The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) (7 page)

A cheer of assent rang out across the rolling seas. High atop the mainmast, a crow cawed out his approval as he spied upon the men below. Dropping a longboat and taking four oarsmen, Tobias returned to the navy vessel Daebian claimed as his flagship to report his success.

“Captain, the men have chosen to support you.”

“In no small part to your wonderful speech.” Tobias looked ill at ease, not knowing what kind of demonic sorcery he used to spy upon him. “You are much smarter than I had given you credit. You would make a terrific ship’s captain. Do you desire such a promotion?”

“There’s few sailors who don’t dream of commanding his own ship,” the first mate answered.

Daebian tapped his index finger against his lips as he thought. “It is unfortunate for you that I desire you to be by my side. You have earned my trust and confidence. I will cut you in for a full captain’s share of the spoils, and you are second to no man under my employ save me. Does that suit you?”

“I serve at your pleasure, sir.”

“Wonderful. Please bring me the wizard Eva and see to the ship.”

“Aye, sir.”

Tobias returned minutes later, gently pushing Eva through the door. Daebian motioned to the gag in her mouth and Tobias cut it free. If Eva was offended by her treatment, it did not show on her face. She took a seat in the chair Daebian indicated and smiled.

“Thank you, Tobias. I am sure Eva will behave herself,” Daebian said in dismissal. “Nice to see you again, Eva. The former Captain of this ship had some decent taste in wine. Would you like some?”

Eva glanced over her shoulder to her wrists bound behind her back. Daebian twiddled a finger and the rope became dry and brittle and fell apart.

“You have learned some new tricks,” Eva said as she rubbed her wrists before reaching for the glass of wine.

“You have no idea the things I have learned.”

“We all wondered what became of you after you left. You seem to have done rather well in such a short time.”

“I do hate to remain idle.”

“Is it true you stabbed your father before you ran off?”

“I did, and I took a bit of him with me when I left. How does he fair?”

“I’m not certain. I was put on ship duty and left with Captain Zeb shortly after you did. I cannot imagine anyone having the gall to attack Azerick. He is so powerful.”

“He is also a bit stupid in some ways, and it is going to get him and a lot of people killed. How do you like ship duty? Is it preferable to being at the school?” Daebian asked.

“I had never planned on setting foot on a boat in my life, but the constant training was so stressful and exhausting at the school, I agreed to go when they asked.”

Daebian quirked an eyebrow. “Father still actually asks people what they want? Well, that consideration certainly won’t last much longer. Do you want to go back?”

Eva sighed and thought. “They need me. Azerick says they need every wizard they can find to defeat the Scions.”

“He is going to fail. What if I told you that you could be of greater use elsewhere?”

“Doing what?”

“Have you ever thought about being a pirate? It’s a lot of fun.”

Eva returned Daebian’s smile and sipped from her glass.

CHAPTER 5

The forsaken gods of old hovered above their bleak prison world from within their crystal fortress. The Scions looked down at their countless minions, clawing at the detestable barrier keeping them from their sole purpose for existing: the total destruction of the mortal races.

“The false guardian’s abominable progeny has been absent, and the barrier suffers from its absence,”
Zyn remarked.

“Our time draws near,”
Xar affirmed.

“I trust our weakening has gone undetected?”

“Indeed it has. We have successfully diverted the false guardian and his mutant offspring’s attention to other flaws.”

“Let us take advantage of their neglect and awaken our pets.”

“Agreed.”

The Scions placed their hands upon the raised crystal sphere in the center of the room and focused their awesome power. A thin but incredibly powerful ray lanced out from the tower and struck the barrier. Unlike the previous breaches, this one was not intended to smash open a gaping wound to allow hordes of their violent killing machines through, but instead seared a surgically precise hole to allow their dominating consciousness to reach out into the mortal realm.

***

Sandy luxuriated in her huge bed of deep, dry sand, heated with her magic to what humans would consider intolerable warmth. She had spent the last several weeks within the school grounds, adding realism to the humans’ training and improving her own magic in the process. She enjoyed the one day off per week Azerick allowed them all to take so they could rest and reflect upon what they learned. Sandy hoped to reflect upon twenty hours or so of uninterrupted sleep.

“Hear us and obey!”

Sandy’s head shot up and she searched for any sign of danger as fear gripped her heart and made her blood run cold. She had heard those voices once before when she was young, but she had dismissed them as a strange but frightful dream. She knew this was no dream, but a herald to a nightmare.

***

“Lord Giles, there are, ah, several men upstairs who, ah, wish an audience,” Simon stammered.

Azerick looked up from the Codex, turned on his stool, and fixed Simon with his gaze. “Who is it? I am rather busy to entertain guests.”

Simon’s fingers danced about nervously. “One is a messenger from King Jarvin. Another is a representative from Southport. The third is, ah, a sailor who claims to have a message from, ah, your son, Daebian.”

Azerick practically leapt from the high stool and crossed the floor. “What does he want? What did he say?”

“He, ah, did not share that information with, ah, me, My Lord.”

Azerick’s stomach fluttered anxiously with anticipation and trepidation. He desperately wanted to know what had become of his son, but he knew any message from Daebian was unlikely to be pleasant. In fact, it was almost assuredly bad news bringing all three men to his door. No one ever came bearing pleasantries these days.

“There is, ah, a matter I would like to discuss with you as well, My Lord.”

“Of course, Simon. What is it?”

“Your treasury is down by seventy-three percent since we began funding the war effort. At our current rate of expenditure, I fear your liquid assets shall be exhausted within a year.”

Azerick smiled and clapped Simon on the shoulder. “At least I can share some good news with you, Simon. We don’t have anywhere close to a year before the Scions bust free and try to destroy us all.”

“Oh, ah, I see,” Simon responded quietly as he followed Azerick upstairs.

Azerick found all three men in the living room of the new tower, each standing with varied but equally nervous looks upon their faces. None looked eager to relay whatever message they were required to convey, so Azerick made it simple for them by addressing them in order of station.

“Which of you are from the King?”

“I am, My Lord.”

“What is your message?”

“My Lord, King Jarvin requires your immediate presence to assist in resolving a dispute with several key nobles. All members are currently awaiting your arrival.”

Azerick sighed, annoyed at having to delay his work to settle some petty squabbling. “Very well. Did you use the gate to arrive here?”

“I did, My Lord,” the man replied, his discomfort at having done so evident in his voice and posture.

“One of my people will take you back. Please ask King Jarvin to assemble the council, and I will be there within the hour. Relay my appreciation to His Highness for indulging me. Haste is crucial at this point in the game.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Azerick turned to the man from Southport as Simon led the King’s messenger away. “What ill tidings do you bring?”

The man straightened and adjusted the collar of his shirt. “My Lord, Duke Beaumonte sent me with news of your son.”

Azerick’s lips compressed in a tight thin line. “What is it?”

“Just over a fortnight ago, a young man proclaiming to be Daebian Giles enacted a ruse and absconded with three of His Majesty’s naval vessels, killing more than a score of men in the process. There have been reports of him using these vessels to dupe merchant ships into allowing him and his pirate crew to board and make off with their cargo, and in two known cases, their ships as well. He also left several fires in his wake.”

“That is disturbing news,” Azerick answered. “What is it you expect of me?”

“His Grace would like to know what form of recompense he can expect from you.”

Azerick stared at the man until he practically wilted beneath his gaze. “Tell Duke Beaumonte my recompense comes in the form of advice. Inform every ship’s captain that no official of the crown will conduct any kind of boarding party on open water. All ships will make for the nearest port to conduct any and all cargo or customs inspections. My son stabbed me through the chest. His actions are his own, and I accept no responsibility for them. Good day.”

The representative looked about to argue, but a glare from the enigmatic sorcerer sent him scurrying for the door. Azerick turned his eyes to last man in the room who looked about to bolt for the door as well before relaying whatever message he held.

“Say your words and be gone,” Azerick ordered, his tone soft and dangerous.

The man, a simple sailor given the look of his clothes and smell, held out a sealed letter with a shaking hand. “I weren’t given no words, sir, just this letter to give ya, milord.”

Azerick took the letter and examined the seal. Pressed into the black wax was a seal similar to his own, only the tower lay in a shattered ruin upon what he assumed were bodies. As he read the words neatly penned inside, his face flushed as his blood boiled. It was all he could do to not incinerate this man standing before him.

“Are you a member of Daebian’s crew?”

“No, Milord. I ain’t never heard that name before. I mean, I heard it around the docks, but I ain’t never met him. A man gived me a silver piece to bring that letter to you and a gold crown to deliver something you was supposed to give me.”

Azerick read the letter three more times, but lashing his mind with Daebian’s words only served to increase his ire. “Simon!” Azerick shouted, his demonic lungs issuing the words with enough force to set windows and bones vibrating.

The nervous steward raced through the door seconds later. “Yes, My Lord?”

Azerick handed the letter to Simon. “Fulfill my son’s demand.”

Simon read the letter, his eyes growing wider with each word. “Oh my. Oh dear. But…”

“Just do it, Simon,” Azerick ordered softly.

Azerick’s steward raced down to the treasury and reappeared moments later carrying a small, ornate box measuring just a hand span in width and a couple inches tall. Azerick took the box and handed it to the courier.

“Tell your man to deliver this message to my son: there will be a reckoning.”

The man ducked his head and made haste for the doors. Azerick rubbed his temples in an effort to massage away the pain building in his head. Looking skyward as if beseeching the gods for help, he sighed, summoned his staff to hand, and made for the door with Simon following closely on his heels.

“Simon, check in on Raijaun for me. If he is feeling up to it, I need him to mind the barrier. I do not expect to be gone long, but now is not the time—.”

A mighty roar thundered across the grounds. Clouds, angry and black, rolled in like the waves of a storm-tossed sea. Lightning streaked across the sky, splitting the clouds into the multiple panes of a giant, darkness-enshrouded stained glass window. Azerick sprinted toward the commotion, his nerves on fire and his stomach churning with the realization that he had forgotten something terrible.

He came around the tower just in time to see Sandy smash her tail into the side of one of the school buildings, sending deep fractures all along its length. A second strike made the wall crumble and the roof cave in. Students began fleeing the wreckage through the doorframe still standing at the far end. Sandy swiveled her huge head toward the panicked children and reared back.

Azerick’s body and magic acted before his mind fully comprehended what either he or Sandy was about to do. A near invisible ray of force struck Sandy in the side of her head, shifting her tooth-filled maw away from the scrambling students just as she unleashed a torrent of flame. Her fiery breath instantly set the timbers of the collapsed building alight as if they were dried kindling.

Sandy directed her fearsome glare at the sorcerer and unleashed another mighty roar along with a second jet of fire. Azerick raised a ward and felt the heat wash over him. His shield protected him from the intense flames, but the heat of it scorched the ground and cracked the stone all around him.

“Sandy, stop!” Azerick cried.

The young dragon’s only response was to leap at him, clearing the fifty feet separating them in a single bound. Sandy crashed down with surprising grace and swiped a big, scaly paw at Azerick like a cat. The clawed hand caught him in his left side, sent him flying through the air, and tumbling across the ground. Had his body been as frail as the human form he took, the strike would easily have crippled or killed him.

Azerick rolled to his feet, his legs spread and crouched in a defensive posture. “Sandy, block them out of your mind! You must fight them!”

Sandy appeared to claw at the sky and pulled down bolt after bolt of lightning. The powerful bolts stabbed at the ground, buildings, and humans scurrying for cover. The momentary shock of Sandy’s attack passed, and the mages acted with expert proficiency, raising wards and shielding themselves and others from the elemental attack.

Sandy ignored the tumult around her and focused on Azerick. Azerick fed power into his ward as a dozen bolts converged into a single point aimed for the top of his head. Light flared all around him, blinding him in its intense luminescence. The sorcerer’s ward fought against the lightning’s awesome power, crackling and sparking in protest.