by Ben Cassidy
The Chronicles of Zanthora: Book Five
Oracle
By
Ben Cassidy
Copyright © 2013 by Ben Cassidy
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2013
Books in the Chronicles of Zanthora:
Ghostwalker
Throne of Llewyllan
Soulbinder
Demonbane
Oracle
Redemption (Coming Soon)
Tales of the Two Rings:
Daughter of Llathe: A Tale of the Two Rings
Tales of the Two Rings: Volume 1
Tales of the Two Rings: Volume 2
Tales of the Two Rings: Volume 3 (Coming Soon)
To join an email update listserv for future releases, contact:
[email protected]
Dedicated to Traci Tyne Hilton,
For her encouragement, advice, and friendship
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 1
“I won’t go back on that ship, not for love nor money,” Marley wheezed. He picked up the small glass of whiskey that lay on the counter and examined it carefully. “It’s cursed I tell you, cursed by the Deceiver himself.”
There was a smattering of chortles and chuckles from across the smoke-filled tavern.
“It’s true!” Marley shouted over his shoulder, to no one in particular. He turned his philosophical gaze back to the amber liquid in his hand. “I heard it, I did. Shrieked every night, a sound that would turn your guts to ice. I heard it right through the deck, as if it was standing aside me in the dark. There’s something, something down in the hold of that ship—” He paused long enough to down the shot of whiskey, then smacked the empty glass next to seven others on the wooden surface.
“Get home, you old drunk!” someone called from the back of the dimly-lit tavern.
There were matching shouts and jeers from around the common room.
“You’re all fools!” Marley hurled back towards them. “It’s out there, right now, floating in the harbor—” He shuddered and ran a hand through his unkempt white hair. “I ain’t going back on that ship again,” he said, almost in a whisper, “not for a king’s ransom. I won’t…I can’t—”
“I’d give you a king’s ransom if you’d just shut your trap for five minutes,” said an old sailor by the fire.
There was a burst of laughter from the assembled folk in the tavern, as well as some scattered applause.
Marley buried his head in his hands, whimpering softly to himself. “I can’t…” he repeated numbly. “I can’t—”
“Was it a big, scary beast, grandpa?” someone shouted. “With fangs?”
“Might be my mother-in-law by the sound of it,” a merchant by the window quipped.
“Bartender,” Marley said, his head still in his hands, “leave the bottle.”
The bartender stepped up, holding a bottle of whiskey. He gave Marley a questioning glance. “Ain’t you think you’ve had enough for one night, sailor?”
Marley grimaced. He leaned back on his stool, fishing in his pocket. The movement caused him to sway violently, and he grabbed the edge of the bar to steady himself. He managed to slap down a half sovereign on the counter.
“I’m good for it,” he snapped. “Now leave the bottle and Regnuthu take your hide.”
The bartender lifted an eyebrow, then shrugged and put the half-empty bottle next to the old sailor.
Marley took the bottle in a trembling hand, trying to hold it steady long enough to pour into one of the glasses. “It was horrible,” he muttered, half to himself. “Horrible—”
“Like your breath, no doubt,” another jocular soul at a nearby table ventured.
Marley shook his head. Whiskey splashed onto the counter, missing the glass entirely.
“Hey now,” the bartender called from the door to the back room. “You’re going to clean that up, you old salt—”
A firm hand grabbed the bottle, tipped it neatly forward and poured about two fingers worth of whiskey into the glass.
Marley looked up, blinking to focus his gaze.
A man stood beside him, clothed in a black, travel-stained cloak. A hood covered his head and shadowed his face, despite the muggy heat of the common room. He set the bottle back down on the counter next to Marley, then took the stool beside him.
“Tell me about this thing in your ship,” the stranger said. His voice was firm and low.
Presented with an unexpectedly willing audience, Marley felt his tongue go numb. He stammered for a second, struggling to find words through the fog that covered his brain.
The stranger took the glass of whiskey and handed it over to him. “Try this.”
Marley took it gratefully and downed it in one go. The welcome liquid burned all the way down to the pit of his stomach.
Behind them the assembled group in the common room began to lose interest. They turned back to their card games, raucous stories, and drinking.
Marley stared at the stranger beside him. “Why do you want to know?” he slurred, suddenly suspicious.
The other man shrugged. “I’m a sucker for a good ghost story.”
Marley slammed his hand down on the counter, causing some of the glasses to jingle. A few heads turned in his direction. “It ain’t no ghost story,” he insisted through his teeth. “That…creature’s as real as you or me. And like nothing else in Zanthora.”
The stranger eyed him carefully. “You saw it?”
The heads that had turned towards them slowly returned to their own business.
Marley paused. “No,” he admitted. “But I heard it. We all did. It’s down there, in the hold of the ship. The captain won’t let any of the crew down there, none but the passengers—”
The stranger leaned forward. “Passengers?”
Marley nodded. He blinked and grabbed for purchase on the bar again. “They’re the ones that brought the demon on board. We picked them up at Cayman, after I signed on. Friends of the captain, or some sort. They had the cage then, covered over so you couldn’t see inside. We loaded at night and took off at morning tide—”
“How many passengers?”
Marley looked over at the man. He saw the dull glint of a sword hilt underneath his black cloak. “Who are you, anyways?”
A faint smile appeared in the shadow underneath the stranger’s hood. “Name’s Kendril.”
“Marley. You should be careful, Mr. Kendril. A lot of folk around here see a black cloak like that, they figure you’re a Ghostwalker.”
Kendril nodded. “I get that a lot. Now how many passengers are there?”
Marley thought for a moment. “Three. They’re all still on board, far as I know. The crew all got shore leave once we pulled into the harbor. Most couldn’t wait to get off. The smell—”
Kendril waited patiently.
Marley rubbed his cheek. “The smell is horrible. Like rotting meat. Every
time you go below decks, it’s in your nostrils, clings to your hair and clothes—” He moaned and shook his head again. “I ain’t getting back on that ship, Mr. Kendril—”
“Focus,” Kendril said sharply. “What do the passengers look like?”
Marley reached for the bottle again.
Kendril put one hand on the bottle and pushed it out of reach. “The passengers, Marley. What do they look like? Anything strange on them? Clothes, jewelry—”
“Jewelry…” Marley murmured, as if a thought was penetrating his alcohol-induced haze. “Yes. A pendant. One of the passengers wears a pendant around his neck. It’s gold, twisted into the shape of a serpent. A serpent with wings—”
“A woman,” Kendril said quickly. “Is there a woman with them? Beautiful, pale skin and black hair? Eyes the color of amber?”
Marley paused for a moment, thinking. “Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes, there is a woman just like that, now that you mention it.”
Kendril’s hand tightened on the bottle.
“Cookie!” came a booming voice from near the inn’s doorway. “You’ve been drinking again, you blighter.”
Marley turned on his stool. The color drained from his face.
Two burly men stood by the door, their jackets and felt hats soaked by the rain that was pounding hard against the door and windows of the taverns. The door swung closed behind them.
Kendril half-turned from the bar.
“I—I ain’t going back to that ship—” Marley whimpered. “Not—not—”
“Come on, cookie,” said one of the men, a tall sailor with a red beard and a white scar down one cheek. He strode forward, one hand on a wooden club looped into his belt. “Let’s get you back to your hammock, now, and you can sleep it off.”
Marley shrank back against the wooden bar. “No, I told you, I won’t—”
“Clear him out!” someone jeered from the back of the room.
The sailor stepped closer. He began to draw the club. “Shore leave’s over, Marl—”
Kendril shot up from his seat and swung the bottle of whiskey forward like a hammer.
It exploded against the red-bearded sailor’s head in a cloud of glass and golden mist.
With a garbled cry the man tripped back and fell onto a table where three other men were sitting.
The table broke, sending beer mugs and cards in all directions. There were several shouts and oaths as the men leapt away from the falling sailor.
Marley fell off his stool in drunken surprise, one hand still clutching the counter.
The second sailor by the door took a step forward. One hand jerked towards a pistol that was tucked into the waistband of his pants.
Kendril was faster. His right hand flashed up with a flintlock pistol.
The second sailor drew his own gun and lifted it.
Kendril’s gun roared.
The bullet punched into the sailor’s chest. He crashed back against the door of the tavern and fell heavily to the ground. A smear of red marked the path of his body.
The common room erupted into a panicked mass of screaming, shouting, and rushing bodies.
Marley staggered to his feet in blind, unreasoning panic. Someone slammed into him, and he spun back into the bar. The edge of the counter caught him hard in the stomach.
The first sailor got to his feet, blood running from several shallow cuts on his face. He raised his club and rushed at Kendril.
The black-cloaked man stepped back and elbowed a fleeing customer out of his way in the process. In one swift motion he drew a short sword, the smoking pistol still held in his other hand.
The sailor brought the club down towards Kendril’s cowled head.
Marley raced for the door. He heard a scream from behind him, then several shouts. He was buffeted back and forth by the exodus of sweaty bodies before he finally felt the slap of cold air on his face.
Off-balance, Marley stumbled and hit the slimy planks of the wharf. Rain pounded down on his head and shoulders.
Someone flew out of the front window of the waterside tavern. Glass exploded in all directions.
Marley tried to get to his feet, but collapsed again as the world spun around him.
A fleeing customer tripped into him with a curse, then ran off into the darkness.
Somewhere a whistle screeched.
Marley got to his feet with the help of a nearby barrel, and ran.
He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t care. The rain slashed into his feet, tore the breath and warmth from him. He tripped, staggered, and stumbled down alleyways and docks, around crates and past moored ships.
In the distance he could hear the diminishing sounds of the fight at the bar, lost behind numerous dockside warehouses and shipping offices.
He stopped for breath, panting long gasping heaves of air in the driving rain.
That ship was cursed. He was cursed. There was no way he could go back now. He would run, hide here in New Marlin for a while, then find a job on some outbound ship, some—
A hand grabbed him suddenly by the shoulder and slammed him hard into the side of a large crate.
“I’m not done with you,” Kendril snarled. Rain dripped from the rim of his hood.
“Oh Eru,” Marley sobbed, holding his hands in front of his face. “Don’t kill me. Please Eru don’t kill me, I—”
“Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead,” Kendril said. He loosened his grip, but still kept his gloved hand firmly on Marley’s shoulder. “Your ship. What’s the name?”
Marley blinked. Rain streamed down his face. “The—the Justine,” he managed. He turned his head, staring wildly at Kendril’s darkened face. This close he could suddenly see the twisted burns that covered half the man’s face. Terror seized Marley’s heart like an iron fist. It couldn’t be. He had heard rumors, whispered stories from the disaster of Vorten, but he had only half-believed them. He swallowed. “You…you’re a Ghostwalker, ain’t you? The Ghostwalker.”
Kendril gave a wicked smile. “You’re sharp, Marley. Now where’s the ship?”
Marley felt himself sobering quickly. “It’s…it’s in the harbor. Out there.” He gesticulated desperately with one of his hands towards the water.
Kendril scowled. “There’s a score of ships out there. Which one?”
Another whistle sounded somewhere in the distance. There was a faint shout.
Marley looked at the Ghostwalker. “They’re hunting for you.”
“Let them try.” Kendril looked out towards the harbor. “We have more important things to do.”
The old sailor felt his stomach ball up. “What—what do you mean?”
Kendril leaned in close, and clapped a hand on Marley’s other shoulder. “I can’t find that ship in the dark, and it may be gone by morning.” He smiled. “So you’re going to help me.”
Marley opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out.
The sound of tramping feet came echoing down the pier, followed by another shout.
“Let’s go,” Kendril said.
Rain hissed down from the dark sky, rippling in thousands of tiny impacts as it struck the water of the bay. The looming black shapes of anchored ships drifted by on each side of the dinghy as it cut through the water.
Kendril sat in the back of the small boat, his eyes scanning the harbor. He kept one hand on the handle of a pistol tucked beneath his cloak.
Marley breathed hard, pulling on the oars in steady, powerful strokes. Despite the rain and cold breeze, he was sweating from the effort.
The mournful cry of the harbor buoy bell floated over the water.
“What are you going to do?” Marley asked.
Kendril didn’t respond. He glanced back behind them. The dimly lit silhouette of the city loomed above the drifting masses of docked and anchored ships.
“You’re…him, aren’t you? The Demonbane,” Marley said between pulls. “I’ve heard stories about you. Are they true?”
Ken
dril glanced to one side. “I guess that depends on what you’ve heard.”
Somewhere off in the rain-shrouded night a sailor begin singing an old sea chanty. His voice was badly out of tune.
“You—you’re going to kill them? Kill…that thing?” Marley asked.
Kendril wiped the rain from his face. “Keep your voice down.”
“There’s just one of you.” Marley let the boat drift for a second and rubbed the rain out of his own eyes. “You can’t take the whole ship by yourself.”
“Just row,” Kendril said irritably. He looked out across the moon-lit water of the harbor, scanning one ship after another. Most were dark and lifeless.
“What do you care, anyways?” Marley asked between pulls on the oar. “Why—?”
“How many men are onboard?” Kendril asked abruptly.
Marley shook his head. Despite the amount of alcohol he had consumed that evening, the increasing danger was sobering him quickly. “I don’t know. A dozen, perhaps? Then there’s the first mate, a nasty fellow he is—”
“The rest of the crew? Are they new hands like you, or like the two we met back at the tavern?”
The old sailor hesitated for a moment in thought. “They’re a tight bunch. I joined on at Cayman. The captain needed a decent cook. I guess the last one fell overboard during a storm—”
“They’re in on it, then.” Kendril drew one of his short swords and checked the blade. It glistened softly in the wavering moonlight. “Arms?”
Marley shrugged. “The Justine’s a cargo ship, not a man o’war. There’s about half a dozen muskets kept locked in the powder room, along with a dozen or so pistols. One cannon, mounted on the fore deck. A six-pounder.”
Kendril replaced his blade. “Swivel-mounted?”
Marley gave a short nod. “Aye. Just a pop-gun, really.”
The Ghostwalker raised an eyebrow. “Still enough to blow a dinghy out of the water.”
The old sailor swallowed and said nothing.
Kendril lifted his eyes to the yellow moon above them. Its pale light fell on the harbor, glittering and reflecting off the rippling water. There was no way they would approach the Justine unobserved, not if anyone on the deck was keeping a lookout.
