Voidhawk - Lost Soul (15 page)

Dexter grinned and assured them, “Won’t be needed...I’ve got a plan.”

Jenna groaned and even Xander’s cheeks paled. Dexter’s smile never wavered as he explained what he wanted Tasha to do.

Chapter 9

“Heard some fanciful tales about you, Captain.”

“I’m a fanciful guy,” Dexter quipped.

“So they claim. Is it also true that your first mate is your wife?” Lady Brendera asked. Dexter hadn’t gotten around to finding out what right she had to claim the title of Lady.

“Aye, Jenna Silvercloud, my wife and First Mate,” Dexter introduced her. “And this is Xander, my wizard.”

Lady Brendera offered a curtsy, her silken skirts parting to reveal just as much lean thigh as Dexter remembered from years long past. “You’re Highness.”

Jenna’s eye narrowed for a heartbeat, then she nodded. “I’m just the First Mate on the ‘Hawk now. We’ve retired from nobility.”

Brendera straightened. “So it is true. And you gave it up?”

Jenna shrugged. “There are more important things.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Captain Silvercloud, you continue to amaze me.”

“I mean to do so again,” Dexter said. “It’s regarding that twenty five hundred gold…”

“I contracted the job, you were to be paid by someone else when it was delivered!” She protested.

“It was delivered all right,” Dexter said. “Right to the bandits you wanted to have it. They was waiting for us in the Devil’s Breath, like you’d figured, and they took us clean. We’d be dead or working as slaves somewhere if your friends hadn’t mistreated one of their own.”

“And yet here you are.”

“Here we are,” Dexter echoed. “And I’m willing to forego payment in exchange for a favor. Problem is, I expect I should be talking to the Captain of this ship, not you.”

“No, you’ll speak with me,” Lady Brendera insisted. “I own the ship.”

Dexter let his eyes shift to the Scimitar’s captain. The man nodded a quick assent. “All right, then
. Here’s what I’d like. Passage for the three of us to Port Freedom. With the elves still controlling things there—”

She interrupted Dexter to mutter, “Not for much longer!”

Dexter cocked his head before continuing. “Haven’t heard of anything to the contrary, but if something’s in the wind it’s that much more important we be there sooner, rather than later. We’d like to avoid any imperial entanglements the Voidhawk might cause. Do that and I’ll wash the slate clean.”

Brendera pulled a smokestick out of the satchel at her side and flicked a flame to its tip. The Scimitar’s captain scowled at the flame, but said nothing to stop her. She puffed on it and exhaled the smoke slowly. “Quite the fee for such short passage. Is there a bounty on your heads?”

Dexter chuckled. “None that we know of. Had a pleasant chat with Captain Tellurim of the elven warship, New Winds, just the other day. We drank some brandy and parted on good enough terms.”

She smoked silently for a moment longer then nodded. “Very well, Captain, so long as you’re willing to keep yourselves confined to a single room.”

“Confined? You’ve a fine ship here, hard to believe you’ve no extra room.”

“My ship, my rules,” she said with a steel in her voice.

Dexter nodded. “So it is. All right then, but I’ve some important appointments on Port Freedom to reach, let’s be on with it.”

“Of course
. Captain Twinfell, could you see to it that our guests are shown to a room?” Captain Twinfell nodded and turned to bellow orders to one of sailors nearby. A few moments later Dexter, Jenna, and Xander were shown to a small private room with a single bed. Dexter turned to request extra blankets or something to make up a pallet on the floor when the door was shut behind them.

“That was who gave you the job to smuggle firepowder across the Federation?” Jenna turned on Dexter.

“Didn’t have any other offers.”

She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Men!”

Xander looked away, then found he was staring at a wall. He turned around a few more times before sighing himself. A chest and a small bed was all the room had for furniture. It was going to be a long three days.

* * * *

Three days later Dexter felt the Scimitar shift into tactical speeds. Within an hour it turned, then continued to make course corrections as the eternal seconds ticked past. At long last Dexter felt the shudder of the ship setting down.

“Was the ‘Hawk ever this rough?” Dexter asked, shaking his head.

“Not this bad, but it’s better now,” Jenna said.

Xander nodded. “I’ve always wondered about that, I know the elders did something to the ‘Hawk, was that part of it?”

Dexter offered the wizard a teasing smile. “They’ve helped her out a bit here and there, but it’s easy to forget what it’s like being on a human ship after all this time.”

“The Voidhawk is a human ship,” Xander pointed out.

Jenna chuckled. “The Hawk’s Talons was a human ship. The Voidhawk was part human, part dwarven. And now, between the elders and Celia, it’s got a fair bit of elven in it too.”

“Kind of like it’s crew,” Dexter added with pride.

“And elves are known for the smooth sailing of their ships,” Jenna pointed out.

“I like it,” the wizard said. “Disruptions make it difficult to stay focused on important tasks.”

“Aye,” Dexter agreed, “but at times it’d be nice to know when something’s happening without needed to be told.” The Captain shrugged it away. “No matter, we’ve landed and I expect they’ll be sending for us shortly.”

Shortly turned into soon, and from there into sometime today. Eventually, several hours later, the door opened to reveal Lady Brendera and two swarthy looking men with curved swords at their sides. No doubt they were armed in keeping with the ship’s namesake.

“Captain, we’ve arrived at Port Freedom.”

“Aye, some time ago, by my reckoning,” Dexter responded.
He led his wife and Xander out behind Lady Brendera and down the companionway. “Had time enough to get all of your cargo off?”

“What cargo?” She inquired innocently. “I’m a partner in a few shipping interests, Mr. Silvercloud, but this voyage was a bit of a gamble. I’ve had a tip that there might be some lucrative opportunities to be
had in the very near future.”

Dexter let his eyebrow raise. “Seems odd, you sharing that with a potential competitor.”

Brendera glanced at Jenna dismissively before letting her gaze linger on Dexter. “I’m always in the market for new…partners.”

Dexter heard Jenna’s breath rush through her nose. As much fun as it would have been to watch her pound Lady
Brendera into the deck, Dexter knew better. “Business with you seems like the kind of excitement I’d get playing cards with a blindfold on. We’re even up now, I’ll leave that as it stands and thank you for the passage.”

“Pity,” she said with a sulking swell of her lips. “But just as well, it seems you’ve been tamed.”

Dexter smirked. He waited until they’d climbed the stairs to the main deck before he said, “Not tamed, I’ve moved on to higher stakes tables. They don’t use blindfolds there. Sometimes they don’t even bother with the cards.”

Brendera
spun about, her eyes narrowed and her lips parted in outrage. Dexter kept moving, heading to the gangplank that led to the docks of Port Freedom. “Take care how you speak to a Lady, Captain Silvercloud,” she called after him. “I’ve a long memory and a lot of alliances. In fact, here are some of them now.”

Dexter
had already seen the crowd of city guards moving towards them down the dock. He turned his head to glare at Brendera and was rewarded with the sight of her smug smile.

“These aren’t elves!” Jenna hissed loud enough for Dexter to hear. Even Xander leaned in, having missed what she’d said.

He turned and looked about the docks, noting the variety of vessels at the port. While not the majority, several were of elven design and clearly part of the Elven Navy. “Elf ships here, so where are the elves that sailed them?”

Dexter stepped onto the dock and moved towards the patrol of four guards that approached them. They were outnumbered but if Jenna could still fight half as well as she’d done in the past, he had little to worry about. The pistols on the hips of the guards, on the other hand, gave him pause. A bullet from one of those had little concern for a man or woman’s skill with a sword.

“Dexter Silvercloud?” The lead guard addressed him.

Dexter studied the man, noting he stood the same height and seemed a bit thicker than the Captain did. That and the neatly trimmed beard made Dexter decide to play along. “Aye, is there a problem
, guardsman?”

“No problem, yet,” he said. Dexter was all b
ut certain he heard some of the other guards chuckle beneath their breath. “We’re here as escorts. If you’ll fall in with us?”

Dexter looked to Jenna and Xander. The wizard looked openly nervous while Jenna’s expression was calm. Dexter could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She smiled and nodded, placing her trust in him. He turned back to the guard. “I’m pleased to be met so soon. Lead the way.”

The guards rearranged, allowing two to lead the small group while the other two trailed behind. It had been more than six years since Dexter had last visited Port Freedom but the city looked much the same. The path they took was familiar as well, leading them to the offices of the city guard. Or, as it was called on Port Freedom, the sheriff’s office.

The guards showed them into a room then stepped out and shut the door behind them. Dexter heard an audible click of a lock being thrown. A glance to his wife confirmed that she’d heard it too.

“More waiting?” Xander muttered.

“Seems that way,” Dexter said. “Got a feeling it might be a while.”

“One of your hunches?” Jenna asked.

Dexter rubbed his knuckles on his chin thoughtfully. “Naw,” he answered. “
Just making myself ready for it in case it happens that way.”

“Xander, can you check and see if there’s magic at work here? This place isn’t what I expected it to be,” Jenna explained.

Xander nodded and reached out to pull the sleeves of his robe up his arms. He reached into the air and began to twist and contort his fingers while chanting strange words that made Dexter’s ears buzz. A moment later he stopped and turned, staring at the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room. He shook his head a moment later and frowned.

“This room is warded,” he said.

“What’s that mean?”

“Magical defenses,” Jenna explained for him.

Xander nodded and added, “Such wards can be used to keep magic or magical beings from entering or leaving.”

“Which is it?” Dexter inquired.

“Both,” Xander said with a frown. “Strong wards too, place by a wizard who knew what he was doing.”

“Can’t you get through them? Been hearing about how much people respect your talents, doesn’t that make you a powerful wizard too?”

“You have a tendency to find areas of magic I spend little time or interest in studying,” Xander protested. “Enchanting and artificing are my greatest loves. Understanding the void and its mysteries are far more esoteric and fascinating then parlor tricks such as assembling a magical shield. Any wizard able to cast their first spell can create a ward.”

“So you can cast one too?”

“Of course!” Xander snapped.

“Then why can’t you take one down?”

Xander gaped like a fish for a moment, then he growled. “Bah, magic’s not so simple! It’s a complicated art requiring years of study. I’d need to know how this was fashioned, what components were used, and the base formulae it was constructed from. Then I’d have to unravel it, breaking it down one piece at a time until I found the keystone.”

“Xander, wouldn’t a ward like this be tied to the room?” Jenna asked.

“Of course,” he snapped.  “Otherwise it wouldn’t be nearly as strong as it is. Free standing wards are temporary by their very nature. Without an anchor they’re subject to—”

Jenna waved him off. “Then wouldn’t that be a type of enchanting? The walls, ceiling, floor – they’ve been enchanted with a ward.”

Xander stared at her for a long moment, then turned and studied the room around them. Finally he looked back at her. “How could you think that way?” He asked. “It’s brilliant, you’ve reduced it to something unimaginably simple, but how could someone not in touch with the art conceive of such a concept?”

“So you can do it?” Dexter pressed.

Xander nodded. “It’ll take some time, but I’m sure of it.”

“Good, figure it out. Don’t do nothing until I tell you though.”

Xander jerked his head back in surprise, then shrugged. He turned to one of the chairs at the table and pulled it out.

“Bookworm, one more thing.”

Xander frowned but stayed sitting. “Yes?”

“Lady Brendera, I’ve seen her light up her finger like a match twice now. That make her some kind of wizard?”