Sovereign Stone (47 page)

Alexander withdrew from P’Tal’s cabin and took in the ship from above. They were heading northwest through the same storm that had battered the Angellica the night before.

Jataan P’Tal was headed to the Reishi Isle. Alexander pushed through the ship and discovered that it was a Lancer transport vessel. The lower deck was designed to transport the giant rhone steeds. It looked like six had died recently, each one with broken legs—the rough seas were taking their toll on the enemy. Alexander fleetingly hoped that the ocean would claim the ship and Jataan P’Tal with it, but he knew better than to count on it.

He pulled away from the warship and quickly moved high in the sky over the Seven Isles. He watched the world recede below him until he could see the entire known world as if it were a map. It took him a moment to orient himself because the actual shapes of the islands were slightly different than they were depicted on the charts he’d seen all his life.

He found the Reishi Isle and drifted closer until he could make out the shapes of two of the fortress islands that stood watch around the main island. He went to the first to find the deserted husk of a fortress that hadn’t been occupied for many hundreds of years. The second was home to thousands of sea birds, but no people or wyverns. The next was shrouded in clouds and took a while to find. It too was empty except for some foul-looking creatures that Alexander had never seen before and had no desire to ever meet in person.

The next island took even longer to find; it was cloaked by the edge of the storm, with dark clouds reaching down to touch the top of a giant artificial plateau. Alexander caught a glimpse of something big flying across the sky just below the clouds. As he approached, he saw that the fortress island was constructed much the same as the others. The place looked like it was riddled with chambers and passageways cut through the stone. Sheer cliffs rose over a thousand feet above the water, and there were countless openings where wyverns could enter or exit. The flat top of the plateau was more than two miles across.

Alexander moved toward the structure and saw that it was indeed inhabited by people and wyverns all working together for their self-determined purpose. Pairs of wyverns carrying well-armed and armored riders on elaborate saddles came and went as if on patrol. He pushed in toward the cliff wall, but the moment he crossed the threshold of one of the entrance bays, he found his awareness suddenly scattered into the firmament.

It took a long time and a great effort to draw his awareness back into a whole again. It felt much like the time when Phane had scattered his awareness. He had to painstakingly gather the scraps of his essence before he could reunite with his body. His eyes came open with a start. Chloe was standing on the edge of the table, looking at him sternly.

“You know I don’t like it when you do that. It’s like you don’t even exist anymore. It makes me afraid.”

“I’m sorry, Chloe. I don’t do it to worry you—sometimes I need to look in on our friends and enemies.”

“What did you learn?” Isabel asked from their bunk.

Alexander smiled at her with a renewed sense of hope. “The wizards think they have a way to extract the poison.”

She sat up with a look of relief. She had tried to hide her fear, but Alexander knew she was worrying about the poison almost constantly. The poison was a nagging source of anxiety for Alexander as well. The news that the wizards could help her took a huge weight off his soul.

“The bad news is, Commander P’Tal is headed for the Reishi Isle with a bunch of Andalian Lancers. I suspect Phane knows our plan and he’s sent P’Tal to take the Stone from us once we have it. Worse, I tried to look inside the wyvern riders’ fortress and my consciousness was scattered into the firmament. It took me a while to find my way back.”

Both Chloe and Isabel looked alarmed at the danger he’d been in.

“My Love,” Chloe said, “the firmament is a dangerous place, especially for one with so little experience with magic as you. Please don’t send your mind there anymore.”

“I agree with Chloe,” Isabel said. “You can’t risk getting lost and it sounds like you’re vulnerable to forces beyond our understanding while you’re there. Until you learn more, I think you should stop using your clairvoyance unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Alexander thought about it for a few moments before nodding slowly. “There’s definitely a lot I don’t understand about the firmament, but I think the only way I’m going to learn more is with practice. Still, I’ll stop using my clairvoyance if I don’t have to. At least now we know that the wyvern riders’ island is protected by magic, for whatever that’s worth.”

“Did you see any wyverns?” Isabel asked.

Alexander nodded. “They ride in patrols of two and they’re well armed and armored. Even in the storm, they were still coming and going. The wyverns are similar to dragons except their hide is dark grey and looks leathery instead of scaled. They’re about half the size of Tanis, but their tails are quite a bit longer and end in a bony spike. Their hind feet are taloned like a raptor’s and look powerful. I doubt they’d have any trouble snatching up a horse and flying off with it.”

“Maybe we should have a plan before we run into them,” Isabel suggested.

They went up on deck and found the captain. He was standing at the wheel and looking off toward the horizon. The crew was working diligently at myriad tasks, from clearing the deck of standing water to adjusting the sails. A number of the Rangers were on deck as well—some at the railing waiting to be sick, although the ocean was much calmer and the skies were clearing.

“We should be within launch range by midmorning tomorrow,” Captain Targa said when Alexander and Isabel approached. “The storm cost us some time but not much.”

“Excellent,” Alexander said. “I think we need to plan our approach and our defense so everyone is working together when the wyvern riders come.”

“Agreed. Why don’t we meet in my mess for dinner and discuss it then?” Captain Targa suggested.

Later that evening, Alexander and his friends sat around the little table with Captain Targa and Lieutenant Wyatt, the commander of the Ranger platoon. After dinner was eaten and the table was cleared of everything except a jug of rum, Alexander recounted his clairvoyant experience and described the wyverns in detail.

They spent several hours discussing the best way to meet the inevitable attack. Every capability was discussed and every defensive measure considered. Ultimately, it came down to ballistae and arrows. The wyverns were unlikely to actually land on the ship’s deck, so blades and spears would do little good. At best, they might get a swipe at the underside of a wyvern or maybe a slash at its tail.

Alexander wanted to stop them short of actually doing any damage and drive them off with arrows. He knew the first attack would probably come from a patrol of two. It was the second attack that worried him. He wanted to be onshore before they came in strength. More importantly, he wanted the Angellica to be well outside their area of interest in hopes that they would leave the ship alone.

Alexander assigned the Rangers to the catapult platforms fore and aft and had Anatoly man one of the ballistae—he was familiar enough with the weapon to make good use of it. Alexander, Isabel, and Abigail would take the crow’s nest with their bows. He knew that he and Isabel might not be able to take down one of the riders, but he was confident that Abigail would be able to cause real damage with her magical bow. If they could bring down the first two that attacked, they might be able to make landfall before reinforcements arrived.

With their plan set, Alexander made the rounds to talk with the crew and the Rangers. He wanted to thank them for their service and reassure them that they would be victorious and that their purpose was both right and necessary.

The Rangers were reserved but ready for the fight. They knew the stakes and had volunteered for this voyage. The crew was a little more hesitant, especially since Alexander wouldn’t tell them why he was taking them into such dangerous waters. But they were all loyal to their captain, and since he was convinced of the need to approach the forbidden island, they would do what they could to keep their ship afloat.

Alexander slept well that night, holding Isabel in their cozy little bunk. The gentle rolling of the ocean actually served to calm and relax him for the first time since he’d been at sea. He woke to a clear day with calm seas and clean-smelling salt air. At breakfast, Captain Targa informed him they should start looking for the wyvern riders within the hour. Not half an hour later, Alexander was perched high up in the crow’s nest with Isabel and Abigail. They had a barrel of arrows and the best view around, save for Slyder who orbited high overhead scanning the horizon for the enemy.

“Slyder can see the Reishi Isle,” Isabel said. It was still a little too far off for Alexander to discern land from ocean. A few minutes later, Slyder screeched.

“Here they come,” Isabel said, pointing off toward the southwest. “They’re heading straight for us.”

Alexander signaled down to the captain and the Rangers. The deck burst into a flurry of activity as everyone made ready to meet the coming attack. It seemed to take a long time for the wyverns to arrive. They made a pass high overhead. When the Angellica didn’t change course, they turned as one and descended to a lower altitude before making another pass. Alexander held his right hand up and open, a sign of goodwill to the passing wyvern riders, a man and a woman. The woman looked down toward him with intensity and surprise. They coaxed their wyverns to gain altitude and wheeled for another pass. This time their intent was clear. They meant to attack.

They made a run straight for the crow’s nest. It looked like they’d decided that Alexander was the target. He wondered why they had singled him out on a ship bristling with weaponry. A moment later, he heard the sharp twang of Abigail’s bow as she let the first arrow fly. It sailed out over the water and hit the wyvern squarely in the chest. The beast roared but held its course.

Alexander counted the moments before the wyvern was in range. The ballistae fired, and a moment later he and Isabel released their arrows along with a second from Abigail. Then the platoon of Rangers sent up a volley. The wyvern shrieked in rage as the deadly hail of arrows peppered its chest and wings, but it didn’t stop.

Quite suddenly, Alexander felt his awareness plunge into the firmament. He was not on the surface of the ocean of possibility but in the quiet endlessness beneath the wave of creation. He knew what was happening so he didn’t resist the strange sensation. Instead, he watched the wave of potential that crested in the present moment as it sped up. He was seeing the future. The few times this had happened, the knowledge he gained had saved him.

He watched the wyvern fly just over the crow’s nest and snap its bone-bladed tail with such force that it shattered the top of the mast, breaking off the crow’s nest and casting them into the water—broken, bloodied, and unconscious. It was a terrifying display of power, but what came next was even worse. He saw the second wyvern hook its wing under the yardarm and drive the entire ship onto its side. Just as the wyvern started to free itself from the sails of the sinking ship, Alexander was back in his body and watching the enemy come toward him.

Everything slowed down. He dropped his bow and pulled Abigail away from the coming attack while stepping in front of Isabel and drawing the Thinblade. He watched the shadow of the wyvern pass overhead; its tail flexed and snapped down toward the crow’s nest. Just a moment before it struck, Alexander lashed out with the Thinblade and cleanly severed the wyvern’s tail. The bladed end was still coming at them with force and it crashed into the mast supporting the crow’s nest but didn’t have the energy to do more than send reverberations through the entire ship. The wyvern screamed in pain and rage but passed over their heads and out of arrow range in a moment.

Alexander leaned over the edge of the railing and extended his sword to strike the second wyvern across the shoulder. The rider had intended to use the wyvern’s weight and momentum to catch the main mast and drive the boat over onto its side, but the creature was met by the Thinblade instead.

The entire wing of the beast came off in a clean line. The wyvern shrieked in panicked fear as it spiraled off the side of the ship and into the water where it struggled in vain to stay afloat before slipping beneath the waves, taking its rider into the depths with it. Its severed wing fell across the foredeck and was quickly cast overboard by the Rangers and the crew. The other wyvern cast a look of fear and anger down at them before beating its wings and gaining altitude as it banked and made straight for the fortress.

Alexander looked down at the captain, who returned the look with renewed respect. He gave Alexander a firm nod, then started barking orders at his crew. Moments later the sails were full of wind and the oars were pulling the Angellica toward the Reishi Isle.

Chapter 41

The ship raced directly into the shallows as far as the captain dared before he dropped his sails, turned the rudder hard to starboard, and ordered the oars withdrawn from the port side, while the longboats were virtually dropped into the water.

Alexander and his friends scrambled down rope nets and boarded the longboats with the Rangers. They turned toward the shore a mile or more away and started rowing. Alexander, Jack, and Isabel were in one boat with eleven Rangers. Anatoly, Lucky, and Abigail were in the next boat with another eleven Rangers. The remaining Rangers filled the last longboat commanded by Lieutenant Wyatt.