One of the missing was the son of a captain whose home port was Garnet Bay and a good friend of Piro's. The boy was the cabin boy on his father's ship which was in port. He was all for tearing the rest of the ships apart plank by plank. We were about to go visit him when he walked into the inn looking for his friend Piro.

He saw Piro and spoke in a voice that was mixed sadness and anger, "Piro, my friend, and Fortas and Budin, well met. But you find me in great distress."

"We have heard." Said Piro. "We will do whatever we can to help, but our friends here who have been traveling with us may be of far more help than we can be. This is Malcolm, Justin, Aril and Lira.

Malcolm, Justin, Aril and Lira, this is Captain Jar Thilnernan. Jar, may we go to your home to discuss the situation?"

"Yes indeed! I came here to get you to do just that."

The Captain's home was on a knoll where he could look over the town to the bay and the sea beyond. It was large and well kept and we all sat down in his parlor while a servant prepared some refreshments.

"Tell us what has happened Jar." said Piro, "We have heard that some of the young folk are missing and your boy Gan is one of them and a slaver ship is suspected. Please fill us in on the details."

"I will be glad to do that, Piro, but you said that these people might be able to help. Please tell me about that first - I'm about at my wit's end with concern for my son and the others."

"Malcolm, here is a powerful wizard and these three are his apprentices. He will have to tell you how he can help."

"We will help, Captain Jar," said Malcolm, "and I believe we can be successful, but we must know the situation in detail before we can decide just how to help."

"Yes, I can understand that. It's just hard having a son taken and some of the captains won't wait much longer."

"We came into port here two weeks ago to unload a good cargo, lay in another, and have a month with the family, leaving before the winter storms for warmer seas. This is a fair size harbor and ships come and go all the time.

"We had been here a week when suddenly four young folks disappeared in one evening, my son, another boy and two girls. We immediately raised the great chain at the mouth of the bay to stop any ships from leaving; for the first thing we think of when several people, especially young people, disappear in one day is slavers. It's extremely rare for slavers to travel overland; it's almost always by sea.

"There were eight ships in port including mine. The captains of the ones that were about to leave grumbled a bit. We understood, but they too understood the slaving is not something we can ignore. Naturally, the captain of the slaver ship is acting just like the captains of the innocent ships.

"We searched all the ships of course, even my own, but ships are of such shapes that clever builders can hide small cubbies from even the most astute and knowledgeable searchers. We found nothing. They're there, I know it, but we can't hold the ships too much longer. We're not worried about their physical condition, slavers take very good care of their captives so they can get the best prices, but once they're gone there's very little hope of getting them back. Is there any way you can find hidden people, Malcolm?"

"If we had been here when it happened and we knew where one of them had been when they were taken, we might have been able to follow the abductors, but we can't at this late date. I have ways of finding hidden rooms but that would take several days for each ship. It's quite likely the slavers would just take them back to town and release them and you'd have your sons and daughters back. But you still wouldn't know who had done it and they'd be free to do it somewhere else or even return here in a few months when we were gone. I think you would like to catch and stop these slavers almost as much as your want your sons and daughter back."

"You're right! As a last resort we would rather have them back, but if we can also stop these vile slavers, that would be best. Do you have a plan?"

"Yes, I think we need to make one of my apprentices here bait to catch these sharks. Once they take the bait we will know which ship it is and we will have the slavers and their captives.

"Piro, I presume most, if not all, of the sailors in port come to your shows."

"Yes indeed. Those who have to stand watch are not happy if they have to miss our performance, so in port towns we always have at least two shows so everyone can come."

"I also presume all the young people will also be at your shows."

"Absolutely! All the young people and children who are not at death's door sick in bed will be at all the shows; we charge full price for most, but we don't charge any more than the poor can afford - often nothing."

"Good. We'll use your first performance to offer our bait and at the second we'll hope they are so greedy that they'll take the bait even in the face of suspicion and grave danger. If our bait is taken I doubt that any of the honest captains will complain about any delay. However, there won't be any delay since we will be waiting for them and catch them immediately.

"My plan is this: Justin and Lira, if they're willing, will sneak, clumsily and obviously, out of the performance part way through as though they are going to have a tryst. Some of the slavers should see them and be prepared for the next night. We'll be prepared for them. Since they take good care of their captives, we'll let Justin and Lira be captured and Aril and I will follow them to their ship; don't be surprised if no one sees us.

"Just in case, we'll also have people at the docks and in the water on small boats. Lest you be concerned, and I am too, we'll make the same arrangements for the first night, just in case they're more stupid than I think and already have a crew waiting for just such an occurrence. I picked Lira because Aril has already been captured once. Are you two willing to be bait?"

"Of course!" We both said at once. "Even if we were captured and taken off," said Lira, "we know enough to take advantage of any opportunity we were offered later."

"That's what I think or I wouldn't even suggest it."

"I'll get some crews of trusted sailors to man the small boats," said Captain Jar, "and I'll get the other parents with missing kids to get some crews to man the docks. I assume you and Aril will keep track of Justin and Lira."

"Just so, but don't make the crews so large that the slavers get suspicious or that a loose word gets spoken; Aril and I will be the main trackers, the crews are for backup and reinforcements. I also want someone trusted who knows most of the men from all the ships to be with me at the show so we can be sure that all the ships have a good compliment at the show. If any are totally or mostly absent, I think we can be pretty sure that's the ship and they might try to run for it while everyone's occupied. I would also recommend beefing up the guard at both ends of the chain at the entrance of the bay in case they do."

"I think that's already been done," said the Captain, "but I'll make sure."

Later, when we were alone, Aril, Lira, Malcolm and me, we made every precaution we could think of. All four of us put little trees in our hidden pockets. Lira and I were provided with small amulets that Malcolm could use to find what direction we were in if we were a mile of less away. We put them in the same pockets as the trees. We rehearsed all the invisibility and protection spells we already knew and Malcolm taught us some unlocking spells. He and Aril would be invisible and follow us every step of the way. Then they'd summon the others and release us all and deal with the slavers. We all felt that we'd taken every precaution possible.

We had a great evening meal at the captain's house and went down to the inn where the show had been set up in the courtyard, ready to be kidnapped.

Read Part Seven 

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