Sea of Death: Blade of the Flame - Book 3 Read Online Free PDF

sometimes.
    Ghaji’s jaws muscles tensed, and Diran knew his friend was fighting to keep from becoming defensive.
    “I’m sure Ghaji didn’t mean to make light of your loss,” Diran said.
    Yvka smiled and reached out to pat Ghaji’s hand. “I know. It’s just that the
Zephyr
doesn’t belong to me. It’s a loan from my associates.”
    The elf-woman had never directly admitted to any of them—not even Ghaji—that she worked for the Shadow Network, had in fact never acknowledged that the secret organization of spies and assassins even existed. But it was an open secret among the companions, though they avoided speaking of it out of respect for their friend.
    The crew hauled another net full of fish out of the water and dumped the catch onto the deck. The fish, still alive and flopping, were mostly cod, Diran noted, and good-sized ones at that, each nearly the length of a man’s arm. The fish would bring in good money once the crew put in to Kolbyr, Diran thought, and he found himself thinking of the path his life might have taken if his parents hadn’t been killed, if he’d grown to adulthood fishing the waters of the Lhazaar. Certainly it would have been a simpler path than the one he now trod—he glanced at his companions and smiled—but a far less rewarding one.
    Several of the crystals on Solus’s forehead began to glow, and though the psiforged didn’t possess the physiognomy to frown, the tone of his voice conveyed his concern.
    “Something is wrong.”
    Before Diran could ask Solus to clarify, a chorus of shrill cries cut through the air, and a white mass descended upon
Welby’s Pride
. The gulls, excited by the cod flopping on the deck, had abandoned making individual sorties to snatch fish in favor of a group assault. The crew yelled and cursed, flailed their arms, punched, kicked, even drew knives and struck out at the birds. But instead of frightening off the gulls, the crew’s actions only served to further embolden the raucous scavengers. At first it proved to be an almost comical sight: grown men and women, toughened sea-hands all, battling birds that were little more than flying feathered rats for possession of a pile of flopping codfish. But then the gulls became more aggressive, forgetting the cod and turning their attention toward the crew. The birds pecked at every hand that came near them, flew past heads anddug their beaks into scalps. At first the crew merely yelped and swore, the injuries inflicted by the gulls little more than annoyances. But then the birds began to strike harder, sharp beaks drawing blood, and the crew’s shouts of anger became cries of pain.
    At first the gulls ignored Diran and his companions, presumably because none of them were standing near the fish, but that didn’t last long. A single gull broke away from the flock and came flapping toward them, beady black eyes glittering with almost human hatred. The bird made straight for Asenka, clearly aiming for the woman’s eyes, but before it could reach her, the commander of the Sea Scorpions drew her long sword, swung, and the gull’s body fell to one portion of the deck while its head landed on another.
    More gulls broke off their assault on the crew and came flying at the companions, harsh cries full of rage, as if they intended to avenge their flock-mate’s death. Without a word, Diran and the others turned around, remaining in a circle but facing outward to meet the gulls’ attack. Ghaji activated his elemental axe, and mystic fire burst forth from the metal. The half-orc warrior swung the enchanted weapon in wide, sweeping arcs, flames trailing from the axe head as he cut down one bird after another. Asenka continued striking out with her long sword, while Hinto did the same with his long knife. Yvka reached into the leather pouch that hung from her belt and withdrew a slender steel spike upon which three white acorns had been skewered. With a graceful flick of her wrist, she flipped the object—a product