The Rose and the Skull

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The smaller, nimbler Ergothian pirate ship steadily drew away from Donkaren, much to the chagrin of the slower ship's captain. Sir Wayhollan Farstar stood on the forecastle of his war galleon and pounded her skull-carved rail with his mailed fist, watching in disgust as the black-sailed sloop receded toward the shore of the Isle of Cristyne. He'd hunted the black sloop across the Sirrion Sea and down the coasts of Northern Ergoth for many a week now, and just when it seemed she was in his grasp, she'd escaped, aided by a fair wind, slipping past his sentry ships in the night and sailing south. If ever she reached the harbors of Cristyne, there was little even he could do. Cristyne was officially neutral territory, but the people there cared little for the authority of the Knights of Takhisis, even going so far as to harbor wanted pirates-"privateers" they called them. Everyone knew the citizens of Cristyne were allied with the Knights of Solamnia, and Captain Farstar suspected the black sloop was but a front for Solamnic operations. From Palanthas to the Bay of Balifor, she had harried the Knights of Takhisis's shipping for many a month, knocking off supply ships and avoiding every war galleon sent to capture her. Donkaren was a fast warship and her captain experienced, but as he watched the sloop grow smaller and smaller, Captain Farstar knew she'd escaped once again. That knowledge ate at him like a cancer.

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