Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4)

by Jason Halstead

  Kar channeled his quickest and simplest magical spells to the Shazamir wizards who thought to create a wondrous magical effect certain to stop their enemies and earn them fame and position. He set one wizard's yellow shirt on fire while he was trying to craft an elaborate spell. The other he startled with a clap of thunder in his face that made him stumble back and fall off the edge of the dock into the water below.

  Karthor alone seemed to have time to breathe and think. He guarded the open rear of the companion's angled line, keeping his father safe to work his magic and discouraging any who thought to try to flank them.

  In moments, they were through the demolished Shazamir line of defenders. Alto veered to the right and ran down the walkway until he led them to a dock. He turned down it without waiting and ran ahead.

  "Alto!" Patrina cried out, earning a glance over his shoulder at her.

  "What?" he said as he passed the halfway point of the dock.

  "The ship you want is too big!" Patrina panted. "We can't sail it."

  "We make her captain sail it then," Alto said.

  She shook her head. "I have a better idea."

  "We're out of dock, you'd better," he said as he was forced to slow or run off the end of the pier.

  A single man sat in the longboat moored to the dock. He'd been watching them as they approached and now stood with a cutlass drawn. "Move along," he spat at them. "Whatever trouble you've got I want no part of."

  Patrina launched herself at him, batting his sword aside with her arm and then crashing into him and driving him onto his back on the boat. Alto stood and watched her as she wrestled with the stunned sailor. In moments, she had him unconscious.

  Garrick moved up to Alto and asked, "She ever do that to you?"

  Alto glanced at the grinning barbarian and found himself smiling with him. "No, but maybe I should ask her to."

  Garrick let out a laugh and clapped Alto on the shoulder.

  "Come on." Patrina motioned for them while she struggled to heave the sailor up onto the dock. Alto reached down and grabbed the man by the back of the shirt. He heaved on him and pulled him up onto the dock. Alto was the last to board the boat just as Carson and Patrina cut the ropes. Garrick and Mordrim worked two sets of oars, pushing the boat out towards deeper water. Alto moved to the back of the boat and stood ready as guards rushed down the dock. One even leapt off but fell just short. He splashed the grinning Alto and sputtered as he thrashed about in the water.

  "Don't think he can swim," Carson observed.

  "Then he shouldn't have jumped in the water," Kar said.

  "Father!" Karthor reprimanded.

  "Don't blame me. A man fool enough not to use his own wits doesn't deserve to live."

  "We've got other things to worry about," Patrina said from the bow of the longboat. She pointed at docks to either side of them. "Looks like the guards are trying to commandeer some ships."

  "Don't they have their own navy?" Kar muttered.

  "Yes, but not close by. These are trading ships, transports, and fishing vessels," she explained.

  "Now, those are longboats," Alto said. "They have to convince the captains of the ships when they get there still."

  "True," Patrina agreed. "But the alternative is death or not being allowed to dock at Shazamir anymore. We've got to get to the Kraken, then we can worry about the others."

  Alto looked at the boat and saw two more sets of oars. He moved to take the rearmost set and called out, "Carson, are you as good with two oars as you are with two swords?"

  "Carson Twinoar doesn't have the same ring to it," he said with a chuckle. He slipped into the seat between Mordrim and Alto and took the oars in hand. After a few strokes, he found a rhythm with the other men and helped propel the boat through the water fast enough to leave a wake.

  "Come starboard," Patrina navigated from the bow. It took a few attempts and a lot of yelling and swearing on her part until her landlubbing crew could figure out what she wanted and how to give it to her.

  "Kar, are you ready?"

  "Ready? For the dragon? I suppose so. Don't see what good it will do. They'll know it's a fake when it can't hurt anyone. These aren't insects; these are people."

  Alto shook his head. "No, burn us up."

  "Somebody check Alto for head wounds."

  "No, have the dragon breathe fire on us. We'll soak the boat with oil and make it look like we were burnt up."

  "Um, Alto, what about escaping? How do we do that without a ship?" Patrina voiced the hole in his plan.

  "We swim. Everyone can swim, last I knew."

  "Well yes, but, what if the Kraken isn't close enough?" she asked.

  "And I'm a poor swimmer at best. Not a swimmer at all in my armor," Mordrim said.

  Alto stripped his chain shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor of the boat. "We can buy or make more armor," he said. "Not so easy to buy a new Mordrim."

  Garrick snorted. Between the deep breaths he took making the boat surge through the water with his powerful strokes he said, "Maybe we can get a new and improved one?"

  Mordrim's next oar stroke twisted in his hands, spraying water behind him and soaking Garrick and, to a lesser extent, Patrina. "Oars slipped," he cackled.

  "Karthor, take Mordrim's spot," Alto said.

  The priest shifted past Carson and Alto and waited for the dwarf to rise and then move past him. He began to remove his armor, muttering all the while about the loss of good dwarf armor. In a few minutes, he stood in his doublet and pants.

  "I think we're close enough to swim," Patrina said after a few more minutes passed.

  "Drown a dwarf and you'll be cursed to never mine a single ingot of gold again," Mordrim growled as he judged the distance.

  Alto twisted in his seat and studied the distance. He nodded. "Kar, do it."

  "Never so much as a, 'if you please,'" the wizard muttered before he closed his eyes and raised his hands.

  "Trina, there's a lantern near your feet. Is there any spare oil?"

  Patrina moved the lantern aside and looked through a small box with ropes, some pins and other hardware, and a spare flask of lamp oil. "Found it!"

  "Spread it around up there, then pass it back."

  Patrina did as he bade and then sprinkled the tankard near Garrick before she gave it to Karthor. The priest did the same and then handed it to Mordrim for him to finish emptying the flask at the stern of the boat.

  Kar's chanting came to an abrupt end and a flash of light lit the morning sky. They looked to the south and saw a massive beast that looked a lot like a dragon rising into the sky. It stood still in mid-air, flapping its mighty wings, and then dove forward and came towards them. "Be ready!" Alto warned. He dug some flint and steel from his pouch and waited as the illusory dragon approached.

  "Damn, you sure that's not real?" Garrick asked.

  Kar grinned at the barbarian's unintentional praise. "Stand ready," he warned. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One! Jump!"

  Flames that looked real blasted from the dragon's maw. They raked across the surface of the water and then found the longboat. For three full seconds, the magical dragon circled and immolated the boat. It was time enough for everyone save Alto to leap free of the boat and then for Alto to strike sparks to the oil. As soon as it lit, he jumped off the boat and began the three hundred-foot swim towards the Kraken.

  The dragon flew on, circling around once and blasting the water with another fiery strike between the pursuing boats and the Kraken, and then it took off to the south whence it had come. Alto kept trying to see it with every stroke he did until it was little more than a speck, and then it disappeared. He smirked and then coughed as some of the sea water slipped into his mouth.

  By the time Alto reached the Kraken and was hauled out of the water by the hands of the crew, only Mordrim, Kar, and Karthor remained in the water. As Alto looked for Taldar, he saw the smuggler who he'd let go near the bow of the long ship. He nodded to him and spied Taldar. Before he could go to
the captain, he heard a commotion behind him and saw Kar being pulled out of the water. Karthor was behind him and a small shape bobbed in the water behind them a couple dozen feet. Mordrim was dog-paddling his way to them.

  "Taldar," Alto greeted the captain. "That was quite a swim."

  Taldar nodded and glanced around. "You told me to set sail if there were troubles."

  "Were there?"

  Taldar looked at Alto and then out at the water. "Haven't we seen trouble enough? First the guards storm the docks and now this, a dragon burns your boat out from under you? How did you escape?"

  "Magic," Kar sputtered as he tried ringing the water out of his shirt while he still wore it.

  "You've got magic more powerful than a dragon?" he gasped.

  "No," Kar grumbled. "I made the dragon with my magic. It wasn't real!"

  "But your boat?"

  "Oil, flint, and steel," Alto explained.

  Taldar shook his head. "Amazing."

  "It is, and we need to head south now. I'm told there's a port south of here?"

  Taldar frowned. "I've never been that far south, but I've heard the same."

  Alto turned and glanced at the smuggler. "Any problems with the new recruit?"

  "Sailor," Captain Taldar corrected. Alto shrugged. "No, no problems. Seems to know more than I expected, too. For a southlander."

  Alto nodded and checked to see Mordrim being pulled out of the water. Garrick offered his hand to the dwarf, a cocky grin on his face. Mordrim reached up and grabbed it, and then set his feet against the side of the ship and yanked on the barbarian. Garrick roared as he splashed into the water behind the dwarf and came up coughing and sputtering.

  Alto shook his head. "Dragon or not, we need to be out of here right away. Take us south."

  "What about Namitus?"

  Alto frowned. "That's the same question we're all asking."

  Alto stepped away and let Taldar get his crew working the ship and turned to head south. He went to his spare clothing and changed. He smirked when he saw his armor and shield waiting for him. Mordrim's was at the bottom of the ocean now.

  Patrina left her armor on and let the sun dry her. She rubbed the salt crystals from the ocean off her skin and occasionally smiled at Alto. The others wound down and settled in while Alto continued to watch off the back of the ship for pursuit. He saw several ships but he couldn't be certain if any were following, especially as some of them grew small and smaller as the day wore on.

  Alto stirred when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked awake, realizing he'd fallen asleep. Patrina smiled down at him and bent over to give him a kiss on his cheek. "Relax, we're fine and you needed it."

  Alto felt the heat in his cheeks. He glanced up at the sky and felt his eyes widen when he saw how low the sun was in the sky. He'd slept for hours. "How much longer?"

  "Taldar has no idea where it is," she said.

  Alto frowned. "How are we to find it?"

  "It's a coastal city," she said. "We sail within view of the coast. Kelgryn ships have a shallow draft. We can pass over shoals and closer to shore than most ships can."

  "I wish I knew what that meant."

  Patrina laughed and ran her hand through Alto's hair. "It means anyone trying to follow us will have a difficult time. Slow at best, impossible if they try to follow our exact route."

  Alto grinned. "Oh, that's good then." He looked past her and saw the smuggler glance at Taldar a few times as he made his way across the deck of the ship. He stopped once and worked to retie a knot that secured the sail when the captain turned to look across the ship.

  "I wonder what he wants?" Alto mused.

  Patrina turned but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "What? Who?"

  "That smuggler I let go. He's over there near the sail. He keeps looking at me and checking to make sure the captain's not looking."

  "You think he's an assassin after all?"

  Alto shook his head. "No, I don't think so. He knows I've seen him and he keeps looking. I'm not sure why he's afraid of the captain, though."

  Patrina's brows drew close together. "That's not good."

  Alto agreed with her.

  "I'll go talk to Captain Taldar," she said.

  "Wait! What?"

  Patrina rolled her eyes. "I'll talk to the captain; you talk to that guy. Find out what's going on. I'll keep Taldar busy."

  "How are you going to do that?"

  "Maybe I'll loosen up the straps on my armor."

  Alto stared at her with his mouth hanging open. Patrina turned away and took a few steps, and then look back at him over her shoulder. She laughed and shook her head. "I'm teasing you," she whispered.

  Alto clamped his mouth shut and swallowed. He nodded. "I knew that."

  She laughed again and moved across the deck of the long ship towards the captain. Alto waited until she'd gotten far enough away he could shake the icy feeling out of his stomach. She was going to be the death of him!

  "Women are a dangerous lot," Carson offered from where he sat nearby, inspecting some arrows.

  Alto turned to him. "How's that? You've barely seen any for eight years now?"

  Carson nodded. "True, but I've always suspected that when my time comes, it'll come at the hands of a woman."

  "That's grim."

  "Oh, I don't mean to say it'll be a woman holding a knife that found my throat," he amended. "Although it could be. I just mean that there'll be a woman involved. Like you said, I've not spent much time around them in a long time. I tend to like what I see more than I should."

  Alto stiffened. "I hope you're not talking about Patrina."

  Carson laughed. "No, not at all! Patrina's beautiful, don't get me wrong. But she's the kind of beauty a simple man like me admires from afar."

  "I wouldn't say you're all that simple either," Alto said.

  Carson smiled. "Thanks, um, I think."

  Alto smirked and rose up. "If you'll pardon me, I have to try to put some sense to this madness."

  The ranger nodded and went back to inspecting the arrow he'd taken from the ship's stores. Alto walked past him and over to the new sailor. "How's your new life treating you?"

  Rather than answering, the gray-eyed man glanced around and asked, "I don't see your friend. Didn't you find him?"

  "No, not exactly. We're still looking for him," Alto said.

  "Shouldn't you be in the city then?"

  "Not if he's not in the city," Alto answered. "Seems like you're awful worried about something and I don't think it's my friend."

  The sailor looked around again before he spoke. "That name we talked about before?"

  Alto's brow furrowed as he thought back to the conversation in the warehouse. "Tal—"

  "Yes," the man interrupted.

  Alto glanced up at the captain and saw Patrina had him busy as she asked questions near the bow of the ship. "What about the name?"

  "It was the same name I thought it was."

  Alto frowned. "What are you saying? The, uh, delivery you talked about came to that, uh, name?"

  The man chuckled. "You're terrible at this."

  Alto blushed. "I'm used to speaking plainly. So is it?"

  "It is," the man said. "One and the same. The guards weren't searching ships; they were looking for your crew on the way to the ships."

  Alto nodded. "What's your name?"

  "Samuel."

  "Samuel, I suspect you're the kind of man whose loyalty is bought and sold to the highest bidder?"

  Samuel shrugged his shoulders but a smirk on his face confirmed for Alto that his guess was right.

  "Then remember that my city in the north handles all the trade in and out of the dwarven mines that are being reopened. My city. I live there and I rule there."

  Samuel's smirk changed to a smile. "Why do you think I'm telling you this?"

  Alto nodded. "Back to work. I'll sort this out shortly."

  "Wait, his things are over there." Samuel pointed towards a box near the helm
where Patrina and Taldar were speaking.

  Alto nodded and picked his way across the deck towards the bow. He stepped up next to Patrina and waited for the captain to end his explanation of how he hoped to get the Kraken pulled into a drydock soon so he could put pitch on the bottom of the hull to help it slide through the water faster.

  "Captain," Alto said when he'd finished and Patrina's brows were raised in appreciation. "How'd you get lucky enough to have the crew on board when the guards stormed the docks?"

  "I hadn't paid them," he said with a chuckle. "I knew you might be finding a spot of trouble, so I held back on their wages. They'll still get them; they just didn't have any money to burn on women or ale."

  Alto nodded. "Good idea. How does pay work on a ship like this? I'd have thought they wouldn't be paid till they get back to Holgasford."

  Taldar tapped a locked chest with his foot. It was bolted to the deck, making it even harder to steal. "Every time I leave, I get paid. The way it works is I hire my crew and I pay them out of my gold, same as with repairs for the ship when we're not in kelgryn docks."

  "Seems like you'd be hiring the cheapest sailors you could get!" Alto chuckled.

  Taldar laughed with him. "Seems that way at first, but that don't get the job done. Lousy sailors make for lousy sailing. Trips take longer and the boat suffers for it. Repairs cost me and not having a top of the line ship means I get paid less for it. There's a reason the Kraken is one of the best ships in the kelgryn fleet!"

  "And you've got all that gold here." Alto looked at the locked chest. "Never had anybody try to steal it?"

  Taldar shook his head. "Not in years," he said. "I treat my crew right and keep them safe. They treat me right in return."

  "Kind of like getting them away from suspicious islands?" Alto asked.

  "What? Oh, uh, that was a misunderstanding—"

  "Or getting them away from dock at the first sign of trouble, even if the trouble's got nothing to do with you?" Alto continued.

  "You told me—"

  "Captain Taldar," Alto interrupted him again. "I've got a hunch that you and your crew are the highest paid in the kelgryn navy not because you've got the best ship and crew, but because you'll take your gold from anywhere."