Razja stared at the old man with her large, dark eyes. The light of the candles made her skin glow the color of her bracers, burnished and coppery. “But, stranger... why us?”
The Wanderer was quiet for a long moment before responding. “Because the fates have willed it so.”
Silence filled the dingy room in the wake of his words. Everyone seemed to brooding on their own thoughts.
A mysterious cult? A legendary dragon bent on destroying the world? This doesn’t sound like my cup of tea.
Still, Jasper had to admit that he was in a bind. This old sorcerer had once locked him in a time loop and tracked him from the other side of the continent. How could he free himself from a man who could control time and space?
Feeling his shoulders slump, he resigned himself to obey the Wanderer’s whims – for now. Grimacing, he asked, “Where do we start?”
The old man sat down in his seat and smiled at Jasper, the foul, unnerving grin that he had come to hate. “The sapphire is in the hands of a reclusive pirate lord named Gendric the Black. He resides with his personal gang of thugs in the city of Yral. That is where you must go... and you must leave at once.”
Chapter Five
The ship tossed wildly on the waves of the sea, moving up and down with the swells as it made its journey south.
Jasper stood on the bow of the ship, staring out at the choppy green waters with an unreadable expression. To his right, Camdyn emptied the contents of his stomach into the water, the big man shuttering with every gagging heave.
When he finished, he straightened and wiped his lips with the back of his hand, his face pallid and sweaty and his eyes watering.
"Never liked ships," he said in a hoarse voice. Despite the wind, his woolen tunic was soaked with sweat. "God's curse that old man."
The corner of Jasper's mouth twitched up and amusement. "You know, mercenaries are usually expected to be able take jobs aboard ships. If I were you, I do learn to get that retching under control."
Camdyn glowered at him. "I make a habit of taking inland jobs, assassin. No amount of gold is worth this," he gestured vaguely at their surroundings.
On the deck, sailors rushed to and throw, going about their chores under the direction of their captain. He was the owner of this merchant galley, a portly man with a wide smile and an even wider belly. A curly red beard rested on his many chins and a leather cap perched atop his head.
They were on an unmarked vessel carrying salt, furs, and wool to be sold in the southern cities. It would make its way all along the Broken Coast and stop at all the major ports to exchange its goods for gold.
Jasper turned his attention back out to the sea. He hawked phlegm from the back of his throat and spat it out at the water. “I'm not happy about being on this boat either," he remarked, shaking his head in annoyance. "I spent more than a month making my way north. I'd only just arrived when the old man sent me back to the south.” He shook his head. “Pure idiocy."
The stay at Old Barrow had been a short one. After telling them about the Tears of Eternity, the ancient Wanderer had chartered them a merchant vessel and then sent them away like common servants. They had barely had any time to rest and resupply before they were heading west towards the ocean. The old man's audacity still galled him. Even so, a small part of him was glad to be heading back to the free cities.
Camdyn wiped his brow. “Well, the sooner we get to Yral, the better. I can’t wait to get this whole ordeal over with.”
“You and me both,” Jasper mumbled.
For a time, the two of them simply stood there, rocking back and forth as they quietly stared out at the roiling sea. Then, with a sigh, Jasper left the sellsword to his brooding, making his way across the deck in search of something to cure his boredom. He found a solution in the form of Razja, who was sitting cross-legged on the floorboards near the stern.
The dark-haired girl was not beautiful, but neither was she ugly. She had a plain suntanned face and a rather shapely body, even if she did cover it with those strange foreign robes of hers. She appeared to be adjusting her copper bracers, the smooth metal devices resting square in her lap.
Her eyes flicked up as Jasper approached, but they returned to the bracers just as quickly, her face an emotionless mask.
He put on his most charming smile. "Interesting contraptions, those greasers," he said, leaning against the rail beside her. "Most magic users don't require instruments to cast their spells."
"Most magic users do not use the old magic," she replied, without looking up.
Jasper like sound of her accented voice. He had been on the road for a long time, and something about this woman stoked his desires.
"Is this your first time on this side of the mountains?" He asked, unabashedly looking her up and down.
She nodded, still running her fingers over the vambraces.
"And what do you think of it?"
She shrugged. "Green, but cold and very wet. I prefer the deserts of my homeland to this harsh place."
He grinned. "My homeland is much warmer. It is a paradise compared to the northlands."
Razja did not respond.
Playing the shy girl, are we? Jasper thought to himself. Well, that's never stopped me before.
"I should like to take you there," he continued, resting her hand lightly on the hilt of one of his blades. "I'm a very wealthy man, you know. I could show you around Valæcia, where we would eat the finest food and drink of the most exquisite wine."
Finally, she sighed and looked up at him, her dark eyes studying him carefully. "What are you doing?"
"Offering you the experience of a lifetime," he answered without hesitation.
Her eyes narrowed. "I must ask you a question, Jasper Aurelio. Do you think I'm stupid?"
That made Jasper laugh. “Stupid? No. Naïve, perhaps, but not stupid. I only want to enjoy your companionship, my dear.”
“And my bed as well,” she replied dryly. Her eyes were accusing, her lips a thin line drawn across her face.
He gave her a sly wink. “If it’s available.”
She snorted, then turned back to her bracers. “It’s not,” she said, now sounding more amused than annoyed. “You’re not my type.”
“And what is your type, if I might ask?”
“Handsome, witty, humble. The exact opposite of you.” She glanced up and gave him an innocent smile as she slid one of the bracers over her arm. “I’m also certain my parents would dislike your choice of profession.”
Jasper scoffed. “Too dangerous for them?”
“Too murderous,” she replied, pulling on the other bracer.
He shrugged, though inwardly the rejection only made him want her more. “Well, this life isn’t for everyone. You’re not the first girl who was intimidated by what I do, and I’m sure you won’t be the last.”
She stood up and gave him a flat look. “I’m sure.”
On the deck behind them, there was a commotion that caused many of the sailors to scurry to the starboard side of the ship. Whatever it was, it was enough to distract even the captain, who went to the side with them to stare out at the sea.
Jasper was about to offer Razja some sort of retort when the captain began to shout at the top of his lungs.
“Sails on the horizon! To your stations! Get to the oars, you scallywags, and put some distance between us!”
This caught their attention and brought them to the side as well.
Sure enough, there was a ship coming after them, cutting through the water from some of the distant islands to the west. Black sails and a black-painted hull were the only features he could make out. Even so, they were enough to tell him exactly what he was looking at.
“Pirates,” he growled, his muscles suddenly tensing.
“What?” Razja asked, her eyebrows knitting together in concern.
“With the Thay off warring with your people in Kaarna, the seas are rife with piracy,” he explained, absently fingering the wooden rail. “They’ll
steal all our cargo and leave our bodies for the sharks.” He glanced her up and down, then continued. “They’ll probably have a bit of fun with you first.”
She grimaced. “Do you think they’ll catch us?”
Absolutely. Out loud, he said, “Perhaps not. We’ve quite a lead on them.”
This seemed to put her at ease somewhat, though she continued to watch the horizon with a wary eye.
Of course, Jasper was eventually proven right. The merchant galley was no match for the pirate ship’s speed. Within the hour, the black vessel had gained on them enough so that he could make out the shapes of men on the deck. It had become blatantly obvious that it was going to come to a fight.
Jasper and Camdyn had enough time to don their armor – Jasper his tight-fighting leather and Camdyn his metal chain. The sailors, too, got themselves ready, abandoning their oars and picking up swords and spears from below deck. Even so, they were not warriors. The pirates would probably cut through them easily.
The sky was dark with clouds when the ships finally came next to each other, the sea as rough and choppy as ever. Arrows began to exchange from both sides, thudding into the wood and every so often finding flesh.
Finally, gangplanks slid into place from the black ship, locking into place with hooks and creating three narrow bridges spanning the water.
Razja stood near the back beside the quivering captain, her bracers glowing with power as she waited for the pirates to come aboard. Jasper and Camdyn stood at the forefront of the sailors, leading the defense as the enemy began to scramble toward their position. A quick scan gave Jasper all he needed to know. The lightly armored pirates outnumbered them two to one, a full forty of the brigands shouting and throwing themselves at them with reckless abandon.
Jasper pulled Vehemence and Vitriol from their sheaths. A minute later, the pirates were on them.
Camdyn scored the first blow, stabbing a wild-eyed, black-bearded man through the chest as he leapt on the deck in front of him. Jasper followed soon after, blocking a clumsy thrust from a scimitar and following through with a quick slash to the gut.
Within seconds the deck of the merchant galley became a bloodbath, their ragged defense devolving into a melee of flashing steel and screams of pain. Blood slicked the floorboards like oil, and the rocking motion of the boat caused many to stumble and crash into each other.
It was a fight unlike anything Jasper had ever experienced. He danced and he dodged, but everywhere he turned the press of bodies boxed him in. It did not take long for him to realize that he was out of his element in a fully-pitched battle. He was fighting just to stay alive.
Camdyn, on the other hand, seemed to know how to carry himself. He roared as two men engaged him at once, prodding him with spear thrusts in an attempt to push him overboard. He knocked one of the spears aside with an open palm and kicked at the pirate’s legs, sending him shrieking to the floor. Then, he hacked the other man’s arm clean off, sending his spear tumbling into the sea.
Blasts of magical light arced out over the battle, but Jasper could tell that Razja was having a difficult time controlling her spells. Everyone was packed in too closely, and she was at risk of hurting their own people. Many of her blasts went wild, and some even fizzled before they could do any damage.
This is why I prefer traveling by horse, Jasper thought bitterly as he hamstrung a man with a flick of his wrist. You can’t accidently drown when you’re fighting bandits on the road.
The merchant sailors did not stand a chance against the onslaught. If it were not for the close confines of the deck, they would have broken and fled long ago. Many of them died as soon as they engaged the pirates, and rest simply defended against their repeated attacks without thought to take to the offensive.
For an instant, Jasper thought that all was lost. He briefly considered diving into the water and taking his chances with the sharks, but then dismissed the idea, preferring to die a quick death by a blade than a slow one in the jaws of some beast.
An immense explosion nearly knocked Jasper off his feet. Blinding orange light seared his eyes and for a moment, he went blind. What in the hell? When his vision cleared, he gazed across the water with the rest of the men to see that the pirate’s ship had taken fire. A large hole had been blasted in the hull and the sails were all ablaze.
Many of the attackers cried out when they saw their ship burning, and a large number of them began rushing back across the gangplanks in an effort to put out the flames. The rest kept fighting, but there was considerably fewer bodies clogging the deck than before.
Jasper looked over his shoulder at Razja, who was practically glowing with energy as she concentrated on another spell. Good thinking, he thought as he turned his attention back to the fighting at hand. If you can’t attack the pirates, attack their ship!
The new strategy seemed to be working, and together Jasper and Camdyn rallied the defense as Razja threw spell after spell at the enemy vessel.
For every fire they managed to contained, another one sprang up nearby, until the entire area around the two ships was thick with acrid smoke. More and more of the pirates were forced back to deal with the fires until soon, there was but a paltry force on the merchant ship, a mere shadow of what the raid had been.
Those that remained tried to focus their efforts on killing Razja, but Jasper and Camdyn made sure that none of the pirates got close. Their blades sang in the smoky air, cutting flesh and snapping bones with a chorus of screams and dropping bodies.
Deprived of its sails, the enemy ship began to lag behind, and soon, they were able to break free and outpace the bastards, ripping free from their gangplanks and leaving them to flounder alone in the swells.
The few pirates who survived on the merchant galley threw down their weapons and surrendered. Jasper was quick to put them all to the sword. He did not have the patience for prisoners, especially when there was no profit to be made.
When the final bodies fell, the pirate ship was quickly fading to a shimmering red spot in the distance. More than half of the galley’s crew had been killed or wounded, but fortunately there was still enough men to get them into port. Their ship had sustained minimal damage, and the captain was still alive to take command.
One by one, the corpses were thrown overboard and the wounded were taken below deck to be seen to later.
As dusk began to settle, Jasper watched Razja as he cleaned off his blades. She stood alone near the prow of the ship and stared imperiously off into the distance, her face an expressionless mask.
Normally, after a fight he would hunger for the touch of a woman. He would patronize the nearest brothel and whore with an insatiable hunger. Tonight, however, he found that he had no such desires. He remembered the way her spells had pummeled the enemy ship, the way her energy blasts had splattered the pirates like bugs when they got too close.
She was as powerful as any sorceress he had ever seen. Maybe even more so.
Shivering, he turned away and returned Vehemence and Vitriol to their sheaths. She’s not the one for me, he thought, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. That one’s too dangerous to pursue.
With that, he made his way to the cargo hold to rummage for some wine. After a night like tonight, he needed a good drink.
Chapter Six
Yral, the City of Thieves, loomed above the bay like a drunken giant, its disheveled districts crammed against the sheer walls of a cliff and out into the hill country beyond. Heavy mists rolled across the water like smoke, obscuring the view just enough to shroud Vveshi Bay in a curtain of mystery. Even through the mists, lights danced in the busy port city as the population awakened.
It was a sight Jasper had not seen in many years.
The merchant galley seemed to limp toward the docks, its weathered hull battered from storms and pirate attacks. Still, it had survived the two weeks at sea and born them safely to their destination.
The same could not be said for all the crewman who had died on the way.
Camdyn was the first off the ship when it was finally moored against one of the many piers jutting from the stony shore. He fell to his knees and kissed the planks, muttering prayers of gratitude. Jasper disembarked with a bit more decorum, striding casually down the gangway followed closely by Razja. His eyes were on their surroundings, taking in the sights and remembering landmarks from the last time he had been here.
“This place is different from cities in Kaarna,” Razja observed with a disdainful sniff.
“It’s different from any other city in the world,” Jasper responded off-handedly. “Yral is officially ruled by an elected council of citizens, but it is well-known that the true power resides in the hands of the pirate lords.”
Shirtless dockworkers and shoeless youths moved this way and that, carrying goods from the various ships and taking them to the warehouses clustered on the other side of the docks. Buildings sprouted haphazardly from the stones, giving the city a disorganized feeling that reminded Jasper of his home in Valæcia. On the cliffs high above them, grand villas and extravagant mansions stared down at the city with cold indifference, their position and their structure a stark contrast from the poverty below.
Camdyn pushed himself to his feet and moved over to stand beside them. Already, the color had returned to his hair-covered cheeks. “The free cities are chaos incarnate, my lady. They lack a king to bring order to their streets.”
Jasper snorted. “The free cities need no kings, sellsword. We have something better – mercantilism.”
“That just means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” Camdyn replied gruffly.
Jasper was about to give the brute a mocking retort when Razja came and stood between them. “Enough,” she said in a voice that brooked no argument. “You two have been bickering for the entire voyage. I’m tired of it. We have come here for a reason, so let’s get on with it. The sooner we find the Tear and bring it back to Old Barrow, the sooner we can go our separate ways.”
Jasper looked at Camdyn and the mercenary merely shrugged.
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