The Spirit Siphon (Magebreakers Book 4)

by Ben S. Dobson

  “But this time you help us even so,” said Kadka, and offered him a small grin. “You are not great hero, but is progress, at least.”

  He nodded slowly. “Perhaps.” A long hesitation, and then he swallowed visibly and said, “I hope that… when this is over, I hope I might earn the right to see you again. I would very much like to visit you in Audland, one day.”

  She’d expected that he might ask something like that, but seeing it coming hadn’t done much to prepare her for it. It rattled her, the thought of him walking the streets she knew, meeting Iskar and the dragonlings. Being in her life, after so many years. After a long silence, she said. “When is done, we will see. Maybe.” It was the most she could promise, just then.

  His face fell. “I’ve overstepped. I’m sorry, I only thought… I understand, of course, if that is not what you want.”

  In that moment, Kadka felt a sudden, deep pity for the man. It was hard for her to imagine him in her life because she had a life to upset. She’d made a home for herself in Audland, and in Carver and Iskar and her friends she’d found a family, blood or no. Klenn had no one, not really. Not since her mother. He needed this more than she did. And though it had been his own choice to give up what he could have had all those years ago, he was making a different choice now. A choice that involved no small risk to himself.

  Perhaps he’d lived with his regret for long enough.

  She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Maybe is not no, Klenn. I say what I mean. Is because of you my friends are here, safe. Nothing matters more than this for me. But for many years I have no father. Is… not easy for me to know you. I will try. Is all I can promise.”

  A glimmer of hope kindled in his eyes. “That is more than enough. I will wait for your word.”

  “Kadka.” Carver’s voice. She glanced back; he and the others were drawing near once more. He tipped his head toward the boat. “We’d better go. The longer we stay, the more likely it is that someone notices.”

  “Please, before you leave…” Klenn reached into his pocket, and fished out a carved wooden figurine. The same dragon he’d offered her before. “You should have this. She made it for you, not for me.”

  A thickness grew in Kadka’s throat, and she blinked away tears. She’d hurled the thing away the last time, unwilling to accept anything from the father who’d abandoned her. But her mother’s hand was in every line and curve of the little wooden toy, carved for a daughter who had been only a small lump in her belly then. And Henred Klenn had been there too, watched that belly grow, watched the dragon take shape. Denying it wouldn’t make it less true. She found that just a little bit easier to accept, now.

  “Is… a long time since I see her work,” she said. “Thank you.” She held her voice and her hands steady as she accepted the carving and stowed it in her pocket. She would cry later. She wasn’t ready for that just yet, not in front of him. “And goodbye, Henred Klenn. For now.”

  “For now,” he said with a kind of quiet awe, as if he couldn’t quite believe the words. “I will do all I can to change Gerrolt’s mind from here. Be careful, Kadka. This Endo Stooke is a dangerous man.”

  “I know.” Kadka’s fists clenched at her sides. “But I am dangerous too. And he hurts my family. Is time Endo Stooke starts to worry about me.”

  _____

  Tane sat at the stern of the boat with Indree, huddled in his longcoat and scarf against the cold, squinting through sea-spray at the snowy Belgrian coastline as it receded in the distance. The lights of Stelihn were a rapidly shrinking beacon against the dark, far overhead atop the sea-cliffs and further away with every moment. He was glad to see them go.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” Indree said, squeezing his hand in hers. “You look worried.”

  Tane sighed. “I’m just… I’m not sure how to do this. Every time we’ve come up against Endo, he’s gotten away. We did everything we could, and he still got what he wanted. And used me to do it.”

  “We didn’t know what we were getting into,” Indree said. “We do now. He showed us his hand, whatever else he did. Maybe he’s always slipped out of our reach, but we’ve interfered with his plans too. And we have the scrolls from the machine. We can figure out how the siphon spell works, and stop it next time.” She touched Tane’s back, gently nudged him around to face the cabin. “When I look at the team you’ve built around yourself this last year, I can’t imagine anyone else would have a better chance.”

  In the dim blue magelight that lit the cabin, he could see Kadka at the wheel, guiding the cutter over dark seas. She’d insisted on taking the helm, of course—she’d never have missed the chance to steer a magical vessel—and she’d gotten the hang of it quickly, despite a few hard turns early on. The ship bounced as they broke a wave, and Tane heard her cackle with delight. Whatever solemn conversation she’d had with her father, she was still Kadka. He smiled at that. There was nothing in the world so serious that she couldn’t face it.

  Just behind Kadka, Tinga was poking around the ship’s navigational artifacts. She was only there because she’d stowed away, but he wasn’t sure they’d have made it without her. She was young, scared, cut off from her family and in over her head, but she was also as determined and intelligent as anyone he’d ever met. And twice as stubborn. As long as there was a wrong to right, she wouldn’t give up.

  He glanced back at Indree, then. Astra, she is far too good for me. But if she saw in him half of what he admired in her, maybe he wasn’t entirely hopeless. As long as he’d known her, she’d never failed at anything she’d set herself to do. And she’d sworn to serve and protect the people of the Protectorate. If Endo Stooke was a threat to those people, she was going to stop him. Whatever doubts Tane had, he didn’t doubt that. Not for a second.

  Indree caught him looking, raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Just thinking that you’re right. As usual.”

  She smiled knowingly. “Am I now? About which part?”

  “Endo picked a fight with the wrong people,” said Tane. “We’re going to find him, wherever he’s hiding. And we’re going to make him regret it.”

  Thank you so much for reading The Spirit Siphon. I hope you enjoyed it! If you’d like to be notified when more books are released, you can sign up for my mailing list here, or find a link on my website at bensdobson.com. As an added bonus, you’ll receive a free copy of my fantasy short story The Last Hero, exclusive to subscribers. And if you're interested in supporting my work further, check out my Patreon at patreon.com/bensdobson for even more exclusive benefits, including draft chapters of works in progress and advance copies of new books!

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  Finally, for a free sample of the next (and final) Magebreakers novel, The Mage War, flip to the end of the book. Enjoy!

  About the Author

  _____

  Ben S. Dobson is a Canadian fantasy author. When he isn’t writing to indulge his lifelong passion for epic tales, he can probably be found playing Dungeons and Dragons, or watching a Joss Whedon show, or something equally geeky.

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  If you enjoyed The Spirit Siphon, continue the journey with the fifth and final book in the Magebreakers arc: The Mage War, available here on Amazon!

  Framed for treason, the Magebreakers are on the run, fugitives even in thei
r own home country. The nations of the Continent move to blockade Audish harbors, little knowing that they are dancing to Endo Stooke's tune. On the trail of the would-be emperor, Tane, Kadka, and what few allies they have left must risk everything to bring the truth to light and stop the next great Mage War.

  Turn the page for a free sample!

  TANE CARVER HELD his breath as the ancryst cutter picked its way between the jagged sea-crags of the Audish coast in near-complete darkness.

  Potentially boat-sinking rocks on all sides served double duty as both dangerous obstacles and protective cover, hiding the craft from the foreign blockade surrounding Thaless. Ander Cleftchain—the dwarven smuggler sent by Bastian Dewglen to bring them home—must have done this a thousand times before, because despite the moonless night and the treacherous waters, he guided the little cutter along at what Tane considered a rather alarming speed with no light to navigate by.

  He’s either very good, or incredibly reckless. Tane had to assume Bastian wouldn’t have sent the man if it wasn’t the former. And we haven’t hit anything yet. I suppose that’s a good sign.

  He glanced at the others, all stuffed alongside him in the cramped cabin. Ander had insisted on that. Even with muffling artifacts in place to mask the noise of engines or voices from travelling over the water, movement on deck increased the chance of being seen. Better to keep everyone contained, even if there was barely enough room.

  Kadka, Indree, and Tinga were all staring through the windows toward the blockade around the harbor, straining for a glimpse whenever the ships came into view between the crags. If he’d been on solid ground, Tane would have been doing the same, but their passage through the rocks kept drawing his attention away. Travel by ancryst machine always made him nervous.

  The blockade was a sight to see, though, if an unwelcome one. There hadn’t been a real conflict between Audland and the nations of the Continent in his lifetime, and now two dozen ships flying flags of Belgrian red and gold or Estian black and white sat in a wide half-circle around the main port of Thaless, their decks limned in magelight against the night sky. Further in, a dozen Audish ships outfitted for battle filled the enclosed harbor. A single misstep from either force, a slip of a hand on a cannon or a wheel, and both sides would start firing. And in the sky overhead, Audland’s fledgling fleet of airships swept spotlights across the dark water, on constant watch against that first move. Tane recognized the flagship, even retrofitted with ancryst cannons all around the deck: the Hesliar. First and largest of them all, named for a friend he would never see again.

  “Allaea wouldn’t have wanted her name attached to that,” Indree said softly, her eyes fixed on the Hesliar. “She didn’t mean to build a weapon.” Allaea had been her best friend, before the Knights of the Emperor had murdered her in an attempt to derail the airship project and the alliances it had been meant to create.

  Tane took her hand in his. “She’d have cussed them across the Channel and back. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.” He hung his head. “But… I can’t blame them for doing it. Audland has to defend itself. If nothing changes, it’s going to be war. A war I helped start.”

  A formal declaration of war hadn’t actually been made yet, but tensions had grown over the past three months, and the blockade was the most overt sign of aggression yet. Rhienni diplomats had arranged a final attempt at peace talks with their ship as a neutral ground, but it was expected to be the last unless Lady Abena Jasani could prove that the Audish government had played no role in the attack on Kaiser Gerrolt of Belgrier, or the assassination of Chancellor Wilnam Urnt.

  An assassination Tane had carried out with his own hand, if unwillingly.

  Indree squeezed his hand and shook her head. “We’ve been over this. You didn’t start anything. Endo did. Killing Urnt was the only way to save thousands of lives.”

  “But maybe if I turned myself in…”

  “Endo does not let his war end so easy,” Kadka said, her lip curling to reveal her fangs. “His plan does not end if you are in jail. Just leaves one less person who knows to stop him.”

  Tane sighed. “I know you’re right.” They’d made the same case to him more than once, and he’d come to accept it, even if Urnt’s blood had rather literally been on his hands. “It’s just hard to look at all those ships and not wish for an easier way.”

  But there wasn’t one. They’d spent long enough looking to be sure of that.

  In the months since they’d fled Belgrier as wanted fugitives, he and the others had followed Endo’s trail from port to port, working with limited resources and evading the authorities everywhere they went. There was always a suggestion of a plot to lead them on, a vague outline of secret contacts and covert meetings, of illicit goods changing hands. Most recently, the would-be-emperor had stopped in Rhien, where the Stooke family had a number of trade contacts, but Tane and the others couldn’t pin down who he’d met with or why. They’d yet to find any hard evidence of his hand in kindling the growing wildfire—and if they didn’t uncover something soon, the flames would spread beyond any hope of control.

  And now they’d tracked him back to Audland. Which, Tane guessed, meant time was short. Endo Stooke had too much pride to flee again from the place that was supposed to be the heart of his empire—he wouldn’t have come back unless it was intended to be a permanent stay.

  Unless he believed the crown he dreamed of was as good as his.

  Indree set her jaw. “Easy or not, we will stop him.”

  “I have easy way,” Kadka said. “We find him, and I kill him.” Her tone was deceptively light, but her big, furry fists were balled tight at her sides, and Tane knew she wasn’t joking. She’d abandoned the idea of mercy when Endo had escaped on the back of the reanimated dragon he’d stolen from her and Iskar’s little family.

  “Maybe wait until we get some evidence first,” said Indree. “Remember, we’re fugitives here, too. It’s not only the Belgrians or the Estians we have to worry about if we can’t prove Endo is behind all this. We could just as easily end up in an Audish prison.” A practical appeal, rather than the stern opposition she’d have raised just a few months ago at the suggestion of killing Endo without trial. Tane knew Indree Lovial better than most, and he knew that the constable in her hated the idea—but she’d been through enough with them now to know that pragmatism was the best approach with Kadka.

  Kadka shrugged. “Fine. First he talks. Then I kill him. If he gives choice.” And that was the catch—if Endo etched the same siphon spell on himself that he had on Urnt, there might not be a way to stop it without killing him.

  Even if it left them without any way to prove their innocence.

  “Well, at least your priorities are in order,” Tane said. He didn’t think she’d ruin their chance at getting the proof they needed unless she had to, but then, Kadka did love her dragons. “Let’s just hope we find something we can use before it comes to that.”

  “If proof even makes a difference,” Tinga said, without a trace of her usual mischief. “A lot of the people on those boats are looking for an excuse to do something they’ve wanted to do since the Mage War. They want to wipe Audland off the map. They might not want to stop, evidence or no. Belgrier at least thinks they have a reason for all this, but the Estians just jumped on board at the chance to kill mages, and as far as they’re concerned, we’re all mages.” A grim scowl turned her lips. “The one time having no magic might have come in handy, and no one’s going to care.”

  No one had an answer for that.

  She was right, of course. They all knew what was at stake, but Tinga had to feel the risk more sharply than the rest of them, save perhaps Kadka. Goblins were seen as magicless peasants by a great many in Audland, and as creatures of insidious magic by the nations of the Continent—to say nothing of their reputation as sneaks and thieves and criminals on both sides. If Audland fell, it was the goblins and the kobolds and the orcs who would suffer most, whether from Endo and his knights or from for
eign invaders.

  Tane was opening his mouth to say something—although he couldn’t think of anything particularly comforting—when a brilliant light washed over the aft deck, half-blocked by the rock outcropping Ander was easing them behind for cover. It swept quickly past, but the brightness of it left spots in his eyes, adjusted as they were to the dark.

  Tane froze where he stood, and saw the others do the same. “Spellfire,” he swore.

  He twisted his neck to look in the direction the beam had come from. Toward the harbor and high overhead; a searchlight from one of the Audish airships. Which, with things as they were, was no better than the Belgrians or the Estians. Maybe worse. Audland can still send people after us once we’re on land—if anyone in the blockade tries, it’s an act of war. They were already mostly hidden by the crag jutting from the water in front of them, and only a few feet of deck had been caught in the light, but if someone had been looking closely just then, a few feet would be enough.

  Tane turned to Ander at the wheel. “Did they see us?”

  The dwarven smuggler just shrugged his broad shoulders. “Might be they did, might be they didn’t.” As he spoke, he eased the boat fully into the shadow of the crag and pulled a series of levers to cut the ancryst engines and engage the anchoring spells. The boat came to an immediate halt.

  Tane’s balance nearly failed him at the sudden stop—it was only his grip on Indree that let him keep his feet. “You don’t seem very concerned,” he said. He hoped that was a good thing.

  Ander scratched at his thick black beard and grunted in acknowledgement. “Been here before. Nature of the job. Light passed quick, only caught a bit of ‘er, and we ain’t too close. Just depends how keen their eyes are. And luck, much as anything. Nothin’ to do now but wait. We’ll know soon enough.”

  Tane clasped Indree’s hand tighter and held his breath, waiting for an alarm to sound from the harbor.