by David Wells
The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that his fear was well founded. It stood to reason that Malachi Reishi would have put the Nether Gate somewhere on the Reishi Isle so he could protect it and control it. When he factored in the captain’s account of dark beasts living on the Reishi Isle, it made even more sense, except the Gate was supposed to be closed. If it was closed, then how did creatures from the netherworld get there without being summoned? And if the Nether Gate was open, then why did Nicolai Atherton warn him about it so urgently? Alexander took a deep breath and imposed stillness on his mind. He had so many questions and too few answers.
What he did know for certain was that he had to make it to the Reishi Keep and then back to Blackstone Keep without being captured or killed. That was more than enough to worry about for the moment. The Nether Gate would have to wait. Even as he made his decision, he knew it might bring doom to the world. One threat at a time, he tried to reassure himself.
“Whatever the obstacles, whatever the cost, I have to get to the Reishi Keep,” Alexander said.
Captain Targa shook his head in frustration and exasperation. “What’s so important that you would risk so much?”
Alexander considered for a moment before he answered. He decided to be straightforward with the captain. He was asking the man to risk his ship, his crew, and his life. “Captain Targa, I’m going to retrieve the Sovereign Stone.”
The captain whistled. “As I hear it, the Stone is outside the world of time and substance. Wouldn’t we all be better off if it stayed where it is?”
“Probably, but Phane has already tried to get his hands on it twice, and I doubt he’ll stop trying until he succeeds. If he gets the Stone, the Seven Isles will fall to him. I have to put it out of his reach for good.”
“What makes you think he isn’t just waiting for you to bring it out of the aether so he can take it? It could be you’re playing right into his hands.”
Alexander nodded. “That’s a distinct possibility but it’s a risk I have to take. If I leave it where it is, sooner or later Phane will find a way to get it.” Alexander fixed the captain with a look of steady resolve. “One way or another, Captain, we’re going to that island. What I need from you is passage there and back.”
Captain Targa was silent for a long moment. He held Alexander’s gaze without flinching before he nodded and a grim smile slowly spread across his face. “It would make for quite a story,” he mused. “My catapults are useless against an attack from the air, but I have six ballistae that can swivel and fire nearly straight up. Might be enough to bring a wyvern down—if we can actually hit one, that is. Are your Rangers any good in a fight?” he asked with a little bit of mischief.
Isabel started to bristle before she saw the edge of his mouth turn up. “They’ll stand their ground, whatever comes,” she said proudly.
“Very well then, we have some planning to do,” Captain Targa said. “Truth be told, I’m pretty confident we can run their defenses and get you onshore before they can muster their forces. I’m far more concerned with what happens after that.”
“Once we’re away on longboats, you should turn and run,” Alexander said. “I suspect they’ll let you go and focus on us. Once you’re out of their sight, stop and wait. I’ll send word when to head back in to pick us up.”
Captain Targa frowned. “Not meaning any disrespect, but how do you expect to send word across several leagues of open ocean?”
Alexander smiled. “Either Chloe will come and tell you we’re ready or a forest hawk named Slyder will bring you a message. Or I’ll come to you in your sleep, so don’t dismiss messages you receive in your dreams.”
Captain Targa looked bewildered. “I won’t pretend to understand how you might do such a thing, but I’ll pay attention to my dreams and tell my men to watch out for a hawk.”
“Slyder’s perched on the yardarm at the moment,” Isabel said. “I’ll introduce you later this afternoon so you know what he looks like.”
There was a knock at the door. A moment later, it opened and a grizzled man with weather-worn skin and a week’s worth of graying stubble stuck his head in.
“Captain, rough seas ahead. Do we have a course?”
“Due west, steady as she goes.” He gave his man a stern look to forestall any question or protest, but Alexander could see fear in the man’s colors.
He nodded curtly. “Aye, aye, Captain, due west, steady as she goes,” he said before closing the door.
“My crew is going to be afraid of the waters you’re taking them into. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll follow their orders but they’re going to talk. What can I tell them about our destination and purpose?”
“Nothing,” Alexander said. “Phane has spies everywhere and ways of gathering information that I don’t yet understand. The fewer people who know our course, the better chance we have of getting there in one piece. Fortunately, I have my own ways of gathering information, as well. I may be able to learn more about these wyvern riders. Hopefully, I can discover something that will give us an advantage.”
“As you wish. For now I need to go take a look at the weather,” Captain Targa said as he stood.
Alexander and Isabel followed him out of his mess and onto the foredeck of the big man-o-war. Anatoly was on the bow with Jack, looking out over the darkening ocean. Ominous black clouds clung to the horizon. Lightning flickered through the storm to the west. The deckhands were busy preparing for the coming turbulence. Isabel looked up and motioned to Slyder. He tipped off the yardarm and landed lightly on her forearm.
“Captain Targa, I’d like you to meet Slyder,” Isabel said, holding her hawk up proudly.
“That’s quite a well-trained bird you have there, Lady Isabel,” he said admiringly.
She smiled. “Oh, he hasn’t really been trained. He’s my familiar.”
He shook his head in wonder. “Today just keeps bringing me surprises.” He chuckled, then turned his attention to the ocean, appraising the sky and the rolling water for a moment.
“It’ll be two days before we’re at risk of drawing the wyvern riders’ attention. Once we cross into the shallows, it’s a league or so to land. I can only take you about halfway there or I risk running aground. I have six longboats, each rated for a dozen men plus a commander and a rudder man. Three boats should get you and your platoon of Rangers onshore. I’d guess it’ll take half an hour at most to make it from the ship to the beach, especially with the tide at your back. For now, I suggest you and your friends retire below decks or you’re going to get wet. My crew will be in to check on you from time to time, but I’m going to be busy until we’re through the worst of this storm.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Alexander said before heading to his cabin. The seas began to swell and the ship started pitching with the rolling water. Again, Alexander decided he preferred to be on land. His footing was better and he didn’t have to worry about drowning.
Chapter 40
The rain battered against the ship and the wind tore at the sails. Alexander and Isabel held each other in their bunk during the night, trying to overcome feelings of total helplessness before the fury of the storm. He thought about the statement the captain had made when he stepped aboard. The truth of it was indisputable. He was just a man. The power that had been thrust upon him was nothing in the face of the raw and untamable power of the world around him.
The storm moved on to the south by midafternoon of the next day. Alexander was grateful to see the light grey clouds overhead instead of the black rain-laden thunderheads. The seas calmed as well, which was more important to Alexander. He’d tried to use his clairvoyance but with the rolling waves, he was unable to find the place of peace and detachment that led to the firmament.
Every time he got close, the boat would pitch and he’d have to catch himself to keep from falling over. He was anxious to learn what Commander P’Tal was doing. He feared they were both making the same voyage and he wasn’t looking forward to facing
the battle mage.
With the fury of the storm past, the captain raised more sail and the ship picked up speed. During the torrential rains and tearing winds, the ship had made little headway. Instead, the crew had been fighting to maintain a heading that kept the boat pointed into the swells to avoid being hit broadside by a wave and swamped or capsized.
Alexander found that he admired the captain. He was a skilled sailor who understood his boat and the ocean. During the storm he remained on deck, barking orders to his weary and rain-soaked crew. Once the worst of it was nothing more than a dark stain on the horizon, he began rotating his crew so they could sleep and recover some of their strength.
Alexander sat on his pack in his cabin and slowed his breathing while relaxing each muscle in his body with deliberate intent. Within a few minutes he was immersed in his meditative routine, facing and dismissing each stray thought that entered his mind until he arrived at the place of empty-mindedness that was his doorway to the firmament.
Then he was everywhere at once, floating on the ocean of limitless possibility. He listened to the music of creation for a moment before focusing his attention on his task. The fear and emotional turmoil was greater than he had ever heard before. People were becoming aware of the inevitability of war; their anxiety was reflected in the cacophony of thoughts, feeling, and events all taking place in the moment where the wave of the firmament crested into reality. The collective angst of the world only served to give greater urgency to Alexander’s purpose.
He focused on Blackstone Keep, and his awareness formed above the mountainous fortress. The place was busy with wagon loads of supplies moving up the long road into the Keep. The garrison had grown and the patrols in the surrounding area were frequent and well organized. Off in the distance to the north, Alexander could see a legion of his soldiers encamped on the open plain and to the southwest he saw another large force positioned around the Reishi Gate.
Alexander moved into the Keep to Kelvin’s workshop. The big mage was busy at his furnace, shaping a breastplate made of dragon steel. He looked tired yet driven to complete his work. Alexander went to the message board. What he saw stirred up such a torrent of emotion that he nearly lost his focus.
The message said they thought they had a cure for Isabel’s poison, but they wouldn’t know for sure until they tested it and then went on to say that several wizards were hard at work looking for alternatives in the event that their first plan failed.
Alexander drifted up through the Keep and into the sky, buoyed by the good news, and floated high above the island of Ruatha looking down at the land and people he was responsible for protecting. It was a daunting thought. The island was huge and the population numbered in the tens of millions. So many people counting on him.
He slipped back into the firmament and thought of Jataan P’Tal. His awareness came into focus in the cabin of a ship rolling violently on a storm-racked sea. Commander P’Tal was lying in his bunk, holding on to the headboard to keep from being tossed to the floor as the ocean roiled around the Andalian warship.
Alexander withdrew from P’Tal’s cabin and took in the ship from above. They were heading northwest through the same storm that had battered the Angellica the night before.
Jataan P’Tal was headed to the Reishi Isle. Alexander pushed through the ship and discovered that it was a Lancer transport vessel. The lower deck was designed to transport the giant rhone steeds. It looked like six had died recently, each one with broken legs—the rough seas were taking their toll on the enemy. Alexander fleetingly hoped that the ocean would claim the ship and Jataan P’Tal with it, but he knew better than to count on it.
He pulled away from the warship and quickly moved high in the sky over the Seven Isles. He watched the world recede below him until he could see the entire known world as if it were a map. It took him a moment to orient himself because the actual shapes of the islands were slightly different than they were depicted on the charts he’d seen all his life.
He found the Reishi Isle and drifted closer until he could make out the shapes of two of the fortress islands that stood watch around the main island. He went to the first to find the deserted husk of a fortress that hadn’t been occupied for many hundreds of years. The second was home to thousands of sea birds, but no people or wyverns. The next was shrouded in clouds and took a while to find. It too was empty except for some foul-looking creatures that Alexander had never seen before and had no desire to ever meet in person.
The next island took even longer to find; it was cloaked by the edge of the storm, with dark clouds reaching down to touch the top of a giant artificial plateau. Alexander caught a glimpse of something big flying across the sky just below the clouds. As he approached, he saw that the fortress island was constructed much the same as the others. The place looked like it was riddled with chambers and passageways cut through the stone. Sheer cliffs rose over a thousand feet above the water, and there were countless openings where wyverns could enter or exit. The flat top of the plateau was more than two miles across.
Alexander moved toward the structure and saw that it was indeed inhabited by people and wyverns all working together for their self-determined purpose. Pairs of wyverns carrying well-armed and armored riders on elaborate saddles came and went as if on patrol. He pushed in toward the cliff wall, but the moment he crossed the threshold of one of the entrance bays, he found his awareness suddenly scattered into the firmament.
It took a long time and a great effort to draw his awareness back into a whole again. It felt much like the time when Phane had scattered his awareness. He had to painstakingly gather the scraps of his essence before he could reunite with his body. His eyes came open with a start. Chloe was standing on the edge of the table, looking at him sternly.
“You know I don’t like it when you do that. It’s like you don’t even exist anymore. It makes me afraid.”
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I don’t do it to worry you—sometimes I need to look in on our friends and enemies.”
“What did you learn?” Isabel asked from their bunk.
Alexander smiled at her with a renewed sense of hope. “The wizards think they have a way to extract the poison.”
She sat up with a look of relief. She had tried to hide her fear, but Alexander knew she was worrying about the poison almost constantly. The poison was a nagging source of anxiety for Alexander as well. The news that the wizards could help her took a huge weight off his soul.
“The bad news is, Commander P’Tal is headed for the Reishi Isle with a bunch of Andalian Lancers. I suspect Phane knows our plan and he’s sent P’Tal to take the Stone from us once we have it. Worse, I tried to look inside the wyvern riders’ fortress and my consciousness was scattered into the firmament. It took me a while to find my way back.”
Both Chloe and Isabel looked alarmed at the danger he’d been in.
“My Love,” Chloe said, “the firmament is a dangerous place, especially for one with so little experience with magic as you. Please don’t send your mind there anymore.”
“I agree with Chloe,” Isabel said. “You can’t risk getting lost and it sounds like you’re vulnerable to forces beyond our understanding while you’re there. Until you learn more, I think you should stop using your clairvoyance unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Alexander thought about it for a few moments before nodding slowly. “There’s definitely a lot I don’t understand about the firmament, but I think the only way I’m going to learn more is with practice. Still, I’ll stop using my clairvoyance if I don’t have to. At least now we know that the wyvern riders’ island is protected by magic, for whatever that’s worth.”
“Did you see any wyverns?” Isabel asked.
Alexander nodded. “They ride in patrols of two and they’re well armed and armored. Even in the storm, they were still coming and going. The wyverns are similar to dragons except their hide is dark grey and looks leathery instead of scaled. They’re about half the size of Tanis, but their
tails are quite a bit longer and end in a bony spike. Their hind feet are taloned like a raptor’s and look powerful. I doubt they’d have any trouble snatching up a horse and flying off with it.”
“Maybe we should have a plan before we run into them,” Isabel suggested.
They went up on deck and found the captain. He was standing at the wheel and looking off toward the horizon. The crew was working diligently at myriad tasks, from clearing the deck of standing water to adjusting the sails. A number of the Rangers were on deck as well—some at the railing waiting to be sick, although the ocean was much calmer and the skies were clearing.
“We should be within launch range by midmorning tomorrow,” Captain Targa said when Alexander and Isabel approached. “The storm cost us some time but not much.”
“Excellent,” Alexander said. “I think we need to plan our approach and our defense so everyone is working together when the wyvern riders come.”
“Agreed. Why don’t we meet in my mess for dinner and discuss it then?” Captain Targa suggested.
Later that evening, Alexander and his friends sat around the little table with Captain Targa and Lieutenant Wyatt, the commander of the Ranger platoon. After dinner was eaten and the table was cleared of everything except a jug of rum, Alexander recounted his clairvoyant experience and described the wyverns in detail.
They spent several hours discussing the best way to meet the inevitable attack. Every capability was discussed and every defensive measure considered. Ultimately, it came down to ballistae and arrows. The wyverns were unlikely to actually land on the ship’s deck, so blades and spears would do little good. At best, they might get a swipe at the underside of a wyvern or maybe a slash at its tail.
Alexander wanted to stop them short of actually doing any damage and drive them off with arrows. He knew the first attack would probably come from a patrol of two. It was the second attack that worried him. He wanted to be onshore before they came in strength. More importantly, he wanted the Angellica to be well outside their area of interest in hopes that they would leave the ship alone.