by PT Hylton
Fannar raised an eyebrow. “Uh, okay. How can you do that?”
Viktor elbowed him. “She’s magic now. Keep up.”
They ran to the starboard side and climbed onto the rail.
“You guys ready?” she asked.
“Very much so,” Viktor replied.
Fannar just grunted.
Abbey looked at Dustin, and he nodded. When she held out her hands to the men on either side of her, Fannar took one and Viktor took the other.
“Ready? Jump!”
All three leaped off the rail.
As their feet left the wood, it occurred to Abbey that she’d never used her magic on three people at once, or even two. She probably should have tested it before risking their lives.
She concentrated on the places her skin was touching Fannar and Viktor, and all three of them became lighter. Dustin’s gust hit them, and they glided effortlessly across the gap. She slowly returned their weights to normal as they cleared the rail, and they landed gently on the deck.
In an instant, Fannar had his seax in his hand and Abbey had her sword drawn to defend against the warriors rushing toward them.
“Wait!” a voice called.
The Barskall warriors halted in their tracks.
Abbey looked toward the main deck and saw a group of maybe seventy-five people standing shoulder to shoulder. There was no set color to their clothing, but they all wore long robes, much like Viktor’s.
A tall middle-aged man with a bald head stepped forward. When he spoke, his voice was filled with awe. “Viktor! Is it really you?”
Viktor smiled. “Snorri! It’s been too long, old friend. How are you?”
With that, the crowd of Storm Callers erupted in excited chatter. They pressed forward, each of them wanting to speak to Viktor.
Abbey remembered what he had told her. All these Storm Callers had a deep, almost spiritual connection with him.
One of the Barskall warriors stepped toward Snorri. “Enough of this insanity. There’s a battle going on, and these people are the enemy.”
“Lay one finger on them and we’ll toss you and your friends overboard,” Snorri warned. “There are far more of us than there are of you.”
He was right, Abbey realized. There were only a dozen or so warriors aboard, probably there to protect the Storm Callers if the ship was attacked. Or were they there as the Storm Callers’ captors?
“Viktor, who are these people?” Snorri asked.
Viktor grinned. “These are my friends Abbey and Fannar. They freed me from the school.”
A murmur went through the throng of Storm Callers.
Snorri pushed his way forward to put one arm around Abbey and the other around Fannar. “You saved our master from captivity, and we are forever grateful.”
“Yes, well, about that,” Viktor said. “We need your—what’s the word?—help.”
The Storm Callers fell silent.
“Anything, Master,” a woman near the back called.
Viktor bowed his head. “I appreciate that. What I’m asking—well, proposing, really—will help you as much as it helps me. You’ve been forced to toil for the Barskall crown for too long. It’s time for you to be free. But first we have to get out of this battle, and I think I know how to accomplish that.”
He turned to Abbey. “Can we signal the other stormships? We need to tell them to head to the Farrows. They need to get off the water as quickly as possible.”
She thought about that a moment. “Won’t that clear the way for the Barskall fleet to head straight to Holdgate?
Viktor looked her in the eye. “Abbey, you have your magic, and I have mine. Let me do this.”
Fannar shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I don’t know. Should we really trust the outcome of the battle to Viktor?”
Abbey didn’t even hesitate before answering. “After everything we’ve been through together? Yeah, we’re going to trust him.” She turned toward The Winter Night and yelled, “Clemens, we need to signal the other ships! Get a torch!”
***
Benjamin brought his sword down, severing the last rope that tethered The Foggy Day to the Barskall ship that had attacked them. Then he turned and looked around the deck. To his surprise, there was a calmness over the ship. The last Barskall warrior was dead and the ship was safe—except for the epic sea battle raging all around them, of course.
Syd raised her two swords and clanged them together. “That’s the way we do it, crew! Any man, woman, or Barskall who sets foot on The Foggy Day without permission is going to have that foot forcibly removed.”
A cheer went up through the crew. Benjamin thought she probably needed to work on a catchier slogan to yell at the end of battles, but he cheered right along with the others.
“Captain?” one of the men called. “That ship is trying to signal us.”
Syd ran to the starboard side and looked in the direction the man was pointing. Sure enough, a small ship was flashing a message at them.
“What’s it say?” Benjamin asked.
“It’s an emergency signal,” Syd replied. “It’s telling us to head for land as quickly as possible.”
Benjamin scanned the water. As far as he could see the stormships were still losing, but they seemed to be doing slightly better, and the water had suddenly grown much calmer. So why would they signal a retreat now?
Syd elbowed him and pointed at a ship that appeared to be heading toward the Farrows. “That’s Thunderclap. I don’t know what’s going on here, but if Captain Roy is complying with the signal’s request then so are we.”
***
Abbey, Viktor and Dustin stood on the beach on the island of Vagar. Liv and her army were lined up behind them, ready to defend the Farrows if the Barskall tried to come ashore.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Dustin said.
“I do,” Viktor assured him, “or at least I think I do. In theory, this very likely could work.”
“Wonderful,” Dustin grumbled.
Abbey looked at the stormships fleeing the battle and heading toward the Farrows. She spotted Thunderclap among them. “The Barskall must think we’re retreating.”
“Good,” Viktor replied. “That’s exactly what we want them to think.”
“This is a seriously risky plan,” Dustin muttered. “The Barskall think they’ve won. They’re going to head toward Holdgate unless we can stop them.”
Viktor smiled. “As I used to say in my cardplaying days, it’s a risk, but one with a high upside.”
As the ships continued moving toward the islands, Abbey spotted one that made her gasp. “Holy shit, Dustin! Is that The Foggy Day?”
He squinted at the ship. “It sure is. What the hell could they be doing here?”
Abbey had no answer to that question.
A few moments later, Viktor said, “I think the stormships are clear enough of our target region. You see all the Barskall ships over there?” He pointed to the southeast.
Dustin had been right in his guess. The Barskall ships were regrouping, likely to head to Holdgate. They didn’t know their leader Dahlia was no longer with the fleet.
He nodded in answer to Viktor’s question. “Why do you ask?”
Viktor scratched his beardless chin as he thought about how to explain. “I know we haven’t had a chance to talk. At the school, I was busy running for my life while you were busy getting, you know, captured. But my form of stormcalling is quite different than yours.”
“So I keep hearing,” Dustin replied.
“Yes, well, Barskall Storm Callers are more powerful when we work together. We can cast storms farther away, but we can’t achieve the accuracy you can. There’s no way I could call a gust of wind to carry Abbey into the air, for instance.”
“Huh. Fascinating. But is this really the time?”
“I believe we can combine our powers.” There was passion in Viktor’s voice now. “Or at least I think it’s possible. In theory. But if all the Barska
ll Storm Callers channel magic together and you shape that power, we can end this thing.”
Dustin looked troubled. “That’s not… I’ve never tried anything like that before, obviously. What if it doesn’t work?”
“You hadn’t tried stormcalling without seawater either,” Abbey reminded him, “until you did.”
Dustin looked at the distant Barskall ships. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Wonderful.” Viktor raised a fist into the air, calling all the Barskall Storm Callers to gather around him. Viktor took Dustin’s arm and led him into the surf until they were ankle-deep in the water. “Shall we begin?”
Dustin nodded and placed the butt of his staff in the sea.
Abbey watched from the beach as Viktor put his hand on Dustin’s shoulder. The Storm Callers around Viktor put their hands on him, and everyone else touched the shoulder of the person in front of them until they were all linked.
In a loud voice, Viktor cried, “Begin!”
For a moment nothing happened, then Dustin’s eyes began to glow more brightly than Abbey had ever seen them shine before. He looked up into the sky, eyes wide, and twin beams of bluish-green light shot high into the clouds.
The sky above the Farrows suddenly became clear, and the sun shone from the deep blue expanse.
Abbey saw that every person on the beach from Liv and her soldiers to the sailors who’d gotten off their stormships was watching Dustin with awe.
Only one portion of the sky wasn’t clear: the spot directly above the Barskall ships.
“Do it, Dustin,” Viktor urged in a soft voice that somehow carried all the way to Abbey’s ears.
Dustin closed his eyes and the twin beams of light disappeared. For a moment, all was silent.
Dozens of bolts of lightning crashed down simultaneously and struck the Barskall ships.
Then a massive wave appeared, far larger than any Abbey had ever seen. It was so large she didn’t have a word for it as it raced toward the Barskall fleet.
Abbey heard gasps from the people on the beach behind her as the wave crested and fell on the ships.
Another huge wave came just behind it. Then a third.
Perhaps if she’d been closer Abbey would have seen debris from the ships, pieces of wood and sails, floating in the water. But from where she stood, the ships were simply gone.
The Barskall fleet had been destroyed.
A cheer went up from the beach behind Abbey.
The Storm Callers broke their linkage, and Dustin collapsed to his knees in the surf.
Abbey ran to him.
“The power,” he gasped. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“And I’ve never felt such accuracy,” Viktor added. “I think we both have something to teach the other.”
Abbey once again surveyed the calm and empty sea where the Barskall fleet had been a few moments before.
“Guys, I’m not sure how to tell you this, but I think we just won.”
EPILOGUE
The armload of logs was bigger than usual, but Rafn didn’t mind.
He didn’t like to talk about it, but the truth was that he enjoyed bringing people fuel for their fires. He brought logs to the elderly and to the widows, and if there was still daylight, he brought them to random homes as a kind surprise.
Carrying logs was honest work that allowed his mind to drift to other things, and these days there was plenty to think about.
A group of children ran across the path in front of him and he started to holler at them, but stopped himself. Just yesterday these children had been forced to train with swords in the afternoon, but today the news had reached them that King Elias was dead.
The leading citizens of Barskall were still trying to figure out who would take his place. Likely there would be a lot of fighting that would lead to someone practically indistinguishable from Elias taking the throne, but for now they were enjoying a temporary respite from the monarchy.
He turned down the path and headed north of town. This particular armload of logs was destined for Petur. That grouchy bastard burned more logs than a family of four, and he lived alone. Still, Rafn didn’t mind.
Walking down this path reminded him of Abbey and her friends. This was where he’d first met them. In a life of cheerful tedium, that was a day worth remembering.
Rafn didn’t know if Abbey and her friends had had anything to do with the death of the king and the suddenly reduced military presence in Barskall, but something had changed in Rafn since he met the girl. For the first time in his life, he was considering leaving the village.
Even though he’d only met her briefly, he’d felt an instant attraction to her. He wished he’d said something about it or even asked to go with her and her friends.
Perhaps he’d see her again one day. But for now, he was content carrying his logs.
***
Abbey soared high above the beach of Vagar.
She rode on a breeze Dustin had called for her. For the first time in a long while, all her cares were forgotten and she felt free.
She was learning how she could affect her movement with the way she stretched her arms and positioned her body. She was more than an arrow fired from a bow; she was an arrow given thought and consciousness.
Far below, she spotted her father approaching Dustin. She tried to signal with her hands for Dustin to shift the wind to carry her back to him, but he didn’t seem to get the message. That was something they were going to have to work on.
She gave herself a bit more weight and started to sink. Dustin finally got the message, and directed the wind toward the land. She rode the gust, gradually increasing her weight until she softly stepped onto the grass next to him.
The Storm Caller wore a boyish grin of delight. “And I thought flying a kite was fun!”
“Try being the kite!” Abbey matched his smile with one of her own. “I have to admit flying is just as fun as it looks.”
Her father shook his head. He was trying to suppress his smile, but his eyes gave him away. “All I ever wanted was for you to be a blacksmith, but somehow you’ve become a bird instead.”
Abbey looked at the two men standing with her. What a set the three of them made! A Storm Caller, a physical magician, and a…whatever the hell she was. There was no denying they were a formidable trio.
“How about you?” she asked. “Now that you’ve saved the Storm Wall, are you ready to go back to your blacksmith shop?”
He paused a moment before answering. “After everything I’ve seen, I don’t think I can go back. I hid in that shop for so long.” He pointed toward the sky. “You know, the first bit of magic you ever performed was changing the weight of my hammer. Maybe that’s why this works for you so much better than other forms of magic.”
Abbey tilted her head questioningly. “I remember that, but I didn’t know it was my first bit of magic. I thought you were teaching me before that.”
Benjamin laughed. “I was trying, but you never had a lick of success before that day.” His laughter faded and she saw something serious in his eyes.
“It’s time, isn’t it?” she asked.
Benjamin nodded. “You sure you don’t want me to come?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, no use putting it off,” Dustin said. “Let’s do it.”
With that, they headed toward the wagon that would drive them to Dahlia’s execution.
***
Liv hadn’t wanted to make the execution a public spectacle, and the rest of them agreed.
Fannar would be there. Dahlia had freely admitted to killing the Barskall king, and though he wasn’t a fan of King Elias, he felt it his duty to volunteer to perform the execution.
Viktor had decided not to be present, but Abbey, Dustin, Captain Roy, and Liv were in attendance, along with a few of Liv’s closest advisors.
Clemens and Olaf had both been invited since they’d been part of the crew that had captured her, but surprisingly, both had declined.
&n
bsp; When Abbey arrived, Dahlia was seated on the ground next to the stump that would presumably serve as the platform for her execution. All she had to do was lay down her head. Dahlia looked perfectly calm, like a woman waiting for tea to be served.
Fannar had traded his seax for a full-sized axe for the occasion and he stood near Dahlia with the axe resting on his shoulder.
Liv didn’t waste time on ceremony or a list of the charges. Instead, she simply addressed Dahlia. “Anything you’d like to say before we proceed?”
“Yes. You’re not going to kill me today, and here’s why.” She spoke in a confident voice that sounded like she was fully in charge at the prow of a stormship rather than facing the business end of an axe. She turned and looked directly at Abbey. “I believe you know a woman named Syd, formerly the first mate of The Foggy Day? She’s a stormcaptain now, I believe.”
Abbey narrowed her eyes. What was this woman playing at?
Dahlia continued without waiting for a reply. “Syd keeps her head shaved. Do you know why?”
Abbey did, but she wasn’t about to tell this group. That was Syd’s business, so she just kept quiet.
Dahlia was all too happy to answer her own question. “She shaves her head as a reminder of her brother who was lost at sea years ago. She’s rather obsessed with the man. When I was on Thunderclap, she was constantly interrogating my crew as to her brother’s whereabouts. It was a bit sad, especially when you consider that none of the crew knew what had happened to her brother. But I do.”
Abbey glared at Dahlia. “If this is a trick—”
“It’s not. Only Tor and I know what happened to young Elliot, and Tor’s dead. Looks like I’m your last chance.”
“Tell me,” Abbey growled.
“No.” Dahlia paused as if thinking. “But I will tell you this much: he’s alive. I’m not going to tell you where he is, but I will show you. It’s quite a long and dangerous journey.”
Abbey stalked toward Dahlia. As much as she hated the words she was about to speak, she couldn’t stop them. After everything Syd had done for her, she wasn’t going to throw away her friend’s chance to find her brother. “A long and dangerous journey, you say? Then we’d better get started.”