by Bob Blink
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It wasn’t until the second storm that she’d been able to weaken the mast sufficiently that it broke under the stresses of the wind loaded sails. She directed her action up toward the deck level, so when the mast snapped, it did so close to where it intersected the deck, dragging two of the sailors and all of the sails into the water. The ship tilted alarmingly, and was in real danger of over-turning until the crew managed to chop away the lines that held the ruined mast to the ship. Once freed, the pole and sails disappeared aft, the ship being blown by the heavy winds and the sails dragging the pole ever deeper into the water.
Without the added sails, the ship couldn’t run properly against the wind, and was battered and thrown by the rough ocean waves. Unbeknownst to the crew, the bilge had been gradually taking on water, and the ship was sluggish because of the added weight as well. By the time the storm passed, the crew was worn and tired, and the ship looked far less majestic than it had when they set out. During the checkout of the vessel after the storm, the crew discovered the water in the bilge, and realized it was far more than could be explained by the storm.
“I know you’re responsible,” said As’org, “but I can’t understand how. You’ve been locked up since we left shore, and I’ve never sensed any bit of the power around you. You’ve been heavily dosed every day, so none of this makes sense.”
They were on deck, the first time she’d been out of her cabin since they’d set sail. She’d been brought here by the two subordinate wizards to talk with As’org and the captain, who stood near the rail watching her. The ship still lurched and bounced, with vast sheets of spray flying into the air and sometimes splashing toward the crew, but these were seasoned sailors, and a bit of wave didn’t even warrant their attention.
“Responsible for what?” Shyar asked playing dumb. She wasn’t much of an actor, and wasn’t sure how well she was going to be able to handle this meeting. For now she was helpless, being blocked from the power by the actions of the two wizards that had brought her on deck.
As’org shook his head as if he expected her denial. “You’ve accomplished your goal,” he said finally. “The ship is going to have to put into land for repair. Fortunately we are near Kimlelm, and we have control over much of the coast there. I just wanted you to know that your efforts are not going to have helped you much. In fact, we are going to have to watch you much more closely than I realized.”
“Captain!” yelled one of the sailors from up top in the rigging.
Everyone looked where he was pointing. Out in the water were two very large, gray colored objects, headed directly for the ship. “Octi!” yelled the crewmember, clearly scared.
The captain turned toward As’org and the other two wizards. “Kill them. They will destroy the ship if they can. They think we are playthings. We are already damaged, and have no chance of trying to outrun them. Use your magic.”
As’org had already let loose with an impressive beam toward the approaching creatures. The remaining two wizards hurried to the rail to support their leader, and without thinking dropped their block of Shyar’s link to the power.
It was too good a chance to pass up. She had been free of the bark for days, and quickly lashed out with a ball of force toward As’org as she’d planned. He had shields in place, but he wasn’t anchored, and her blast picked him up and flung him far out and away from the ship to land in the water. Quickly she raised her own shield, the standard one rather than the shield-pair. Something warned her she’d better not reveal that capability just yet. There were two more wizards to deal with, both of lower power. If she could eliminate them, the crew would have no choice but to follow her commands. Jolan had convinced her the idea of not using magic against non-wizards was silly. She’d do whatever was necessary to escape.
Realizing what she’d done, the two remaining wizards had turned back to deal with Shyar. She was already blasting at the shields of Tinos, who seemed to be the weaker of the two. If she could bring him down before they blocked her, the lone remaining wizard would be helpless against her higher level. She could sense she was winning and that Tinos’ shield was about to fail when suddenly she was cut off. How?
Tinos hung his head and said, “Thank you captain. She just about had me.”
The captain nodded and released his control as the two wizards tightly locked their block in place. The captain could use the power, Shyar realized. He wasn’t very strong, but it had been enough to complete the block. She’d been so close.
Chapter 91
“You think you’re pretty smart,” said Draan.
She was one of the two female wizards that had been assigned along with Mishim and Tinos to watch Shyar on the trip overland. As’org had never been found, lost in the waves as the crew battled the remaining Octi. Once free of the beast, the captain made a run towards land, coming ashore a bit north of Yermo. Einau and Wint were heavily blockaded, but were still in the hands of Kimlelm’s military. At least for now. Once they made shore the wizards decided that they would complete the journey to Ale’ald by land. It would take a bit longer, but they didn’t have another ship readily available, and no one was sure what would be required to make the damaged ship seaworthy once again. Trying to contact and conscript one of the blockading ships would simply take too long that the advantage of doing so would be lost.
“From this time on you will be dosed and blocked, at all times. Dragons! I wonder what Cheurt finds so important that he is willing to waste so many resources on you, but I’m not going to be the one to disobey him.”
She handed Shyar a glass filled with brown liquid. Draan was administering the Karonabark in the recommended manner. It was already dissolved in the water, meaning her previous technique of resisting the substance would be useless. Shyar took the glass and drank the liquid as directed. She’d find another way. Already she was encouraged. There was only one reason Cheurt wouldn’t have her killed. She was intended to be a lever against Jolan. That meant he was still alive and free. She needed only to hang on.
The four wizards, two of whom had been added to the group along with the six guardsmen they had appropriated from the Ale’ald forces that fought near Yermo, set off to the south across Kimlelm. They were on horseback, a means of travel that Shyar hadn’t experienced in a long time, although she’d once been quite a horsewoman. No reason she could think of to make her abilities known, and she was as clumsy as possible with the animal, which caused her to be the source of certain jokes, but which she endured gladly. Anything that might work in her favor later she’d be willing to try.
Shyar could see that many of the locals were relatively free to go about their business under the watchful eye of the occupying forces. Most looked hungry and thin. They passed a few gallows, which had bodies still hanging from the nooses, an object lesson as to the fate of anyone caught acting against the Ale’ald interests. It was one way they were keeping the conquered citizens in line. They made a wide swing around Yermo. Apparently the capital city was still resisting, even if totally surrounded. It was really pointless. Time was on the side of Ale’ald. With no supplies coming in, those resisting were doomed to fall. Their main contribution was to keep a large block of Ale’ald troops occupied while their countrymen organized resistance elsewhere.
Shyar was kept heavily dosed, and she supposed, blocked as well. Without access to the power her ability to sense any blocking was destroyed, so she had to assume the wizards were following through with their stated intentions. They certainly had stayed close to her during the daily travel. Mishim, who’d been quite talkative and almost friendly, now avoided her as much as possible. Draan appeared to have taken charge of the troop since joining the group. Shyar bided her time, taking the best advantage she could each night when she was left to sleep. An opportunity would arise somewhere along the way. It had to.
They passed by the port city of Sisco which had fallen to Ale’ald forces some time ago. Now it supported the flow of soldiers and supplies from Ale’ald
into Kimlelm, skirting the mountain ranges and allowing for easy access to the country. Shyar didn’t realize it, but Sisco had been their intended destination from the beginning, since it was closer to the Academy inside Ale’ald than any of the port cities in the country itself.
The enemy troops were thick in this part of the country. As they headed up toward the mountains where the initial battles had been fought months before, they encountered numerous patrols and large numbers of the enemy. Many were crossing over into Kimlelm via the now wide open mountain route along the southern border.
Time was running out when she was offered her opportunity. In a few days they’d be in Ale’ald itself, and then her chances of escape would be almost non-existent. The careful watch that had been put on her during the early days of travel had become less careful as the days and then weeks passed. They had started to assume she was beaten, and the daily routine was making them careless.
They had stopped to set up camp for the night, a bit earlier than was usual. The spot they chose had a wide stream, a large grassy area enclosed by a band of trees, and was on the last of the relative flats before starting the gentle climb up the small hills that led to the passes. Three of the soldiers had been sent to gather firewood, while the remaining three soldiers plus the two male wizards had taken their horses over to the stream to drink. They were for the moment around the edge of the trees and mostly out of sight. That left Shyar alone with the two female wizards. Draan and her associate had unloaded their own horses and had chosen the spot where they would spend the night, and now had Shyar setting up her own bedding. While Draan watched over Shyar, her associate said something and slipped quietly away into the brush in a direction away from the men. That left Shyar alone with Draan for the moment.
This was probably her last chance, Shyar thought, and as she walked near Draan with the blankets from the horse, she pretended to catch her left arm in the sticker brush she was passing.
“Dragons!” she exclaimed, dropping her load and bringing her left hand up to look as though it had been cut by the brush.
Draan’s eyes turned instinctively toward Shyar’s left hand, and while she was distracted, Shyar used her right hand to pull the short, sharpened stake out from under her blouse where she’d managed to keep it hidden for some time. The point wasn’t that sharp since she’d only had rocks to use to put the point on it, and then only at rare times, but it was sharp enough, especially when pushed forward with the considerable enthusiasm Shyar lent to her attack. Shyar would dearly have liked to know if Draan had her shield in place, but she would know soon enough. She expected that Draan no longer bothered. Shields were a nuisance when they weren’t needed, and most would forego holding them for long periods. If Draan had been conscientious then Shyar’s attack was doomed to failure, but she would be no worse off. These people were afraid to really harm her given the instructions they had received from Cheurt. That gave her a bit of freedom she would otherwise not have had.
The sharpened stake punched through the thin shirt and struck Draan just under the rib cage penetrating a couple of inches into her flesh. As Draan’s eyes suddenly opened wide with pain, a hiss of escaping breath told Shyar she had been right about the lack of a shield. Shyar grabbed the base of the stake with both hands and lifting and shoving at the same time pulled Draan up on her toes so that her entire weight was supported mostly by the tip of the stake. It slid in even deeper into Draan’s chest cavity, the point finding her heart. With a sudden shudder, the tenseness went out of the wizard, and her head fell forward onto her chest. Giving the stake one more heave for good measure, Shyar then tried to pull the stake out, but it was too deeply embedded in the flesh and she didn’t have enough purchase. Letting go of the stake, she allowed the wizard to drop to the ground, and turned without another thought to where their horses had been tied. She grabbed Draan’s shawl for a bit of a disguise, but it was all she had time for. She knew she only had moments before Draan’s associate would return from wherever she’d gone, and one of the men could come back from the stream at any time. She would like to take Draan’s horse as well, but she knew from past experience the horse was well aware of who her rider was, and was feisty around anyone else, so she took her own second rate animal instead. She’d probably have to abandon it once she was in the forest anyway.
It would be getting dark in a little over an hour and a half. If she could only get into the trees, she’d have a chance to stay hidden until the Karonabark wore off and her link to the power returned. Then she could raise her shield-pair and be protected. If they came after her with their own standard shields raised, she could track them and either avoid them completely or wait until she could bring them down one at a time. If they came without shields, then they were all dead. It was that simple.
Suddenly, she heard a shout behind her. So much for her being able to slip away unseen. Now that they’d seen her, the trees she’d been making for were too close to provide any safety. She shifted her direction slightly and headed up the hill toward a stand that was farther away. She was good with horses. It was too bad they had stuck her with one that was well past its prime. Maybe she’d enough of a lead to make it to cover, and maybe not. She’d simply have to try. If those following were any of the remaining wizards, then they could bring her down at a distance. Her only advantage would be their reluctance to use any spells that would harm her.
She was well up the hill and approaching the tree line she’d targeted for her escape when she felt the horse stumble. Since there was nothing to have caused the horse to trip, she knew those closing on her were wizards, and they had done something to the animal. She jumped clear as the horse went down, hitting the grassy ground in a roll. She banged her side on a rock, but was able to regain her feet and start a hurried walk toward the trees now painfully close while holding her side with her left hand. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it. Already she could hear the hoofs pounding on the hill behind her. Just as she was about to reach the first of the trees, three men stepped out from behind cover ahead of her, farther up the hill than she’d planned on going before slipping into the stand of trees. Each of them had a rifle and pointed it in her direction. She’d barely had time to realize they were there, when two of the men fired.
Mojol had spent a number of weeks behind the enemy lines. He and three of his men had been cut off some time before, and despite frequent attempts they’d never managed to make their way back to their own troops. Ale’ald simply had too many men in the area. They lived off the land, or off the food they could steal from their enemy. One of his men had been killed, leaving just the three of them. They had become expert at hiding, and had used their talents to bring down a number of wizards, using up all but two of the precious special ammunition. Mojol himself had killed two of the Dragonspawn. After each wizard killed, the enemy had increased their efforts to find the elusive sniper team, but thus far had not managed to bring them in, although there had been a number of close calls.
They had been making another attempt to see if they could find their way home, but had no idea where the front lines were now located, and found themselves on the edge of the hills without a clear way to go forward. Without the concealment provided by the forest, it was far too easy to spot them. They had almost decided to turn west and try and make their way to the mountains and slip through into friendly territory that way. It would be a long trip, but safer than moving out onto the plains.
If Mojol had been smart, he would have slipped back into the trees when he’d seen the woman charging up the hill with a group obviously trying to catch her. Of course, if he’d been smart, he’d have followed his father’s advice and stayed home in the first place. He wondered what his father would think if he knew that Mojol had finally agreed with him on something.
He could tell that the two men closest to the woman were wizards from the clothes they wore. There were two of them, and they had exactly two of the special rounds of ammunition left. He handed one to his best shoot
er, and loaded the other himself. He’d gotten good at this, and intended to take down one of the men himself. As one they stepped out from cover and sighted on the two wizards coming up the hill. The wizards were so focused on the woman, whom Mojol suddenly realized he’d seen before, that they didn’t see the danger. They were within twenty yards of her when Mojol and his partner fired, the copper-covered bullets slamming into the wizards and killing them instantly.
The sound of the shots captured the attention of the three men and the woman wizard coming up the hill further down the slope having started later than the others. It was also heard by a group of patrol soldiers a bit further up the hill that Mojol had not realized had moved into the area, his attention having been focused on the escaping woman. He signaled her to come his way, but before she could react to the changing situation and follow his instructions, Mojol and his men came under fire from above. More than thirty soldiers fired into the spot occupied by Mojol and his two men. Most of the rounds missed, but two struck Mojol, one in the side of the head, and another in the chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. His two men fared no better, and by the time the patrolling soldiers arrived, the three were dead.
Shyar had no place to go. More soldiers were coming out of the trees, several from the very spot where she’d intended to slip away. With men above and below her, she had no place to run. While she was trying to decide which way to go, Draan’s assistant came up behind her and clubbed her unconscious.
When Shyar woke, she was tightly bound to a tree back at the camp they’d been setting up when this all started. She was forced to drink more of the liquid and she found something else had been added to the mix, causing her head to become groggy and thick. They had to tie her to the horse for the rest of the trip because she wasn’t really able to hold on alone. It took another two weeks of travel, most of which Shyar couldn’t remember, but they finally delivered her to Cheurt. The trip had cost them a number of wizards, and several men, but it was a hollow victory in Shyar’s mind. She should have been able to get away.