Читать «Rising Tide (зксм-1)» онлайн - страница 151

"You've news of Waterdeep?" Sabyna said.

"Aye," the sailor replied, "but only bad news, I'm afraid. You're from there?"

"No. I'm Sabyna, ship's mage of Breezerunner, helmed by Captain Tynnel. We've traded there and I have a few friends who live there."

One of the other sailors glanced at the old one. "Breezerunner's a good ship, Narik. Heard of her. And her captain's a good man."

Narik nodded. His rheumy eyes regarded Sabyna, then flicked over Jherek. "Are you bound, then, to Waterdeep, lady?"

"Not on this trip," Sabyna said. "We're only going as far north as Baldur's Gate."

"Tell your captain what I tell you. There'll be plenty of gold for a man willing to take his ship into Waterdeep for the next few months. If he's willing to chance the risk to his life and ship."

"Hell probably already know," she said, "but tell me why."

"You've heard nothing?" Narik asked.

Sabyna shook her head. "We only got into the harbor this morning. We were becalmed for a time since leaving Velen."

"Waterdeep was invaded," Narik said.

"By who?" Jherek asked.

He remembered the City of Splendors from the trips he'd taken there with Finaren. During his visits he'd never been daring enough to go very deeply into the city. Most of Butterfly's crew had their usual haunts along the Dock Ward, rarely venturing out of the festhalls and taverns, places where Jherek had never felt overly comfortable. He'd spent mornings in Butterfly's rigging just watching the sun come up behind the towering mountain where Castle Waterdeep stood. As tall as the mountain was, the shadow of the heights hung over the harbor long after the sun rose in the morning. Sunlight came into the coast from the water as the sun climbed, making it look like the morning light came in on the tide.

"The sahuagin. There were thousands of them, over a month ago at the end of Fleetswake, and they got into Waterdeep Harbor before the guard knew it. Her navy proved no defense against the invaders' forces."

"What forces? Ships?" Jherek asked. He'd watched the Waterdhavian Guard on maneuvers. Very few crews could hold a candle to what they could do with their rakers, and that wasn't even taking into account the other defenses that lined the city's shores.

"Oh, the sea devils had no few of those," Narik confirmed.

"From the stories I've heard, the sahuagin had captured fifteen or twenty vessels, then sailed them right into the harbor slick as the snot from a dung-eating camel," another man stated.

"The guard would have caught that," Jherek objected.

"They didn't, boy," the man said testily, one hard knuckled hand fisting on the curved dagger in his waist sash.

"Sorcery was involved," Narik said, soothing his comrade's temper. "We know that for sure. Besides the guard missing those ships full of sahuagin, a storm summoned by some sorcerous intent whipped over the Dock Ward and tore down a number of buildings."