“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 dismissi
ve 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.
Azerick grabbed his son as he took a couple stumbling steps back and guided him into a nearby chair. “Are you all right?”
Raijaun took several deep breaths before nodding. “I am very tired is all, but there is no pain.”
“You did very well. Go to your room and rest now. I am afraid I will need you again very soon.”
Raijaun was too tired to ask what it was and plodded up the steps to his room. Azerick knelt beside Sandy’s big, wedge-shaped head and stroked her brow. He dreaded waking her, and not just because he feared his preparations could prove inadequate, but because of her reaction when she sees what he did to her. What he did was far more than mar her brilliant scales. Sandy’s dragon name, given to her by her mother, translated as ‘Beautiful One Whose Scales Shine with the Glory of the Morning Sun’. Azerick’s solution destroyed not just her scales, but her very identity as a dragon and the only real connection she had with her mother.
With a deep sigh of remorse, Azerick removed the iron muzzle and laid his hand upon Sandy’s brow. “Awaken.”
Sandy’s eyes fluttered for just a moment before she leapt away and cast her head back and forth, her eyes wide with panic. The chains holding her in place clattered loudly and groaned in protest. Azerick took several hasty steps back and raised his hands.
“Sandy, it’s okay. You’re safe now,” he said calmly.
“The Scions, they called to me! They commanded me! I tried to block them from my mind, but they were so loud and their voices had so much power,” she wailed frightfully.
“Can you still hear them?”
“Barely, like the echo of a whisper.”
“I have blocked them from your mind as best I can.”
“How? What…?” Sandy craned her neck around and looked at the runes covering her body. “What have you done to me?” she asked in a whisper.
“I had to create a permanent magic to protect you.”
“So many?”
Azerick swallowed and took a deep breath. “No, but I wanted to make you stronger so you would be better able to protect yourself.”
“To make me a better weapon for you to use, you mean!”
Azerick dipped his head in shame. “Both statements have merit.”
“You had no right!”
“No, but I had great need. Sandy, I’m sorry. I should have expected this, but I thought of you like family, more like a daughter than a dragon.”
“If I was truly your daughter then you should have protected me!”
“I am sorry, Sandy. I failed you.”
Sandy’s jaw worked to form words, but her fury was too great to give them voice. She wanted to demand that he fix her scales. She wanted to ask if she had hurt anyone, but her pain crushed reason. She glared at the chains and summoned her magic. The steel glowed hot and she snapped them with ease. With a furious roar, she slashed at the empty air and tore a great hole in space. To Azerick’s eyes, it looked as though she were leaping straight for him, bent on tearing him apart, but she vanished through the gate halfway to him. Even from beneath the new tower, Azerick was able to hear her pain-filled bellow as she flew away.
It was with a heavy heart that Azerick made his way up the stairs. Although he was as strong as a team of horses, Azerick felt as though his feet weighed a thousand pounds each as he st
ruggled to lift them to the next step. He found Miranda, Aggie, Allister, and Rusty waiting for him in the parlor when he finally emerged from the winding staircase.
“Azerick, are you all right?” Miranda asked fretfully.
Azerick halfheartedly returned her soft embrace. “I am well enough.”
“We heard Sandy make such racket before she flew off. We weren’t sure if she had attacked you again.”
“No, Raijaun and I were able to block the Scions’ influence.”
“She seemed mighty upset when she lit out of here,” Allister said.
“The methods we employed were unpleasant. She needs time to adjust. On that matter, I feel it urgent to make an adjustment as well.”
“What kind of adjustment?” Rusty asked.
“Sandy’s domination makes it clear that the Scions are very close to escaping. There is no longer anything Raijaun and I can do to stop or even slow them. One of our greatest weapons is the Source pool beneath the old tower. North Haven will be the first city to fall when the Scions and their minions attack, and we cannot lose the well when it does.”
“How do you propose we prevent it?”
“We must move it.”
“You want to move an entire tower and the single most concentrated source of magic in the known world?” Rusty asked incredulously.
“In a sense, yes. What I want to do is shift its existence so it is hidden, but we can still tap into its power.”
Aggie’s face went ashen. “Boy, you better not be proposing what I think you are.”
“We cannot afford to lose the well. Without it, our mages will fatigue too soon, and we will be defenseless against the dragons.”
“The elves failed in their attempt to do this very thing and nearly made themselves extinct in the process!”
“I witnessed what they did, and I understand the mistakes they made. The elves tried to move too much too far. We will only be shifting the tower a short ways outside of our reality. It will present far less of a challenge than what the elves tried. The elves also did not have a Guardian or a Source pool to aid them.”
“It’s still damned insane!” Aggie protested loudly.
The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) Page 12