by B. A. Scott
“Please!” Dareic persisted, silencing their amusement. “It’s a matter regarding Lord Daro.” The name garnered the Incinians’ full attention. “My name is Dareic Caladen, and I’ve come to forge an alliance with your people against him. Please, allow us to dock. Let your King decline our offer himself, just let us complete our mission here.”
“I’m not here to negotiate your admittance, Human,” said the Incinian Captain. “Be gone, or this ship will be blasted from the water. Captain Anthrabar,” he addressed Xado with a nod, then left the ship’s railing.
“Wait!” Dareic belted. “We’re not finished here!”
“Yes we are,” said Xado. The Incinian vessel pulled away, but kept pace with the Avenger not thirty yards from it.
“No!” Dareic protested, a wild look glaring in his eyes.
Phynn started turning the ship’s wheel. “He told you this would happen,” he said. But Dareic caught the wheel and held it firmly.
“Do not alter course,” he told the Marinean.
Phynn released the wheel and punched Dareic in the face, sending him to the hard wooden deck.
Vega and Treäbu immediately rushed in. Treäbu took control of the wheel as Vega guarded him, towering over Phynn, ready to strike. Phynn thought momentarily about attacking the Aerolus, but after taking in his size, he wisely decided otherwise.
“Your friend has a death wish,” Phynn said. “And if the two of you don’t get out of my way, he’s gonna take us all with him.”
Vexen observed them cautiously, keeping a safe distance.
“Release that wheel,” Xado threatened.
“Please, Captain,” Dareic begged, rubbing his jaw. “I’ll get us through.”
“Oh you will, will you?” Xado asked. “You’re gonna stop the catapults from blasting my ship to smithereens? You’re gonna stop the arrows from piercing my canvas, and cuttin’ through my ropes? And the fire gates—an entire fleet couldn’t penetrate their defenses. The embermen aren’t known for their mercy, boy. I’m not arguing this with you. We’re turning back! If you don’t like it, you can take a dive off the bow whenever you like, and chance a swim to shore—the lot of you!”
“We paid you to take us to Kallenshar, and a fortune at that!” Dareic said, getting to his feet as Xado advanced on the wheel. “Or have you forgotten? You will hold up your end of the bargain!”
“You are not the Captain of this vessel!” Xado snapped. “And I don’t take orders from filthy Human scum! You wouldn’t bash down your neighbor’s door if they asked you to come back later, would you? Kallenshar accounts for one third of my business, boy, and you’re throwin’ a black mark over my name. This is blatant disrespect for their waters—their boundaries—their law! I swear it, press me again, and I’ll have half a mind to throw you to the fire sharks myself! Now,” he approached Vega “get out of my way.”
He forced his way past the Aerolus, who relented in letting Phynn pass as well.
“Move,” Xado ordered Treäbu, who surrendered control of the wheel. Xado took it for himself.
The ship turned against the rocking waves, and Dareic’s heart sank.
“We can’t make it, brother,” Treäbu told him.
“We have to,” Dareic argued sadly.
“The fire beacons won’t stay red forever.”
“Well, we can’t just sit and wait for them to change. Who knows how long it’ll be?” Dareic desperately searched every horizon for opportunity. Their present situation was dismal. And if Treäbu couldn’t find any hope or chance of success, there probably was none to be had. His eyes rested on Kallenshar, slowing shrinking—the success of his mission ever drifting farther and farther away.
“No,” he uttered. The desperation in his eyes turned to reckless determination.
The wheel shuddered under Xado’s grasp. At first, he thought it normal, until something slithered past his hand.
“What the—?” he remarked, startled by the sight of large, bright green vines sprouting from the wooden wheel. They twisted and tangled around the spokes, causing Xado to recoil. “What the hell is going on!?” he yelled.
Dareic turned to face him, eyes aglow. With a quick motion of his hand, the vines responded, turning the wheel, then held it firmly in place.
Xado stumbled backward in utter shock as the ship lurched violently. Vega, Treäbu and Vexen grabbed ahold of whatever they could, keeping their balance amidst the tumultuous turn.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” Dareic said. “There is no turning back.” With another gesture of his hand, the vines straightened the Avenger’s course, steering every soul on board directly toward Kallenshar.
Xado was speechless, simply trying to process what was happening.
“Ah, Dareic,” Vega spoke anxiously, “I think you should know...”
“What?” Dareic asked.
“They’re taking aim.”
Chapter 13: The Fire Gates
“Oh lord,” Xado uttered. “What have you done?”
A single flaming arrow whizzed past his head and struck Phynn in the chest, sending him spinning to the deck.
Xado screamed in anguish, blurting out curses while the others looked to the sea. Not only were archers lined up on the Incinian vessel that kept pace with the Avenger, but another ship had pulled alongside them as well. Flanked on either side, Xado knew the fate of the Avenger had already been sealed. It was only a matter of time.
“We’ve been given our warning,” said Vega. “They are merciless.”
“Xado, we should never have come,” Phynn choked up the words, then died.
Dareic observed the Captain, hunched over his fallen first mate, grasping his lifeless hand. “I’m truly sorry, Captain,” he said. “I didn’t want that to happen.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?!” Xado yelled, tears streaming from his eyes. “They’re going to kill us! And they don’t’ care if you’re an ambassador or not! Don’t you see? This is suicide!”
“Vega, watch the Captain,” Dareic said. “Treäbu, take the wheel.” He reached toward the vines, and they loosened their slack.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Vega told him as he passed.
Dareic proceeded to the very center of the ship’s deck. He looked back over his shoulder to Xado, and spoke calmly, “They’ll never touch us,” then raised his palms to each of the Incinian ships.
“What the hell are you?” Xado uttered under his breath, suddenly fearful of Dareic.
The archers on either side of the Avenger stood twenty strong on each deck. Their bows, each knocked with flaming arrows, were aimed directly toward the Marinean vessel. At the command of their officers, the archers loosed a slew of arrows into the air.
“No!” Xado bellowed.
But before any of the flaming arrows could touch the Avenger, Dareic ignited massive shields of magic on either side of the craft. The arrows struck their translucent, golden surfaces, then fell into the sea, causing a series of fizzes and sizzles as their flaming tips extinguished.
For a moment, the Incinians appeared stunned that they’d fired upon a wielder of magic. Even so, Dareic maintained his shields, ready for another attack. He looked from one ship to the other, waiting for the next onslaught of arrows, but then, something ahead caught his attention.
Strange structures, which had originally protruded just above sea level, slowly rose out of the water. They were long walls of dark stone, each three times as long as the Avenger, and five times as high. They emerged facing one another, in a ring around Kallenshar, like hour marks around a sundial, and though their ends appeared narrow and slender from a distance, Dareic wagered they were actually wider than his father’s cottage. Upon each, great catapults were loaded with massive balls of fire.
“What’s all this?” Dareic asked. “A bit much, wouldn’t you say—for a measly merchant vessel?”
At once, several of the catapults launched their bearings at the ship. Dark tails of smoke trailed behind each burning projec
tile, which appeared as hellish comets in the evening sky.
Though Dareic had never conjured a shield so far from his person before, he stretched out his palm toward the approaching fireballs, and ignited large, distant shields before them. Each deflected the fireballs off into different directions, but shattered like glass when struck. The fireballs barely missed the ship, sending steaming splashes of seawater into the air.
“Dareic! Archers!” Treäbu yelled, alerting him that the flanking ships were firing on them once more. Dareic’s shields stopped their arrows, just as another slew of fireballs came raining down from the sky. Dareic blocked three of them, and barely managed to levitate a fourth off course. Then, his ears perked as countless bows unleashed their flaming arrows once more.
“Ah, shit!” Dareic exclaimed, reaching with one hand to block an oncoming fireball, and his other hand to one of the ships. He feared arrows striking from the opposite side would surely puncture him at any moment. But he was outright shocked to see a large shield of magic blocking them as well.
At that moment, Vexen came to his side, her eyes aglow.
“Looks like you could use some help,” she told Dareic.
Such conflict erupted inside Dareic heart, that for a few seconds, he could not think, for the demon he loathed with a fiery passion had more than likely just saved his life. And while he truly needed her help in fending off the Incinians’ attacks, he hated himself for consenting to her aid.
“How’d you learn how to do that—the shield?” Dareic asked.
“I saw you do it,” Vexen replied.
“Hold off the archers,” Dareic told her. “I’ll manage the rest.”
Vexen nodded, and stood ready for action. Dareic wound up a mighty thrust, and impelled a swarm of oncoming fireballs away from the Avenger. At the same time, Vexen protected the ship against a barrage of flaming arrows from one of the Incinian vessels. Most bounced off her shield’s surface, but several struck beyond its limits, finding wood and sail.
Frustrated at her failure, Vexen thrust her hand forward, and sent her shield spell racing across the water. To her surprise, it blasted an enormous hole straight through the Incinian vessel’s hull, and even endured beyond the ship, until finally fading into thin air. Upon its impact, the ship split in two, and a great many Incinian bodies were blasted into the sea.
“Oops,” Vexen said, wide-eyed, shocked by the devastation she’d wrought.
“How’d you do that?” Dareic asked, taking notice of the spectacle.
“I don’t know,” said Vexen.
“What were you thinking?!” Xado yelled behind them. “You attacked them?! Do you realize what you’ve done?!”
Then, the remaining Incinian Vessel slowed its pace, and pulled away from the Avenger.
“What’s this?” Dareic asked. “Are they giving up?”
But not a moment later, Dareic saw something ahead that made his stomach lurch. Gigantic walls of red-orange flame ignited between the dark, towering structures, forming a flaming ring around Kallenshar.
“Hooolllly hell,” Dareic gasped, as utter hopelessness finally consumed his heart. He released his magic, and stood dumbfounded at the sight before him.
“What now, Dareic?!” Treäbu yelled behind him. “Dareic?!”
But Dareic only stared ahead in silence, numb to all else besides the approaching fire gates.
Suddenly, Vexen shoved Dareic from his stance.
“Keep your wits!” she yelled.
Dareic’s senses snapped back into place. He looked to the spot where Vexen had touched him as though it was plagued with disease. Then, his eyes turned to her, bewildered and furious.
“You… shoved me,” he said with astonishment.
“Yeah. You’re welcome for it!” Vexen told him. “Now, focus, you daft buffoon! We can’t sail through the fire gates,” she pointed ahead, returning Dareic’s attention to the problem at hand. Dareic laid his personal conflict with Vexen to rest, and looked out toward his impending doom. “If we don’t turn back now, we’re done for! Unless you’ve got any other bright ideas?”
“Um…um…” Dareic fumbled for an idea with even the slightest chance of success. “We put a shield around the entire ship!” he suggested.
“I don’t think I can make one that big,” Vexen told him.
“Me neither. But together— I’ll cover the front, you cover the back.” He hated himself for saying it. “We have to try.”
“Try?” Vexen asked. “So, if we fail, you do realize we’ll get incinerated by a colossal wall of fire.”
“It crossed my mind,” said Dareic.
Just then, every catapult within range launched a fireball toward the Avenger. Dareic’s eyes grew wide as he watched 30 heaps of burning death arc into the sky.
“It’s now or never!” he yelled. With every bit of concentration he could muster, Dareic formed a giant shield that spread over and around the front half of the ship, but would not grow any larger.
“That’s as big as I can get it!” Dareic said, gritting his teeth as he strove to sustain the conjuring. “Can you cover the rest?”
Vexen stood back to back with Dareic, then cast a shield of her own around the back of the ship. Consequently, the sail immediately fell limp.
“You’re choking the winds!” Vega cried out. “We’ll be sitting ducks!”
Then, the fireballs came. The first few struck the magical shields with such force, the golden conjurings cracked like eggshells. It took all of Dareic and Vexen’s mental might to sustain and repair them. But the barrage persisted, and eventually, took the two wielders to their knees.
Hell rained down upon them, and with every explosion, Dareic and Vexen thought they might be drawing their last breaths. Finally, under the ruthless crashing of fireballs, they could sustain their shields no longer, and the golden conjurings shattered to pieces.
The moment the ship was exposed, two fireballs struck the Avenger—one at the aft—and the other, just beside Dareic and Vexen. Vexen’s body was blown back against a railing, amidst planks and splinters of burning wood. Dareic, on the other hand, was blasted overboard by the explosion. His body—some of which was set ablaze by the fireball—slammed into the water with such force, his vision went red.
On board, Vega raced to a railing, and yelled Dareic’s name. Treäbu sped to Vexen’s side, and helped her to her feet. Xado sought the opportunity in Treäbu’s absence to grab the wheel for himself, and spin the ship about.
“This has gone on long enough,” he said. But just as he’d uttered the words, he looked up and saw a fireball heading straight for him. He leapt aside as it crashed into the wheel, demolishing any hope of altering course. “Blast!” he yelled.
Dareic’s eyesight returned, and he immediately started swimming back toward the Avenger, but stopped suddenly at the sight of something dreadful. Not ten feet from him, a large creature swam by. It was a pitch-black fire shark, three times the length of a man, with markings of hot orange that stretched along its body. Then, Dareic saw another. And another, until he realized a swarm of them were circling his body, and enclosing on him fast.
“Oh shit,” he said fearfully. “Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!”
“Hang on, Dareic! I’m coming!” Treäbu said, hopping up on the ship’s railing.
“No, you idiot!” Dareic yelled. “Don’t even think about it!”
Treäbu froze, then stepped back down from the railing, watching Dareic with fearful eyes.
“So, this is it,” Dareic said to himself, utterly terrified. “Eaten by sharks.”
He saw one make a move for him, opening its jaws wide. Dareic conjured a shield entirely around him—like a giant bubble—and the fire shark bumped against it, then swam away. At once, the others sought to taste Dareic’s flesh as well, and charged the shield aggressively.
But Dareic’s body sprung from the water, and hovered just feet above its surface. He lost his focus and the shield vanished.
“O-okay!?�
�� Dareic exclaimed, baffled by the illogicality of his current situation. Below him, the fire sharks leapt out of the water, biting, snapping, and gnashing their teeth, trying desperately to chomp down on Human flesh. But, like a wriggling worm on a hook, Dareic twisted, lifted his feet, and bent to avoid their strikes.
To his great relief, his body suddenly moved higher from the water, and toward the Avenger. Dareic looked to the Marinean vessel, which had stopped dead in the water. Its mast was cracked, its sail had many a number of holes blown or burned through it, and several portions of the ship were burning. Dareic searched for his companions, fearing for their lives, and saw their shapes running about. Then, he spotted Vexen at the railing.
She stood with eyes aglow, her hand reaching straight toward him. She levitated him over the water, back to the craft. Treäbu stood with her, and observed Dareic closely as his feet set down on wood.
“You’re burned!” said the Skaelar, noticing patches of mildly seared flesh and clothing.
“Hurts like hell,” Dareic said, then looked to Vexen. He knew he ought to thank her for saving his life yet again. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “They’ve stopped firing,” he noticed. Indeed, not a single arrow or fireball could be seen anywhere.
“You’re welcome,” said Vexen.
At that moment, two Incinian ships flanked the Avenger. The Captain that Xado had spoken to before came alongside the Marinean vessel, and twenty armed Incinians leapt or swung down to its deck.
“I expect they’ll finish us off now,” Treäbu said. He drew his blades, ready to defend himself, but Dareic objected.
“I wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“If they try to kill us, I’m not going down without a fight,” snapped Treäbu. “What did you think was gonna happen? Get ready to use some of that magic of yours.”
“We’re here to talk, not fight,” Dareic said. The Incinians prodded he and the others together, and encircled them.
“Lay down your weapons and effects,” said the Incinian Captain.
“Stand your ground with him,” Vega whispered to Dareic. “But respectfully.”