the High King and his group had gone off to hunt. “It’s as big as a wagon and evil. It’s killed a half dozen men since the snows melted. It’s been out there all winter. Them men of yours might have gotten into a pickle with it.”
Spyra paled. He knew exactly what was out there in the forest. The demon-boar, and a few of the wyverns Pael had summoned into the battle of Xwarda, had escaped the might of Mikahl’s sword. The wyverns had flown away, but the demon-boar had fled into the Evermore Forest near Xwarda. It had taken wounds from his men in the battle, and they’d assumed it found a place in the forest to die. The Queen’s Rangers searched after the snows melted. It was no wonder they found no sign of the beast. It had come west.
The General took a few deep breaths, gathered his cool, and began yelling out orders in the darkness. It took a few minutes longer than it should have, due to the relaxed state of his men, but the General’s Blacksword cavalry formed up as ordered, each with a torch blazing in hand.
“Where to, sir?” a sergeant at the front of the group asked. His horse was prancing and whinnying.
Just then, an explosion of sapphire light erupted from the middle of the forest to the north. It was followed by a sizzling crackling sound. The light shifted from blue to lavender then to a deep angry crimson. In the shocked silence that followed, the sound of faraway voices shouting, and a harrowing scream carried to Spyra and his men. Then the distant red illumination sputtered and failed, leaving the forest bathed in silent, silvery moonlight.
“To the High King!” the General yelled at the top of his lungs as he heedlessly spurred his horse toward the ruckus in the woods. There was no doubt what the source of the colorful light had been; all of the Blacksword soldiers had seen Mikahl’s infamous sword Ironspike lighting up the night while he was fighting the demon-wizard Pael. The question was, why had the light suddenly sputtered and disappeared, and whose voice had that been screaming out in such horrible agony?
Chapter Nine
They were given the Royal Compartments on the Seawander. There were two sleeping rooms, each five paces long and three wide. They had side by side cushioned bunks shelving out from the walls. A net faced storage ledge ran high on the wall, and a small writing table filled the space at the foot of the beds. There was a brass oil lantern dangling from a short chain overhead, and as it swayed, the stark shadows it threw exaggerated the movements of the ship tenfold.
The two rooms were joined in the middle by a third, which was paneled with polished mahogany and had a round window that the crew kept clean enough to actually see through. The viewing portal, as it was called, was situated at the end of a booth table that could easily seat six men. There was a cushioned divan and an enclosed privy at the other end of the room. All three cabins were carpeted in plush sea-blue shag and trimmed with elegant brass works. As far as quarters on a ship went, this was the lap of luxury, but since none of the four companions had ever been to sea before, they thought it was cramped at best.
Oarly went straight to a bunk in the room he and Brady were to share and wasted no time getting rolled up in a woolen blanket. The dwarf asked that his meals be brought to him and that he not be disturbed. He then pulled the covers up over his head and lay stock still. All this he did to the amusement of the others a full hour before the ship was scheduled to depart the docks.
The other three only stayed below long enough to drop off their things. They were too excited to miss watching the land fade away as they took to the ocean. While they stood at the rail, Hyden had Brady and Phen go over the checklist of supplies for the tenth time. Rope, blankets, grappling hooks, lanterns, oil, arrows by the score. There were also shovels, axes, picks and other digging tools, not to mention the tents, field rations, foul weather gear and other necessities like soil cloth and healing herbs. They had thought of everything, or so they hoped. It was a good thing, too, because by the time they had finished discussing the supplies Captain Trant was bellowing, “All hands aboard!” The ship was departing Old Port for the open sea.
At dinner the night before the Captain had told them a little about the Seawander. At just over two hundred feet long she was no ordinary ship. Built to carry Queen Willa and other nobility, instead of a cargo, it was sleek and ballasted for optimal speed. She boasted three masts that reached high into the sky and the Captain promised that they could fly enough canvas to outrun any Dakaneese pirate ship they came across. What’s more, the transom was lined with Wardstone, just like a river-tug, and the water-mage on board could make the ship go as fast as a double-decked rower, and that was against the wind. As proof of this, the ship lurched away from the dock without a single sail set and carved a sharp wake as it picked up speed and made its way through the harbor.
Men in fishing boats waved their hats and cheered the Seawander as she passed. A moment later, as she slid through the shadow of a monstrous ship, the crew of the galley called down to them in languages that neither Hyden nor Phen could name. Members of the Seawander ’s crew called back up to them in clipped but joyous shouts. The hulking cargo vessel towered over them in the water so much so that Hyden and Phen both had to crane their necks to take it all in.
Talon swooped and terrorized the flocks of noisy white gulls that were following along behind them. He rolled and spun and showed off his aerial prowess to the smaller sea birds as if he were their superior. The gulls seemed more impressed with the bits of food that were being stirred up in the ship’s wake, but still kept a wary eye on him.
Deck Master Biggs called out orders, his voice booming through his thick seaman’s beard. The first mate repeated them, and like monkeys, men took to the rigging and unfurled the yellowed canvas of a dozen or more sails. Soon the Seawander began picking up speed. As she left the protected area of the port she began rising and falling with the swells. Each time she came down a great splash of spray and foam shot out from under her and blew back across the deck. Phen gripped the rail tightly with one hand and thrust his other fist up into the air urging the ship on. Brady found the bowsprit figurehead, a mermaid of polished ironwood, and leaned out ahead of the ship with her, letting the wind blow his long brown hair back behind him.
“Look!” Phen exclaimed.
Hyden searched the sea where Phen was pointing but didn’t see a thing. Then all of a sudden a delfin fish, as big as a man, sleek and green leapt out of the water alongside of them; another one shot out of the sea, then another. Soon a dozen of the smiling, snouted fish were arcing through the air racing and dancing with the ship as they went.
Talon swooped down amongst them, and through his familiar link Hyden could hear their joyous laughter and mirth. They were like a group of children playing in the summer sun.
Phen streaked across the deck toward the bow to tell Brady about the delfin. Deck Master Biggs caught him up about half way, flipped him around then half dangled him over the side rail. With a threatening, yet playful, look on his face, the Deck Master snarled, “There be no running on me deck, boy! No more warnings!”
When Deck Master Biggs pulled him back onto the ship and let him go, Phen’s eyes were the size of chicken eggs, but his terrified grin was even wider than before.
The delfin followed them for some while, and before they knew it, land was no longer in sight. The Captain said something to the Deck Master who looked behind them through his long glass then pointed. Biggs said something to the first mate, who came over to where Brady, Hyden and Phen were now leaning on the rail enjoying the delfin show and Talon’s antics.
“Keep a watchin’ as you are,” the man said with a discolored, gap-toothed grin.
Hyden let his eyes trail behind them to where the Deck Master was pointing his looking glass. For a moment he saw a surging swell on the water behind, then it was gone. It came again, only closer this time. There was a single sharp spiked fin as big as a man’s leg breaking the water at the peak of the swell. Then it was gone again, back into the rolling sea. Then all of a sudden a fish the size of the Seawander herself leapt clear of the surface beside them. Its toothy mouth snapped shut on a pair of delfin as the terrified screeches of the rest of the pod caused Hyden to cringe and Talon to veer sharply away.
“Wow! It’s a sabersnout, Hyden,” Phen exclaimed loudly.
“Just so, lad!” Captain Trant boomed from somewhere. “Don’t fall over the rail now.”
Talon was so startled by the monstrous fish that he came swooping down out of the air onto the deck and landed badly among a roped down stack of water barrels.
The delfin were long gone when the sabersnout leapt through the air a second time. Its glossed black, dinner plate sized eye looked directly at Hyden Hawk. The satisfaction it felt after having just eaten a fresh meal was no
