The Necromancer’s Daughter – Chapter Eight

Fleeing West

Meloreana III
The woman in front of Mel had drawn a dagger from her boot after she called her by her real name. Mel had to compose herself else she’d end up offending her by chuckling. “Calm yourself, if I wished you harm it would have been so already.” She pointed at the desk chair that Scarlet had hurriedly lept out of to grab her knife. “Please sit down, I’m here to talk.”
Scarlet hesitantly sat back down in her seat, not letting go of the weapon. Mel tossed a book onto the table that she had under her mantle. “Have a look at that.”
After looking at it for a moment, Scarlet reached for the book and moved it to her side of the desk, flipping it around to read the title written on the cover. “Opal Kaharis, a door to the end of the world.” She read out loud. She looked at Mel with a confused look on her face. “I’m not sure what you want me to do with this.”
“All things will become clear with time, my dear. But for now I can offer you the one thing you truly want.” Mel’s smile grew wide. “Vengeance.” She sat down on one of the chairs and awaited Scarlet’s response. A long silence followed before Scarlet spoke.
“You’re offering vengeance against the people who took everything from me. I don’t know if you understand exactly what I want. I don’t want one or two people to die to pay for what happened. I want an entire dynasty to end.”
Meleorana leaned forward, almost halfway across the table. “Did I give you the impression that I came here without knowing what you wanted?” Mel’s voice had tensed up and she could see the former princess recoil so she moved back a little bit. “I can offer you exactly what you ask for.”
Scarlet turned the book back to her. “I’ll hear you out, at least for now.”
Mel smiled and reached out her hand. “That’s all I ask.”

Accompanied by thunderous sounds that light up the night sky, Accipiter dashed like a madman. After he got up on the stage and grabbed the young woman he dashed out of the auction like his life depended on it, which it probably did. The rain had made the road a muddy mess and he was having a tough time making progress with the weight of another person hanging over his shoulders. In the distance behind him he could hear shouting and the sound of fighting. Footsteps were coming closer and he could only hope those belonged to allies and not the enemy. Part of his brain was still not adjusting to the fact that their situation changed so drastically. He’d run onto stage out of pure instinct and then jumped back to following orders immediately after. He didn’t dare look behind him. Right as he saw the cliffside where the ship was located in the distance he heard the sound of an arrow whizzing by. He made himself a smaller target but it didn’t seem to be enough as another arrow hit him in the leg. He stumbled and rolled through the mud, prioritizing the safety of the person he was carrying over his own. A moment passed before he got back up. He looked at the wound. It didn’t seem like it tore through anything important, but it hurt like hell. He could still stand on it. With the cliffside in sight, he couldn’t stop here, so he kept moving. The sound of footsteps came closer and when he dared look behind him he saw one of mercenaries that had been at the auction rapidly approach. He was about to drop the woman to go on the defense when a shadow dashed up behind the mercenary and a moment later a sword violently jutted out of the man’s chest. Behind him stood Layek, his captain. “Are you alright?” He yelled.
Accipiter nodded. “I’ll live.” 
“Good.” Without saying another word, Layek grabbed the girl and made a run for the ship. Accipiter saw other members of the crew approach as well, some bloodied but most looked to be fine. They were running alongside what looked like a large group of the slaves. From the sounds of metal hitting metal it seemed like the fighting hadn’t died down. A large fiery explosion appeared behind the group and several people were blasted over, tumbling into the mud. That must have been Lisanna’s magic, Accipiter thought to himself. He turned back in the direction of the ship and continued running. Not having to carry a person evened out his wound and he managed to make his way down the slope safely, although he did feel hot blood pour down his leg and arm. He must have scraped the latter in his tumble. Layek was already on the deck of the ship, barking orders at the crew that had stayed behind to keep the ship ready to sail out at a moment’s notice. Gerat, one of the crew members, spotted Accipiter stumbling towards the ship and quickly helped him up the boarding plank. At this point, almost in a daze he barely realized that he wasn’t brought to his own room, but to the doctor’s cabin instead. There he sat down, finally taking a moment to rest.
“You look like shit,” Meredis said.
He chuckled. “Thanks.”
“Let me have a look at those wounds, stay still.”
Accipiter didn’t have the energy to complain so he stayed still, only letting out some pained moans when she pulled the arrow out of his leg. “You’re a big boy, you’ll be fine,” She scoffed at him. She took a bucket of warm water and cleaned both the wounds on his leg and arm. She then bandaged them up tightly. “You’re going to have to take it slow for a bit if you want to avoid having to deal with a permanent limp, but other than that you’ll be fine. They’re clean wounds.”
“That’s good to hear,” Accipiter said.
She smiled and handed him some clean clothes that she had Gerat retrieve from Accipiter’s cabin. “Now get some rest.”
“But I need to speak with Layek,” Accipiter protested.
Meredis gave him a deadly stare. “You do what I tell you.”
“Yes Mer,” Accipiter gave up. He leaned back into the pillow on the bed he’d been sitting on and before he realized he drifted away.

By the time Accipiter awoke again the weather had mellowed out and the coastline was just a thin line on the horizon. His arm felt fine, it was probably just a bad scratch, but his leg felt like it was burning and swollen. Meredis wasn’t in her room, so after making sure he could still stand on his leg, he got up and made his way to the Captain’s quarters. There he found his captain, Lisanna and the unconscious woman. On his way there he didn’t see any of the slaves, so he assumed they were being held below deck for the time being.
“Accipiter, how is the leg?” Layek asked.
“Hurts like hell, but Mer says it’s nothing that’ll leave a lasting wound.”
“That’s good to hear, sit down.”
Accipiter sat down next to Lisanna. He looked over at the young woman, who still seemed to be unconscious. Someone had given her clean clothes before putting her in the spare bed. Lisanna was sitting next to her, keeping an eye on her.
“Now, I’m going to need the two of you to explain to me what the hell happened there. And it better make a whole lot of sense.”
His captain was clearly angry. No surprise there, they basically messed up the entire plan and endangered the crew members that were present.
“Let me explain things from my perspective,” Lisanna said.
Layek crossed his arms and looked at her expectantly.
“My work involves studying ancient forms of magic. It has been one of my primary studies for the past two centuries. As you’re well aware, my mentor was one of the most powerful mages to have existed. His recent passing has likely shifted the balance of power in ways we can only begin to imagine.”
“You’re talking about Fesquera?” Layek asked.
Lisanna nodded. “Former archmage Fesquera Foxire.”
“Was he really that powerful?” Layek asked the question but Accipiter wondered the same thing. He didn’t know all that much about magic. He had not aptitude for it and never really bothered to learn about it.
“You met him once or twice, right?” Lisanna asked.
Layek nodded.
“That friendly elderly man could probably level a city the size of Viras if he really wanted to.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
Lisanna shook her head. “I’m not.” She continued. “Obviously there are multiple people who are that powerful, and there has always been a common understanding that if one of them would cross the line, the others would step in, even if they were at odds with each other. That’s one of the major reasons that the Astrianara Academy is such a powerful organization. They may not have all of the strongest mages on the continent enrolled in their organization, but if any of the unaffiliated mages would do something that crosses a line there would be hell to pay. As a matter of fact, that’s why Fesquera was.” her voice trailed off. “To go back to what happened, the phenomenon we witnessed was strange in two ways. The first thing that’s strange about it – and I am embarrassed that I only caught on to this at the last moment – is the magic that was being cast. This storm was not natural. This was created with magic. The lightning was being used as a conduit. It was used to charge something.” She looked over at the unconscious girl. “Or someone.”
They all looked at the girl, whose chest softly went up and down as she breathed.
“And that girl is what was being charged?”
Lisanna nodded. “Now, I can’t explain to you who did this, why it happened and what it means, but I know one thing. That woman – knowingly or not – has become someone very important and possibly extremely powerful. I just don’t really know anything about what this could have been.”
Layek sighed. “I get it, so you had to intervene and risk everyone’s safety?”
Lisanna stared daggers at him. “Layek, we’ve been friends for a very long time. Do you really think I would risk the safety of your crew over something insignificant?”
Accipiter had never seen her this angry at Layek and even his captain himself, who normally towered over everyone in a conversation, seemed to shrink back into his chair a little bit.
“I suppose you had your reason.” He let out a deep sigh. “I trust you, Lisanna, I do, but you gave me quite a scare today.”
Lisanna nodded, clearly realizing how angry she’d gotten. “I’m sorry, Layek, but I did what I had to do.”
“It’s alright. Luckily no one died during all of this.” He let out a deep sigh and stood up. “I’d best deal with the rest of this mess, it’s still a couple of days before we reach Cervello and I need to explain to a room full of terrified people what they can expect.”
“Good luck,” Accipiter said.

“My name is Layek. I am the captain of the Varshen, this ship you’re currently on. As you’re well aware, there were some strange things happening during the auction you were all present at. Let me be clear. We were not responsible for the strange lightning, nor do we know why it happened. We were there for one reason only, and that was to procure cheap labor.”
Accipiter looked over the crowd. Most of them were young women between fifteen and thirty. There was a group of men who looked like they had some muscle and there were some older people. In total Accipiter counted thirty one people, the unconscious woman in the captain’s quarter excluded. They all looked understandably miserable.
“I want to make my intentions towards all of you clear, so you know what to expect. We are on our way to an island that is a couple days away from the coast of Fyrston. There we want to set up an outpost, a place for us to call home. To do so, we need people to help build this outpost. That is why you are here. What I want out of this, is this outpost. If everything goes smoothly in the process of building this outpost, we intend to treat you as well as we possibly can. I mean this. That’s why I also want to make it clear up front. Once this project is done, you will be free to go. We will sail you back to the mainland, where you’ll be released with enough money to buy food for a couple of days. We’re not looking for lifelong enemies here. I hope you understand that things could have been a lot worse for you all, and that you work with us. That way we can all be rid of each other as soon as possible.” He crossed his arms. “Does anyone have any questions?”
It was completely silent for a moment before Lisanna spoke up. “Speak freely, we want to make sure everyone is on the same page, so don’t be scared to ask anything.”
Another long pause followed before one of the men that was sitting towards the front of the group carefully stood up. “I have some questions, if you don’t mind,” he said.
“What’s your name?” Layek asked.
“Robert, sir.” The man replied. He looked to be in his late fifties, hair graying. He had a rather large build and probably worked a hard job for most of his life.
“Drop the sir and get to the point.”
“Very well,” Robert awkwardly shuffled in place for a moment before asking his first question. “As you can see, there are a lot of young women among us. I worry that physical labor is not their field of expertise. What are your plans for them?”
It was hard to put into words, but the type of silence that filled the room changed. It went from a hesitant, scared silence to something much more fearful. Robert had asked the question that had been on everyone’s mind. What would these pirates do with the women? Pirates had a reputation of rape and plunder, after all, and this reputation was not undeserved. Accipiter was not convinced some of the people on this very crew had partaken in those horrific acts before joining this particular crew.
After this pause, Layek stepped up towards Robert. “Robert, what did you do as a job?”
“I worked at a lumberyard for the past twenty years. I was the foreman for the last two.”
“And if you look at the people behind you, what do you think would be the most efficient way to get everyone to work?”
Robert looked at the cluster of scared people behind him. “I reckon it varies on what they each say to be good at. I’d take those who are strong to do the hardest manual labor. Anyone can help assemble a building, but it takes good food and rest and proper shifts for things to be done efficiently. I suggest giving most people shifts that consist of hard labor and then give them enough rest. Perhaps by doing simpler work like weaving required fabric, preparing food or other things that aren’t as tough as dragging lumber around all day.”
“Then I will put you in charge of this project. If you agree, I’ll leave all decisions on who does what work to you. As long as things progress at a desirable pace, I won’t interfere directly.”
Robert nodded. “I will agree to this, assuming the women and men under me will be left alone and treated reasonably.”
Accipiter was shocked by this request. A slave asking his master to treat everyone well in an almost threatening way was something he didn’t expect. Perhaps Robert was good at reading people, or he figured that the safety of the people around him was worth risking his own safety here. Maybe he knew some of the people in this group personally. Either way, he picked the right person to be demanding with, because his captain had an appreciation for strong willed folk.
Layek smiled and reached out his hand. “On my word as the captain of this crew, all of you will be treated reasonably as long as you work under me.”
Robert took the hand and shook it. “I appreciate your respect for our dignity.”
Layek sighed. “It’s my damn conscience, don’t get used to it.” He stepped back a few steps to address the entire group. “I know things are very cramped right now and there’s really nothing I can do to change that. You will be fed every day as we journey to Cervello Island, and we’ll make sure you get some rest when we arrive as Robbert and I come up with a planning. We will likely reach land in three more days.” And with that, he went back to his chambers.

Accipiter spent the rest of the day in his chambers getting some rest. He didn’t want Meredis to get angry with him for being irresponsible. It wasn’t until the next morning that he made his way to the front of the deck, where he saw Lisanna.
“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” The first mate asked him. She’s put her long blond hair in a braid so that the wind wouldn’t constantly blow it into her eyes while they were on the open sea. She was wearing more casual clothes here. Lisanna always made it a point to be nicely dressed whenever they were on land, as if she was constantly expecting to come across people she needed to impress. But here on the open sea, comfort was king. Accipiter had been a sailor all his life and never really had to deal with important people, so he just dressed the same wherever he went.
“I slept quite well actually, Mer did a good job in cleaning up the cut and I’m confident it’ll heal quickly.”
“That’s good to hear, there was a lot of blood on your leg according to her, so I was worried it was a really bad cut.”
Accipiter shook his head. “Just the rain making things seem worse than they were.” He sighed. “What a hell of a day that was.”
Lisanna nodded. “Not quite what I expected my day to be like, but things could have been worse. I just have so many questions.”
“Well, why don’t we go below deck and ask some of the people there if they know more than we do?” Accipiter suggested. The young woman still hadn’t woken up. Lisanna quickly established that people would wake up from being unconscious pretty quickly. If that didn’t happen, it became much less predictable when someone would regain consciousness.
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Lisanna replied.
“You sound surprised by that.” They both laughed.

Unsurprisingly, the tension in the air was almost visible when Lisanna and Accipiter made their way below deck. The ship was large, but not large enough to hold this many people comfortably. The crew wasn’t happy about having to share cabins with double the people, but there was no other choice. In the main room of the hull was where a few of the slaves were held, while the rest were told to stay in their assigned cabin. Pretty much all of them had their arm bindings removed, Layek claiming that they were harmless. He was probably right, but Accipiter was hesitant. There were a few of their crew guarding the hatch down to the hull at all times, and there was only one way to get from the hull to the deck. Either way, he felt anxious going down there, in case something were to happen. Lisanna seemed less worried. Sitting around a box used as a table were four young women, roughly the same age as the woman who was unconscious. Lisanna sat down next to them, Accipiter stood behind her.
“Hello everyone, my name is Lisanna, I’m the first mate on this ship. I would like to ask you some questions if that’s alright?”
They looked at her and one of the women nodded.
“What’s your names?” Lisanna asked.
From left to right they introduced themselves as Maivna, Greta, Lise and Vero. They all came from the same village, a little ways north from Viras.
“What happened?” Lisanna asked. “I know that’s a broad question to ask, but these kinds of acts were much less common only a year ago, so we don’t really know much about it.”
Lise was the most talkative of the group, seemingly eager to have something to distract her. “It was only two weeks ago when they came to our village. We were out fishing with the three of us,” she pointed at Maivna and Vero. “We heard a commotion coming from town and before we knew it things were engulfed in flames.” While we were on the road we were hoping that the king’s army would come help us, but it seems like the new rulers aren’t all that bothered about towns being put to the torch.”
Lisanna nodded. “I’ve personally worried about the Zanian King’s motives as well.” She sighed. “I know it’s not worth anything coming from me, but we truly mean to send you back towards a normal life within a reasonable amount of time. We’re only doing this out of desperation and we are well aware that this makes us terrible people.”
It looked like Lise wanted to say something but she stopped herself. “I appreciate that,” she just said. The other women seemed to be in agreement.
“Did any of you know the girl who was struck by lightning?” Accipiter asked.
The women looked up at him. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her,” Maivna said.
“I’ve seen her before,” Greta said. She’s been quiet so far. “She lived in the same village as me, I think.”
“Do you remember what you know her from exactly?”
Greta shook her head. “I could be wrong, but she looks familiar. I think I probably passed her on the street a few times. We weren’t a big village after all, and I knew most of the other people who lived there. If not by name, at least by their faces.”
“Is there any chance she was a mage of sorts?” Lisanna asked.
Greta shrugged. “I don’t believe there was anyone in our town who knew magic.” she paused. “I did hear a story from my grandmother that one of the mages at the Astrianara Academy hailed from our village, but this was long before I was born. I don’t think anyone in our town knew magic and if they did, they probably kept it to themselves.”
Lisanna nodded and paused for a moment, thinking of her next question. “Do you know if anything strange happened with this woman while you were being transported? I understand none of you would be worried about other people in a crisis like that, but perhaps anyone caught something.”
There was no response.
Lisanna eventually pivoted. “Is there anything I can get for you for the duration of the journey? There’s a limit to what comfort we can provide on the ship, but perhaps there are options.”
Maivna worriedly looked around before moving closer to Lisanna and whispering something into her ear that Accipiter couldn’t hear.
Lisanna nodded. “Of course dear, I’ll make sure it gets sorted.”
After this chat, the two went back to the bow of the ship. The rain had fully ceased at this point and although the cold wind was stinging, it was a familiar feeling that they both enjoyed.
“Well, we don’t know much more,” Accipiter said.
“That’s not true. The absence of information is information as well. The fact that no one knows what happened might exclude certain possibilities. It’s always important to process a lack of information as being information as well.”
Accipiter shrugged. “I’ll leave that stuff to you.”
Lisanna laughed. “Fair enough.”