Blood of the Lost: The Darkness Within Saga: Book 2

by JD Franx

Saleece gasped at the display of magic. “What in the name of the gods did you just do? Those words, they’re not VosHain. They’re not Inara’s language. I’ve never seen or heard of magic like that before,” she asked, her voice crawling with suspicion.

  “I told your father...” Yrlissa shook her head. “Considering your father would not even tell Kael that Ember and Max are alive, I’ll not trust any secrets with you. I’m sorry,” she apologized with a smile.

  Taking a quick glance around, Saleece seemed to understand. “I might not mind, but my father will. He may have let your different magic go without an explanation the first time back in the Forest of Whispers, but he would push if he were to see this. My own sense of morality demands I warn you, Yrlissa, but no more.”

  “I understand, but if he pushes me, he won’t like the results. Especially with Max here,” Yrlissa said, as Ember’s thrashing spasms subsided and finally stopped.

  “I know, that’s what worries me,” Saleece added.

  Yrlissa watched Ember for the next hour, never leaving her side. Max returned, alone, shortly after.

  “We found a cave,” he said. “It has fissures in the back that have cold water trickling from them, but the front is dry. It’s small enough to heat with a fire if need be as well,” he said, as he carefully lifted Ember once more. “Come on, it’s a fair walk,” he added, and headed back the way he had come with Ember cradled in his arms.

  Once at the cave, Max placed Ember on the makeshift bedding that Yrlissa had put together, and then went outside to help the others with setting up a secure site. Staying put for days at a time in the Wildlands meant extra precautions would have to be made for security, food, and even a backup escape route should they come under heavy attack.

  With the exception of Yrlissa and Ember, they all worked late into the night before Kasik and Max were both satisfied they had secured the entire area with traps and early warning alarms. Saleece had also managed to find a path up the right side of the cave that would allow for an easy getaway down into the valley behind them.

  WILDLANDS FOREST

  Luthian Bathory had been on a relentless search for Giddeon and Ember’s group for almost two months. As one of DormaSai’s best spies and a close, personal friend of King Nekrosa Kohl, he had been asked to track down the location of the young Fae woman who had been seen with the Cethosian ArchWizard. Luthian had been staying in a small town just south of Corynth while waiting for his next assignment, which he hadn’t expected to start for at least a month. It was a surprise when Nekrosa’s shadow raptor found him that morning in Breth. Cethos executed necromancers on the spot if discovered, so blending in was a must for Luthian; it was something he was very good at, especially in a town of several hundred people.

  Never believing that Nekrosa would find solid proof that the Fae had once again walked in the world of mortals, Luthian was stunned when he received the new orders. Being a necromancer, he never used his powers to heal; there were other, more efficient ways for a necromancer to heal his or her wounds and sicknesses, so he hadn’t noticed an increase in his own abilities.

  Healers and other mystics sensitive to helping the sick and wounded had seen a difference though, something Nekrosa and Sephi had been watching for since their coronation. The necromancer King and Queen would have left within two weeks of contacting him to join him in the hunt.

  Though it had not been easy, Luthian finally tracked the ArchWizard’s group to the Wildlands. Hours later, the injured young woman they had been carrying went into a convulsive fit. Now, the entire party had fortified their position in a cave they had sought refuge in.

  Luthian had no ideas as to the identity of the young Fae. His suspicion lay with the young woman with brilliant red hair, hair that blazed like a beacon through the forest as he followed. Dug in like they were, he would not get a better look until they left the area. Luthian’s abilities could help get him past the traps and alarms with ease, but not into the cave. Deciding to stay back and keep an eye on them as best he could, the necromancer went about preparing a hidden camp.

  His ancient Dwarven-made charm would keep his presence hidden from the ArchWizard’s magical senses. It had cost him dearly, but the engraved kinrai charm was well worth the price he paid, especially seeing as how the charm didn’t offset magic like some rumours claimed. Artefacts like his always seemed to find their way to DormaSai, where every trader and nobleman paid well above fair value for any magical trinket, book, or artefact. The country was known far and wide for such practices. Mystics of every discipline would travel from across the Southern Kingdoms in search of antiquities that were found nowhere else.

  Even magic users from the Bloods, as everyone in the Southern Kingdom called its northern neighbour, would often risk the dangerous journey to DormaSai when searching for rare or much-needed magical artefacts. With the only land route crossing through the Wildlands, and the ocean route often controlled by pirates, travelling to DormaSai from the north was an incredible risk to take during the last two decades.

  To some however, the risk was worth the reward, so some would cross using the Eastern Gulf’s ancient trade route from the city of Dasal on the Yusat border to Forja Vehlo in Salzara. It was an extremely dangerous route because of the volatile condition of the Sea of Storms south of Dasal. The strange sea constantly pounded the Gulf with storms that showed no mercy. Only the most experienced sailors or pirates would sail the gulf, and ships still went down in the storms.

  Luthian choose to make camp at the edge of a small clearing about a mile from the ArchWizard’s cave. The heavy brush and small stream coursing by made the decision that much easier. The moisture-laden earth had caused the branches of several massive sycamore trees to curl downward, and the twisting, python-like limbs of wood added to his privacy. The falcon nest at the top of a tree across the clearing was the deciding factor. His innate ability to take over the minds of animals would increase his security further and make it easy for him to spy on the other camp, simply by using the falcons nesting forty feet away.

  Luthian remembered Drexa Bakar’s lessons well. The crippled old necromancer treated the four orphans like they were her own children. She took in Nekrosa and Luthian when both were seven years old, a year after she found Sephi and her sister Dekayna wondering lost on the southern edge of the Midnight Canopy. The enchanted forest hadn’t harmed the two girls even though they were only five and six years of age. She raised all four and taught them how to bond with the magic called upon when tapping into the Void’s power. Including its most sinister power—mind control.

  The takeover of another creature’s mind or body was not just a prejudicial rumour when it came to necromancers. It had taken Luthian decades to learn the advanced ability. When capable, a necromancer tapped into the power of the Void—the massive, dark dimension between life and death—and used its magic to suppress the spirit of a living creature in order to take control of the mind and body. It was why the most powerful necromancers were so feared.

  Though Luthian only used the skill on animals, taking control of people—though difficult—could be done. By using the power from the Void, a necromancer suppressed the human soul in the same manner, temporarily making it dormant. The body was then easily controlled for whatever purpose was needed. Luthian shook his head as he remembered his mentor’s warnings only to use such magic in life or death situations and never for personal gain. Such abilities were the primary reason necromancers were executed in every country of Talohna except in DormaSai.

  Though DormaSai had more than a hundred practising necromancers that he knew of, only two besides him, the king, and the queen were capable of controlling a living person. Realizing he momentarily forgot about the Necroeeyse, he sighed. He and Nekrosa’s fight against the insidious cult never seemed to end.

  Controlling the living was a mess from start to finish, and he shook his head to dispel the thoughts.

  Building a small fire, Luthian used the last of his jerky, some root vegetables
he found the day before and the two bulbs of wild garlic he crushed while kneeling behind a rotted log watching Giddeon’s group, to make a somewhat hearty stew. Though he could survive in the woods with ease, the DormaSain spy was much better when around people or in towns and cities getting information for his King.

  He finished eating and was putting away his clean pot when a shadow raptor appeared on the tripod over his fire and screeched into his face, making him jump. His pot clattered to the ground.

  “Silence, you shadow-stuffed pigeon,” he snapped clenching his teeth. The command forced the summoned bird to quiet. “I swear to every god known, you do that on purpose,” he mumbled. “Wings of death’s shadow, words of the faithful, speak.” The chant activated the undead bird’s magic, allowing whomever was on the other end to speak.

  “Luthian, my friend, has Lady Lykke blessed you with a location on our young Fae?” Nekrosa asked, as his voice crossed through the Void and out of the vulture-like raptor.

  “I found them this morning, my lord,” Luthian replied. “They’ll not move from this location for a day or two I suspect. One of their party is injured quite severely.”

  “Keep an eye on them then. We will arrive in Dasal in three more days. Sephi and I left aboard the Twilight’s Reave two days ago out of Forja Vehlo in Salzara. We will contact you then, old friend. Be safe,” Nekrosa said.

  “You as well, my lord,” Luthian replied. “Wings of death’s shadow, words of the faithful, be gone.” The shadow raptor dissolved into wisps of black shadows as the words of the release spell returned the summoned bird to the underworld from where it came.

  With Giddeon’s group staying put, Luthian prepared his camp so he could sleep. Using the eyes of the mother falcon from the nest above him, he scoured the forest until finding exactly what he was looking for. The Wildlands forest was a very dangerous place to spend the night alone. Through the falcon’s eyes he located a dead woodlands bear only a half hour walk from camp. Two Orotaq obsidian arrows were still lodged in the decaying bear’s stomach, but Luthian was not alarmed. The bear likely wandered ten miles before finally succumbing to the grievous wounds.

  An hour later, he was sleeping soundly as the two thousand pound monstrous bear circled his camp, the rotting stench of death and decay keeping any dangers at bay while the reanimated bear kept away those the stench did not.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I have studied every document and piece of knowledge I could find when it comes to the mystics most of Talohna call a DeathWizard. I have tracked down every lead, every person who has had a relative who encountered one, and every small village story or rumour. Still, we know so little about them, and the Arcane Library in DormaSai has more written texts about them than anywhere else. The DeathWizard and their multitude of abilities are still an enigma wrapped in a mystery. A very dangerous one.”

  King Nekrosa Kohl’s personal journal

  DormaSai

  5020 PC

  DASAL, FREE LANDS

  The Twilight Reave was a monstrous galleon with three masts and what looked to be a crew of at least twenty men and women. Captain Havarrow’s boatman brought Kael and Kyah to the ship where they climbed a wood and rope ladder to get aboard. Havarrow’s second mate, Anton Pere, introduced himself and ordered them to follow. Kael tried his best not to stare, but still managed to catch a glance at the men aboard the ship. Kyah had been right. Havarrow’s crew were hard, cruel men. Every pirate they passed on the way to the captain’s cabin was scarred from old wounds and all looked capable of incredible violence, the second mate even more so. Kael was shocked to see almost as many women, all cut from the same violent mould as the men. Most of the pirates carried several different bladed weapons and many had an assortment of blunt wooden and metal maces, or morning-star type weapons as well.

  Yet, even so, common to every single sailor were two axes carried through a belt at the back of their waist. Two long spikes arched back off the head, forming a double hook opposite the blade. A memory flashed in Kael’s mind of pick and ice hammers that mountain climbers used back home on Earth. Seifer told them the boarding axes allowed Havarrow’s Reavers to scale the wooden plank walls when attacking bigger merchant ships and that the axes were rumoured to be magically enhanced. The Master Wizard’s instincts had been dead on. Kael smirked as the axes blazed a myriad of colours within his magical sight.

  Men bred on violence, the pirates sent a ripple of fear down Kael’s spine. Even so, their own fear of what had been allowed on board the Twilight Reave was clearly visible and numerous whispers of ‘crone’, ‘hag’, and even ‘witch’’ drifted to Kael’s ears, making him smirk for a second time, even as some pirates spit on the deck and used strange hand signs to ward off evil. He found it funny how people of violence often only respected people capable of violence on a greater capacity than their own.

  The two guests were asked to wait outside the captain’s cabin while Anton stepped inside. A few moments later, the door opened and he reappeared. “The Captain is ready for you,” he said. “Come.”

  As they stepped inside the door, they passed a woman the same size as Kael, she grabbed the swinging door to close it, but shouted first.

  “SM Pere! Make sure those orders are prepped for the other ships. I’ll hand you the last when we’re finished here.”

  “Yas, ma’am. I be on it,” the second mate replied. Kael sensed a slight undertone of disrespect in his voice, but the cabin door slammed shut before he could discern more. The woman stood in front of the door with her hands on the daggers strapped to her waist. She frightened Kael almost as much as Havarrow did.

  The Captain’s quarters were larger than the one Kael and Kyah had while on board the vessel they had stolen in order to escape from Arkum Zul. With walls fifteen feet square, the cabin had room for the bed and a small table with two chairs neatly tucked underneath, still with some space to spare. The plank flooring was spotless and must have been stained or sealed at one time with something that gave it a deep golden lustre. Velvet and silk curtains hung from the ceiling around the bed, both matched the dark blue blankets.

  Kael stood with his thumbs hooked through the new wizard’s belt he had acquired at the tailor as he got his first look at the pirate captain feared by so many. A monster of a man, Captain Havarrow towered over Kael by at least eight inches and outweighed him by a hundred pounds. Dominique Havarrow had the appearance of a thirty year old man, but Kael knew that the Northmen did not age like normal humans from back home. Piercing blue eyes that never missed a beat stared at Kael with heavy suspicion, and he knew the pirate was seldom fooled or bluffed. His stomach flipped, turning cold at the prospect of trying to do just that.

  Four kreeda braids hung within the pirate captain’s long, dirty blonde hair. When Kyah had done his own hair in the cave, she explained that the kreeda were clan loyalty braids. Loyal to a fault, only the Northman wore the braids as a symbol to show which clans or faction that they were personally loyal too. They would never betray that loyalty, even if it meant staying neutral during a dispute between two of their loyal parties. Most clan braids were given to people from their own clan or village. It was extremely rare for someone outside Kastelborg Island to earn a Northman’s loyalty to the point of being handed a lock of their hair. Kael smirked at the memory of the conversation. Who would have ever figured... A pirate with a code of honour.

  The two grizzled young men and one heavily-tattooed woman accompanying the captain each had their weapons drawn and looked more than ready to use them. Whether they were being careful or paranoid, Kael couldn’t begin to guess. Havarrow’s rough, raspy, voice was indicative of a long life of violence. The deep hangman’s scar wrapped around his neck was offset by an old knife wound that had at one time opened his throat from below his left ear to his Adam’s apple and then down to his chest.

  For several minutes, the pirate stared at the two new arrivals, eyeing them like a wolf unsure of whether he had come across a helpless cub or a gr
izzled, battle-scarred bear.

  Finally, he spoke, shifting his focus back to Kael. “It’s been many years since I’ve met anyone and was not sure what to say. Why in the Nine Hells would you bring a gods-cursed hag on board my ship, young man? Answer me that, truthfully, and I may not kill you both,” he barked.

  “My name is Kael, Captain, and this lovely woman beside me is my wife. I assure you, threatening either of us is in no one’s best interest. She is what others have made her, beyond that, it matters little to you what she is. We arrived in the city this morning, and offered to speak with you on the city’s behalf,” Kael explained, doing his best to keep his voice firm in an attempt to display no weakness. He did not want to jump start the fighting, but knew men like Havarrow thrived on fear.

  “When you are on my ship, pup, everything matters to me, and your life is at the bottom of a very long list of those matters. Bringing a witch on board my ship is punishable by death. It is trouble I don’t need right now. So, if you have something you wish to say, you might want to get on with it... Boy.” Kael could tell the man’s next words would be followed by violence, so he offered him the truth.

  “Fair enough. I offered to come out and speak with you. I believe you’ll attack the city in order to look for whatever it is you are after. Let my wife and I find it instead. We’ll bring it to you and it’ll cost you nothing, especially lives. It’s a good deal, Captain, and we won’t fail,” Kael promised.

  “You must be joking. Or maybe trying to buy the city more time to prepare is more like it, pup. Perhaps you think I’m stupid, is that it?” he said, hatred dripping from the words.

  At a loss, and starting to lose his temper, Kael struggled to keep his own voice from rising. “Our offer to help is real, Havarrow. I promise you, that help is not something you want to turn away.”

  Captain Havarrow smirked, grunting as Kael finished. “Exactly how is a young, inexperienced, whelp and an old hag gonna help when you could not even begin to imagine what is happening here? Answer me that. And your last answer it may well be. My patience is at an end, boy” he growled.