Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (76 page)

James shrugged. “I’m not sure what you
are asking.”

Then Scar said, “It’s
circular.”

The captain nodded. “Exactly.” He
glanced to James. “I don’t know of anything that would make a
pattern like this. If alcohol or tar had been used to start it,
there would have been char tracks all the way down the side to the
deck.”

James stepped back and saw where the
charred area was definitely circular. Perhaps not perfect, but
close enough. “Odd.”

“Sail, ho!” came the cry from the
lookout far above

“Where away?”

“Three degrees off the port
bow.”

Several miles out, a ship was heading
their way.

“Back to the ship,” the captain
ordered as he raced to the rail. “Release the lines. Get
underway.”

“Aye, Captain,” men replied as they
scrambled to carry out his orders.

James hurried to the only calm area on
the ship, the forecastle. There he pulled out his mirror and the
others crowded around.

“Think he’s the one who burnt the
other ship?” Scar asked.

“Perhaps,” Miko replied.

“Could be another like us coming to
investigate,” offered Shorty.

Jira tugged on her father’s arm.
“What’s going on?”

“We don’t know, Jira,” he replied.
“Now hush.”

The mirror sprang to life and an
aerial view of the oncoming ship came into focus. It was a
three-masted frigate and packed with armed men. Most were dressed
as regular seaman without rhyme or reason, but one man stood apart.
Standing head and shoulders above the rest, he wore a white uniform
with gold trim. On the left breast of his white jacket was
embroidered a golden starburst.

“The Captain?”

James glanced to Kip and nodded. “Most
likely.” Then to Azhan, he asked, “To which Warlord does he owe
allegiance?”

“I believe Warlord Halim lays claim to
these waters,” his apprentice replied. “But that is not his emblem.
I have never before seen one depicting a golden
starburst.”

A glance to Hikai received a shake of
his head and shrug of shoulders.

“They don’t look peaceful,” observed
Father Vickor.

“No,” James agreed, “they
don’t.”

Canceling the image, he made his way
back to Captain Anyn.

Shouting orders to alter course away
from the oncoming ship, he glanced with annoyance at James’
approach.

“Who is that, Captain?”

“Damned if I know,” the
captain replied. “And I’m not waiting for them to catch us to find
out. Hop to it, lads.
Full
sails
!” Then to James, “Keep your people
out of the way.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Moving back to the forecastle, James
went to the rail and looked back along the side of the ship to the
one heading for them.

“It means to catch us,” Jiron
said.

“Looks like it.”

Once again taking out his mirror, he
brought the ship into focus.

Men were in rigid formation on the
deck. Sails were full and fully extended by the wind. A glance to
the sails of Captain Anyn showed them to not have caught the wind
as fully. That, coupled with the fact that the other ship had more
sails seemed to indicate that it catching them was a foregone
conclusion.

“Azhan.”

“Yes, Master?”

Looking up at his apprentice, James
asked, “Are you as good with wind as you are with
earth?”

A grin came over the young apprentice.
“Almost.”

“Then fill those sails and keep them
filled.”

With poorly restrained jubilation,
Azhan said, “Yes, Master!”

Hikai looked hopeful to be told to
take part, but James shook his head. “Not now. Aid Azhan should he
require it.”

“Yes, Master.”

Then James waved the two youngest to
him. “Jira, Kip.”

As the two came to stand before him,
he said, “Watch the sky for anything unusual.”

“Unusual?” Jira asked,
confused.

Kip nodded. “I understand.” He took
her by the hand and moved off a bit where he whispered to her. Her
eyes widened as they turned and looked to the sky.

Azhan quietly spoke the words of the
spell and timbers groaned as the wind increased tenfold and sails
stretched to their utmost. A cheer went up from the crew as the
ship leapt forward.

“What are you up to?”

James turned to Miko as he once again
pulled out his mirror. “If we can keep our distance until dark, we
stand a better chance of losing them.” Concentrating, he brought
the ship into view.

The other captain strode to the bow of
his ship. That he shouted to his men was apparent; what was
unknown. Not for the first time James wished this came with sound.
He once tried to do far-viewing with sound but the magical draw to
do so had been incredible so hadn’t pursued it. Now he wished he
had.

At the bow was a raised section
covered by a tarp. The captain shouted more orders and two sailors
carefully removed the tarp. James gasped at what was
revealed.

Atop a three foot tripod
sat an object roughly oblong in shape. The end facing the ship’s
bow was rounded and looked to have a foot and a half diameter. Its
body tapered for four feet until reaching its six-inch wide, convex
end. It wasn’t the fact that the object appeared to be made
entirely of gold that had made him gasp, nor its artistically
inlaid filigree and engravings; nor even the starburst on the
larger of the two ends that was a match to the one upon the
captain’s uniform. No, it was the fact that spaced evenly around
the middle of the object were set three rings of four glowing
crystals.
Magic!

“What in the name of the gods is
that?” Scar exclaimed.

Had it been metal with a hollow bore,
James would have called it a small cannon.

“It’s magic,” he replied as he tapped
the image where the crystals glowed. “Someone has learned to
harness the power of crystals.” Then he glanced to Miko.

“Can you handle that?” Miko
asked.

James shrugged. “I haven’t
a clue what its purpose is or how its power will manifest.” He then
thought back to the charred area on the derelict ship.
Circular, burnt, no apparent agent used for
combustion…
A heat ray?
“Possibly. But one thing is for certain,” he said
as he turned his gaze toward the other ship, “we’ll never outrun
them; not if they have a mage.”

“Azhan.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Kill the wind.”

“Going to let them catch us?” Jiron
asked.

James nodded. “Yes I am.”

Sailors cursed as the wind died and
sails stretched to their limits slackened. Captain Anyn hollered
and his men hopped to it, adjusted rigging and sail length to take
advantage of what wind remained.

The enemy ship gained quickly upon
them.

In the mirror, a new man had joined
the captain by the magical device. He was dressed in a simple,
hooded robe of brown homespun cloth. A yellow strip of cloth
cinched it closed about the man’s waist. The hood was thrown back
and a thin tonsure donned the man’s scalp. On the left breast of
the man’s robe, lay a circle of white within which had been
embroidered a miniature to the starburst engraved upon the magical
artifact and a match to the one on the captain’s
uniform.

“That is a priest,” Miko
announced.

James nodded. “So, not a mage but a
priest.”

“Does this change
anything?”

Glancing to Jiron, James shook his
head. “I don’t think so. They still mean to catch us for reasons
unknown. That, and the fact that their ship is overflowing with
soldiers does not bode well for a simple request to join them for
tea.”

His gaze roved from one to the next of
those gathered around him as he asked, “Does anyone recognize that
starburst symbol?” In answer he received several shakes of heads
and a couple “no’s.”

“I would think it holds great
importance to them,” Miko said.

James returned his attention to the
mirror. “So do I.”

The robed man absentmindedly scratched
his tonsure as he gazed at an object resting upon the palm of his
hand. It was crystal in nature, cut into the form of a miniature
dove. James increased the magnification until the dove filled the
mirror.

Running through the center of the dove
glowed a ribbon of yellowish light. The man’s fingers turned the
dove sculpture ninety degrees to the right and then let go. Slowly,
it rotated until the dove’s head returned to its former
position.

Zooming out, James realized the dove
faced their ship. He glanced to Miko. “We’re being
tracked.”

Scar laughed. “I don’t think they will
be happy should they catch us.”

“If their intention is less than
friendly,” James replied, “no, they won’t.”

“We have to assume that is the case,”
Jiron stated.

“I’ve already come to that
assumption.” Standing, James let go the magic and slipped his
mirror back into his pack. He turned to his apprentices.

“You boys ready?”

Eager to show their worth, Azhan and
Hikai nodded vigorously.

“Azhan,” he said then pointed up to
the rigging. “Steal the wind from the sails.”

“Hikai.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Gather clouds to us. Prepare to rain
lightning down upon them.”

The young mage grinned and
nodded.

“Are you proficient at having the
lightning strike where you wish?”

“More often than not,” Hikai replied
with pride.

“Then target their magical device and
the area surrounding it.”

“Yes, Master.”

“But,” he said with great
emphasis, “
do nothing
until I give the command.”

He bobbed his head. “Yes,
Master.”

Above, the sails grew slack as Azhan
stole their wind.

Sailors cursed, Captain Anyn spat
vitriol at the gods for their ill fortune as the ship came to a
halt. Men came down from the rigging and took arms. Every man
watched the oncoming ship.

A clap of thunder drew their attention
to the north where a bank of dark clouds rolled in toward them.
Sailors grew fretful and more than one offered prayers against the
unnaturalness of such a quickly moving storm front.

“I do not think our efforts will go
unnoticed by those approaching,” Miko observed.

“Can’t be helped.”

Captain Anyn eyed them from where he
stood back by the helmsman.

James met and held his gaze until the
captain turned away.

By this time the other ship had grown
close enough to see those on board. The captain stood at the rail
to the right of the magical contraption while the robed man stood
directly behind it.

“Are they going to plunder us?” Kip
asked.

James didn’t answer; the vision of the
derelict ship and her dead kept replaying through his
mind.

“We’ll know soon enough,” Father
Vickor replied.

As the ship came abreast, the robed
man swiveled the magical contraption so its large end continued
pointing toward their ship. Then the ship drifted to a
halt.

“Good day,” Captain Anyn hollered
across to them.

“And a good day to you, Captain,” the
other captain replied. His accent was heavy and
unfamiliar.

“Something we can help you
with?”

“We seek the minions of the Unclean
One,” the captain replied.

“Unclean One?”

“He who would bring ruination upon
this world.”

“We are but peaceful merchants,”
Captain Anyn said. “We seek no one’s ruination.”

“Alas, his guile is without peer. They
are among you. Hand them over and you shall be spared. Fail to do
so and…”

The tonsured man laid both hands
alongside the magical device; his lips moved silently. A yellow
glow sprang to life and surrounded the man.

“Priest,” Miko said just as the
crystals on the device flared and a golden beam shot
forward.

Men dove out of the way but it was
over before they even began. Smoke rose from a section of wall on
the raised area at the stern where the beam struck. It was an exact
match of the area discovered on the derelict.

“I think we now know…,” began Jiron
but stopped upon seeing a look most unfamiliar in his friend’s eye.
On many others he had seen that look, but for James to exhibit it
proved somewhat unsettling.

Rage consumed him.

Smoke rose to the sky.
Fires burned everywhere. The clearing that housed his workshop was
littered with burning debris, branches, bushes, even whole trunks
that still smoldered. He turned his gaze toward where the path
emerged from the forest. There he saw a yellow glow, similar in
aspect to the protective shield he had utilized on more than one
occasion. Within the glow walked a man.