Layla, p.41
Layla, page 41
“Why? What happened?” Abbi asked and looked through the keyhole. She gasped and withdrew speedily.
“No, Donis, I do not know where she is, but I assure you my prisoner is on the Way Stalker waiting for Briella’s return. When he arrives, his interrogation will be swift and brutal. He will reveal the whereabouts of the key and if it’s on his person, he will relinquish it.”
“You plan on execution?”
“Not immediately. We may need him for leverage, trade, what have you. I think he will be more valuable to us alive.”
“And this imp who destroyed your army? That’s Briella’s commission? I thought she was a disappointment to you.”
“She was. I’m giving her a second chance.”
“That’s not like you, your highness. If she fails, this time the consequences could be insurmountable.”
“Don’t underestimate my proficiencies, Donis. I sent Cepha to make sure things go smoothly.”
There was silence for a fleeting moment. Ian stared at Abbi, listening, anxious. They were eavesdropping on Hacatine’s most guarded secrets. Surely the queen hadn’t brought him here to hear this! Whatever spell they were experiencing, the enemy hadn’t summoned them.
“Your commission, however, has nothing to do with either of those two.” The queen had taken a bite of something and spoke with food in her mouth. “I have you on a much more honorable task.”
“Which is?”
“Consolidate the tamers into a traveling unit.”
“Traveling? Where will we be going?”
“The portal. Once the key is in my possession, I want as many tamers and sea slaves available at the portal as possible.”
“The serpents need water, my queen.”
Hacatine laughed. “Yes, I know that. They aren’t leaving the bay. They’ll be waiting outside the portal. According to my calculations, the largest serpents can reach the window and remain in water.”
“And what will they be doing?”
“They will be there for Stenhjaert.”
“You’re going to capture the dragon?”
“No. We’re going to drive him out the other end. Cepha will follow him with her riders. “
Silence.
Ian glanced at Abbi.
“We have new horizons, my dear.”
Abbi covered her eyes and shook her head. Ian touched her gently on the knee. This was upsetting, indeed. Yet hearing this conversation was phenomenal. He was learning every move the queen had planned. What better way to come against her than to know her schemes—if they escape, that is. The closet, which was a wooden box with a door—stacked to the brim with clothes—had already become quite warm and the air stale.
“My queen, are you sure you’re ready to take on an entirely new world.? Why you haven’t even fully captured this one.”
“I’m not worried about this one. What do I have yet to conquer? Kaempern? The Xylonites? Those are trivial conquests compared to this new frontier. Once the serpents are trained, who will resist? The Meneks? Who?” she snickered.
“Alisubbo,” Donis answered softly. “You have never defeated their navy.”
“Their fleet is conquerable once we harvest Alcove Forest and rebuild my fleet. With new ships and the trained sea slaves, Alisubbo will not understand what hit them. I’m thinking beyond that.”
“And you think I can train them well enough to satisfy your ambitions?”
“I have faith in your troops.”
“With your armies in another world, our forces will be divided. That will put much more liability on my people. I’m not sure we’re ready.”
“Time is of the utmost importance. You must be ready. We don’t know when the portal will be as vulnerable as it is now.”
Abbi had been staring at Ian. When he looked at her, she whispered. “Where is the cell phone?”
“It’s in my yurt.”
“We need to go back to Kaempern.”
He snickered to himself. She couldn’t be more spot on.
“How?” he mouthed. He didn’t even know how he got where he was at, much less how he’d get back.
She shrugged.
“Your pessimism depresses me.” the queen said. “What do you need? More warriors? More spells?”
“It would help.”
“Very well. I’ve had Simbatha’s quarters searched and every bit of magic she has ever brewed is being confiscated.”
“And allotted to us?”
“Of course. You’ll need it more here than Cepha will when she breaks through to the other side. I’ll have everything delivered to you in the morning.”
“And the Savant?”
“Simbatha is no longer a Wise One. She’s failed me too many times. I’ll have her put away. No need to worry about her.”
For a moment, Ian pitied the old woman on the ship. Not only had the sailors turned against her, but now the queen. Is anyone trustworthy in Taikus? Wickedness has no boundaries here.
“Have a bite more,” Hacatine offered.
“I’ve had my fill, My Queen. If that’s all you need of me, I look forward to inspecting the Savant’s goods in the morning.”
“That’s all for now. Rest well!”
Ian didn’t need to look again as he heard Donis leave, and the door closed behind her. He was about to peek through the keyhole to see if Hacatine was still in the room when the closet door swung open.
Blinded by a sudden brilliance and intense heat, Ian stiffened.
With spots before his eyes, he blinked.
The sails above him flared fiercely. He jumped up, pushing whoever leaned over him aside. The wizard? What was he doing staring at him?
Pulling the blanket out from under him, he beat against the flames. Pieces of canvas fell, and he stomped the hot ashes with his bare feet. He wrapped the blanket around the mast and smothered the remaining fire aware of others helping him.
When nothing but coal and ash remained of the mainmast, the sails frayed and burned, Ian caught his breath and stepped away from the smoke.
“Well!” Alex gave him a pat on the back. “Good to have you back with us.”
Ian frowned and looked around. Where had his dad, and Jeppe and Aren come from? Whomticker? How did he get on the ship? And where were...
Abbi slipped her arm around him. “Yeah, we got back. Somehow.”
“Wait. I was in a lifeboat then blinded. By magic?” He gave Abbi a puzzled look. “And then in a closet just a moment ago, eavesdropping on Hacatine. And then blinded again.
“Say what?” Alex asked.
“I need to go back and get the phone.”
“Take it easy, son. We’re trying to get back, but we seem to have run into a few obstacles. The phone is in my pocket. Get ahold of yourself. You were unconscious for a bit. Whomticker did a number on you to get you back on the ship and out of the enemy’s hands.”
“Whomticker? It was his magic that did that?”
“Alex!” Aren interrupted. “We’re drifting and we’ve no control where to.”
His senses returned, and panic set in. Ian stormed across the deck looking for the wizard for the Way Stalker floated helplessly with the tide, whilst their enemy approached at alarming speed from the south. Arrows would do little to stop a mass of Taikan witches.
“Whomticker!” he called. “We need you!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” The magic thief joined him at the gunwale and rolled up his sleeves.
“Can you hold them off?” Alex asked.
“Till when?” Whomticker asked. “Forever? I doubt it.”
Ian surveyed the sails. Their only hope would be to catch the wind, but with lines that were threadbare and burned, repair would take hours. They didn’t have hours. They had minutes. Maybe. If they were lucky.
“Abbi, help me fix the sails.”
“My eye Capitan,” she snarled back at him. “On the double! What other wishes do you have for this genie?”
“Find me a line that isn’t being used,” he barked as he soared up the lines.
“Ian, look!” Abbi called moments later. Breathless, she pointed to the port side of the ship. Ian saw it all from the heights of the rigging. Two skiffs had reached the Way Stalker. Taikan warriors swarmed up the ladders and climbed aboard like cockroaches. Alex and Aren emptied their quivers on the approaching throng, but to no avail. What arrows the Taikans couldn’t catch and toss aside, merely bounced off their armor.
Whomticker thrust his magic at the first Taikans who jumped over the gunwale. The warriors shot beams of power at Aren and the Kaempern coiled and rolled into the shadows. As Ivar ran to his father he was taken down with a bolt of energy. Jeppe dodged a fiery shaft and slid away unharmed.
Two Taikans aimed at Alex and Whomticker retaliated, sucking as many beams of light as he could with his thievery. His hands flew from side to side, devouring the Taikan’s assault and ricocheting the deadly fire back at them. The resistance between the two powers held each other at bay. Every warrior who crawled aboard added to the mix.
Alex slashed at a warrior as she clambered aboard. Another came to her aid stunning him. He lit up, his body translucent and transparent so that every muscle inside of him was as if under an x-ray. The cell phone glowed red.
Whomticker extracted the rays with his magic but too late. Alex fell, curled, comatose.
“He has the key!” a woman shouted.
Clinging to a dangling line, Ian swung from above and sailed into the warriors stampeding toward his father. He knocked several Taikans off balance and drove them into the sea then grappled with one as he hit the deck.
Whomticker drove the others off, but already the wizard shook from exhaustion.
“Get away. Save your key and yourself. I cannot hold all these sorceresses forever. Flee!” he shouted.
Ian rolled his father over and found the cell phone in his dad’s pocket. He dragged Alex away from the rays.
“Get out of here, boy!” Whomticker trembled. “Swim if you have to.”
Ian would do no such thing. He couldn’t leave his dad, or Aren. And where was Jeppe? Where was Abbi?
Abbi’s conquest
THE BRILLIANCE OF THE sorceress’s witchcraft vying the wizard’s alchemy burned hot at the stern of the ship, so hot the smell of smoldering wet planks reached Abbi. She knew to stay out of sight. She had no deviltry to wield at the Taikans. Whomticker’s warning for Ian to flee echoed loudly over the deck. Perhaps his voice had been heard as far away as Taikus itself. Abbi wondered if Ian would indeed flee. If so, she’d be with him. But he hadn’t and the wizard could stand the onslaught only a little longer. What would happen if Whomticker caved in? What would happen if these necromancers stole Ian’s cell phone and invaded the real world?
Not while she still held breath. She had one last hope. Slowly, cautiously she crept, stopping when she saw movement in the shadows near the boom. Marian? Another warrior? She held her breath until the glow of Jeppe’s red hair caught the light. “Stay where you are Jeppe,” she thought. She inched her way to the cabin hatch and opened the door, closing it behind her ever so carefully. She drew her dagger and scanned the room.
The Savant hadn’t moved. Her wide eyes regarded Abbi scornfully, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Abbi lunged at her, sliding the dagger up against the woman’s throat and holding her hand over the woman’s mouth.
“Do not make a sound. Not one word!” Abbi commanded, gritting her teeth. “I’ll slit your throat faster than you can spit.”
Simbatha only glared at her.
“You listen to me good and hard. You’re a dead woman, do you hear me? Dead. You go back to Taikus your queen is going to kill you.”
Simbatha shook her head in protest and would have argued if Abbi hadn’t pinched her mouth shut and pressed the blade tighter against her throat.
“I heard her myself. Ian and I were just there through a spell, and we heard her talking. She’s given all your incantations to a snake-haired woman.”
Simbatha stopped struggling. She must have known who the snake-haired woman was.
“You have one chance for survival. Only one.”
Abbi looked deep into the old woman’s eyes. She hated her. She hated her for what she did to Ian and if ever she felt like killing someone it would be Simbatha at this very moment. But she couldn’t because this witch, this wicked, two-faced, lying hag was their only hope.
“There’s a fight going on outside between my man and the people who are going to get you hanged. Go out there and fight on our side, do you hear me? You spin your sorcery at the Taikans, and I’ll grant you amnesty. You can live as a Kaempern for the rest of your life if you do this one last thing. Do you hear me?”
“I have no magic. I’m used up.”
“I don’t believe you. I’ve seen your spells.”
“They’re in a box at the bottom of the ocean.”
Abbi pushed the dagger tighter against her skin. “You’re lying.”
“It’s true.”
“You’re a Taikan. You’re a sorceress. I don’t believe the only curse you have was in a box. It’s in you. It’s in your blood, and you know it.” Abbi took a chance at that. She had no way of knowing if Simbatha possessed magic, how could she? But everything she’s seen of Taikans told her the woman was more than an herbalist or an alchemist.
“You had spells enough to fake a drowning and fool Ian. And he’s no fool. You had spells enough to slither into the Kaempern camp to abduct him.”
“I’m smart,” she snickered.
“You’re a witch. If you really are smart, you’ll do what I say and use your powers to save yourself. Because I swear, I will kill you if you don’t.”
Abbi stood, pulled the sorceress to her feet, and slashed the ropes around her wrists. “There will be arrows aimed at your back if you turn on us.”
“What was the woman’s name you saw with the queen?” Simbatha inquired as she rubbed her wrists.
“You doubt me?” Abbi snickered. “Donis.”
Simbatha nodded. “I had a feeling it was coming.”
“You just can’t get along with anyone, can you?” Abbi pushed her up the ladder, relieved to see Jeppe standing guard outside. “Keep an arrow aimed at this woman. If she messes up, shoot her,” she whispered. Jeppe pulled an arrow from his quiver.
Simbatha took a step sternward, but Abbi held her back.
“This way.”
A Traitor’s Miracle
IAN GLANCED AT AREN, a dark mound of clothing and limbs fallen helplessly in the shadows, his quiver empty. Dead? His father seemed to breathe but perhaps that was a dream. Ian did not know where Abbi or Jeppe were. Had they fled? Were they hiding?
“Flee!” Whomticker repeated, this time backing away, his knees buckling under him with every step. “I cannot hold on!” Whomticker’s voice grew weaker, the enemy’s vapors stronger. “You must go. Save yourself. Save... your... world. Go!”
The wizard fell backward as the onslaught of power descended upon him.
Ian could not, would not leave without his father and his friends. If he perished, he resolved to toss the cell phone to the bottom of the sea before he died. Ian drew his father’s sword and ran toward the sorceresses, the heat of anger now burning hotter inside of him than any flame on the ship. Magic seared his hair, his clothes. His effort was honorable but foolish. The magic was too strong. He couldn’t get close enough to slay a Taikan but was repelled by the force. All the while Whomticker reprimanded him—ordered him to escape, his voice tapering into the static sounds of electricity and the sizzling of wet wood.
Am I the only one left?
For an answer, an explosion lit the ship, illuminating Whomticker, the warrior women, and the bodies strewn across the deck. The blast knocked Ian to the ground.
“Cease, Briella!” a woman’s voice resonated over the screaming Taikans. “Cease and leave this ship.” A fireball rocketed into the air and exploded, a pinwheel of sparks, a boom as loud as a cannon.
The Taikans screamed.
“You’ll die a traitor,” Briella answered and thrust a bolt of power toward the crow’s nest. The curse fizzled and fell like fire dust from a sparkler. It was then that Ian spotted Simbatha—and Abbi standing next to her high above the mizzen mast. He scrambled to his feet, dumbfounded. What was this? Simbatha switched allegiance? Could this new adherence be genuine?
“If I do it won’t be you who slays me. Leave. This ship is going to Kaempern without you.”
Briella was not one for words, evidently. She spoke with her magic. If Whomticker’s resistance created heat enough to burn the ship, then Simbatha’s challenge created an inferno enough to raze the ocean. Ian darted away, tugging his father’s body out of the line of fire. Whomticker ducked and ran when Simbatha struck again.
Flames spat at Briella’s army. Balls of fire that spun like cannon balls, twisted, and finally consumed themselves like fireworks, then fell as pellets of hail—hail that pounded on the Taikans, denting their armor, and leaving sores on their faces where they had no helmets.
Ian ducked into the cabin, pulled Alex in after him, and left the door open to watch. The warrior women scurried off the ship, Briella the last one to leave. Before she departed, she stood, holding her arms over her face to protect herself.
“You won’t get away with this, Simbatha. You cannot fight all Taikus.”
In return, Simbatha sent another shower of flames, illuminating the sails, the broken lines and Jeppe with an arrow nocked in his bow and aimed at her. Ian did a double take, his questions answered.
Briella leaped over the gunwale.
Retaliation
BRIELLA’S FIRST CONCERNS were her soldiers and keeping them safe. She would not confront the Savant head on again as she hadn’t the power for such a face-off. No. She would be more cunning than the old woman. No Taikan ship was going to Kaempern. It would sink before she’d allowed such treason.
“What now?” Cepha asked as they rowed to shore. Four other boats had gone before them, the gold on their cap rails glimmering in the starlit sky.
Briella refused to answer. The woman’s hazel eyes bothered her. Simbatha had committed treason, what’s saying Cepha wouldn’t be the next to stab her in the back?
