Don

Don ran for his life. Behind him was a terrifyingly powerful salamandra, and he was nearly out of essence. He had no hope of beating her in a straight fight, but he also had no way of teleporting away so long as she was hot on his heels. Even if he did buy himself enough time to cast a long-range teleportation spell, he certainly did not have the essence left to pull it off. He likely had enough to cast Jump twice or Blink twice, but not both. He also had enough energy to make a portal that could take him at least two hundred yards, but he hardly had the time to stand still and conjure it. All he could do was run.

He stopped short of entering the city when he heard the sound of the incoming town guard charging the harbor, and took a hard turn down the pier. His wounded shoulder stung with every long stride. The Sentinel was gaining ground with every step.

How was she still able to fight so capably after being poisoned by Shalnark?

Dusk came swooping in beside Don and squawked.

“Dusk! I could really use a lay of the land here.”

“Phillip is waiting at the end of the wooden beach! He informed me that his contact is hastily getting ready to sail. The guards are heading that direction as well from within the city. If you don’t reach them in time, they will be forced to set sail without you.”

“Thank the merciful winds!” Don looked back to see his pursuer quickly gaining ground on him. “Shit, I might not even make it that far!”

“I’ll buy you some time!” Dusk yelled. He swooped back directly into Sophia’s face and latched onto her helmet’s eye slits, trying to work his small talons into her eyes. This created a decent amount of distance between the two, allowing Don to gain some ground.

Before long, Don felt the tether that bound him to Dusk sever. He glanced back to see Dusk nearly cut in half with a knife through his breast and Sophia beginning her charge once again. Grasping his hammer in hand, Don almost stopped running to avenge his fallen friend, but after taking a moment to gather himself, he knew this would be futile.

Up ahead at the far edge of the harbor, Don could see a ship with Phillip’s carriage hastily stashed aboard the deck. This must have been the ship Dusk mentioned. To Don’s horror, the town guard had already emerged from within the city streets just as Dusk said. There were at least twelve of them armed to the teeth and thirsty for outlaw blood. Phillip’s ship had already begun to leave port to prevent the guard from climbing aboard.

“Halt there, Pallumian!” one of the guards yelled.

Don’s gaze shifted from the guard to the ship as he began to make quick calculations in his head. He had enough essence to create one portal that should have enough range to reach Phillip’s ship, but to land it on a moving target would be tough. Even though the portal would reach, the vessel would continue to move beneath it. The casting time for this spell was relatively long as well. Both the guard and Sophia would be charging him at the same time from different directions, and both could enter the portal after him, so he would need to assure that the exit portal was above the ship just long enough for him to jump aboard but not his pursuers. If he did not get this portal just right, he could end up running directly into the ocean.

With all this in mind, the magician stopped in his tracks to take on a casting stance. He expelled all distractions from his mind, only allowing this one calculation to exist. His arms drew a big circle in the air as space bent to his will. The exit portal opened just above the rear end of the ship two hundred yards away, and the entrance portal right next to Don. Wasting no time, Don leaped through the portal and found himself falling toward a moving boat below him. His body slammed hard into the edge of the ship, cracking a few of his ribs on impact. He looked back to see the portal quickly trail behind the sailing vessel and a single guard falling through it into the ocean below.

Don chuckled and let out a sigh of relief as the ship sailed onward. Standing above him on his crutch was Phillip.

“Don! That was absolutely brilliant! The placement of that portal was sheer perfection!”

Don was wheezing in both pain and exhaustion. He only gave a thumbs-up and grinned in response.

“Where is Shalnark?”

Don’s eyes widened.

***

Shalnark

Shalnark was nearly out of options. He kneeled at the edge of a dock with a massive Holy Knight pointing a spear at his neck and one of his greatest fears behind him. The ocean.

“On your feet,” Talix commanded.

Shalnark struggled to stand on his severely wounded leg. His blood-soaked trousers felt like they were pulling him back down to the ground. The thief had been arrested many times in his life, but this time felt different. Talix had a murderous look in his eye that led Shalnark to believe that the Holy Knight had no intention of letting him live.

He peeked back to the ocean behind him.

It took every ounce of strength in Shalnark’s body to keep himself standing. Talix lifted Shalnark’s chin with his spear tip. The loud explosive sound of one of Don’s portals echoed through the edge of the harbor. In the distance, Shalnark saw a distorted portal open above a galleon. Damarra had shown him mercy once again.

Talix reached the necklace around Shalnark’s neck, but before he could grasp it fully in his hands, Shalnark allowed himself to fall backward off the dock into the ocean. Talix’s scream of rage could even be heard from beneath the waves, and Shalnark struggled to tread water with his split leg. He emerged to the surface with the enraged Holy Knight staring right down at him.

“Care for a swim, Holy Knight?” Shalnark mocked through gritted teeth. “Or is your armor of proof too heavy?”

“You will not escape me, you cowardly bastard!” Talix began to rip off his armor one strap at a time.

Shalnark immediately took off toward the trajectory of the getaway ship. The saltwater burned his wounded leg, but if he didn’t manage to catch this ship, he would be as good as dead. There was no doubt that once the Holy Knight removed enough armor to swim, he would be a far stronger swimmer and would drown Shalnark in the ocean he feared.

The sheer fear of death drove his legs to paddle through the immense pain. His lungs were about to burst through his chest. The further he strayed from the dock, the stronger the ocean’s tide became. Every wave pulled him down as his legs began to fail him. Shalnark wasn’t sure how far he had made it or how far he was from the ship, for every stride seemed to get him nowhere. Unable to find the energy to take another deep breath, Shalnark began to sink as the embrace of the ocean almost felt calming.

Shalnark’s heartbeat slowed as his body began to accept his fate. He could hear Ebennen trying to shout but could not make out the words. The sun shined in his eyes as he leaned back into the water. He gazed upward at the light, waiting for Lord Death to take him.

His gaze was broken by a strange colorful fish swimming above him. It stopped just in front of his gaze and seemed to float there. In his near-paralysis, Shalnark couldn’t help but examine the fish’s every feature. It was covered in beautiful shimmering scales. Its gills fluttering as the water flowed through them made the fish appear as if it were made of pure silver. The irony set in for him. In the land above, the fish would be in the same situation he found himself in. If given the opportunity, Shalnark would trade bodies with the fish for sure.

Shalnark felt a tearing sensation around his ribs. He wondered if Talix had pierced his side without him noticing, so he lifted his tunic to check. Three large slits began to split along his ribs on both ends of his torso. The slits jettisoned blood first, then water flowed out of them as if floodgates were opening. Shalnark opened his mouth to scream as the water invaded his throat. It felt as if he was actively sucking water in, but he did not feel like he was drowning. It was as if he was breathing. It went against every instinct in his mind to keep his mouth open, but when he closed his mouth, it felt like he was holding his breath.

Shalnark’s hands and feet grew webbing like a duck. With every stroke of his limbs, he propelled with high speed back to the surface. His first instinct was to take in a deep breath of air, but he didn’t deem it necessary, for he did not feel like he was drowning. The ship was still a ways away, but as he looked back, he could see Talix without his armor getting ready to leap in. Remembering his danger, Shalnark dove back under the water and used his newfound ability to swim toward the ship.

With his mouth wide open, the water flowed straight through him as he sped through the water like a lead bullet from a pistol. The boat had not yet turned away from him, so there was still a chance he could catch it before it was in open water. Shalnark peeked back to spot Talix, but he was so far ahead of the dock that Talix was nearly invisible to him with no chance of ever catching up.

Within minutes, Shalnark found himself right at the base of the ship. With the power of his new form, he could fight through the current created by the merchant ship, and he latched himself onto the rudder. With all his remaining might, he clawed his way up to the surface and onto the deck. The crew of the ship panicked at the sudden sight of the rogue. Shalnark rolled over onto his back and spread out over the floor. His entire body went limp as the rush of the moment left him. The last thing he heard before drifting away was Don’s voice yelling after him.

***

Don

“Shalnark?” Don yelled. “How? Wha . . .?”

Phillip came running up the quarterdeck, yelling, “He made it! I have no idea how he managed to catch us from the water, but thank the gods he did.”

“Ha!” Don yelled over the rear of the ship. “We’ve escaped you once again, you blazing bastards!”

“Shut your mouth, ya bloody idiot,” a rough-looking lizard beastmen said in his broad foreign brogue. “We still have to escape that navy ship!”

“What ship?” Don asked, looking toward the harbor.

“The Traven Navy ships are always ready to sailing at a moment’s notice. Any minute now one of them ships at port is going to departing.” Traven was clearly not his first language.

“Will we be able to lose them?” Phillip asked.

“No! You’ve bringing death upon me ship! This ship is a tiny trading vessel. If that galleon sets sail, they’ll catch us and crush us beneath they hull before we reach open water!”

“If they come, then we will fight them off!” Don blasted.

“If they come, I’m sending ya overboard! I don’t care what I owe ya, Librarian! It’s not worth hanging for!”

“They won’t catch us, Roki,” Phillip said with his eyes to the skies. Don could practically see the calculations running through Phillip’s eyes as he mouthed the words silently to himself. He was readying some kind of spell.

“The three sails on that galleon say otherwise!” Roki pointed to the massive warship at the port.

“Raise your sails.” Phillip pulled some glasses from his cloak and gently slid them over his eyes. “Let them come.”

***

Sophia

Sophia was filled with fury as she stood aboard the deck of the navy ship. Don had managed to escape her grasp by a single hair’s width. But this was still far from over. As soon as their ship was within boarding range, she would insist on being the one to make the arrest.

The navy ship was quite large. Every major port city would have at least one battle-ready vessel prepared to set sail at any given moment in the event of an attack on the port or for just such an occasion. Sophia would not wait long before she could continue the pursuit of her prey.

“And you are certain the outlaw is on that vessel?” Captain Vren asked.

“Without a doubt,” Sophia said. “He just narrowly made it aboard that ship before it was out of his range. At that distance, even his long-range teleportation spells won’t save him unless he wants to end up drifting in the open ocean. If he does that, the tides will prevent him from casting any spells as if he were bound in manacles.”

“Then this should be easy. Does he have any other powers we should worry about?”

Normally, Sophia would oppose the idea of recruiting the local authorities to help her in a hunt. Some outlaw magicians had access to spells that could devastate entire units of men at once. However, she was confident this outlaw was nearly out of essence or at least did not have enough to be a significant threat.

“None worth mentioning. I think he drained himself dry in our fight.”

“Good. Don’t worry yourself further, my lady. Allow us to take it from here.”

“And let you take the credit for my hunt? I think not,” Sophia scoffed. “Get me to that ship and allow me to take care of the rest. This is a job for a Sentinel.”

The captain winced and left her to take the helm.

“Must be brave to talk to a navy captain like that,” a woman’s voice said from behind Sophia.

She turned to see a nymph sailor leaning against the wall to the captain’s quarters. Nymphs resembled salamandra in many ways. Their ears were long, and their frames naturally thin. The most noticeable difference between the species was that nymphs had a light blue undertone to their skin that grew more green when exposed to sunlight over long periods like how human skin turned more tan.

“Wouldn’t call it bravery. Vren’s far from the most powerful man I’ve ever pissed off,” Sophia replied. “I thought sailors had a superstition against women in their crews.”

“They do, but my kind are the exception. The sailors pay well to relocate us aboard their ships since no one can retrieve men overboard better than a fair-one who can breathe underwater and swim faster than most ships can sail.”

Sophia smiled. “And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

“My name is Nadia, Lady Sentinel,” she replied with a curtsy.

Sophia could not resist peeking down the neck of her loose tunic. Nadia’s silky fine green hair slid down her shoulders and looked like it was effortlessly kept. She wore trousers rather than the typical dress, likely out of necessity, but her natural curves left no room for doubt that she was a beautiful woman.

Sophia had to shake her head out of the trance she found herself in to respond. “Sophia Ross, at your service.”

A bell rang overhead.

“Seems we are ready to sail,” Nadia said. “I better get to my post.”

“Of course.” Now was not the time, but when Don Traveler and Shalnark were safely shackled in a dungeon, Nadia would be the first person Sophia would seek out to celebrate. Probably second only to Talix. Now that was a conversation she was not looking forward to.

The crew buzzed around the ship while the soldiers prepared themselves for battle. Most of the guards were armed with bows, but the rich had pistols. Sophia shuddered at the sight of them. She hoped to be able to capture the evoker alive even though he would surely be sentenced to death for his crimes. Perhaps his hanging corpse would serve as an example to others who would try their luck against the church’s laws, and no one else would have to suffer. Those guns would do no such thing.

The ship set sail with astounding speed. Just as the captain boasted, his ship was unmatched by the merchant vessel they were pursuing. Despite the enemy’s significant head start, they had not yet broken past the horizon. The navy was quickly gaining on them. Too quickly.

Once the enemy ship was within sight, Sophia could see why they were able to catch up to them so easily. The merchant’s vessel had its oars withdrawn, and its sails turned away from the wind. It was as if they weren’t even trying to escape.

“Looks like your wizard jumped on the wrong ship. These good sailors are clearly surrendering the outlaw to us!” the captain said, peering through a telescope.

“Can you see what is happening on deck?” Sophia asked.

“Yes. The entire crew is surrounding the magician.” The captain reared back and squinted into the telescope. “That’s strange . . . Is he trying to wave us down?”

Sophia yanked the telescope from the captain’s grasp. To her horror, she saw that the magician he was referring to was not waving down anyone. He was casting a spell. Worse yet, it wasn’t Don. It was the fucking Librarian.

Gazing upward, Sophia could hear a buzzing sound growing in intensity as the magician rubbed his hands and arms together. Above the navy ship was a sparkling white ball of pure lightning that grew and grew as the buzzing noise went from annoying to deafening. The navy soldiers standing below the mast had the hair on their head rising up toward the sky. Sophia had seen this once before and knew what was coming.

Leaping down from the quarterdeck, Sophia dashed toward the front mast of the ship. The magician was well beyond the range of her Counter Magic, so all she could hope to do was brace for the attack. Sophia stomped down in the middle of the men beneath the mast and took on her casting stance. She conjured her Arcane Wall in the air above their heads to provide them with cover.

“Get back!” she yelled.

A massive lightning bolt came crashing down onto the ship’s front mast, snapping it like a twig. The deafening blast knocked everyone back as the electricity locked down every muscle in their bodies. Sophia was nearly knocked overboard as the front mast came down like a felled tree. She struggled to stand, only to see another ball of lightning conjured above the middle mast. Sophia blasted forth, sliding under the falling front mast on the deck’s wet surface, and climbed up the netting attached to the center mast.

Sophia unsteadily stood, balancing narrowly on the tight ropes beneath her feet as she once again adopted a casting stance. She hoped that if she could place an Arcane Wall directly under the path of the lightning bolt, she could save the middle mast and the navy soldiers below. However, without proper footing, the Arcane Wall would be noticeably weaker, but Sophia had to try.

Taking a deep breath, she made a square with her fingers, then extended her arms outward, barely conjuring the wall before the lightning ball reached its apex. As the bolt blasted out, it shattered directly through the Arcane Wall, sending Sophia flying off the ropes into the sea below.

When she hit the water, all Sophia could see as she began to sink was the second mast toppling down above her. The blast left her motionless. She did not have the energy to even move her limbs. As her vision faded in and out, she could see a beautiful goddess swimming toward her.