Reborn: Book 2 (Chronicles of Ghost Company)

by Shawn Muller

  REBORN

  Book 2 of the Chronicles of Ghost Company

  By

  Shawn Muller

  REBORN

  Shawn Muller

  Distributed by Amazon

  Copyright 2016 Shawn Muller

  Amazon Edition, License Notes

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost I need to thank God for giving me the skill and the ability to share my stories for all to read. Secondly, I need to say a big thank you to my wife, Marsha, for the constant support, words of wisdom and the occasional kick up the butt to get me to complete book two much quicker than book one. I must say a big thanks to my wife’s aunt, Kathy, for the lovely cooked Sunday lunches and the puddings which gave me the nourishment and energy to write, and for being a proof reader for both books. Your input and more importantly, the food was a great help. A special thanks to Gary Louw for the cover art concept and then for Dean Norris for the final book cover. He took my simple vision and turned it into something tangible, exactly what REBORN needed. No book would ever have been written if it weren’t for my parents, who without them I most certainly wouldn’t be here, but on a more serious note, thank you very much Mom and Dad for the love and support you have shown and the solid foundation you have laid in my life. I need to thank my two sisters as well, growing up with them gave me the inspiration for Princess Wendyaline, the evil ruler of Westdom, Our small fights over the TV remote created something special. And last but not least, to my two beautiful children. Thank you for listening to Dad and for sharing your ideas and for the love and support.

  Books by Shawn Muller

  AWAKEN

  REBORN

  Index

  Chapter 1

  Prologue

  pg.6

  Chapter 2

  Encounters

  pg.9

  Chapter 3

  Unknown pathways

  pg.30

  Chapter 4

  Consequences

  pg.64

  Chapter 5

  The fall

  pg.97

  Chapter 6

  Arise like a phoenix

  pg.126

  Chapter 7

  Beginning of the end

  pg.149

  Chapter 8

  To arms my brethren

  pg.191

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  pg.213

  Author’s Note

  pg.215

  Chapter 1 – Prologue

  The local inn was relatively empty as it normally was during the early afternoon. The innkeeper of the dingy establishment stood cleaning the wooden mugs with a greasy cloth. The few customers within were the usual drunks of the town, all trying to drown their sorrows in their mugs of weak ale.

  I banged the door open and stooped my head as I entered the smoky room. I made my way straight to a lone figure which sat hunched over his drink. Deez stood up from his table behind the man and joined me as we stood looking down at him.

  “Hello Vintant,” I greeted.

  Without looking, Vintant threw his mug at me and jumped out of his chair, knocking Deez to the floor in the process. The innkeeper looked on dispassionately as Vintent ran for the back door. He had seen this scene play out too often to worry over another drunk who owed money to somebody.

  I helped Deez to his feet and took a slow stroll after the fleeing Vintant, who had barged the door open, only to be clotheslined by a powerful troll arm. Fremod reached down and plucked the hapless man up by the scruff of his neck while Max patted him down and removed a rusty dagger which was tucked into a worn brown belt.

  Vintant groaned as his breath slow returned to normal as I motioned to the group to walk over to an abandoned shed which stood dilapidated behind the rundown inn. Vintant was securely tied and tossed to the ground while I stood over him.

  “Why’d you do it?” I asked him.

  Vintant tried to spit on my shoes, but a boot to his gut made him suck it back in as he gasped for air again.

  “We can be civil about this. Or we can do this the hard way.” I explained as I bent down to look him in his eyes. “You know us. We were brothers. We shared a blood oath, and you betrayed us. I want to know why. What made you do it?”

  “I had no choice,” Vintant choked out as he avoided looking in my eyes.

  “Of course, you had a choice. Whatever it was, we would have helped. We would have died for you,” I said full of passion.

  “He had my family!” Vintant cried out. “He threatened to throw my baby girl to his men, and when they were done with her, they would start with my wife. He promised to send them to me in pieces afterwards.”

  “We would have protected them like they were our own Vintant,” I told him.

  “No, I had no choice. They live on his lands; he would have gotten to them before you would have.”

  “Who? Who made the threats?” I asked him gently.

  “Count Vimour. It was him and that disgraced general, Iskobar.”

  “The one who walked out on Prince Marcus when he made peace with the trolls?” I asked.

  Vintent nodded, his eyes still downcast.

  “Do you know why he wants me dead?”

  “He just said he hates you. You insulted somebody he loves, and she wants your head for that.”

  I stood up and looked over at Max, who was behind Vintant. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders in a questioning manner, but Max shook his head in confusion. He too didn’t know who I had insulted enough to want me dead.

  “You know the oath we all gave Vintant. Blood oath till the end.”

  Vintant looked up at me and just nodded as Fremod and Kimba bent over him to hold him down. I pulled out my combat knife and knelt once more at his side.

  “I feel for you, but you know the oath. We would have helped. All I can promise now is that Vimour will pay for this.”

  Vintant looked me in the eyes as I cut his sleeve open and began to skin off the mark we had shared as a brotherhood. The mark of the Ghosts no longer belonged to him.

  Vintant howled in pain as I expertly removed the brand. The two big men struggled to hold Vintant still as I quickly finished the grizzly task.

  “I will spare your life, this time, Vintant. Go back to your wife and daughter. Stay out of our way and don’t show your face anywhere near us,” I warned the crying man.

  Max quickly wrapped a bandage around the skinless upper arm and loosened the bonds which held him. I walked out the shed into the overcast afternoon and looked down at the skin.

  It would be a stark reminder to the Ghost Company once it was mounted on the barracks wall. Nobody double-crosses us.

  Nobody.

  Chapter 2 – Encounters

  “Cap’n! Warships sighted off the stern!” The lookout in the crow’s nest shouted down.

  Captain Viskot growled as he stomped over to the stern rails before looking at the offensive ships through a sight glass.

  “Have they made us?” He shouted to the lookout.

  “Not yet. No, wait, they are tacking toward us cap’n!” The lookout’s shrill voice screeched back.

  “Blasted no good damned ships,” the captain mumbled to himself.

  “Helmsman, make for t
he river,” Captain Viskot issued the command.

  “Sir! It’s the prince’s fleet!” The lookout squealed in terror.

  Captain Viskot let loose a virulent curse as he scurried back to the sight glass.

  “All hands on deck! All hands on deck!” The captain shouted the general order.

  “Rig all the canvas we have, put your breeches up the mast if ye have to! I will not be dancing off any ropes today!” He shouted.

  “Mister Zeg. Get ye behind the boys with the whip least ye wish to swim,” Captain Viskot warned his first mate.

  The first mate ran after the sailors, urging them to place as much sail on the masts as possible.

  “Cap’n! The entire squadron is pursuing us!”

  “Curses to ye and your bloodline Princess Wendyaline!” Said Captain Viskot. “Mister Zeg! Bring up the loot. We best be lightening the load else we be caught.”

  Captain Viskot began to pace nervously behind the helmsman, his hands clasped tight behind his back while sweat ran off his forehead.

  Wails and cries of pain echoed up the hold as two crewmen dragged a long, heavy metal chain which was joined to a thick metal collar around each person’s neck, up the small wooden stairs and onto the ship’s deck. Thirty bedraggled people – men, women and children – were savagely jerked along. Some captives were rapidly blinking while others tried to shield their eyes with their hands.

  “I should never have taken this contract Mister Zeg. Not that I am against slavery. There is good money to be made in it. But I had that itchy feeling behind my right knee the entire time,” Captain Viskot said.

  “You should have listened to your lucky spot captain,” Mister Zeg told him.

  “Aye, I should have. Never mind, Princess Wendyaline can find herself more slaves. Drop the anchor,” the captain issued the order.

  The spare anchor was tied to the end of the chain and manhandled to the edge of the ship where it was shoved overboard. The slaves screamed in terror as the anchor and chain to which they were attached, sank quickly, dragging them under the cold water. A few tried to dig into the wooden deck - fingernails ripping clean off before all were dragged beneath the choppy waters of Lake Eire.

  Prince Marcus’s ships were gaining by the hour as the pirate ship reached the entrance to the Great River.

  “Vhembe! Where is that no good mage when I need him? Mister Zeg, send the cabin boy to fetch the mage before I fetch him meself.”

  “Aye, aye cap’n,” Mister Zeg saluted.

  A filthy, scrawny boy scuttled below decks to do the bidding of the captain, who turned back to looking at the pursuing ships.

  A series of loud bangs and curses, followed by the cabin boy and a drunken man, who was chasing the boy, spilt onto the deck. Captain Viskot spun around and fixed the drunk with a baleful stare.

  “Vhembe. Leave your toy alone and come here,” Captain Viskot told the mage.

  “Bugger off and leave me be!” Vhembe slurred back as he stumbled over his own feet.

  The ship’s crew drew in deep breaths as the captain stormed down the aft castle stairs and grabbed Vhembe by the throat and dragged him back up to the stern railings. Half holding Vhembe over the edge, Captain Viskot whispered in the mages ear with his fury barely contained.

  “See those ships hunting us, mage,” the scorn from Captain Viskot dripping as spittle flew into Vhembe’s ear. “That is the prince’s fleet. Do ye know what they do to pirates?”

  Vhembe slowly nodded his head as he tried to push himself back over the railing.

  “That’s right. They make the pirates dance at the end of a rope that’s strung off the ship’s mast. Do ye know what they would do to us if they found us with the loot?” The captain asked with exaggerated patience.

  Vhembe shook his head.

  “They keelhaul us first a few times, hack off our hands then string us up to dance.”

  Vhembe’s knees buckled as he sagged into the arms of the captain, his eyes widening in terror.

  “So can ye imagine what they would do with ye, a rogue mage with evidence of blood rites in your room? Nothing as pleasant I would imagine.”

  The captain let go of Vhembe, who fell to the wooden deck with a thud.

  “So get your sorry arse up and help us out of this situation,” Captain Viskot growled.

  “I, ah,” Vhembe stuttered, “have a flask of virgin’s blood left. Give me a few minutes to prepare,” he said before running below deck to his room.

  He returned soon carry a few items in the crooks of his arms. He hastily made his way to the middle mast where he carefully laid them down. Picking up a stick of charcoal, he began to draw a series of indistinguishable shapes at the base of the mast. Captain Viskot looked on dispassionately as the mage ended the drawings and reached for a large crystal flask. The dark red liquid inside looked thick and gooey, but when the mage shook it, it flowed smoothly, leaving bright red streaks on the glass walls.

  “I trust this won’t take long?” Captain Viskot asked.

  Vhembe just shook his head as he began to pour the blood out onto the deck, careful not to let any touch the charcoal lines. Soon a shape of a cloud was formed with a rudimentary drawing of moving air at the stern side.

  Vhembe looked at the captain, sweating as he stepped between the lines of the cloud.

  “Cap’n, I suggest that ye begin to tie down any loose cargo,” Vhembe said.

  “Ye heard him Mister Zeg,” was the captain’s reply.

  The sailors scrambled down the rigging as they rushed to secure the loose cargo and spare sails, both below decks and above.

  The captain turned once more to look at the pursuers, cursing as they seemed closer now than they were ten minutes ago. Vhembe began a series of chants within the cloud, waving a locket of brown hair above his head as the captain stomped to the helmsman.

  “Keep her steady. Ye knows the route to take through the river,” he said to the nodding helmsman.

  The pursuit of the pirates led the fleet down the throat of the Great River towards the ocean, where the pirate captain was hoping to lose the prince’s ships. A pair of orc raiders whose ships were better suited for such a task being flat bottomed soon joined the pursuing fleet.

  A stronger wind began to blow behind the pirate’s ship, filling the sails and breeches as the ship lurched over the river waters.

  The deep, wide river flowed out to the sea eventually, and Captain Viskot was praying silently that he would be able to flee into the open waters before the orcs caught him and skinned them all alive.

  Stronger winds began to buffet the ship causing the sailors to walk at an angle into the near gale force wind. Captain Viskot tied himself to a railing by the wheel and looked across the narrowing gap at the prince’s fleet. Sails were ripped free from cross arms and rigging snapped as the magical winds came through stronger and stronger. The fleet began to raise all sails and turned the ships into the wind to escape the gale force tempest which was growing.

  The orcs tried to keep up with the pirates, but a fierce storm blew in from offshore, sparked by the reckless use of the weather magic by the rogue wizard. One raider was capsized by the growing waves on the river while the other managed to beach itself on the sandy shore close to the river mouth.

  The pirate ship, on the other hand, was driven out to sea by the strong prevailing offshore winds and waves. The storm grew more ferocious the farther out it moved, and soon it was driving a massive storm surge before it. It caught the pirate ship and propelling it even faster out to the roiling and tumultuous deep blue sea.

  Captain Viskot hung on for dear life as waves slammed into the ship from all directions. Crew members were swept overboard while the main mast shattered and fell onto the mage leaving a red smear which was washed off by the waves. The helmsman lost an arm as a violent wave ripped the rudder off causing the wheel to spin uncontrollably. And all the captain could do was watch as his ship was torn to pieces before his red-rimmed eyes.

  Days passed fo
r the crew of the pirate vessel, and still the storm now turned into a massive, destructive hurricane left uncontrolled by the demise of the mage, chased them almost due west, the storm surge pushing them faster than anything they could have imagined.

  It seemed as if weeks had passed from the time this fierce, magical storm had developed until some crewmembers spotted land as the survivors braved this nightmare ride. The captain tried directing the craft towards the island dead ahead, but the rudderless ship would not heed his efforts.

  The storm surge grew in height the closer it got to the coast. Soon a massive wall of water formed and lifted the hapless ship over a small coastal cliff. The bottom of the ship was ripped to pieces as it clipped the cliff, the wave thrusting it kilometres inland over devastated forests and farmlands before it was smashed against a high city wall.

  Eventually, days later, the storm blew itself out. Once the sun started peeking through the last of the clouds, Captain Viskot and the remaining sailors staggered out from the wreckage of their ship to survey the strange land on which they had landed.