Of Kings and Killers (Elder Empire Sea #3) - WIll Wight Page 0,49
from the other side. “We can’t trust any strange—”
Low on time and patience, Calder cut him off. “Calder Marten, Captain of The Testament, here on orders from the Navigator’s Guild searching for Captain Tommison of The Reliable. Now let us in or my cook will do it for you.”
Calder had no doubt that Urzaia would tear his way inside in an instant, but he wasn’t poised to do so at the moment. He stood with his back to the tower, facing the jungle around him with a hatchet in each hand as though he meant to do battle with all the unknown hordes of Othaghor.
A hurried, whispered discussion ensued from behind the barricade, which lasted long enough that Calder almost ordered Urzaia to break through.
Finally, a plank at the bottom corner started to shiver.
“Give me a second to untie it,” the voice said. “And you’ll have to crawl.”
Rather than face a jungle filled with who knew what Elderspawn, Calder was ready to dig.
The three surviving members of The Reliable’s crew waited for Calder behind the barricade.
Miss Lakiri, a gunner from Jerri’s ancestral homeland of Vandenyas, was built along the lines of a stone statue. She brooded in silence, thick arms crossed, glaring at Calder throughout her introduction.
Her companion was Mister Goss, a ship’s navigator who looked like pale skin stretched over a tall, gangly skeleton. He kept checking a pocketwatch and his every word was high-pitched and nervous, as though he expected to be overheard by someone who wouldn’t approve.
Finally, Captain Tommison himself had lived as well. He looked like a fanciful portrait of a Navigator from half a century before, with his long gray walrus mustache and his navy blue bicorn hat that matched his jacket. His jacket and shirt strained across a prodigious gut, and his every word was a pronouncement.
“We have lost our alchemist and gunner in battle against the forces of darkness,” Tommison declared, scratching at his eye as though outlining a monocle. “Since we shut ourselves in here a fortnight ago, we have scarcely been bothered by the monsters outside. We have kept our minds and souls occupied by games of chance and any other means available to us, and we have food stores enough to occupy us for weeks more. So long as we have no further hungry mouths to feed, that is.”
He eyed Calder in disapproval.
“You’ve seen the tiny creatures in the trees?” Calder asked.
“We’ve been calling them Slithers,” Goss put in, flinching as though he thought Calder would hit him for interrupting.
“Slithers it is. Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen their larger cousin in the water, but it’s got a taste for boat. It doesn’t want us to leave, but it had no problem with us joining you here.”
The statement floated over them, hanging in the air, as they all separately came to the same conclusion that no one wanted to voice.
No one except Urzaia. The Champion lounged on a barrel, idly toying with a hatchet. “We should not stay. If they wish to keep us here, it can only be because something else is coming.”
Mister Goss rubbed at his own eye. It looked like a nervous tic, but so did everything else the man did.
Calder clapped his hands together to gather everyone’s attention and snap them out of their hopeless reverie. “Fortunately for all of us, we have some options. We bring with us a Champion—” He indicated Urzaia, who gave a seated bow. “—and another surprise that we arranged before leaving the ship. I believe we can push through the jungle to The Reliable. Do you have weapons of your own?”
He addressed this to Miss Lakiri, who was rubbing surreptitiously at her own eye. Maybe there was something going around.
“Alchemical munitions,” she said. “Enough to burn all the trees on the island to ash, if we set them up right.”
Tommison drew himself up to his full height, which was unimpressive, especially as he was standing in Mister Goss’ shadow. “Now, see here. Even if we board my ship, how do we clear these worms that haunt the beach?”
“We just have to launch for open water,” Calder said. “If we get close enough to The Testament, I can take care of them.”
The Lyathatan would eat the Elder worms for breakfast. Perhaps literally.
The crew of The Reliable exchanged glances.
“Too dangerous,” Tommison declared. “No, it’s far better to remain safe here and wait for Guild reinforcements.”
Andel tilted his head. “Who else do you expect is coming? We are your Guild reinforcements.”