Familiar's Ancient Throne (Book 2 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

  “I will see to it.” Daku thought.

  “‘Thank you.”

  “You are welcome.” Cage could sense that Daku enjoyed compliments and words of praise, but most of all, a conversation.

  Cage carefully returned to himself, making sure that the intangible thread remained still and he didn’t even come near to accidently tugging on it. His eyes opened and found Frill close by, crouched. He looked up and the sky remained as it had. “Daku’s on it.” He found Megdline using her sight mirror and asked “Anything interesting?”

  She stole a glance to say “Good job. Frill didn’t have to make you lose focus. It worked I take it?” He nodded and pointed to what she conjured. “Nothing, that I can tell. The only thing that is odd is that they have twenty cargo boats more than the port can hold and don’t look to be going anywhere anytime soon. They have certainly heard we are coming near that way because nothing I can see is sailing north from there.”

  Brooke came closer and laid a hand on each of their shoulders. “The two of you need to get some rest. You have both been doing too much magic. If it is to occur in the morning, you both better recover. We will watch over you.”

  Frill came closer and meowed “She is right. You two are dead on your feet. Eat and sleep or neither of you will be in any condition to face this unknown plan.”

  They both could feel the tiring signs of overusing magic and did as the two said. Full stomachs allowed sleep to take its turn minutes later while the other ships were warned to be aware of the likely danger. Two remained in each crow’s nest at all times and sharp eyes remained scanning the water and sky for danger.

  “Wake, Cage, wake up.” Cage heard inside his mind. “Daku?” he spoke and thought in his waking moments.

  “Yes, it is me. I’m on my way back right now.”

  The urgency in the thoughts made Cage’s eyes snap open wide to an overcast darkness that shielded the sky from the stars in the night sky. The darkness made it difficult to see, but lit lanterns offered enough to safely navigate the deck. Brooke woke quickly from his sudden move as did others who heard his voice. She went to talk, but he held up a finger to forestall any questions. He closed his eyes and linked himself back to Daku’s mind when there was a far away voice brushing against his psyche. “What did you find?” He thought.

  Daku seemed to feel more at ease when he connected again. “You and Megdline were correct. There are twelve floating trees just like what you are staying on. Each one has two of those stick launchers… uh, a large crossbow I heard a human say it resembled. That means twenty four of those weapons. I became small to get a closer look and saw they had many long sticks bundled near the shooters. Also I must warn that each carries two mages. I heard one say that they heard of us and what we four did in Bepop and hoped it would be enough. Would you like me to turn around and destroy the floating trees?”

  “No, if they heard of us they’ll be expecting you and might have found a way to counter your skills. You had the right idea on coming back. I think subtlety might be in order. I figured something like this might happen and came up with a few ideas. You just get back here and get some rest. How far away are you?”

  “Uncertain exactly, but I cannot see that far because of thick clouds that are forcing me to fly much lower than usual… I will be there as soon as I can.”

  Cage opened his eyes to find all but the children standing eagerly nearby. One look to Megdline had her raise a spell that wouldn’t allow any eavesdropping outside the deck. He said to them all “Daku found a problem. Twelve battleships are waiting. We couldn’t see them because they are cloaked against magic… that would be my guess if it is anything that I’ve experienced.” He pointedly glanced to Megdline who lit with understanding. “I need eleven good swimmers who are used to swimming in the ocean.”

  A large tribal man thumped his chest. “You will find none better than we of the Veeo tribe. We only have ten of my people here, including me. We will gladly volunteer to repay all you have done.”

  Brooke nodded. “Take them, Cage Love. They are only one of two tribes who live near the ocean and have never been beaten when they flee to the water. Our tribe fought them once before and could not kill one.” The man’s chest swelled by such praise. “Take Moril as well. She can hold her breath better than any of our people.”

  “Good, it is settled. All of you get close and listen to my plan. The rest, find me every pot, pan and nails there is.” A dozen hurried off to gather materials. Cage focused and conjured an illusion of the boat they sat on while making a soft white orb so everyone can see. The three dimensional boat slowly spun above his hand as he said “Although I’ve never done it to ships like these, we are going to disable them at the same time.” He pointed “This is the primary target, the rudder. If we take it out then they won’t be able to maneuver… This will be our secondary target. I’m going to make something and I’ll need you to place what I give you here… on the sharp point in the front and as low under the water as you can manage. Once we all finish placing the secondary task we’ll need to swim to the west without making splashing noises. What I plan will not kill anyone, but it will prevent them from doing the same to us. Work quietly and do not get spotted. Daku will carry us close and we’ll swim to each of our designated boats. We’ll come in from behind and get started. This northern breeze will slow them down enough for us to get in close. Afterwards we fall back and get together. Any sign of trouble you get out of dodge and I’ll resort to plan B.”

  “What is plan B?” The man before asked.

  Cage grinned. “I’ll attack all out and do what I can to achieve the same effect.”

  Dozens of cookware was brought out and placed on the ground. Cage selected twelve large metal bowls and an assortment of pans. Someone even found a sack of simple nails. He selected all he required and turned around. “Granny, I need you to manipulate the metal bowls into something like this.” He created an illusion in the palm of his hand with a green color. It looked like the bowl’s dome, but had two gently screwing rows of jagged teeth. The backside had a plate with four open holes where tipped bolts would be used. The dome with teeth spun on a magical hydraulic press he would add later. “I won’t have enough energy to do everything myself so manipulate these pans and bowls for me please.”

  “These will drill through the most difficult part of the hull?” She asked.

  “Yes. I’ve done something similar in my past, but since we don’t have directional explosives to cripple rather than obliterate readily available, this option will work. You make these and I’ll work on disabling the rudder and making arrowheads from these nails.” Cage watched her nod and order a few people nearby to bring her the items. She began magically shaping and welding the material, one piece at a time, exactly how he showed her.

  First, Cage selected forty eight nails and sent magic into each one, reshaping them into arrowheads, but not designed for an arrow. Each one was sharpened to a razor’s edge to more easily penetrate the hard wood of a hull. Brooke helped, taking each one as he finished and brought them over to place near Megdline as she still worked on her first task. With forty eight nails reshaped for a new purpose, Cage began grabbing all the spare iron that had been brought.

  Magic flowed into the scrap as he designed a retractable system. He first designed triangular handle grips, twenty four to be precise. On twelve, he reshaped a circular box with a coil spring hidden inside and a reinforced and denser iron for what would be run through it. He took one nail and cut it in quarters with but a thought and held it in his hand. The spell focused on greatly reducing the diameter down to a four micron thick wire that not even the human eye could see. The work was exceedingly dangerous as only his magic had the precision to feel what could not be seen. While working on the wire he strengthened it by tempering. Because it was so microscopically thin, it dissipated heat in seconds to get treated a hundred times so it would not break under pressure. Without using his hands, Cage magically lifted the first handle wit
h a circular box and one without. He fused one eight inch thread to the handle and fed the line inside the spring box and fused it to the inner ring. The tension he held quickly spun the thread inside and snapped the two handles together.

  Testing his work, Cage picked up the completed device and moved to the railing. “Each of us will get one of these. You will need to be very careful using it or you’ll lose something.” He held one handle and reached around the backside of a wooden rail. Cage grabbed the other triangular handle. “Watch closely, this is how you’ll destroy their rudders without making noise or alert the mages to our presence. Hold both handles together around the hinges you want cut. Pull the handles apart and cut through the wood like so.” The handles separated and he pulled back, effortlessly pulling the invisible wire through solid wood, but it looked like nothing happened till he made a second pass a few inches over and all watched a chunk of wood drop. It tumbled on the deck and stopped by a person’s foot who carefully picked it up to not find any cutting marks. The handles snapped back together. “If the handles are separated and the center passes over a body part, might as well say goodbye to it.” He handed the first to Moril. “Be very careful. Go over to that part of the rail and try to get used to it. You’ll need to know how to use it before you’re in the water and cut off their rudder.” She took the dangerous device and did as he said, shaving off slivers off wood like it was magic. To her, it was. For Cage, he knew that the four microns didn’t cut, they moved molecules apart, so long as the density of the object was less. He also said “It will only be good for a few cuts so don’t use it too much and do not make it pass through metal. Cut the wood around the rudder. When you destroy the rudder, drop the cutter in the water.” He noticed several nods of conformation.

  On the third installation of his cutters, there came a heavy beat of sound as Daku found them and landed in an open area. He didn’t say a word as he watched Megdline and his master work relentless magic. He settled down to rest his weary muscles after flying so hard and nearly missing the fleet under the cloud cover that made vision nearly disabled. He didn’t say a word and got comfortable.

  As he finished designing the last cutter and keeping it for himself, Megdline finished her work not three minutes ago. A cutter in one hand, Cage tried standing and felt woozy. He drew on some of the energy in a diamond to recover fully. Cage walked over to look at the twelve identical plates and drill heads. Megdline slowly recovered from the taxing work of magic. He thanked her and said to rest. He scooped up the bowls, laying them one on top of each other and scooped all of the arrowheads. One of the men coming on the mission helped by gathering the plates. “Everyone ready?” None of the eleven voiced otherwise. Cage led the way over to Daku who stood at their approach. “Are you ready?”

  In answer, Daku tripled in size and made the ship start leaning to one side. Brooke quickly yelled for everyone else to rush to the opposite side to just barely equalize the tilt. His deep voice said “I am now. All of you, climb up quickly. We must move while darkness consumes most light.” Cage ran up the seven foot tall arm while carrying the supplies. He gracefully walked down Daku’s back as Moril rushed up behind. One wasn’t so graceful and fell, gaining a laugh most joined in.

  Once the twelve got situated on the thirteen foot tall griffin, Cage had them all sit down and hold on. Daku felt them all preparing and when they settled he turned around and leapt while extending his wings to fly. A few flaps gained a fifty foot high flight. He grew slightly more to not have all the human’s cramped so tightly on his back. Time wasn’t in their favor so he sped his way to the southeast as Cage filled him in on the plan.

  Though none of the villager’s enjoyed the knowledge they were high above the ocean, they found comfort it couldn’t be seen clearly. They also didn’t interrupt Cage as he took one plate, four arrows and the eight inch wide drill made from an iron bowl and reshaped scrap. He set up a spell on the plate while placing the dome and four arrows on it. Green light, the color for moving types of magic, connected the arrowheads to all four corners of the plate along with the drill sitting in the center. The plate glowed green as he applied a spell to first fire the four arrows into the front of the boat and hold it in place with a thin, yet strong string of magic. For the middle he added a good amount of rotational torque along with a thrusting motion to chew into the boat without remorse until it no longer met resistance. He handed over the first to Moril, who passed it on back.

  The remaining eleven forced him to draw some more from his stores and reduce the headache. For the last spell he keyed his drill to link to the others and begin a twenty minute countdown. He went over the details on how to use the drills again and made sure there were no unanswered questions. When thirty minutes passed he gave the drills more of a magical charge to make sure the degradation rate on the objects didn’t go below an efficient amount and not do the task.

  “I see them.” Daku said quietly as he glided in behind twelve battleships. “But they’ve stopped…”

  “Hold position, Daku. We’re far enough away for me to see what they are doing and not sense my magic.” Cage said and Daku slowly circled above the sea and was glad the clouds remained. Cage used his sight mirror and saw nothing of his targets. “Never mind, I still cannot past their cloak that hides them from magical means. You know what to do.”

  Daku flew low and with stealth that far exceeded imagination from his large size. The twelve stood up and held their equipment carefully as they approached the lantern lit boats from behind. Each craft had more than a hundred feet separating them, but that wasn’t an issue. Everyone on his back had prepared themselves and held little fear. The griffin slowed down as much as he could and felt one of the men run down Daku’s outstretched wing and jump as they neared the first boat. In a few seconds everyone ran and dove into the water, near the boats. Cage leapt last while holding both contraptions in his left hand.

  Daku flew away without being seen under the cover of darkness.

  In the water, Cage felt the workings of magic, a great deal actually. Off to the right he could see that the first man who jumped reached the rudder and was already working on it while the rest swam without making any noise or splashing. Cage reached his boat last while the first man cut off the rudder and let it float away. Cage took two minutes to cleanly cut through the wood with his wire, making sure to avoid metal. As it dropped, making little noise, he saw two of the volunteers swimming away, already done. He dropped his cutter in the water to be forever lost in the sea’s depths. With the drill in hand, he took a deep breath and swam beneath the ship. It was too dark to see, but a free hand felt his way towards the sweet-spot he knew would be nearly impossible to plug. He turned the drill and placed the drill-head against the wood. Cage placed his palm flat against the back to trigger the short burst of magic that shoots the arrow heads and holds them to the plate by magic. The moment his drill activated, the timer began counting down for the others. The magic of the drills couldn’t be detected by the stronger magic he felt being worked.

  He slowly came out of the water, using only one breath and not gasping, to see the others already moving away. He took another breath and swam below the water to move more quickly and not be spotted.

  Ten minutes later all twelve swam together, getting as far away as possible. Five more passed before Cage told them to stop and hold still. He had everyone hold each other as he applied the hovering spell to each. As one, they all rose out of the water. With all of them linked, none fell, but it unsettled all except Cage. He then wrapped a black rope of magic he once used to snatch Megdline out of the air after being ripped off the ground by a ghost powered tornado. His other hand altered the end of the rope like a balloon which glowed a very soft white, like the light of the moon peeking through the clouds.

  A moment later they saw Daku’s flashing pale form snatch the conjured rope and jerk them all off the water and into the air. When he regained momentum and enough height while Cage got them closer, there was a moment
of weightlessness as Daku did an acrobatic flip which snatched them up higher as he came in below and felt all of them fall onto his back. Cage laughed “Good job. Now fly away only as far as necessary so you can see. It should begin any time now.” Daku nodded as Cage asked “Anyone hurt?”

  “My neck is.” One young man said.

  “Did you drop your chin to your chest like I said?”

  “No, but I now understand why.”

  “It has begun, Cage.” Daku said right after. All paid careful attention as sharp blue eyes looked off into the distance. “It seems all those mages I saw while you were working have stopped and are running as frantically as the other humans. All floating trees are slowly sinking… They found that the rudder has been cut from each and they appear to be yelling at one another. I cannot hear anything, but the humans are panicking…” His eyes narrowed. “The boats have stopped sinking and are rising again, as you predicted, Partner. The mages are using all their strength to push water out and… yes, the sails on the tall branches are filling with unnatural wind and are forcibly turning to the shore…” he went silent for two minutes and watched. “They are not turning. They are doing everything to make it to land, unable to do anything else.” His head spun around. “Your plan worked, Cage. Shall I head back to the others?”

  “Go right ahead. Wake me when you get close.” Cage laid down between Daku’s massive shoulders where the wings flapped more easily.

  Sleep ended abruptly as Daku unerringly returned to the boats. Cage got up and helped the others down onto the lead ship for his partner was too large to land. He jumped off last and Daku finally shrunk down to a tiger’s size while everyone got answers to how the mission occurred.