The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

  Azerick grinned. “I doubt that would have any positive effect on him.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to try.”

  Azerick doubted that very much.

  Zeb found Daebian sitting on an overturned bucket next to Balor tying knots in a length of rope.

  “What else do you do?” Daebian asked. “There has got to be something more interesting to do than tying knots all day.”

  “Half this ship is held together with knots. You tie a bad knot, and the whole thing can come unraveled. Rechecking your knots is a big part of every sailor’s duty. Sails are constantly in need of trimming to catch the best wind. That requires you to tie a knot. Adding more canvas requires tying more knots. If a storm blows and you gotta take down the sheets in a hurry, you have to know how to untie those knots with a quickness. You also better have a good knot on your lanyard, or you’ll be swept overboard and sent straight to Serron. Nope, there ain’t too many things more important than knowing how to tie a proper knot.”

  “How’s he doing?” Zeb asked as he approached.

  “Really good. I only have to show him once and he has it down.”

  “Sailing runs in his blood. I guess there’s something of his father in him after all.”

  Daebian looked up from the knot he was tying. “Yes, poor Daebian is the magically ungifted son. I’m practically a cripple in our household. A boy to be pitied.”

  “I was referring to your lack of common sense and over-developed foolishness. I don’t give half a spit if you can or can’t use magic. As far as I’m concerned, the whole world would be better off without it.”

  “So what are you going to do with me?”

  “If it were up to me, I’d put you in a longboat and let you row back to North Haven. But your father thought you might want to stay aboard and do this run with us.”

  “You spoke to my father?”

  “I talked to his face in my mirror if that counts.”

  “And he told you to keep me aboard?”

  “Aye, he said you showed interest in sailing.”

  “More likely he just wants to keep me out of his hair.”

  Zeb frowned and wagged his head. “I said I don’t care if a man can’t use magic, but one who can’t even be happy when he gets what he wants? Now there’s someone to pity.”

  Daebian accepted the rebuke with a nod. “What am I to do, Zeb?”

  “First off, you call me Captain when we’re on the deck. Second, I’ll tell you the same thing I told your father the first day he hopped aboard. There are no free rides on my ship. You’ll work like any man aboard.”

  Daebian leapt to his feet and saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain!”

  “Balor, you show him the ropes and put him to work.”

  “Aye, Cap’n. Come on, kid.”

  Daebian dutifully followed along, looking in wonder at the vast array of ropes and pulleys used to make the ship function. Men scrambled through the rigging checking knots, tightening ropes, and performing various duties. A few men, mostly younger, scrubbed and mopped the deck.

  “The most important thing to know on a ship is what everything is and where it’s at.”

  “I thought the most important thing was tying knots?”

  “The best knot in the world ain’t worth a damn if you don’t know where to tie it. A man’s life may depend on you knowing exactly where to go. Failure to secure a lower yard arm properly can mean someone’s life if you waste seconds trying to remember where it is.”

  Balor stopped at the stern and began pointing out various parts of the ship. Daebian listened with a rare show of attentiveness. Only in his weapons training did he show such a level of interest.

  “We’re standing on the aft deck, or aft castle. The back of the ship is the stern. This is the mizzen mast. We don’t have it up right now, but the sail coming off the lower mizzen is called the spanker sail. When the spar is in place, it’s only a few feet above the deck. It is easily the most dangerous piece of wood on the ship. If the line securing it in place snaps, that spar will sweep every man right off the deck. The other sails are the mizzen moonsail, skysail, mizzen royal, topgallant, topsail, and the spanker when it’s up.

  “The deck just below us is the quarter deck, and that’s the mainmast. The sails are much the same on each mast: moon, sky, royal, topgallant, topsail, and the lowest one on the mainmast is mainsail. On the forecastle, you have the foremast with the same sails with the lower being the foresail. It’s all pretty self-explanatory. We try to keep it as simple as possible. Hanging off the bowsprit, you have the flying jib, outer jib, and fore topmast staysail. Those help catch the wind coming at us from an angle and allow us to tack into it so we don’t sit dead in the water until a blow shows up to push us in the right direction. Before some bright seaman came up with the jibs, a ship could sit for days waiting for a wind coming from the proper direction.”

  Balor spent much of the remainder of the day explaining the finer details of running a ship. Daebian had no trouble repeating everything Balor taught him whenever he stopped to quiz him. No matter how hard he tried to trick the boy, Daebian was able to recall everything he was told no matter how minute the detail.

  “I tell you, your father is one of the smartest men I ever met, but not even he picked up on all this as quick as you.”

  Daebian beamed under Balor’s praise. “Was Father a good sailor?”

  “He coulda been. He was a quick study too, but even though sailing was in his blood, it weren’t in his heart. I got a feeling you got sailing in your heart. Am I right?”

  “I never gave it much thought. I mean, I always thought I’d like to sail, but I don’t know if it’s what I want to do.”

  “Well, maybe you’ll have your answer by the end of this voyage. It don’t take most folks more than their first haul to know if’n they want to be sailors or not. Let’s see if I can help make your decision any easier.” Balor led Daebian to a group of men scrubbing and swabbing the deck. “Lewis, I got you another greenhorn. Daebian, Lewis is going to show you what your duties are. Every sailor starts here until they become an able seaman. Swabbing ain’t glorious, but it’s an important duty. This salt will eat the deck and everything else it touches.”

  Lewis looked Daebian up and down and smiled as Balor left the boy in his charge. “Hm, you don’t look like much.”

  “Looks can be quite deceiving,” Daebian replied.

  Lewis sneered. “It also looks like you showed up several hours late for your shift. Since we’ve been working all day and you’ve been lollygagging, you can finish the last two hours yourself.”

  “That hardly seems fair, especially considering I was doing as I was ordered.”

  Lewis leaned down to get eye-level with Daebian. “Fair is what I say is fair. I run this crew, and you best watch that smart mouth of yours if you know what’s good for you. I can put you on the foulest duty this ship has to offer. You best remember that next time you think to smart off, boy.”

  Daebian matched Lewis’ glare. “You had best remember that my father owns this and a fair number of ships besides if you think to mistreat me and shirk your own duties.”

  The hostility instantly vanished from Lewis’ face. “You’re Lord Giles’ kid?”

  “Daebian Giles at your service,” he answered with a sweeping bow. “You said there was still two hours left on your shift, so I suggest we get busy.”

  “We, you say?”

  “Yes, we, a word denoting oneself and others. Usually ascribed to a particular group. In this case, our group.”

  Lewis nervously licked his lips. “Right, we. Uh, what do you want to do?”

  “I simply wish to do my fair share of the detail. Instruct me and I shall obey.”

  “Okay. Um, take Bill’s brush and scrub while he swabs.”

  “Aye, aye, taskmaster Lewis,” Daebian quipped with a sharp salute.

  Daebian knelt next to the bucket of fresh water and began scrubbing while the man called Bill mopped it up. The work
was back-breaking and, although he did not complain, Daebian quickly decided being an ordinary seaman was not for him. If he was going to crew a boat for long, he was destined for a leadership role. Captain rang pleasantly in his head.

  “All right, boys, shift’s up,” Lewis announced. “Stow your gear and get ready for mess.”

  Daebian got to his feet, stretched, and followed his fellow deck scrubbers to stow his gear. One of the men whispered he had a jug of rum stashed away, and the others followed him with a smile to whatever dark nook below decks he had it stashed. Daebian had no interest in the drink even if they would have shared it with a boy of an apparent age of twelve. He made for the bow and climbed out onto the bowsprit. He clambered out onto the rope webbing as easily as a spider and rode the gently rising and plummeting bow as the sea spray peppered his face and the wind blew through his hair. Daebian did not need an entire voyage to know sailing was something he enjoyed.

  “Enter,” Zeb gruffly answered the rapping on his door.

  Lewis stepped into the Captain’s quarters twisting a knit hat in his hands. “Pardon my interrupting your meal, Captain.”

  “I assume you think it important. What’s on your mind, Lewis?”

  “It’s about the new boy, Sir. He says his father is Lord Giles. Is that the truth, Sir?”

  “Aye, he is. Is he causing you grief?”

  “No, Sir, not really. He worked well enough today. It’s just I’m unsure how to deal with him. I’m a bit nervous about offending him and losing my job, sir. I like to think I’m up for able seaman soon, and I don’t want to jeopardize that by ticking off the owner’s kid.”

  “I plan on putting you up in the rigging after this voyage. I know Azerick as well as any man, I like to think. He never asked for special treatment of anyone, and I don’t expect he’d ask it for his boy either. I ain’t gonna treat him much different than I would any man on my ship and you shouldn’t either. If he throws a tantrum, I’ll deal with it,” Zeb replied gruffly.

  Lewis bobbed his head as he backed out of Zeb’s cabin. “Thank you, Captain.”

  Daebian tied himself to the bowsprit and slept beneath the stars, cradled in the web of supporting ropes. It took him back to the times his mother cradled him in her arms and smiled at him with limitless love and acceptance. Even when she discovered how different he was, she never treated him as anything other than her beloved son. Nibbling at the very edges of his heart, Daebian came as close he ever would at feeling remorse, for he knew he was destined to betray her unrequited love.

  “Wake up, boy.” Daebian opened his eyes and looked up at Lewis standing near his feet. “Shift’s starting soon, so if you want to eat you best hit the mess hall right quick.”

  Daebian undid his tether, sprinted across the deck, and raced down to the mess hall as fast as the narrow passageway and low doorframes allowed. Lewis was correct; the galley workers were already packing up and Daebian was the last to arrive. Being late was a gamble. If you were lucky, the galley workers scooped the last of the food from the pots so they could clean them and you ended up with more than a normal ration. If you were unlucky, you could be quite hungry by the time lunch rolled around. Luck was with him today.

  He barely had time to wolf down his meal when a shrill whistle sounded the call for all hands to report to their shift. Daebian ran back to the deck, not wanting to give Lewis any reason to berate him. He should have taken his time.

  “You louts grab your mops and brushes. Daebian, you stand fast. I have a special task for you. I spoke with the Captain, and he told me he don’t care whose son you are. He says you get treated like any other sailor, and if you give me lip he’ll toss off the ship.”

  “I see. So what is my task?”

  “You’re gonna clean the bilges.”

  “By myself? It sounds like an unpleasant job. Is this something any of the other sailors would do by themselves?”

  “Don’t matter. It’s what you’re gonna do,” Lewis said with sneer.

  “You’re sure this is the route you want to take with me?”

  For a moment, Lewis was anything but sure. But Daebian had embarrassed him in front of his crew, and ego overrode his mind’s urgent warning.

  “If you don’t like it, go cry to the Captain.”

  Daebian smiled and saluted. “Aye, aye, Mister Lewis.”

  He would do as he was told, but this would not be the end of it. Daebian did not cry to anyone about anything. If he had a problem, he solved it, and Lewis had made himself a problem. Although Daebian’s solutions to problems seemed perfectly logical and reasonable to him, few others would see them that way. Lewis certainly would not.

  Daebian did not work entirely by himself. Others worked the pumps to force most of the stagnant water from the bilge, but he was alone in the fetid water and disgusting muck. He was sure Zeb did not say Lewis could single him out for details that went beyond the normal scope of duties. This work should have an entire detail assigned to it, not just him scooping sludge, climbing back above decks, and tossing it overboard. Lewis was punishing him for what he perceived as backtalk, and obviously had a desire to flex his limited authority.

  For three days, Daebian spent his entire shift hauling bucket after back-breaking bucket of putrid sludge up from the hull. It was easily the worst detail on the ship. The air was foul and the water downright toxic. It was a miserable task even with a proper crew, but Lewis’s desire to punish him for whatever slight he perceived made it torturous. Still, Daebian persevered.

  You should kill him. I hunger, and his blood would give us both power.

  “Lewis will pay for his insult, Klaraxis, but I cannot do something as overt as killing him in his sleep. I will seize the moment when it appears. Forcing it to come will only create more problems.”

  You have a great deal more patience than either of your fathers.

  “I have more of a lot things; Things I will show the world when I am grown.”

  You are a son to make your father proud—one of us anyway.

  It was three days of scrubbing the bilge before the ship finally arrived in Southport. After clearing customs, all hands began unloading the cargo destined for sale or caravans in Southport and bringing aboard the stuff set for sale in Bakhtaran, with exception of the cattle, which they would load in the morning just before setting sail.

  The crew was given a night of shore leave, and most of the men headed for one of the more popular inns near the harbor. What little Daebian saw of Southport impressed him. It was much larger and busier than North Haven. It was raw, and all the sights, sounds, and smells gave the place a chaotic feel he liked.

  The inn was equally impressive and occupied the bulk of the entire block. It sported at least a hundred tables and three bars. It bustled with hundreds of patrons shouting for more beer, ale, liquor, and food, while a continuous stream of prostitutes led men upstairs. Zeb and the bulk of his crew found space where they could sit mostly together.

  “Stay close to me, Daebian,” Zeb ordered. “If you get lost in here, it’s more likely trouble will find ya than any of us.”

  Daebian nodded and continued to watch the crowd, always keeping one eye on Lewis who sat two tables to his left.

  “How do you like working on the ship?” Zeb asked as they ate their meal.

  “I am more tired than I have been in my life, but I like it.”

  “Lewis says you been a good worker. He was worried you would raise a fuss doing the labor of a lowly seaman.”

  “I look at it like my weapons training. We spend hours practicing the most routine exercises. Thrust, return, guard, over and over. It is tedious and exhausting, but it is necessary to learn before jumping in the ring and sparring. I look at it like that.”

  “That’s a real mature attitude you have,” Zeb commended. “I told Lewis I wouldn’t treat you any different than any other sailor, but the truth is, you are the heir to this operation, and there’s not much to learn doing swabby duty. I wanted to test your attitu
de more than anything. When we set sail tomorrow, I’m putting you and Lewis up in the rigging. You especially should learn everything there is to a ship since one day you will be giving your captains orders, and you should know what you’re talking about when you do. Had you been a whiner, you’d be scrubbing decks and cleaning bilges the whole trip.”

  “Thank you, Captain. Captain, how many men should be in the bilge when it’s being cleaned out?”

  “That’s a job for the entire shift. It takes everyone to form the bucket chain to toss the gunk overboard and return the buckets. Any less and it’s not efficient. Why, how many did ya have?”

  Daebian smiled. “All we needed. I was just curious.”

  He turned his eyes back to Lewis, glad Zeb was not aware of his mistreatment. It could have complicated things had he condoned such treatment. Daebian watched Lewis make for the nearest bar. He had to squeeze through the press of people and drew several displeased looks as he did. One rough sailor in particular looked up from his drink and glared, firing off an expletive at Lewis’ back.

  “Captain, I need use the privy. I will be right back.”

  “You want someone to go with you? I’m not keen on letting you out of my sight in this place.”

  Daebian stroked the black jewel set in the hilt of his blade with his thumb. “I’m a proficient fighter. I’ll be fine. I’m small enough most people probably won’t notice me anyway.”

  Zeb looked unconvinced but nodded, torn between not wanting to be a mother hen to the boy and reluctant about letting him wander off in a place like this. He wished now he had picked a calmer tavern.

  I sense intent in your movement. Your moment has arisen?

  “It has. Can you help me?”

  Minimally, but it should be enough. You feel the thrum of power within me. Reach for it with your mind and shape it to your will. I will show you how.

  Daebian focused on the images and feelings Klaraxis fed him. The demon was a link to his abyssal power and, through him, Daebian could channel and shape the dark energy to his will. The thread he was able to draw upon was a thin and feeble thing, but there was power in subtlety if properly used.