Silver Road (The Shifting Tides Book 2)

by James Maxwell

  ‘I need to leave . . . But one day I could come back . . .’

  He shook his head. ‘You would never return.’ He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he gave her a small smile. ‘At least let me test you.’ He chuckled at her reaction. ‘There is no danger in it. My wife was talented. I suspect you might be even greater than she was. Surely you want to know if you are at least capable of magic?’

  38

  Looking at the old magus, Chloe thought about how alone he was. He was obviously enjoying showing her his skill. It was all he had left.

  ‘Here. Put out your hand. Open it so that the palm is flat.’

  She hesitantly followed his instructions. Vikram again took the bracelet but this time he placed the circle of gold in her open palm. He then laid his own palm over hers, so that their hands completely enclosed the metal.

  ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Follow my words and don’t falter. You will experience many new sensations. No matter what happens, once you start, you cannot stop. Are you ready?’

  She nodded, suddenly afraid.

  ‘Close your eyes and picture the sun.’ She closed her eyes as he continued. ‘Imagine the brightest sun you can possibly comprehend. Think of how small you are in comparison. You are floating in a void, with nothing but you and the sun in the entire universe.’

  His low voice guided her as she imagined herself in complete darkness, with nothing but a distant golden orb to break up the sense of utter emptiness. Her breathing slowed as she drew on her training at the temple to bring on a calm, meditative state.

  ‘The sun comes closer; you are being drawn to it. It fills your vision. Remind yourself of how powerful and noble the sun is, and how the light can banish all darkness before it. Let the sun in your mind become so bright that you almost cannot bear to look upon it.’

  He paused for a time.

  ‘Now change the sun into the bud of a flower. Keep it just as bright, but picture yourself growing. The bud stays as strong and as powerful as the sun, but it is you who are now even larger. Reach out with a mighty hand until you are holding the bud in the palm of your hand.’

  Chloe was extremely conscious of the contact between the gold bracelet and her skin, despite not being able to see it. She was sure that the bracelet was becoming warm, even hot.

  ‘Keep the image of a golden flower bud in your mind. Continue holding it in your mind’s powerful hand. Tell yourself that the bud in your mind is one and the same with the item you are holding.’

  She almost cried out in surprise. Something was happening inside her as he spoke. The feeling was warm and pleasant, a communion with some force that was greater than herself.

  ‘Now, with your eyes still closed, remember this room as you last saw it. The sun is setting, but its light reaches us even in here. It is reflected from the walls, the floor and the ceiling. Turn your attention to the fire and the glow from the hearth. Imagine your flower slowly opening, gathering whatever light is around, from all sources. Imagine it being soaked up into your golden bud. Then when you feel ready, let the flower’s petals completely unfold.’

  The strange force she was touching was now probing at her mind, seeking entrance. She felt a query. It was asking her permission to enter.

  It told her that her answer was important.

  She assented, letting it come in. The power filled her from head to toe as she imagined the flower in her mind completely opening.

  ‘Draw your power from within. Bring it to the surface. Focus every sense on your palm. Let it burst like a flame.’ Chloe felt like she must be glowing herself. The sensation was more than pleasant. She felt glorious.

  ‘Now open your eyes. Look at your hand.’

  Chloe opened her eyes, looking down as Vikram took his palm off hers, and her eyes widened. Even though she was the only one touching it, the bracelet was glowing as fiercely as it had before, filling the room with something close to daylight. After a few moments it faded and Chloe felt suddenly weary, as if she’d been woken from a deep sleep. Flickers of golden light sparked at the edges of her vision.

  Vikram grinned.

  ‘You have a natural affinity for the materia,’ he said. ‘And I could feel the intensity of your concentration.’ His expression was serious. ‘You have it within you to become a powerful magus.’

  Chloe handed him the bracelet as she shook her head. She still felt dazzled. ‘I need to find Liana.’ She realized that he was staring into her face intently. ‘What is it?’

  ‘How do you feel?’

  ‘I feel fine. A little tired, but—’

  Fire suddenly raged in her bones, shivering through her body until her face felt searing hot. The flickering light in her vision became stronger until she could barely see through a golden haze. Molten lava was building up inside her head, fiery magma that needed an outlet. Her mind was a volcano about to burst.

  She screamed in pain as she tumbled off her stool and fell onto the floor. Gasping for breath, she tried to find an outlet for the burning power but couldn’t.

  The tiny part of her that could still think realized that Vikram was leaning over her. ‘Chloe,’ he said. ‘You are a clever woman. You know that power always comes with a price, and the power of magic most of all. Otherwise everyone would be a sorcerer, rather than a warrior or weaver, fisherman or farmer.’

  ‘What have you done to me?’ Chloe whispered, fighting the terrible pain.

  ‘I merely guided you. It is you who awakened the power within you. These first sensations will soon pass, but you now have the fire inside you. And with your strength, if you do not learn to control it’—he sounded strangely pleased with himself—‘you will die.’

  Chloe found Liana just inside the nearby forest.

  Liana sat with her legs crossed. Her head was tilted back and she was staring up into the sky, at the patches of blue between the broad boughs of a huge oak. She was watching birds flitting from branch to branch.

  She turned when she heard Chloe call her name and climbed to her feet.

  ‘I see he took your clothes too,’ Liana said, shaking her head as Chloe approached. ‘I was trying to change my shape. If I could, I might be able to fly us—’ Liana’s voice changed to concern when she saw Chloe’s expression. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Something’s happened to me.’ Chloe was dazed. She was struggling to find her voice. ‘I can feel it now. Like fire inside my mind. If I don’t let it free . . .’

  She explained what had happened with Vikram. She’d willingly allowed him to bring out some change inside her. Even now she could feel the inner fire, threatening to burst if she couldn’t tame it.

  As she spoke, Liana’s expression steadily shifted.

  The eldran’s eyes darkened and her brow furrowed. She finally set her jaw and lifted her chin. ‘I’m going to go and talk to him. Right now.’

  ‘No.’ Chloe grabbed her friend. ‘You can’t.’

  ‘Why not?’ Liana scowled. ‘He’s insane. You realize that, don’t you?’

  ‘He says that if I can’t learn how to control it, it will kill me.’ She met Liana’s eyes. ‘If I don’t let him teach me I will die.’

  ‘And you believe him?’ Liana’s eyes widened a moment later. ‘You do,’ she breathed.

  ‘I don’t know. Perhaps it’s all a lie?’ Chloe’s voice was hopeful, but even as she spoke, she knew that the change inside her was real.

  Liana glared in the direction of the villa. ‘Let me talk to him.’

  ‘Listen to me. He said that he wants us both to stay.’ Chloe drew in a deep breath. ‘But you should go, while you can. He uses metal in his magic. If you don’t get away from here he’ll discover what you really are.’

  ‘I’m not going.’ Liana shook her head. ‘I can’t leave you here alone with him.’

  ‘You have to. At least you’ll be away from here. And if I can learn to control whatever this thing is, I can make my own escape before he realizes.’

  Liana clenched and
unclenched her fists. She was silent for a long time. ‘I think we need help,’ she finally said.

  Chloe was holding Liana’s arm, but she now released her. ‘We do. You said you had your own reasons for finding my father—’

  ‘But what if I can’t find him? How do I know you’ll be safe here?’

  ‘I’ll be fine.’ Chloe forced a smile. ‘Of course I will. He’s strange, but in the end he’s just been alone for too long.’

  Chloe realized she was soon going to be alone, as she saw Liana come to the only decision she could.

  ‘I’ll leave as soon as I can,’ Liana said. ‘If I can make myself change, I can be back before you know.’ She took Chloe’s hand and gave her a look of fierce determination. ‘You stayed with me when I had nowhere else to go. Even when I slowed you down you still didn’t leave me behind. No matter what, I’ll come back for you.’

  Liana met her eyes.

  ‘I promise.’

  That night, Chloe couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, her mind full of magic and metal; she couldn’t stop wondering if she was doing the right thing.

  Feeling the need for air, she rolled out of bed and quickly dressed, before walking out of her chamber and following the hallway until she came to the villa’s main reception. The embers in the hearth had died down, leaving the room filled with a soft, red glow.

  She came to a sudden halt.

  Vikram stood in the middle of the room, his back to her. He wore a thin nightshirt over his bulk and was shaking his head from side to side. He was shuddering and mumbling, though his voice was too faint for Chloe to hear him.

  ‘Vikram?’ Chloe asked uncertainly.

  His muttering rose and fell, so she could almost make out the words, but he didn’t seem to hear her, and he didn’t turn around.

  Slowly Chloe approached, repeating his name as she drew near. Although she couldn’t see his face she could now hear what he was mumbling; he was saying the same words over and over, shivering and shifting his head left and right.

  ‘The wind . . .’ Vikram was saying. ‘The wind.’

  Suddenly the old magus lifted his arms. He began to hit the sides of his head with both hands, as if trying to drive a demon out of his skull. He began striking himself so hard that Chloe winced, and racing forward she grabbed his arms from behind, dragging them down.

  She turned him to face her.

  His eyes were wide open and entirely black, with no whites at all, sending a shiver of fear along Chloe’s spine. But she held fast, anxious to prevent him from hurting himself.

  ‘Vikram. Vikram!’

  Chloe shook him, trying to jolt him out of whatever strange state he was in. His mumbling slowed and then he stopped speaking completely. He blinked and his eyes cleared; in an instant they were the same as they’d always been.

  His shoulders slumped and his breathing slowed. His eyes closed and as his chest rose and fell, making his nose rasp every time he breathed in and whistle with every exhalation, she realized that, although he was standing, he was now fast asleep.

  Chloe led an unresisting Vikram to his bedchamber, helping him back into bed. She waited for a time and watched him sleep, before returning to her own bed.

  As she once more stared at the ceiling, she thought about the fact that he was a skilled magus, and even he was struggling to control his power.

  She had to follow his instructions, and do whatever he asked of her.

  She had to learn before it killed her.

  39

  Dion called out, issuing an order to Cob at the helm, bringing the Dauntless alongside the Gull. Cob kept a careful distance between the bireme and the smaller war galley, mindful of the oars as Dion dashed across the deck and bellowed into the hatchway, passing an order to Gideon. The oars came in, enabling the gap between the two ships to narrow so that Jax could call out to his second-in-command.

  Reece leaned over the Gull’s gunwale while Jax and Dion bent over the Dauntless’s rail, close enough that Dion could see Reece’s dark eyes and the thinning hair blowing around his crown.

  ‘We’re gaining on them,’ Jax cried over the wind. ‘But we need to make better time in case they get support from the mainland. How are your men?’

  ‘Tired, but by Silex, they can handle it,’ Reece called back.

  ‘Think we can circle round and cut them off?’ Dion asked Jax. ‘They’re heading directly for Koulis. There’s a growing risk they’ll find support.’

  Jax scratched his small moustache. ‘It’ll mean sailing against the wind.’ He put his hands on both sides of his mouth to call out again to the Gull. ‘Dion thinks we can cut ’em off! You’ll need to work hard to get ahead though. Up to it?’

  ‘Course we are!’

  ‘We’ll get out in front, take the southern reach, give you the better tack. Pass the word to the other captains. Tell ’em to keep their course.’

  ‘Aye aye!’

  ‘Over to you, captain,’ Jax said to Dion. He spoke calmly, but his eyes were sparkling.

  Dion ordered the drum tempo to double and gave Cob the new instructions. With more than twice as many oarsmen, the Dauntless swiftly left Reece’s ship behind.

  The rolling waves struck the hull with force, sending spray scattering on both sides of the bow. Ahead, the three merchant vessels they were pursuing became more than distant specks, but Dion’s ship was angled to the south, and it would appear to them that he was leaving them behind, heading somewhere else altogether. The wind now came from directly ahead and he ordered two men nearby to drop the fluttering sail; a heartbeat later the crossbeam clattered to the deck.

  ‘They’re newly built,’ Dion pointed out to Jax. ‘Sleek and fast.’

  ‘As fast as we are?’ Jax grinned.

  ‘No.’ Dion mirrored his companion’s grin.

  The Dauntless was now at the closest approach it would make before it began to draw away from the trio of merchant ships. Each cargo vessel was fifty feet long, with rakish masts at the bow and center giving them a triangular headsail and mainsail. Long flags with red diamonds in the center of a white field snapped in the breeze.

  Jax whistled. ‘Mercilles of Koulis. Easy pickings yet again. The sun king’s death was the best thing to happen to the Free Men. Few Ilean ships in the Maltherean these days.’

  ‘Look,’ Dion pointed, shielding his eyes. A distant landmass rose from the horizon. ‘Land.’

  ‘Wherever they were going, they’re now making all speed for Koulis.’ Jax nodded. The Dauntless soon left the merchant ships behind. ‘Time to cut ’em off?’

  ‘A little longer,’ Dion said, shaking his head. ‘We need to give Reece time to make it to the other side. At the speed he’ll be able to make, even with the better approach, he won’t be ready quite yet.’

  Both men were silent as the Salesian continent grew larger in view. It was a mostly flat land of desert and barren earth, which meant that it was closer than it appeared. Soon they could make out low hills surrounding the wide curve of a harbor, and then buildings.

  ‘Soon?’ Jax gave Dion a worried look.

  Dion paced the deck, feeling the moments trickle past, knowing that when the merchant ships saw them coming they would wheel away and he needed Reece to be there to greet them. But he also knew that they needed to avoid any naval patrols protecting the city’s waters. Whatever was happening in the lands Solon had united into an empire, he couldn’t count on Koulis neglecting its seas altogether.

  Finally a sensation deep in Dion’s gut told him it was time.

  ‘Cob, turn us about!’ Dion cried. He ran to the hatch and saw Gideon’s dark face looking up at him. ‘Slow the tempo, half speed!’ The crew was still too fresh for Dion to attempt the sharp turns Roxana could execute, particularly with the wind coming dead on. ‘Port side, back away. Starboard side forward.’

  ‘Aye, captain,’ Gideon called up.

  The warship lurched as it wheeled and the deck tilted at a sharp angle. Jax looked at Dion with alarm but Dion
knew his vessel, and he knew it could handle far greater pressures.

  ‘Sail up! All the way!’ Dion ordered.

  The turn complete, the bireme now took a new heading: a direct path for the merchant ships recently left behind.

  ‘Double time!’

  The drum picked up pace. The oars moved in perfect synchronization, blades lifting out of the water, oarsmen leaning forward, dipping in and pulling hard, churning the sea into foam. Jax gripped the rail with white knuckles, excited as a boy taking his first ride on a horse. Dion glanced at Cob at the stern, fighting the shuddering helm. Cob gave him a tight grin.

  The trio of ships that were their prey came on fast. Seeing the speeding warship that dwarfed them in size, the captains behaved as expected and executed a series of sharp tacks, still heading toward Koulis but angled slightly to the north, taking on a better reach, desperate to get away. Dion called out to Cob and pointed, and the helmsman headed higher to cut them off from the coast.

  With an escape route still in sight, the merchant ships tacked yet again, now heading directly north. The bireme was swifter but at this pace the men would tire before they caught the fast sailing ships.

  Then the Gull came into view.

  Jax whooped; Reece was exactly where they wanted him to be. With the Dauntless blocking access to the coast in the east and the Gull heading down from the north, the merchant ships had no choice but to tack again, heading west, back out to the open sea.

  Dion shouted at Cob to turn again. He ran to the hatch. ‘Rowers, give me your best! We almost have them!’ His words brought forth a ragged roar from the oarsmen.

  He rejoined Jax as the last two ships in the pirate fleet appeared in the west. Slower but filled with fighting men, they were lying in wait for the merchantmen.

  Dion knew that whoever was in command would be panicked as they saw the tridents on the silver flags raised on every mast of the encircling ships. Suddenly two of the merchant ships raised white flags and at the same time lowered their sails; in an instant they were dead in the water.

  But the third ship spun on its heel like a cavalryman wheeling his mount. Heading for a gap between the Dauntless and the pair of ships in the rear, the captain made one final dash for freedom. As the merchantman neared, Dion saw a catapult on the deck and at least half a dozen archers readying their bows. He prayed to Silex that they weren’t employing fire arrows, or more deadly still, naphtha.