Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 15

  Olan put out an arm to slow the girl looking at the ground to avoid the stinging of her eyes from the wind. She realized that Liam and Kulvayr had stopped as well. Looking up at what they were staring at made Yara gasp in fear.

  A giant crab, as tall as Olan with a carapace even wider than the man was long, stood brandishing claws more than half a man long. The clack of those claws, as the beast debated the four humans before him, sounded like the clatter of a pair of wooden bats smacking each other even with the waves and wind trying to drown out any foreign sound.

  Liam gestured for the others to move back towards the cliff placing the wizard’s chanting form between them and the danger. The water wizard prepared a powerful water spell readying for possible trouble. There was no reason to stir up the monster’s anger, but the man wasn’t taking any chances when those claws looked ready to kill.

  Making no sudden movements, the three backed away even as Liam stood his ground. The crab twitched taking a slow step to the side in the direction that they had hoped to go. As they moved, Yara noted movement near the water. Two more monsters rose from the water’s edge and began to walk sideways to their comrade.

  “Liam?” Yara questioned in worry.

  His chanting continued as he stepped back and moved slowly towards the northwest. He still hoped to finish his mission despite the dangers before them. Yara wondered if he thought to walk around the entire island just to avoid meeting them again.

  “Hurry,” Olan stated in a hushed tone despite his mounting anxiety. The three crabs were moving faster as if to block off their escape. Glancing in the direction they hoped to go, Yara caught sight of a fourth crab near the shoreline and she hoped that it would not notice the stand off happening further along the beach.

  Deciding that they were either a threat or something to eat, the three crabs shuffled towards the four humans clacking their claws threateningly. The sound of their claws seemed to be carrying far enough to make the fourth crab shift awareness. It too began shuffling in their direction though with less speed than the others.

  “Retreat?” Yara queried before noticing that two more crabs had found there way out of the water back the way they had come. “Liam, there are more coming!”

  The wizard looked away to either direction realizing their increasingly dire situation. “Can you climb the cliff?” he asked unable to break eye contact with the closest monstrosities.

  The wizard’s spell was locked at the ready as he heard the inevitable words from Olan, “Not likely and we have no rope to help.” Yara knew that last was meant for her and possibly a quicker escape for Liam.

  Raising his hands, the wizard took hold of the water behind closest crabs and lifted it in a wall. It rushed like a river knocking the closest crabs aside like the giant wave it was. “Run,” the wizard shouted waving them on as he hoped the water would buy them some time to get away.

  While the wave curved around to drive the three closest creatures back to the shore in a tumble, the others became more excited and began to close. Olan and Sergeant Kulvayr drew their swords readying to defend Yara and Liam. The wizards would need room to cast and were little good in a close fight despite the time training with Sebastian and his mages.

  “Air lance,” the mage ordered the wind spear into his free hand.

  The crab moved to bar their escape and Yara spied yet another coming from the water. How many of these things were there? Had they stumbled upon a nest of these beasts?

  Olan let the spear fly as they closed with the monster closest to them. He hit the shell just above the eyes stalling the creature for a mere moment as it tried to figure out what had happened. The mage cursed his aim and brought up a second lance.

  The creature blocked their path forward as the others recovered and gave chase. An additional crab came from the direction that they were headed and helped to block off their progress.

  “Water geyser!” Liam cried out using the trick gained from working with Sebastian for the last few weeks. A spinning torrent of water reached out from the sea to slam into the crab before them. Even crashing into the cliff wall, the monster appeared only slightly dazed. Olan followed up with his air spear as it rebounded from the cliff. Catching the flesh between the hard shells, the monster stumbled back. If the creature had lungs, Yara thought it would have screamed, but there was simply a gasp of air.

  “Move, move,” Kulvayr urged as he caught the claw of the next crab with his sword. The sickening sound of breaking metal surprised the man. With a slow arc, the end of his weapon flew over the creature’s back. The strength of the beast’s claw had snipped the blade in two with seemingly no effort.

  “Air lance,” Olan commanded sending the spear from a flat palm into the front of the crab. He had put extra concentration into this strike and the power of the air managed to drive the huge creature back a moment.

  Sergeant Kulvayr cursed as he dropped behind the mage knowing that mere steel wasn’t enough with these monsters.

  Yara grew bold. “Hold those claws off of me,” she urged the men. Olan and Kulvayr with his remaining blade caught each claw long enough for the healer to chant her spell and place a hand on the crab. “Now sleep,” she urged though the last was no longer part of her spell. Recoiling more from her simple touch than the blades of steel, the crab’s eyes blinked in a flicker of confusion before the bulk crashed to the ground.

  With the way ahead open to them, the four hurried past the sleeping giant and wounded beast while keeping their distance from the predators still chasing from behind.

  Chapter 13- The Hollow Sword

  As the battle mages rounded the northwestern edge of the cliff, they spotted Liam’s group running their way. Sebastian realized that they were running, not because they were hurrying to catch up, but because of the very demons from the dead wizard’s diary. As described by Caperium, giant crabs as tall as a man and at least that as wide were pursuing his last team. Anger fueled the mage thinking of the long dead crew of the Trodder and feelings of revenge trickled into his mind even though these were unlikely the same beasts from over one hundred seventy five years ago. It was an unreasonable request for those long dead, but seeing Yara in danger was quite another thing.

  Passing the four coming towards them, who all looked relieved to see help, Sebastian waited for the handful of pursuers to close the distance to only fifty feet before kneeling on the ground. He pressed a hand to the sand and called on a spell that Collin had helped him learn a few weeks before, “Quake!”

  The sand and earth between his enemies rippled forward spreading outward from the mage shaking the nearby parts of the island. Stumbling as the ground leaped beneath their claws, the crabs appeared confused as they picked themselves up. Sebastian channeled a second quake disrupting them once more as his mages readied air lances for combat. Surprisingly, the monsters seemed unwilling to stay on land that could move violently. Retreating back to the sea, the crabs disappeared from their sight.

  “Impressive,” Captain Drayden stated looking only slightly disappointed that he had nothing more to do after the long run.

  Yara hugged Sebastian hard around the neck forgetting any need of hiding her feelings for him. “Thank goodness,” she gasped gratefully. “I thought those things were going to chase us around the whole island.”

  Hugging her back with one arm, Sebastian replied, “We found a diary of the crew that had a similar problem with these monsters. The story said they attacked and even sunk that ship. I think that we had better hurry back to make sure that the harbor and the Sea Dragon are still safe.”

  He looked back over his shoulder and could make out the remainder of his team hurrying along the firmer earth near the cliff. The sand was more tiring though it avoided brush and small trees far easier.

  Once reunited, the team hurried as best they could around the northern point. Sebastian tried to sense for any magic being used. He knew Annalicia and the handful of Malaiy wizards would put up a fight if their ship was in trouble, but
thankfully he felt nothing. Even using his distance vision spell revealed that everything looked quiet.

  As they hurried to the beach to see the two long boats and about twenty people waiting on shore, Sebastian sighed with relief. He would not wait as the doomed Trodder had so long ago. Whether they could defeat the beasts or not, he didn’t want to risk seeing the ship sunk. He knew from the past that little had changed on this island. There were few edible plants and even killing the crabs for meat would be a hazardous way of life. The mage didn’t want to spend his remaining days on this miserable island.

  Annalicia looked up from where she was beginning to organize a potential camp. “Is there something wrong? I thought that I felt combat magic from the north.”

  Thinking that the silver haired woman looked like some sea goddess in her light weight, blue dress and bare feet that ignored the cold, Sebastian quickly shook off the idea and replied, “We’ve found all that we will here. There is too much danger to bother staying any longer, so I think that we should weigh anchor and be on our way again.”

  “Danger?” the girl looked about with a furrowed brow seeing nothing beyond the pretty harbor and steep cliff. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Neither did our predecessors,” the mage stated ominously. “Giant crabs came from underneath the ship and sank it trying to get at the meat onboard. They never saw the danger until after the ship was under attack along with their beach camp. There is nothing worth risking our lives here any longer.”

  “Giant crabs?” the woman began before she latched onto his other revelation. “So the mission was a success? The compass worked.”

  Pulling out the compass, Sebastian used it to see just the dull orange glow of Hala and the southeast point ahead of them. The artifacts he had found were off the map in his possession this close. He nodded quickly, “We found a diary and magic books of a couple wizards from a ship that had accompanied the Grimnal. The broken sword of his grandson was there also.”

  Her curiosity looked ready to delay their departure more until Annalicia noted the tired condition of the search team. “You had a fight?”

  “Just a little skirmish with a handful of those giant crabs I warned you about. We drove them off for now, but apparently this island is a breeding ground the creatures. If they decide we would taste good, they won’t hesitate to come back to try and kill us I am sure.”

  Liam and Yara looked at each other at Sebastian’s downplaying of their fight, but said nothing more. His point had been made and Anna took the hint. Ordering her people to return to the ship, she remained with Sebastian and his mages until the longboats made the round trip to remove them all from Crab Island as it was now deemed.

  Fire roared as did the wizard who created the wall of flame. With black hair and beard unruly and wild blue eyes, the mountain of a man in his brown leather jacket seemed to be enjoying holding back the giant crabs. Ashleen looked at Dorgred and wondered why the muscular wizard had joined Lord Romonus’s band of wizards. Was it the longing for battle or something more?

  With his brown leather pants and boots only the red collar of his fire wizard shirt revealed his true nature. That and the fire he was currently wielding with almost reckless abandon.

  In comparison, his thin companion with equally thinning brown hair wore his long red jacket proudly. Brown cloth pants and leather boots finished his look, but she kept thinking he looked too thin. Even his attempt at a beard was scruffy at best. While Dorgred roared and used his power with abandon, the second fire wizard simply drove back the occasional attempt of the crabs with jets of swirling fire. He waited for his moments and never wasted more power than he had to as the Carnivore’s search team looked further up the beach.

  Wendle and their Southwall water wizard, Hyren maintained the safety of the beach holding the two longboats and a handful of the ship’s crew. Hyren was another oddity. His blond hair and tightly trimmed goatee lent towards the man’s overall appearance of trying to be handsome, and he was, she thought, but he was definitely a ladies man. She had already put him off about three times each day since the voyage had begun.

  The water wizard flirted with Helena Romonus behind her father’s back quite often and the pretty girl often responded favorably to his advances. For Ashleen, there was something about him that didn’t feel right, no matter how charming he tried to be. Of course, she also had another matter as her heart belonged unwillingly to another, which made refusing him easier. Her crush on Sebastian, though she knew that he couldn’t return her affection with his love for Yara, refused to go away easily, and following his ship didn’t help matters.

  She stood with Themenor midway between the two pairs of wizards holding ready should they be needed. A bolt of lightning had stunned one of the monsters when they first appeared, but despite her spell’s strength it recovered hobbling away still quite alive. The wizard had meant it to be a killing blow, but the thickly armored sea monster took the blow easily.

  They waited along with the rest on the beach as Lord Romonus and Deiclonus along with their new earth wizard, Zenfar, explored the ruins on the plateau above them. The earth wizard had been needed to break open a solid stone safe that appeared smooth with no handle or apparent lock. It was believed that the safe was created by earth magic, so in theory another earth wizard should be able to open it.

  When the men returned down the slope with its strange pair of low stone walls, Lord Romonus looked disappointed. Further discussion with Deiclonus and Zenfar would reveal that the safe had already been emptied. The time spent on the island was wasted and, with the monstrous crabs adding to their dislike of the island, the Carnivore lifted anchor once more to chase after Sebastian’s ship.

  Ashleen wondered what Sebastian had found there. She didn’t doubt that the ingenious battle mage had managed to break into the safe first. Whether they had fought the crabs as well, the girl could only guess, but if they did she knew that he would have done his best to keep his people safe. Sighing, as she sat at a table in the galley near the center of the ship, drew Wendle’s attention as he read through a training book. He was still technically an apprentice of Deiclonus despite his aptitude for magic, so reading wizard tomes was quite common on their trip.

  “What’s wrong?” the ice wizard asked.

  The two had been friends for awhile, but Ashleen could hardly let him know that she still pined for Sebastian, a forbidden love. She wouldn’t be one of those women who tried to steal a man whose heart belonged to another. “I was just wondering what they found in the ruins,” she replied with a half truth.

  “Romonus found nothing apparently,” the dark haired wizard stated thinking of just their attempt at research on the island.

  “Not him, Sebastian’s team,” the retort held a bit of surprise as her eyes wandered to his blank face. “They must have broken into the stone safe first and found something.”

  Shrugging, Wendle countered, “Not necessarily. There is the chance that there was nothing there at all. Maybe someone a long time ago found this site and broke into the safe taking everything back then. Maybe Sebastian left empty handed as well.” He paused thinking a moment before adding, “I wonder what they’re looking for anyway.”

  “It must be something important. He wouldn’t tell us. They all said that it was a mission and must remain a secret. If they were simply mapping new islands, one of them would have told us. They must be looking for something important,” she mused with her chin propped on her hand. If she could have gone along with Sebastian, Ashleen thought, she would be in on this mystery.

  Shaking her head, the wilder knew that wasn’t the real reason that she wished that she could be with Sebastian. Again she wanted to sigh, but held it in keeping her heartache from Wendle. The man was good hearted and would probably understand, but Ashleen didn’t want to look like a fool. Being so stupid as to fall for a man already committed was not what she wanted at all.

  Ashleen sighed and frowned as it had snuck out of her again. She put her
chin onto both her hands and continued to wallow in both the mystery and her loss.

  The cabin was feeling a little cramped as Sebastian sat cleaning the broken blade of the Grimnal’s fallen grandson, Laran. Annalicia sat in a stuffed chair that apparently someone had sprung the money for along the line. It was one of two in the room. Since her family owned the frigate, he assumed that they had put them in to be comfortable on long voyages. The mage doubted the captain had something as nice in his current room.

  For this voyage and the one to get to Southwall weeks before, this cabin had become part of Anna’s suite. When the captain was the highest rank aboard, Sebastian assumed that he was able to enjoy the benefits for himself. With the lady onboard, Annalicia had a bedroom beyond the sitting room to sleep, but she had lent this space to Sebastian and the others while perusing the artifacts from their expedition.

  “So we now know that the Grimnal left with three ships,” the silver haired beauty stated to the air as she lounged with her legs crossed and draped over the side of her plump chair. With her feet and legs bared to just above the knees it was sometimes hard to believe that such a girl was an heir to the throne of her country. “One was sunk in the harbor leaving two more to find. I wonder how come at least one of the ships didn’t eventually make it back to Hala. You would think that the odds would favor at least one making it home no matter what befell the Grimnal.”

  “A storm could catch both ships and sink them together or maybe a band of pirates,” Liam offered as he sat admiring Annalicia’s legs almost too long. His eyes wrenched away from the beauty to address Sebastian, “If a storm sank them, then how will we really know? The device points out pieces that were touched by the Grimnal. I guess that he handled the sword even if we’re told that it belonged to his grandson, but would an entire ship sinking be noticed if he wasn’t on it?”