The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) (15 page)

“Being something of a virtuoso, I cannot abide playing second fiddle to anyone,” Daebian responded. “I would like to propose a counter offer.”

“What would that be?” Farique asked with a grin.

“Retire. Take your flagship and whatever treasures you have amassed, pick any of the outer isles, and live out the rest of your days in peace and luxury.” Daebian nudged his captor with his elbow and whispered, “This is the part where he orders my gruesome execution.”

Captain Farique leapt to his feet and snatched the black-bladed sword from the table. “I should gut you with your own blade, you pompous little rat!” He jerked his head toward the door. “Flay him to the neck and hang him from my yardarm. Let everyone hear his screams and witness what happens to those who cross me.”

Farique waited until his men shoved Daebian out of the room before addressing his senior captains. “Despite his arrogance, the boy is right. We need to do something about our declining profits. Thanks to his little stunt, the King’s navy is swarming like a bunch of angry hornets.”

“But do you think we can put aside our grudges and rivalries enough to work together? How do we split the spoils? What are the shares? Who decides the targets?” Marilyn, the one female captain asked.

A crow roosting on the outside window sill squawked loudly, cocked its ebon head, and peered through lead-paned glass.

“It will take some time to sort out the particulars, but…”

Daebian was nothing more than flash of movement as he leapt from the shadows behind the pirate king’s chair. A blade of ethereal shadow pierced the back of Farique’s neck and erupted from his open mouth, silencing him forever. Every person in the room leapt from their chairs, drew cutlasses and daggers, and took several defensive steps away.

“Hold your steel or hold your guts!” Daebian ordered.

“We could cut you down right now!” one of them shouted.

“You could try, but you would fail and die,” Daebian warned.

Seeing that no one was about to put his threat to the test, Daebian shoved Farique’s body out of the chair, retrieved his sword from the table, and sat down. Channeling a tendril of abyssal power from the jewel gripped in his hand, Daebian set the stone back into the pommel of the soul blade.

“It’s true, you do possess dark magics!” one of the pirates barked.

“I do, and you had best listen to me and think well on my offer.”

“We swore oaths to Farique!”

“Oaths only live as long as the one to whom they are made.”

The pirate leaders looked to each other, wondering if anything this creature said could be believed. “Farique’s man said they had your men. Your man Tobias gave them up. We don’t have to make no deals with a demon!”

“Ordinarily I would rather stab you than argue, but I do like to talk about my cleverness. Tobias did precisely as I told him and carried out his job excellently as I have come to expect. Farique never captured my men, you great bunch of idiots. Those buffoons of Farique captured my prisoners who were kind enough to pose as my crew in exchange for promises of release. Well, most of them were my prisoners. My men have been in place for days and are right now securing each of your flagships.”

“Impossible!” another spat. “You’d need half the men on the island to take those ships!”

“No, I would need nearly seven full crews and three wizards. The fact your ships were nearly stripped of men in order to take mine made it that much easier.”

“Farique has wizards too!”

“He had some hedge wizards who seriously lacked the formal military training of mine. I killed those glorified street corner charlatans last night and replaced them with my people. A few illusions and a couple transmogrifications and I had the perfect people aboard hours before the first blade cleared a sheath.” Daebian leaned onto the desk and stared at the pirates intently. “Let me make one thing very clear. If you go against me you will lose. It is not a guess, or a gambit, or boasting but a reality as solid as this desk and the dead man lying behind it. Are you all getting it now? Yes? Then let us stop this needless display of bravado and get down to business.”

“What do you want?”

“I already have what I want. What I have to offer is for your benefit. Pledge your loyalty to me, and convince everyone else to do the same. I believe Farique’s tithe was twenty percent? I will take only fifteen. You retain your ships and crew, but you answer to me and follow my orders. Your ways of conducting business no longer works. Pirates can no longer strike out as individuals because the merchants and navy now travel in packs. How many ships have failed to return to the Isles these past two years? We can no longer operate as individuals. We must form a powerful pack like wolves. Will you be part of my pack?”

“What if we refuse?”

“Then you die. I have many good men who would love to take over your ships. I would wager there are men amongst your own crew who would leap at the promise of a captaincy. The choice is an easy one. Pledge to me and profit, or hold on to oaths made to a dead man and join him.”

“You’re nothing but a petty tyrant!”

“No, I am a beneficent tyrant, at least to those who show proper fealty.”

The end was a forgone conclusion. Despite the seriousness with which they had all made their oaths, everyone there held one ideal above all others—profit. Each of the Captains swore oaths to Daebian and sealed it by making a shallow cut above their left breast.

“There we are, one, big, happy family,” Daebian crowed as he leaned back in his chair. The door opened and Tobias stepped warily into the room. “Perfect timing, Tobias! How did it go?”

“Just as you predicted, sir. Farique’s men took in the prisoners and our watchers while the rest of us set upon the flagships.”

“You were successful?”

“Aye. There were a few bloody skirmishes and we lost some men, but we captured the lot of them, mostly thanks to your wizards.”

“Fantastic! The Captains have pledged their loyalty, and I have promised them their ships back.” Daebian addressed his officers. “Return to your ships and spread word of my new regency.”

“Just like that, sir?” Tobias asked.

“Yes, just like that. Do not look so worried, Tobias. My Captains know that if they break their oaths, I will hunt them down and send them straight to the abyss where their souls will languish in tortured agony for all eternity. We will reconvene this meeting in three days.”

The senior captains filed from the room, urged by the pointy blade of real fear. Not one of them doubted Daebian’s willingness or ability to do just as he promised.

“Tobias,” Daebian called out as the pirates left the room.

“Yes, sir?”

“Find me a decorator. This place is just awful. If you happen to find the one responsible for this travesty, have him or her beaten. This is inexcusable.”

His first mate saluted. “Aye, sir.”

***

Daebian stood looking through the big picture window of his hastily refurnished office. He turned as the door opened and Tobias entered with Captain Zeb. He smiled at his former Captain and took a seat behind the enormous desk.

“Captain Zeb, I am glad to see you well. How are your men?” Daebian inquired pleasantly.

Zeb did not return Daebian’s pleasantries. “What do you want now,
Captain
Daebian? Or should I say King Daebian?”

“Actually, I am going by Commodore Daebian, but King Daebian certainly has a nice ring to it. Perhaps at a later time. As to what I want, I want many things, but I assume you refer to this particular moment in time. I wanted to thank you and your men for helping me pull off my little ruse. It avoided a great deal of bloodshed.”

“You didn’t give us a whole lot of options.”

“But options you had and were free to exercise them anytime. But as I told you and your people, few of them would bring a ransom and were therefore worthless to the pirates. Worthless things tend to get tossed into the sea.”

“You put my people in that situation! You play with peoples’ lives like they are your toys!”

“It was for the greater good,” Daebian countered.

“It was for your own good!” Zeb raged.

“What good could possibly be greater than that?” Daebian looked curiously to his first mate. “Why do people always give me that look when I make such statements?”

“I’m guessing they don’t understand the concept.”

“That is why I keep you around, Tobias, to help me understand the minds of lesser men.” Daebian narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at his second. “There it is again, right on your face!”

“No, sir. Probably just got something in my eye, sir. Lot of sand getting in everything around here.”

“Hm, curious.”

“You promised to set my men free,” Zeb said, steering the conversation back on course.

“I did and I will. Tobias, get the door.”

Tobias opened his mouth, but before he could form the question, someone knocked. The second mate snapped his mouth shut and opened the door. A sailor stepped into the room bearing a small box clasped between his hands.

“And the object of your salvation has arrived!” Daebian announced dramatically as he stood and gleefully took the box.

“What is that, sir?”

Daebian sat back down, opened the small chest, and withdrew the precious coin from inside it. “It is our ransom, Tobias.”

“It seems a bit small to me, sir. Is it magical?”

“It is better than that. It is recognition.”

“I’m sure it’s importance is lost on my simple mind, but the men will find spending recognition a bit difficult.”

Daebian waved a dismissive hand. “They have earned far too much to complain. There are greater things in this life than gold, but I understand the baser desires of lesser men. Take a share for each of the men from my treasury to keep them appeased.”

Using his abyssal power, he bored a small hole through the gold disc and threaded it onto the leather cord to join the nearly identical one already in place. He then retied the necklace back into place.

“That is what you killed my men for?” Zeb demanded.

“It is and worth every drop of blood spilled or yet spilled.”

Zeb shook his head. “I don’t understand you, boy.”

“Nor does anyone else, and they never will. Tobias, get Zeb and his men on a ship and send them home.”

“Aye, sir. What next?”

Daebian stood and gazed out the window and across the sea to the Northwest. “We wait.”

“Wait for what, sir?”

“The end of the world.”

***

“How is it coming,” Azerick asked Raijaun as he painted the final rune upon Sandy’s scaly hide.

“I am nearly complete with the last one, Father,” Raijaun called from Sandy’s other side.

Azerick and Raijaun had spent the past several days painstakingly drawing glyphs upon Sandy’s body in hopes of blocking out the Scions’ mental domination. No spell Azerick could conceive of was capable of stopping the compulsion from taking hold the moment the blocking spell wore off, so he was forced to create a more permanent solution. Perhaps he could have devised something better given more time, but time was something none of them had to spare. He just prayed Sandy would forgive him.

“I am finished. What do we do now?” Raijaun asked.

“We must etch them into her scales and bind them to her spirit to create a permanency to them. Because much of what we have done is draconic in origin, we will need your guardian magic to make them indelible and imbue them with power. It will be fatiguing, but it should not be painful for you.”

“I would do it regardless to protect her. I just hope she does not hate me for it.”

Azerick laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. “The blame will be all mine. I will bear the burden of her anger like I have so many others. Sometimes, I think perhaps that is my primary purpose in all this, to be the shelf upon which all others may place their anger, pain, and hatred so they might work with those they once considered enemies.”

“Whatever few may dislike you today will revere you tomorrow when their eyes gaze upon the rising sun that would have been denied them had you not done what you must. They are children, fickle and self-serving, and they do not know what is good for them until they become adults and can look back on the sacrifices you made for them.”

Azerick felt like weeping under his son’s praise. Kind words were so rare these days, and he cradled them in his heart so they might warm him against the freezing touch of duty. It was the candle he prayed would be sufficient to light his way even as darkness continued to press in.

Azerick hugged Raijaun tightly. “My wise son. Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“What you must do is very simple despite the power involved. You must feel out every sigil upon Sandy’s body and gently feed your guardian magic into their forms. The runes will drink it in, and in great quantity, but not too quickly. Sandy’s magic will recognize your Guardian power as a kindred spirit and bond with it. This will keep the runes empowered much like I do with my staff when I must draw power from it.”

Raijaun nodded and reached for his Guardian magic. It was strong but comforting, like a stern but loving parent there to guide and protect him, but it demanded respect. He walked the magic over Sandy’s body and traced the runes painted on her scales with a thousand invisible fingers. He felt every sigil beneath his magical touch as if they were burned into his own flesh and gently began coaxing the golden tendrils of magic into their forms.

The runes began to glow then hissed as they burned, filling the room with an acrid stench like that of burning hair. Raijaun flinched inwardly but maintained his focus as he continued to pour power into what seemed a bottomless vessel. The runes drank in his magic and Raijaun began to fatigue, but he sensed the power growing within them.

Sandy’s form was nearly lost within the brilliant aura of light the runes emitted as they absorbed Raijaun’s power like parched soil drinking in a summer shower. Raijaun felt himself nearing his limits, but he also knew the runes were reaching theirs. When the arcane glyphs finally reached their full capacity, Raijaun drove his magic deeper into Sandy’s body, found the core of her draconic power, and wove the threads of magic together to create a permanent bond between her and them.