Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (78 page)

It didn’t look good for Azkimal’s men;
enemy ships outnumbered theirs three to one.

“Who are they?” came the question, but
so engrossed in the scene unfolding on Corillian that James didn’t
even register who spoke.

“More importantly,” added Father
Keller, “where did they come from? They wear no uniforms I ever saw
before.”

Scrolling north along the coast they
saw where enemy ships sat docked at Port May, one of the larger
merchant cities midway along the eastern shore of the island. Smoke
rose from the city and fighting raged in the streets.

James turned a worried look to Jiron.
“It’s an invasion.”

The knifer nodded. “The attack on your
island but a prelude to this.”

A little hand gripped James’ shoulder.
“Where’s Mother?”

“She’s escaping with
Meliana and Kenny,” he replied. “I’ll find her.” The scene left
Port May and returned to Corillion’s packed and frantic dockside.
It took a moment but they soon located Kendrick and the others at
the base of a gangplank leading up to his flagship,
Melia’s Dream
, named
after his late wife and Meliana’s mother.

Kendrick and the sailors held the
panicked mob back at the tip of their swords as the rest boarded,
then he followed with the sailors coming right behind. Corillian’s
citizenry flooded onto the gangplank afterward.

“He better control that,” commented
Scar as more people surged toward the ship. Jostling began and
people were shoved off into the water below by those
behind.

Potbelly nodded. “Fear and desperation
can make a man do things he wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

James remembered the fall of the City
of Light and the ship that was destroyed by a panicked mob seeking
to escape the city before the Empire occupied it.

Half a dozen sailors with cudgels
raced forward and after letting two families board, controlled the
situation with numerous blows.

Kendrick shouted to his men and they
flew into the rigging; sails were lowered, mooring lines were
severed and they began pulling away.

Seeing the ship begin to depart and
leave them behind, the mob surged forward, many leaping across the
widening gap between ship and dock to grab hold of the rail. A very
few were pulled on board, the rest had fingers and heads smashed to
remove them.

“They made it,” Shorty said breathing
a sigh of relief.

“Not yet,” argued Father
Keller.

James scrolled out from the island and
widened the view. Ships were still locked in battle. The number of
Warlord Azkimal’s ships had been reduced dramatically. Four of the
enemy were now heading unopposed toward Corillian’s
dock.

Melia’s Dream
turned northward to angle along the coastline in
an attempt to avoid the oncoming ships.

“Sails ho!”

James looked up from the mirror. Three
ships appeared on the horizon directly in their path.

“They’re the ones you saw earlier,”
Jiron said.

“Hard to port!” ordered Captain Anyn.
He glanced worriedly to James and received a nod.

The three ships altered course to
intercept.

James returned his gaze to the mirror
and saw that one of the four ships heading to Corillian had broken
off to follow Kendrick’s.

“Damn!”

“Master,” Azhan said, “we stand
ready.”

Hikai nodded vigorously.

Meliana had taken Kenny into her
father’s cabin. Aleya on the other hand, stood at the stern with
bow at the ready, waiting for the ship to come into
range.

“Kendrick’s a good man,” Jiron said.
“He’ll get them through.”

He watched the scene unfolding in the
mirror. It was difficult to judge whether or not the enemy ship was
gaining.

A yellow beam struck the forecastle
near where they gathered around the mirror. Wisps of smoke rose and
the smell of char filled the air.

“Master!”

James was unable to tear his gaze away
from his family and the enemy ship in pursuit. If he was there,
their escape would not even be in question. But without him they
didn’t stand a chance. All that they had to protect them was the
seamanship of Kendrick and his sailors. He feared that would not be
enough.

Another beam struck a sail high in the
rigging. Sailors scrambled and it was quickly put out but by the
time the flames died, over half the sail was gone.

“Come on,” Jiron said as he slapped
his friend’s shoulder. “We need to take care of this before we lose
any more sails.”

“Yes, we do,” James replied with much
vehemence, emotion punctuating each word. A large shield sprang up
between their ship and the enemy. Another beam of yellow power
struck the shield only to be deflected into the sea.

Standing, he slipped the
mirror into his pocket then pulled three slugs from his slug belt.
Gathering magic, he concentrated on each in turn, infusing them
with his anger and his need for vengeance…
How
dare
they attack his family!
Once done, he
went to the rail at the stern.

“How can we help, Master?”

He turned to Azhan. “Keep the sails
full. This will be over shortly.”

One at a time, he took the slugs and
with each, gave the wooden railing a single tap. Then with a spell
to speed them on their way, threw them toward the ships.

“What’s that supposed to
do?”

James turned a grim expression upon
Hikai. “Wait, and watch.”

Magic guided and propelled the slugs.
He kept the spell guiding them active until the slugs reached a
point where he knew they would not go astray. Then gave them one
last boost to guide them before releasing the spells. Having them
fall devoid of active magic, he hoped they would not trigger any
latent magical defenses the ships may have in play.

In his mind’s eye, he saw that the men
on those ships remained oblivious of the slugs’ approach. Each slug
fell toward a different ship. The first to reach its target struck
a soldier in the helm then ricocheted off onto the shoulder of
another before falling to the deck. Contact with the wooden
planking triggered the embedded spells.

A simple leech spell drained magic
from those nearest to it and men fell. The magic drawn by the first
spell triggered a second series of leach spells and men fell in
ever widening swaths. Once sufficient magic accumulated, the final
spell triggered.

First one ship, then the other two
exploded in blinding fireballs.

Azhan watched with mouth agape. “By
the gods!” He turned to James. “Master…,” he began.

James held up his hand to forestall
what he was sure would be a question he had no intention of
answering, then turned to Captain Anyn. “Captain,” he said, “make
for Corillian with all speed.”

There was genuine fear in his eyes as
he nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“How long?”

“If this wind holds…”

“And it will,” Azhan cut
in.

The captain glanced to him, the sails,
then back to James. He was visibly uneasy with being in their
company. “By nightfall.”

“See that we do.”

“Yes, sir.” He got his sailors busy
working on replacing the ruined sail with another from the ship’s
hold.

James pulled forth his
mirror and checked the debris for signs of life. Burnt bodies and
body parts intermixed with the ships’ charred and splintered
remains. Nothing moved. A slight twinge to his conscious surfaced
for a moment before anger and fear for his loved ones pushed it
back down. With a thought, he altered the spell and the mirror
showed
Melia’s Dream.

Jiron sighed in relief. “They haven’t
caught her.”

“
Not yet,” James
replied.

Kendrick was at the helm and it looked
as if they sailed northward; the coastline was on the westward side
of the ship. Smoke rose from no less than three places, indications
that the enemy had attempted to halt them by using their magical
device. As they watched, another beam struck the rear sail
confirming their suspicions.

“
Damn!” cursed Jiron as the
sail burst into flame.

Jira stood with them, silent and
scared.

“
They’ll never outrun them
now,” Scar said.

Kendrick shouted and men flew into the
rigging. Knives flashed as ropes were severed and the burning sail
fell free. Men on the deck below armed with water-filled buckets
quickly put it out.

Motion at the very top of the mirror
drew James’ attention. He scrolled the image that way and saw a
dozen warships of Warlord Azkimal heading for the fray.

“
Yes!” he said under his
breath.

Kendrick saw them a moment later and
altered course to intercept.

A second beam struck their mainsail
midway to the crow’s nest. As the canvas ignited, the sailor
stationed in the crow’s nest scrambled from his perch and slid down
a nearby rope. By the time the flames had subsided, over half the
sail had been consumed.

One more beam of magic
struck the side of the
Melia’s
Dream
before the enemy ship became aware of
the reinforcements bearing down on it. Turning, it made all speed
to rejoin its brethren.

James sighed in relief when Kendrick’s
ship finally passed between Warlord Azkimal’s and to the safety
beyond.

“
It isn’t over yet,” warned
Jiron.

“
I know,” he replied. “At
least for the moment, they are safe.”

“
Safe, but
crippled.”

James nodded.

Panning back, he scrolled to the
waters north of Kendrick’s position. Other than a multitude of
private ships fleeing the combat zone and a second armada of
warships making for the enemy, the way was clear.

Returning to Melia’s Dream, they found
the hole in the mainsail had been patched with a smaller
sail.

“
I doubt that will last in
rough seas,” commented Father Keller.

A city appeared on the shoreline to
the north and Kendrick had altered course to make for
it.

“
Tearlan,” James announced.
“He’s making for Tearlan.”

Tearlan was a trading city of modest
size with a dock capable of handling no more than ten ships at any
one time. Only two were currently at anchor. Armed men kept an area
in front of two warehouses clear as sailors and porters worked in a
frenzied rush to transfer cargo to the ships. Several motionless
forms lying at their feet indicated they had utilized strong
measures to keep it so.

“
Is he crazy?

James glanced to Scar.

“
They’ll mob
him.”

“
I don’t think he has a
choice,” James replied. “They need a new mainsail.”

Jiron nodded. “That patch-job won’t
last very long if a serious gale were to develop.”

“
But,” added Potbelly,
“Port May is just on the other side of the island. And it is
swarming with enemy soldiers.”

“
I don’t think Kendrick
realizes that,” James said.

Scrolling the view westward across the
island, hundreds of panicked people appeared as they fled the
carnage at Port May. Not far behind came three hundred soldiers
marching in tight ranks. At the head of the soldiers’ columns,
horses pulled four flatbed wagons, upon each rode a tonsured man
and a magical device identical to that which were on the ships. The
devices were secured to a raised platform that placed it just above
the level of the horses’ heads to allow them to fire forward
without fear of hitting the horses.

“
They mean business,”
commented Potbelly.

“
Yes, but where do they
come from?” Scar spat.

James turned to Scar. “Get the
captain.”

The Pit Master nodded and grabbed
Potbelly. Together they went to where the captain knelt by the
fallen sailor Father Vickor still worked to save.

In the mirror,
Melia’s Dream
drew ever
closer to Tearlan. Kendrick gazed at the maelstrom of humanity that
churned on the docks through a spyglass. James prayed he would
reconsider and veer off. Necessity must have overcame good sense
for he kept their heading. As they drew closer, hundreds of people
swarmed along the dock toward them waving and shouting for them to
dock and save them.

“
Come on, don’t do it.”
James murmured, “It’s way too risky.”

As Kendrick slowed the
ship, it soon became clear that the dock was not his destination.
He came up alongside the nearest, moored ship. The other captain
came to the rail and after a brief discussion during which Kendrick
gestured repeatedly to his ruined mainsail, lines were tossed
and
Melia’s Dream
was secured to the other.

A cry went up from the townsfolk when
it became clear that Kendrick had no intentions of
rescue.