The Sorcerer's Abyss (The Sorcerer's Path) (36 page)

Ellyssa nodded her understanding. “Thank you, Sandy. When do you want to leave?”

Sandy looked at the setting sun. “Now is a good time. It allows me to make most of the flight at night and deliver you by morning.”

“Wow, that’s fast,” Ellyssa exclaimed. “So how does this work?”

Wolf pulled a coil of rope out of his pack and looped it once around Sandy’s neck and then under her forelegs. “Sandy, if you get any bigger I’ll need to get a longer rope.”

The dragon glared at Wolf. “You speak as though this will become a reoccurring thing. I assure you, it will not.”

“You have all the humor of a porcupine,” Wolf scoffed. “You two are a perfect pair.”

Sandy snorted hard enough to make Wolf’s ponytail dance as he tightened the makeshift saddle and tied Ellyssa’s satchel of clothes and sack of food to the dragon’s harness. He then lifted Ellyssa up onto Sandy’s broad back and instructed her how to secure her legs beneath the two loops of rope.

“You can lean back between her wing joints and actually sleep,” Wolf told her.

“Thanks, if I’m not terrified out of my wits I will certainly try,” Ellyssa said, still feeling the exhaustion inflicted upon her by her overreaching use of magic.

Wolf looked up at Ellyssa. “I hope you can come back some day. This place gets kind of boring without you.”

Ellyssa smiled down at him. “When I come back, it will be to toss these Academy idiots out on their collective asses.”

Sandy gave an approving growl. “Be careful, you are going to be in their back yard you know.”

“When’s the last time a wizard ever left his lab to tend to his yard?” Ellyssa’s face adopted a more serious look. “Wolf, thank you for everything you have done.” Ghost let out a sharp sneeze. “You too, Ghost. Keep an eye on those Academy goons. I don’t want them to feel too comfortable here.”

“We will, you can count on it,” Wolf assured her. “Do what Sandy says and be careful. Wizards may not go outside much, but if you set his house on fire, you can bet he’s going to come out for a look.”

Ellyssa simply waved and urged Sandy to take flight. Twice as big and significantly stronger, the young dragon had none of the troubles getting off the ground and into the air that she had when she and Wolf had made those first few flights. Her powerful muscles worked her wings with enough force that Wolf had to brace himself to keep from being blown off his feet by the strong wind.

Ellyssa’s stomach sank into her feet as the ground dropped away. It then jumped into her throat when she looked down and saw miles of verdant forest stretching out to a horizon that had never looked so far away. She looked behind her and it seemed like she was almost eye level with the northern mountain peaks. Looking to her right, her vision was able to encompass the entire city of North Haven.

Terror held her firmly in its grasp until the frigid air of the high altitude overcame her fear. Ellyssa managed to conjure a weak ward. Although unlikely to stop an arrow, it was sufficient to keep out some of the chill and enough of the wind to keep her eyes from streaming tears the entire way. Ellyssa’s fear soon abated as she accepted that Sandy’s broad back and Wolf’s makeshift harness provided a secure position. She allowed herself to lean back and let exhaustion pull her into a much-needed slumber.

Ellyssa dreamed she was a dragon, flying over the blue swells of an endless sea. In the distance, she spotted the white sails of a ship and tilted her wings to fly closer. Even more than a mile away, her keen eyes picked out Captain Jake at the helm. Their eyes locked; Ellyssa’s radiating hate, Jake’s full of terror.

Ellyssa slammed down onto the ship’s deck, ripping sail from the lines and snapping the mizzenmast. Captain Jake tried to run, but the rocking of the ship threw him from his feet. Ellyssa pounced and pinned him to the deck with one of her talons. She slowly dragged her claw from Captain Jake’s chest to his waist, opening the slaver up like a fish being prepared for cooking.

Crossbow bolts, knives, and belaying pins bounced off her hard scales as the crew tried desperately to drive her away. Ellyssa’s foot slipped in the blood quickly pooling around Jake’s corpse as she turned to face the minor threat. Filling her giant lungs with air, she breathed a jet of fire stretching to the very front of the ship, immolating dozens of men and setting the ship aflame.

The ship rocked beneath her and she could feel it sinking. Ellyssa tried to take to the air, but several ropes tangled her wings. She used her dexterous paws and their sharp claws to untangle and slice at the bindings. More ropes found their way around her as if they were serpents constricting around her body and wings. The sinking ship pulled her down as it sank beneath the surface. She thrust her head up and extended her neck in a desperate attempt to keep from drowning. The ship lurched again, hard this time as if it had struck a reef.

“Ellyssa,” Sandy’s voice cut through the ether of her dream, “we are here, wake up.”

Ellyssa pealed her eyes open and squinted at the early morning light. She sat up and saw the sun was maybe an hour above the horizon. They rested in a clearing Sandy had chosen as a place to set down. Ellyssa heard the sound of running water and quickly spotted the stream running nearby. She slipped her legs out from under the ropes, slid off Sandy’s back, and fell on her backside when her legs refused to support her.

“It’s okay,” Sandy told her, “Wolf did the same thing the first time too.”

Ellyssa gave Sandy a small, embarrassed smile and struggled to get her legs to respond. After several attempts, she finally got her appendages to cooperate enough to carry her to the stream so she could appease her parched throat. Sandy thrust her muzzle into the water next to Ellyssa and drank deeply.

Sandy finally quenched her thirst and found Ellyssa pacing the clearing to restore normal function to her legs. “We’re about a half day’s walk from Southport. Head southeast and you should reach the gates before sundown. I could have gotten you a little closer, but you looked like you were trying to untie yourself and jump off my back.”

“Yeah, I was having a dream,” Ellyssa replied sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“How are you feeling?”

“My legs still feel rubbery but I’m okay.”

“I was referring more to your magic,” Sandy clarified.

Ellyssa beckoned forth a small tendril of magic. “It feels better. Not a hundred percent, but better than yesterday.”

“Remember what I said about being careful. Wizards are a patient bunch. Just because they have not chased you recently does not mean they have given up. They want your book, and I bet they want it pretty bad.”

“Well, that wizard, Harvey, looks like he is tied up in North Haven now. If he is still looking for me, he’s looking in the wrong city.”

“Unless The Academy found someone else to look for you and the book,” Sandy said.

“If he’s the best The Academy could come up with, then I am not too worried. He was an idiot.”

“They underestimated you before. Do not expect them to do so again,” Sandy warned.

“I won’t,” Ellyssa replied.

“Can you make it to the city okay?”

Ellyssa hefted her rucksack and slung the sack of food over her shoulder by its cord. “I’ll make it. Thank you, Sandy.”

Sandy simply nodded lit into the air with a gust of wind and cloud of dust. Ellyssa looked toward the sun, oriented herself southeast, and began walking.

***

Allister stood to the left of Headmaster Harvey’s desk facing four wizards in black clothing and hooded black cloaks trimmed in deep scarlet. Three were men and one was a woman, each shrouded in the heavy folds of their cloaks. They were all standing, with the exception of the Headmaster, in Harvey’s temporary office while workers constructed a suitable building. The four wizards were inquisitors, specially trained in battling other mages. They were as aloof as they were haughty, their status and combative specialty instilling an almost universal sense of arrogance and superiority.

“Inquisitors,” Headmaster Harvey greeted with a nod, “I presume you are here in regard to our rogue problem.”

“We are,” Inquisitor Fennrick replied. “We have been monitoring the city for a few months now and have yet to detect a trace of magical activity outside the walls of this school.”

“That is hardly surprising,” the Headmaster responded. “She has shown herself to be adept at hiding. Even Magus Sharpe was unable to locate her, and she is considered one of the best augurists known to The Academy.”

“Yes, I am sure she is quite competent by academic standards,” Inquisitor Fennrick said, “but my people and I specialize in this sort of thing. No, I believe the girl is no longer in the city, and that is why I requested this meeting. Magus Allister, I understand you probably know her best. Have you seen or heard anything about her or her whereabouts?”

“No,” Allister replied shortly.

“Magus, I would remind you that withholding any information regarding the activities of any suspected rogue mages can result in severe punishment.”

“Are you threatening me, boy?” the archmage bristled.

“Not at all. I just would not want to see such an esteemed member of our order brought down because of misplaced sentimentality.”

Harvey cut in before Allister could respond. “I believe it is more natural obstinacy than sentimentality. He was equally unhelpful in my investigation as well. Had he been willing to work with me, this may well have been resolved by now.”

“That hardly seems likely,” the Inquisitor said. “It is my understanding you did manage to locate the child and she humiliated the lot of you.”

Harvey’s face flushed and anger spread through him with the heat of the desert sun. “This young woman has the Codex Arcana. Were it a simple matter of execution, I assure you, my people and I would have had little difficulty taking her to task. My orders were clear, and that was to recover the Codex. To do that, we needed the girl alive. Under those parameters, she had a distinct advantage.”