The Sigil of Sobek: Book 2 The Chronicles of Conran

by Valerie Lindsey

  Walking quickly, I soon heard the slapping of water against wood. As softly as possible, I approached the end of the alley and pressed myself against the brick wall before looking out. At least one dark figure moved on each of three enormous galleons. Two more stood at the end of each gangplank.

  There would be no escape for any of these pillagers. Almost joyfully, I pulled up my pent up rage and power. I lifted both hands, used the bracelet for focus, and sent three undulating snakes of blue fire. Each fiery blast burned through the guards at the base of each gangplank before flowing onto the ship.

  I watched dark figures run in a panic across the decks trying to put the blazes out. I clapped my hands and the flames shot up six feet. Screams and the smell of cooked meat billowed out with the smoke. With a grim smile and no backward look, I walked back into town.

  Turning onto the main street, I found King Stefano’s men in the street tending to wounds. Several were gathered earnestly around the king and Captain Andreas who had resumed his human form. He looked up and grinned when he saw me. Obviously, ravaging enemies as a wolf put him in a good mood as he wasn’t the sort to smile, never mind grin.

  I joined them but stood back. There was a babble of voices but the overall gist of it was that several of the men wanted to check on their families. Their pain and fear streamed out and over me. I had been feeling other’s feelings more easily since Ilena gifted her bracelet to me. King Stefano held his hand up for silence. His dark eyes met each of the men until they became absolutely still.

  “I do not want anyone traveling this town alone but I understand your desire to check on your families. If you promise to stay together to visit each of your homes, you may do so. Captain Andreas, do you have someone to accompany them and ensure they follow my orders?”

  To my surprise, Luca quirked an eyebrow at me in question.

  “I can go with them,” I volunteered. I still had a lot of pent up power that I was eager to expel. “I have taken care of their ships and the men on them.

  “Excellent! We can focus our efforts on our citizens. Meet us in two hours back here. We will bivouac in the town hall.”

  “May we start now, Lord Pierce-Seahorn?”

  “Of course, but I need to get my horse first. It will not take long.”

  I gave a loud long whistle and waited. The sharp click of hooves on cobblestones preceded Scimitar’s quick appearance. I felt the admiration and envy of the group I’d been assigned to.

  “What a well-trained horse,” one of the men commented.

  “Thank you,” I responded as I tied Scimitar to a building post. “I will be back, boy. Be good.” Turning back to the group of scared men, I asked “Where should we go first?”

  They looked at each other before a large, burly man spoke up.

  “I think your family lives the farthest, Angelo. Why don’t we start there and work our way back here? It will be the most efficient manner to meet the King’s timeframe.”

  “But my uncle and aunt’s place is closest,” a skinny, small man protested. “Can’t we go there first, Leo?”

  “I understand how you feel but I think Leo is right,” I quickly interjected. “We will visit each of your families as swiftly as possible but we must do it methodically. We can’t jump back and forth across town.”

  The nervous man’s eyes dropped before mine and he gave a quick nod.

  “We will check your aunt’s home, Giuseppe. I promise we will go there before my family’s,” Leo reassured him. “Angelo, lead the way.”

  Unobtrusively, I cast a quick protection spell over us as we made our way through the devastated town. Townspeople were somberly gathering the bodies of the dead and clearing broken furniture, shattered glass from window; bitter signs of the raiders’ ferocity. Muffled crying came from the bent over figures. I wish their attackers had suffered more.

  The devastation lessened as we left the center of town. The flames from the burning ships cast wavering light across the dim streets. The further in we walked, the stronger the acrid smell of burning became.

  I rubbed my nose and a few of the men coughed or wiped their eyes. Gray ash whirled and drifted in the flickering light. At our fast pace, we were soon at the far side of the seaside town. Angelo started running to a small, apparently undamaged home.

  With hardly a look at each other, our team quickened our pace so we were close behind Angelo when he knocked frantically at the door. I think we held our collective breaths until it was opened by an elderly, fragile looking woman. I immediately stepped back to give him privacy. The rest of the men followed suit until we were several feet away, looking at everything but Angelo hugging his mother in relief.

  “One down,” Leo murmured. “I hope the rest of our visits go as well.”

  “As do I, but…” my voice trailed off. With twelve men in our party and a small town, the prospects weren’t good. Reassured, Angelo quickly left his mother and rejoined us sooner than I would have expected.

  “Who has the next closest home?” Leonardo called out.

  “My parents and my sister’s homes are close by,” a short stocky man offered nervously. Leo nodded and held his hand out, gesturing for the man to guide us.

  The silence of Seguna was unnerving. The sound of our boots on the cobblestones bounced and echoed off the grim building walls. The next two homes were less than ten minutes away. All was well with those families, too.

  It wasn’t until we only had Giuseppe and Leonardo’s families to check on that I began feeling uneasy. I hadn’t seen ghosts in years but the streets began to fill with anguished shades. The hair on my arms and the nape of my neck rose.

  The smell of death hung heavy in the dark silent street. There was no flicker of light in any of the still buildings. Giuseppe jumped as a cat ran across the street. I felt his grief and feared it would worsen.

  Unlike the earlier men, Giuseppe’s walk slowed more and more as if he were afraid of what he would find. I stepped closer to him. I saw his breath hitch.

  “I will go in with you,” I offered quietly.

  “As will I,” Leo suggested from his other side.

  Leo and I stepped briskly forward. Giuseppe hesitated before reluctantly following us.

  “Which house is it, Giuseppe?”

  Silently, he pointed to a house where the door had been pushed in. The door was hanging by one hinge. All was darkness inside. I thought I smelled blood.

  Steps came up behind me and a torch was proffered. I nodded my thanks and took the lead into the house. I saw a large dark stain and threw my arm out to stop Giuseppe’s advance.

  “Why don’t you stay here while Leonardo and I check the house out?”

  Something must have shown on my face as Giuseppe didn’t argue. I saw his face pale further in the wavering, sputtering light of the torch. One of the other men came up to stand by him. Leonardo and I exchanged looks and slowly approached the open doorway.

  “I smell blood,” Leonardo murmured.

  “I think I saw a huge pool of it.”

  “This isn’t going to be good.”

  I held the torch low and before us. An irregular, large black stain glimmered in the flickering light. I stepped carefully around it.

  Smashed cookery crunched under our feet. Dark shadows hid behind broken and toppled furniture. Reluctantly, I lowered the spitting torch to shine light between a flipped bed and the wall. A pale arm extended out from under the bed.

  Leonardo easily flipped the bed right side up to reveal the broken body of an elderly woman. It looked like a hatchet had cleaved her head. I carefully closed her torn blouse and pulled the flipped open skirt modestly down.

  “Another body here,” Leonardo said gruffly.

  I walked over and saw an older man who’d been run through with a sword after obviously putting up a fight. One of his arms was almost severed from his body. I hated that this would be Giuseppe’s last memory of his uncle and aunt.

  “I will get Giuseppe,” Leonardo said in a dul
l voice. “I fear it will not be better at my home. This is a bad day for so many.”

  “I will go with you.”

  Slowly, we walked out where two men seemed to be holding up Giuseppe. Giuseppe sagged even more when he saw us. Something must have shown on our faces. He forced himself upright as Leonardo walked up to him. Tears sprang to my eyes when he howled his grief.

  Leo gave quiet orders to two men before rejoining the remaining men and I. His eyes were dull as they met mine.

  “Are you ready?”

  He nodded wordlessly. Leo walked stiffly as if holding himself together with difficulty as he took us up another dark street. Our sputtering torches cast huge shadows on the tall walls, but I saw little evidence of destruction. I hoped the raiders had spared this street.

  I could feel Leo’s hope slowly sparking to life. His pace quickened until we were almost jogging up a narrow street. Another turn and Leo stopped before a tall narrow building. The door was closed and intact.

  I glanced at the men in our small party and could almost feel them praying as Leo rapped sharply on the dark oak door. The minutes crawled until I heard a muffled voice from behind the thick door.

  “It’s Leonardo, Papa!”

  I heard the welcome sound of bolts thrown back and the dragging of a large beam before the door slowly scraped open. A greyer more wrinkled version of Leonardo was framed in the doorway. A long relieved sigh whooshed out of Leo.

  “Are you and Mama well?”

  “Yes, those pirates didn’t make it to our street. But why are we talking like this? Come in and bring your companions with you. Your mother will relish the opportunity to fatten you up!”

  “I need to report back to King Stefano as he directed. Stay with your family. Do you need any of these men to stay with you?”

  “No, Lord Pierce-Seahorn. I will not tarry long.”

  “I’m sure King Stefano will understand. I need two volunteers to stay with him.” I turned to his father and tipped my head, “Sir.”

  I set a fast pace back as I worried our time was nearly up if it hadn’t already passed. More spirits passed by and through us. I saw one of the men shiver but no other sign that any of them were aware of what I saw.

  Passing pain, anger, confusion and grief washed over me as a stream of shades swept by. Unable to allow them to be trapped, I focused my energy through the bracelet until all the runes illuminated. Lifting my arm, I guided the spirits to move on. Blinding flashes of light streamed to the starlit night sky until the oppressiveness in the streets was gone. I felt lighter, as well.

  A few more turns and we were back in the city plaza. King Stefano’s men were still busy clearing bodies and wreckage. More townspeople had joined them.

  Sheeted bodies were being carried to the church that fronted the plaza. King Stefano was at the church doors, evidently comforting family members as they entered. I waited until he was alone and went up the steps.

  “Your Majesty, Giuseppe lost his aunt and uncle. Two men stayed to help him. Another two are with Leonardo and his parents but will be here soon.”

  “And the fire I see?”

  “I burned their three ships with all aboard.”

  King Stefano smiled grimly. “Well done, Conran. I hope they suffered for the pain they’ve caused here.”

  We stood silently as wails and sobs came from within the church. Without being told, I know that over a third of the population had been injured or killed. I felt sure many of the women would suffer mentally for a long time. Something dark clicked within.

  “How can I serve you, Your Majesty?”

  “Are there any more of these men on my lands?”

  I nodded before sending my intention through the ruins in my bracelet as the Druid’s Egg heated and warmed my skin. Heat suffused me as everything around me swirled into a dim whiteness. I saw six ornately carved ships sailing along the coast.

  The three in the rear began to slow and veer for land. Fury surged and flowed upward. Power swelled. Lifting my arm, I directed it at each ship in turn. Flame flowed up and across each deck, streaming up the masts and igniting the red and black sails.

  One ship exploded as the fire reached the ammunition stored below decks. Inspired, I directed the flames down. More explosions followed. Men jumped from the vessels, some on fire.

  Recalling the murdered citizens and abused women, I created long strands of seaweed that sinuously wrapped around each man’s neck and dragged them slowly to the sea floor. None of the marauders would survive. Of that, I was sure.

  Each ship slowly tipped and slipped below the churning waves. The gurgling, seething water gradually calmed, and I pulled myself back to find King Stefano staring at me oddly.

  “Your eyes are black,” he whispered, taking a step back.

  I closed my eyes and pushed the darkness deep inside. Taking a deep breath and hoping my eyes were back to green, I opened my eyes and looked at King Stefano.

  “All the ships and invaders are destroyed,” I volunteered, hoping it would divert his shock.

  King Stefano cleared his voice and stared into my eyes. He was spared from speaking when Captain Andreas came up.

  “Your Majesty, the remainder of our men have returned. How would you like me to distribute them?”

  “They can help locate other bodies and clean up the damage. I need you find a building or several where we may bivouac.”

  I stood quietly, waiting for King Stefano to dismiss me.

  “I thought only black sorcerers had black eyes,” King Stefano said in a low voice.

  “That is true,” I admitted. “I defeated two black sorcerers. As a result, I absorbed much of their magic. I think I must use some when I do large spells, such as defeating an army or destroying six ships. That is the only time when I know my eyes turn black. I do believe in doing good, Your Majesty.” I tried to speak in as reassuring voice as possible.

  “I believe you, Conran. I was simply unaware you possessed dark magic, too.”

  My stomach clenched in worry. Would fear drive me from Florenza? Something of my concern must have shown in my face as the king’s next words reassured me.

  “Do not worry, Conran. I trust, not fear, you.” He gave me a reassuring smile. “Thank you for defeating the marauders.”

  “You are welcome but I only defeated this wave. I believe there will be three more groups sailing here.”

  “Again, to our western shore?”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  “I need to send our navy to protect our coastline. Send the first man you find to me. I will send him to court with the message. We must move quickly.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to go? Scimitar and Hecate are the fastest horses here.”

  “I hesitate to lose your strength and insight, even for a brief time.”

  “I have searched and there is no further threat here.”

  King Stefano sighed. “Then you may carry the message. Refresh yourself while I write my directions.”

  “Your Majesty,” I said before bowing and leaving.

  I knew there wasn’t much time. I went to where I’d tied Scimitar and took him for grain and water. I gave more to Hecate. I pulled some food out of my pack and ate as Scimitar and Hecate chewed their portions.

  I curried Scimitar and set a bucket of water between he and Hecate. I drank a cup of water myself. The ride would be hard, but I looked forward to being alone. It would give me time to purge myself of the last of the darkness that I’d utilized.

  The scent of rain wafted in from the open stable doors. Cursing under my breath, I pulled out my leather coat and hat and put them on. It was going to be a miserable and slower ride than I’d hoped as I couldn’t risk injuring either horse.

  The streets were empty and dark when I led both horses back to the church. As I’d expected, King Stefano was at the foot of the stairs waiting. Captain Andreas stood solemnly by his side. I bowed deeply and waited.

  “Do you need to rest a few hours, Conran?”
>
  “No, Your Majesty. I should leave before the storm hits.”

  “Very well.” He held out a small scroll. “Deliver this to Commander Harnois. Stay with him until he releases you. After, take this letter to Queen Marguerite. Safe travels, Lord Pierce-Seahorn.”

  I put the two missives inside my coat before bowing deeply and smoothly mounting Scimitar. I held Hecate’s rein, bowed again from the saddle, wheeled Scimitar around and left the devastated, sorrowing town. Once we passed the town gates, I pressed Scimitar into an easy gallop. Hecate easily kept pace.

  An hour out and a light rain began. I pressed Scimitar faster to gain some time while the road was still firm. The rain turned into a light drizzle before gradually stopping. Pleased, I shook my hat dry, shoved it hastily in one of my packs and eased up on Scimitar.

  As I rode, I struggled to clear the residual darkness from me but realized I’d need a thorough cleansing once I returned to court. Instead, I emptied my mind, and enjoyed the ride and rare solitude. Even at our fast pace, I heard raindrops plopping from the dark branches overhead. A few hit me and sent cold trickles down my neck.

  The clouds shredded apart, allowing the full moon to brighten our path. The rough path was sufficiently illuminated that I pressed my heels into Scimitar. He eagerly ran along the empty road that wasn’t as empty as I’d thought.

  A large owl silently swooped from a tree, followed by the high squeak of its prey. A few minutes later, a large tawny deer crashed through some low bushes along the road. Hecate snorted as four more quickly followed. The appearance of wildlife calmed me. I felt my earlier tenseness slipping away.

  Scimitar was doing well, but we had a long journey. A faint glow broke ahead. I recognized a tall, rugged stone off the road. I pulled Scimitar up, dismounted and led both horses to the small stream I remembered from our trip out.

  The gurgling of water over stones greeted us. I dropped Scimitar’s reins for him to drink. I unfastened my water pouch and bent to fill it. After, I cupped and drank the cold water.