The Sorcerer's Abyss (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

  “Sounds like you have a job then.”

  “I’m looking for something steadier and better paying. I think maybe if I sailed with you I could do a lot better,” Ellyssa told the Captain.

  The serving woman brought the requested pitcher over and set it on the table. Ellyssa dropped a few coins into her palm and poured Sonjay another mug, deftly dribbling in the contents of a small, glass vial as she did so. The hilt of a knife at Sonjay’s side drew her eyes. The Captain saw her looking and pulled it from his hip.

  “You like that, do you?” He held it up and showed it off. “My former captain gave me that when I left his ship to captain my own.

  Ellyssa studied the ivory handle with its elaborate scrimshaw. “You must have been good friends. Why did you leave his ship?”

  Sonjay smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth standing out in stark contrast to his nearly black skin. “We’d made the delivery of a lifetime. Got so much gold I bought his old ship with my share and he bought himself a brand new one. I took on a new crew and started working for myself. No matter how good your job is or who you work for, second is still second and Sonjay is a man destined to be first.”

  “It sounds like I found the right man to work for,” Ellyssa said.

  “How do I know you have the barnacles to do what we do? Some of our business requires a certain willingness to overlook some of the oppressive laws of the kingdom, particularly those of taxation.”

  “I watched you unload your additional cargo after the port authorities left.” Ellyssa tried to whisper conspiratorially while still allowing Sonjay to hear her.

  Sonjay’s jovial smile vanished like the sun behind an ominous black cloud. “You risk your life just mentioning that fact.”

  Ellyssa could not help but look at the huge hand now tightly gripping the fine hilt of that knife. “I just wanted to confirm my hunch was right. Fact is, honest work is fine when you can get it, but it don’t come along often and it don’t pay nearly as well. You don’t need to worry about my stomach. It’s tasted enough foulness to build up a pretty powerful tolerance to just about anything I need to do.”

  The big man appeared to think while his now silent crew waited to react to his response. Ellyssa was certain the men would grab her and make her disappear with just the slightest indication from their captain. Everyone, including Ellyssa, seemed to relax when the big man’s smile returned.

  “You come to my ship tomorrow night. I have some cargo to pick up and take south. You seem smart if not very big. I can use smart people to…” Sonjay cut off his words as a cramp brought his hand to his stomach.

  “You all right, Cap’n?” one his crewmen asked.

  Sonjay’s face contorted in discomfort. “I think I got a bad clam in that chowder. I think I need to hit the privy and bilge my hull.”

  A few of the men snickered at the comment as Sonjay pushed through the crowd with the grace of a bull. Ellyssa watched him exit through a door set in the back of the tavern.

  “I’m going to go get another pitcher,” Ellyssa said.

  She vanished into the crowd and through the door. The door led to the alley where a crude outdoor privy had been erected. She could hear Sonjay as the mild poison she spiked his ale with violently purged his system.

  Ellyssa dropped the illusion so the former slaver could see her for who she was before he died. She jerked open the door to the privy and coldly stared at the man who was little more than a slightly blacker silhouette in the darkness.

  “Hey! The damn thing’s in use! Go use the wall!” Sonjay glared at the figure standing in the open door.

  Ellyssa conjured a light and let its luminescence wash over her face. Sonjay narrowed his eyes at her, trying to place the face. She smiled as she watched those eyes go round with recognition and fear.

  “You!”

  “I’m glad you remember who I am. Do you remember what I am as well?” Ellyssa asked.

  Sonjay tried to leap to his feet, but Ellyssa wove a spell and forced him to sit back down. “Where is Captain Jake?”

  “How in the abyss should I know?” The fear he felt was evident in his voice.

  “You were his closest friend, Sonjay. He gave you this knife.” Ellyssa pulled the blade free from the scabbard near his feet.

  “I’ve only crossed his path twice in the years since I struck out on my own, I swear! I don’t know where he is right now or his route. He likes to run between The Black Sand Isles and the shipping lanes whenever the mood strikes him, picking off stray merchant ships. Half the year he lives like a prince in a villa on one of the islands. That’s all I know!”

  Ellyssa tucked the knife into the leather belt encircling her slender waist. “If that’s all you know, then I guess it will have to do.”

  Ellyssa summoned the Source and the boards upon which Sonjay sat creaked ominously. The big man gasped and splayed his hands out wide to brace himself. Twin columns of human filth burst through the wood, wrapped around his chest and face, and pulled him head first into the muck. Only Sonjay’s feet were visible as they stuck up out of the ruined seat and futilely kicked the air until he drowned in the most horrible manner imaginable. Ellyssa smiled at the irony.

  ***

  Magus Brown started in surprise when the crystal in her hand glowed with lavender light. “Robert, look at this. Someone nearby is channeling the Source.”

  Magus Harvey looked over at his fellow mage. “Excellent, Melanie. Can you determine the direction and distance?”

  The wizard studied her crystal, slowly directing it left and right. “That way, perhaps four or five blocks.”

  “Near the docks. I knew she would return eventually! Quickly, we must intercept her before she ceases her casting and we lose her.”

  The three Academy wizards broke into a jog, following the pulsing light of Magus Brown’s crystal. They came to a side street and she pointed left with her glowing talisman. The hearts of all three wizards raced as they neared the rogue mage. None of them were battle trained. There was a special branch of The Academy trained for combat and dealing with hostile wizards, but the inquisitors were stationed in the desert city of Argoth to act as a defense against Sumaran invasion. The far more numerous Academy wizards dealt with any attack coming from the southern passage nearest Southport. Magus Harvey was not too concerned. They were three full wizards from The Academy and they could certainly handle one girl.

  “She is just ahead and drawing nearer,” Melanie whispered urgently.

  Magus Harvey scanned the area. “Melanie, hide in the alley to the right. Oliver, to the side street on our left.”

  Ellyssa hastened down the dark street in search of the nearest gate leading out of the city. She had perfected the permanent gate that had been such an utter failure a few years ago. In a small cave just a mile north of the city, she had created a stable portal to her new home. She was extremely grateful, as it saved her nearly a ten-mile walk to reach the city. Her nerves went on alert as a man stepped from the shadows of a nearby building and planted himself in the middle of the street.

  “That is close enough,” the man said.

  Ellyssa stopped, turned her head from side to side, and saw two more figures emerge from behind and to each side of her. “I know you. You are the man from The Academy who threatened to close down the school.”

  “I’m glad you know that, so you know I have the authority and duty to apprehend you for unlawful use of magic. You also are in illegal possession of a magical artifact, which shall be turned over to The Academy at once.”

  Ellyssa slowly shook her head. “You are not my enemy, Magus, do not become so.”

  “You are surrounded by three Academy wizards. Resisting will only result in far more severe punishment. Come quietly and hand over the Codex Arcana, and things will go much better for you,” Magus Harvey assured her.

  Beneath her calm façade, Ellyssa seethed. These people did not understand what she did! They could never understand. And they wanted her book. She coul
d not allow that to happen. The Codex was too important. The wizard was still talking, but Ellyssa stopped listening and broke into a sprint directly toward him. Magus Harvey stopped his pointless attempts at persuasion mid-sentence when she unexpectedly charged him.

  Ellyssa sensed the other two wizards begin casting before she heard their rhythmic chanting. Thanks to Azerick’s ring, she cut through the ether and grabbed hold of the Source almost as if it was an extension of herself. The young mage ripped open a portal and instantly closed the hundred feet of open ground between her and Wizard Harvey.

  Robert’s eyes flew wide as the girl instantly appeared only a few feet in front of him. He quickly deduced what the girl had done and was amazed she was not only able to maintain her sprint with only a bit of wobbling, but also to form another spell so quickly after gating. Such means of travel were very disorienting, even if for only a few moments.

  Further pondering was impossible as a powerful force struck him hard enough to launch him several feet through the air. The spells of Melanie and Oliver passed harmlessly through the space Ellyssa had been occupying. One bright orb of light struck an awning support and sent the porch crashing to the ground.

  Magus Harvey rolled to his feet holding his ribs and watched the girl race down a side street. “You two go that way and try to cut her off, and be careful! We need her alive to get the Codex.”

  Robert took a few stumbling steps then ran down the street after Ellyssa. Melanie and Oliver ran down the street parallel to the one Ellyssa had fled down. Robert emerged at an intersection and spotted the girl as she burst into the open from the street ahead him. Their eyes locked, but before the girl could strike at him, Magus Harvey released the energy he had been holding at the ready.

  The magical bolt lit up the street like a small sun as it streaked toward its target. The girl’s eyes flared as she tried to bring up a ward but was too slow. The strike sent her careening into the wall of a building where she lay moaning but unable to muster the strength to move. Magus Harvey strode toward the incapacitated girl with a smile on his lips and a spell at the ready. Magus Parkes burst from the alley just a moment later.

  “What have you done?” Oliver asked his fellow wizard.

  Magus Harvey looked confused a moment then looked at the form huddled on the ground. He conjured a light and saw that he had struck down Magus Brown.

  “Blast it all! The girl must have dropped an illusion on Melanie when she came out of the alley. She’s clever, I’ll give her that.”

  “There!” Oliver pointed when he spotted movement from down the street.

  “Come, we cannot allow her to escape!”

  “What about Melanie?” Magus Parkes asked.

  Robert looked down at their comrade who was slowly regaining consciousness. “Leave her, Oliver. She will be fine for now.”

  The two men hastened after the fleeing girl. The pair drew nearer until the single figure split into two and went in separate directions upon reaching the next cross street.

  “Damn her and her illusions!” Magus Harvey shouted. “We’ll have to split up, but be careful.”

  Robert turned right while Oliver hastened after the figure running to the left. Both men continued to catch glimpses of the girl as she raced down the street and darted around corners. Magus Parkes nearly ran into the rogue wizard when she apparently found the alley blocked and tried to double back. Oliver did not hesitate to lash out with a force strike. Ellyssa dove to the ground and tried to roll out of the path but the spell caught her with a glancing blow and turned her roll into a tumble. She released a stream of brilliant bolts, but the wizard’s shield absorbed most of it.

  She tried to run again but another assault took her in the back. The spell lifted her from the ground and slammed her into the wall of a small shop. Ellyssa lay on the ground gasping for breath and quietly weeping as the wizard cautiously approached. When Magus Parkes looked down at the girl, he could see she really was little more than a girl, a girl who may never see full womanhood if her trial went poorly.

  “Stop fighting now. It’s over,” Oliver said softly.

  “No, It’s just beginning,” Ellyssa said as she stepped up behind him.

  Magus Parkes saw the girl on the ground vanish and spun around to face the voice at his back. He had just a moment to capture the cold determination in the girl’s eyes before she hit him hard enough to send him through the wall of the shop. He looked up just in time to erect a ward as Ellyssa brought half the roof down on top of him.

  Robert Harvey heard the exchange of magical attacks echoing through the night-shrouded streets. He realized he was the one chasing the phantasm while Oliver had obviously found the girl. He ran back toward the sound of battle with a curse and hoped he got there before it was over. Given their level of success thus far, he had less than high hopes of Parkes defeating the girl on his own. Even that tiny bit of optimism was smashed when he reached the ruined store.

  Magus Parkes’ muffled shout came from under the destroyed timbers. “She ran toward the docks!”

  Magus Harvey refused to allow the girl to slip away. He knew her tricks now, and her illusions would not fool him again. He spotted Ellyssa as she darted down another alley. Robert took a small gamble by using the Source to coax more speed from his fatiguing legs and quickly began closing the distance separating them.

  Ellyssa found her path blocked by a low wall of cracked and warped boards. She demanded more speed from her muscles, leapt up, and grasped the top of the boards. She ignored the splinters digging into her hands as she pulled herself up. The flash of light practically blinded her and pain shot across her leg from the lightning bolt the Academy wizard unleashed upon her.

  Ellyssa winced when her injured leg struck the ground. She staggered slightly as she ran, blinking away the brilliant motes of light swimming crazily in her eyes. Magus Harvey did not bother trying to scale the wall. Instead, he simply unleashed a ball of fire and obliterated the flimsy structure. His spell had the added effect of illuminating the dark street and showed Ellyssa racing for the docks.

  Magus Harvey saw the girl flee down another narrow street before bursting out into the open ground of the dock front. Crates, nets, and crab pots exploded as Magus Harvey launched a series of simple force strikes at the fleeing mage in an attempt to trip her up and stun her long enough to subdue her.

  Ellyssa raised an arm to shield her face from the flying splinters of wood despite the protection her ward offered. She felt several strike glance off her hasty shield and knew it was only a matter of seconds before the wizard realized he would have to expend more power to take her down quickly.

  Robert saw the girl rapidly approaching the end of the dock front. The girl looked panicked as she realized there was no place to go. A large fish-processing factory blocked her egress to the right and only the long dock and an endless ocean offered an option other than turning and fighting. The girl chose flight until she reached the end of the dock.

  “It is a long swim to anywhere,” Magus Harvey told the girl who was looking from him to the water like a trapped animal. “You are stronger and more skilled than I had anticipated. It is a shame you chose the path of a criminal. The Academy is lacking in true talent like yours these days.”

  Ellyssa glared at the wizard. “You let slavers take people away, you ignore the suffering of the common people knowing you have the power to make a difference, and you call me the criminal?”

  “Had you attended a proper school, you would know the history of our order and why we must remain separate from the daily running of the kingdom.”

  “Your order would never have allowed me in. I came from a poor home with no titles or wealthy benefactors. I am one of those people you would have watched sold into slavery or worse. You people are the criminals for ignoring what you have the power to stop! I have the power, and I will not ignore the suffering!”