Pirates and Smugglers

Lance sat alone in his room of the cottage that he and his companions had been able to rent writing out a letter to his father. Why a cottage and not a room at an Inn which would have been expected? Well because every available room in every respectable and unrespectable inn within the city of Gunthar on the island of Sancrist was taken. It was the anniversary of the founding of the city and that meant a great and popular festival. Nearly all of Solamnia had come to attend, or so it seemed considering the number of people that had been pouring in since the four of them had arrived. Sancrist was the pride of the Solamic Knights who had their headquarters here. It had also been the place where victory for the followers of Paladine and the Metallic dragons had been plotted.

The festival would take place over the course of three days and already the city was beginning to look like a massive fair ground. After searching for many tiring hours for a room they had come upon this cottage which was offered by the owner, a wealthy miller, for rent at a special price in lieu of the festival.

"It would be a terrible shame if four fine young men like yourselves could not stay to enjoy it" he had said and so they had agreed to the price which was more then generous.

This trip through the islands, which had been meant to take a few days, had by now taken weeks. Enstar and Cristyne had been quick enough visits for both islands were so small that they did not have much to offer. In Southern Ergoth they had found more than enough to amuse themselves with, most of which concerned simply surviving a night. They made money guarding merchants and trading ships which went between Southern and Northern Ergoth for a time till they had enough to top off their purses which had become light to the touch. In Northern Ergoth they found that dark and delicious ale that Thane had often had on his ship as part of the cargo. It was in every inn and drinking house they stayed in. They also discovered the wonders of Northern Ergoths market place, the colours of the silk merchants, the smell of the spices, the fabulous gold wares that would have made dwarves envious of their beauty. These things and many more Lance wrote in the letter along with an apology at the end for not writing often, assuring his father that it was not because he did not miss him but because often he had been busy and his mind had been on other things and he hoped that he would understand, knowing that he would. Once finished writing Lance waited for the ink to dry then folded and letter and sealed it, he would find someone in the city who could hopefully send it for him.

Slipping the letter inside the new blue tunic that he had purchased Lance walked out of his room and was welcomed in the hall by the smell of lunch being cooked in the kitchen. The cottage had also come with three servants. The cook, one maid and a young butler. Though Lance and the others had insisted that they had no need of servants the owner had insisted.

"Don't you worry they will have plenty of opportunity to enjoy the festivities for themselves" he had said and so they had agreed. Out of curiosity Lance had asked the maid one day if she enjoyed her work and she had surprised him by saying that she could not have hoped to work for a kinder man than her master the Miller, and that seemed to be an opinion shared by the other two as well.

"I suppose if they are happy in their work we need not feel sorry for them or guilty for their services" Luca had said and Lance agreed. As Lance made his way downstairs to sit in the main sitting room he took note of the many charming details of the place. The Miller is seemed had a great love for art for the stone walls of the cottage were full of paintings and small statues sat on hallway tables. In the sitting room there were finely made leather chairs and an enormous fire place with elaborate grill work. There were large carpets on the hardwood floor, mostly red, and large lamps hung from the high ceiling. Lance thought that this man must be the only Miller in town to have found this much wealth for himself. The maid entered the room then, her name was Joan, and she smiled at him pleasantly.

"Good afternoon sir Lance"

"Good afternoon but please do not call me sir"

"Apologies. Will you be taking lunch today?"

"Yes, thank you"

"It will be ready shortly then"

"My thanks again and pass them along to the cook for me if you will"

"I will" she smiled again.

"Do you know where my kin might have gone off to?"

"They said that they would be going into town for a while to over see the festival preparations. The first day starts tomorrow"

"I see...Did they say they would be back?"

"Oh yes they said that they would be back in time for lunch. I think they really enjoy Davids cooking"

"As do I. Well thank you once more. I shall wait for them here" Joan smiled and bowed before departing through the door that led to the dining room. Lance settled back in his chair and allowed himself to become lost in his thoughts for a while.

Luca and the brothers arrived back just as Joan had said they would. Lance heard them in the hallway long before they entered the sitting room. The day or two they had spent here in Sancrist had already banished thoughts of Takhisis and her priests from their minds and they were their old selves again, Lance was glad of it. The danger was not gone but it had not followed them here. They could enjoy themselves for a time and relax. Aldemere was the first in the door and he greeted Lance with a smile.

"Afternoon Cousin. Did you get that letter to Uncle Kalas finished?"

"Yes I did. I will find someone to send it later. See anything interesting while you were out?"

"The most beautiful woman I have ever seen!"

"You always say that brother!" Jarrin laughed, "Besides that they were all beautiful. We all might find a wife on this trip"

"You two really are single minded" said Luca.

"Here now don't you start you were looking too"

"The women aside this festival is shaping up to look like a great deal of fun my brother. I am glad that we arrived here when we did"

"As am I" Lance smiled at his brother. Ferris, that was the butler, came in then to tell them that lunch was waiting for them. They all nodded and followed Ferris into the dining room. For lunch David had prepared roasted duck with a rich golden sauce, pan fried potatoes and carrots and fresh bread. Lance and the others ate heartily, years later they would still name David as the best cook in all of Krynn. Ferris filled their glasses with red Kagonesti wine which paired wonderfully with the duck and even with the banana bread that David made for desert.

"Will you be coming back into town with us brother?" asked Luca as he finished off his wine and shook his head as Ferris moved to fill his glass a second time.

"Yes I believe I will. After all I still need to find someone to send this letter for me"

"Will you all be back for dinner tonight?" asked Ferris

"Yes I think so"

"Of course we will I don't want to miss one night of Davids cooking!" said Aldemere. Lance laughed and Ferris smiled and bowed as he returned to his place in the room. Once they had all finished eating Joan came up to assist Ferris in clearing the table. Lance and the others washed quickly and then departed to head into the city. Lance took the opportunity as they were leaving to examine one of the cottages more fascinating points. It was called a Gnome Fence. So called as it was meant to keep the Gnomes away from your house. How? Well unlike a normal stone fence this one had various knobs, leavers, pulleys, chains and mechanisms that preformed numerous tasks which were meant to distract the Gnomes and stop them in their tracks and it did just that. The down side was that every once in a while you needed to add to or take away from the fence so that the Gnomes could not become bored of it and decide to bypass it all together. A most brilliant invention and Lance almost wished that Solace had Gnomes so that he could implement a version of it himself around his own house.

The city of Gunthar was certainly a miraculous sight. All the roads had been covered in a layer of fresh crushed white stone and every building had been repainted weeks before in preparation of the coming festival. The colours of autumn were all represented here, reds and golds, orange and frosty grey. Lengths of cloth streamers spanned over the streets and even from house to house. Women were busy every where arranging decorations out of the last flowers before winters frost came to claim them, and making new dresses for themselves to wear on the festival days. Lance found that his youngest cousin was right, there were indeed many beautiful women here but none could quite banish the face of another from Lances mind. He wandered after the others, accepting offers of fresh sweet fruit in lieu of kisses. There were many Gnomes about, selling marvellous, in their own words at least, new inventions to anyone that would listen and to those perhaps not quite so familiar to the work of Gnomes so as not to know any better. Lance and the others deftly and wisely avoided them till they came to what they were assured was the finest tavern in town. It was known as the Gilded Horse and they found it nearly filled to capacity but they were not to be put off by that. Taking advantage of their size Jarrin and Aldemere muscled their way through, making a path for Luca and Lance who followed behind them till they reached the bar. They ordered ales and settled to drink amid the bustling crowd when they felt and then saw a tall broad shadow fall across them. They turned to see Magdar, with a heavy brown cloak hiding his uniform and armour standing behind them.

"Well now this is a surprise. What is it that brings you lads to Sanction?"

"We might ask the same of you Magdar" said Lance as he put forward his hand, which Magdar took firmly with a grin.

"I asked you first"

"Adventure Magdar what else?" said Aldemere as he raised his mug of ale to the General.

"Ah adventure I might have known. Adventure is after all the young mans greatest game, yet a worthy one"

"Now to our question. What brings you here Magdar" Magdar`s grin fell and he became serious.

"Business I am afraid. I have been on the trail of a group of smugglers for a few weeks now"

"Alone?"

"I have some men with me but not many"

"A long way from home to come looking for smugglers is it not?" asked Luca.

"Indeed it is but these are a special case" Magdar paused and looked around to make sure no one else was watching before reaching into his cloak and bringing forth a charred bit of cloth. "Look on this" all looked and had to restrain a gasp for all knew the symbol there and it would have caused great panic for anyone else to see. It was the symbol of the five headed dragon.

"Did you find this?" asked Lance.

"No it was brought to me by Thane. He and his men ran into and defeated a band of Pirates off the coast of Nordmarr and found this on one of them. The hold of their ship was filled with steel and other treasures and their log books recorded that they had traded a large number of weapons for those riches. Thankfully they had also recorded where they had done this transaction so I decided to investigate. I tracked the smugglers here and have since lost them. If I do not find them soon they may very well stay lost" now at the end of his story Magdar placed the piece of cloth back in his cloak. Lance looked at Luca and his cousins with a sad and thoughtful look upon his face. He thought that they might have found peace at last, what a fool he was.

"We are willing to assist you in away way that we can Magdar"

"And I accept your help gratefully. But we can talk more of this tomorrow. Enjoy your evening. In the morning you may meet me and my men here" the General nodded to them and returned to his men. Lance tried to follow the Generals advice and enjoy the evening but his thoughts were clouded again and would not allow themselves to be distracted. Luca, Aldemere and Jarrin drank enough to make up for Lances quiet mood and walked home arm in arm, with Lance in the middle, in time for dinner, which proved to brighten Lances mood for a while. Lance cursed himself when he realized that he had forgotten completely about sending the letter to his father.

"I can take it for you on my way home tonight" offered Joan.

"No you don't have to"

"Please?" Lance hesitated a moment then smiled.

"Alright and thank you"

"Not at all it is my pleasure" Joan smiled as she put a shawl around her shoulders and departed from the cottage and walked the road heading down into town.

"I think she likes you Lance" said Aldemere. Lance made no reply and retired early to his room.

The next morning Lance dressed in his finest black shirt and pants and took his good boots out of his pack. To get into the spirit of the festival he tied his long mane of dark hair back with a red satin handkerchief that Joan had brought for him. He retrieved his sword before heading downstairs. He and the others had agreed last night that even though smuggler hunting was nothing to dress well for they should all dress as attendees to the festival would so as not to draw attention to themselves by sticking out of the crowd. Jarrin, Aldemere and Luca were already seated at the breakfast table.

"Morning my brother" said Luca who was dressed all in green and gold with his honey brown hair tied back in a braid.

"Morning Luca. My cousins" while saying this Lance seated himself. Jarrin and Aldemere were dressed similarly in deep purples and crimson, all had their weapons. Breakfast was fried eggs with maple drizzled bacon and warm spiced bread and tea. They ate quickly and were out the door by the time the Lords horns sounded for the beginning of the festival. They made their way through streets filled with people and delicious food. There was a massive open market and a fair with a myriad of performers from all over Krynn. Sadly they had not the time to enjoy themselves this day.

The Gilded Horse was bare save for Magdar and his few men, four in total, all the other guests were attending the festival and likely would not be back till night fall. Magdar rose to greet them and ordered ales before settling to the business at hand.

"My men and I have successfully I think narrowed down where these smugglers might be hiding. Their ship was spotted on the other side of the island in the bay. Now they are either here in town using the festival for cover or they have hidden themselves away in Mt Nevermind"

"Mount Nevermind!" Aldemere groaned. "If that's where they are we'll never find them. That place is a maze never mind the Gnomes. You try asking a Gnome anything and see what happens. At least with a Kender you can eventually shake a tangible answer out of it" Luca hid a smile with his hand. Magdar however smiled openly and nodded.

"I agree. That is why I will be sending my men a head to the Mountain. If they don't find anything within a few hours that might lead us anywhere they will return to town. Meanwhile the rest of us will stay here in town, use the absence of most of the towns people to our advantage and search anywhere that might provide a good hide out. Is everyone with me?" all nodded, "Right" Magdar finished his ale "Lets get to it then" all rose and followed Magdar out. The four Minotaur took the main road out of town and headed for the mountains while Lance and the others followed Magdar. The search of every store house in town took hours and turned up nothing more dangerous than a few marked barrels of ale and wine.

"These smugglers know their business. Placing only the non suspicious items here in town" said Luca."When you think about it it only makes sense that they would"

"They might be in the blasted Mountain after all" said Jarrin.

"I would not me so sure of that yet. There are wear houses near the main port that we have not checked" said Lance.

"Indeed, I agree. To the port" said Magdar. On the way out of town they ran into Magdars men, who had nothing to report except that they were sure the Gnomes had at last gone mad. Leaving that point of discussion for later the Minotaur followed their General and the others down to the main Port. It did not take long for them to realize that Lance had indeed been right and that these smugglers did indeed know their business. Their ship was in another part of the bay, far off and hidden by rock cliffs, where there were primarily fishing boats and no one to bother them. In the main port were the merchant ships and their large paid for wear houses. Some often stood empty depending upon the time of year. It only took a few quick words with the harbour master, and a few steel coins in the mans purse, to find out which ones were supposed to be empty.

"Stick together and we will search one by one. We don't know what we might find so we cannot be too careful" said Magdar, all agreed and followed him to the first wear house with their weapons drawn. Magdar tried the door, expecting to find it locked and surprised when it yielded without a sound to his touch. The general hesitated, the door should have been locked, this could be a trap. He signalled for two of his men to look in through one f the high windows of the wear house. They moved quickly, one boosting the other up to look inside. They returned and the man who had been at the window shook his head, there appeared to be no one inside. All the same Magdar was taking no chances. Using the same technique he sent two of his men in through the windows before leading the others inside. The wear house was full of boxes but once again it was all either ale, wine or, and this was new, food.

"What is going on here?" asked one of Magdars men as he kicked over a box labelled Pickling Spice.

"I don't know but our search is not over. Move out, we search the others" once more they all followed Magdar. There were three other wear houses and they were not next to each other, a clever tactic. However each one they searched was the same, nothing but produce, ale and wine. Now Magdar was angry. What in the name of the Gods was going on? Had they been played for fools?

"Magdar!" called Lance, motioning for the General to come over and look at a particularly large box. A black puddle lay around one corner of the wooden box and it was slowly getting larger as Magdar watched. The large Minotaur knelt down and touched the puddle with two fingers. The black substance was thick and sticky. He sniffed.

"Pitch?"

"Oh wonderful, what next? That could be for re slating someones roof in town" said Aldemere.

"Not with these they're not" this came from Jarrin as he had torn the lid off of another crate that had been labelled Timber. Inside the crate were curved short swords. One of Magdars men sniffed.

"Hardly enough for a regiment"

"Something isn't right" said Luca.

"I agree brother...and I think that I might have an idea as to what is happening"

"Please do share it" said Magdar.

"They must have known you were following them Magdar so they placed all of their non suspicious cargo ashore to throw you off"

"How do you explain this then cousin?" asked Jarrin, picking up one of the swords.

"Anyone can make a mistake and what were the chances that we would find it? I have a feeling Magdar that all the other weapons and whatever else they might have is still on their ship in the bay"

"It is a sound explanation so I'll take it but there is only one way to find out if your right and I don't want to risk the lives of my men going in blind"

"I will go then. Out of everyone here I think I am the only one that can say I can move without making a sound, relatively. I can sneak aboard, look around, then come back and report to you what I find" said Luca. Lance regarded his brother for a long moment, and it seemed he might protest, but then he looked away, it was their only option. Magdar was quiet for a while then he too conceded it was the best and only option that they had.

"Very well Luca. While the festival day is still young I am sure that the smugglers will be in the town. You will have till night fall to get the information to us"

"I will be back long before then General" Luca smiled. Magdar smiled back, briefly.

"Meanwhile the rest of you will return with me to town. We will wait for you at the Gilded Horse Good luck" Magdar held out his hand and Luca took it. Lance placed a hand upon his blood brothers shoulder and squeezed firmly. They all left the wear house together but while Lance and the rest headed back into town Luca branched off and headed for the bay near Mt. Nevermind.

As had been reported the smugglers ship was anchored in the large rocky bay in the shadow of Mt. Nevermind. The only other vessels to be seen were fishing boats and these were on shore, firmly battened down to withstand the crash of the rising and falling tides. There were also a few small well kept shacks here, they were likely not permanent dwellings as they were so small. The fishermen probably only used them during the best part of the fishing season and lived in town for the rest. Though the place was abandoned Luca hid amongst the rocks as he made his way closer to the ship. The ship it self was not much at all to look at, and that was to its advantage since they of course would not have wanted to draw attention to themselves. It was also rather small and so it was probably light and could move swiftly through the water, also to their advantage.

After regarding the ship for a good few minuets Luca confirmed that there was indeed no one aboard. He came out of the cover of the rocks and walked up the wooden gangway then down though the hatch in the middle of the main deck which led down to the cargo hold. It was black as pitch but Luca needed no light to make out his surroundings, his elven sight served him well. There were stacks of crates here, the same as he and the others had found with Magdar`s men in the wear houses. He was about to leave without giving the crates a second glance when a flash of steel caught his eye. One of the longer crates had been opened, as if someone had wished to inspect its contents, and inside were a good hundred short swords of good craftsmanship. There were many other long crates just like this one and Luca did not need to wonder what they held anymore, there could be no doubt. With not another moment to waste Luca made his way back the way he had come and swiftly made his way back toward town.

It was past the lunch hour by the time Luca reached the Gilded Horse. Magdar had ordered a meal of stew and bread for all and offered Luca a bowl when he reached their table, the young elf took it readily.

"Did you find anything?" asked Magdar.

"It is as Lance thought General. There are enough weapons aboard that ship to equip a small army and then some"

"In that case we cannot allow them to slip away from us again. We will need to take them tonight"

"But we do not have the numbers that they do. Even if they are smugglers they will have had to fight at some point and they could over power us" said Lance.

"We will go to the Lord of the city and ask him for aid"

"It is the time of the festival, will he listen?"

"We will make him listen" Magdar finished off his stew and waited for the others to do the same, his inpatients showing in his eyes if not in his manner. The pot of stew was soon gone and Magdar led them on again in search of the current Lord Gunthar.

They found the Lord in a grand tent near to the tournament grounds. The contest it self had not yet begun, he was here only to oversee the final preparations. At first he was terribly alarmed to hear that a group of Minotaur were coming in search of him but once he recognized Magdar he relaxed and welcomed them.

"Ah General Welcome. How can I be of service?" Magdar carefully related the entirety of what had happened, including what had first brought he and his men here and what Luca had told them of what he had found. The Lord listened quietly and attentively. At the end he said,

"And you must take them tonight?"

"Yes Lord Gunthar. If we wait any longer it may be too late and we cannot allow them to get away. We already know that they are on to us and know that we are here" the Lord was quiet again for a few moments.

"Very well I will give you a group of my finest knights but I beg you to keep this as quiet as possible. I do not wish for the festival to be disrupted or the people panicked"

"We understand Lord Gunthar and we thank you. My men and I will wait for the knights at the Gilded Horse. As soon as night falls we must make our move"

"They will be there I swear upon my honour" Magdar held out his hand and the Lord took it, shaking firmly. Magdar then saluted and led everyone out again.

"Now we wait. I suggest you lads get what rest that you can and eat well. You will need it" this Magdar addressed to Lance, the brothers and Luca who nodded their agreement and made their way back to the cottage.

"So much for enjoying ourselves" grumbled Aldemere.

"Once tonight is over with we might salvage this trip yet Aldemere so don't write it off just yet" said Luca.

"I certainly hope so" Lance was the first to go to his bed. He changed out of his festival clothes before laying down. He, like Aldemere, also hoped that they could enjoy the rest of the festival after this was over though that might not be possible. He sighed and closed his eyes for what seemed like only moments before he was roused from his sleep by Luca.

"Dinner is ready brother. We must eat and then we must go, it is nearly time" Lance nodded in reply and sat up as Luca left the room. Lance changed into his leather armour and his dark cloak before joining the others for dinner. Dinner was spiced pork with potatoes and carrots. Lance ate without much appetite, the food, though in fact as delicious as everything else David had prepared for them, seemed tasteless. Once everyone had eaten their fill they headed out again, supposedly to enjoy more of the festival, only the four of them knew the truth.

They arrived at the Gilded Horse to find that Lord Gunthar was true to his word. Six knights of the Sword had joined Magdars men and with the four of them added to the group they figured they would almost make even numbers with the smugglers. Once introduced to the knights Magdar went over the plan of attack.

"They should be back at their ship by now, they will be making ready to sail if they are. My men and three of the knights will attack them directly from the front and board their ship. Lance you and yours, along with the other three knights, will need to sneak around the ship and come up behind them. Once we have them in the pincer they should fall easily to capture. Any objections?" no one said a word. Magdar nodded. "Then lets go"

"Alright get ready" said Lance as he lifted one of the two grappling hooks that Magdar had left with them, Jarrin had the other. They had borrowed one of the fishing boats that had been left on the shore and rowed it out to the aft side of the smugglers ship. As Magdar had predicted the smugglers were making ready to sail. There were lights above and below decks to aid the crew in their work. Waggons could be seen coming back into the bay, they were bringing back the cargo they had stowed in the main port, it was on one of these that Magdar and his men would use to get aboard the ship. Lances hands began to sweat as they waited and the fishing boat rocked, banging softly against the larger vessel. At last they heard the sounds of combat break out above them.

"Now!" Lance and Jarrin tossed their hooks, both caught and with the knights help they climbed up onto the deck and joined the fray. It took mere moments for the smugglers to be subdued, their captain had called for his men to cast down their arms. The knights took custody of the Captain and his crew, escorting them quietly to the prison. Magdar and his men set to guard the ship for the remainder of the night leaving Lance and the others with nothing to do but to return to the cottage.

In the morning more knights arrived in the bay to assist the Minotaurs in unloading the cargo which, it was decided would be stored in the Lords own castle, what would become of it would be decided later. With their work done Magdar and his men bought passage on a ship that would take them back to Taladas so they could make a report.

"We wish that you could stay Magdar" said Lance as they all stood on the dock to see the Minotaurs off.

"Indeed there are two more days left to the festival. Surely your report can wait" said Aldemere.

"I am afraid it cannot. What we have found is very serious and must be dealt with"

"I agree. Gods speed to you General" said Luca, offering his hand which Magdar took with a smile.

"Please come by Solace when you can. My father would be happy to see you" said Lance, also offering his hand.

"I shall, farewell" Magdar raised a hand to them all in good bye before joining his men on the ship. Lance and the others watched the ship set off and then watched it till it was lost around the bulk of Mt. Nevermind.

The remainder of the festival was filled with good food and ale. There was the tournament to watch, carnival performers and troupes of dancing girls. In spite of what had happened Lance found that he did indeed enjoy himself. His cousins and Luca helped him to let go and enjoy all that there was to see and take part in. In the end the festival proved to be still a wonderfully enjoyable experience as Luca had said it would be. But as the final day of the festival came to a close they all agreed that it was time, after what they had seen aboard the smugglers ship, to head home. Something was coming and they would need to be prepared when it happened and that included ensuring the safety of those they loved. There were plans to be made to repel a new darkness.