Chapter List

small launch rolled gently in the surf near the west dock of Vuran’s Wharf. The lonely light of a rusted lantern glowed dimly between the two men aboard.

“Why tonight?” Clenick asked, scanning the horizon for any sign of an approaching ship. “This better not be a fool’s errand.”

“It’s a fool’s errand because you’re here,” Phileo Marcade muttered, fumbling with a leather pouch filled with cured spicemeal sticks. He was a large, heavy man. “How I got bogged down in this,” he growled under his breath. Then he spoke up. “How did I get bogged down in this?”

“You gave away the Frontier Run because you were trying to curry favor with two men who want you dead, and since they can’t have you dead without losing half their gold, they sent you here.” Clenick spoke without looking down at Phileo, who sat near the bow of the launch. A third man sat aft, holding an oar over the edge to steady the small boat’s heading.

“How do they know it’s tonight?” Clenick asked rhetorically.

“Word from the Baron’s messenger,” Phileo reached into his back pocket while holding the drawstrings of the leather pouch in his teeth. His shirt was nearly loose in front. Grease stains and soot had faded the expensive white cloth. He failed to retrieve whatever he was looking for and took the bag out of his teeth and opened it again. “Some sorcery of theirs. Long as I get paid and get back alive I don’t ask questions.”

Thick, ponderous fog hovered over the stagnant ocean water, making it look as if the dock were floating in the air. Clenick frowned. A shape was moving in the distance.

“This doesn’t look like our lake,” Shannon said.

“It isn’t,” Jessica replied. “This is salt water. We’re on the ocean.”

“No way,” Ranko blurted out. “How can we sail from the lake to the ocean?”

The huge wooden ship gently glided through the water and alongside the dock. Jessica Hoshi and her friends were lined up along the starboard railing, looking up and down the abandoned wharf. The closed and locked warehouses were coldly lit by the dull orange light of lanterns hanging from their sides. An unnatural fog crawled along the edges of the ship.

“We’ve got to hide this jewelry,” Alanna said. “This place looks dangerous.”

Cici was busy counting the lenses on her lantern. She recited the names of the jewels over and over again quietly to herself.

“Ruby, sunstone, citrine, emerald, topaz, sapphire, amethyst, diamond, ruby…”

Jessica looked back and forth with a troubled expression. “Is this Vuran’s Wharf? Is this where we’re supposed to be?”

“We have to moor the ship or we’ll drift into the dock,” Talitha said. “Find the ropes with loops on them.”

“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” Clenick muttered quietly as she shuttered his lantern, making the launch disappear for all intents. “No signal? Who are those people aboard?”

“It’s because that treacherous dog doesn’t have our payment I’ll wager,” Phileo Marcade growled, breaking off a piece of stringy meal with a rough looking fist. “I should never have listened. I should have known I was being sold a swindle from the moment they said ‘Gray Coral Strand.’ We’re out here on the hind foot of Aventar. Out of sight and forgotten.”

“Whoever they are, we’ve got to get them off that ship.”

Phileo broke his piece of spicemeal in half and examined the pieces as he considered his options. He had been put in charge of a small operation on the southwestern corner of Gacenar almost two years ago. His instructions were simple: wait for an Isian ship to arrive. Nobody said anything about the ship being crewed by six girls. Everything was supposed to be taken care of. He wasn’t supposed to have to think. If there was one thing Phileo Marcade hated more than anything else, it was being required to think too much.

“We’ll offer them supplies and a way to Escator. Once they’re off the ship, we’ll offload the cargo. If there’s anything worth hauling, I’ll send word to my brother in Prince Branven Square. An Isian ship would bring a fair offer of gold from any one of ten different buyers, provided we can keep her out of southern waters for a time,” Phileo said. “If we can’t collect our payment from Noret, we’ll take what we can get.”

“Enough to get us off this wharf?” Clenick asked, eyebrows raised.

“Enough to buy this wharf.” Phileo replied, turning his hefty frame to look back at Clenick’s face. Then Phileo grinned avariciously.

Continue to Chapter Eight