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Episode
I The Corsair
“How are we going to get in there?”
asked Shasara. She was standing
in the main
It had taken some time for word of her capture
to reach them. The isolated cove
where Melissa had anchored the
Peregrine
was not near any large towns and they only learned of her fate two
weeks after it had occurred. They
knew why she had left, but did not know where she had
gone. Her cryptic note of explanation
was deliberately vague and they had no idea where to start searching for
her, so they had stayed put until
word of her capture reached them.
The news that she had been seized by the Duke
galvanized them into action.
However, it was difficult for the three young women to
act. None of them spoke the language
of Dakmora very well, and they were completely ignorant of most of its customs
as well as most of its geography.
Fortunately, one of the crew came to their
aid. It was not Chance Brown,
however. He thought their decision
to go after the Red Dragon to be absurd.
“You’ll just get yourself caught,”
Brown said. “Why do you
think the captain left without telling you where she was
going? She knew of the danger
and she didn’t want you three getting caught with
her. If you go after her you
will be doing the very thing that she was trying to protect you
from.”
“She is our leader,” Che Sha had
replied. “If we were captured
she would die trying to help us and we will die trying to help
her.”
“That may be,” replied, Brown,
“but I don’t have to help you
die. You’ll get no help
from me in this mad adventure.”
“Then we’ll just have to find someone
else,” Vayasha said.
That someone turned out to be one of the older
hands, a man by the name of Dak Malvin.
He had been one of the few pirates that had shown any sort of friendship
to the three young women. Most
of the pirates had accepted Melissa’s leadership, because she was paying
their wages and had demonstrated that she was more than a match for any of
them with the sword. But the
three girls had been regarded with some
suspicion. Women on a ship were
considered bad luck – at least as part of the
crew. And while most of the men
had eventually come to respect the fighting skills of the three girls, they
were never really considered true
pirates. Only Malvin had been
willing to befriend them – in a sort of fatherly
manner.
Malvin was a short man in his mid
forties. He was short, stocky
and quite strong. He had spent
most of his life at sea and had been a pirate for most of that
time. For all the brutality of
his trade, he remained an affable smiling individual, quick with a joke and
full of stories about the sea. When
Brown had refused to help them, he had stepped up and offered his
services. “Can’t leave
you ladies to yerselves,” he said.
“Yer likely to go hightailing after the captain and get yerselves
caught and thrown into the Duke’s prison along with
her. And the Duke ain’t
noted for his kind treatment of prisoners, even ones as pretty as
you.”
Brown had protested, but Malvin gave
Melissa’s companions the opportunity they
needed. Within a day they had
left the ship and were on the road to
Dakmora.
They made good
time. Malvin proved to be an
invaluable guide. He spoke the
language and knew the customs. And
he was able to pose as their servant and hire a coach and team of horses
to speed them on their way. This
proved to be an effective way of avoiding
suspicion. Hidden in the coach,
the three exotic women could avoid the stares and attention they would otherwise
have attracted. They usually
came to an inn at night, where Malvin negotiated a private room for them
and then, hidden in their hooded cloaks they made their way to the room –
just three highborn ladies and their
coachman.
In that way, they reached Slandor in three
days. Now they stood in the main
square, shrouded in their cloaks, attempting to figure out a way into the
Duke’s fortress palace.
“I might know of a way,” said
Malvin. “Got some contacts
I can use who might get us past the
guards. I’ll take you to
an inn and then see what I can do.”
Shasara
nodded. As the oldest, she had
taken over the leadership role of the three
women. She was not any more competent
than either Vayasha or Che Sha, but neither was she less
so.
Malvin took them to an inn a few winding blocks
from the palace. He ordered food
and drink to be brought to their room and then went off to see what he could
find. He returned four hours
later. It was much longer than
the three girls had expected and they were greatly relieved when they heard
the coded taps on the door of their room.
“There is a way,” said Malvin, after
he had wolfed down some of the remaining
food. “Got me an old friend
I do. Known him since I was a
kiddie. He runs vitals to the
palace every day. There’s
space in his wagon for you to hide and he knows the
guards. They never check his
loads. But I know nothing about
the palace meself. Once yer inside
yer’ll be on yer own.”
The three women
nodded. They could not think
of a better plan. Once inside
the palace gates they would just have to play it by ear, and hope to their
luck and bravery to get them through.
It was what the Red Dragon would have
done. They could do no less for
her.
The three girls spent a restless
night. It was hard to sleep with
so much danger ahead of them. The
next morning they were all awake before it was
light. They ordered a breakfast
of porridge and cream, and after washing and eating, donned their capes and
left the inn.
Malvin was waiting for
them. He took them on foot down
winding streets to a building with a large courtyard containing numerous
loaded wagons. There they met
Toby, Malvin’s friend. He
was a big man, about Malvin’s age, and he looked like he had been around
horses and wagons all of his life.
They paid him the amount that had been agreed upon and climbed into
the wagon. It was a large wagon,
covered with canvas and providing them with a perfect hiding
place. They burrowed down among
the cargo, and almost immediately Toby jumped into the driver’s seat
and headed out of the courtyard. In
the back of the wagon, hidden among the supplies were the three girls and
their pirate guide.
Entry into the palace was easier than they
could have hoped. There was a
brief halt at the gates then the guards waved the wagon
through. The wagon drove on for
a minute and then stopped. A
few seconds later Toby poked his head into their hiding
place. “Go quickly,”
he whispered. “You get found
in my wagon and I’ll be swinging high by
tomorrow. There’s a door
just to the right of the wagon. It
leads into the cellars. From
there you might be able to make your way to the
dungeons. That’s all I can
do to help. May the gods be on
your side.” With that Toby
was gone.
Malvin went quietly forward and poked his
head out from the canvas that covered the
wagon. He gestured to the
girls. “Come
fast. There’s no one here
right now. Jump down on the right
side and the wagon will screen us from the guards.”
Shasara went first, followed by her sister
and Che Sha. Malvin was already
on his way to an iron bound door that stood partly
opened. At the back of the wagon,
Toby was beginning to unload the cargo.
Inside the door they found themselves in a large
storeroom. Following Malvin they
headed for a door on the other side.
The door opened on a stone
staircase. Taking a torch from
a bracket on the wall, Malvin took out flint and steel and soon had a
light. He looked at the three
girls. “Well, here goes,”
he said and headed down into the darkness.
To the three tense young women the stairs
and the dark corridor at their bottom seemed to go on almost
endlessly. Except for the uncertain
light of the torch they were in complete darkness, and almost as soon as
they had left the storeroom all of the girls had readied their
weapons.
The corridor had no doorways opening off it
and after ten minutes of walking through the dark, all of the girls became
concerned about whether or not they were going the right
way. But, having no better choice
they kept on. Sooner or later
the corridor had to go somewhere.
It ended in another
door. This one was massively
constructed, and barred on their side.
Removing the bar, they carefully eased it
open. The door shrieked alarmingly
on its rusty iron hinges, but there were no shouts of
alarm. They opened it just wide
enough for them to squeeze through.
They entered into a large poorly lit
room. There was another heavy
door on the far side of the room and above their heads an iron
grating. The light that illuminated
the room came through the grating.
There was no other source of light.
“Try the door, girls,” said Malvin,
holding the torch high. “It
looks like it’s the only way out.”
Shasara was first to the
door. She grabbed the massive
iron ring and gave it a tug, but the door did not
move. “I think it is locked
on the other side,” she said.
“Help me with it.”
Vayasha and Che Sha ran to assist her, and then the room suddenly
dimmed and the noise of the door closing behind them sounded frighteningly
in their ears.
“Malvin!” shouted Che Sha running
toward the closing door, but she was too
late. The sound of the heavy
bar crashing into place told them that they were
trapped.
“Malvin, why?” shouted
Shasara.
A jovial laugh sounded from the other
side.
“Why? Well you ladies
should learn more about the places you
visit. Duke Roland put a price
on your heads. Ten thousand gold
for the Red Dragon and five thousand for each of
you. Well, he already had the
Red Dragon, so I figured I might as well profit from you
three. Never did save much money
pirating. Now I’m set for
life.” He laughed again,
his voice dying as he moved back down the corridor away from
them. The three girls looked
at one another, fear and astonishment written on their
faces. They had sought to find
a way into the Duke’s dungeons.
They had succeeded all too well.
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