“Sir, it is very important I leave tonight on your ship. You can put me on half rations. I brought a lot of my own food and can catch fish if I run out.”
“Sounds like you’re running to me, lad. You wanted by the Watch, is that it?” the Captain asked, a hard frown deeply creasing his face.
“No, sir,” Azerick answered honestly since the watch probably was not looking for him yet, “I just have urgent business I must attend to.”
“And where might that urgent business be?”
“Where are you sailing?”
“North Haven, after a roundabout loop through the Inner Isles,” the Captain answered.
“Perfect, that is where I have business.”
“I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in, boy, but I don’t need it on my ship, and I want no part of it.” The Captain turned to retire to his ship.
“Peg knows me well and will vouch for me, Captain!” Azerick called at the departing sailor’s back.
The Captain turned back and eyed the young man standing before him to see if a lie hid behind the youth’s eyes. “You say you know old Peg do you?”
“Yes, Captain, I do. He sailed with my father.”
“Wait here and I’ll go have a word with old Peg. If you are lying to me, boy, you had best not be here when I get back. I don’t much appreciate having my time wasted, particularly when I’m already behind schedule.”
Leaving his warning hanging in the air, the old sailor walked toward the row of shops and buildings facing the docks and the open ocean. Azerick hoped Peg would vouch for him. It was a stretch claiming he knew Peg, but he said he had sailed with his father. Hopefully it would be enough. Nearly thirty minutes passed before Azerick spied the captain reappear out of the darkness.
“You might have saved me some time by telling me straight away who your father was, lad,” the Captain grumbled. “Although, if my brain wasn’t so full of seawater I suppose I would have picked up on the name. Darius talked about you all the time. He was a good captain and a good friend. Grab your bag. I’ll show you where you can store yourself and your gear. The name’s Captain Zeb, by the way.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Azerick said as he shook the boat captain’s calloused hand.
“You’ll still work, make no mistake. I don’t allow no freeloaders, no matter who their father was.”
“Yes, sir! It will be my pleasure to work on your ship.”
“If you think it’ll be a pleasure then you haven’t spent much time on a boat; especially mine.”
The Captain gave Azerick a footlocker and showed him to a bunk in a tiny room under the forecastle. He was forced to live in the cramped space since all other bunks on the ship were accounted for, but he did not mind. The space had no porthole for fresh air, but he enjoyed the privacy. He could conjure a light that would allow him to study the few books he had brought with him when he wasn’t working the decks.
As soon as he stored his gear, Azerick was ushered back onto the deck and instructed to help pull in and stow the mooring lines. Once the thick ropes were secured and the ship underway, Captain Zeb assigned a sailor to break him in and literally show him the ropes.
He recalled how Peg had been teaching Bran about knot tying, which apparently was a vital skill for any sailor working aboard ship as it was the first thing a sailor named Balor showed him. Perhaps if the night’s events had not frayed his nerves so much he would have recognized the Captain’s name as the same man Bran had shipped with on his quest to rescue Andrea.
Azerick enjoyed the salty air and the wind in his face. Memories of sailing with his father flooded his mind and brought a rare smile to his face until he remembered he would never again sail with him.
***
Rusty stood before the headmaster, the entire teaching cadre, the Chief Constable, and Travis’ father.
“Now, Franklin, tell us everything you can about what happened last night if you would, please,” Headmaster Dondrian instructed.
Rusty took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. “I talked to Azerick earlier that day. He said if anything should happen to him he wanted me to have his alchemic set. It was an odd thing to say, and it is a very expensive set, so I asked him if anything was wrong. He said he had to leave to take care of some things and that he might be gone for a while.”
“Did he say where he was going or what he had to do?” Chief Constable Lazlo asked.
“No, sir. I asked, but he said he didn’t want to get me involved, and then he changed the subject.”
“Tell us more of what happened last night in the clearing,” the Headmaster directed.
“I knew something was wrong, so I waited until he left and followed him out to the clearing. Azerick and Travis faced each other in mutual duel. Azerick’s spells were completely absorbed by Travis’ ward. He must have been wearing an enchanted item, because no spell he knew could protect him that effectively.”
“I object to that statement, sir. This student could not know what kind of power Travis could weave into his casting. He is a Beaumonte. Unlike others, the blood in our family has run pure for generations,” Lord Beaumonte insisted.
Magus Allister’s gruff voice filled the room as he interrupted the nobleman. “No, Franklin could not, Lord Beaumonte, but as one of your son’s teacher’s I can assure you that a spell shield with that kind of power was far beyond the abilities of all but the most experienced students here. Travis was only a mediocre wizard at best, despite the purity of his blood.”
Lord Beaumonte jumped to his feet and shouted. “I will not stand by and have my son’s memory slandered, sir!”
“Truth is not slander, my lord,” Magus Florent said in support of Magus Allister. “Go on, Franklin, what happened next?”
“Azerick must have realized that none of his lesser spells were able to touch him, and having been struck several times by Travis’ magic, he used a more powerful spell. He cast a lightning bolt and knocked Travis to the ground. He then turned to face those three over there.” Rusty pointed at Travis’ friends. “He knew they would shoot him in the back if he got the upper hand on Travis.”
Several shouts of protest erupted from the accused student wizards, but the headmaster quickly hushed them.
“I was watching from the cover of the trees, and when I saw all three preparing spells, I cast a spell to disrupt them.”
“He set our shirts on fire and burned me!” one of the boys protested.
“Be still, Ronald,” the Headmaster ordered. “I will deal with you three in a moment.”
Rusty continued. “Azerick turned back to Travis who was on his feet and pointing his wand at him. Azerick told him to put the wand away and admit defeat. Travis told him he was going to kill him and then me. Again, Azerick warned him not to use his wand or he would be sorry. Travis did not listen and triggered his wand. When he did, it blew up, killed him, and did all the damage you saw in the clearing.”
“It sounds like Azerick knew the wand was going to malfunction. Is that true, Franklin?” The Headmaster asked.
“Yes, Headmaster. Azerick cast a spell on it one day after Travis and his friends beat him up in the halls, but he didn’t know it would react so violently. He told me he thought it would just break.”
“Do you know why Azerick met Travis in the clearing last night?”
“He told me he had stopped Travis from raping a girl the night of the ball, and Travis challenged him,” Rusty replied coldly as the room burst into shocked mutterings.
“Objection, Headmaster, that is hearsay! Three other witnesses have discounted the accusation, and the girl refuses to speak of it!” Lord Beaumonte said in defense of his dead son.
“Lord Beaumont is correct. Without another actual witness, anything Azerick allegedly said must be discounted until he appears to give testimony,” Chief Constable Lazlo affirmed.
“Do you know where he went after the incident, Franklin?”
“No, Headmaster, he refused to tell me or even hi
nt as to where he was going or what he was going to do.”
“Would you tell us if he had?”
“No, Headmaster, not even under the threat of torture,” Rusty swore and meant every word of it.
“Well, let us just see about that, young man!” Lord Beaumonte snarled; his voice thick with malice.
Magus Allister rose from his chair once again, his anger evident on his wrinkled face. “Threaten one of my students again, Lord Beaumonte, and any relation or protection you may enjoy from the Duke will not be sufficient to protect you!”
Travis’ father hastily backed away, pointing a quaking finger at the old wizard. “My son is murdered in your academy, and now one of your instructors dares to threaten me! This is intolerable! I demand he be arrested at once!”
The Chief Constable looked from the Duke’s cousin to the very formidable and supremely angry archmage. “My Lord, I’m sure we are all terribly upset at everything that has happened. Tempers are of course running high, but I am certain the Magus does not truly wish to cause harm to anyone. Let us just calm ourselves as best we can and see that justice is served. Given all the testimony we have heard, I feel it is best to hand this case over to the magistrate for further review. We can do nothing right now until the accused is located anyhow.”
“There may be nothing you can do, but I assure you that my resources do not lack your magistrate’s limitations!” Lord Beaumonte shouted as he left the meeting, slamming the door behind him.
“What is going to happen now, sir?” Rusty asked.
“It’s in the hands of the magistrate’s office now, Franklin. At this time, you are considered nothing more than a witness. Any punishment that would normally be incurred from casting offensive spells with intent to cause harm to another student or citizen will be dismissed given the mitigating circumstances,” Headmaster Dondrian assured him. “Let it be known however, that any aggression between you four young men will not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate dismissal from the Academy. Is that understood?”
The young wizards all swore that it was, and Rusty shuffled out of the headmaster’s office with his head down and returned to his room. Rusty was awash in emotional turmoil, fearing for his friend while trying to process what had happened last night. He had never seen anyone killed before nor magic used in a way that caused so much damage. He had never really taken his studies seriously, but seeing the awesome, destructive force for what it was, he vowed to change that. A knock at his door startled him away from his ponderings.
“How are you, Franklin?” the Magus stepped into the room and asked.
“I don’t know. I’m scared, and I’m worried about Azerick.”
“I’ll be honest with you; of all the young men I have ever met in my very long life, Azerick is the last person I would worry about. If anyone can come out of this on top, it will be him. Did he ever tell you of how our young friend and I met?”
Rusty and the old wizard laughed themselves to tears as the Magus detailed the accounts of their first few encounters. Both young wizard and old held their stomachs, afraid they were about to burst open as Allister regaled him with the story.
“By the way, don’t you dare repeat what I said.”
Rusty promised that his secret was safe with him and went back to thinking of his friend, but with a bit more hope for his success than he previously had.
***
Azerick had spent the last few days toiling on the ship’s deck and found he actually enjoyed the work. His new friend, Balor, had refreshed his memory on everything his father had taught him about sailing and a host of duties to which he had never subjected his son. He was quickly gaining the acceptance of the crew and was busy checking sail lines and ensuring everything was secured to the deck when a call sounded from the crow’s nest.
“Sails, four points off the starboard bow!”
Azerick scanned the horizon and finally made out the white sails against the blue sky.
“Unknown vessel on a definite intercept course! Make that two ships!” cried the lookout.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” the Captain said as he came up behind his newest crewmember.
“Who do you think it is? What do they want?” Azerick asked.
“It’s pirates, or I’m a one-legged milk maid. Ready the scorpios and deck catapults! I want every man to the armory to draw swords and crossbows!”
Men scrambled everywhere across the deck and into the rigging with cutlasses stuck through their belts and gripping crossbows. No sailor wanted to face a battle at sea, but the treacherous waters made the prospect of doing so a very real hazard, and they all trained for such eventualities.
“I hope you aren’t afraid of a fight, boy.”
“No, sir. Not at all.”
“Then you better be ready to fight like a demon, because we are outnumbered, outgunned, and it’s win or die out here.”
Azerick crossed to the armory, thrust a couple dirks through his belt, and retrieved his staff. You are not as outgunned as you may think, Captain. I bet they do not have a sorcerer on their ship. He just hoped he would be enough to turn the battle to their favor. Azerick would only use magic if forced. The general populace was wary of magic, and sailors were more superstitious than most.
As the two ships cut toward the Sea Star, Azerick was able to make out more details. Both were two-masted schooners, but they carried extra sail for speed. They were lighter ships than the sea star but still sported a catapult on the bow and several scorpios along the rail. Captain Zeb ordered deck shields locked in place. The deck shields were simply iron-banded, wooden shields that slid into slots on the deck and tied to the railings to provide cover from all but the heaviest projectiles.
The men scrambled to follow the Captain’s orders and crouched behind the shields with their crossbows cocked and ready. The minutes turned to hours as Zeb tried to outmaneuver the pirates, but the wind and current favored their foes. Their separation dwindled, and the moment they closed within range the pirate vessels began flinging chain into the rigging. The steel links fouled the lines and tore holes through the sails. The ship began noticeably slowing as the ruined rigging lost the wind. The sailors aboard the Sea Star returned fire with their own catapult, but the pirates continued to gain.
The first pirate vessel closed to within a hundred yards, and the Captain ordered his men to loose their crossbows at will. Dozens of quarrels flew from the Sea Star like a swarm of angry hornets. Azerick saw a few pirates drop to the deck and lay still or withed in pain, clutching at the shaft lodged in their body. The Sea Star’s crew hunkered down to reload, and the pirates returned the assault.
“Pull us to port and do not let them catch us between them!” Zeb ordered.
Azerick watched as the second ship tried to maneuver to their other side. If the pirate vessels caught the Sea Star between them, the flanking assault was sure to tear them to shreds. Already quarrels clattered to the deck or found the backs of men as they shielded their fronts from the first ship. The Sea Star swung hard to port, cutting straight across the path of the second enemy ship, but their maneuver caused them to lose a lot of precious wind, and they fell closer to the pirate ships.
“Prepare to repel boarders!” Captain Zeb shouted as the ships cut the distance by half. Azerick stepped up from behind one of the shields, and the Captain tried to pull him back down. “What are you doing, you fool? Get down!”
“Don’t worry, Captain, I know what I’m doing,” Azerick said with more confidence than he felt.
He wanted to wait, but Azerick knew they were grossly outnumbered, and hesitating would only result in more of his crew’s death. He gathered in the Source knowing that his use of magic would create a rift between him and some if not most of the crew. Zeb would likely drop him off at the next port if he weren’t forced to toss him overboard.
Several crossbow bolts flew at the offered target, but they dropped harmlessly to the deck when they struck Azerick’s magical barrier. Captain
Zeb and the nearby Balor looked on in shock at what should have been a very dead young man. Their faces shifted to downright awe as Azerick raked a bolt of lightning across the deck of the nearest pirate ship.
The brilliant azure bolts tore into the pirates, scattering those nearby and setting fire to spare sailcloth and wooden crates. Azerick then launched a barrage of arcane bolts and sent two more pirates falling heavily to the deck and the rest diving for cover. The crew of the Sea Star quickly snapped out of their astonishment, took advantage of the pandemonium on board the other ship, and fired their crossbows, scorpios, and catapult once again.
“Swing that cat toward the second ship to keep them on their toes!” Captain Zeb instructed while the rest of his crew kept firing at the spell-stricken pirate ship.
Azerick let loose with another round of magical darts followed by a second bolt of lightning. The second lightning bolt cracked the forward mast and set it aflame. As it burned, the weakened wood split, toppled to the deck, ignited several more fires, and trapped and crushed several of the milling pirates below in a tangle of rope and sailcloth. Azerick and most of the crew turned their attention to the second ship that was now close enough to start hurling grappling lines in an attempt to board the Sea Star and overwhelm her crew.
The young sorcerer released another eye-searing bolt, possibly his last given his fatiguing body, at the pirate vessel to great effect. Most of the pirates had been crowding the rails, ready to swing over on ropes or run across boarding planks as soon as they were able to draw the two ships together. Over a dozen pirates fell to the powerful blast, but Azerick refused to give them even a moment of respite.
He sent a barrage of fiery bolts into the faces of three pirates, immediately followed by a lancing strike that speared through one pirate and killed another man behind him.
The sailors aboard the Sea Star shot their crossbows at nearly pointblank range into the massed pirates as Azerick sent a gout of fire similar to the one Rusty had used during his duel with Travis. Between the crossbow bolts, the devastating magical assault, and the burning wreck of the first pirate vessel, the pirates of the second ship quickly lost their nerve. They threw down their weapons and begged for mercy from their would-be victims.
The Sorcerer's Path Box Set: Book 1-4 Page 35