by JD Franx
The sailor pissed himself and his crotch-grabbing became crotch-splashing as he splattered a bald man beside him. Ella laughed even harder. The bald man turned and swung, rocking the crotch-grabber and inciting a brawl. Ella and Kat carried on, entering The Stone’s Throw tavern a couple blocks down from the fast-growing fight.
Ella stepped into the tavern and immediately saw Desiree in the far corner, her head down talking with a pirate. She waited until the pirate shook Desiree’s hand and got up to leave the tavern. He nodded as he passed Ella and Kat.
Taking a seat at Desiree’s table, Ella raised her eyebrows. Desiree answered the unasked question.
“That was Hack. He’s captain of the Bled Trader. We can sail with him on the evening tide in about four hours. He’ll take us to BlackSpawn. The man himself can’t dock here, but Hack says he’s only a day’s sail from here. A small port called Fathom’s Deep.”
“I know it,” Ella said, nodding her head. “It’s just west of the Embrace’s western tip, along the Cauldron’s side of the Elloryan Forest and the mountains.”
“What about Shae and Torgo?” Desiree asked.
Ella chewed her bottom lip. “Tell them to clean up and come to the house. We may need them with us, but send the rest of the pack home. Kat and I will go pack up the house and settle with the landlord.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Desiree said, bowing.
“And please make sure they’re clean, Desiree, even if you have to drown them at Natalie’s for an hour. The idea is to not attract attention.”
“I will, Mistress.” Desiree left the tavern, leaving Ella and Kat alone.
“What now, Mistress?’ Kat asked.
“Now we go see if Bauro BlackSpawn still has any balls or if he’s gone soft sitting on all that gold.”
BLACK CAULDRON OCEAN
FATHOM’S DEEP
“Pull! You sons of bitches,” Hack Orion shouted, as his men struggled to pull the massive caravel into the Fathom’s Deep wooden dock. Finally, the scrape of wood on wood ground out the rasp of rope sliding around the pinion cleats as the big ship came to a stop.
Ella stepped up beside Hack and offered her hand. “You have my thanks, Captain Orion.”
“Anything for you, Mistress of the White,” he said, shaking hands. “You’ll find Bauro in the dock tavern. It’s called The Drink.”
“How quaint,” Ella replied, as the Bled Trader’s boarding plank crashed to the docks. She turned to make sure Desiree and Kat, along with Shae and Torgo, were following and then left the ship, walking the short distance to the tavern.
Bauro BlackSpawn was easy to find. Sitting with his back to the tavern’s outer wall, the pirate was surrounded by women, and bodyguards stood to each side of him.
“Ella, dear!” he shouted. “What brings you here? Or perhaps I should ask who brought you here. Ya don’t usual slum in the gutter with us... vermin, I believe the word is you used.”
“Only when referring to you, Bauro,” Ella replied, her voice riddled with disgust. The pirate and his men burst out laughing, and Bauro bowed without getting out of his creaky wooden chair. The four women with him left quickly.
“Come now, Ella. You scared my ladies away. I guess you’ll have to replace them. Have a seat if your pretty little ass don’t mind some stains on that white dress. Come. Have a drink. Have several. It’ll numb the pain.”
She frowned and remained standing. “What pain?”
“The pain you’re gonna feel after my men wear you and your pretty friends out.” The laughter died away as two dozen men drew their swords and several loading crossbow clicks echoed over head.
Ella sighed. “Are we really going to do this again, Bauro? I have already kept my promise. I haven’t killed you yet, and you’ve been in my presence for nearly five whole minutes. I’m not in the mood to fight. To be quite honest, I came here to warn you and to ask a favour.”
Desiree chuckled as she fingered the handles of her wooden daggers. “It would be better to be owed a favour by Talohna’s only White witch, than to die,” she said.
“Boy, those Broken Bastards breed you nasty bitches really young, and nah,” he said, shaking his head. “Think I’d rather just commence with the pain.”
“Fair enough, Bauro.” Ella smiled and raised both hands, turning her palms out as Bauro stood from his chair. But nothing happened. For the first time in more millennia than she could count her magic failed. “Desiree?”
“Nothing, Mistress. No magic.” Instead, the assassin drew her blades.
“Clever boy, Bauro. But your Dwarven charm won’t hold me long enough to save you...”
“Ah, but it will,” he said, pulling the charm from inside his shirt as he approached. “This one has been altered. In fact, I bet you’d recognize the glyphs.” He held it up for her to see.
“Ancient magic,” she spat. “Very clever boy.”
“I thought so.” He smiled and blew her a kiss.
“But you made a mistake, Bauro. That’s not so clever.”
He laughed again. “I don’t think so, witch. You travel with magic users and you can’t use magic. I fail to see any mistake...”
Ella smirked. “I don’t need magic. Like always, you’re one step behind, Bauro. Your charm won’t work on my companions back there,” she said, tilting her head toward Shae and Torgo. “Have you ever seen what an alpha werewolf couple can do inside a closed building like this?” As if to emphasize her point, Torgo dropped the locking bar into the front door’s latch with a bang. “Don’t imagine your blades are made of silver? Are they, Bauro? No?” The pirate shook his head. “Give me the charm,” Ella demanded. “Now!” He shook his head again. “Shae?” Ella said, calmly smiling. Both werewolves transformed in seconds. Well over seven feet tall on their back legs, both howled as they shook the remnants of cloth from their fur.
Bauro pulled the bone charm from his shirt immediately. “Curse you, witch,” he snapped.
Ella snatched it from his hand, snapping the strip of leather around his neck. She placed the bone carving on the counter of the bar. Kat slammed the butt of her dagger onto the charm, shattering it. Bauro flashed his teeth in anger or regret, Ella was not sure.
Power rushed back to her, flushing her face as she sighed. “Much better. Sit, so we can discuss why I came all this way to see you.” The pirate dropped into his chair, clearly surprised to be alive.
Ella sat across from him and smiled. “I was telling you the truth. I came here to help you. Now, when we’ve concluded our business, I’ll have to kill you, slowly, and painfully. But not now. We speak business now.”
“What business do we have?” he asked, exasperated.
“The betrayal of your right hand man, to begin with.”
“Bullshit. Havarrow hasn’t got a disloyal ounce of Northman blood in him...”
“Yet he sailed away from the twin cities, heading north when he was supposed to come your way. He also had an old man on board I would very much like to kill. Preferably before he turns the seven ships Havarrow has with him into floating alchemical fortresses.”
“You’re serious.”
“Very serious, Bauro. This man will change alchemy and warfare in Talohna, and not for the better.”
“All right, Ella. I have twenty-two ships in range of my call. Where are we going?”
“Dasal, first. We need to take Kat home and find out exactly where Havarrow is headed. I need Seifer Locke to do that.”
“Well then,” Bauro said, smiling. “Assumin’ ya ain’t lying to me, let’s go hunt a traitor. Settle-up between us afterwards? Deal?”
Ella nodded. “I look forward to turning you inside out, Captain BlackSpawn.” Spinning on her heel, she turned to leave.
She didn’t see Bauro smile as he mimicked cutting her throat.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Betrayal is often the cause of true suffering and the most devastating way to shatter one’s heart and soul. People who betray those closest to them contain with
in them an evil so dark they are rarely bothered by the colossal agony and destruction they inflict. They simply betray someone and walk away, never looking back. These people will pay for what they do to others someday, even if it’s at the moment of their death. When they are judged for their lives lived, the circle of life will always ensure judgement—the Ancients used to call it karma. Those who have betrayed me will pay for it much sooner than they expect. I am not a patient person.”
Yrlissa Blackmist, From journal pages found in the catacombs below the Arcane Library in DormaSai
Date and location unknown
SOUTH OF CAIRNWOOD
It took Cassie all day to work her way to the back of the caravan as the people from Cairnwood headed south to the ford on the Greystone River. She played the dutiful new daughter to the mayor’s wife and then asked to go play with her friends. The mayor’s wife seemed relieved that she had not asked to wander the forest, but Cassie’s ultimate goal was to get to that forest unnoticed. Kael and Kyah would have close to a half day on her by the time she left, but travelling through the trees like she was able to, she hoped to find them in less than three hours.
Cassie was smart for her age and knew she might have to spend days in the forest alone. It did not scare her, but it meant she had to get some things before leaving. Her first stop was the water wagon, where she managed to sneak away with two full water skins. Refilling them in the forest was easy for someone who knew where to look.
Next, Cassie got the town’s young boys to tease the seamstress, bribing them with the bag of homemade sweets her aunt had kept hidden on the top of the kitchen cupboard. She took them just before the caravan had left the town. The seamstress was making new cloaks for the outriders, and Cassie knew the first one was done. It was folded neatly, tied securely at the back of her wagon. The young boys continued teasing and bothering the seamstress long after Cassie had taken the cloak and hidden it inside her own winter coat on the mayor’s wagon.
She knew the caravan would stop for the evening meal about two hours before dark, so an hour and a half before they stopped, Cassie grabbed her water bottles and her new, heavy cloak and quietly made her way to the back end of the caravan, where the covered wagon with the dried goods was bringing up the rear. Again no one saw Cassie grab enough food for a couple of days and vanish from under the tarp and into the forest. Within moments, she had the cloak on, the water bottles crossed over her back, and the dried food tied to the back of her waist as the ground flashed by below her. She had to hurry. Kael would need her help. She just hoped she would be there in time.
Cassie could not stop thinking about what she saw in the courtyard behind the lodge the night before. Kyah told her to stay behind with the others, but she was worried about them both. She managed to sneak in beside the lodge hoping to see if Kael was all right. Cassie had never seen magic of any kind before the Orotaq attacked the town, but she knew that what happened behind the lodge was not normal magic. She was positive that Kyah was a witch or maybe something worse. Why else would an Orotaq shaman drop to his knees in subservience and allow her to kill him? She saw everything that had happened and knew that Kael had no idea what Kyah really was.
Cassie was determined to do her best to help him, as long as she got there in time. The thought made her push herself harder, and the ground flew by below as her speed increased even more.
NORTH OF CAIRNWOOD
Kyah and Kael made good time considering he was still suffering from aches and pains caused from being shook like a rat. Even so, they rode until just before sunset and made a small camp a hundred feet into the forest, off the trail they were using to travel north into the mountains. With no rain on the way, Kael chose a small depression in the earth that gave them some shelter from the cold wind that blew at night. Summer had yet to arrive, and Kyah guessed that the year-long winter was trying hard not to let go.
With very little energy left, Kael sat down to eat. “Kyah? I’m just gonna have some dried jerky and fruit for supper. I can barely keep my eyes open any more.”
“Do you want me to take first watch? I mind not, if you need the rest,” she offered.
“Yeah, sure. Wake me for my turn,” he said, as he chewed his way through the dried meat and fruit they had brought from Cairnwood. Kyah sat beside him and he enjoyed her warmth. He offered her a piece of jerky.
Tearing off a small piece, she gave him a nudge with her shoulder. “Kael, wake up,” she said, softly, taking the jerky from his hand and placing it aside. “Come on. You need sleep. You can keep your eyes open no longer.” She unrolled his blanket and covered him up. Sleep found him within seconds.
Kael woke later and looked up to see the two moons were still high in the sky. It meant he had time for a couple more hours of sleep before his watch shift began. Kyah was at the edge of the camp, but his eyes were blurry and he was still so tired that he rolled over and went back to sleep. For some strange reason, he wondered how Cassie was getting on with her new family many miles to the south.
Just before drifting off again, Kael felt that pull on his mind that he had felt so many times since being free. It was always the same, a haunting illusion of Ember. He was convinced it was being sent by the Dead Sisters as they had done so many times when he was captured.
The first couple of times the illusion or dream was always the same: Ember begging him to listen to her as she tried over and over to convince him she was real. It was gut-wrenching torture, and far worse than anything physical the Sisters had done during the time he’d been held captive.
It took a while, but he learned how to shut them out of his dreams. The last time they tried, Kael let them in, hoping when he severed the dream it would hurt like hell to whomever had done it. In no mood to deal with them tonight, he pushed the feeling away and went back to sleep.
When Kael opened his eyes again, it was morning and Kyah was sitting on his lap with her bodice unlaced as she smiled down into his eyes. Her mischievous intent was clear. The sun was just starting to rise through the trees, but the air was still cold enough for Kael to see his own breath, and more than cool enough to make the soft flesh of Kyah’s nipples harden and catch his full attention. He sat up as she gently straddled his waist.
“Morning,” she sighed softly. “I was beginning to think you would never wake up.” She leaned forward and kissed him, her tongue darted past his lips and tickled his own. Still with no resistance to her advances, he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close, at the same time noticing her proper use of the negative word in her sentence. He smiled, thinking she had finally learned what he had been trying to teach her.
He eased her back to congratulate her when he felt the slightest familiar presence behind him, Kyah dropped her hands on top of his and pinned them to her waist. She was stronger than she looked. He couldn’t pull his hands free. Panic made his stomach flip and the all-too-familiar click of a Gyhurra collar snapped shut around his neck. The spikes bit deep as they pierced the month-old scars.
He had just enough time to realize his mistake and the seriousness of it before pain blasted through his senses. A scream tore from his throat and pierced the calm forest as if a banshee had been let loose from the Ninth Hell. Every muscle in his body locked tight. His jaw slammed shut with enough force to sever the tip of his tongue, and his head cracked against the log he spent most of the night leaning against.
Kyah had enough foresight to release his hands or the force of constricting muscles would have broken her wrists. Flat on his back and unable to move anything but his eyes, Kael could not grasp what was happening. Kyah leaned over and gently kissed his forehead.
“Sorry, but after what happened in Cairnwood, we couldn’t risk that someone had seen what I did to that stupid shaman. We had to speed things up a bit. I hope you don’t mind,” she purred. “You should be used to the Gyhurra by now.” She waited, as if expecting him to answer. When he was unable to illicit so much as a grunt, she continued. “It doesn’t really matter
, I guess. As long as we get you to Sythrnax, it is not important whether you cooperate.” She stressed the ‘not important’ part of her proper grammar. Even through the fog of pain, it suddenly occurred to him that she had been faking everything, including her poor grammar. Kyah was a Dead Sister. Likely the ones who specialized in spying or sabotage.
She smiled at Kael, as if she knew what he was thinking. “I am, my dear love. I have always been. I am a real Dead Healer, not what some muddle-headed old wizard thinks I am,” she mocked coyly. With his body refusing to obey his commands, Kael had the use of his eyes, and nothing more. Movement at his peripheral vision showed him three more women as they stepped out from behind him. Two women and one girl.
It finally dawned on him that the familiar presence he had felt behind him was Ashea.
“Kael!” the young girl said. He could see she was excited. “Are you not happy to see me? I survived your cowardly attack back at Arkum Zul. Never believe someone is dead unless you see it with your own eyes.” She smirked and walked around the campfire to stand over top of him. Kael cursed his own stupidity, he felt Ashea behind him, but had been distracted by Kyah. Believing the novice witch had died also fooled his mind and he failed to recognize the threat in time to stop her from clasping another Gyhurra collar around his neck.
Ashea knelt beside Kyah as she straddled Kael’s prone, rigid body. “Please release him, Mistress N’Ikyah,” she said. “The Cardessa promised the new Gyhhura will hold him this time.”
Ashea stood back up as Kyah leaned forward and placed her hands on the collar. Magic misted from her fingers with a light hiss, sliding into the collar and along the spikes until disappearing inside Kael’s neck. The Gyhurra’s powerful effects calmed and the force that had seized his body was released. Even so, cramped and twisted muscles continued to tighten at the base of his neck, lower back, and in his left arm and shoulder where he had been shot four years ago.