by JD Franx
Nekrosa gasped, laid back in the bed and took a deep breath. “We need to find the young Fae, Sephi. This DeathWizard is well beyond our ability. She will be the only one who can temper him if we can’t find a living Guardian.”
Now just as confused, Sephi frowned, but laid her head on his chest. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“The DeathWizard is close. Here in Dasal, Seph, I’m sure. I could feel him when we were in the market. I tapped the Void when we walked by that young couple to see if I could locate him...” He stopped talking and a shiver rippled through his body.
“Then what?” she prompted.
“I found him... The young couple, I’m positive it was... They were right beside us, but... I only touched my power for a moment, enough to know if it was him. The Void, it just... swallowed my mind. It was like walking the Void to talk to a newly passed spirit, but infinitely larger and there was no way out. It took a long time to figure out how to get back. I don’t understand even now how I did it,” he explained.
“Why would that happen? I don’t understand.”
“I do. It’s a defence against those who would try to control him or his power. It’s to ensure we cannot take over a DeathWizard the same way Azmerack took over the Cethosian Queen during the rebellions. Any necromancer who tries to tap their power while in his presence will trigger the defence,” he finished, pushing both of his tattooed hands through his long, shiny black hair. Sephi could see that his silver eyes were lined with dark from the stress of his ordeal.
“Come. You need some rest. We can do little until we hear from Luthian about the Fae girl, anyway.” She shifted her weight and moved into the crook of his arm, where she felt his fingers trail through her hair.
“True,” Nekrosa agreed. “We can’t risk an attempt on the DeathWizard, not yet, it would only end in our deaths,” he confessed, his fears always safe with her.
“Then we shall wait. Luthian will tell us when they come our way.” She did her best to reassure him as she lay curled in his arms. With full dark settling outside and her left arm resting across Nekrosa’s chest, she was soon asleep.
DASAL, FREE LANDS
“Yes, Dahlea,” Kael said, as they stood outside the cell that held Captain Havarrow’s daughter. “We’ll inform Lircang of the three we wish to buy. If we can’t reach an agreement with him privately, we will bid for them at the auction, after the pirates have left.”
“That will be fine. I would imagine the auction will be rescheduled the moment the pirate threat is over, should you be unable to strike a deal with Master Yorcali,” the madame said. Kael nodded to her to show he understood.
After their quick conversation, Dahlea left to go tend the brothel while Kael and Kyah managed to sneak by Havarrow’s second mate without being seen. Should Dahlea mention them when she and the pirate continued their talk, Kael’s plan would still work. Knowing the exact location of Havarrow’s daughter, and with no further reason to stay, they exited the Far Exotic in search of a secluded spot from where they could watch the second mate when he departed the brothel.
Anton Pere, the Twilight Reave’s second mate, left the Far Exotic a half hour later with a bag of gold in hand. Kael watched from the darkened entry lobby of the warehouse down the street as the pirate strolled through the district and past the open air markets, heading in the opposite direction of the harbour docks. Kyah stayed behind Kael, watching their backs as he followed the pirate from a safe distance. The darkness and lack of street lights made trailing the second mate an easy task. He continued in a south-easterly direction until arriving at the spot where the Dasal city walls met the ocean.
Anton disappeared into some thick brush and short trees as Kael hung back and waited. The pirate stumbled from the heavy cover dragging a rowboat identical to the one that had taken them to and from Havarrow’s ship earlier in the day. Kael stared out from cover as Anton rowed back to the Twilight Reave in the darkness. With light cloud cover hiding both moons and the third yet to rise, no one would ever know he had left the ship.
Moving back up the street to get Kyah, they headed back to the main docks, but skirted the water’s edge by staying inside the last row of buildings to avoid being seen from Havarrow’s ship. In less than a half hour, they were at the ship. The captain was waiting on the deck.
He was more than a little upset to see them back aboard his ship so soon. “You’d better have a damn good reason for being here, DeathWizard. You’re wasting valuable time my daughter does not have.” The corner of his eye twitched as he approached them both the second they stepped onto his deck.
“Your daughter is fine, I promise, but you need to trust that we’re here to help,” Kael tried to explain, yet kept his voice low. “You have a traitor on board, and you need your men to bring him to your cabin before he sees us here again.”
“My men are all loyal, Kael...”
“They’re not, god dammit!” Kael barked, but was quick to calm himself, knowing the danger. “Trust me, Havarrow. I can prove it.”
“So, explain yourself, now,” the pirate captain ordered. Kael could see he was still on the verge of losing control of his temper.
Kael glanced across the ship, but couldn’t see the second mate, so he explained what they saw. “We have just come from the Far Exotic where we both saw your second mate talking to Lircang’s madame, Dahlia. The one who escorted us to your cabin, remember? He’s not a Northman, is he? I don’t think his loyalty is as solid as you think it is.” Kael could see Havarrow start to piece some things together, maybe things the pirate captain had been thinking on his own long before Kael’s arrival.
The big Northman turned to his first mate and growled, “Bring him to my cabin, and do not let him know why.”
“Right away, Captain,” Shasta Trey said. The first mate grabbed two others and went to find the traitor.
The rest, including Kael and Kyah, followed Havarrow to his cabin, where only minutes passed before Anton Pere knocked on the cabin door.
“Cappin? Ya wanted to see me?” he shouted through the door.
“Come in, Anton. Tell Shasta to come in as well.” Captain Havarrow got up from his chair and pulled his cutlass several inches out of its sheath before gently letting it slide back. Kael had seen others do such a thing if they were expecting a fight. A sword stuck inside the sheath could easily mean death. He shook his head at the memory of when it happened to him after he first arrived.
The second mate entered the cabin and stood to the left of the door. Shasta entered last and closed the door behind her, once again standing right in front of it. It was clear by the look on her face that anyone who tried to get out would have to go through her. In the short time she was in the room, Kael could not help but notice that she carried at least twenty knives, all of which had balanced handles for throwing. Anton looked completely at ease; there were no signs of nervousness at all, and Kael wondered briefly if his assumption about the man had been wrong.
“Cappin? There sumin ya wan me ta do?” he asked, his poor grammar by far the worst Kael had heard since being in Talohna.
“Yes, Anton, there is. I would like you to tell me why you were in the city tonight at the Far Exotic whorehouse. You did not have permission to go off ship,” Havarrow said. He crossed his massive, tattooed arms as he looked down on Anton’s much smaller stature.
Anton never blinked and never missed a beat. “I wuddnt cappn, nevr luft da ship all day or night.”
“You were seen earlier tonight talking to the madame of Lircang’s fleshpit, and not so long ago, you were also interested in where I spend my time when we are docked in Forja Vehlo, the city where my children live. Explain your actions, Anton. Did you arrange the death of my son and the kidnapping of my daughter?” Havarrow barked at Anton as he uncrossed his arms, putting his left hand on his sword.
Anton merely chuckled at the accusation. “Who saw me dere, Cappin?”
“I saw you there, Anton, you cleaned yourself up a bit and had
on clean clothes, but it was you,” Kael claimed, as Kyah nodded her head.
“Cappin, deeze witches lie, wud neyer betray ya, Dom. I ne’er met yer gurl, ya know dat, only know her whatcha tell me,” he said, calm and cool. “Der no proof, Dom. Me sail wit ya fer ten n two. Me word true, yer know dat, Cappin.” Kael could see the twenty years of loyalty start to sway Havarrow, as the big man began to relax his anger towards his second mate. The charade had gone on long enough. Kael now knew the pirate would never confess and time was running out.
“You know, Anton, it’s too bad the captain’s daughter couldn’t tell us who took her or who arranged it,” Kael wondered, as he turned towards the man.
“She tell ya da same, spook, dat I never met ‘er,” he snarled, trying to spit on Kael’s boots.
“Oh, I know you never met her, Anton. You were paid twenty-five gold for your part in arranging her sale to slavers,” Kael said, finally triggering a reaction. Anton never tried for the door, but instead pulled his sword from his thick leather belt while reaching for Kael with his other hand. He was not fast enough though, as he found Shasta’s dagger filled right hand pressed firmly to his throat and Kael’s left Vai’Karth pressed against his chin.
Even with a dagger and strange looking reaper-blade to his throat, Anton refused to stop speaking, somehow maintaining his cool. “I never ranged nuttin, yung Neria tell ya herzelf, wuz she here. I swear, Cappin,” he said, yet again.
A young, soft, but very shaken voice came from under Kyah’s hood, but it wasn’t Kyah who spoke.
“I am here and you may have not met me, but I have seen you,” Neria said, as she pulled back the hood on Kyah’s heavy Orotaq cloak and stared at Anton. Gasps of shock rolled through the cabin. No one had any idea Havarrow’s daughter was in the room the whole time. The witch markings painted on her face told the story of how Kael had smuggled her out of the slave cells.
Havarrow’s daughter carried on speaking, never missing a beat. “And I will tell my father that you arranged it all. You and your slavers talked too much when you thought I was still out cold when you got the first part of your gold,” she said, trembling, as tears ran down her face.
The terrified and traumatized fourteen year old could hold her strength no longer as she began crying. “Father” the only word she could get out as she threw herself into his arms and collapsed just as he managed to catch her. Knowing what was coming, Kael lowered his blade and stared at the doomed man.
Anton was clearly stunned. “Huh? Das nut rite, I juz saw er n da cell...I saw ya an yer witch sneak outa Dahlea’s. I cheked, she wuz dere...” At a nod from Havarrow, Shasta stuck her blade in the back of Anton’s thigh, severing the hamstring. A second dagger followed the first, but cut deep into the second mate’s other leg.
Captain Havarrow consoled his daughter, making sure her face was buried in his big arms while Anton paid part of the price for his betrayal. Shasta wiped her blood-soaked hand on Anton’s cloth shirt and kicked the cabin door. It opened and she tossed Anton out to two waiting pirates.
“Prep him,” Shasta growled. “We’ll keelhaul his ass the moment we clear the bay.” She closed the door and approached Kael with a curious look on her face.
“Where was my niece, and how did you get her out?” she asked.
He took her arm and led her to the other side of the room. “It doesn’t matter right now. Half of our plan is complete with her safety, but I still have to pull the rest off on my own,” he said.
“Fair ‘nuff, Kael, but others were involved. Blood price must be paid to those who cross the Suns. If not, BlackSpawn will collect it himself,” Shasta said, as she sheathed her blades.
“I will make sure I find out all who were involved, but you need to stay here, anchored in the harbour. It will make the next step easier for me. Oh, and keep Anton here, don’t dump him overboard or something stupid. There are still more partners of Dahlea’s I haven’t identified yet. I don’t know if Lircang Yorcali was involved, but if the wrong person were to talk to Anton or find his body, it would really screw things up, all right?”
Not realizing Havarrow had been listening, Kael turned with surprise when he heard the Northman’s voice. “We can stay in the harbour once the rowboat is done taking you to shore, but I need to know what the chances of retaliation are once the slavers find out she is missing—if they don’t already know. I must protect my crew.”
“I promise you, Captain, that for now, they don’t know she’s gone. Anton just said so. I have go now. Time is short and I have to get back. I can’t be seen leaving your ship. I’m sorry to have to ask, Captain, but I need Kyah’s cloak back.”
“Of course, and I will send a runner for the other ships, they can be here before dawn. It will give us added protection if the slavers come after us, and it will also look like you have not found the men you were after, or my daughter.”
“Perfect,” Kael agreed. “That should work even better.”
Careful not to wake her, Havarrow stepped over to the bed where his daughter had fallen into a restless sleep and removed the Orotaq cloak, covering her with blankets instead.
He handed Kael the heavy cloak and offered his arm to shake.
“My daughter is alive and safe because of you and your wife, Kael. A very large debt stands between us, my friend. I must do this, though my actions seem strange to myself,” Havarrow said. With a puzzled expression, he drew a hooked dagger from a sheathe under his arm. Kael panicked and dark mist began to curl around his hands as he stepped back, preparing to fight.
Shasta stepped forward, touching his shoulder. “Easy, brother, you are not in danger.” Kael stood his ground as Dominique grabbed a thick length of his blonde hair. Slicing it off with the hooked blade he handed the braid to Shasta.
As she turned back to Kael, she held it in front of him. “May I?”
Still not sure what was happening, he nodded, but didn’t release his magic. Shasta pulled the length of rawhide holding Kael’s own braids back and let his hair fall loose. Taking a thin length of dried sinew from around her neck, she weaved Dominique’s hair into a braid above Kael’s left ear. In seconds, she released the length of Dominique’s blonde hair, spun it into dread strings and re-braided it to match Kael’s hairstyle. Finally tying his hair back up, she left the lone braid of the pirate’s hanging loose beside one of his own. Holding out her hand, Havarrow dropped two carved bone beads into her palm.
Kael let go of his magic as the Northman woman smiled and slid the beads up the blonde braid. “The first bead marks you as an ally to the MyrkrVatn clan. The second shows that you have saved the life a MyrkrVatn clan member and that the Kreeda Oath lies to your favour. You are now a member of our clan and will always be welcome on Kastalborg Island. You are our brother, in name and in blood spilled. We wear the left side kreeda as an oath of loyalty to our family. You are the only person not of Northman descent that I have ever known to be granted one—the life of my niece demands it be so. All Northmen and women live or die by this bond of loyalty, do you understand that?”
“I... I do,” Kael stammered, as Shasta cut free a loose braid of his own. The pirate captain dropped to a knee and she weaved Kael’s braid into Dominique’s hair, also on the left side. It was only the pirate’s second kreeda to hang by his left ear, though six others hung from the right side.
Dominique stood and approached Kael, clasping his arm. “If ever you need to find me, you wear this,” he said, handing him a blood-red sun pendant carved from what Kael guessed was whale bone. “Then make your way to the Suns of Blood port of call. It’s an island far off the western coast of DormaSai in the Southern Kingdom. Any pirate will take you there if you show them this. The pendant will grant you access to the port, but do not lose it, my friend, it carries my mark on the back,” he warned, with his last words.
“You owe me nothing, Captain—” Kael started to say, when Havarrow held up a hand.
“My first name is Dominique. Feel free to call me by it. Y
ou may want nothing in return for what you have done, but you have earned my friendship. It is not something a Northman gives easily. Whether or not you ever call for it, the oath will remain until your dying breath flies free to Tyr’s hall.”
Kael shook his arm and wished him well. “Take care of your daughter, Dominique, and your crew.” He nodded to both Havarrow and Shasta and left.
Dominique’s boatman took Kael back to shore. Not knowing whether the docks would have spies, he put Kyah’s cloak underneath his own so no one would see him carrying it. It was past the middle of the night and just a few hours until dawn. Kael planned to enact the last part of his plan about an hour before dawn so he headed to the room at the inn to lay low for a couple of hours. With only three hours of sleep in the last two days, he was barely able to keep his eyes open any longer, but knew sleeping now would have disastrous effects for the remainder of his plans.
Chapter Fourteen
“Illusion magic is used to trick the eye into seeing things that are not real, or into seeing something different from what is there entirely. But true masters of illusion often have no access to real magic. Using people’s beliefs or arrogance against them in order to trick their eyes and their mind is the art of a true illusionist. It is amazing to witness those with such power. Kael Symes is one such master illusionist. I’ve seen what he can do first hand when using no magic. The thought still chills my blood.”
Master Wizard Seifer Locke
Dasal Wizard Journals, 5025 PC
DASAL, FREE LANDS
Since arriving in Talohna so many months ago, Kael had learned that not paying attention and letting your guard down often led to fatal consequences. It was a lesson he had learned all too well in the basement of Jasala Vyshaan’s tower, the Black Arc. The price paid that time was a sword through the belly. He still had no idea how he had survived.