Chapter 21

“On occasion, the intangibles of life work out. However, nine out of ten times, the objective is missed by the slimmest of margins. If lucky, a person will truly excel at one out of ten things they try. However, that one lucky time is magic. Sometimes, it’s even more magical than anyone could ever imagine. Instead of mere excellence, it dashes through that barrier and continues far beyond. It breaks through walls and earth and iron. Those instances are rare in life and must be treasured, for if you ignore them, you will be lost.

Those moments are when destinies are shaped, lives are born and people fall in love.”

—Quotation taken from Driji, the insane old man in Driji Castle

The room’s other accommodations were quite mundane: a few more smaller bookcases, a few end tables, a couch, two chairs, a telescope, a staff leaning against a dresser, some coins lying on an inn table, and maps on a map table. An exotic creature’s skeleton hung from the ceiling by ropes, its four legs clawing the walls, its skull glaring towards the cabin’s door, its lower jaw flashing four backward-facing spikes. A ridge of rolling barbs followed its backbone.

But these smaller details were entirely lost on Seff and Reyn as they stood, staring into the captain’s eyes.

His left eye was green and the right one blue. The top of his left ear was missing and a scar ran from the corner of his left eye to the back of his head, evidenced by the lack of hair covering it—as those a monstrous claw had cleaved his scalp in two. His remaining hair was graying, peppered with white. He was clean shaven under his pointed nose. A tall man, he hunched instinctively to avoid hitting the top bunk as he stared at them. In his right hand he held a staff, and in his left, a wand.

Time ticked by so slowly for the boys that they could clearly see the man before them make a decision. He smiled as lightning bolts sniped them both in the chest.

Reyn fell backwards to hide as Seff rushed forward, drawing both his sword and wand. Reyn scrambled along the plush animal skins and teak floorboards hoping to make the window, only to be lifted from his feet and dashed against an end table by a massive gust of wind.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Knowing his sorcery shield would take just one more bolt, Seff zigzagged as he charged the captain. Locking eyes with him, he sprinted through the acrid smoke, his eyes burned, but he tripped, stumbling over a rug just as the captain unleashed a second and third lightning bolt. Both missed, whizzing, crackling over his head.

Seff got back on his feet and continued on while unloading his wand charges at the captain. He had no shield spells saved in his wand. He could see the captain mouth the final rune for a sorcery shield after two of his lightning bolts hit him and again after another two.

Seff could tell that the captain was taunting him. The captain had purposely mouthed the final rune, just so that Seff could tell what he was doing. The captain could have chosen to not move his mouth at all, but the captain knew exactly what he was doing—and he was enjoying it. The captain had shown his hand, and Seff realized in that instant that he should have run. A sorcerer knows to keep his mouth shut when dueling. The runes are spoken silently, with the only glimpses of the spell being shades of emotions leaking through an impassive face.

When Seff was feet away and had emptied his wand, another wind gust shot him away, onto a couch. Seff saw the captain mouth the damned lightning rune again, while he lay helplessly dazed for a moment. The captain’s lips moved purposefully with an especially slow intent. He had nothing left to do but run.

A lightning bolt leapt from both the captain’s wand and staff. One bolt hit Seff squarely in his chest, dissipating his shield. The other hit Reyn, rendering him unconscious.

Seff glanced in Reyn’s direction and saw him collapse. Even as he rolled himself off the couch, he shot a look at the captain. Damn that rune. One final syllable fell from the captain’s lips, unleashing what Seff knew to be coming. A glowing white filament careened into Seff with his last thought, beautiful.

*

Whimby crept through the brush beside the trail that lead to the harbor. He wondered why he had not seen the boys, or for that matter, anyone. He eased his way forward, careful not to make much noise. When he saw the boys, he’d kill them immediately and collect his bonus.

He pushed away the thoughts of money and concentrated on the woods. The minutes slipped by. After a while, he emerged at the forest’s edge. The harbor spread before him, the dark water dappled in fire and moonlight. One ship was smoking; another listed sickly. On another, fifty men fought bravely to save their ship from its catastrophic flames. With the help of the fires’ light, he scanned the harbor for anything unusual. Nothing.

“Where are they?” he thought. They set fire to Goff’s, their footprints were found, and now, where are they? No one sets fire to three ships. What would the purpose be? A distraction? To what end? A robbery? Where? Another ship? Which one? The biggest one, Cristina. Maybe. Or maybe some disgruntled sorcerer who had a score to settle with a few shipowners.

He was not sure.

He sat on the grass with his back to a tree just inside the woods where no one would see him, yet he could still see everything. He waited for the boys. They would come. He could feel it. Goff’s and now the ships. The boys really were racking up the bounty.