"Who are these men?" Laaqueel asked.

"Pirates," he answered. "The fiercest bunch of men I've been able to rally to my standard. Maliceprow has relationships with all of them."

"When did you arrange this?"

"Years ago." Iakhovas smiled at her with that disconcerting, two-eyed gaze. "I've been known, little malenti, by a number of names throughout my life. Some of the undersea races know me as 'the Taker.' You know me as Iakhovas, or One Who Swims with Sekolah. The sahuagin know me as a prince. Here I have adopted the identity of Black Alaric."

Laaqueel shook her head, struggling to believe everything he told her, yet knowing it was true.

"I must tell you, Black Alaric has had almost as many lives as I." Iakhovas looked out through the window. "The first Black Alaric died in the Year of Giant's Rage, over fourteen hundred years ago. He was the pirate king and captain who brought the pirates to the Nelanther after they were turned away from the Velen Peninsula, then there was the Black Alaric that brought down House Ithal in the Year of Scarlet Scourges. Other Black Alarics followed, each purporting to be the original and the legend continued to grow until it was believed he's a man who cannot die. He has united the pirates in seven major wars along the Sword Coast in the last fourteen centuries."

"You propose to become this Black Alaric?" Laaqueel asked.

Iakhovas took a black crepe bandanna from his pocket and tied it over his lower face. He pulled his cowl over his hair and the top of his face, cinching it tight so that only his eyes were revealed. "Little malenti, I am Black Alaric."

Laaqueel remained silent, thinking, realizing that his masquerade had them both at risk here in the pirate stronghold.

"It had been nearly a hundred years since the last Black Alaric was heard from," Iakhovas said. "Five years ago, after I'd decided what I was going to do about the Sword Coast and knew that the item I got from Serpentil was somewhere in that area, I found the newest man who dared to wear this mask and killed him." He smiled, cold and evil. "Not only am I a sahuagin prince, little malenti, but I am a pirate king."

The carriage came to a stop. Hurrying, the driver climbed down and opened Iakhovas's door.

The wizard stepped out in the mask, and the driver moved back in fear. "Black Alaric," he whispered before he caught himself.

Laaqueel climbed out of the carriage behind him, her hand never far from her long sword. She gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the great house before her.

It was set on a slope on the east side of the port. High walls surrounded the estate, enclosing grounds that had been well tended. Flowering shrubs and trees of every color covered the landscape, leaving room for inlaid brick walks that effectively divided the estate into various areas. From where she stood, Laaqueel saw one such meeting place that contained stone benches and a large stone table.

Standing four stories tall, the house loomed over the estate, carefully crafted so that many of the rooms had views out over the sea. Where most of the houses in Skaug had been built of wood, Maliceprow Manor and its stables and outbuildings had been constructed of cut stone elegantly laid. Guards stood at their posts.

Iakhovas led the way up the stairs to the main house, showing an easy familiarity with the place. Having no choice, Laaqueel followed, feeling out of her depth. She had no business there and felt the wizard should have left her at the palace where she could have gone about the preparations she needed to make for the upcoming battle.

"Alaric, join us over here, if you please."

Turning on the verandah, Laaqueel spotted the speaker. He was a wide man with hard lines and a life of luxury that had let him go to fat, but the way he moved to stand from the small table where he'd been sitting let Laaqueel know he was still quick on his feet. His hair had been soft brown but was now going to gray in streaks, cut squared off at his jawline. Hazel eyes swept over the malenti daring enough to almost make her blush, something she hadn't experienced in decades.

She thought perhaps it might be because she was aware of the illusion Iakhovas had wrapped around her with his glamour, knowing how her clothes revealed her upper body.

"Laaqueel," Iakhovas said in the politest tone the malenti had ever heard him use, "may I introduce you to Portmaster Burlor Maliceprow, our host and the controlling power behind Skaug."

Maliceprow smiled at the introduction and took Laaqueel's hands in one of his. The other hand, the malenti noted, had been replaced by a mithral hook that gleamed with a razor's edge.

"Such a charming lady you have with you, Alaric." Maliceprow kissed the back of Laaqueel's hand then released it.

"Thank you," Laaqueel said, but she'd not prompted her voice. Such courtly manners didn't come naturally to her. She realized her behavior had to have been caused by Iakhovas's glamour.

"I have someone for you to meet as well," Maliceprow announced. "Please sit and I'll be back with him, then we can get to our meeting."

Iakhovas sat at the table all laid out with meats and cheese and wines. Laaqueel followed his lead, sitting next to the verandah railing so she couldn't be trapped against the house. She looked at the sea, judging it to be close enough to, run to.

"Relax, little malenti," Iakhovas said quietly. "You'll come to no harm here."

"What are we doing with these people?" she asked. "I didn't know you were going to be affiliating with surface dwellers."

He gazed at her with both his eyes, but she could occasionally see behind the missing one into the hollow where it had been. "Little malenti, I'll deal with anyone who can help me reach my goals. For now, that happens to be, in part, these pirates." He picked up a bit of meat and ate it. "In four tendays, I'm going to take Baldur's Gate, and these men are going to help me. When we leave that city, it will not be as Waterdeep. I will destroy everything in that city that touches the river, and a message will be sent that no one is safe. At no time, at no place."

Laaqueel heard the chill of menace in his words but she was still concerned. She didn't see how he planned on mixing the sahuagin and the pirates. Before she could ask any of the questions that were on her mind, Malice-prow returned with another man in tow.

The newcomer was a tall man dressed in a scarlet blouse tucked into charcoal gray breeches. A long sword hung at his hip, counterbalanced with three throwing knives on the opposite hip. His black hair was carefully combed, pulled back and held in place by garnet and ivory combs. Silver hoop earrings hung from each ear. His brown eyes returned her gaze with fire. The cruel turn of his features were partially disguised by the short goatee and mustache that were fastidiously trimmed, but left in plain view the tattoo on his left cheek. It depicted a sharklike creature with a black haired mane twisted in mid-strike.

"I've added another ship's captain to our roster and increased our strength," Maliceprow said with pride. "I'd like to introduce Captain Falkane, also called the Salt Wolf. His ship is Bunyip. I'm sure you've heard of it."

"Bloody Falkane," Laaqueel said, knowing the pirate for who he was.

Falkane took no offense at the use of his sobriquet. He smiled at her. "A name I've fairly won and proudly carry, wench. Make no mistake."

"Falkane," Maliceprow said, "will be joining us on the raid on Baldur's Gate, Alaric."

"Fine," Iakhovas said, "then join me in a toast." He picked up one of the wine bottles from the table and poured drinks all around. He raised his glass and waited until the others followed suit. "To the death of Baldur's Gate, by sword and by fire!"