The Red Duke (Warhammer Fantasy) by C L Werner

Author:C L Werner [Werner, C L]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XI

‘To oars ye scugs! This scupper’s headed straight ta Mannan’s casket!’

The deck of the Bretonnian carrack was a confusion of activity as sailors scurried about trying to follow the frantic commands of the ship’s mates. The loudmouthed seaman who pronounced the ship’s doom was struck in the nose by his furious captain. He crashed to the crazily leaning deck, his nose a red smear across his face.

For the passengers of the carrack, there seemed no doubt that the vessel was doomed. Three days out from Lashiek the ship had started to founder, water rushing into her hold. In the space of an hour, the carrack had started to list badly to port, defying the efforts of the crew to correct the tilt by shifting cargo and ballast.

Marquis Galafre d’Elbiq stood upon the quarter deck and surveyed the desperate attempt by the crew to save their ship. He was no seaman, but he knew their efforts were useless. He knew their efforts were useless because he knew what had happened to their ship.

The nobleman cursed Baron de Gavaudan under his breath. The scheming baron had betrayed them all. He wasn’t content to allow the poison and sickness afflicting the Duke of Aquitaine to run its course. He was too impatient to see his liege dead. Marquis Galafre had been taken into the baron’s confidence before the carrack had left Araby. The promise of increased rank and lands had been made if Galafre would ensure the duke never reached Aquitaine.

Galafre felt shame that he had accepted the baron’s offer. He had been a loyal vassal to the duke, following El Syf into battle across Estalia and Araby. But he was also a practical man. The duke would never recover from the dastardly poison his Arabyan ambushers had used on him. There was no dishonour in breaking allegiance with a corpse. He had his future to think about and that of his family. Baron de Gavaudan would be Steward of Aquitaine under the new duke. He would be the most powerful man in the dukedom, and there was no sense offending him needlessly.

Even so, Galafre could not still the sense of guilt that nagged at him. This latest display of the baron’s naked ambition only heightened his distaste for the entire plot. The baron’s agents had drilled holes into the hull and sealed them with salt plugs. After a few hours with the sea eroding them, the plugs dissolved enough that they crumbled away entirely, letting the sea rush into the hold.

Galafre could see the plot quite plainly in his head, for it had been suggested to him by the baron before the carrack set sail. It was a plan that offended the knight’s sensibilities. He had vowed to find another way to deal with the dying duke. Clearly, Baron de Gavaudan had been fond enough of his idea to sink the carrack that he’d found another agent to put his plan into action.

It was the act of a base villain! Galafre clenched his fist at his side.

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