Page 38 of Witchcraft and Fury (Chronicles of the Divided Isle #1)

‘The worst-case scenario is that we’ll survive the voyage and you’ll be unable to find buyers for us,’ said Pingot quickly, backing away from Grubber. ‘You’ll have wasted your money on both us and our upkeep during the journey.’

The skipper was convinced. ‘There’s a real risk to this purchase,’ he said to Grubber. ‘I’ll pay fifty gold coins for the lot of ’em. I’m not taking ’em on board unless it’s at a bargain price.’

Grubber at last conceded, his eyes aflame with hopeless rage. They reached a price on their weapons, and the trainees were marched roughly over the gangway by the slavers and onto the ship, the jeers of Archdale’s men ringing in their ears .

‘Nice try,’ muttered Solar to Pingot. ‘I thought for a moment they weren’t going to take us at all.’

On deck they were led through a trapdoor and down some stairs into the ship’s hold. Their bonds were removed and replaced by heavy chains that linked them wrist to wrist. They sat chained together in a circle, their backs against a thick wooden post.

The slavers plodded up to the deck and closed the trapdoor after them.

Solar noticed two figures lying among a pile of chains and general rubbish by one of the walls. They appeared to be sleeping. Above them was a porthole. The sun was approaching the horizon.

‘Look!’ exclaimed Solar in dismay. ‘The sun is setting! The Twin Killer will be throwing his prey off the top of the cliff at any moment. We’re going to be too late!’

‘Let’s worry about more pressing issues, shall we? We’re on a slavers’ ship and will never see our homes again!’ said Wyman, his voice high with panic.

‘Solar, Wyman, is that you?’ One of the limp figures by the window had sat up into a hunch and was peering at them.

‘Sir … Gaderian?’ asked Bear.

The other figure sat up too, and they recognised Binns.

‘How did you end up in here?’ said Pingot.

‘We met our match in the goblin gambling den. The cheating bastards robbed us of everything: our money, horses, weapons. Even our freedom,’ said Binns bitterly.

‘Cheating is putting it mildly,’ said Loveday.

‘They used magic to deceive us. Hoodwinked us and clouded our better judgement. Normally I would be able to overcome any number of goblin magicians, but they had spellcasters hiding behind screens, working their magic undetected until it was too late for us. By the time I realised what was going on, our only way of escape was to fight our way out and make a run for it. They got us in the end, but we floored a good dozen of them first with our fists. So now we’re here, sold into slavery.

The goblins will have found our rooms by now and taken all of our belongings for their own, and the horses from the stables too. So how come you’ve all ended up here?’

‘Grubber and the Archdales,’ replied Solar sourly. ‘They’ve been following us for months, it seems, and finally got us. That bloody swine Hroth and his father have never forgiven me for taking his place in your encampment.’

‘We discovered who – or rather what – is behind the disappearances in the city,’ interjected Pingot. ‘A Twin Killer spirit, and it’s going to kill all its captives at sundown.’

‘Then that makes the matter of our escape all the more urgent,’ said Loveday.

‘Escape?’ asked Solar excitedly. ‘What do you have planned?’

But what Loveday’s plan was the students did not hear, for just then they were cut short by a commotion on the deck above.

There was the ring of steel on steel, and through the porthole they saw a slaver land in the sea with a splash.

There were heavy thuds above that sounded like bodies falling.

Then the trapdoor was heaved open and they saw Cal standing there in the evening sunlight, bow slung across his back and bloodied sword in hand.

He threw a staff and bundle of swords down the stairs and leapt in after them, hauling the trapdoor shut behind him. He bolted it fast and tossed a key into Bear’s lap.

‘Free yourselves and get ready!’ Cal roared at them. ‘The door won’t hold them off for long.’ Just then the bolts rattled violently, and they heard slavers pulling at the door from the outside.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Bear, gaping at the apprentice.

‘Saving you of course!’

‘Saving us? You’ve trapped yourself in here with us! Some rescue operation!’ But Bear took the keys and hurriedly freed himself, his fingers sweaty and sliding on the metal. Then he was up and freeing his classmates and instructors.

Loveday picked up his staff in wonderment. ‘Cal, how did you get this? The goblins went to the inn to claim it along with all our other possessions.’

‘The Ogre’s Belly was full, so we moved to another inn. We left all our belongings there. The goblins would have been unable to find them,’ answered Oswald; Cal’s attention was fully on the trapdoor.

‘Stop chattering! Those slavers will force their way in here any minute now, and we’ve got to be ready,’ said Solar, raising Fury.

‘There will be little need for swords,’ said Loveday calmly.

‘Now I have my staff, I can work magic. A spell of forgetfulness should do it. Binns, you and the students hold the trapdoor whilst I perform the incantation. Then, at my signal, unbolt the door. I will cast the spell outside, erasing the memories of all on deck. Chaos will ensue, and we will make our escape.’

Cal swore from the top of the stairs, and looking up Solar saw why: an axe blade had hacked into the door, and now daylight spilled into the room through a great gash.

‘Solar, with me!’ growled Binns. They ran up the stairs, swords drawn. Binns reached the door first and thrust his blade through the hole. He was rewarded with a howl of pain. Solar stole a glance at Cal. His clothing was torn and streaked with blood, and he had suffered cuts to his face.

Down below Loveday began his incantation, bowed against his staff, his eyes closed in concentration:

‘Vagueness, awake! Usher forth thy impenetrable mists! Roll over murky waters, fill valley and smother moor! Over human minds dimness cast, as restless sands cloud ocean waves …’

The wizard’s murmurs were drowned out by renewed hacking at the trapdoor from above.

Stomping and footsteps sounded above them in all directions, and Solar could not guess at the numbers that awaited them outside.

More holes appeared in the wood, and she, Binns and Cal stabbed their swords repeatedly through them and into the daylight.

But the slavers had learned their lesson since Binns’ first blow, and now stood well clear of any holes that their axes had hewn.

As if competing with the noise at the door, Loveday’s voice rose in volume:

‘Lo! The fogs do descend! Purpose shall be forgotten, familiarity vanquished, connection lost …’

Solar felt a tingle begin at the back of her neck and work down her spine as the spell grew in power. The very air felt charged, much as it had in the forest clearing where they had practised spell casting weeks before, and the hairs on her arms stood on end.

‘… cast your cloak of oblivion, abstract all flows of recollection … ’

Suddenly Cal cried out in anguish. He tumbled down the stairs.

When he reached the bottom he curled up, clutching his leg.

A gigantic splinter, ripped from the door, was lodged there.

The other trainees who, with no room on the stairs to help in the defence of the trapdoor, had been waiting down below now rushed to his aid.

Solar would have joined them, but at that moment she saw Loveday gesturing wildly at her and Binns to unbolt the door.

‘The spell is ready to be cast!’ Solar said, turning back to the door, and she and Binns released the bolts. The slavers, heaving at the handle from above, fell backwards as the door flung open. Solar and Binns tore wildly down the stairs, and Loveday bellowed the final words of his incantation:

‘Darkness descend, and all memories in your path – ERASE!’

A darkness emanated from his staff. It formed into a black ball and shot out onto the deck. They heard an ear-splitting crack outside, and the slavers fell silent. Through the trapdoor a black mist rolled.

Cal’s agonised groans filled the hold.

‘Time for us to go and admire my handiwork,’ said Loveday coolly. ‘Everyone out. Solar, help Cal up the stairs.’

Solar squatted next to Cal and grabbed him under one arm. ‘You came for us,’ she said wonderingly, helping him up gently.

‘Couldn’t let you have all the fun, could I?’ he said, standing on his good leg and leaning heavily on Solar’s shoulder. ‘Besides, I seem to remember I owe you one. You saved us back in Ravenbridge. Now we’re even.’ He gave a weak chuckle.

‘Shhh,’ said Solar. ‘Don’t speak. Save your strength. ’

How strange adventures are , Solar reflected. Only this morning I would've given anything to give Cal a good kick up the backside, and now here I am comforting him!

They trooped up the stairs, and the black mist above them dissipated.

Solar and Cal were the last to emerge, hobbling from the hold.

Had she not been acutely aware that any jolt of movement could hurt Cal and his leg, Solar would have burst out laughing.

On deck were scores of very bewildered-looking, hulking slavers.

They stood gazing all around them like lost children.

A few pottered over to the sides of the ship to peer down at the water in bafflement.

Others peered up at the masts, as if worried they might come toppling down.

The bearded skipper, who seemed more than his crew to have a few wits about him, marched up to Pingot and prodded him in the chest.

‘Who are you?’ he demanded.

‘We’re your friends, matey,’ said Pingot, sidling up to the skipper and giving him a pat on the back, his manner somewhere between friendly and condescending.

‘Oh, really?’ asked the skipper uncertainly, looking the trainee in the eye and squinting. ‘And who …’ he continued, hesitating as if plagued suddenly by existential doubts, ‘… who am I?’

‘Well, you’re the skipper of this ship, of course,’ declared Pingot heartily.

‘By the God of Salt! You’re serious?’

‘Couldn’t be more serious.’ Pingot beckoned to the skipper, encouraging him to bring his ear closer to his mouth. ‘And you see those men standing around doing nothing, matey?’ he said in an overly friendly whisper. ‘They’re your crew. And they’re waiting for your orders. ’

‘For … my … orders,’ mumbled the skipper, struggling to keep up.

‘That’s right,’ said Pingot, his tone now sickly sweet. ‘You’ve organised a treat for them tonight. You’re having a swimming race, to the shore over there.’ Pingot raised his arm and pointed to the docks. ‘Your men can all swim, can’t they?’

‘Umm …’

‘Good man,’ said Pingot, clapping him on the back and stepping clear. ‘Now go on, don’t keep them waiting. Give the order, or someone else will.’

The skipper gave Pingot a look of pure confusion. Then, reaching a decision, he straightened up and barked an order as if he were born to the job: ‘Listen up, you rabble! We’ve gathered, on this fine vessel, my ship, for a swimming race to the docks! On my command. Begin!’

It must have been due to years of instinct honed by obeying the skipper’s orders at sea that the entire crew snapped out of their reverie as one and launched themselves without question over the side of the ship.

The skipper looked rather pleased with himself as he watched his men make the long swim.

‘I’m a dab hand at this commanding lark, ain’t I, mates?’

‘Shut up and start swimming,’ said Solar, aiming a kick at the man’s shin. The skipper yelped, and Cal almost lost his balance. ‘You’re in the race too, you know.’

The slaver didn’t need telling twice. He ran to the edge of the deck and dived overboard most inelegantly, his long limbs flailing.

That’s payback for the slap , thought Solar smugly.

She raised her eyes to the cliffs above the horizon, and what she saw there made her shout in horror. ‘Sir Gaderian! Up there on the cliffs! There are people coming out of the forest! They must be the missing townsfolk. They’re about to be thrown to their deaths by the spirit!’

Sure enough, a crowd of what appeared to be close to a hundred teenagers were approaching the cliff’s edge.

‘Then go to them, Solar. Sir Dirk will lead you and the rest of the class. You still have time to reach them before sundown,’ replied Loveday.

Solar looked to the sky. The sun was almost touching the horizon.

‘What will you do?’ she asked.

‘I will take Cal back to the inn. He needs urgent medical attention or he will not survive his wounds.’

‘Let two of the boys take him!’ protested Solar impatiently, forgetting she was speaking to her instructor. ‘We need you to help overcome the spirit!’

‘No. Only I have the magical and medical knowledge to heal Cal. And besides, the goblins are coming to claim our possessions. They may have been thrown off the trail a little by going to the wrong inn, but they are devious creatures and will find our new accommodation soon enough. I must be there to fend them off. And you will be safe under Binns’ experienced leadership. ’

Even though Solar could see that Loveday was indeed the only one who could look after Cal, there was something she didn’t like about the way Loveday explained his reasoning.

It was almost as if he felt that defending his possessions, horses and mules from the goblins was of equal importance to healing Cal, and greater than completing their mission.

‘How can you even factor in your possessions at a moment like this?’ Solar demanded.

‘Cal’s wounds I understand, but your belongings? ’

An uneasy silence descended upon the group. Solar’s classmates exchanged awkward glances .

‘Remember your place, Solar,’ said Loveday, a touch of ice in his voice. ‘You’re a capable trainee, and that’s why I have every faith that you will perform well under Binns’ command, but don’t make me remind you who is in charge here.’

Solar wanted to protest further but didn’t know what she could say without sounding contrary or provoking Loveday’s ire.

Cal’s wounds did indeed have to be seen to, and Binns was an experienced master-at-arms. Arguing with Loveday about the value he placed on his possessions only risked derailing the mission at a moment when time was of the utmost importance.

It was Binns who ended her deliberation. He raised his voice to a bark that drew all of the students’ attention, brooking no argument: ‘Trainees, time for you to prove your worth! With me! Let’s go kill this spirit!’