He couldn’t have been more stunned than if she started singing the Star Spangled Banner. “What?” he asks.
“Are you Miko’s friend?” she repeats. One of the older girls in the cage with her perks up at that and joins her next to the bars.
“Yes,” he replies. “I know Miko.”
“He’s a nice man,” she says.
“I’ve always thought so,” he says. How in the world does she know him? And how could she possibly have connected him to me?
“We were helping to keep an eye on the Ambassador’s camp for him,” the older girl explains. “We got a little too close and they grabbed us.” After a brief pause, she asks, “What are they going to do with us?”
“Nothing if I can help it,” he says. “Miko and the others with him know where we are and where we are going. They’ll not sit back and do nothing.”
“I hope not,” the little one says. “I miss my sister.”
“My name is James by the way,” he tells her.
The older girl says, “I’m Gwynne and this here is Daria.”
“That’s me,” the younger girl explains to him.
“Nice to meet both of you,” he says. “I just wish it wasn’t here.”
Just then the hatch opens and James looks up to see the man who visited him in the dungeon. The man gazes down at him for a brief moment before stepping aside to allow the Ambassador to step onto the stairs leading down into the hold of the ship.
After the Ambassador has gone down a few steps, the man follows as does three guards, one of which has a crossbow.
The girls move away from the bars of their cage as the men come down the stairs. When they reach the bottom, they come directly to James and stop several feet away. Far enough to keep him from reaching them should he make the attempt.
“So this is the mage which has caused so much turmoil in the Empire?” questions the Ambassador. The guards flank him while the crossbowman keeps his crossbow aimed directly at James’ chest.
“Yes milord,” the other man says.
The Ambassador gives James a thorough once over before saying, “He doesn’t look like much.”
“Right now his ability to use his power has been blocked,” the man tells him. “If he had his power I assure you your opinion would be different.”
“Indeed,” the Ambassador says, unconvinced.
After a few moments of silence while the Ambassador contemplates James, the other man says, “We should return to the deck milord. The air down here is most foul for your lordship.”
Glancing to the other man, the Ambassador nods his head and says, “Perhaps you’re right.” Turning back to the stairs leading to the deck above, he moves away from James and the guards follow. As they ascend the stairs, the other man glances back to James just before exiting through the hatch.
When the hatch closes, the hold is once more plunged into darkness.
An hour or so later, he’s not sure exactly as time down in the hold is hard to measure, the hatch again opens and the three guards who accompanied the Ambassador earlier enter and come down the stairs.
They approach James and in the hand of one is a small vial. When the man holding the vial stops near, he holds it out to him and commands, “Here, drink this.”
Not about ready to willingly consume more of the drug, as that is what this must be, he crosses his arms across his chest and clamps his mouth tight.
“As you will,” the guard says. Then he says something to his two companions who grab him. Once they have him tightly secured, the man with the vial comes to him and grabs his hair, pulling his head back.
Keeping his jaws locked securely, James stares at him in defiance.
The guard nods to one of the others who pinches James’ nose closed.
Unable to breath but through clenched teeth, the need to draw in a breath becomes greater and greater. Finally, unable to stop himself, he opens his mouth and a piece of wood is inserted between his teeth to keep him from closing it again.
Then he watches as the man opens the vial and brings it to his opened mouth. He upends the vial and James feels the liquid within begin filling his mouth. Keeping the back of his throat closed, he tries to prevent any of the liquid from going down. But the need to breathe becomes too strong and he starts choking as he takes in a breath and the liquid goes down.
They continue holding him for several more minutes to ensure the liquid has in fact been consumed. Then the man nods to the two holding him who promptly releases him.
James immediately bends over and puts his finger in the back of his throat and vomits out the contents of his stomach all over the hold’s floor.
“That won’t do you any good,” the guard tells him. “It’s already in your system. The drug is very fast acting.”
He looks up at the guards from where he’s doubled over and can tell the guard’s words are true as his mind begins clouding over. Not as bad as the other time, but bad enough to render him incapable of summoning the magic.
As the guards leave, the drug begins taking its full effect. Though his mind is beginning to be fuzzy, he’s at least able to keep conscious. The effect of this drug feels like having a bad fever without the heat.
When the guards have left and the hatch once again closes, the older of the two girls asks, “James, are you okay?”
“Sort of,” he replies.
“What did they do to you?” she asks.
Not bothering to reply, he closes his eyes and leans his head against the side of the ship.
Sometime later, the hatch again opens and the man who was with the Ambassador descends down the stairs. From the diminished light coming in through the open hatch, James figures it to be near dusk.
He notices that the man is carrying a sack in his hand as he comes nearer to him. Stopping several feet from him, he pulls a crate closer and sits down. Upending the sack on the crate next to him, James can see it contains the things which were taken from him.
The man holds up the slug belt and says, “Why do you carry this?”
James smiles and says, “I was given a sling by a friend and find that a handy way to keep the bullets for my sling.”
He puts the belt down, nodding. The next thing he picks up, James almost can’t even see what it is. “And what is the purpose of this?”
Squinting, he tries to make it out in the dim light of the hold. Then recognition hits him when he realizes the man is holding the little round hard object he made with his magic back in Cardri just before losing the ability to do magic.
“Oh that’s a toy,” he says.
“A toy?” the man replies. “I don’t think so. Tell me what it does.”
“Would you like me to show you?” James asks, giggling slightly. The giggle surprises him, it must be the effect of the drug.
“Yes,” the man replies, “I would.”
“Very well,” agrees James. He then opens his mouth and says but one word, “Leech.”
The round sphere pulses slightly and the man is about to say something when he suddenly gasps. “What?” he cries out as he drops the pulsating sphere as if it was a red hot coal.
The confident expression on his face turns to puzzlement as he begins to sense something is not right. “What are you doing?” he asks.
“Doing as you requested,” replies James. “Do you wish to see more?”
Shaking his head, the man pulls out a knife and says, “Stop it now!”
“Very well.” Looking to the sphere he says, “Leech by ten.”
The man doubles over as if in pain, lines begin forming on his face as he starts to gasp. Raising his knife in one hand, he holds his middle with his other as he lurches toward James in an attempt to kill him.
