Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: tomscud@ruf.rice.edu (Thomas Reid Scudder)
Subject: William: [Broadmarch]
Message-ID: <1992May28.033831.3595@rice.edu>
References: <1992May27.204817.55975@cc.usu.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 May 1992 03:38:31 GMT

[ADMIN: My previous post along this line appears to have been eaten by my 
news-reader.  Sorry if any of this is a bit repetitive.]

    Two figures huddle in a lifeboat, waiting for some of the sounds around
them to die down.  The smaller of the two shifts nervously and whispers to
the larger, "Can't we go yet, Uncle?  It must have been HOURS!"
    The larger whispers back "Nonsense, boy it can't have been more than
fifteen minutes.  We've got quite a wait until we can go.  Remember, when
we do go, walk purposefully, so that anyone seeing us thinks that we belong
on board.  Nothing gives you away more than trying to act sneaky.
    "Now, I've been on a few slaver runs before ... don't gasp like that,
it was no one I knew, and I had bills to pay.  Anyway, they usually store
the cargo behind a false wall in the aft portion of the hold.  So that's 
where we'll be headed when we go."

    About half an hour later, the noises from outside are a bit fainter.

    "Look outside, boy," says Cedric.
    William lifts a corner of the canvas and peers out from underneath.
    "There seems to be no one around."

    The two of them exit the lifeboat and walk over to the entrance to the
hold, meeting no one at close range.  Those who do see them at long range
pay them no heed.

    The two enter the hold.  Cedric suddenly pulls William aside, behind a
pile of crates, and gestures towards the aft end of the hold.  A man sits
on a crate there, with a candle flickering at his feet.

    "A guard," says Cedric.  "Most don't bother with them.  God knows how he
failed to see or hear us.  Stay here, boy."

    Cedric moves slowly towards the guard, dodging from crate to crate with
remarkable agility for such a large man.  Eventually he gets to within
fifteen feet of the guard, stands up, and starts to laugh softly.

    "It's all right, boy," he says to William.  "It seems like our friend
here has taken a little nap.  Let me make sure he sleeps deeply."  WIth that,
Cedric withdraws a small club from beneath his cloak and fetches the guard
a sound blow over the head.  He then picks the guard up and returns him to
approximately his previous position, removing his keys in the process.

    William walks up and picks up the candle as Cedric inspects the aft wall.
Cedric pulls a hidden latch, and removes a panel from the wall, stowing it
off to the side.  The hidden section consists of a triple bunk, with two or
three people chained to each level.  There are two boys of Dougl's or William's
age, two slightly older men, perhaps in their mid twenties, and three young
women.  All are clothed in more or less tattered clothes, presumably what
they were wearing when captured, and all are sleeping fitfully.

    Suddenly, the sounds of running and shouting can be heard from above.
Someone shouts, "Fetch the prisoners from their compartment!  We may need
hostages before this is over!"

    Cedric and William look at each other for a second, then Cedric tosses
William his keys, and says, "unlock the prisoners, wake them, and see if
any of them know how to swing a blade.  I'll see to our friend here."
    Cedric proceeds to strip a short sword and a crossbow off of the guard,
while William frees the prisoners.  One of the older men turns out to be
a militiaman who is not totally unfamiliar with swords, while one of the
women admits to "having occasional need of such implements in my line
of work."  William relinquishes his own blade, and takes up the guard's
crossbow, which, thankfully, has a much lighter pull than his own.  The 
rest of the captives, including Dougl, manage to find bits of debris to
serve as improvised clubs, and the rag-tag band prepares to defend the cargo
hold against their would-be captors.

    (Well, guys, Dougl's now freed from his erstwhile bondage.  It's up to
you to get him off the boat... )