To clean the mess after a fight was almost as tiring as partaking in the fight itself. Ehrir quickly realized that after he spent a significant amount of time fixing parts of the handrails, the oars and even helping around the deck's planks.

The galley was left in bad shape after the pirates’ boarding, but it was almost unscathed compared to the frigate. The enemies’ ship slowly sank over the course of almost six hours and just a small number of treasures could be recovered from it thanks to Varhel. They included a few chests with variable amounts of money in them. There were all kinds of coins in them - from strange square coins from the faraway east to the generic silver and copper coins that Ehrir knew well. There were also expensive looking clothes, few books on different topics and a couple of maps depicting different regions of the Cargaen Sea.

The pirates – or what remained of them, anyway – were sentenced to death by Sevrian and he carried the punishment out himself right after the battle ended. There were those who resisted, but Varhel quickly dealt with them. The rest just waited in silence or screamed and prayed to the skies. The way they were killed was quick and painless – a strand of lightning straight through the head. It was more than enough to send any normal human to the afterlife. After that all of the pirates’ corpses were gathered and thrown into the waves. It was dirty work and the sailors did it in silence. They didn’t give the corpses any kind of respect. It was understandable – Ehrir too couldn’t hold respect for killers and bandits. He still felt disgust at the sight of the bloodied corpses with their pale flesh and unnatural appearances, in fact.

The deceased seafarers, on the other side, were laid in the sea with honor that only their comrades could give them. Tears were shed and countless words about the dead were said. Many memories were brought up from the mists of time. At the end a long song was sung. It was something of a seafarer’s ballad about the dangers of the seas and the friendship between sailors. Ehrir, Nalia and Varhel listened to it from the side and in silence.

“I’ve heard a song like this once back in my homeland… But it wasn’t about sailors. And this one right here is sadder.” A melancholic smile was laying upon the young woman’s lips.

The words coming from more than a hundred throats rose up to the skies and danced around with the wind.

“And if high waves destroy our ship

And we never return from our trip

Don’t shed bitter tears for us

Cause we’ve gone to a better place

Where forever we’ll drink and dance…”

Ehrir smiled faintly when he heard the rough rhymes, probably created by people who couldn’t even write them down on parchment. There was a certain beauty in them, yet none of the seriousness that the funeral hymns he knew contained. If he could choose a song to be sung when he passed away, it probably would be something like this. Sad, yet warm and cheery.

When the funerals were finished and the singing ended, the sailors started working. The repairs continued for more than two days and Ehrir took a serious part in them, as his Manipulation could easily return smaller items to their original form. He could only gaze in helplessness when it came to the mast or the deckhouse, though – they were far beyond his capabilities. The old man did what he could with both – his injuries and the heavy fatigue from the battle prevented him from reconstructing the objects completely. It took him quite some time to get lively again – first he slept for twenty hours straight and even after that spent most of the next couple of days in bed, except for when he helped with the repairs. His own room’s roof – the surface of the deckhouse – was destroyed, though, so he moved to the lower deck.

When it came to Varhel and Nalia they didn’t fare much better than Sevrian. They also slept and laid down for significant amount of time. Out of the three disciples Ehrir used the least magic and it clearly showed. He looked better than the brother and sister, except for his injuries, and didn’t feel very tired after just one night worth of good sleep.

Well, Nalia was able to outdrink him even in her sleepy and tired state. She did give him the bottle of alcohol – it turned out to be good and strong mead – and they chugged it down together. Ehrir didn’t want to continue drinking afterwards and could only watch in awe as the slender girl drank two bottles of wine and half a tankard of ale. Well, she quickly fell in a slumber afterwards, but it was still a fascinating feat.

The days quickly went by and soon the repairs were finished and the new captain (the old one had died while battling the pirates) gave his approval to start travelling again. Sevrian rejoiced when he heard the news, and so did Ehrir. Both of them longed to continue their way southwards.

The oars finally moved again when the dawn broke on the fifth day after the battle. Ehrir was there, along with his fellow disciples and the old man. There was an aura of excitement in the air.

“You have never seen the Archipelago of Claws, right, young man?” spoke Sevrian. He was clearly addressing the Undone One.

“I haven’t. Is it different there? From the place I came from, I mean.”

“Oh, it sure is different, although I couldn’t see much of the kingdom you lived in”, said Varhel. During the last couple of days he interacted with Ehrir a lot and opened up to him a bit. In any case, his voice didn’t have the coldness from before now. “My sis should tell you about it. I’m not good with words as she is.”

Nalia moved uncomfortably in her chair. Ehrir still couldn’t imagine how Varhel – even with wings as arms and claws as legs – could hold this whole thing (along with his sister in it!) and move through the open sea. Exactly this was their way of scouting ahead of the ship. Varhel could do it alone, but Nalia’s understanding of Conquering was far better and thus she could sense someone’s potential and power in magic easily. And still… It would be a strange damned sight to behold!

“Well, it really is something, especially the main port in the archipelago”, finally uttered the young woman. “I mean… the buildings are the same. And the culture, pretty much. The people aren’t different from those up north, both in appearance, character and language. But… they are free, Ehrir! And with all of this wonderful nature around their cities… I can’t express it. Ya’ just have to see it yourself!”

Ehrir threw a look at Varhel.

“I told you… She’s better with words than me.” The young man was smiling.

“Indeed.” The Undone One grinned too.

The ship was already moving to the south. The sea was calm and the skies were clear. The winds were colder than Ehrir remembered them, but that was only normal – winter was approaching, after all. Everything was looking good. Ehrir’s smile widened. The storm was behind his back and the future looked bright yet again.

***

The following days were spent traversing the Cargaen Sea. Ehrir used most of his time to study. It was hard to learn Emhaelic, although he grasped the most basic rules about writing and reading. He was still far from able to do any of the two by himself, so the old man read to him most of the time. He mainly used the thick tome from their first lesson. The Undone One quickly learned its name. It was called Kanaem Velsabris-a, which meant “Sorcerer’s Book” in Emhaelic. It contained the most basic of information about magic between its pages. And yet it was more than 700 pages long… Sorcery was a complicated thing, no doubt about it.

While learning to read and write, Ehrir was also slowly introduced to other disciplines of magic besides Manipulation. It took him considerable amount of time to grasp their concepts and use his soul’s energy to do anything besides Changing. Sevrian told him what to do again and again.

“You just have to envision the thing you want to do in your mind and let the energy flow through you. Perhaps bringing the thing to existence will be harder than what you’re accustomed to, but magic isn’t an easy thing. If you find difficulty, then you should just push on and use more energy.”

But no matter how many times the Undone One tried to follow his master’s advice, he found no way to bring his thoughts into reality. Until one particular day, that is.

In that day his frustration rose to a new level and in his anger he finally used his energy without any precautions. It filled him more than ever before and its warmth turned into flame and pain. And then the pain calmed and he found a small strand of fire with the size of his thumb dancing above his palm. The Changelings’ Brand looked strange in its trembling light.

Faint happiness filled the Undone One’s mind.

“Damn it!” There was excitement in Sevrian’s cuss. “Well done, young man! This success is just the first one in a long series of triumphs, believe me. You certainly have the potential to become a fine wizard!”

Ehrir smiled. But this was just the beginning, after all.

He spent the next several days training with magic and gradually expanded his capabilities within the disciplines of Destruction and Creation. It was hard when compared to his natural-feeling Manipulation, but it was still something. Also – everyone was cheering for him, both Nalia and Varhel and the old man. The normal sailors just looked at him with respect. He even received a few thanks from them for battling bravely against the pirates and taking so many of them down. “Bravely… Heh! If they could only know how I feared...” he thought upon hearing those words.

The days were just starting to get monotonous when a small dot of land appeared upon the horizon’s edge. It was the middle of the second week since the fight with the pirates.

“Land!” the scream of the sailor on duty sounded from the crow’s nest and instantly stirred up excitement within the crew. “I can see the first island in the Archipelago of Claws!”

Cheerful screams came from the seafarer’s throats. Ehrir was standing on the deck when it happened at he quickly ran to the deckhouse in hopes to see the island. But it was to no avail.

“Don’t be so damned impatient, young man. Soon you’ll see too. Or you can climb up the mast if you want it so badly right now.

“I can wait a little while”, muttered Ehrir while smirking.

“You’ll meet my master once we get there… I’m sure you’ll like him.”

“I hope so”, said Ehrir unsurely. Well, meeting some decaying old man sounded unpleasant, but it had to be done.