Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey Page A

wheel, calling to the other
    man to help out.
    Colfet gestured at the new man. “Who’s he?”
    Baror grinned. “New man I signed on at Half-Circle.” He waved at the new
    man. “Vilo’s his name.”
    Another gust heeled the ship over as Wind Rider plowed into a wave.
    “We’ve got to let her have her head!” Colfet called. “Get the sails off, put
    out a storm anchor, and ride it out!”
    Baror shook his head. “No, we’ll keep our course. I’ll show that pansy Istan
    how real men sail.”
    Colfet started to argue, but at that moment two men climbed up the
    hatchway. Both looked green and unseamanly. He started to make a rude
    comment to Baror but stopped as he got a good sight of the second man.
    “Who’s on the pumps?” he asked.
    “You might want to check on that,” Baror replied, keeping his eyes on the
    two landlubbers as they made their way toward him.
    “All right,” Colfet said, heading for the hatchway. He nodded grimly at the
    two greenies as they passed him by. “Gentle night, isn’t it?” he asked with
    wry humor. The two made no attempt to respond.
    Once they were out of sight, Colfet’s expression hardened. He paused at
    the top of the hatch, looking back at Baror and his cronies. “Baror!” he
    shouted. He had to repeat himself twice before he was heard. “We should
    trail the launch—in case anyone goes overboard.”
    Baror grinned evilly. “Anyone overboard in this’ll stay overboard.”
    “All the same.”
    Baror squinted at him and then nodded. “All right. I’ll get some men to it.”
    Colfet nodded and, watching his bandaged arm, plunged into the darkness
    belowdeck. Quickly and carefully he made his way down to the depths of
    the ship and sounded the well. He could hear the pumps in the distance
    and grunted with surprise as he discovered that Wind Rider had made less
    than a foot of water. Still, it wasn’t all good news—he’d never seen more
    than an inch before.
    Having satisfied himself that the ship wasn’t going to sink any time soon,
    unless that fool Baror ran her under the waves, he made his way aft to the
    surgeon’s quarters.
    A cry, loud and inarticulate, pierced through the noise of the storm.
    Colfet raced back to the surgeon’s quarters. Inside he found Lorana,
    sprawled across her desk. Two fire-lizards chittered inside, their tone
    changing to anger as he entered.
    “There’s trouble!” Colfet said. Lorana looked up at him: Her eyes were full
    of tears. “Lass, what’s wrong?”
    “He’s gone,” she replied. “J’trel and Talith have gone between forever.”
    Wind Rider bucked abruptly as it plowed into a wave and rolled sharply as it
    paid off, throwing Lorana across the table and Colfet out of the cabin.
    Colfet let out a curse as his full weight crashed against his broken arm.
    “You’re hurt!” Lorana exclaimed, trying to reach him.
    “No time for that,” Colfet said. “We’ve got to get to the captain’s cabin.”
    “Why?”
    “We’ve got to get you off this ship,” Colfet said. “Baror’s left Captain
    Tanner behind, and I can’t think he means you well.” He made a face.
    “Baror’s got a nasty way with women. If you don’t leave now, while he’s
    distracted, you may not leave at all.” He looked at the fire-lizards. “Can you
    make them wait by the launch?”
    “What’s that?” Lorana asked.
    “That’s the boat we used today to get to shore,” Colfet explained. “Baror’s
    going to lower it astern.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “I asked him,” Colfet said, grinning. “In case anyone fell overboard in this
    blow.” His grin widened. “We’ll just ‘fall overboard’ right now.”
    “Oh.”
    “Can you make them wait?” Colfet asked again.
    “I can try.” Lorana said, turning to the two fire-lizards. Garth and Grenn both
    chittered obstinately before Lorana overcame their disagreement and they
    disappeared between.
    “Good, now let’s get to the captain’s cabin before Baror has a