain. "That was quite a swim."

Taldar nodded and glanced around. "You told me to set sail if there were troubles."

"Were there?"

Taldar looked at Alto and then out at the water. "Haven't we seen trouble enough? First the guards storm the docks and now this, a dragon burns your boat out from under you? How did you escape?"

"Magic," Kar sputtered as he tried ringing the water out of his shirt while he still wore it.

"You've got magic more powerful than a dragon?" he gasped.

"No," Kar grumbled. "I made the dragon with my magic. It wasn't real!"

"But your boat?"

"Oil, flint, and steel," Alto explained.

Taldar shook his head. "Amazing."

"It is, and we need to head south now. I'm told there's a port south of here?"

Taldar frowned. "I've never been that far south, but I've heard the same."

Alto turned and glanced at the smuggler. "Any problems with the new
recruit?"

"Sailor," Captain Taldar corrected. Alto shrugged. "No, no problems. Seems to know more than I expected
, too. For a southlander."

Alto nodded and checked to see Mordrim being pulled out of the water. Garrick offered his hand to the dwarf, a cocky grin on his face. Mordrim reached up and grabbed it,
and then set his feet against the side of the ship and yanked on the barbarian. Garrick roared as he splashed into the water behind the dwarf and came up coughing and sputtering.

Alto shook his head. "Dragon or not, we need to be out of here right away. Take us south."

"What about Namitus?"

Alto frowned. "That's the same question we're all asking."

Alto stepped away and let Taldar get his crew working the ship and turned to head south. He went to his spare clothing and changed. He smirked when he saw his armor and shield waiting for him. Mordrim's was at the bottom of the ocean now.

Patrina left her armor on and let the sun dry her. She rubbed the salt crystals from the ocean off her skin and occasionally smiled at Alto. The others wound down and settled in while Alto continued to watch off the back of the ship for pursuit. He saw several ships but he couldn't be certain if any were following, especially as some of them grew small and smaller as the day wore on.

Alto stirred when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked awake, realizing he'd fallen asleep. Patrina smiled down at him and bent over to give him a kiss on his cheek. "Relax, we're fine and you needed it."

Alto felt the heat in his cheeks. He glanced up at the sky and felt his eyes widen when he saw how low the sun was in the sky. He'd slept for hours. "How much longer?"

"Taldar has no idea where it is," she said.

Alto frowned. "How are we to find it?"

"It's a coastal city," she said. "We sail within view of the coast. Kelgryn ships have a shallow draft. We can pass over shoals and closer to shore than most ships can."

"I wish I knew what that meant."

Patrina laughed and ran her hand through Alto's hair. "It means anyone trying to follow us will have a difficult time. Slow at best, impossible if they try to follow our exact route."

Alto grinned. "Oh, that's good then." He looked past her and saw the smuggler glance at Taldar a few times as he made his way across the deck of the ship. He stopped once and worked to retie a knot
that secured the sail when the captain turned to look across the ship.