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arms and legs and heads, chopping open chests and bellies and heads. Blood
flowed back and forth across the deck now as the ship rolled. There seemed to
be no way to attack the two mad giants. Those who tried died at once. Those
who tried to flee died a little later.
Then the slaves who had now unlocked themselves joined the fight. They
snatched up fallen swords, spears, and used their chains and their bare hands
if they couldn't find a weapon. At that, the last courage left the sailors who
were still resisting. Two of them died under the slaves' charge, beaten and
kicked and stamped and stabbed until they looked like bloody sides of meat
rather than anything human. The other two sprang onto the railing and hurled
themselves over the side. Even death in the sea seemed better than what
awaited them on the decks of what had been until a few minutes ago their own
ship.
The three sailors manning the helm were still manning it. But their faces had
turned the color of the whitecaps and they had drawn their swords. Blade waved
his own bloody sword in the direction of the helmsmen and shouted to them.
"Surrender-now! We've got the ship and we can come up and get you if we want
to. But maybe you're worth saving, if you behave right!"
Gursun caught Blade's arm and whispered fiercely in his ear. "What in the-? We
don't want to leave one of those lice alive if we can-"
"Yes we do," said Blade in a low, firm voice. "I know ships just as well as
you do. We're going to have a tricky time getting this ship back to land in
this weather even with them to help us."
"But---"
"Look, I didn't go in with you on this to drown in a shipwreck just a few
hours later. Those sailors know the situation too. They know that if they play
any games they'll drown if we don't cut their throats first.
We can trust them as long as we need to, I think."
"And afterwards?"
"Afterwards we can do anything we want with them," said Blade. "But not now."
Gursun shrugged. "All right. I'd almost rather risk shipwreck than leave
anyone alive who could talk about what we've done. But you're right. They
won't find anyone to talk to until we're safe on shore. By then I don't
imagine they'll be in too good shape to talk." He drew his hand across his
throat in a slitting gesture.
Gursun cupped his hands and roared at the three helmsmen. "All right. You can
live! Now-drop those swords and stay where you are until we tell you
differently. You've got until I count five. One, two, three, f-"
Two swords clattered to the deck and one flew over the side. One of the
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helmsmen sagged to the deck, half-fainting with relief. Gursun strode across
to the quarterdeck ladder and scrambled up beside the three white-faced men.
He was brandishing his own sword ferociously.
"Now! Get ready to come about. We're going to head for shelter, and you're
coming with us!" He turned to the six bloodstained slaves who were still on
their feet. "Bend on to the mainsail halyard, you clowns! You're free now, but
by the gods we've got a bit of sailing to do!"
Gursun's bull-roars seemed to shock the slaves out of their paralysis. Like
arthritic old men they moved slowly across the bloody and body-strewn deck to
the rope Gursun indicated. Hands trembling with excitement gripped it, and
wide, unbelieving eyes turned toward Gursun for the next order.
In spite of unwilling or unskilled help, Gursun brought the ship about safely.
Blade stayed on deck until
Green Gull steadied on her new course, in case an extra pair of hands were
needed after all. Then he went below, to search the late Captain Gazes' cabin
and belongings.
Blade had to take Gazes' cabin apart almost piece by piece and splinter by
splinter, with an axe, a crowbar, a hammer, and his bare hands. He worked up a
sweat, he strained muscles, he bruised fingers and toes, he worked splinters
of wood into feet and knees and had to work them out with a knife blade
sterilized over a candle flame. But it was all worth it and ten times more.
He found Gazes' private hoard of gold and silver, almost enough to buy Green
Gull all over again. He found the lists of the cargo for this voyage, a cargo
that included over a hundred sets of weapons and armor for the soldiers of the
garrison of Skadros. He found a copper tube, with lead seals at each end
bearing the arms of Count Iscaros. He found a letter from Iscaros to Captain
Gazes, telling him to turn
over without fail the sealed tube and Special Prisoner 8 to Baron Descares on
Skadros.
When Blade chopped open the sealed tube, he found another letter. This one was
from Princess
Amadora to Descares, giving him instructions about keeping the Lord Blade
safely confined. It seemed that Blade was to be kept carefully hidden on
Skadros until the proper moment. That proper moment would come when Amadora
thought the Emperor Jores might be willing to dismiss Duke Pardes in return
for Blade's safety.
Of course the Emperor might not be willing to make such a bargain. In which
case Blade could be disposed of at Descares' leisure, in any way that
guaranteed his body would never be found and his disappearance would remain a
mystery forever.
They could hear Blade's laughter all over the ship when he finished reading
the letter. It was a magnificent irony. If Amadora and Iscaros had simply slit
his throat and dropped him in the nearest river, they could have been safe.
Dead men wreak no vengeances and mysteriously vanished ones inspire few
avengers.
But they were to sophisticated for that. They wanted Blade alive, for the time
being at least, to be a piece in their deadly games once more. So they put him
aboard a ship, the same ship that carried messages enough to be their own
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