Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (2 page)

Her chance came six days later. The wizards had been arguing when they entered the room to give her the Karonabark. They had also become more and more relaxed about the procedure. She had been under their control for almost ten days, and never given them any trouble. She had just put the pellet to her mouth when one of the crew stuck his head in.

“
Captain wants to see you ser,” he said, looking at As’org.

“
Dragons, I thought the matter settled.”

As’org looked at his companions. “Has she swallowed it yet?”

Shyar made a show of swallowing and drinking the glass of water as they insisted to be sure it was washed down. As’org nodded, and motioned to the two others to follow him.

As soon as the door was locked Shyar ran to the cot and laid down. Closing her eyes she felt inside herself with her mind and reached for the foreign substance. She didn’t eat all day so that there would be little in her stomach if she had the chance to try this. Finding something, she took a chance. She carefully drew the small wisps of power and wrapped a barrier around what she hoped was the pellet of Karonabark. The power faded before she was ready. All she could do now was wait and see. Unless she regained access to the power, she would no longer even have the small shred she’d just expended.

At best, she figured it would be well into the night before she had any chance at regaining her link to the magical power she’d been missing for too long. The drug that was still in her system from the many days she’d been forced to take it wouldn’t be depleted immediately. Once she had the power, she had to be very careful in its use. There were still three fully trained wizards on board, and they would detect any but the most miniscule uses of the power, that would result in her being dosed far more heavily, and probably blocked as well. If she worked carefully when they were well away from her room and their minds were on other tasks, she might be able to cause some mischief.

Shyar knew she couldn’t take direct action, at least not yet. Even if she regained her link to the power, she knew she wouldn’t be at full strength for some time. Three against one was also too many. They would be able to lock her down. She needed to find ways to delay their trip, and then look for an opportunity to take at least one of them out, preferably As’org since he was the strongest. Then she might have a chance against the other two, especially since they didn’t know about the kinds of shields she could create.

It was almost morning before she could begin to sense the power, just out of her reach. She’d begun to worry that she hadn’t been successful the previous evening or that the residual drug in her system would keep her powerless until after they drugged her again in the morning. But now she knew that she would break through before they returned. That meant she could recharge herself, and this time after they left she could use the real power not the miniscule residual she could hold to encapsulate the pellet. She would start getting stronger. Once the power was back she tapped it ever so lightly and made a small barrier inside herself. It would hold the pellet just out of her stomach while letting the water she drank pass. She couldn’t have managed such a complex task the previous night, and by using such a small amount of the power it took her nearly fifteen minutes to complete the task. Hopefully she was ready now, so all she could do was wait.

They arrived later than usual, which had given her even more time to recover. She tried to act the same when they entered with her breakfast and the pellet.

“
Going to get exciting pretty soon,” said Mishim, always the most talkative of the three. “A big storm is coming up on the horizon.”

He handed her the pellet that she dutifully put into her mouth. She took the water and drank, setting the half-filled glass on the table next to her food. Mishim nodded and the three of them left, locking the door behind them.

Immediately she went to work. Still restricting her use of the power, she wrapped the pellet tightly with a barrier, and then forced herself to gag until she was able to cough up the nasty thing. Looking at the mushy mass, which had already started to dissolve, she walked to the porthole and tossed it over board.

With a sigh of relief, she let go of the barrier inside and sat down at the table and ate. She had been holding off on her food and was very hungry. While she ate, she considered what she wanted to do.

First was the mast. She’d always been good with materials, and she knew how she could weaken the grain from the inside where it wouldn’t show. She didn’t know if there would be time before the storm Mishim had warned her about, but even if it took longer, the mast would fail before too long even without those stresses. Without the largest mast, the ship would be at a real disadvantage, and would become more difficult to handle and slow. Carefully, she reached out and laid her hands on the mast and let the power flow inside. Working covertly, still taking the smallest amount of power she tested her theory. She could feel the structure alter at her command. Knowing she could do it, she pulled back. This was something to do at night when the others were asleep. She’d need to use the power for a long time at the minimal rate she could hope to work undetected.

Now to try something else. She wasn’t as confident she could accomplish her second task, but she might as well try now since she couldn’t work on the mast at the moment. She stood by the porthole and reached her hand out and laid it on the side of the ship. She allowed her power sense to slide along the surface until it reached the waterline. Here was where she would start.

The ship had been built like most wooden ships of the time. The heavy planks that formed the hull were as closely fitted as possible, but counted on the swelling of the wood to close the final small gaps and make it watertight. As long as the ship remained in the water, the wood would remain gorged with water and all the small leaks would be closed. Shyar intended to undo that. The wood could be modified slightly, and the structure changed so it wouldn’t be able to hold the water and would shrink again. Perhaps not back to its dried dimensions, but very close. The water it currently held would be released in the process, and the many small leaks would be reopened, allowing water from the sea to start to seep into the hull. It would be slow, and hopefully the leaks wouldn’t be obvious, but it would also make the ship sit deeper in the water and make it slow and hard to handle as well. Combined with the mast she hoped to wreck, they would make very little headway and might have to put into shore for repairs. One of the best things, this was a spell she could start and let run its course alone. She’d learned the technique from Buris, and had practiced it under his guidance. Once she started the process, she could instruct it to migrate through all the wood of the hull. It would continue without her direct guidance, and would take the power as needed. She could control the level, so once again she would make it a very low power action, which would make it progress very slowly, but she had time. Since the action would be happening below the water level, the low level of the magic would be that much harder to detect. It was too bad that the spell she wanted to use on the mast wasn’t one that could be made automatic.

* * * *

It wasn’t until the second storm that she’d been able to weaken the mast sufficiently that it broke under the stresses of the wind loaded sails. She directed her action up toward the deck level, so when the mast snapped, it did so close to where it intersected the deck, dragging two of the sailors and all of the sails into the water. The ship tilted alarmingly, and was in real danger of over-turning until the crew managed to chop away the lines that held the ruined mast to the ship. Once freed, the pole and sails disappeared aft, the ship being blown by the heavy winds and the sails dragging the pole ever deeper into the water.

Without the added sails, the ship couldn’t run properly against the wind, and was battered and thrown by the rough ocean waves. Unbeknownst to the crew, the bilge had been gradually taking on water, and the ship was sluggish because of the added weight as well. By the time the storm passed, the crew was worn and tired, and the ship looked far less majestic than it had when they set out. During the checkout of the vessel after the storm, the crew discovered the water in the bilge, and realized it was far more than could be explained by the storm.

“
I know you’re responsible,” said As’org, “but I can’t understand how. You’ve been locked up since we left shore, and I’ve never sensed any bit of the power around you. You’ve been heavily dosed every day, so none of this makes sense.”

They were on deck, the first time she’d been out of her cabin since they’d set sail. She’d been brought here by the two subordinate wizards to talk with As’org and the captain, who stood near the rail watching her. The ship still lurched and bounced, with vast sheets of spray flying into the air and sometimes splashing toward the crew, but these were seasoned sailors, and a bit of wave didn’t even warrant their attention.

“
Responsible for what?” Shyar asked playing dumb. She wasn’t much of an actor, and wasn’t sure how well she was going to be able to handle this meeting. For now she was helpless, being blocked from the power by the actions of the two wizards that had brought her on deck.

As’org shook his head as if he expected her denial. “You’ve accomplished your goal,” he said finally. “The ship is going to have to put into land for repair. Fortunately we are near Kimlelm, and we have control over much of the coast there. I just wanted you to know that your efforts are not going to have helped you much. In fact, we are going to have to watch you much more closely than I realized.”

“
Captain!” yelled one of the sailors from up top in the rigging.

Everyone looked where he was pointing. Out in the water were two very large, gray colored objects, headed directly for the ship. “Octi!” yelled the crewmember, clearly scared.

The captain turned toward As’org and the other two wizards. “Kill them. They will destroy the ship if they can. They think we are playthings. We are already damaged, and have no chance of trying to outrun them. Use your magic.”

As’org had already let loose with an impressive beam toward the approaching creatures. The remaining two wizards hurried to the rail to support their leader, and without thinking dropped their block of Shyar’s link to the power.

It was too good a chance to pass up. She had been free of the bark for days, and quickly lashed out with a ball of force toward As’org as she’d planned. He had shields in place, but he wasn’t anchored, and her blast picked him up and flung him far out and away from the ship to land in the water. Quickly she raised her own shield, the standard one rather than the
shield-pair
. Something warned her she’d better not reveal that capability just yet. There were two more wizards to deal with, both of lower power. If she could eliminate them, the crew would have no choice but to follow her commands. Jolan had convinced her the idea of not using magic against non-wizards was silly. She’d do whatever was necessary to escape.

Realizing what she’d done, the two remaining wizards had turned back to deal with Shyar. She was already blasting at the shields of Tinos, who seemed to be the weaker of the two. If she could bring him down before they blocked her, the lone remaining wizard would be helpless against her higher level. She could sense she was winning and that Tinos’ shield was about to fail when suddenly she was cut off. How?

Tinos hung his head and said, “Thank you captain. She just about had me.”

The captain nodded and released his control as the two wizards tightly locked their block in place. The captain could use the power, Shyar realized. He wasn’t very strong, but it had been enough to complete the block. She’d been so close.

“
You think you’re pretty smart,” said Draan.

She was one of the two female wizards that had been assigned along with Mishim and Tinos to watch Shyar on the trip overland. As’org had never been found, lost in the waves as the crew battled the remaining Octi. Once free of the beast, the captain made a run towards land, coming ashore a bit north of Yermo. Einau and Wint were heavily blockaded, but were still in the hands of Kimlelm’s military. At least for now. Once they made shore the wizards decided that they would complete the journey to Ale’ald by land. It would take a bit longer, but they didn’t have another ship readily available, and no one was sure what would be required to make the damaged ship seaworthy once again. Trying to contact and conscript one of the blockading ships would simply take too long that the advantage of doing so would be lost.

“
From this time on you will be dosed and blocked, at all times. Dragons! I wonder what Cheurt finds so important that he is willing to waste so many resources on you, but I’m not going to be the one to disobey him.”

She handed Shyar a glass filled with brown liquid. Draan was administering the Karonabark in the recommended manner. It was already dissolved in the water, meaning her previous technique of resisting the substance would be useless. Shyar took the glass and drank the liquid as directed. She’d find another way. Already she was encouraged. There was only one reason Cheurt wouldn’t have her killed. She was intended to be a lever against Jolan. That meant he was still alive and free. She needed only to hang on.

The four wizards, two of whom had been added to the group along with the six guardsmen they had appropriated from the Ale’ald forces that fought near Yermo, set off to the south across Kimlelm. They were on horseback, a means of travel that Shyar hadn’t experienced in a long time, although she’d once been quite a horsewoman. No reason she could think of to make her abilities known, and she was as clumsy as possible with the animal, which caused her to be the source of certain jokes, but which she endured gladly. Anything that might work in her favor later she’d be willing to try.