Twenty nine… almost?
True to the Captain’s word, Crazy Old Majid was more than happy to tell me all about the assassination. Of course he didn’t know it was me who had caused the mayhem. At least I thought he didn’t know. If he did, he wasn’t giving anything away.
“You know there’s guards all over the place, all her friends and reg’lars, too,” he said, sucking on his gums and scratching his scraggly beard. “Mark me words, the tide’ll turn on that scurvy dog and wash ‘im right into their waiting nets.”
“You think they will?” I asked him, finishing off a breakfast of fish and rice.
He squinted into the distance. “Did I say that they’d catch ‘im? The khorôb must have done the talkin’. That’s a fool’s errand, that is. Nobody done know who did it, that’s what the wind’s whispering this morning. Could be anyone.”
It was my turn to chuckle. I was interested, of course, but didn’t wish to appear too interested.
“Maybe it was a woman, you mean to say?”
“Why not? The moon was waxin’ last night. And a jealous moon brings out a woman’s shadow, so they say -”
I held up a hand. “Is there anything to suggest that it was a woman who did it?”
“Well, not in partickler. They say the way she was found, the murderer must’ve been known to her, that’s plain. She let ‘em get right close, like a harbor pilot to the ship’s side. Then he rammed her! That wasn’t no sneak attack. That guttersnipe stared her right in the eyes, full-face, like a false compass pointin’ to a reef. No sir! No creepin’ up from behind like a ghost: it was a flesh-and-blood man she knew.”
I snorted and shook my head. I suppose I should have been relieved, but I had a reputation to maintain. “Not another of that Shadow Man’s victims, then?”
“My eyes may be old but they ain’t foggy, and my mind’s not full of barnacles. I see what’s what.” He laughed and winked. “Could be that Shadow Man, but who really knows?”
I waved him away, feigning tiredness. “I need more rest, then in a day or two I will go ashore an pay visit to the man who set upon me.”
“No reports o’ him skulking about, sir. I always keep me ears and eyes open.” He wiped his nose, and ducked under the curtain that shut me off from the main cabin.
“You do that for me,” I called after him.
It was four days before Captain Naraal returned. He looked exhausted.
“How are you doing, Tazakr?” he asked, fetching us both a large glass of khorob.
“Better than you, by the looks of things,” I replied. I still wore the eye patch, though my eye was hurting less, and a few days growth of my beard was beginning to alter my appearance. “What happened? I thought you had an appointment with the King’s Aunt? Any news about Balkumagan?”
He laughed loud and long. I was worried in his present state he would fall over.
“I saw her right enough. And our First Mate, he won’t be back for some time yet.”
I sighed. Just what I hoped for.
“She has him and a swordsman Pharazagar, escorting some folk from Gondor around the place. I suppose I understand, our Magan is one of the few men you can trust around a woman.” He shrugged.
“And these guests from Gondor, this woman is important to Lady Zairaphel?” I almost added ‘to put on some sacrificial fire I suppose’, but stopped myself in time. The King was a servant of the Dark Lord, and his Aunt head of the Abysmal Order. What were they likely to do with ‘guests’ from Gondor?
“It seems so.” He rubbed his eyes.
I rose from my bed, and nodded to the larger cabin, cradling my drink. “We both have a glass? It looks as if the Lady tired you out.”
His eyes flashed a sudden fire. “She is the King’s aunt, and as such can command much. But not everything.”
“No pointed ears?”
I had gone too far. He thumped the nearby desk and set all upon it rattling. “You will not mention Zairaphel and Danel in the same breath. Understood!”
I nodded. I understood. He did what Zairaphel wanted out of duty, and up to a point. That was useful. He was not blindly loyal to her. But he was still wrapped up in his thoughts over that She-Elf. Perhaps such knowledge would come in useful to me sometime?
“So any orders for the Shakilgimil yet, Captain?”
He was still sulking.
“Will our King need us again soon?” I tried again.
Naraal sat in his chair and put his booted feet on the desk. He kicked at one of the maps.
“I have been speaking further with other, trusted Captains. Many Corsairs will be loyal, though none of the main Fleet have been approached as yet. Many of them are still loyal to the ‘heirs’.” He spat out the last word contemptuously. “I report back to our King tomorrow evening. I am invited back to Zairaphel’s house, but he will be there. He wants us for something.”
Oh, there was much going on I decided, and though I could not be there as a guest to overhear and participate, I could possibly still overhear. “I will be back at my duties then, with your permission. The ship needs preparation and supplies.”
He looked squarely at me. “The scratches hardly notice. Grow that beard another week and none will have any clue.”
“Clue, sir?”
He waved a hand. “Don’t play games with me Tazakr. I can see right through you. If I did not rate you as highly as I do, I would say something. But you stick to those who have it coming,” he drained his glass, “And I say nothing. On that matter, I think we have someone in common. Someone who I believe may be selling something of interest in the bazaar soon. Tamrooh, the armour specialist. You are to see if he has a set of elven made armour, suitable for a very lithe man or boy. Say nothing, do nothing. Especially do not kill him until I have what I need.”
