Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter Fourteen

~

T
rust no one. Boreko drilled that fact
into Shiro, but they had erred in trusting Ashiyo. Shiro didn’t like Mira or Abe, yet he needed them both. How could he get them to help if he didn’t give them some measure of trust? While Shiro worked with the crops, he tried to focus on what kind of strategy he could employ. He would have to develop a strategy every step of the way to avoid or minimize betrayal.

His own hand had administered Abe’s ‘pain’ potion to Boreko. If Shiro became ill could he expect the same treatment? Death came to the island on a regular enough basis and with Shiro’s taking on some healer responsibilities, he’ had made his appearance on the trip to the dumping ground a regular thing, something Abe couldn’t do. That wouldn’t involve anyone and give him access to the boat. What he thought represented the biggest challenge might be his easiest problem to solve.

“You are too reflective, Shiro,” Mira said as she joined him at his work.

“I’ve noticed that you aren’t particularly talkative.” What did the woman want? Perhaps that didn’t matter. His plans outside only required her shield spell.

“Maybe I’m ready to expand my horizons.”

Shiro pursed his lips. He knew he’d need to make some kind of leap to enlist her help.

“And maybe I can help you do that. Nice day,” Shiro said pointedly looking out to sea. “I wonder what is on the other side?”

“South Isle.” Mira narrowed her eyes and followed his gaze and then turned back. “The beaches are nice this time of year.”

He smiled once he knew she wasn’t looking. “Indeed. To walk on a sandy beach again.” Their island prison had no beaches.

“I agree. If only…”

“I can make only happen,” Shiro said. He’d made the plunge and, for a moment, lost his breath in doing so. He swooned slightly, lightheaded as the risk had been taken to bring the pair into his plans. Now that he’d made the move, he would see it through.

“You?” Mira couldn’t have put more of a sneer into her voice.

What game did she play? “I have a plan, but it will come at a cost.”

“What do you have that I would possibly want?”

“Transportation off of the island.”

“Some one else to row? No one ever has made it. Riku has a charm that alerts the guards on South Isle that some one has tried to escape. Even if they did swim the three leagues, Guards would be waiting.”

“I have a different way, using Affinity,” Shiro said.

“Tell me.”

Shiro took a breath, “Not until I know the shield spell. Without it, sorcerers would know my location as soon as I touched the Isle.”

“Sooner,” Mira said. “They know your ‘taste’. The sorcerer stationed on the other side of the water already knows you are on this island.”

“So they know Boreko is dead?”

Mira nodded and lifted her chin. “As they would know if you joined him at the bottom of the sea.”

“Then let’s arrange it,” Shiro said. “Teach me the spell and I’ll invoke it mid-way to our freedom.”

“You and I?”

“Abe comes too,” Shiro said.

“I thought you hated my father.”

“I don’t like what he did to my friend, but he’s taught me how to heal.” Shiro could say that because it was true. He also admitted that he still hated Abe and wasn’t exactly thrilled to even talk to Mira. Still, he felt if he included both of them, the chances were greater that they would agree.

Mira went back to her work and looked back at Shiro from time to time. “I’ll talk it over with him and let you know,” she said as she trudged over to another plot of vegetables.

Shiro paused in his work and looked at the dirt on his feet and sandals. He felt filthy inside. How could he not? The Guild worked the same way; everyone despised everyone else. Was he any different? He spat on the ground, not wanting to pursue that line of thought any more. He would focus on getting off of the island and wouldn’t look to deeply into his motives until he had escaped.

~

“Mira is going to come into the infirmary with back spasms late this afternoon,” Abe said as Shiro walked in bearing herbs.

The frustration that built within Shiro in the last four days vanished. They had finally made their decision and the time arrived to act. “I’ll return after my workday.” He left the infirmary with a buoyant step.

While he worked, waiting for the sun to cross the sky, Shiro wished that Boreko could join them instead of rotting at the bottom of the sea. His excitement receded as he waiting the last few interminable hours until Mira showed up in his field.

She cried out and began to writhe in the dirt. He ran to her side and began to massage her back.

“It’s getting worse!” she gasped. Mira turned out to be a very convincing actress as a guard came over.

“I’ll carry her to the infirmary,” Shiro said. “I tried to work the pain out, but it isn’t working. She’ll need to see Abe.” He looked up at the guard, relieved that the man nodded and then grunted out the permission to take her.

To all appearances, Mira looked like a frail old woman, but she hardly felt light as Shiro took her the infirmary. She wouldn’t say a word, just moaning. Shiro tried to say something, even when no one was nearby, but Mira stayed to her role. He shook his head as he gave up trying to communicate.

“Bring her in,” Abe said as he walked out of the infirmary. “I have one more patient. Perhaps you can deal with him after you take this lady to the private examination room.” The private examination room consisted of a few drapes of heavy cloth around the waist high table. Shiro laid her down eliciting another wail. He just shook his head and left, closing the drapes.

Drapes. He felt the cloth and knew they’d work for sails. Smiling at the discovery, he passed Abe on his way to a man who had a gash in the calf of his leg. Abe had already put him out. Shiro made quick work of cleansing the wound and closing it up with magic. Then he sewed a few stitches for show. He’d done it before.

“Now,” Shiro said, drawing back the curtains and wondering what he’d do for a mast and rigging. “Let me know how to suppress magic and learn how to disguise myself and I’ll let you in on my plan to leave this island.”

Abe and Mira looked at each other. The father nodded to his daughter.

“Don’t expect us to help you once we make South Isle. We will go different ways,” Mira said with her chin in the air. Her attitude grated as it always had. She might be a pretty woman underneath her glamour, but she was as ugly inside as her disguise. Shiro had no desire to help her, but survival required sacrifice.

“I am prepared for that. I’ll tell you now that I will make for Boriako to exact revenge for the death of my mentor.” Shiro wished he could do as he said, but he really intended to head north towards Koriaki. Abe and Mira couldn’t be trusted with the truth.

Mira frowned and then closed her eyes. “First the spell of disguise. You need to draw the earth around you as a shell with the object of disguise well known to you. The woman all see was a washerwoman down the street from where I lived.”

Shiro could use the face of Kinoru, the old friend who took him away from Koriaki.

“The spell is…” She looked at her father with distaste and then whispered the spell in Shiro’s ear.

To others, the spell might sound like gibberish, but Shiro knew how such things were constructed and the spell was actually an instruction for invoking earth, water and air. The White Rose had an unexpectedly high level of sophistication. If so, then why were they so weak on Roppon? Implementation did take considerable talent, regardless of who intoned the spell and the mind had to separate in order to maintain the illusion.

Shiro wouldn’t give them the image that he intended to use on South Isle. He peered at Abe for a moment and intoned the spell.

Mira gasped and then screeched at him. “You are not supposed to learn the spell so quickly!  You will not use the image of my father. It is forbidden!”

Using the healer’s image stunned Abe. “I look like that?” he said.

“Close enough,” Mira said, glaring at Shiro. “Stop it!”

Shiro released the image in his mind. His estimation of Mira’s capabilities impressed him. “Now, how do I suppress my magical power?”

Mira narrowed her eyes at Shiro and glared at him for a moment. “You are a very powerful sorcerer.”

Her accusation met with a shrug from Shiro. “I’m an apprentice that the Guild discarded.” He looked evenly at the woman. “But I’m a capable man and I learn quickly.” He fought off a smug smile.

“Vow that you will not use my father’s image, or either of mine, for that matter,” Mira said. She ignored Abe in all of this and it seemed that she regarded her father as another might regard a chair or the table upon which she sat.

“I promise. Here is a better, less known image.” He thought of Boreko and intoned the spell. “Is that better?”

Mira seemed to relax. “Ah, your friend.”

“I won’t use his image again. I have others that I can draw on.” Shiro forced a smile and then released the spell. “Now how do I suppress my magic?”

Mira laughed. “It is so simple.” She whispered the spell into his ear.

Shiro shook his head ruefully. “If only I had known that a year ago when the Guild tested my village.” The spell intoned a thin layer of the essence of earth around him. The concept wasn’t any more involved than putting a rag around the handle of a hot pot. The spell for shielding one’s magic was really rather close the one for a disguise.  He intoned the spell.

The woman closed her eyes and nodded. “Not that I’m good at detecting power, but I know when it’s there and when it isn’t. It works and I told you it was easy.”

“Indeed. Now, for my part I can make wind.”

Abe laughed. “So can I, in fact I do so quite often.”

Shiro smiled. “Point taken. I can summon wind. We can steal a boat and the wind will blow us wherever we want. I can take you leagues along the South Isle’s shore in any direction and let you off. Then I will leave to go off in a different direction,” he nodded at Mira, “as per your command.” Shiro muttered an incantation and a gentle breeze blew inside of the room. “See?”

Abe threw his hand at Shiro in disbelief. “How will you steal a boat? There are guards.”

“Mira dies. You and I are on the boat to send her to the bottom. We give the guards some wine with a sleeping potion and before we arrive at the dumping grounds, they are tossed over the side and we are on our way. No one else can do it because we will sail away rather than wear ourselves out rowing.”

Mira thought for a minute. “The boats don’t have sails.”

“Leave that to me,” Shiro said. “When do you want to leave?”

Abe and Mira looked alarmed. Perhaps the thought of leaving sunk in. “Four days,” Abe said.

“Five!” Mira’s face held a trace of panic. Shiro wondered why, but he agreed.

“Five days, then.” A thought popped into his head. “Mira’s back spasms are caused by something serious, right? Let a guard or even Riku know, then they won’t be surprised by her death.”

Abe’s forehead beaded with perspiration. Fear? “I’ll do it,” he said and then shook his finger at Shiro. “You make sure you do your part!”

Do his part!  Shiro decided to use the library in the storehouse. He found a bolt of the material used for the drapes and long poles for rakes he would use for the mast. He could magically bind the drapes and wrap something around the poles for the mast and two more for a spar. If he put a hole in one of the seats and used the rocks put into Mira’s shroud to anchor the mast to the bottom of the boat, they’d have their vessel. He could sneak out at night and have the boat ready in the morning. It all seemed so simple.

~~~

Chapter Fifteen

~

W
hile out gathering herbs,
Shiro decided to collect food for their trip. Berries were giving the last of their bounty before fall set in, but there seemed to be more rabbits about. He recovered his sword and took a sack of food towards the southern end of the island. The woods grew right up to a set of small cliffs that ran around the southern end of the island. He found a small shingle filled with black pebbles. He’d hide the food and his sword up in the woods and pick it up after the three of them escaped. They would circle around and pick the supplies up and then they’d be underway.

A small stream that fed a waterfall down to the shingle would be Shiro’s marker. He’d try to smuggle a few waterskins from the storehouse and fill them up at the stream. By this time tomorrow, he’d be off the island and, again, regretted that Boreko wouldn’t be joining him.

Feeling more prepared, he made his way through the forest to the grazing lands on the island and made it to the camp. After unloading a few rabbits off at the kitchen shack, he brought medicinal herbs to Abe.

“Change of plans. Mira is on the table,” Abe said.

The change in plans made Shiro nervous. He had to do something to soothe his nerves, so he decided to invoke the magic suppression spell. He tossed herbs on an empty sleeping mat and opened the drapes. Mira, as the old woman, sat on the table, but Riku, Grandmaster Yushidon and Roniki looked at him.

“So you were going to escape, eh?” Riku said. “And I trusted you.”

Shiro felt his face flush. But then he thought what more could they do to him? He was already on a prison island and he couldn’t transport. All they had to do was keep him off of a boat.

“What have I done that violated that trust?”

“You conspired with Abe and Mira to escape.”

Shiro ground his teeth. Father and daughter both had their arms folded with smug smiles on their faces.

“I didn’t promise you that I’d never escape.”

Roniki sneered. “It’s time to put an end to your foolishness as Abe put an end to Boreko. We should have never let Ashiyo talk us into sparing your miserable life.”

“Abe killed Boreko under your orders?” Shiro glared at Yushidon.

“I don’t have to answer that,” Yushidon said. “Actually Roniki made that decision without my permission. What’s done is done.”

Riku took out a pair of manacles, but before he could get it on Shiro’s wrists, Shiro backed out and left the infirmary. Flames appeared on Shiro’s back and he created a tiny storm to put them out, then he turned around and used every ounce of power that he had to create a tornado. Clouds darkened and gathered instantly and the wind began to swirl harder and harder as Shiro walked towards the boat, not turning his back on his adversaries. He threw fireballs at the sorcerers. Shiro wouldn’t let them put him to sleep like they had at Ashiyo’s house. Roniki winked out of existence and then Yushidon. Abe, Mira and Riku stood at the entrance of the infirmary, clutching the doorposts.

Shiro refused to be taken. Panic began to take over his thinking as he increased the tornado’s wind speed, then he guided the tornado back as it pulled him up. He fought to control the maelstrom as it picked up the boat and moved the tornado out to sea. His powers were quickly dissipating as he gradually slowed the winds. He grabbed onto the boat as his magic left him. He fell into the ocean, in sight of the island and swam to the overturned boat. He climbed on the top and collapsed.

Raindrops woke Shiro up in the darkness. He slid off the boat and used his still-faint powers to raise the boat and flip it over. He climbed aboard. Nothing had remained in the boat. His body felt like he’d been thoroughly beaten. Perhaps that would make Riku feel better. He opened his mouth and let the rain fall into it.

He sat back in the boat and wondered what he’d do now? The clouds began to clear and the moonlight revealed the prison island off to his left. Shiro looked up into the skies as the stars began to shine. The island sat three or four hundred paces east of him. He tried to create a bit of wind, but he had little power left, so he slipped over the side of the boat and began to kick his legs. Shiro hoped the spell that kept them from finding his power had remained. They would think him dead.

He’d push the boat back to the island if he possibly could. After an agonizing night in the ocean, the day dawned as Shiro pulled the boat on top of rocky sandbar at the back of the island. The tide had begun to recede and Shiro would have a few hours to get up the cliff to find something to propel him westward to where he had hidden his supplies. His lack of trust of Abe and Mira had proven correct. He had surmised they might do something on their trip to the South Isle, but… He shook his head. They had been in league with Yushidon and Roniki. A message had to have gone out and a sorcerer transported to the Guild and Yushidon and Roniki returned. Why didn’t they just kill him on the spot? Perhaps they had something worse than a simple killing in mind.

Both of then had transported away at the hint of difficulty. Such cowards!  The pair possessed not a shred of honor. Other than trying to burn his back, they flitted away. Why hadn’t the flames burned him? His mind quickly reviewed his escape. The magic suppression spell that Mira taught him? It must have given him a little bit of magical armor. He’d never read of such a thing, but then he had to admit he only accumulated less than a year’s worth of instruction at the Guild.

Shiro reached the top of the cliff and quickly found the stream to slake his thirst. He found a few thin trees and pulled them out of the ground. Perhaps the roots might help move the water. He sat down next to a berry bush and munched on berries while he rested.

Shiro found his sword and the food. He couldn’t go any further in his condition. He woke at every sound, but something larger moved in the brush. He unwrapped his sword and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The moonlight reflected off of the eyes of something bigger than a rabbit. He heard a growl. A boar! A few lived on this back side of the island.

Shiro backed up as the boar approached. The animal shook its head displaying long tusks. Shiro tried to create a tiny storm, but only a few clouds appeared. The boar snorted the mist away. His magic just couldn’t be relied on in his condition after the tornado. He could have released his suppression spell, but then a sorcerer might know that he survived the tornado.

More growling and then the boar pawed the ground and charged. Shiro backed up and tripped on a root. He dropped the sword as the boar bounced into him. A tusk pierced his thigh, but Shiro grasped the sword’s blade where he had wrapped it over the Sunstone. He thrust the blade down into the boar’s neck as if he held a long knife. The boar squealed and tried to back away as Shiro kept stabbing the animal until the squealing stopped.

He lay on his back. Adrenaline had moved him, not magic, but now his physical strength was gone as well. He tore the bottom of his shirt and wrapped it around his thigh. He wished his magic had recharged, and then he could heal his wound. He sighed as he picked up his sword by the wrapped part of the blade and felt a trickle of power. The stone! 

Shiro unwrapped the sword. He sat up, holding the blade and touching the stone as magical energy began to trickle into him. Weariness overcame his revived powers as he laid back and then fell asleep.

The calling of birds woke him. The sky had barely begun to lighten as he sat up, his hand still holding the sword. The boar remained a few paces from where he lay. He drew a flame and knew his power had been recharged, how much he didn’t know. He successfully closed the wound on his thigh.

With the sky still dark, he used his sword to cut spits for the rabbits he had hidden and the boar. He cleaned them all well and made a fire. The sky was too dark to reveal the smoke and the forest too dense to show the fire. While his meat cooked, he scraped the skins of the rabbits and the boar. Even if the boar skin didn’t cover too much space, it would be better to use that as a sail than paddling all the way to South Isle.

With the sword, Shiro made quick work of cutting poles for paddles and a crude spar and mast. He threw the wood down on the shingle beach from the cliff and fashioned a sack out of two of the rabbit skins and the boar skin.  The last rabbit skin had been cut into strips for bindings.

Even though the boar might not be cooked through, Shiro didn’t want the fire to continue to throw smoke in the air, so he used power to finish the meat. He stripped large leaves from the foliage and began to wrap the meat and cleaned up his makeshift camp so no one would ever know he had been back on the island. After drinking his fill from the stream, he made his way down to the shingle. He used his power to attach the mast and rocks to secure it to the bottom of the boat. He made one paddle and would make another one, once he shoved off, so he’d have oars if his magic failed.

Taking a last look up the cliff, Shiro pushed the boat off of the shingle and fought the waves for fifty paces or so and paddled further out into the ocean. He raised the boar skin sail and called up enough wind to move the boat westward. He’d follow the island until the shore turned eastward again and then he’d head north to South Isle and freedom.

The boat continued north at a slow pace. Shiro couldn’t hazard falling asleep since he had to man the makeshift oar that now acted as a rudder. His time on Mistokko’s vessel had given him a very basic understanding of seamanship and had hardened him to seasickness.

The boar actually tasted good and Shiro decided to use a little magic to heat it back up as he held it on a stick. He didn’t have any water skins, so he had to rely on his tiny storms to remove water out of the air.

He had to lower the sail, which he had mounted high on the mast, when he spotted other vessels on the open ocean, but he kept his bearing and after a day and a half at sea, he could see the dark line of the South Isle on the horizon. Not knowing where he would make landfall and wanting to be as far away from Sekkoro as possible, Shiro headed due west.

Another day of dodging watercraft wore on Shiro. He felt exposed on the water and decided he had travelled far enough from Sekkoro. He found a small sandy beach to land. He dragged his boat all the way up the beach and far into the brush. He would have to re-provision for the trip to the North Isle.

The sky turned gray and it began to rain. Shiro could now feel a small close-by nexus recharge his powers. He levitated the boat upside down and propped it up with one of his poles and started a fire with his wood. He heated up his meat using natural heat and ate the rest of his berries. The day darkened and he lay out underneath his craft and slept.

The sun woke him up, but something stood in front of the light. He felt a foot nudge the back of his foot.

~~~