Accidental Champion Boxed Set

by Jamie Davis

  “Maybe, but I prefer to rely on my sword, my speed, and my wits to make people and things around me fall into place.”

  “You can’t say it hasn’t worked well for you so far.”

  “No, that is true.” Cari looked up at the sail configuration and gave the wind vectors an appraising glance. “Let’s put on some more sail, Helen. I think we can squeeze a little more speed out of this old girl and maybe get into Tandon a few hours early.

  “Aye, aye, ma’am.”

  Helen stepped away, calling out orders for the bosun to relay to the rest of the crew. Soon a dozen men and women scurried up into the rigging to carry out the captain’s orders.

  It was time to look forward and not back at her parents and the past. There was work to do.

  ———

  The harbor chain still stretched across the narrow opening into Tandon’s harbor. Cari assumed the other land gates were still closed as well, so she now found herself back in the longboat, headed for the small fort on the headland at the mouth of the harbor.

  The same black-clad doctor came out on the battlements with an escort of musket-armed guards as the longboat approached.

  Cari called up to him. “We found the source of the illness. It was caused by large amounts of concentrated starwort poison dumped into the source of the city’s water supply. We were able to stop those responsible.”

  “Starwort you say? That would explain the lessening of symptoms and the recent recovery of some of the least sick people in the city. If that is true, then it isn’t a plague at all, and we can reopen the city.”

  “That’s what we’re hoping you’d say.”

  “I must consult with my colleagues and the priests in the temple leadership before we can make a recommendation to his Grace, the Duke.”

  “Is there any way you can let us into the harbor in the meantime? We have urgent business in the city.”

  “No, I don’t have the authority to open the city up to anyone. That lies solely with the Duke. If what you say is correct, though, I will recommend the travel ban be lifted and the city’s gates and harbor opened.”

  “Don’t let me hold you up from your urgent business, then,” Cari replied. “I’ll wait here with my crew aboard the Vengeance until you have a reply from the Duke. Please hurry.”

  “I will pass along your message and request, Captain Dix.” The doctor nodded and disappeared from view as he re-entered the fort’s interior. The guard of troops remained to discourage her from forcing a landing here and now.

  The bosun turned the longboat around and ordered the crew to pull on the oars as they headed back into the deepening gloom of the approaching dusk.

  The next morning, a sharp rap on her door woke her from a dead sleep.

  “Come in.”

  Percy poked his head into the cabin and smiled at her. “Miss Doolan requests your presence on deck, Cap’n. The sun’s just come up.

  “Thank you, Percy. Tell her I’ll be right there.”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  The door closed. Cari rolled out of bed to pull on her trousers and get dressed.

  Helen called out to her as soon as Cari emerged from the passage beneath the quarterdeck.

  “Look!”

  Cari followed her first mate's gaze and pointing finger to the mouth of the harbor.

  The great chain blocking the harbor had been lowered.

  Cari smiled and called out orders to both Helen and Mr. Dawkins. It wasn’t long before the Vengeance came about and sailed into Tandon’s harbor.

  She stood watching as the docks and piers came closer. She saw other captains on the few ships in the harbor calling out orders as their vessels prepared to leave Tandon. Their crews and cargo had been held captive in the city for weeks while the source of the plague was sought.

  A few of them waved as they saw the Vengeance pass by and one captain and crew cheered. Word must have spread with news of who’d been responsible for delivering the city from the strange sickness that had befallen it.

  Soon they docked at a long wooden pier and Cari joined Helen by the rail as the crew lowered the gangplank into place.

  “You remember where you left her, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Don’t worry. I know just where she is. We’ll have her back in safe hands within the hour.”

  “Let’s get to it, then.” Cari jumped up onto the gangplank as soon as it clattered down onto the pier.

  Helen followed her captain and took the lead as the two of them headed into Tandon.

  An hour later they stood in front of a small, one-story stone home with a thatched roof. The house sat amidst other humble fishermen’s dwellings on the narrow street.

  “Are you sure this is the right one?” Cari asked reaching up to touch the boards nailed across the doorway. A red letter “P” had been painted on the boards.

  “This is the right one, I’m sure of it.”

  A voice to their left called out to them. “They’re dead. Died of the plague that took the city these last few weeks.”

  An old woman, her gray hair pulled back in a bun leaned out a first-floor window across the street.

  “Dead?” Cari asked, her heart sinking. “All of them?”

  “Yep, both Carl and Ina got sick at the same time. They died within hours of each other two days ago.”

  “Wait,” Helen said. “You said both of them. What about the little girl, Jane? What happened to her?”

  The old woman squinted at Helen for a few seconds, then recognition showed on her face.

  “You’re the sailor who brought the girl here to live with them, aren’t you?”

  “She is,” Cari said, jumping into the conversation. “I’m her captain. We came to check on the little girl’s welfare.”

  “She ain’t here. She left with all the others.”

  “Left? Where?” Cari asked.

  “When it became clear there was a plague, and the Duke was going to close the city, our guild leaders gathered all the fishermen’s children together, including young Janey. A few of us used our boats to take them down the coast to stay among friends in the fishing villages to the east of here.”

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Cari exclaimed. “Tell me who took her on their boat and we’ll find out from them where she was left.”

  “I cannot. Both Old Bert and Yori Hansen died from the plague after they returned. She is safe though, I’m sure. The folks in those villages are fine people and will take care of her and the other orphans as if they were their own children.”

  “Helen, how many villages lie along the coast to the east of here?”

  “Depending on how far east they traveled to parcel out the kids, it could be up to a half dozen. We likely passed half of them on the way to and from the silver mine.”

  “Return to the ship and prepare to set sail. I know we need to resupply. Get only the provisions we need for a short voyage loaded as fast as you can. I’ll stop in and leave a message for the Duke with a friend. I should be back on board the Vengeance before the evening tide. We’ll leave as soon as I return.”

  “Aye, Cari. We’ll be ready to go when you return.”

  Cari nodded and shouldered her bottomless leather backpack, heading up into the city proper.

  ———

  Pushing open the door leading into the enormous, ramshackle building, Cari entered the Caravansary Outfitters, hoping Colin was here. He was the only one she could trust with a message for the Duke. There was no time to go through normal channels. It would take all day to gain an audience with His Grace, even with Cari’s notoriety.

  “Colin, you here?” She called out as she stood amidst the stacks of adventurer’s gear stretching out in every direction as far as she could see.

  Cari jumped with a yelp when a voice responded directly behind her.

  “Young lady, what are you doing here? Has the plague ban been lifted at last?”

  Cari spun around to face the strange little man who owned this shop. She had to admit
to being happy to see him. He was a connection to home for her. He was the only person she’d met here who’d recognized her on sight and claimed to know her parents, though how he could, she wasn’t sure.

  “Colin, don’t sneak up on a person like that.”

  “What an odd thing to say. What other way is there to sneak up on a person?”

  The question caught her by surprise.

  “Never mind. Cari, what is it you need?”

  “Two things. First, I need to replenish our supply of healing potions. I’m hoping you have some on hand since you’ve been able to supply us in the past.”

  “I do, I had actually been buying up stock in other cities and stockpiling it here to dispense to the temples as needed.”

  Cari held out her special backpack of holding, the magic, bottomless pack she’d received the first time she’d come here to outfit herself with gear.

  Colin took it and held up a hand. “Wait here, and don’t touch anything.”

  Cari nodded, used to the routine by now. Colin headed down an aisle between stacks of what looked like old metal breastplates. He turned the corner into another aisle and she lost sight of him.

  Five minutes later, as Cari picked up a conical helmet with a spike atop it, Colin’s voice startled her again.

  “I said don’t touch anything, girl. Don’t you listen?”

  Cari set the helmet down and held out her hands. He shoved the backpack into her arms. “There’s a variety of healing draughts of various strengths in there for you. Now, what was the other thing you needed from me?”

  “I need you to pass along a message to the Duke. It is to be given to him and only him.”

  “Alright, I agree to your terms. What’s the message?”

  “I’ve found the missing heir. I’m heading off to the east to retrieve her now. I’ll return here with her when I am able.”

  “Ah, I wondered when you’d find Kareena’s lost great-granddaughter.”

  “You knew about her?”

  “I suspected she might be alive and well. Why else would you be here? Your mere presence in Fantasma just confirms that suspicion.”

  “Colin, if you knew all along why didn’t you tell someone? They could have rescued her long before this.”

  “No one listens to me. They think I’m crazy and only useful for supplying caravans or outfitting adventurers. Besides, I knew that was likely your purpose for being here to begin with. I’m a programmer, a watcher from the sidelines. I first found this place by stumbling on a piece of code that didn’t belong. I’m happy to lend a hand for people like you and your father, but I’m no hero. I learned that the hard way.”

  Cari was surprised to learn Colin might have been a programmer in the original Fantasma project. His explanation indeed made sense in light of how he appeared to pop in and out of his shop whenever he was needed.

  “Look, I’ve got to get out of here. Will you deliver my message?”

  “Of course, I would be happy to do so. Too much hinges on you finding that little girl.”

  “Good, then what do I owe you for the potions?” Cari dug in her belt pouch for coins.

  “We can settle up later. I’ll see if the Duke will pick up the tab in the meantime. Be safe in your travels and watch your back. I fear this will be a bumpy ride from here on out. Things are about to get a lot harder for you and your crew.”

  His last statement startled her. She felt like things had been bumpy enough just getting to where she was. She started to ask him what he meant but stopped when he shook his head. He wouldn’t tell her anything else.

  With a nod of gratitude, Cari turned and left the strange little shop owner behind. She had a lot on her mind and just enough time to reach the Vengeance to catch the evening tide.

  Chapter 24

  Hal and Mona crested the last rise before descending into the valley holding the city of Tandon. A tall ship with sleek lines, dropped more sail as it cleared the harbor entrance and sailed out into the Western Sea. Hal smiled as he watched it sail away. He envied the freedom of those captains who sailed these waters.

  He sat in his saddle for a while with the setting sun at his back and turned his attention back to the scene before him. It had been a long time since he’d been here. There were some changes to the city below, but for the most part, it looked the same as it did when he first came here years before.

  “It is beautiful,” Mona commented, sensing her husband was reminiscing as he looked over his first home here in Fantasma.

  “Yes, it is. I’d forgotten how much I loved coming here. Why’d we ever stop?”

  “You know why. It wasn’t fair to Cari to raise her in two worlds like we were doing. We had to pick a place she could call home and stay there. Besides, we were going to invite her to come back with us after her next birthday. That’s why you restored the computer in the first place.”

  “Yeah and look how that turned out.”

  “We’re almost there, Hal. This is the last place anyone had word of Cari’s whereabouts. Let’s get down there before dark so we can find a place to stay. It’s been two weeks since we’ve seen anything resembling an actual inn with a real bed.”

  “We had a nice visit in the Valley of the Sun. Shalush’s grandson was very welcoming when he realized who we were.”

  “Sleeping on a pile of bear pelts in a goblin longhouse is not my idea of a bed. I want you to take me to the nicest inn we can find so I can get a hot bath and a decent meal. Then I’m going to settle into a nice down-stuffed mattress and sleep until morning without having to take a shift on guard.”

  Hal laughed. “That actually sounds like a nice plan. Come on, the main gate is right down there. Let’s go and get a good night’s sleep. We can check in on the Duke in the morning.”

  ———

  Hal ground his teeth and tried to hold back his temper.

  “My good man, I assure you the document is not a forgery. That is the Empress’ seal and it clearly states who I am along with my position as an official emissary from the Crystal City.”

  “I don’t care who you say you are, we take the memory of Prince Hal very seriously here in Tandon. The mere fact you’re pretending to be him is enough for me to have you jailed until we discover who you really are. I suppose this woman with all the tools on her belt is supposed to be Princess Mona? Everyone knows she always went out wearing a blue gown. It’s in all the stories.”

  “I never wore a blue gown in my life. Hal, we don’t have time for this idiot. We have to see the Duke.”

  “Look, kid. I don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t pass us along to your superiors, I’m going to make you very uncomfortable in a moment.”

  The young officer spluttered for a moment, trying to find his voice. “You can’t threaten an officer in the Duke’s guard like that. Sergeant, Sergeant, come in here and place these people under arrest. They have threatened me.”

  The door behind Hal opened, and he decided he’d had enough of this idiot. He opened himself up to draw in magical energy so he could teach this kid a lesson. Once more, he felt the strange resistance holding the magical forces back.

  He felt some power fill him but nothing like he’d been used to when he came here in the past. Kareena had told him magic no longer worked the way it used to. Being unable to open portals whenever he pleased and travel where he wanted was a pain.

  He was still struggling to gather enough power to do what he wanted when a shouted warning from Mona turned him around. A butt stroke to the head from the guard sergeant’s musket had him seeing stars and his legs buckled beneath him, dropping him to his knees.

  Health damage — health -18

  Hal looked up through the haze cursing aloud as the magic slipped away from him. He guessed he’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

  Mona was already being held with her arms twisted behind her by two guards. Two others advanced on him, manacles ready to bind his hands. Hal reached for his daggers as he struggled to rise.


  The sergeant growled another order and raised his musket ready to strike Hal with the wooden stock one more time.

  Hal struggled to rise to his feet as he drew his daggers. The room spun around him as he fought to break through the dizziness of the first blow to his head.

  The sergeant brought his musket down again, catching Hal on the back of his head and the world started to dim. He didn’t need the notification to tell him he was about to pass out.

  Critical hit — health -26

  Critical side effect — unconsciousness

  The next thing he felt was a familiar peppermint taste in his mouth as his faculties returned. A familiar voice nearby shouted at someone.

  “Why did you automatically assume his letter from the Empress was a forgery, you fool. You’re a fortunate young man I happened to be on my way to see the Duke on urgent business.”

  “Mr. Colin, sir, how was I to know this man was who he said he was. Prince Hal should be an old man by now. My gramps was a little kid when he was here last.”

  Mona’s voice carried a chill tone Hal knew all too well. “You’re just lucky Colin had a healing potion on him. Your sergeant almost killed him.”

  Hal’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Mona’s face staring down at him.

  “Take it easy Hal. They beat on you pretty hard with their musket stocks.”

  Hal raised his hand to his head. It throbbed with a dull ache despite the healing potion Mona gave him. She held up her hand with a fresh flask.

  “Do you want another?”

  “No, I’ll be alright.” Hal smiled at his old friend. “Colin, it’s good to see you again. We haven’t checked in with you in a long time. I see you still come here.”

  “I find it interesting to visit from time to time and see how things are changing. Imagine my surprise when someone showed up in my shop who I knew from back home.”

  “Please tell me you’re talking about Cari,” Mona said.

  Colin nodded. “She’s made quite a name for herself since she came here. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s done well. Based on what she set out to do last night, I think you’d both be very proud of her.”