Chapter 2

Cap stood on Pahara's great wall, lounging in the shade of a lookout tower and enjoying the breeze off of the Sea of Monsters. Below him he could see the stone golems endlessly toiling above and below the water to maintain the enormous wall. Behind him stood several of the iron golems that defended the walls against monsters and invaders alike. A random assortment of visitors and natives lounged with him -- it was a popular spot. There was even a cart selling lemon ices near by.

Cap was tired, bone tired, but satisfied. He and Master Mahoon had spent the last four weeks studying the crwth and experimenting to determine the music that would unlock its secrets. In the end, it had taken a combination of magical and musical theory to do it. Master Mahoon was pleased to have the pages of notes and equations linking the two. Cap was just glad to have the song he needed.

Of course, now he had a problem. Now he could use the crwth as a treasure compass, and he didn't much like what it told him, for it pointed into the heart of the Near Empire on the northern hemisphere of Venus. An empire of the Scro -- highly evolved orcs with no love of outsiders. Cap figured he had about as much chance of getting in and out of there safely as a bottle of free wine had of surviving a university party. So what use was the crwth to him?

Cap shrugged. Well, it was still a good instrument. And Mahoon had told him not to worry, telling Cap that fate had led him to the crwth, and fate would surely give him a way to use it. It seemed awfully mystical to Cap, but Venus wasn't Aearth, and they looked at chance and fate differently here. It the mean time, he meant to take a bit of a break.

"Hey, a spelljammer!" someone behind him yelled. Cap looked up. Spelljammers had been vanishingly rare in Pahara since the Scro had put up the barrier. Whatever the barrier was, any spelljammer lost control of its helm upon entering Venus' atmosphere. Cap remembered the sickening plunge of the ship that had taken him from Green Luna when it had started to descend and the helm had cut off. If the ship's experimental alchemical engine hadn't started in time … Cap shuddered.

So Cap watched the descending spelljammer curiously. Was it? Yes, it was a vipership, painted black with blood-red sails. Cap frowned. The vipership looked awfully familiar. It couldn't be the ship he thought it looked like, not here, not now, could it?

Several of the people on the wall started yelling and whistling. The man next to Cap on the wall took off his hat and faced the crowd. "Three cheers for Captain Blacky Van der Decken and the Stormbreaker, who's been giving those bloody Scro bastards what for!" The crowd cheered with great enthusiasm, and continued cheering as the Stormbreaker descended into the harbor.

Cap stared at the ship. He did not believe in fate. He absolutely refused to believe in fate. Even when fate stared him in the eyes. Or maybe particularly when it did.

Even moving as fast as he could, it took Cap almost an hour to make his way from the wall to where the Stormbreaker had docked. And when he got there, he had to spend an extra ten minutes pushing through the crowd of curious on-lookers before he actually reached the ship.

When he finally pushed through to a clear spot, he found a grim-looking half-ogre wielding a huge cutlass frowning down at him. However, the frown quickly turned into a huge smile. "Cap! Haven't seen you in a dog's age -- have you come to sign up?"

Cap laughed and shook his head. "No, not yet, but I might have a bit of business that up your gang's alley -- is the Captain about?"

The half-ogre jerked one finger over his shoulder at where a crowd of viscous-looking cutthroats was loading an armored wagon. "She and Mister Red are there, wrangling with the sorcerer the Band of Pahara sent down to pick up the loot. She might not be in the best mood at the moment -- you know how she hates arguing with people she can't afford to kill!"

Cap rolled his eyes and slapped the half-ogre on the shoulder. "Now, Naf, I know you're making that up -- I've never seen her kill anyone for arguing with her -- otherwise half of you would be dead by now."

Naf grinned. "Ah, but she likes us."

Cap shook his head and sauntered over to where a tall, pale woman in black, and an even taller half-orc in red were arguing with a man in a most amazing robe with swirls of every color imaginable (and some probably only imaginable with the aid of drugs).

The woman was giving the robed man a truly frightening glare from her black eyes, and waved a sheet of parchment in his face. "I'm not releasing my loot until you sign and seal my receipt of goods handed over, you prevaricating bureaucratic peacock!"

The robed man met her eyes placidly, with an expression full of good will. "My dear Captain! I have no objection to signing your receipt. However, that document also contains your appraisals of what your 'loot' is worth, and that I am not authorized to sign!"

Cap cleared his throat. All three of those arguing turned to face him. The two privateers glared at him, but after a moment their expressions softened slightly. The bank sorcerer gave him a look of bland curiosity. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your, ah, disagreement. May I perhaps make a suggestion?"

Everyone nodded. Cap gently took the document from the Captain's hand and gave it a quick once-over. He looked up into three faces, two frowning and one bland. "It seems to me that the solution here would be for the bank's representative to sign the receipt, but to also add and initial a note that the signature applied to goods received only, and does not apply to their valuations contained in the document. The Captain should sign under the same conditions, and I will sign as a witness."

The bank's sorcerer examined Cap coolly. "That sounds acceptable; but forgive me -- who might you be?"

Cap pulled off his hat and bowed low. "I am Capability Thunder-Smith, currently of the Great Luna University's Institute for Universal Cartography, Ethnology and the Natural Sciences, and a member of the University's Bardic College."

The bank sorcerer smiled a very slight smile. "Ah yes. You should make a splendid witness. Now, where did I put my pen?"

A pen was found, and the receipt was signed (with amendments), and the bank's sorcerer and armored wagon (and its guards) all left.

As soon as wagon had vanished out of sight into the crowd, Cap bent his head next to the Captain's and whispered, "Captain, I have a matter I'd like to discuss with you privately."

The Captain whispered back, smiling mischievously, "What sort of private, lover boy?"

Cap moved his lips even closer to her ear. "Treasure private."

The Captain's smile widened. She made a quick sign of her hand to Mister Red, then slipped an arm around Cap's waist, pulling him close, giving him a very warm kiss. "Play along." She whispered.

Cap had no trouble following that order. After a minute or two of passionate kissing, the Captain stepped back, then led Cap by the hand up the gangplank and across the deck to her cabin.

Once the door was closed, the Captain placed a hand on either of Cap's shoulders and stared into his eyes. "You're looking good, Capability, good enough to eat! So what have you been doing with yourself these days?"

Cap put his hands on her waist. "Oh, an occasional stint with the University's Grand Survey, a bit of hunting dangerous cultists, a bit of wandering. What about you, Blackie? You're looking as fine as usual."

She smiled and moved closer to him. "Oh, just being an honest woman and plying my honest trade, making an honest gold piece here and there."

Cap had almost forgotten that he and Blackie Van der Decken were almost exactly the same height, but looking directly into her eyes and with her lips almost touching his lips, it was very obvious. If he were to lean forward even the tiniest amount, they'd -"

The knock on the door echoed like thunder in the confined space of the Stormbreaker's Captain's quarters. Cap involuntarily jumped back, feeling irrationally like he was suddenly a teenager again, and his father had walked in on him and the neighbor's daughter in the laundry room.

The Captain laughed, and opened the door, letting the six-foot-and-a-half half-orc into the cabin. "Get the out the good rum, Mister Red -- Capability here has something to tell us about treasure, or so he says."

Mister Red went to a chest by the Captain's bed and pulled out a black glass bottle and three chipped crystal tumblers. He set the tumblers down on the table, and opened the bottle carefully, almost reverently. It was Paharan Black Rum, aged for over twenty years in barrels made of rare woods from the jungles of Alph, and almost impossible to get a hold of without impressive political connections.

The Captain raised her tumbler high. "A toast! A toast to all that makes life worth living! A toast to love, to treasure, to fine ships, to true friends and dire battle! A toast to living each day like it was your last! A toast to life lived to the full!"

They each took a sip of their rum (not even a pirate would knowingly gulp Paharan Black). It went down the throat like silken fire, and was soon gone.

The three of them sprawled around the table and Mister Red refilled their glasses. The Captain leaned forward on her elbows, staring at Cap. "So, me fine buck, you were saying something about treasure?"

In answer, Cap pulled his crwth's case off of his back, and pulled it out.

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "That's a fine piece of wood there, even if a bit old-fashioned, but I doubt it'd bring more than a few hundred gold. So what about the treasure?"

Cap smiled, and swung the instrument into playing position. "Wait."

Cap began to play the odd little tune that he and Master Muldoon had figured out. As he launched into the main theme, he plucked the drone string and suddenly, cool blue light lit the cabin as a ghostly arrow formed in the air over the crwth. The arrow swung around until it pointed almost due north, and stopped. There it hung, even after Cap's fingers dropped off of the strings.

Captain Van der Decken stood and stared at the arrow, then her eyes darted to meet Cap's. "By the triply damned gods of the dead, that's a treasure compass!"

Cap smiled. "It certainly is."

The Captain licked her lips. "Where does it lead ... and to what?"

Cap grimaced. "As for your second question, I haven't the foggiest idea."

The Captain cocked her head a smiled tightly at Cap. "But I bet you know the answer to the first question, don't you my fine lad? You just don't like it. But you can tell old friend Blackie, can't you?"

Cap nodded and sighed. "It points to the heart of the Near Empire -- about fifty miles outside their capital of Gnazkhibad. In the middle of one of the largest and best disciplined armies in the sphere. Only a madman would think of looking for treasure there!"

The Captain smiled widely. "Good thing you know a whole shipload of madmen then. I wonder what that arrow is pointing at, though."

Mister Red looked thoughtful. "A treasure compass is an expensive and difficult thing to craft -- someone must have thought whatever it is pretty important."

The Captain's eyes lit up. "And what's that important in this life? More likely than not, it's something very valuable. And hidden -- if you weren't going to hide it, you wouldn't need the treasure compass. So something hidden and valuable, in one of the most dangerous areas in the sphere. Well, Capability me lad, you've come to right place. Looting Scro airships is both fun and profitable, but it gets old quickly. Why don't we go take a look at your little mystery for a change of pace? Since I'm the one with the ship, I'd say that a 90/10 cut seems about fair, assuming you share the risk and come along yourself."

Cap shook his head. "Oh, of course I'll come along. Why not, I haven't come serious close to dying for weeks!"

The Captain's smile widened. "We can make it worth your while, one way or another I'm sure. Mister Red! Give the boys and girls two days to play, then I want to be completely ready to fly by the end of the week."

Mister Red nodded, and finished off his tumbler of Paharan Black, then heaved himself to his feat. "I'd better get about my business, then. Captain. We can discuss provisioning tomorrow morning."

The Captain slid one hand over onto Cap's shoulder. "Not too early."

Mister Red smiled and headed out the door, closing it carefully behind him.

Cap turned to find the Captain's face only inches from his. "Why don't you put that fiddle down and let me know exactly how much you missed me, Capability?"

And so he did.

8