Sea of Death: Blade of the Flame - Book 3 by Tim Waggoner Read Free Book Online

But Diran gave a little shrug, as if to say there was no help for it, and Ghaji supposed his friend was right. Tresslar was obsessed with retrieving his wand, and he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until the mystic artifact was once again in his possession. And with Solus’s help, he just might be able to find it—assuming the wand was in Kolbyr at all.
    Tresslar looked at Diran. “The docks at sunset,” he said then turned to the psiforged and the halfling. “Let’s go,” he muttered, and the three headed off down the street. Ghaji kept an eye on them as they departed. The Kolbyrites glared at the trio as they passed, butotherwise did nothing. Then the three turned a corner and were lost to sight.
    Ghaji turned to Diran. “Looks like it’s just the four of us then.”
    “Actually …” Yvka said.
    “Don’t tell me you’re going to desert us too!” Ghaji protested.
    The elf-woman reached out to take Ghaji’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “We need the
Zephyr
back.
I
need her back. I have no idea if she was brought to Kolbyr, but there are certain … acquaintances I can consult with here in the city that might be able to help.”
    “We can book passage on other vessels if we need to,” Ghaji said. “Diran and I got along fine without the
Zephyr
before.”
    Yvka’s delicate brow furrowed, and she released his hand. “Are you saying you got along fine without
me?”
    Ghaji realized he’d inadvertently stepped into a cockatrice’s nest. “Of course not.” He knew he should say more, but not only couldn’t he think of anything else, he was afraid he’d just make things worse by continuing to talk. So he fell silent.
    “Perhaps it
would
be best if Yvka made her inquiries while we go to the baron’s palace,” Diran said. “I can think of only one person who knew where the vessel was hidden, and if
she
has her …” The priest failed to finish his sentence.
    But Ghaji understood what his friend meant. Makala had most likely stolen the
Zephyr
, not only because of the ship’s speed, but because the obsidian sarcophagus that allowed vampires to endure sea travel had been aboard. After the final confrontation with Aldarik Cathmore at Mount Luster, Makala had changed. She’d been a vampire for months, ever since being bitten by the undead pirate Onkar at the fortress-city of Grimwall. But while she’d been infected with the taint of vampirism, she’d fought to keep from being consumed by the darkness that now dwelled within her. But she’d lost that struggle at Mount Luster and had become a true creature of evil. With the
Zephyr
, she could go anywhere she wished and spread her contagion throughout the Principalities. Diran had failed to prevent Makala’s transformation into a vampire, and he’d failed to keep her from being claimed by evil. Now the priest was determinedto slay Makala—even though she had once been the mortal woman he’d loved above all others. He would not fail her a third time, no matter what it took.
    Ghaji gazed at his friend with understanding before turning to face Yvka. “Sunset at the docks?”
    She smiled. “Sunset.” She leaned forward to give Ghaji a quick but passionate kiss, then jogged off down the street in the opposite direction the others had taken, moving with the silent, liquid grace that only elves possessed. Soon, she too was lost to sight.
    Ghaji sighed. “I’ve never really understood women, but of all the women I haven’t understood, I understand that one the least.”
    Diran laughed and clapped the half-orc on the shoulder. “Let’s continue on to the baron’s palace, my friend. Helping me exorcise a curse will hopefully take your mind off Yvka for a time.”
    Ghaji nodded, but he wasn’t thinking about Yvka, at least, not
only
about her. He was also thinking of another woman he’d known—or rather had
thought
he’d known.
    The half-orc thrust thoughts of both women from his mind. “Well, if we’re going to do it, then