"Wow," Dar said as he looked at the pair.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Keritanima said with a wink, which dropped the stern expression and allowed a hint of the old Keritanima to peek out. "Meet Kaylin, Mistress Merchant of House Eram, and her new partner, Allison, Mistress Merchant of House Alagon."

"What do you think, Tarrin?" Miranda asked, turning around for him.

"I think I'm talking to strangers," he replied.

"That's the idea, silly," Keritanima chided.

"Where are the Wikuni pirates?" Dar asked curiously. Tarrin looked towards the amidships, and they were indeed gone.

"Kern moved them into the hold while we were changing," Faalken answered, ruffing his hair with a hand, then shaking the water off of it. His dark, curly locks were plastered to his face, and that made Dar giggle like a little girl.

"We did not want them to see us in our disguises, so I asked Kern to put them out of sight. Sheba could cause us trouble if she managed to make her Highness' location well known. There is a reward out for her capture."

"You look damp, Faalken. Did you take a bath before changing?" Tarrin asked in a calm voice. Faalken glared at him a moment, and that made Dar explode into helpless gales of laughter.

"I see this mutinous dog stopped by your cabin," Faalken said darkly, pointing at Azakar. "I hope we do get attacked. I'm going to let them carve a few slices off your backside, Zak."

"They can try," Azakar shrugged, but there was a slight smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "I'm not so sure you could protect me anyway. It's a good thing I'm here. Old Knights like you should stay on the training field and leave the real fighting to us."

"Here we go," Dolanna said in a low voice to Tarrin as Faalken and Azakar began exchanging barbs. "Azakar has declared war. Faalken will be unable to resist retaliating. There will be a war of pranks."

"At least we'll be entertained, Dolanna," Tarrin said sagely.

"So long as they do not bring down the inn around us," she sighed.

The group settled more and more into their disguises as the ship approached the city. They passed the outer fringes of the anchored ships, ships anchored outside the city for one reason or another, probably to avoid paying a berthing charge. It was about that time that a sleek Wikuni frigate, one of their purely military vessels, came into sight from behind another galleon. It was a larger frigate, polished, clean, and immaculate, and it moved on the breeze directly in front of them. Then it dropped its anchors and opened its gunports.

"This is not good," Keritanima said suddenly, peering at the ship. "It's military, but it's flying the flag of the House Zalan."

"What does that mean?" Tarrin asked calmly, staring at the ship.

"That means that it's acting directly under orders from Arthas Zalan," she replied soberly. "Arthas Zalan is Sheba 's father."

"Do you think he knows we have her?" Dar asked a bit uncertainly.

"I don't see how he could possibly find out, but he wouldn't be stopping us for no reason. Especially when we're not in open water. If he fires on us, he'll have hell to pay for it from the Dayisan Council. And that doesn't even come close to what my father will do to him for tarnishing the Wikuni reputation."

"I think that now would be a very good time to return below decks," Dolanna said urgently. "We cannot let them see us in our disguises any more than we can Sheba."

"I think you have a point, Dolanna," Keritanima said seriously, looking at the bristling warship.

The others turned to go back to the cabins, but Tarrin didn't go with them. He instead shapeshifted into his cat form, then padded along the busy sailors up onto the steering deck, to sit sedately next to Kern by the makeshift helm. Kern was bellowing orders to lower sails and drop anchor, but he wasn't ordering them to prepare for combat. Kern obviously felt that the Wikuni wouldn't dare shoot at them when they were sitting in the middle of a flotilla of civilian vessels.

Tarrin watched as Kern's sailors expertly brought the ship to a stop not twenty spans from the frigate's broadside. Easily within shouting range. The wind blew the galleon to the side, and it rotated on its anchor chain to turn its side to the frigate. Kern had them do that on purpose, so he could look right at the Wikuni ship's commander without having to leave the helm.

"Ahoy, captain, yer blockin' my line!" Kern boomed. "I'd ask ye to move yer ship out of my way! I have right of way!"

"I'm not here to accede to human demands," the Wikuni captain shouted back. He looked like a peacock in his multi-colored uniform and jacket, with a ridiculous wide-brimmed hat on his head. He was a dog-Wikuni, or some kind of canine, maybe even a wolf, tall and gangly with brownish fur and a white patch of fur over his left eye. "You're holding Lady Sheba Zalan of the House Zalan! You will surrender her to my custody immediately!"

"You mean Sheba the Pirate?" Kern asked acidly. "Aye, I've got her sorry hide on my ship. And it'll take me a ride to scrub the stench of her out of the hold! But I ain't gonna hand her over to ye, boy, cause ye'll just give her another ship to sail and send her back out to terrorize the sea lanes! And there's the matter of the reward, too!"

"That was not a request!" the Wikuni snapped, his fangs baring slightly. "Hand her over, or I'll blow you out of the water!"

"That'll be a neat trick, shootin' my ship out of the water without hurtin' yer precious Sheba, now won't it?" he asked with a wicked grin. "Besides, if ye do take a shot at me, I'll toss her over the side wearin' ten leg irons! I don't think she'll be swimmin' too well."

That put the Wikuni captain at a loss. He obviously hadn't considered what to do if Kern didn't hand her over. He spluttered a few times, then seemed to regain control of himself. "Father Tonta, would you kindly set fire to their sails?" he asked of his priest in a very loud voice, meaning for Kern to hear.

But Tarrin was already one step ahead. He jumped up onto the scarred railing and regarded the Wikuni frigate with glowing green eyes. He touched the Weave smoothly and easily, feeling the itching of High Sorcery start to seek him out, but he had enough time to weave together a thick rope of air and divine power, then release it at the Wikuni priest. It took the form of an invisible fist, and it struck the priest squarely in the middle of his ursine snout. The big bear Wikuni crumpled to the deck, out cold.

"It ain't that easy," Kern said with a waggling finger. "Ye got yer magician. I got mine. And as ye see, my magician beats yer bear. Now, if ye try that again, I'll have my magician tear out yer mainmast."

The captain stared at the priest in shock, then gaped at Kern with something approaching horror.

"Now kindly get that scowl out of my way, before ye make me angry," he snapped.

"Not until you release the Lady Sheba!" he blustered

"If ye want her that bad, you can fish her out of the Dayise dungeon and deal with the Council, but yer not gettin' her off my ship!" he said adamantly. "Not without paying me the reward!"

That made him hesitate. "What reward?"

"There be a bounty on Sheba 's head," he called back. "Ten thousand gold crowns, dead or alive. Pay me that reward, and I'll hand her over to ye."

"That's piracy!"

"No, what Sheba does be piracy. What I be doing is called blackmail. Ten thousand, take it or fish Sheba out of a dungeon cell." He put his hands on the railing and gave the captain a savage grin. "Would ye be wantin' her dead, or alive?"

The ugly immediacy of Kern's threat hit the captain like a fist. He stepped back visibly and regarded the grizzled captain with astonishment, then he tore his hat off his head. "All right all right! Ten thousand crowns!"

"Cash."