TST (3 page)

Captain Zeb approached their young savior as the sailors ran about following the captain’s orders, a few pausing long enough to give Azerick a clap on the back.

“That was quite a bit of work you did there, son. You have any other secrets I should know about?”

“None that I think you need to know of, Captain; nothing like this to be sure,” the exhausted young sorcerer replied.

“I never would have taken the son of Captain Giles as a wizard. Is there anything you need, lad?”

“Sorcerer, and yes, a nap, I am completely spent. Oh, and food, I am starving. Casting spells works up a mean appetite.”

“I’ll take your word for it, lad. Go lay yourself out in my cabin. I’ll have the cook make you something and have it brought to you.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Azerick said as he shuffled off to the captain’s bed.

“It’s us who owes you thanks, lad. We owe you our lives.”

Azerick did not reply to the praise as he made his way to the offered luxury of Zeb’s cabin. He let out a sigh of relief as his back sunk into the surprisingly soft and comfortable bed.

 He stirred to full alertness from a semi-slumber at the noise of someone entering the room. Captain Zeb himself brought in a tray, laden with a slab of roast beef, mushroom gravy, warm bread, steamed carrots, and a mug of ale. Azerick sat up straight as his nose caught the scent of the delicious food.

“Here you are, lad. Cook went all out on this. I hope you enjoy it, you earned it,” Captain Zeb said as he set the tray down on a table bolted to the floor in the center of the room.

“How is the crew doing?” Azerick asked as he pulled up a seat and dug into the proffered meal.

“We lost four men, nine more were wounded, but only three will be staying below decks for more than a couple days. It’s not just the injuries you are thinking of though, is it?” the captain inquired, reading the hidden question written on Azerick’s face.

“No sir, I am glad to know we didn’t lose more but how are they taking everything—what I did?”

“Most everyone knows you saved their hides. There are always a few that are a bit more ignorant and superstitious than others and they’re apt to say stupid things. But I wouldn’t worry myself. The others stamped out any negative words anyone felt they needed to say about you and I told everyone that if they didn’t like sailing with you then I could drop em off with the pirates in their longboats. There was only a couple hardheads and I put them on the boat we salvaged.”

“So the other ship is still seaworthy then? That’s good.”

“I got men repairing the rigging and sails and we’ll be back underway in a couple hours. You know your father was going to make me captain of the
Storm Runner
before everything happened. I never thought his boy would be the one to end up giving me my own ship,” the captain said as he threw Azerick a smile.

“You sailed with my father. Were you with him the day they took him?”

Aye, that I was. I was his first mate on the
Storm Runner
on that last voyage. We had left Lazuul headed back for Southport and were waylaid by pirates but your father had us dump a few barrels of demon fire over the side. As soon as the pirate ship ran into the slick, we set it alight and burned it to cinders.”

“Like father like son,” Azerick commented under his breath.

“Your father’s quick thinking saved us all that day. I owe him my life, as does every sailor that sailed with him on that voyage. He was a good man and a damn fine ship captain. None of us knew that he had been taken until they started hauling in the rest of us. He never told us anything about taking on any other cargo neither. I thought that he had rushed home to you and your mother. It was all he talked about the entire trip back. He said he wanted to spend some time, a couple years maybe, with his family, have another child, and offered me the helm of
Storm Runner.
”

Captain Zeb paused and took a deep breath before continuing.

“The rest of us were brought in about a week after we arrived in port. It was then that we found out that your father had been hauled in the night we made port and was killed in his cell a few days later. The duke’s men managed to round up most of the crew; only a few had caught a berth on another ship before they ran the rest of us down.

“They started askin’ about your father and artifacts. I told them what I knew, that your father was a good, honest, loyal man and I didn’t know anything about any artifacts or illegal goods on the ship. I guess that wasn’t the answer they wanted to hear so they asked us a bit more firmly if you know what I mean. For weeks, they whipped us, beat us, broke bones, cut our flesh, kept us awake, and starved us. A couple men died in that prison but they eventually let us go when it became obvious even to them that none of us knew anything.”

Captain Zeb took another deep, shuddering breath.

“When they let us go we all caught the first ships out of Southport. Me and most of the boys got on ships going to North Haven and signed on with a shipping merchant up there. It’s a bit colder but the work is good. When we make a run to Southport, those of us that were questioned try not to even get off the boat and when we do, we never leave the docks. I should have thought about you and your mother but we were all so scared we ran as far and fast as we could. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you, son, but you’re here now and going to North Haven. You have a friend up there and I’ll do anything I can to help you. You are more than welcome to sail on any ship I’m in charge of. You make one hell of a pirate weapon, but something tells me being a sailor isn’t in your plans.”

Azerick shook his head as he looked past Zeb’s shoulder, not focusing on anything in the room. “No, Captain, I appreciate the offer and I will certainly take you up on your hospitality, at least until I get myself settled, but I have a different path to follow.”

“I figured as much. Well, let me leave you to your supper and rest.” With that said, Zeb left him alone and headed deckside.

Azerick finished his supper and immediately fell asleep for what seemed like days. When he woke, there was a platter of bread, cheese, and sliced, smoked meat on the table as well as a pitcher of water. He quickly finished the simple meal and headed up on deck, eager to stretch his legs and get some fresh air.

Several of the sailors greeted him warmly and knuckled a salute as he passed. He returned their greetings, glad that none seemed too upset or nervous over his display of spell craft.

“Hey, Azerick,” Balor called out to him, “nice to see you back up with us working folk!”

“Well you know me, always sleeping on the job,” Azerick called back in reply to the jest.

He found the captain at the wheel and approached him.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About fourteen hours. It’s mid morning right now and we’ve been under full sail for about eight hours,” Zeb replied.

“How’s the sailing been while I’ve been out?”

“It’s been real smooth. We have a good wind at our backs and a clear sky over our heads.”

“I guess I better get back to work then and return your cabin to you. Thanks for the soft bed, I needed it.”

“It’s the least I could do and I wanted you well rested in case we run into any more pirates!” Zeb said with a good belly laugh.

Azerick was up in the rigging the next day tightening a few lines when dark clouds rolled in at a speed that could not possibly be natural. He quickly shinnied down the lines and ran across the deck to the wheelhouse.

“Captain, those clouds coming in,” he started to say.

“I see em, lad, and I don’t like the looks of em one bit,” the captain said beating him to the punch.

“It’s not just the looks, Captain. I don’t like the way they feel.”

“Feel—like in a wizard kind of way?” Zeb asked, the color draining from his face.

“Yeah, I don’t think they are natural at all.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you, boy, but real or not we’re going to have to ride em out unless you got a trick up your sleeve to deal with a storm.”

Azerick just shook his head and went back to the main deck. The wind started blowing hard and the ocean’s swells began undulating up and down in huge waves. The relatively smooth, blue sea became a roiling mass of menacing grey swells almost without warning.

“Lower the mainsails, this is going to be a hard blow, boys,” the captain ordered.

Azerick and the other sailors raced to lower the mainsails, batten down the cargo and crew hatches, and secure the deck. The men in the crow’s nest came down and sailors went below or tied themselves in so the waves that began breaking over the gunwale did not sweep them out to sea. The wind was blowing a fierce gale that Azerick had never experienced before. Fat, heavy rain began pouring down out of the black sky onto the deck with a force that stung as if he was caught in a swarm of angry bees.

Massive swells slammed into the side of the ship until Captain Zeb was able to point the bow into them and ride up over them. Shifting swells still hammered them as they crashed over the gunwale and bow. Breaking waves swept men from their feet and washed across the deck. The force of the water and winds swept the unlucky ones clean over the side and had to be hauled back up by their safety line.

Zeb ordered all but a few essential hands below deck. Azerick rode out the storm below deck with the majority of the crew until it was his turn to switch out with the men topside to give them a much-needed rest from fighting the massive waves and wind.

Azerick could not believe his eyes when he climbed out onto the deck and clipped on his safety line. Waves and swells twice the height of the deck rolled under and around them. The ship creaked ominously every time it was forced to climb over one the gigantic swells or was bashed in the side by a large wave. He was certain they were all going to die, that the merciless ocean in all its vast power would smash their seemingly tiny and fragile ship to splinters.

All afternoon and night and late into the afternoon of the next day, waves swamped and battered their ship. The wind howled through the rigging and tore the small, triangular lateen sails to shreds. Men below decks kept a wary eye out for damage to the hull from the inside. The erected several braces to keep the power of the waves and the twisting of the ship from breaching the hull. They made patches of thick tar and canvas fibers to try to stop, or at least slow, the leaks that sprung between the abused planking of the ship’s hull. Several sailors took turns cranking the arms of the bilge pumps to force out the water that found its way into the ship.

Through his exhaustion, Azerick thought that he felt a slowing to the rhythm of the huge swells. He concentrated on the rolling of the ship and the sound of the wind above and could detect a definite easing in both. Over the next hour, the storm above blew out and the ship slowly began to settle into the gentler rolling gait to which he was more accustomed.

He and the rest of the sailors climbed out of the hold for a needed breath of fresh air. A storm as powerful as that could upset the stomach of even the most hardened veteran sailor. The clouds were breaking up and Azerick could see patches of blue between the fluffy, floating mists. The sea had calmed considerably and men started to take up their work without prompting. One sailor climbed up to the crow’s nest as others began repairing rope and hauling out the heavy canvas mainsails. Azerick looked around but was unable to see the captured ship anywhere. He hoped they had been able to ride out the massive storm as his ship had but he knew there was little hope for the smaller vessel.

He started repairing lines and securing any items that had come loose during the storm. Azerick heard the captain shouting orders as he worked to help set the ship aright.

“Balor, take a few men below and report back to me with an assessment of the damage,” Captain Zeb ordered before going to his cabin to consult his maps to try to determine where the storm had blown them. “Azerick, follow me if you please.”

Azerick followed the captain into his quarters. Zeb pulled a large map from a rack of deep pigeonholes, rolled it out on his table, and weighted down the corners to keep it flat.