The Sorcerer's Abyss (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

“How long? How long after I kill this wizard and thief will it take you to find Captain Jake?”

  Andrill let out a long breath as he thought. “I will have to replace several people, but mostly just ears and laymen. My higher ups were largely able to retreat into hiding and are just waiting for word to reemerge. Give me six months, a year at the outset, and I promise to deliver Captain Jake into your hands.”

  “So long,” Ellyssa whispered.

  “Not as long as you have been searching. I understand The Academy is looking for you as well. By aiding me, you can get Captain Jake while lying low and away from the prying eyes of The Academy.”

  Ellyssa thought about the offer. She hated the idea of needing someone else’s help, but the longer she tried and failed to find Captain Jake, the more likely those idiots from The Academy would finally catch her. She also did not know how much she could trust Andrill.

  He was a thief and, in Ellyssa’s opinion, one up from being a pirate. The man said he knew Azerick, but were they friends or enemies? He talked as if they were friends, but of course, he would if he wanted Ellyssa’s help. Despite her misgivings, Ellyssa had to accept that if she wanted to kill Captain Jake, she was going to need help.

  “All right, I’ll help you.”

  Andrill clapped his hands together and stood. “Wonderful! I knew this would be a profitable venture.”

  “So when do we do this?”

  “It will take a few days for me to find out where Faralynn is hiding,” Andrill explained. “She moves constantly. That is the problem with behaving in a way that makes nearly everyone want to kill you; it breeds paranoia. A few of my men will show you out,” Andrill said and gestured toward the door. “I do hope you accept my apologies, but I must insist on blindfolding you until you reach street level.”

  “Fine, but don’t think for a second to bind my hands again. By the way, if you cross me, I will hunt you down and kill you just like I did those slavers,” Ellyssa warned as she stepped through the door.

  Braxis looked at his boss. “I think you just made a deal with a devil.”

  “Such is the way of business sometimes. We just need to make doubly sure we hold up our end of the bargain.”

  Three men in drab clothing waited for her just outside the room. Most of the light within the long, stone corridor came from a few far-spaced oil lamps attached to the wall, but a faint blue light also emanated from some sort of phosphorescent lichen.

  One of the men tied a silk cloth over her eyes and gently guided her by the elbow. The grating of stone on stone echoed through the dank corridor and the smell of sewage struck her like a physical blow. For a moment, Ellyssa feared she would be forced to trudge through the city’s waste, but there appeared to be a raised walkway running along the sewer tunnel.

  The thieves led her through at least two miles of twisting, reeking tunnels before she heard a sewer grate lifted up. She ascended a ladder leading to the street above. Even the pervasive seaside aroma of Southport smelled sweet after traversing the sewers. She sucked in several lungfuls of air to clear out the stench.

  Ellyssa blinked her eyes a few times and turned as soon as they lifted the blindfold, but the three thieves had already vanished back down the grate. The only thing she saw of them was the cover being seated back in place.

  She quickly gained her bearings and headed toward Frank’s inn. She needed to have a word with him. Keeping a wary eye out for thieves, slavers, and wizards, Ellyssa navigated the streets crowded with afternoon traffic. Her stomach snarled loud enough to draw a few stares and served to remind her that she had not yet been allowed to finish a single meal today. A quick stop at a food booth fixed that.

  Ellyssa stepped through the doors and locked eyes with the innkeeper. She read a bag of mixed emotions on the man’s face. She saw shame, regret, and even a little fear before he dropped his eyes. Ellyssa walked to the bar where Frank continued to polish a glass long after it was clean.

  “Andrill said he wouldn’t hurt you. I’m glad he kept his word,” the innkeeper said as Ellyssa sat down.

  “Me too. I wouldn’t want my death to weigh on your conscience.”

  “I’m real sorry for my part in this. If I thought he was going to hurt you, I like to think I would have warned you or something.”

  Ellyssa grunted an acknowledgement. “I guess it’s probably a good thing you didn’t do something stupid like that. What do you know of Andrill?”

  Frank looked down at the glass he was scrubbing. “Not much. I don’t consort with those types, but if I had to do business with one, I’m glad it was Andrill.”

  “So you think he’s a man of his word?” Ellyssa asked.

  Frank nodded. “From what I’ve heard, as best he can. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a thief, and no thief is successful by being a nice guy. He’ll kill you quick as any man, but not without good reason. It’s more than most will give you.”

  “That’s good to know. It turns out we can be of mutual use to each other. The only problem is that I have to do my part before he can do his. I have enough enemies to deal with without adding him to the list for reneging.”

  Frank bit his lip and nodded. “He said you were dangerous. That was why he insisted we do it the way we did.”

  “He’s right. Remember that the next time you think about betraying my trust. What do you know about a woman named Faralynn?”

  “She is as bad as they come. I’d steer clear of her at any cost. Some people claim she’s insane. I think she’s just mean. I hear she has a wizard working for her too, as if she weren’t bad enough by herself.”

  Ellyssa nodded, stood up, and turned toward the stairs as Frank scrubbed at an invisible speck of dirt on the glass.

  “I’ll send a bath up to your room. You stink something awful.”

  Ellyssa cracked a smile. “You sure know how to charm a girl, Frank.”

  She enjoyed a long soak in a hot bath with a liberal additive of scented salts. Maybe the luxurious bath salts were Frank’s way of apologizing. Then again, maybe she just smelled so bad he was afraid she would drive away other customers. Still feeling the effects of her battle the previous night, as well as from the trace amounts of Andrill’s poison creeping through her veins, Ellyssa retired early that night.

  She woke the next morning feeling far better than she did the previous day even before she was drugged and dragged down to the sewers. Andrill said he needed a few days to prepare, so Ellyssa decided to make some preparations of her own.

  Ellyssa found a paper-wrapped bundle outside her door and knew it to be the clothes the washerwoman took yesterday. She tossed the parcel on her bed and descended the stairs to the common room. Frank gave her a nervous smile when he spotted her at the foot of the stairs.

  “Breakfast?” the innkeeper asked.

  “Definitely,” Ellyssa responded.

  Frank disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as he vanished beyond the door, Ellyssa darted across the room and stole down the stairs next to the bar leading to the cellar. Conjuring a tiny light in the palm of her hand, Ellyssa ducked behind a large wine cask and dropped to her knees. Using a bit of magic, she lifted one of the large flagstones from the floor and set it aside.

  She reached into the cavity beneath and retrieved her precious book. Setting it on the floor, she told the book to show her what she needed. It flipped open at her command and displayed the desired pages with glowing text. Ellyssa committed the words to memory, replaced the book and flagstone, and double-checked her wards keeping it safe.

  Ellyssa hurried back up the steps and checked for Frank before emerging from the stairs and finding a seat at her preferred table. Frank emerged from the kitchen not a moment later with a plate heaped with food. The innkeeper had learned early in Ellyssa’s stay she possessed quite an appetite.

  She finished her breakfast without leaving a bit of food for the hog trough Frank kept out back and left the inn. The sun had been up long enough for the majority of the populace to start their day, an
d the streets were crowded as she made the long walk to the merchant’s district.

  Ellyssa found the shop she was looking for and walked through the doors. A small bell dangling above the entrance chimed to announce her. A heavyset man wearing a red vest with gold embroidery, a matching conical hat with a gold tassel on top, and a thick, black mustache greeted her as she entered.

  “Welcome, pretty, young miss!” the man called out. “How can Azeel be of service to you?”

  Ellyssa looked at the shelves full of glassware. “I need glass and was told you had a wide assortment.”

  “Yes! My worthless son-in-law blows almost everything you see,” Azeel proclaimed with a wave. “I told him he could blow glass here or go back to Sumara without my daughter and blow sand out of his nostrils for the rest of his days. In a rare show of wisdom, he chose glass. If you do not see anything you like, I can take a custom order and have it to you within a week.”

  Ellyssa picked through the shelves of glass. She did not have a week to get exactly what the book had shown, but there was enough to choose from to suit her purpose. She selected four pieces as well as some needed accessories like tubing, oil burners, and rubber stoppers.

  Azeel packed the pieces in a wooden box padded with straw. Ellyssa left Azeel’s and found an herbalist’s shop a few blocks away. Buying the things she needed, she hurried back toward the inn. Only a few blocks away, a trio of men stepped in front of her as she hustled down a lesser used passage between buildings.

  “What’s in the box, girl?” the largest of the three men asked.

  “Nothing to interest you,” Ellyssa said bluntly. “Now clear out of my way before I make you regret it.”

  The tall thin one jabbed an elbow in the big one’s ribs. “You better watch out, Hugo, she looks like a tough one.”

  Hugo returned his friend’s grin. “Yeah, Carrot, she might just whoop all three of us. Maybe we should give her our money?”

  “I’ll settle for you getting out of my way, but if you annoy me, I might just take it,” Ellyssa warned the thugs.

  “Cute. Now gimme what you got in the box,” Hugo ordered, no longer pretending to be humorous.

  Ellyssa took a step back to give her a little more space. “I’m warning you, I don’t want to have to thrash you right now.”

  Ellyssa really did not want to use her magic just in case those wizards were near enough to sense her. Luckily, she was still quite a ways from the inn, so even if they did detect her residual magic later it was unlikely they could follow it back to her.

  Hugo let out an annoyed sigh. “Rollie, grab the damn box.”

  The dark-haired man made a half-hearted lunge. Ellyssa grabbed his outstretched arm and sent a jolt of electricity through it powerful enough to stun him and burn the flesh beneath her hand.

  Hugo and Carrot froze in terror as a nightmare from years past unfolded before their eyes. A jet of flame from Ellyssa’s out flung hand set Carrot’s knit hat aflame, breaking him out of the spell he was in and sending him beating a screeching retreat.

  Carrot’s screaming also put motion into Hugo’s legs, but not nearly enough. A force strike impacted his back and slammed him into the nearest wall. Ellyssa then shaped it around him and smashed him into the unyielding surface until his screams stopped.

  She then reached down and plucked a small pouch of coins from Rollie’s unconscious body. Ellyssa was about to search Hugo but stopped when she saw the dark stain expanding across the front of his trousers. She did not really need the coin, but she could not pass up the poetic justice of it all.

  Ellyssa made it back to the inn without further incident. She climbed the stairs, breathing hard and sweating from racing across the district just in case someone detected her magic usage. She unpacked the box’s contents on the small table and set up the pieces. She soon had water boiling and began adding the items from the herbalist shop just as the book told her to. Andrill had shown her her vulnerability to poisons and she meant to ensure she would not be taken easily again.

  CHAPTER 14

  Ellyssa spent the next few days laying low and keeping off the streets as much as possible. She managed to craft antidotes for lethal as well as tranquilizing poisons. Of course, they could not protect her from every type of poison imaginable, but it was something.

  A knock at her door early in the morning startled her. With a spell on her lips, Ellyssa opened the door. Just beyond the doorway stood a man in nondescript clothing. The fluttering in her stomach hinted as to the man’s purpose.

  “We have located her,” he said without preamble. “She will be staying in a manor house tonight in the upper merchant’s district. Andrill wanted to inform you so you could prepare. Someone will come for you tonight when the time nears.”

  Ellyssa did not answer and the man did not wait for one. He simply turned and vanished down the stairs as soon as he delivered his message. Ellyssa closed the door and sat back down on her bed. Her nerves warred within her, setting her flesh to tingling.

  Battle was nothing new to her, but this was the first time she would be deliberately fighting another wizard. Somehow, she doubted this man was an Academy rube like the others. Nor was he going to be concerned with her survival. She needed to be prepared to fight a very difficult battle. Scooting her back against the headboard of her bed, Ellyssa sat cross-legged with her spell book open on her lap and began preparing for tonight.

  Ellyssa lost herself in her trance as she ran her list of spells over in her mind, memorizing each word and each weave in exacting detail so she could cast them almost without thought no matter what was happening around her. She replayed them all until they were as familiar to her as her own name.

  Time became as indistinct as air as she delved into her magic. She was as startled by the knock on her door as the darkness seeping through her small window. Her legs were stiff from remaining immobile for such a long time and protested each step she took toward the door.

  “It is time,” the thief said as soon as Ellyssa opened the door. “Are you prepared?”

  Ellyssa nodded. “I just need to grab something to eat on the way out.”

  The man nodded in return and said, “Make it something quick. Timing is of the utmost importance.”

  He led the way down the stairs. Once in the common room, Ellyssa had Frank retrieve a biscuit with some meat and cheese slipped into the middle. She ate her simple fare as the thief led her through the streets toward the upper merchant’s district.

  Of course, the guild thief did not lead them in a direct route, instead navigating through a myriad of alleys and shops. The rough homes and buildings of the common quarter continually improved as they made their way north across the city. More homes were painted here and the streets cleaner and better maintained. Clean but quaint homes became stately manors with stone and wrought iron walls.

  It was through the gates of one of these homes her guide led them. Ellyssa first thought the place abandoned, but then she noticed the thief making subtle but deliberate motions with his hand and occasionally clicking his tongue or letting out a short whistle. It was then Ellyssa felt numerous sets of eyes watching her from the shadows. Trees, hedges, and shrubbery decorated the fine lawn and provided an untold number of places for a skilled thief to find refuge.

  They walked the stone path leading to the doors of the manor. Her guide rapped out an obvious code upon the glossy, oak doors. Ellyssa heard several latches being thrown before the door opened, at first just a crack, then wide enough to permit them to pass.

  A woman in leathers decorated with at least a dozen throwing knives took charge of the young wizard as soon she stepped into the dimly lit foyer. Like the other two thieves she had met today, she did not waste time with words and simply expected Ellyssa to follow without question.

  They passed through the foyer and emerged in a large living chamber adequately illuminated by several lamps and a pair of chandeliers. Leaning over a table set near the middle of the room was Andrill, Braxis, and
four other men. The men poured over a map appearing to Ellyssa to be a detailed plan of another mansion.