TST (4 page)

“Do you know where we are, Captain?” Azerick asked.

“There’s no way to know precisely. I can only make an approximation by knowing what direction we were blown and estimating our rate of travel. It’s not that we’re lost. I can turn the ship due east and run into Valaria’s shoreline. I just don’t know how far north it blew us. If we see floating ice then we went too far. Now tell me about that storm.”

“There is not much I can tell you, sir. It was definitely formed by magic though. I could detect the emanations holding it together like wards used to trap doors and things. It would take someone far more powerful than me to conjure up and create a storm, especially one that size.”

“If someone purposely made it I have to wonder if it was meant for us or did we just get caught in someone else’s trap?” Zeb asked rhetorically.

“Ship off the starboard bow!” the lookout called from the crow’s nest.

“That may be our answer right there, Captain,” Azerick answered.

Both men went up on deck to find out what was happening now.

“Is it our sister ship, what kind of sails is she flying?” the captain demanded.

“It’s not flying any sails captain but it’s moving towards us at a fast clip! I think it has oars, Captain!”

“Oars, you can’t use oars alone this far out at sea!” Zeb exclaimed.

“It’s definitely oars, Captain, and it’s moving fast, really fast!” the lookout called down.

“Every man to the arms room; boy, I hope you’re well rested because whoever that is I’ll bet my right leg they’re the ones that set that storm on us.”

Sailors ran and armed themselves, readied the heavy weapons, and took shelter behind the deck railing. The new ship flew neither sails nor flag to identify its origins but at least fifty oars sprouted from the sides of it like the legs of a centipede. The deck sported no heavy weapons like their own ballista or catapult, but at least a dozen huge creatures crowded against the rails.

They were massively muscled, humanoid in appearance in that they stood on two legs and had a pair of arms, but their heads looked like that of a bull. Huge horns topped the bovine head and fur covered their bodies. In their huge hands, they wielded massive battle-axes and swords that would take a normal man two hands to swing.

“Minotaurs, damn those creatures,” Zeb cursed.

“Do you think they sent the storm?” Azerick asked.

“Minotaurs despise magic so I doubt it. They must be working with someone, as if they weren’t dangerous enough!”

“Are they pirates then?”

“Worse, they’re slavers. They’ll board our ship, take as many of us alive as they can, and use us or sell us as slaves. Look alive now, lad, here they come.”

Azerick heard the twanging and loud crack as the sailors aboard the
Sea Star
fired their crossbows and scorpios followed by the heavy whoosh and thwack of the catapult firing. The huge minotaurs aboard the oncoming ship simply ducked behind the rail and raised large, wood and iron shields over their heads. Stones and quarrels rained down with little effect. The brute strength of the massive, shaggy creatures was enough to ward off even the fist-sized stones flung from the catapult that would have broken the arm of a normal man.

The minotaur ship continued to bear down on the
Sea Star
with such a velocity that Azerick was sure they were going to ram them. Azerick let loose a stream of arcane missiles at the oncoming ship. One minotaur took all three bolts in the chest but appeared largely unfazed by the magical assault other than brandishing a sneer of contempt.

Azerick sent a blast of lightning into several of the beasts crowding the bow of the enemy ship. The bolt hurled two of the huge creatures back while the one that had taken the three magical bolts let out a bellow and crumpled to the deck, his sharp-toothed sneer wiped permanently from his muzzle.

The rapidly oncoming ship suddenly reversed its oars in a rapid back-paddle, swinging its stern around to slam into the side of the
Sea Star
. The shaggy minotaurs threw grapnels over to lock the two ships together while men and beast met at the rails to do battle. The crew of the
Sea Star
outnumbered the fighters so far on the deck of the minotaur ship but those odds would quickly turn if the rowers swarmed up from below.

Even at the current odds, the brute strength of the minotaurs was more than a match for the human sailors and Azerick knew at once that it would be up to him to swing the battle in their favor. He leapt onto the rail and straddled his legs across both ships letting loose another blast of lightning along the length of the battling, bull-like creatures. His bolt caught half a dozen of the beasts in its path and started a fire near the stern of the minotaur ship.

Azerick thought that if he could set the minotaur ship aflame, the men could chop at the ropes and separate the two vessels that were currently lashed together and give them a chance. He was readying a fire burst when he spotted a horrific figure suddenly stroll onto the deck of the minotaur ship. It was nearly seven feet tall but extremely thin. Its head was a grey bulbous mass that looked like a large brain with no skull under the clammy grey skin to protect it. Its thin, lipless mouth was set between large mandibles that sprouted out of its cheeks.

Azerick completed his spell and sent a jet of flame towards the abomination. The smell of burning hair filled his nose as the fur of a minotaur in the path of the blast was singed across its huge torso. The sickly, grey-skinned creature screeched out in either rage or pain. The repulsive monster focused its gaze on the sorcerer and Azerick suddenly felt a massive weight press in on his head as if someone were reaching into his skull and squeezing his brain. He blocked out the tremendous pain and focused on his next spell. He knew if he were not able to get a lightning bolt off on the monster, all would be lost.

Concentrating through the pain, he brought his hand up before him, ready to loose the powerful bolt when a massive, invisible wave of force swept over him. The spell he was about to release dissipated in his mind as he lost his hold on the Source. He saw the wood planks of the deck rushing up to meet him. As he thudded onto the deck, he was able to remain conscious just long enough to see every sailor in his field of view collapse in a similar fashion. That hideous abomination had them all. What it would do with them now, he did not want to contemplate. His eyes closed and the blackness took him deep into the embrace of unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 2

Azerick woke to the gentle rocking of the ship. In an instant, he was aware that someone had bound his hands behind his back and tied a gag in his mouth. As his eyes cleared, he also realized that he was no longer on the
Sea Star
. Through the throbbing haze and pain in his head, he could make out the trussed up forms of Captain Zeb, Balor, and several other men from his ship. He shook his head from side to side in an effort to clear the fogginess and immediately regretted the action as a wave of pain and nausea washed over him. It was only with the greatest effort of will that he kept from vomiting, an extremely unpleasant, not to mention dangerous, action considering the gag in his mouth.

He turned his head with far more care and scanned the deck of the ship. As he surmised, he was on the deck of the minotaur ship that had attacked them. He saw several of the beasts wrapping up the one that Azerick killed in the battle. Once they securely wrapped the beast in sailcloth, three of his comrades stood to each side and carried their dead burden to the rail. The six bearers then heaved the body over the rail and into the sea.

The funeral contingent walked towards the prone sorcerer. For a moment Azerick was sure he was going to receive a brutal beating in retribution for killing their comrade but the creatures simply walked past without so much as a look down at him. He wondered where the hideous creature was at that had so easily immobilized him and the entire crew. The silent appearance of the vile monster answered his unspoken question a moment later.

The creature had grey, slick, sickly looking flesh with huge bulbous head that looked like a giant tick atop a pair of scrawny shoulders. Large, yellowed mandibles protruded from its lipless mouth. It looked at the immobilized humans as a spider would a fly caught in its web. Azerick had no idea how apt an analogy that was.

The long gossamer-robed creature glided up to one of the humans. Without even a single word uttered, at least not one that Azerick’s ears could detect, one of the hulking minotaurs lifted a sailor up to a standing position and held him firmly before the monstrous creature.

The creature lowered his head towards the rigid form of the sailor almost like a lover soliciting a kiss. With a sickening suddenness, the mandibles of the hideous monster clamped down and pierced the doomed sailor’s head at the temples. A stomach-turning sucking sound filled Azerick’s ears as the horrible thing made large gulping motions, sucking in the man’s brain.

After several minutes, the mandibles were withdrawn and Azerick could see that they had holes at the inside curve much like a viper’s fangs, but instead of injecting poison these were used to suck out the brain of the victim. Azerick was near to vomiting as the minotaur carried the dead sailor to the rail of the ship and casually tossed his lifeless body overboard as if it were no more than common rubbish.

He could only stare dumbly at the creature he would forever refer to as a brain sucker. Captain Zeb was not so easily shocked into silence.

“You sick bastard! Let me loose and I’ll cut that ugly glob of fish guts you call a head right off your skinny shoulders!” the captain screamed, threatening the creature that just murdered his helpless crewman.

Azerick thought that one of the minotaurs would thrash the furious captain for hurling such insults at the apparent leader of this ship and crew. However, his ignorance of the situation was made apparent once again as the brain sucker simply turned towards the cursing human. Captain Zeb let out a piercing shriek of agony for several long seconds before falling silent, twitching slightly with a thin rivulet of blood running from his nose and ears.

Azerick was shocked into motion at the sight of his captain being laid low and rolled over until he brought himself up next to Zed’s the quivering form. Now one of the minotaurs moved, landing several solid blows from its large feet, bruising ribs and forcing Azerick away from the injured captain. Injured, not dead Azerick had time to see before he was battered away.

Fortunately, the brain sucker seemed to have satiated whatever hunger it had, or perhaps it simply wanted to put on a demonstration, because it did not return to the deck for several hours. The prisoners were not offered any food or water in that time which was probably a good thing considering it did not appear that they would be untied to relieve themselves anyhow.

For hours the hulking minotaurs rowed, propelling the boat at an impressive speed, a speed that Azerick had to assume was magically assisted. Even given the obvious strength of the shaggy creatures, he did not think they could move a boat this fast without the help of some other unseen force.

The deck rail was not a solid wall like the ones on the ships he was accustomed to seeing in Southport. It was more like the handrail of a flight of stairs or banister in which wooden columns spaced about a foot apart so supported a solid rail. Azerick was able to see the ocean ahead and a few points off to one side. He saw what first appeared as several grey specks in the distance. Those quickly resolved themselves into a natural stone formation thrusting up out of the sea at least thirty feet above the rolling swells. The ship adjusted course slightly in order to pass between two of the granite pillars that could not have left more than a few feet of space to each side of the ship to pass through.

Azerick briefly wondered why they were maneuvering between the columns of stone instead of simply going around them. The brain sucker returned to the deck of the ship and glided up to the forward deck as they neared the structure. The grotesque creature lifted its hands over its bulbous head and Azerick felt a sudden wave of magical energy wash over him as the air between the pillars that the ship was navigating through erupted into a shimmering screen of glimmering light.

Azerick saw the runes carved deep into the stone pillars just as the ship passed through the soap bubble-like screen and once again felt his stomach become queasy as the world twisted and distorted around him. For several seconds he felt as if the world had dropped out from under him and he was falling in uncontrolled flight, his body plummeting into an eternal void.