“Meliana!” he cries, startling her with the intensity with which he said her name. “You have a ship!”
“Well yes we do,” she replies. “It’s my father’s really. He was nice enough to allow me to…”
Miko comes forward and says, “Take us to your father.”
“Quick!” insists Jiron.
Her eyes widen as she recognizes him from when he had originally spoke to her and her father earlier. She glance to him, then to Jiron, “Miko?”
Jiron nods and takes her hand. “Yes. We don’t have time to explain. James is in trouble and we need to see your father right away.”
Gasping, she says, “Trouble?”
“Yes,” replies Jiron. “Now, where’s your father.”
Turning slightly, she points to a vessel at the dock, “He’s just finishing loading our cargo…”
Dragging her quickly, he heads in that direction. The rest of their group follows. “What’s going on?” she asks as they run toward where her father is directing the unloading of the last wagon.
“James is being taken back to the Empire,” he says. “I think they mean to execute him.” He hears her gasp as she begins to understand the gravity of the situation.
As they reach the docks, Jiron sees her father at the top of the gangplank checking off the manifest as the cargo comes aboard.
“Father!” Meliana cries as they reach the ship.
Looking down to her from the deck of the ship, her father says, “Where were you? I was almost ready to send someone to find you.”
“James is in trouble!” she cries out as she and Jiron reach the gangplank and run up to the deck of the ship.
“What’s this?” he asks. He backs a little away from the gangplank as Illan and the others follow them on board.
Indicating Jiron, she says, “This is Jiron, James’ friend.”
“Nice to meet you young man,” he says as he extends his hand.
Jiron takes it as he glances to the departing ship carrying James. “Sir, we need your help,” he says.
“Help?” he asks.
“Father, James is in trouble,” his daughter exclaims. “He’s being taken back to the Empire. We have to help him.” She takes him by the arm and looks pleadingly in his eyes and says, “They’re going to kill him!”
“That’s right sir,” interjects Jiron. Pointing to the ship that’s now pulling away from the docks under sail, he adds, “He’s aboard that ship.”
He glances to the departing ship and recognizes it as the Ambassador’s. Looking into the pleading eyes of his only offspring, his will to resist melts away. “But what can I do?” he asks. “I’m not about to have my crew board the Ambassador’s ship. We’re not pirates.”
“But father!” exclaims her daughter.
“No,” he says, refusing though his heart would have him do otherwise. “I cannot bring our house to ruin over one man.” His voice softens as he adds, “No matter how much you care for him.”
Tears begin to well in her eyes as she sees her hopes being dashed upon the sound logic of her father.
“Could you at least follow him?” suggests Illan. “You wouldn’t have to do anything, just drop us off wherever they land?”
Meliana looks to her father, hope beginning to spring anew.
He stands there and thinks for a full minute before turning to the captain of the ship and says, “Prepare to get underway.”
Having heard the entire conversation, the captain knows just what is in store and begins shouting commands as the sailors bring in the last of the cargo.
“Thank you, father,” Meliana says as she gives him a hug and kiss.
Looking slightly embarrassed at this display of affection before everyone on board, he gives her a smile as he quickly disengages from her embrace.
“You should return to shore,” Miko says to Paul.
Shaking his head, Paul says, “I don’t plan to return to Cardri without Gwynne and Daria.” The determination in his eyes forestalls any objection Miko was about to make.
As the last sailor brings aboard the last of the cargo, the captain hollers, “Bring in the gangplank! Cast off the lines!”
One sailor pulls in the gangplank while dock workers untie the guy lines securing them to the docks.
The captain hollers to the men up in the rigging to drop sail. As the sail descends, the wind begins to fill them and they start moving away from the dock. As he gets the ship turned out to sea, Miko, Jiron and the others stand at the bow. The other ship is now far ahead of them and is almost lost upon the horizon.
Once the ship clears the harbor, the captain has the crew in the riggings to drop full sails and the ship begins racing through the water as they work to maintain visual contact with their prey.
When they come to take him from his pen, they remove everything from him but the clothes on his back. His slug belt, plus the entire contents of all his pockets were emptied into a sack before the manacles were put on his feet and hands.
The effects of the drug they used on him have reduced to nothing, though he is still unable to concentrate adequately enough to summon the magic. Helpless to do otherwise, he remains still as they secure the metal around his feet and hands.
Only able to shuffle due to the chain connecting his feet together, he moves as best he can up the stairs and then out of the castle. A crowd has gathered in the castle’s courtyard to see the Ambassador off and maybe to take one last look at the mage.
He stands there amidst several guards while they wait for the appearance of the Ambassador and his retinue. When he at last makes his appearance, walking next to him is the man who paid him a visit earlier. That man comes to James and checks the integrity of his manacles before they start to leave the castle courtyard.
As they walk along the docks, he sees Jiron and the others in the crowd. He shakes his head to prevent any ill fated rescue attempt. There are simply too many guards around for it to have any chance of success. Especially with his magic inoperable.
He is then marched up the gangplank and then escorted by several of the Ambassador’s guards to the hold where his manacles are secured to the wall by a chain. Over in one corner, ten children sit in a cage looking scared.
Once they are done with him, the guards leave the hold, leaving him there alone with the kids.
He sits there in the gloom of the hold, only a very small amount of light filtering down through the hatch from above. It isn’t long before he begins to feel the unmistakable motion of the ship moving out to sea.
One of the girls, a small child, is staring at him with her face pressed against the bars of the cage. He gives her a reassuring smile. She smiles back at him. “Are you Miko’s friend?” she asks.
He couldn’t have been more stunned than if she started singing the Star Spangled Banner. “What?” he asks.
“Are you Miko’s friend?” she repeats. One of the older girls in the cage with her perks up at that and joins her next to the bars.
“Yes,” he replies. “I know Miko.”
“He’s a nice man,” she says.
“I’ve always thought so,” he says. How in the world does she know him? And how could she possibly have connected him to me?
“We were helping to keep an eye on the Ambassador’s camp for him,” the older girl explains. “We got a little too close and they grabbed us.” After a brief pause, she asks, “What are they going to do with us?”
“Nothing if I can help it,” he says. “Miko and the others with him know where we are and where we are going. They’ll not sit back and do nothing.”
“I hope not,” the little one says. “I miss my sister.”
“My name is James by the way,” he tells her.
The older girl says, “I’m Gwynne and this here is Daria.”
“That’s me,” the younger girl explains to him.
“Nice to meet both of you,” he says. “I just wish it wasn’t here.”
Just then the hatch opens and James looks u
p to see the man who visited him in the dungeon. The man gazes down at him for a brief moment before stepping aside to allow the Ambassador to step onto the stairs leading down into the hold of the ship.
After the Ambassador has gone down a few steps, the man follows as does three guards, one of which has a crossbow.
The girls move away from the bars of their cage as the men come down the stairs. When they reach the bottom, they come directly to James and stop several feet away. Far enough to keep him from reaching them should he make the attempt.
“So this is the mage which has caused so much turmoil in the Empire?” questions the Ambassador. The guards flank him while the crossbowman keeps his crossbow aimed directly at James’ chest.
“Yes milord,” the other man says.
The Ambassador gives James a thorough once over before saying, “He doesn’t look like much.”
“Right now his ability to use his power has been blocked,” the man tells him. “If he had his power I assure you your opinion would be different.”
“Indeed,” the Ambassador says, unconvinced.
After a few moments of silence while the Ambassador contemplates James, the other man says, “We should return to the deck milord. The air down here is most foul for your lordship.”
Glancing to the other man, the Ambassador nods his head and says, “Perhaps you’re right.” Turning back to the stairs leading to the deck above, he moves away from James and the guards follow. As they ascend the stairs, the other man glances back to James just before exiting through the hatch.
When the hatch closes, the hold is once more plunged into darkness.
An hour or so later, he’s not sure exactly as time down in the hold is hard to measure, the hatch again opens and the three guards who accompanied the Ambassador earlier enter and come down the stairs.
They approach James and in the hand of one is a small vial. When the man holding the vial stops near, he holds it out to him and commands, “Here, drink this.”
Not about ready to willingly consume more of the drug, as that is what this must be, he crosses his arms across his chest and clamps his mouth tight.
“As you will,” the guard says. Then he says something to his two companions who grab him. Once they have him tightly secured, the man with the vial comes to him and grabs his hair, pulling his head back.
Keeping his jaws locked securely, James stares at him in defiance.
The guard nods to one of the others who pinches James’ nose closed.
Unable to breath but through clenched teeth, the need to draw in a breath becomes greater and greater. Finally, unable to stop himself, he opens his mouth and a piece of wood is inserted between his teeth to keep him from closing it again.
Then he watches as the man opens the vial and brings it to his opened mouth. He upends the vial and James feels the liquid within begin filling his mouth. Keeping the back of his throat closed, he tries to prevent any of the liquid from going down. But the need to breathe becomes too strong and he starts choking as he takes in a breath and the liquid goes down.
They continue holding him for several more minutes to ensure the liquid has in fact been consumed. Then the man nods to the two holding him who promptly releases him.
James immediately bends over and puts his finger in the back of his throat and vomits out the contents of his stomach all over the hold’s floor.
“That won’t do you any good,” the guard tells him. “It’s already in your system. The drug is very fast acting.”
He looks up at the guards from where he’s doubled over and can tell the guard’s words are true as his mind begins clouding over. Not as bad as the other time, but bad enough to render him incapable of summoning the magic.
As the guards leave, the drug begins taking its full effect. Though his mind is beginning to be fuzzy, he’s at least able to keep conscious. The effect of this drug feels like having a bad fever without the heat.
When the guards have left and the hatch once again closes, the older of the two girls asks, “James, are you okay?”
“Sort of,” he replies.
“What did they do to you?” she asks.
Not bothering to reply, he closes his eyes and leans his head against the side of the ship.
Sometime later, the hatch again opens and the man who was with the Ambassador descends down the stairs. From the diminished light coming in through the open hatch, James figures it to be near dusk.
He notices that the man is carrying a sack in his hand as he comes nearer to him. Stopping several feet from him, he pulls a crate closer and sits down. Upending the sack on the crate next to him, James can see it contains the things which were taken from him.
The man holds up the slug belt and says, “Why do you carry this?”
James smiles and says, “I was given a sling by a friend and find that a handy way to keep the bullets for my sling.”
He puts the belt down, nodding. The next thing he picks up, James almost can’t even see what it is. “And what is the purpose of this?”
Squinting, he tries to make it out in the dim light of the hold. Then recognition hits him when he realizes the man is holding the little round hard object he made with his magic back in Cardri just before losing the ability to do magic.
“Oh that’s a toy,” he says.
“A toy?” the man replies. “I don’t think so. Tell me what it does.”
“Would you like me to show you?” James asks, giggling slightly. The giggle surprises him, it must be the effect of the drug.
“Yes,” the man replies, “I would.”
“Very well,” agrees James. He then opens his mouth and says but one word, “Leech.”
The round sphere pulses slightly and the man is about to say something when he suddenly gasps. “What?” he cries out as he drops the pulsating sphere as if it was a red hot coal.
The confident expression on his face turns to puzzlement as he begins to sense something is not right. “What are you doing?” he asks.
“Doing as you requested,” replies James. “Do you wish to see more?”
Shaking his head, the man pulls out a knife and says, “Stop it now!”
“Very well.” Looking to the sphere he says, “Leech by ten.”
The man doubles over as if in pain, lines begin forming on his face as he starts to gasp. Raising his knife in one hand, he holds his middle with his other as he lurches toward James in an attempt to kill him.
“Leech by a hundred,” James says.
The sphere flashes brightly as the man drops to the floor of the hold and begins writhing. Moaning, he looks to James as his fingers lose their grip on the knife and it flops to the deck when his arm twitches. Shortly after that, he lies still.
“Leech by zero,” he says and the sphere, now the size of a golf ball, stops its pulsing and becomes still. An amber glow comes from it, similar to crystals which contain stored magic.
“Is he dead?” asks the older girl.
He glances over to them and sees all the girls staring at him and the dead man with naked fear in their eyes. Nudging the man’s body with his foot, he nods, “I think so.”
“What did you do?” she asks.
James waves away the question as he takes his foot and snags the dead man’s body with his heel. Dragging him a little closer, he reaches out with his hands and pulls the dead body next to him.
Searching the dead man’s clothes, he finds a set of keys and as luck would have it, one fits the locks of his manacles. He removes first his wrist restraints, then his feet. Glancing up to the open hatch, he fears that someone up there had heard the man’s death. But when no one comes to investigate, he reaches over and picks up the glowing sphere, putting it in his pocket. Taking the rest of his things, he places the slug belt once more around his hip and then gets up, making his way over to the girls in the cage.
“Shhh!” he says, putting a finger to his lips. “We must be quiet.”
“How are we going to get out of here?” o
ne of the other girls asks.
Turning the key in the lock, he says, “I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on being on board a ship.” Opening the door, he lets them out and has them move as far from the hatch as possible. They find a spot behind some barrels of tar to hide.
“Stay there and don’t come out for anything,” he tells them.
The girls just nod, fear on their faces.
Turning back to the hatch, he moves until he’s once more by the cage. Unsure what to do, he stands there in indecision as he ponders his next course of action. His mind still fuzzy from the drug, it’s hard for him to think properly.
He takes out the sphere and absentmindedly rolls it in his hand. When he had originally made the sphere he had only imbued it with a few simple commands. Leech was the first one, which would draw power from whoever it was near thereby infusing it with power for the other commands.
It was intended to use magic in circumstances when he was unable to, such as now. He only put one offensive spell in it and had he known that he was going to be aboard a ship, he never would have used that one.
Staggering slightly from the effects of the drug coursing through his system, he begins moving toward the stairs leading to the hatch. Suddenly from above, the light coming through the hatch is blocked as a guard begins descending down the stairs.
James halts his forward movement and begins backing up as the man stops abruptly on the stairs when he sees him there. The guard does a quick scan and takes in the scene: James no longer in manacles, the cage empty with the door open and the dead body lying on the floor.
The guard begins hollering up the stairs as he draws his sword. As the guard continues down the stairs, more guards come through the hatch.
Holding the sphere before him, he calls forth the lone offensive spell by saying, “Incinerate!”
The sphere pulses and he can almost feel the magic flow out of it toward the approaching guard. The guard’s clothes, hair and it seems his very skin ignites in a fireball. Screams of pain erupt out of the inferno as the man stumbles around until finally coming to rest on the deck. The nauseating odor of burnt hair and flesh permeates the hold. Within the sphere, the glow has been greatly reduced.
The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five Page 15