by Dean Cadman
Cole had kept out of Zedd’s way for most of the afternoon. He’d found a comfortable perch on one of the felled tree trunks, and whiled away his afternoon contemplating what he would do when their mission was finally over—providing it was successful, of course. It had been one of the more pleasant afternoons he could remember lately, and he’d found it relatively easy to forget about what might be lurking directly under his feet, just waiting for the sun to go down. He’d kept a close eye on the small patch of sky he could see through the tree tops, and felt reasonably confident about the prospects of a dry night to come. After several days within the forest, he’d also become quite adept at judging the time of day by the amount of light which filtered through the canopy above, and so he knew there was little more than two hours of daylight left to them now.
“How’s the digging going?” Cole asked, nodding towards the large hole. Zedd seemed to startle a little at his words, as if his mind had been occupied elsewhere. He took a few footsteps towards the hole and glanced in.
“Just about done, I’d say,” Zedd replied.
“That’s good, because maybe we should start thinking about clearing the area of ground around the hole, so we can create the circle of protection in plenty of time before it gets dark,” Cole said, standing up and stretching out his back. Zedd gave him a strange look, as if what he’d suggested didn’t make any sense.
“Why bother when we can just move it to a piece of ground that’s already clear?” he replied, turning back to his undead-minions. Cole was about to ask him how he intended to move the dragon heart out of the hole, but he never got the chance. Zedd had already issued the command to his minions.
“NO!” Cole shouted, slamming up his own mental defences only a heartbeat before they touched it. The mental impact of the dragon heart smashed against his barrier, like a giant storm wave against the base of a cliff, causing him to stagger backwards several paces. He watched helplessly as Zedd dropped to his knees, a look of complete shock etched onto his face. Even through his own barriers, Cole could sense the titanic struggle that Zedd was now a part of. He wasn’t sure if even his own mental abilities would be enough to withstand such an assault, but he knew for certain that Zedd’s wasn’t.
Reluctantly, he slowly lowered his own defences, ready to try and help Zedd if he could. As soon as his barriers were lowered, he started to sense things much more clearly through his link to him. It was immediately apparent that this entity was nothing like the child-like one he had encountered earlier. It was not looking for help, or a friend like the other had been. It was there for only one thing. Revenge.
He could sense Zedd’s mental cries of pain and sheer terror, as the entity assaulted his mind over and over. He obviously had no defence against whatever the entity was doing to him, and Cole wasn’t sure if he would have any either. Carefully, he reached out along his connection with Zedd, trying desperately to avoid being detected by the entity. When he entered Zedd’s mind, he tried to keep his presence there as unobtrusive as possible, hiding within the depths of his deepest memories.
He watched from the shadows of Zedd’s mind, as the entity mentally tortured him with images and emotions that would have instantly stopped the heart of many a man. He could sense the incredible power and intelligence of the entity, and wondered how something dead, could seem so alive. They had been warned by Lord Zelroth that the dragon heart contained the remnants of the original dragon’s consciousness, but this went way beyond that. If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn they were dealing with a live dragon. Not that he had ever encountered a live dragon before.
As Cole attuned his own mind to Zedd’s, he began to hear strange sounding words coming from the entity. It soon became apparent, that it had somehow discovered their plans to use its power to reopen The Great Rift. It was furious, and the sheer malice it now radiated towards Zedd was truly astounding. Cole had absolutely no doubt that it intended to kill him, just as soon as it had finished torturing him first.
Cole knew instinctively that he didn’t stand a chance against the incredible power of the entity. If he attacked it directly, it would swat him like a fly. What he needed to do instead, was break its link with Zedd. He knew it was one of Zedd’s minions that was in physical contact with the dragon heart, not him. So if he could find and sever that link, the entity should no longer be able to reach Zedd’s mind. The problem was, he would have to search for that link, and quite possibly reveal his presence by doing so.
Cole carefully searched through Zedd’s mind for any signs of the link, but it was now in such turmoil, it was difficult to find anything. Eventually though, he found what he was looking for, but it was not what he had expected to find. Instead of the usual thread-like strand of power linking his mind to the undead-minion, the entity had taken control of it, and vastly increased its size. “It obviously wanted a firm hold on him,” Cole thought, as he readied himself to strike. In the blink of an eye, Cole took control of the part of Zedd’s mind which controlled the link, and severed it. The entity’s presence instantly receded away from them, but not before it let out deafening howl of anger and frustration.
Cole was about to withdraw back into his own mind before Zedd realised what he had done, or more importantly, how he had done it. But before he could, he was suddenly seized by the entity. It latched onto him and pulled violently at his consciousness, trying to drag him free of Zedd’s mind, and away to its own domain. He fought it with everything he had, resisting its incredible pull. His own rising panic threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn’t understand how the entity had managed to get back inside Zedd’s mind. Then he realised his mistake: there must have been two undead-minions touching the dragon heart. The entity had simply travelled along the second link, after he had severed the first.
He could feel himself slowly slipping towards his inevitable end. No matter how much, or how hard he fought, the entity was always stronger. It felt like his very soul was being stretched out along the thread-like link, as the entity dragged him ever downwards towards his doom. He screamed out for Zedd’s help, but doubted that he would be in any fit state to help after what he had just endured. Thankfully, he was wrong, and an instant later Zedd severed the link to his minion, catapulting Cole’s consciousness back into his own body.
Cole’s vision darkened at the edges, and the last thing he saw before blacking out, was the unconscious form of Zedd, face down on the ground in the ever lengthening shadows of the early evening light.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The small ship pitched around violently in the late summer storm, throwing Lusam and the others around like rag-dolls in the confines of the ship’s hold. They had all thought the conditions were appalling from the first moment they had descended into the foul smelling hold. The stench of rotting bait fish, combined with large quantities of poultry droppings left behind by a previous cargo, had been eye wateringly strong. But ever since the storm had begun and the sea conditions had deteriorated so badly, the bilge water had been swilling around the hold, stirring up a whole new conglomeration of things. It had reawakened countless forgotten smells which had long since dried out under crates, and in the nooks and crannies of the ship’s belly, taking the incredible stench to an new level of intolerable.
Durlan, who had been the least vocal member of their party during their journey to meet up with the Nauroe, had now become their most. He had begun to quietly berate the condition of the ship from the moment he had stepped aboard, and his criticisms had become more intense as their time aboard lengthened. Being a sailor all his life, he could barely believe that anyone, let alone a sea faring people, could allow their vessels to be in such a bad state. He had left them all in no doubt whatsoever, that if any ship in the old Prystone fleet had been in such a state, not only would the captain have been ostracised by all the other captains, no one would have even considered buying their catch or cargo. To do so would have invited disease and death into their communities, and he could scarcely comp
rehend why the Nauroe would choose to risk their own people in such a way.
Lusam watched the sailors on deck casually go about their business as if the storm was of little concern to them. He had been using his mage-sight to keep an eye on things outside ever since they had left Afaraon, so when the storm had hit, they had all been aware of its approach for quite some time. It had done little to prepare them, however, for just how badly the small ship had been tossed around by the ocean waves. The combined effects of the unbelievable stench, the warm humid air, and the constant rolling and pitching, had just about everyone ready to admit defeat and seek some relief on the deck outside. Unfortunately, Renn had already dismissed the possibility, informing them that their deal with the Nauroe would be over if they even tried to venture above decks. It had been one of their main conditions in agreeing to take them to their floating city, and one that was definitely not up for debate.
Lusam had already tried to ease open the hatch and let some fresh air into the hold, but found it had been locked securely from the outside. He knew he could open the lock easily enough using his magic, but he couldn’t risk jeopardising his mission to rescue his mother over it. He would just have to find another way of freshening the air in the small hold. He had already encased the barrels of rotting bait fish within a magical barrier, preventing any more of its stench contaminating the air around them. And he had even considered freezing the bilge water to stop it sloshing around, but decided it wasn’t worth risking the ship’s hull splitting if he did, especially in the middle of a storm. So he spent some time magically searching the seams of the ship for any ill fitting planks which might let air pass through them, but soon found that the Nauroe’s sloppy cargo habits, didn’t extend to the building of their vessels.
“How much longer?” Neala grumbled to herself, as she struggled to stay upright on the crate she was sitting on. Lusam had noticed that everyone was looking a little worse for wear since the storm had hit, including Durlan. He was just thankful that Alexia had not travelled with them, because if she had, it would have certainly been more than water sloshing around their feet by now. The very thought of it brought on a fresh wave of nausea, and he had to quickly refocus his mind on something else to avoid his own thoughts becoming reality. Instead, he let his mage-sight wander outside the ship’s hold, and was relieved to see much brighter weather on the horizon.
“It looks like we might be through this storm soon. I can see much brighter weather on the horizon,” Lusam reported, hoping to lift the mood of the others.
“That’s good news, lad. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” Renn replied with a mirthless grin.
“How much longer?” Neala repeated.
“The horizon is always about three miles away, but it…” Durlan began to say.
“Not the horizon! How much longer until we get to the Nauroe’s floating city?” Neala asked weakly. Lusam noticed that she was now looking decidedly pale and sweaty. He knew he couldn’t do anything to help her symptoms with his magic, because he had tried and failed before on the Pelorus with Alexia. He turned to Renn for an answer to her question, but it was evident by the look on his face that he had no idea himself.
“I’m sorry lass, but I don’t know. I did ask them how long our trip would take, but they refused to give me a precise answer. Instead, they asked me how many days’ rations and water we had, and when I said three, they said it would be enough.”
“Oh, great,” Neala replied sarcastically. Lusam gave her shoulder a squeeze of encouragement and kissed her head, but he knew he had to do something to improve their living conditions, and soon, too. They had only been onboard the ship for less than a day, and already everyone was feeling ill. He thought about magically cutting a small hole in the ship’s hull, but decided it was probably not a good idea. If the Nauroe didn’t spot it before they reached their city, they probably would after they docked, and that would only cause them more problems there. What he needed was a way to create a hole in the hull which looked natural. One that none of his party could be blamed for causing, but he had no idea how to do it.
“Durlan, I need to ask you something,” Lusam said, realising that he was the best person to ask.
“Of course, what is it?” Durlan asked.
“If you wanted to make a small hole in a ship’s hull, but you needed to make it appear natural, or at least an accident, how would you do it?”
Durlan thought about it for only a moment before replying. “I’d knock out one of the half-laps.”
“The what?”
“The half-laps. When a boat is being constructed out of wooden planks, the knots in the timber have to be removed and replaced with a half-lap to make it watertight. The knot is cut out of the plank, usually in a diamond shape, and a piece of good timber is glued back in its place. It’s not often, but occasionally they do fail, especially in storms,” Durlan said.
“Perfect!” Lusam replied with a wide grin on his face. He had previously searched the joints between the planks for any weaknesses, but not the planks themselves. It took him less than a minute to find one of the half-laps Durlan had described, and fortunately it was well above the waterline. A moment later he had popped it free using his magic, and a bright ray of light shone in through the small hole. He immediately began to pull in the fresh air from outside, and at the same time evacuate the foul smelling air from inside. It was heavenly being able to take a deep breath without retching and having your eyes water. Once the air had been fully cleared, he also removed the bilge water through the same hole, creating a much more pleasant environment for them all.
There was no denying that the terrible stench had long since permeated deep into the ship’s timbers, but with a constant flow of fresh air being pulled into the hold from outside, it was now far more bearable than it had been before. Given the amount of sea spray coming off the ocean outside, Lusam doubted that the Nauroe would have noticed him expelling the bilge water through the hole, but he checked all the same. He was happy to see that not only had they failed to spot the bilge water, but the ship was now almost out of the storm too. His news seemed to lift everyone’s spirits, and even Neala appeared to have gained some colour back in her cheeks now that the air was easier to breathe.
The Nauroe sailed on through the night, and Lusam soon found himself having to be resourceful with his magic again. The first problem that they encountered was the almost complete lack of facilities they had. The Nauroe had only provided them with a simple bucket, and if that hadn’t been bad enough, there was absolutely nowhere to gain any privacy in the small hold. Fortunately, Lusam had been able to create an opaque barrier whenever anyone wished to use the limited facilities, and had even made it soundproof at Neala’s insistence.
The Nauroe had seen Lusam’s light orb back in the cave before they left Afaraon, and he assumed that was why they hadn’t provided them with a lantern or candles. Renn, however, assured Lusam that the Nauroe never used such items anyway, so if he had not been able to create his light orb, they would all have been expected to travel in the complete darkness of the ship’s hold. But it wasn’t until the sun began to set, that Lusam realised another important omission the Nauroe had made. They had failed to provide them with anywhere to sleep. Not even a simple hammock was to be found amongst the various crates littering the hold’s floor. And although the floor was no longer covered in filthy bilge water, it was still damp, and smelled disgusting. There was absolutely no way that he or any of the others would even consider sleeping on it.
Lusam knew he could easily create a magical hammock for the others by simply making a small adjustment to his levitation spell. The problem was, it would require him to maintain the spell throughout the whole night, precluding him from any sleep himself. Although he was more than happy to do that for the others, he couldn’t help grinning at the thought of what would happen, should he inadvertently drift off to sleep at any point, even for an instant. Then on deeper reflection, he realised that he probabl
y wouldn’t be grinning for long after Neala or Renn got their hands on him. He dismissed the idea as a bad one, and began to formulate a new plan instead.
It wasn’t long before he came up with an idea. One which was related to his earlier experiments with the pine cones, during his trip to meet the Nauroe. During those experiments, he had discovered how to make two objects transfer magic back and forth between one another, without losing any magic. So all he needed now, was an object capable of holding enough magic to maintain a modified levitation spell. Or more to the point, at least two objects, so they could constantly transfer magic between one another.
He thought he had found the perfect solution, when he noticed two rows of iron hooks, one each side of the hold. They would create an almost perfect lattice of magic between themselves, once he had infused them with his magic, and the appropriate enchantment. He knew they wouldn’t hold very much magic, but he didn’t think they would need to, as all they were doing was transferring it from one hook to the next. Once he had imbued the two rows of iron hooks with as much magic as they could hold, he created his lattice of power, by connecting each hook to the next, in a net-like pattern. The final hook in the row was connected back to the first, creating an unbroken line-of-power which resembled a large net, spanning the entire width of the ship’s hold.
“What are you doing?” Neala asked, when she suddenly saw him grinning to himself. He hadn’t told anyone what he was doing, and had created the entire thing whilst sitting on a crates opposite Neala. He knew that only he could see the magic lines connecting the hooks, and unless he showed them how it worked, they would never believe him.
