Вилорп

→Dandelion looks surprised.

→"No doubt. I have a lot to put up with. Dandelion, can you lend me any money?"

→"You look as miserable as a Niojan whore," she says.

→I trudge into the Avenging Axe with a mighty scowl on my face. Ignoring various friendly greetings from some of the regular customers, I march up to the bar and tell Dandelion to pour me a Happy Guildsman and be quick about it. Remembering that I'm about to ask her for money, I say thank you when she lays it on the counter. Makri emerges from the back room with a case of klee, replenishing the stocks behind the bar.

→I'm no closer to raising the required funds for the card game. No Ocean Storm and no sign of the buried gold. Unless I get some sudden inspiration as to what Captain Maxius meant by "under the whale," the treasure is going to remain undisturbed. The thought of not having enough money to play cards fills me with gloom. Might there be anyone else in the Avenging Axe who could lend me something? Dandelion for instance. She gets paid every week and what does she have to spend money on? As far as anyone knows, the only thing she ever does is go down to the coast and talk to the dolphins. She might have a few gurans laid by somewhere.

→There's a cold mist rolling in off the sea which doesn't improve my mood. Nor does the thought that my office is currently infested with sick people. How long is Lisutaris going to loll around in my bed? It seems like time she was getting better. As for Hanama, the woman is meant to be a deadly Assassin. You might think she'd be healthy enough to just shake off an attack of the malady rather than collapse in my office and refuse to budge. I decide to ask Gurd if he can do something about clearing a store room. Maybe I could just throw Hanama in the cellar till she recovers, and to hell with what Chiaraxi says. I've had enough of that healer ordering me around.

→In the street below I call into the first tavern, buy a beer and down it in one gulp, then set off towards the Avenging Axe. Three people have now died because of the Ocean Storm. Every time I get close someone beats me to it. I wonder who else might be on the trail. I wonder about the oddly shaped wound in Borinbax's chest.

→Chapter Ten

→I creep further along the hall, examining each of his rooms. They're all neat and they're all empty. I go back to the body and turn it over carefully. There's an ugly wound in his chest. I stare at it for a few moments. Doesn't quite look like a stab wound. I try sensing the air for sorcery. I can't pick up anything. I take a further look around but I'm not expecting to find anything, and I don't. The Ocean Storm has eluded me again.

→The hallway is neat and clean. Fresh plaster on the walls and a small religious icon with a picture of St. Quatinius, picked out in gold. There's a rug on the floor, another good item, Abelasian wool, better quality than you'd find in most places in Twelve Seas. Borinbax must be doing well for himself. Or was doing well for himself, I should say, because he's lying face down in the hallway, dead, and no longer enjoying his furnishings.

→It's freshly painted, probably a sign that he isn't doing too badly for himself. The door swings open easily. Odd. No self-respecting thief leaves his front door open. I draw my sword and advance carefully into the hallway. It's dark, with no torch lit, so I take out my illuminated staff and speak the word to make it work. The hall lights up with a golden glow. My illuminated staff is a fine piece of craftsmanship. I won it from an Elf lord playing niarit. He was a fool to play me. I'm number one chariot at niarit.

→Borinbax's front door is painted white. Most front doors in Turai are. It's the lucky colour for front doors.

→There's a door beside the sailmaker's shop and a staircase leading up to Borinbax's rooms. The door isn't locked and I climb the stairs carefully. Whoever's taken the Ocean Storm hasn't hesitated to kill, and I keep my hand on my sword pommel as I make the ascent. I've got a sleep spell ready to knock out anyone who gets in my way. It's a small piece of sorcery but it's often helped me out of a jam.

→There are various taverns dotted around the docks. I wonder if any of them might once have been called the Whale. It's a possibility. I'll check it out later. I abandon the hunt and turn my mind back to Borinbax.

→Before calling on Borinbax, I look around for a whale, or something which might resemble one. I don't see anything. I wasn't expecting to. I've lived close to the harbour most of my life and I've never heard of anything called the whale. But Tanrose's mother definitely recalled that her father said the gold was buried under the whale. After some fruitless tramping of the streets I start to wonder if perhaps she's losing her mind. Always a possibility, after a long life in Twelve Seas.

→Borinbax rents some rooms above a sailmaker's shop close to the docks. By the time I get there the sky is dark grey and the rain is coming down heavily. The water in the harbour is choppy. Out beyond the harbour walls the sea is cutting up quite roughly. If there are any Orcish ships out there they might be in for an uncomfortable time. Perhaps Prince Amrag and his whole army will drown. That would save us a lot of trouble.

→I hand over another coin. By now the rain has started to fall more heavily. The beggar shivers, and looks uncomfortable. The front door of the church opens. I glance up. It's Derlex, the pontifex. He glares at me. I depart swiftly.

→I've heard of Borinbax. He works for the Brotherhood, which is enough reason for Nerinax not to want anyone to know he saw him. Borinbax is a thief by trade. Not famous for his exploits, but busy enough. Mainly works around the harbour warehouses but has been known to rob wagons coming into the city. He could be the sort of man to steal the Ocean Storm, though I never heard that he was a killer. If he does have it, it might be in the hands of the Brotherhood by now, which will make it very awkward to retrieve.

→"Borinbax," he says, quite nervously.

→He glances round nervously again. Fearing he's about to clam up, I take out another coin.