The Wizard's Chalice, page 7
part #2 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
“Let me give you a spell for seasickness,” Gags said to Pepper.
“I don’t want a spell,” Pepper said.
Gags sighed. “I’m not going to be cleaning up after you all the way to Veilport.”
Pepper grumbled, but let Gags give him the same spell he had learned on his own voyages.
“That didn’t hurt,” Pepper said.
“It wasn’t supposed to,” Gags said.
“Let’s turn in early. The sooner we are in Veilport, the better.” Pepper tossed his bags on the floor and jumped in the upper berth.
The little man was snoring before Gags got settled. Gags smiled in the darkness. As long as Mexius was still alive, Gags perceived the trip as a glorious adventure to a new land.
Chapter Seven
~
Pepper
~
T he ship rolled on upset seas just as Pepper’s stomach rolled in seemingly opposite directions at the same time. Gags’s spell might be helping, but it wasn’t curing his seasickness. He stood at the rail looking out at the gray sky and the gray sea while Gags practiced swinging that iron staff of his, smiling away as he jumped up and crashed on the deck much to the delight of the sailors looking on.
Pepper blinked as another wave of nausea hit him and he turned back to the sea. Someone touched his neck.
“That should be better,” a woman’s voice said behind him.
Pepper turned quickly, and surprisingly the petite woman was right.
“My partner tried to give me a seasick spell, but it didn’t work,” he said looking into the dark eyes of a woman wrapped in silks. “He’s the one with the staff.”
The woman smiled and nodded. “I know. Vingus Gags. Isn’t that his name?”
“And I am Tibbeus Pepper, but he’s called Gags and I’m called Pepper.”
She giggled in a mature way, thought Pepper. “Then, Pepper it is. I am Patricia Garish from Basheer.”
“That is where we are supposed to go after landing at Veilport,” Pepper said.
“I know. You go to meet my uncle, Honian Garish,” she said. “I had business in Artport.” She looked at the gray skies and frowned. “It will rain soon. I suggest you go below decks. The sky doesn’t look friendly.”
Pepper gazed up at the clouds couldn’t detect any kind of emotion. “How did you know our names?”
“I go back and forth four or five times a year. I was to surprise Mexius Dapple, but he didn’t make our departure.”
“That’s because he was kidnapped. We are going to Veilport with the ransom.”
Patricia furrowed her brows. “That doesn’t sound right. Why go to the expense of taking a captive across the Maritime Gap?”
“We don’t know either,” Pepper said, “but our client, Portia Dapple, instructed us to make the journey.”
Patricia nodded and smiled. “Perhaps we can meet again under less pressing circumstances during our voyage”
Pepper felt a splat on the back of his head and then another.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to follow my own advice,” Patricia Garish said, running for the door to the cabins.
Pepper stood getting pelted by raindrops watching her until Gags tugged on his sleeve. “Time to go in before you get too wet and smelly,” Gags said.
They sought refuge in their cabin. Pepper slid the shade aside that covered the tiny porthole seeing raindrops pelt the thick glass and past that the vague colors of the ocean and the leaden sky.
“Who was the girl?” Gags asked, toweling off his wet hair and face.
Pepper smelled Gags’s sweat and guessed he wasn’t much less aromatic. “Her name is Patricia Garish. She says her uncle is Mexius’s contact in Caless. I remember Portia telling us the name was Honian Garish. She knew your name, my name, and mentioned that Mexius missed the ship. She was going to surprise him.”
“Maybe she is for real,” Gags said. “Although, she might be working for the kidnappers, if there are kidnappers.”
“You still think the kidnapping is a fake?” Pepper asked.
Gags nodded. “Anything is a possibility until we know more. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“That is what Patricia said when I said we were traveling to Veilport to pay Mexius’s ransom.”
Gags rubbed his chin. “Do you object to me talking to her?”
Pepper laughed at the ridiculous question. “Why would I object?”
Gags frown and raised his eyebrows. “She is pretty, young, and exotic. She approached you, not me.”
“Not while you were swinging a deadly weapon for all to see,” Pepper said. “She knows a better seasick spell. I was cured instantly.”
Gags burst into laughter. “I didn’t use a spell! It was what Lucian would call the power of suggestion.”
Pepper felt a little used by his partner, and it wasn’t the first time. “Hers is real and it worked. I couldn’t tell if she had the body of a magician or not through all those layers of silk.”
Gags continued to smile. “I know a spell, but I suspect it isn’t a good one. Magic is like that. A spell that works splendidly for someone may be impossible to master by an another otherwise competent magician. You should talk to her some more.” Gags yawned. “I think I’ll take a nap after my workout. You don’t need me to explore the ship.”
Pepper heard Gags snoring below him and slipped out of the cabin. Gags was right, Pepper would be encumbered by Gags poking about on the decks of a ship, Pepper thought. He climbed up to the upper deck where there were four exclusive cabins. Mexius was to stay in number three. Pepper put his ear to the thin cabin door and didn’t hear anything, so he defeated the simple lock and stepped inside. The cabin was unoccupied.
He looked out one of the large portholes and could see bands of rain in the distance. Pepper guessed the skies were continuing their anger. There wasn’t much to explore, but someone jiggled the door. Pepper found a tiny space between a built-in cabinet at the inside wall and slipped inside.
Patricia Garish struggled with getting herself and her bags through the door. Pepper exited his hiding place and asked, “Can I help you with that?”
The Calessian girl jumped. “Oh! What are you doing here?”
“Looking for Mexius,” Pepper said. “And you?”
She smiled at him. “I asked the captain if I could take this room if I paid a little extra.”
“A bribe?” Pepper asked.
Patricia grinned as she shrugged. “That is the way in our part of Caless,” she said. “This may be a Perian ship, but the captain is Calessian. Did you find anything interesting?”
Pepper shook his head. “Not a thing,” he said. “I just had time to look through the porthole at the angry clouds. They are, indeed, unfriendly.”
Patricia giggled. “And you aren’t, at all,” she said.
“Sometimes, I am,” Pepper said conspiratorially.
“Me, too,” Patricia said as Pepper directed her out into the hallway in order to get her bags inside the doorway. When he was finished, she stepped inside. “Shall we look for clues?”
“We can, but I don’t think Mexius was ever aboard the ship.”
Patricia frowned. “Should I be disappointed?”
“That is up to you. Hopefully, there will be clues in Veilport,” Pepper said. “You can accompany us as we look for Mexius and his kidnappers.”
“You won’t mind?” Patricia asked.
“Don’t you have duties to perform? Goods to offload and that kind of stuff?” Pepper asked.
“I do, but you can wait for me. I can help you around Veilport for a few days before I have to proceed to Basheer to see my uncle. He might even be waiting for me when the ship docks.”
“Do you think he will know what happened to Mexius?” Pepper asked.
Patricia frowned. “It’s possible, especially if Mexius didn’t really get kidnapped. Uncle Honian might have even helped him leave Artport.”
“How many ships go between Artport and Veilport?” Pepper asked.
“Two or three a day. This ship is a good value, that is why I’m on it, and why Mexius booked his passage with the owner.”
“Do you know the owner?” Pepper asked.
Patricia grinned and leaned toward him and whispered. “A criminal syndicate owns the ship.”
“Nomian Curiosities?”
The girl looked shocked. “I’m surprised you know of them. I thought you and your partner are new to Artport.”
“We had a few interesting experiences the few days we were there.” Pepper now guessed that Mexius might have gotten in trouble with Seppius Darkman and had to leave Artport on the next available ship that wasn’t owned by Seppius’s organization.
He looked at the bags at his feet and then at Patricia. “I’ll let you unpack,” he said. “It might not be proper for a young man to intrude in a young woman’s new cabin.”
Patricia sighed. “It isn’t, but I’m not that formal.” She gave Pepper a warm smile, but Pepper felt awkward. “I’ll see you around,” he said as he gave her a bow and left the cabin.
Gags continued to snore away when Pepper entered the cabin. Pepper nudged Gags who almost made the mistake of sitting all the way up. He was too tall to fit upright in the space.
“It must be important,” Gags said.
Pepper told him about his encounter with Patricia.
“She didn’t know about Terrius Dapple’s murder?” Gags asked.
Pepper shrugged. “I don’t know what she doesn’t know, but perhaps Seppius Darkman’s appearance in her story and in ours closes a loop. Mexius got into trouble with Seppius’s syndicate, and he had to leave Artport quickly. He fakes the kidnapping and takes the quickest ship to Caless.”
“And Patricia didn’t know about the statues or Terrius Dapple’s death,” Gags said.
“But why would Mexius point us toward Veilport?”
“Maybe he is stupid,” Gags said. “How else can he get us to follow him?”
“And we carry a hefty ransom from Portia.”
Gags nodded. “If Mexius is on the run, he will need funds. I doubt Portia would give him so much money if he was going to leave her.”
“Another clue to a faked abduction?” Pepper said. “We are going to play along with everybody?”
Gags sighed. “I don’t have a better idea. Do you? Does the lovely Patricia?”
Pepper snorted. “Patricia is a mystery to me, a pleasant mystery, but still a mystery. She might like me or she might be faking liking me. She wanted me to stay in the cabin and talk.” Pepper couldn’t help grinning at the prospect of talking to a pretty girl. “But something told me that it was more important to talk to you.”
“And you got an attack of shyness. Right?” Gags said. “I would have.”
Pepper felt a little put upon. “I’m bold when I need to be,” he said.
“That makes two of us,” Gags said. “Miria was easy to talk to when she relaxed and there was something special there.” Gags sighed.
“That is why you aren’t interested in Patricia, then?”
Gags smiled a bit wistfully. “That may be.”
~
The captain invited the voyagers to dine in his cabin once the storm blew out the next day. The evening sun shone through the stern windows, brightening up the crystal glasses and decanters on the table. The captain had a table set for fourteen when Pepper and Gags arrived. Eleven passengers showed up plus the captain and two of the ship’s officers.
“We picked up a day’s voyage during the storm,” the captain said, obviously in a good mood. “The weather may hold all the way to Veilport.”
He had everyone introduce themselves.
Patricia introduced herself as a principal in her family’s merchant business, consistent with what she had told Pepper.
Gags presented both of them as consultants retained by an Artport merchant and mentioned that he was engaged in starting a protection agency. Only a few of the passengers knew what one was and the captain asked a few follow-up questions before Gags sat down. Pepper was relieved he didn’t have to introduce Gags since he might have let slip that Gags had noble blood, something his partner had left out. That mattered to some people.
“Now that is out of the way, we will have a dinner in the style of south Caless,” the captain said. “Most of us are descended from desert nomads, the Feybeer, although now, most of the Feybeer live in the city-states that dot the arid lands. Cattle require more water than sheep, goats, and other creatures, so we will have two lamb dishes tonight. We Faybeerians have always been traders, so the spices we use aren’t particularly native to the dry lands but have been incorporated into our cuisine by what tastes good to our palates.”
Pepper had tasted Perian versions of Calessian food before but was hoping for something more exotic. He knew Gags would be interested in anything that would power his magic, but all Pepper cared about was taste that was compatible with his modest appetite.
The wine on the other hand, was sublime. The captain boasted about wine grown in the coastal areas around Veilport and other more humid areas. The three wines the captain served were less sweet than similar wines in Peria.
“Many magicians in the dry lands are adept at squeezing water from the air. Those that have the talent, and not all do, command high positions wherever they go,” the captain said. “Isn’t that right, Patricia?”
The girl blushed beautifully, Pepper thought. “It is. Unfortunately, my skills are in other directions.” She turned to Gags. “Can you create water from the air?”
It was Gag’s turn to redden. “I have done so when I served in the magician’s army, but like you, my skills are more efficiently used elsewhere.”
The captain clapped his hands slowly. “I didn’t mean to put you both on the spot. I’m sure you are credits to the world of magicians.”
Conversation turned to Calessian music and art, which Pepper lacked interest and he tuned out the conversation. Other than Gags and Patricia, no one else piqued Pepper’s interest. He enjoyed the dessert, light, sugar-iced cookies that were dipped in a berry sauce of some kind. The taste was the best part of the dinner.
Patricia left first and Gags kept eating, at the captain’s insistence, until the three were left in the cabin, sipping some of the delicious wine.
“I understand you met one of the owners of the shipping line,” the captain said.
Gags looked at Pepper. “Ship owners?” he said, feigning ignorance.
“Seppius Darkman.”
“Of Norian Curiosities? He owns ships? We met him twice,” Gags said. “Once at his shop and then on the docks when he was supervising the loading of a crate. But it wasn’t on this ship.”
The captain chuckled. “No. We are part of a syndicate. Our interests are varied. You caught Seppius’s eye,” the captain said. “He thinks Mexius Dapple took another ship to Veilport. Are you going to catch him for his wife?”
Gags took a sip of wine and coughed before taking another sip. “I would not term our assignment as ‘catching’ Mexius Dapple. We were hired to be his bodyguards. Portia Dapple is interested in our connecting with her husband in Caless.”
“Seppius asked me to give you a message. Mexius Dapple is not the man he seems to be. Make sure you guard your own body as well as Mexius’s,” the captain said.
“You know Mexius?” Pepper ventured to ask.
“He has traveled on my ship in Cabin Three quite a few times, between Veilport and Artport in the last few years,” the captain said.
“Are you violating any confidences?” Gags asked.
“None whatsoever. I’m just relaying the message. There is one more part. When you return to Artport, Seppius thinks it would be a good idea to meet again.”
Pepper raised his eyebrows. He didn’t think Seppius was willing to give them the time of day.
“We will certainly do that. I have business in Artport separate from Mexius Dapple’s protection,” Gags said.
That was a better answer than Pepper came up with in his mind.
The captain took a deep breath. “Then if you will excuse me, I have some captaining to do,” he said with a smile. “Patricia Garish looked at you quite a bit during dinner, Tibbeus Pepper,” the captain said. “She is a delightful passenger, quite unlike Mexius Dapple, but from my perspective, I would feel remiss if I didn’t warn you about her, as well. The Garish family are known for sharp practices.”
Pepper wanted to ask what their “sharp practices” consisted of, especially coming from an employee of Seppius Darkman, but the captain stood up and their dinner was at an end. As they exited the cabin, Pepper noticed the silk-clad form of Patricia Garish hurrying down the corridor. There was no doubt she had listened in.
“Three warnings,” Gags said once they were in their cabin.
“And?” Pepper asked.
“We would be wise to heed them. It won’t cost us anything other than add some wariness that we might not have exercised.”
Pepper frowned. “Especially with Patricia Garish?”
“I was thinking of Seppius Darkman, but Patricia, too. We don’t understand the culture of these dry-land Calessians. They originally were tribes that fought each other almost to extinction before they formed city-states and established fortified positions. Once they found they had magicians who could create water, the desert blossomed as some sages say,” Gags said. “Supposedly, there are pockets of great wealth in southern Caless. I never really understood what that wealth was, perhaps it is the water, but I do know their culture is different than ours. Their culture is different than Atto-based countries.”
Pepper pursed his lips. He admitted that Patricia attracted him, but Gags had added an element of fear to offset the attraction. Pepper had enough fears to manage so he decided to forget it all as he made ready for bed and climbed into his bunk, vowing to go to sleep before Gags began to snore. He frowned when he learned that his vow was a futile one.
Chapter Eight
~
Gags
~
