Realms of War

6

Irdinmai pushed herself up from the ship's side and swam back toward the stern. Rytagir trailed in her wake.

Only a short distance farther on, he reached the mid shy;ships. Cargo had to be carefully planned and balanced by the quartermaster so it would ride comfortably during a voyage. It stood to reason that the gold would have been placed amidships.

Thick yellow bars of gold had spilled across the other side of the hull. The pale blue light of the lucent coral brought the dull shine to life.

Perhaps there wasn't enough of it to build a house, not even a small one, but there was enough to make them all wealthy for a short while.

Irdinmai looked at Rytagir. "When we begin taking this gold to the surface," she asked, "will we be able to trust that captain and crew?"

"Yes," Rytagir answered.

The sea elf maid regarded him coolly. "The alu Tel'Quessir know greed, not like the Lolth-loving Sser'tel'quessir, but we know it. We also know it is far stronger in surface dwellers."

"That captain and those men will stand firm by the bargain they have with me." Rytagir met her direct gaze full measure.

Irdinmai was silent for a moment. "And you'll be held accountable for them."

"I thought ye'd drownt," Zahban grumbled when Rytagir heaved himself aboard Azure Kestrel. "Either that or taken up residence with some sea hag what would have ye."

"Shame on ye to even say such a thing," Dorlon admonished. He was lean and gray, far from his youth but a good man to have as quartermaster. "If ye haven't a care, ye'll call down all manner of bad things up on our heads."

Zahban laughed at the other man. "Ye're turning into an old woman, ye are."

Dorlon cursed the captain good-naturedly.

As he stood on the deck, Rytagir studied the dark sky. He had to squint through the sheets of rain that swamped the ship's deck. Night was still hours away, but it was hard to tell given the storm. It was almost as dark as night already.

"Well," Zahban asked, "do we be rich men or poor men?"

Rytagir couldn't help grinning. He liked being right in his projects. "She was down there, captain. And so was the gold."

The crew cheered enthusiastically.

"The bad news is that we're going to be sharing the salvage. The good news is that getting it up from the sea floor is going to be a lot easier than I thought."

"What do ye mean by-?" Zahban clamped his big mouth shut as Irdinmai caught hold of the ship's side and hauled herself aboard.

"So this is yer bad news?" Zahban asked.

Irdinmai glanced at him with sharp disdain. She favored Rytagir with the same. "I've never been referred to in that manner."

"I guess she speaks our tongue," Zahban said sheepishly.

"Quite well, actually," Irdinmai replied. "And we're not any happier about the arrangement than you are, captain."

"I reckon not, Lady." The captains tone was respectful. "Well then, let's just make the best of this." He rolled an eye at Rytagir. "I just hope ye left us some profit to be made."

"There's enough." But Rytagir knew that every man aboard was thinking about how there could have been more.