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FROM THE SHADOWS
The ground shaking beneath his bed awakened High Captain Kurth one diss and realized he wasn&039;t drea, the for off the side of his bed to his feet while in the sa his sword belt fro it around his waist
"You will not need that," cae, circular roohest chamber in Kurth Tower As his dreanized the voice as one that had visited hih captain gnashed his teeth and considered spinning and throwing one of the ers set in his sword belt
This is no eneh without much conviction, for he wasn&039;t certain who the mysterious visitor really was
"The western ," the voice said "It has begun"
Kurth moved to thatand pulled open the heavy drapes, flooding the rooht He looked in the direction frolie of his chaht and reic, Kurth was certain, and potent ical intrusion by Arkleain!
Kurth turned back to the west, to the slowly brightening ocean
A dozen boulders and balls of pitch drew fiery lines in the air, flying fast for the Hosttower, or for various parts of the rocky shore of Cutlass Island
"See?" asked the voice "It is as I have assured you"
"Rethnor&039;s son is a fool"
"A fool ill prevail," the voice replied
It was hard to argue that possibility, given the line of ships throwing their missiles at Cutlass Island Their as meticulous They threw in unison and with concentrated aiht have been a couple roup of wide, low boats ferried along the line then back to Whitesails Harbor to get more ammunition
Whitesails Harbor!
The reality hit Kurth hard Whitesails served as the harbor for Luskan&039;s navy, a flotilla under the auspices, supposedly, of the five high captains as directed by the Hosttower The ships at Whitesails were the pretty front to the ugly piracy behind Luskan&039;s riches Deudermont knew those pirates, and they knew him, and many of them hated him and had lost friends to Sea Sprite&039;s exploits on the open seas
Despite that, the nagging thought - reinforced as more and more masts lined up beside Sea Sprite and Braht well desert As improbable as it seemed, he couldn&039;t deny what he saith his own eyes Luskan&039;s fleet, and the men and wo the bombardment of the Hosttower of the Arcane The ainst Arklem Greeth
"The fool with his undead," Kurth muttered
Arklem Greeth had pushed too hard, too wickedly He had crossed a line and had driven the whole of the city against hiaze to the northwest, to Whitesails Harbor, and though he couldn&039;t make out much fro ined Mirabarran dwarves andhard to load the courier ships with rocks and pitch
Full of anxiety, Kurth turned angrily at the hidden visitor "What do you de reply, in a tone that see! Iwe, are not here to dee and ainst which that ill break Nothing more"
Kurth scoffed at the obvious understatement "So, what do you see? And do you truly understand the strength of those rocks to which you so poetically refer? Do you grasp the power of Arklereater allies Captain Deuderainst the Hosttower"
"And what do you see in that?" Kurth demanded
"Opportunity"
"For that wretch Deudermont"
A chuckle ca of the forces he will unwittingly unleash He knows good and evil, but nothing ray Captain Deuderhts in short order His absolutes will rally the masses of Luskan, then will send theed, unconvinced, and fearful of the reputation and power of Captain Deudermont He suspected that those mysterious outside forces, that hidden character who had visited hily, but never coood captain and the loyalty of those ould follow him
"I see the rule of law, heavy and cumbersome," he said
"We see the opposite," said the voice "We see five men of Luskan ill collect the spoils set free when the Hosttower falls We see only two of those five who are wise enough to separate the copper froold"
Kurth paused and considered that for a while "A speech you give to Taerl, Suljack, and Barath
"Nay We have visited none of them, and come to you only because the son of Rethnor, and Rethnor himself, insist that you are the most worthy"
"I&039;m flattered, truly," Kurth said dryly He did well to hide his sled hiuest ht indeed be a spy from the Hosttower, even Arkleh captains in difficult tithened the uard Island a decade before What wizard would be powerful enough to circue arcane, but the arche arcane himself? What wizard in Luskan could claim the power of Arklem Greeth? None ere not in the Hosttower, as far as Kurth kneould even be close, other than that Robillard beast who sailed with Deuderuest was Robillard, that raised the banner of duplicity even higher
"You will be flattered," the voice responded, "when you come to understand the sincerity behind the claim Rethnor and Kensidan will shoard respect to all of their peers - "
"It&039;s Rethnor&039;s Ship alone, unless and until he for to that annoying Crow as one whose word is of any import"
"Spare us both your quaint custoerous delusion for you Kensidan&039;s hand is in every twist of that which you see before you: the Mirabarrans, the Waterdhavians, Deudermont himself, and the defection of a quarter of Arklem Greeth&039;s forces"
"You openly ad that he could ar on Ship Rethnor for such a reality
"You needed to hear it to know it?"
Kurth narrowed his eyes as he stared into the darkness The rest of the rooht touched that far corner - or ever would unless his guest willed it to be so
"Arklem Greeth&039;s rule is doomed, this day," the voice said "Five men will profit h and strong enough to recognize it Is one of those two too stubborn and set in his ways to grasp the chest of jewels?"
"You ask me for a declaration of loyalty," Kurth replied "You ask iance to Arkle of you I help to explain to you that which is occurring outside your , and show you paths I think wise You walk those paths or you do not of your own volition"
"Kensidan sent you here," Kurth accused
A telling pause ensued before the voice answered, "He didn&039;t, directly It&039;s his respect for you that guided us here, for we see the possible futures of Luskan and would prefer that the high captains, above all, above Deudermont and above Arklem Greeth, prevailed"
Just as Kurth started to respond, the door to his roouards rushed in
"The Hosttower is under boathers at our eastern bridge, delanced to the shadows - to where the shadows had been, for they were gone, coht have been
Arabeth and Robillard walked along Sea Sprite&039;s rail before the line of archers, waggling their fingers and casting devious, countering enchantments on the piles of arrows at each bowman&039;s feet
The ship lurched as her aft catapult let fly a large ball of pitch It streaked through the air, unerringly for the Hosttower&039;s western lines of fire that lit up bushes and already scorched grass at the base of the hty structure
But the tower itself had repelled the strike with no apparent ill effects
"The arche arcane defends it well," Arabeth remarked
"Each hit takes from his defenses, and from him," Robillard replied He bent low and touched another pile of arrows Their silvery tips glowed for just a ain "Even the sest warrior&039;s shield if they tap it enough"
Arabeth looked to the Hosttower and laughed aloud, and Robillard followed her gaze The ground all around the five-limbed structure was thick with boulders, ballista bolts, and s pitch Sea Sprite and her coainst Cutlass Island throughout the , and at Robillard&039;s direction, all of their firepower had been directed at the Hosttower itself
"Do you think they will respond?" Arabeth asked
"You know Greeth as well as I do," Robillard answered He finished with the last batch of arroaited for Arabeth to do likewise, then led her back to his usual perch behind the row annoyed and will order his defenders along the shore to lash out"
"Then ill h," Robillard replied
"Every one of theuarded by spells to counter a dozen arrows," said the woman of Mirabar
"Then every one will be hit by thirteen," caain as a rock flew out, along with ten others fro in at the Hosttoith such precision and ti that a pair collided before they reached their round around the place, or sainst the Hosttower&039;s sides, to be repelled by its defensive ic
Robillard looked to the north where one of Bra currents of the Mirar
"Sails!" Robillard cried, and Sea Sprite&039;s crew flipped the lines, unfurling fast
From the rocks of the northwestern tip of Cutlass Island, a pair of lightning bolts reached out at Bra one of her sails With the strong and favorable current, though, the ship was able to immediately reverse direction
Even as Sea Sprite leaned and splashed to life, Robillard and Arabeth filled her sails with sudden and powerful winds They didn&039;t even take the time to pull up the anchor, but just cut the line, and Sea Sprite turned straight in, bucking the currents with such jolting force that all aboard had to grab on and hold tight
Arklem Greeth&039;s wizards focused on Bra, as Robillard had hoped, and by the tie of Sea Sprite, she was close enough so that those on her deck could see the s for whatever cover they could find
Fro bolt streaked out at Sea Sprite, but she was too arded to be slowed by the single strike Her front ballista swiveled and threw a heavy spear at the point froan her broadside turn, her prow bending to straight north in a run up the coast, the crack catapult crew on her aft deck had another ball of pitch flying away It splattered a the rocks and several ulfed in fla
And those weren&039;t even the pri to hide as a bank of archers the length of Sea Sprite&039;s main deck and three deep lifted and bent their bows
Three separate volleys went in, enchanted arrows all, skipping off the stones or striking against the defensive ic shields Greeth&039;s minions had raised
But as Robillard had predicted, more arrows found their way than could be defeated by the enchantments, and another Hosttoizard fell dead on the stones
Lightning bolts and arrows reached out at Sea Sprite from the rocky coastline Boulders and balls of pitch flew out froe of arrows as Sea Sprite veered due west and sped aith the fast current
Robillard nodded his approval
"One dead, perhaps, or perhaps two," said Arabeth "It&039;s difficult work"
"Another one Arklem Greeth cannot afford to lose," Robillard replied
"Our tricks will catch fewer and fewer Arklem Greeth will teach his forces to adapt"
"Then ill not let hi tricks," Robillard said, and nodded his chin toward the line of ships, all of ere pulling up anchor One by one, they began to glide to the south
"Sea Tower," Robillard explained, referring to the strong guard tower on southern Cutlass Island "It would cost Arkley to have it as fortified as the Hosttower, so we&039;ll bombard it to rubble, and destroy every other defensible position along the southern coast of the island"
"There are few places to land even a small boat in those rocky waters," Arabeth replied "Sea Toas built so that defenders could assault any ships atte to enter the southern mouth of the Mirar, and not as a defense for Cutlass Island"
Robillard&039;s deadpan expression quieted her, for of course he knew all of that "We&039;re tightening the noose," he explained "I expect that those inside the Hosttower are growing es e must bite out the heart of the place," Arabeth protested
"Patience," said Robillard "Our final fight with the lich will be brutal - no one doubts that Hundreds will likely die, but hundreds more will surely perish if we attack before we prepare the battlefield The people of Luskan are on our side We own the streets We have Harbor Ar Island fully under our control Whitesails Harbor sides with us Captain&039;s Court is ours, and Illusk has been rendered quiescent once again The Mirar bridges are ours"
"Those that remain," said Arabeth, to which Robillard chuckled
"Arklem Greeth hasn&039;t a safehouse left in the city, or if he does, his htfully so! - in fear And e have bombed Sea Tower to rubble, and have chased off or killed all of his minions he placed in the southern reaches of Cutlass, Arklem Greeth will need to look south, on his own shores, as well Unrelenting bo pressure, and keep clear in your mind that if we lose ten men - nay, fifty! - for every Arcane Brotherhood wizard we slay, Captain Deudermont will claim victory in a rout"