The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (i like reading books txt) 📗

down. That brought the ship’s speed to something manageable.

Or so Otto thought. The sailors had barely finished their work when something bumped their hull.

“Report!” the captain shouted.

“We hit a floe!” one of the sailors said. “Just a small one. No damage.”

Wainwright’s curse was carried away by the wind. “I need two men in the forecastle! Signal me if we’re going toward another one.”

A pair of sailors ran to the front of the ship. Otto would have volunteered to keep watch with magic, but he needed all his attention elsewhere.

The right-hand sailor waved and pointed.

Wainwright adjusted their course closer to the Dead Lands.

Otto liked that decision not in the least, but he liked sinking even less and held his tongue.

Even with half their sails down it felt like the ship continued to pick up speed. When Otto glanced back, another sailor had joined Wainwright at the wheel and it looked like it was taking everything both men had to hold their course.

At least they hadn’t bumped into anything else, due in large part to the frantic signaling of the men at the front of the ship.

A shiver of dread ran down Otto’s spine.

“Master?” The quaver in Corina’s voice made it clear she sensed it as well.

The source of the darkness became clear a moment later. A black cloud was approaching from the Dead Lands. Somehow it moved north to south despite the west-to-east wind.

“A Black Wind,” Otto muttered. He’d read about them, but his books indicated that they were rare. Clearly not rare enough.

“Master, what should we do?”

There was nothing to do except ride it out and hope they survived. “Stay alert. Anything gets past me, you’ll need to deal with it.”

He left Corina and ran toward the helm. As soon as Captain Wainwright saw him Otto said, “We need more speed. Everything you can muster.”

“I’m barely holding her steady as it is. We put on one more yard of canvas and we risk the masts.”

Otto pointed at the Black Wind. “If we don’t get through that before my power runs out, it will scour the life out of everyone aboard. Every second matters.”

“I’ll go three-quarters sail, but not full. We break the masts and we’ll be stuck here.”

Otto nodded and left the sailors to their work. There was one more thing he needed to do.

He raced to the stairs leading to the lower decks and shouted. “Axel, Hans, bring your men up on deck and make sure they have their mithril weapons. Now!”

A minute later the cloud was less than a mile away and all the soldiers were on deck. The ship thrashed through the heaving seas with such force it was all Otto could do to stay on his feet.

“Spread out along the rail,” Otto said. “Draw your weapons and hold them aloft. Whatever you do, don’t lose them.”

“Heaven’s mercy, what is that?” Axel stared out over the water at the Black Wind.

“That is what I’m trying to stop. Now move your men into position before it arrives or we’re all dead.”

Happily there were no further arguments and the soldiers quickly dispersed around the ship. As soon as they did, Otto ran ether through their mithril weapons, strengthening a barrier that quickly encompassed the entire ship. Even with the mithril enhancing his magic, it took thirty threads’ worth of ether to enclose them.

And not a moment too soon. He had barely finished the barrier when the Black Wind hit it. The power of the corruption nearly drove him to his knees. He could feel the darkness and its desire to consume their lives. It was evil on a scale he’d never encountered. Even the ghouls, for all their vileness, were understandable as predators. But this had no mind, just an emptiness that wanted to consume everything.

The seconds dragged on as the darkness waged a relentless assault on the ethereal barrier. Each tiny blow would have been nothing on its own, but thousands of them every minute nearly drove him mad.

Sometime through the passage, he finally realized what they were dealing with and why it didn’t obey the gale. The Black Wind was actually a huge swarm of undead insects. It had never occurred to him that bugs might become undead, though anything living could, so why not bugs?

At some point Otto’s mind went blank, overwhelmed by the nonstop assault. His only focus was on maintaining the barrier.

The pain vanished into a pocket in the back of his mind.

The rolling deck became a vague background presence.

Keep the barrier up, damn it! Nothing else mattered.

That mantra ran through his mind over and over.

Some time passed. He couldn’t begin to guess how much. Until finally there was something else.

A voice. He knew that voice.

“Master!”

Otto blinked and found Corina standing directly in front of him.

“Master, it’s okay. We’re past the Narrows and we’ve left the Black Wind behind. You can release the barrier.”

Release the barrier? It took him a moment to process that.

They were safe then.

He took a deep breath and let the magic slowly unwind. When it was finished, he asked, “Is everyone okay?”

“Yes. You didn’t let a single one through.”

“Good.” Otto fell flat on his face and darkness claimed him.

Otto sat up in bed and groaned. He’d fainted again. This was getting to be a habit. Judging from the sound of rushing water outside the hull, they were still making progress. And from the darkness outside his window, he assumed he’d slept the entire day.

A light appeared and he turned to see Corina sitting in his leather chair. She had shed her heavy cloak and judging from the bloodshot eyes and dark circles, she hadn’t slept in a while.

“How long this time?” Otto asked.

“It’s a little after midnight, so I’d say sixteen hours. Not as bad as last time you wore yourself out. I don’t know how you do it. Just maintaining the five threads’ worth of ether I kept at the ready nearly killed me. You used about five times as much.”

“I did what was necessary, nothing more.