by R N Skye
Shane saw the lumen radiating from the imbued controller stuffed into the young stowaway’s back pack but it was what he saw on the young man’s wrist that caught his attention. Whether or not it was because of the attempted theft of the propulsion system; one of his first major enchantments or because he was upset that the theft could have significantly injured him or one of his friends - if he hadn’t felt a bit angry at the youth before, the hauntingly familiar wristband angered him now. Using his repel glyph he flung the teen to the wall and stuck him fast to the bulkhead pinning both arms. Walking calmly he reached into the pack and retrieved the controller. Sure enough the device was set to full speed. While the wild eyed youth squirmed ineffectively, Shane slid the controllers to the all stop position and then put it back in its place on the console. Shane then walked over to the youth and deactivated the wristband, then pulled it from his immobile arm
All activity came to a stop. Ari and Roger turned to see what Shew had found and Shane’s reaction had been so quick and abrupt they were all speechless. Shane walked to the pale youth looking him up and down. “What’s your name,” Shane said almost conversationally.
The youth stammered for a moment and then hoarsely whispered, “Nuekirk.”
“Well Nuekirk, I want to show you something.” Releasing the enchantment that had the boy stuck to the bulkhead Shane pulled him so that he was standing in front the doorway that led to the stairs descending to the galley where he stuck his feet fast to the floor. The entry disappeared and a view of the water just off of the bow appeared. “Have you ever heard what pirates due to stowaways?” The young man shook his head negatively. “They make them walk the plank. Now we’re not pirates but we are people that don’t like to be interfered with. Additionally I don’t like it when people mess with my things, especially when messing with my things put me and my associates in danger. Shane reached for the tow controller and held it up to the youths face. This is a controller for a very powerful propulsion artifact. Had it been in the water, your messing with it could have been harmful and caused a lot of damage. I’m not blaming you this time I’m blaming myself. I should have never left it activated and where it could be used by those that don’t know how to use it. On the other hand you did come on board a ship that wasn’t yours and was locked up pretty tightly. What really has me concerned is the fact that you were wearing something that is not easily obtained and incredibly dangerous. The fact that you were wearing while activated, tells me that you were using it; people that use these are not good people – I do blame you for that. Take a look through the portal in front of you.”
The portal that opened out on to the water suddenly fell away as if they were rocketing skyward. After a few moments the climbing of the view ceased. The view was now from an altitude of nearly nine thousand cubits. The difference in air pressure from inside the sea level wheelhouse and the sky level where the portal exited was causing suction from the differences; causing the captured stowaway to be pulled toward the opening.
“I’m sorry,” screamed the youth nearly in tears. “I was only trying to find a place to spend the winter. A locked up ship is usually a safe place.”
“Where did you get this?” Shane held the Allyant wristband under the boy’s nose.
“I stole it, “the youth nearly sobbed as he looked frighteningly from Shane to the harbor far below.
Shane pulled him clear of the opening and closed the portal. “What about this.” he held of the controller. “You don’t even know what this is. You could have killed someone.”
Nuekirk hung his head. “It’s magical; it looked valuable so I took it. I was hoping to sell it.”
“How do you know it’s magical,” demanded Shane, his anger not subsiding. “It could be like ninety percent of the junk people are always digging up. Did someone tell you it was magical?”
The teen paused and stammered out his answer. “I figured the artifact dealers would know what it did and it would be enough to see me through the winter.”
Shane did not quite feel sorry for the youth. He doubted that his suspicions were correct - that the boy was not a spy. He had probably grown up in the streets and was doing what he had learned was necessary to survive. To the boy he wasn’t so much stealing as he was merely being an opportunist. He looked at Ari and mouthed “what do we do?” from out of the lads line of sight.
Ari gave an unobserved nod then cleared his throat. “Nuekirk have you ever had a job before?”
“Yes sir since I can remember, mostly temporary jobs delivering equipment on the wharf or running messages, nothing more than seasonal or just enough to eat and sometimes get a cot. With the war on a lot of ships are not sailing so I haven’t been able to get anything for the winter.”
“It appears that we need a guard on this boat while we aren’t using it. How good are you at keeping secrets?” Ari asked sternly.
“Really, really good, Sir, I’ve been trusted with lots of secrets.”
“Like what, Sonny,” piped in Shew.
Nuekirk fidgeted a little. “I promised I wouldn’t tell. I promise that they were important though.” The lad shifted his eyes back and forth smiling as if at a private joke or memory.
“Heheh,” chuckled the old spy. “I guess you can keep a secret. But never tell anyone you know secrets especially if they are important ones. The question now is how good you are at acting like you don’t know any secrets?” Shew said, his smile vanishing as he glared suspiciously at the teen. If someone thinks you know secrets they just capture you and torture em out of you or worse feed you wrong information so that those that you do tell things to get bad information.”
“Tell you what Nuekirk,” spoke Ari. “We will let you live on the ship but as a guard not as a stowaway. We will probably need you to run errands for us from time to time as well but you need to keep your mouth shut and even more importantly you need to appear to not know anything. Do you think you can handle that?”
The youth nodded his head vigorously.
“Good, I’m Ari; this is Roger, Shew and Shane. You will get to know us more later, right now we are in the middle of something important. Shew take him below and teach him how to be a good guard and what we expect from our employees. Keep him below until we are finished with what we are doing.”
As Shew took Nuekirk below Ari shook his head, “Ok Roger back to work.”
Shane went back on deck and lowered the towing unit into the water and pulled them out into the harbor away from traffic where they wouldn’t be interrupted. He then went down to his cabin and quickly built the portal artifact that he had promised Ava. Then used his portal to open a small window above her desk and set it in the center with a small note reminding her to be careful. As he left his cabin to go back up to the wheel house he walked in on an argument between Nuekirk and Shew.
“What do you mean no one takes crown notes anymore?” yelled the old man.
“Not since the war started. No one trusts the Southern Kingdom or its currency, Sir,” cowered Nuekirk as if expecting to be hit for daring to contradict his seniors.
“What are they accepting?” interrupted Shane.
“Luion Gold, Silver, and copper, coin; the Bank of Lu Y Onton has notes of larger values but I’ve never had one and they say that if you get one you can always take it to the bank and the will exchange it for coin.”
Shane Sighed, “wait here I’ll be right back.” Shane went into his cabin and pulled out his notebook and looked up his glyphs that would transmute metal. He then activated his instructor and began scanning glyphs for the different elements. After a few moments he had an enchantment worked out which he quickly jotted down in his notebook.
Shane walked back to the hall that was now empty but followed the sound of voices to the wheelhouse the conversation was still on the topic of finance but now with Ari and Roger in on the discussion. “This means that I’m ruined,” Ari said while he scratched his chin. Most of my savings are with the Infin Merchants Bank in Jehhet. If n
o one is accepting Crowns as currency then I am extremely limited by what I have in the Luion Traders Union Bank, which while a tidy sum for me to live off of, it’s not all that impressive when it comes to financing what we are up to.”
“Do any of you have any Luionese coin on you?” interrupted Shane.
Roger reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins holding them for Shane’s inspection.
Shane reached out and selected one of each type and set them on console. Taking his scribe he copied each side of each of the three coins then handed them back to the Luionese spy. Then without a word turned and went back to his cabin.
“What was that,” Nuekirk asked curious about what he had seen Shane do and at the casual attitude in which the four men that he had recently become employed by had towards what he considered to be a lot of money.
“If I’ve learned anything from hanging around mages it’s this,” offered Shew with his best wise old man expression. “If you don’t like lectures and you have a question, keep it to yourself; chances are the answer you get you won’t understand anyway. If you hang around long enough things will start to make sense provided you survive. Secondly,” Shew pulled the lad close and continued in a low voice. “That man over there looking at those artifacts with all the lights and pictures.” Shew indicated toward Ari who was back at the console scanning for the whereabouts of his sister-in-law, “He’s a mage, but he’s also a former assassin and spy. If you stacked up the brains of you, me, and Roger there, we still wouldn’t be as smart as he is. So if you ever get the idea to try and pull one over on him, don’t. Nine times out of ten he will catch you before you can even execute a plan. The tenth time he will catch you while you are in the act. Lastly that young mage that keeps coming and going, he built everything magical on this boat. While he’s no former assassin, the way Roger over there tells it, he killed six crown soldiers with no more than a thought. He also fought off three brigands with his throat slashed. Healed his wounds and captured them without even trying – oh and they don’t like it when you sneak up on them; it’s quite painful.”
“Sneaking up on them hurts them?” Nuekirk asked an innocent expression on his face.
“Not them, it hurts the person sneaking up on them,” growled Shew. “Now get your scrawny carcass down below and stay there until I tell you otherwise.”
The teen practically ran for the stairwell at the unexpected ire of the old man; unsuccessfully avoiding Shew’s boot as it connected with his backside – causing him to nearly tumble to the bottom.
A few moments later Shane walked back into the room with a large brass bucket and three large replicas of the coins that Roger had let him examine. “Shew how much coin do we need?
Eyeing the bucket curiously Shew scratched his chin. “Five hundred golds, around a thousand silvers, maybe a couple of hundred copper pennies,” he said judiciously.
Ari glanced at the bucket and the large coin replicas that appeared to be made from copper, silver, and gold, “I’d double that and take two thirds and put it on deposit at the Bank of Lu Y Onton and get a few notes. Other than in training you haven’t paid that group you have working for you in Yllyan and they would appreciate it I’m sure.”
Shane Led Shew below to the hold and opened up the main storage room. “Get the kid in here, will you Shew?” Shane asked as they entered the room.
As soon as Nuekirk entered the room Shane turned to a stack of crates surrounding a new doorway. This opens up into the old artifact dealer building that the magetechs use to get to Yllyan, except this one opens into the basement store room. Shane handed each of them a copper coin with a pyramid on both sides. This is the key. Don’t spend it and don’t lose it!” Shane looked directly at Nuekirk. “We’re putting a lot of trust in you. I trust Ari’s judgment that’s why you’re on the team. If you want to be a starter, though, you need to earn it. Mr. Shew is the best teacher you can have at this particular time and in these particular circumstances. Listen to him and Learn from him. I won’t promise you riches but I will promise you that you will learn to be a leader and your days of stowing away on ships will be a memory of the past.”
Not waiting for a reply Shane continued. “Ok let me show you how this works.”
Shane showed Shew how to operate the coin device. “It has a password on it so that only you or I can operate it. I felt it best that the fewer people that could produce coin the better. If the world was suddenly flooded with too much gold and silver it could be harmful to the economy. I also put a limit on how much can be produced at a time in case you get pulled away and you have to leave it running; and only I can override that.”
Shane turned to leave. “Hey what is the password,” Shew demanded.
“When you activate the device it will ask you in your mind. You will answer the same way. That way no one will ever know what it is asking and how you answer. Good luck,” Shane smiled and headed to the wheelhouse.
As Shane walked on deck he heard Ari and Roger conversing. “This has got to be it,” Ari spoke matter-of-factly.
“I agree monsieur,” said Roger in return.
“Did you find her?” asked Shane as he stepped into the room.
“We might have,” answered Ari despondently. “At least where she is likely being held; It’s the most heavily guarded room but unfortunately it is empty. Which means,” he paused, “she is most likely being interrogated.”
~~~~~
Leslie struck hard and fast as the guard neared her cell. Using the linens from her cot she had constructed a braided rope that had allowed her to lasso her guard as he approached the cell. Waiting for him to get as close as possible and just as he turned away from her and the other guard had reached the end of the hall she had acted. With the rope around the nearest guard’s neck she yanked hard and slammed his head into the iron bars and he collapsed. Carefully not to touch the unconscious guard she reached through the bars and unbuckled the energy band and placed it on her own wrist. The other guard turned and saw his collapsed partner and began to run to his aid. Leslie reached through the bars and grasped the fallen guards face and began draining his energy. She felt the flow stop as the guards life ceased. Wincing to herself she muttered, “Sorry.”
As the other guard arrived at the door she finished her rapid search of the guard and was dismayed to find that he did not have the keys. Grabbing her makeshift rope she retrieved it from around the dead guard’s neck and hurriedly repeated the process with the newly arrived guard. Her quickness took the guard by surprise and she was able fling the rope around his neck but because he was facing her she was unable to put pressure on his throat sufficient to strangle him. Instead she yanked him hard into the bars and with all the strength she could muster. Holding the rope with one hand she made a fist with the other and hit him with all the force she could under the the bridge of his nose with an upward motion. With the energy that she had drained from the first guard and the wrist band that she now had canceling out the effect from her adversaries wristband the blow was a bone cracking success. The second guard was dead.
Searching the second guard resulted in producing a set of keys with which she opened the door. Carefully she retrieved the second armband and placed it on her other arm and the drug both men into her cell and locked it.
Leslie hurried down the corridor and carefully opened the far door. Peering thru she saw another guard his back to the door. Using the hilt of the sword that she had liberated from one of the cell guards she flung the door open and smashed it into the skull of the guard rendering him unconscious. She took his wristband and added it to the one on her left arm then drained his energy as well; feeling a bit more confident at the increased energy flowing through her. Seeing a stairway leading up she took the steps two at a time and began working her way out of the dungeons.
At the top of the stairs was yet another door. She opened it a crack and peered through. She saw a busy room with people hurrying to and fro. To her relief of the many only two had wr
istbands. Unfortunately all of them had swords; she was going to have to time this just right.
Using the remaining energy that she had pulled from the guards below, she raced into the guard room and grasped the nearest man by the arm draining him until he fell still. The rest of the room exploded into action. Using the chaos to her advantage she was able to dispatch two more with her sword. Leaping with borrowed power she catapulted herself to a desktop and chopped the arm above the wrist of one of the wrist-banded guards disabling his ability to get more energy and causing him to drop his weapon. She then jumped down and crouching near his side and drained him the rest of the way.
In what seemed both hours and seconds long she had killed by the sword or by draining their power a dozen guards and found herself alone with more than just a few bodies. Seeing yet another door she sighed and made her way toward the exit to what she hoped was the final way out. Suddenly the world seemed red. Like looking through a window of stained glass everything had a red hue. She started feeling weak. All of the energy that she had garnered from the guards faded like a cloud robbing the warmth of a sunny day. She reached for the door handle as her knees buckled and she sagged to the floor.
The door opened revealing the contemptuously leering agent, Sapp.
“Mademoiselle,” spoke a falsely jovial voice. “What a surprise to see you here. Why are you not in your quarters,” her captor said insincerely. The wristbands, that she had taken, unbuckled by themselves and flew away from her reach. “You won’t need those.”
When Leslie regained consciousness she was manacled to an examination table. Looking up she saw King Allion looking down upon her.
“You know Mademoiselle Coeur for a descendant of a non-potent race, you are most ingenious. It must be the Elios blood that you have been contaminated with. As much as I despise them I have to admit they are a resourceful foe.”
