The Dreaming Hunt (47 page)

“This is no ship, lad. Merely a light cutter. Lucky for you we answered your call and not one of our surface cargo barges. They can't go undersea like this little lady.”

In a few more minutes, they popped up to the surface of the water like a cork. The vessel dipped and bucked for several heart-stopping seconds before settling sedately on the surface. The Merr crew peeled back the membrane that had been their protection from the deep, and Will gratefully breathed in the fresh air.

The sun was setting in a grand display of molten fire across the now docile Estarran Sea. A light breeze ruffled his hair. Ahead of their vessel, a prickly black hump rose out of the water. As they sailed closer, Will made out what appeared to be an island covered in buildings.
Marhul
.

They drew near it and he spied docks radiating outward in every direction. Seagoing vessels of many shapes and sizes were moored there. Cumbersome, broad-beamed rafts huddled next to tall, sleek sailing ships. Narrow cutters like theirs were plentiful, as were husky vessels bristling with catapults and armaments. Obviously military ships of some kind. Except the markings were none he'd ever seen before. Did the Merr actually dare to float their own navy?

He asked in wonder, “How is it you have attack ships that are not part of the Imperial Navy?”

“We do not bow to Koth. The seas of Urth are
our
empire.”

“What of the Black Ships?”

“They pay us tribute for the privilege of sailing our seas. In return, we allow them passage upon the surface.”

He blinked. The Merr said that as if taking down a Black Ship would not pose any problem to his kind. Will said carefully, “I hear they are very sturdy vessels.”

“I suppose.”

Again, completely casual disdain for Koth's mightiest warships was evident. The captain turned his attention to docking his cutter then and spoke no more to him. Which was just as well. Will was speechless.

Marhul was crowded, the buildings jostling one another for space. It was bigger than he'd anticipated. A ring of storehouses lined the shore, testament to the shipping business that was the lifeblood of this place. As for the city rising beyond the docks, he estimated that it would hold several thousand people.

Will peered into the water in hope of catching a glimpse of the leviathan shell that the island supposedly rested upon. He did see something black and shiny, partly covered in swaying strands of algae, that could be the smooth surface of a shell. Or, it could just be part of the dock.

He jumped to the pier and staggered a little, as it seemed to heave beneath his feet. A natural sailor he was not. Eben led the way ashore wearing a grin that stretched to both his ears. It was good to see him smile again. Not that he begrudged Eben his stress and grief over the past weeks. Stars knew, Will was all too familiar with what it felt like to lose everyone a person loved in the world and suddenly be cast adrift.

By mutual, unspoken agreement, the party formed a tight phalanx with Sha'Li safely tucked in the middle. They did not need any trouble on this tiny island with nowhere to run or hide.

“What is that?” Rosana breathed.

Will followed the direction of her stare to see an elf unlike any he'd ever seen before. The pointed ears and refined features were definitely elven, but the rest? The woman's skin was the brilliant color of shallow seas upon a white sand beach. And were those gills beneath her chin? She reached up to adjust a pearl and carved shell necklace, and Will could swear he saw webbing between her long, slender fingers.

“That's an aquanesti,” Rynn murmured. “If I am not mistaken, she is Shalri La'Quay, a representative of Islan.”

“What is Islan?” Will demanded.

“An underwater aquanesti city.” Rynn added under his breath, “And it's not polite to stare.”

Will looked away hastily from the aquanesti woman. He'd never
heard
of such a race of elves. Merr were plentiful, carrying spears and nets slung over their free arms like he might carry a shield. His father had talked once about nets as weapons. A trio of Merr came at them carrying tridents taller than a man. They wore matching tabards, black with long turquoise triangles down the fronts, with a symbol of a black wave breaking onto a white beach over the breast.

“Black Tide,” Rynn muttered. “Get out of their way and show respect.”

Indeed, everyone scuttled out of the Merr warriors' paths like they were some kind of royalty. Will jumped aside with his friends, gaze cast downward just to be safe.

The crowd moved back together where it had parted for the Black Tide and continued on its way. “Who are they?” he asked Rynn.

“Elite troopers of the Merr Empire. You do
not
want to tangle with one of them in combat. Ever.”

“Are there a lot of them?”

Rynn shrugged. “I would not know. But the seas are very big places. Every city-state of the Merr would have a contingent of them at a minimum, I should think.”

Will glanced back over his shoulder speculatively. “And you say all Merr do not like Koth?”

Rynn grinned at Will. “The enemy of my enemy, huh? They'd make a formidable ally if they would ever agree to an alliance with anyone else. But they have never done so that I am aware of. They prefer to sit in the bottom of their oceans and let the surface dwellers squabble among themselves.”

“Is that what we do? Squabble?” Will asked a touch bitterly. “It seems to me like we prepare for an all-out fight against an Empire that is determined to rule the entirety of Urth. Once they control all the continents, Koth will turn its attention to the seas. And then the Merr will be alone against an even more massive and powerful Empire.”

“Since when does Koth limit its ambitions to Urth?” Rynn asked in a rhetorical tone.

Will stopped, stunned by the implications of that remark. He turned slowly to face the paxan. “What do you mean?”

“It is the belief of many among my kind that the Kothite Empire aims to control the other realms, as well.” Rynn resumed walking, and Will was forced to follow along if he wished to continue the conversation and stay with the tightly bunched group.

“They wish to conquer multiple planes of existence?” Will demanded.

Rynn nodded. “Just so. If the Empire can conquer one, they will have a foothold to jump to all the others. Even now, the dream plane is in chaos. Factions are forming there to mirror those here on the prime plane almost faster than I can keep track of them all.”

“What triggered the turmoil?” Will asked.

Rynn shrugged. “Your visit might have set a chain of events in motion. Of a sudden, players are moving upon the game board, both there and here. People are watching you. Some attempt to push you about as their pawns. Others wish to hinder you, others to help you.”

“Which are you?” Will challenged baldly.

“Do you have to ask?” Rynn replied gently. “I have already put my life on the line for you, and I expect I will do so again before this journey's end.”

Will sighed. It was petty of him to question Rynn's motives. Sometimes, though, it was frustrating comparing himself to the paxan's general perfection.

“Who's that?” Sha'Li asked sharply.

Will looked up and spied a two-toned Merr, white scaled on his face but black scaled on his arms and back.

“That's a Ballena Merr,” Rynn supplied. “Orcan in nature. The blue Tiburon Merr are said to descend from sharks.”

Sha'Li, subsided, apparently disappointed with Rynn's answer. What did she hope the black coloration had indicated?

They wandered the streets, gawking at the array of exotic wares, from foreign garb and weapons to spices, rugs, jewelry, carvings, furniture, tapestries, and a hundred other items he did not recognize. Sweet perfumes and the pungent stink of fish wafted around them. If he'd thought Dupree was a city of many races, this place beggared the Imperial capital in that regard. He spied every imaginable humanoid race and a few more he'd never seen before.

“There's the Imperial Merchant's Guild,” Eben pointed out. Will shuddered a little to see the familiar insignia on an imposing building. The last thing they needed was for some Kothite loyalist to spot them here and report their presence back in Dupree. The group veered down a side street rather than stroll past the guild house.

Gradually, twilight thickened around them, and the streets started to empty as people headed for home. Their exploration took them to the highest point of the floating city, and they spied a tall, white, gated house with elaborately carved spires jutting up into the sky.

“The residence of Nalor Eeth,” Rynn told them. “He's the Merr in charge of the floating bazaar of Marhul.”

“I'm hungry,” Raina announced.

Ugh. Will's stomach was still far too unsettled for food.

Eben started back down the hill toward a tavern, but Sha'Li stopped the jann. “Not there. Instead, that one.” She pointed at another tavern well down the steep street that led straight down to the shore.

“Why not the one I chose?” Eben asked Sha'Li.

“Rotten is the fish smell from the first. Fresh is the smell of the second.”

By common consensus, the party headed for the inn the lizardman girl had pointed out. Its exterior was worn, the paint peeling and the wood timbers weather-bleached dull gray.

But a cheerful fire burned inside, the mixed company seated at the long trestle tables was merry, and the food—a rich, creamy seafood dish of some kind and crusty loaves of bread—was first rate. So much so, that Will's squeamish stomach was coaxed into trying a few bites and then diving into a plate of food with gusto.

A few Merr threw Sha'Li dirty looks, but she seemed to understand that she was on enemy turf and greatly outnumbered in this place. For once, she dialed back her truculence and ate quietly—if her enthusiastic slurping of the sauce off her plate could be called quiet.

“What's next for us?” Raina asked, leaning back in satisfaction after the meal.

Will's resentment flared when Rynn was the one to answer, “We can stay here a few days to rest and reprovision ourselves, or we can move on immediately.”

Eben pounced on the comment. “I say we go on right away. As it is, we're going to have a hard time regaining the trail.”

Will shrugged. “They were moving arrow straight to the north last time we had their trail. If we land and go due east, we ought to cross their path at some point.”

Sha'Li frowned. “Very large are the wild lands. Very small are the chances of finding their trail.”

“Then we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way,” Eben declared. “Ask at farms and villages until we find someone who's seen them, then search for Tarryn's trail sign.”

Sha'Li continued to look doubtful, and Will shared her skepticism.

Raina said speculatively, “Answer me this. Why, if Tarryn is Kerryl Moonrunner's prisoner, does he allow her to leave a trail at all? Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's some sort of greater nature guardian being. Surely he can see any track she lays down for us, no matter how sneaky she is about it.”

Will stared at her. Sometimes, she thought of the most sideways things.

Sha'Li tilted her head thoughtfully, as did Rynn.

“What are you saying?” Rosana asked. “That Moonrunner is letting her lay a trail for us? Why would he do that?”

“Is it a trap?” Will asked. “Does he want to kidnap more of us?”

“For what purpose?” Rynn replied.

Will scowled at the paxan. He had no answer to his own question, else he would not have asked it. “How should I know? He's cra—”

“Not crazy is he,” Sha'Li cut him off forcefully. “Following his own agenda is Moonrunner, but cunning and highly intelligent is he. Never forget this when dealing with him.”

“I have no intention of ever dealing with him,” he retorted.

“Deal with him we must if Kendrick we wish returned,” Sha'Li said soberly.

“What's Moonrunner's angle?” Raina asked Sha'Li. “Why is he doing the things he is?”

“Nature he protects. This land he defends. Threats he sees and hears that others do not. Correct he usually is about such things.” She paused, then added heavily, “Worried he is about something or someone who draws near to Haelos. Prepare he does for the coming storm.”

Eben spoke slowly, in a troubled voice. “I dreamed of an army last night. Made up of elemental creatures. It was huge. And angry.” He shook his head and then muttered, “But it was just a dream.”

Rynn studied the jann thoughtfully while Will felt a shiver of foreboding up and down his spine.

*   *   *

Will drew his cloak close against the chill breeze racing across the open water. Ahead, the gray cliffs of the Estarran Sea's eastern shore rose out of the open water.

After an excellent night's sleep in rooms above the tavern they'd eaten in, the party had bought passage on a Merr cargo vessel about to leave for Medea, the paxan colony at the north end of the Estarran Sea. But when Rynn had doubled the number of coins in his palm, the captain had agreed to put them ashore somewhere along the northeastern coast of the great body of water and to be quiet about it.

As the Merr cargo raft angled close to the wild northeastern shore of the sea, the cliffs grew and grew in scale. Will asked no one in particular, “Is the entire Estarran Sea bordered by these massive walls of stone?”

The Merr captain answered him. “Only the eastern shore is cliff-bound, lad. Even then, beaches and inlets interrupt the cliffs here and there. It is toward one of those we sail.”

As promised, the blunt nose of the wide, flat-bottomed boat scraped lightly on what felt and sounded like sand a few dozen yards from a narrow strip of beach. Although the rise beyond it was steep and tall, it was weed-covered dune and not sheer granite cliff.

Will and his friends removed their boots and socks. Clothing would dry quickly enough, but leather boots could stay wet and miserable for days after a good soaking. He slid into the thigh-deep water, gasping at the cold of it. Wading ashore while holding his pack, boots, and staff overhead was awkward to say the least, what with the waves buffeting him about and the sand shifting beneath his bare feet. But eventually, he stumbled ashore.