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

just beasts. Oversized ones to be sure, but beasts nonetheless. Where’s the crew? We need to load our supplies and get out of here before anything else shows up.”

“I second that plan,” Hans said.

The rest of the squad had made it up on deck, but someone was missing.

“Where’s Cord?” Corina asked.

Hans shook his head. “Didn’t make it. Some damn lizard-looking thing came out of nowhere and ate him. Bloody miracle we didn’t lose anyone else.”

Corina could hardly believe what he just said. One of the guys had been killed, when her master was with them? It seemed impossible, yet the truth was undeniable. Cord was gone.

“The crew,” her master said. “Quickly.”

“Right, sorry.” Corina hurried for the door to the lower decks and shouted the all clear.

Sailors came boiling up from below. While the men started pulling casks of water over the side, Captain Wainwright joined her master and Hans near the main mast.

“I heard a crack when I was below,” the captain said.

“One of the birds landed in the forecastle,” Corina said. “I think it damaged the front mast trying to reach me.”

Captain Wainwright hurried toward the front of the ship and examined the mast. He ran his hands along it, muttering and shaking his head. “This is no good. If we put up so much as a single sheet, she’ll snap right off. It needs replacing.”

“Can we sail without it?” her master asked.

“Yes, but you’ll lose a third of our speed and if we need to make a getaway, not having that mast will be a serious problem.”

“What about the Land of the Demon Binders?” her master asked. “Can we make it there?”

Captain Wainwright grimaced. “Yeah, it’s only two weeks or so northeast, but we might be better off taking our chances without the mast.”

“No. As you said, if we need to flee in a hurry, a distinct possibility if things go wrong in the Celestial Empire, I want to have every bit of speed we can muster. Take us to the demon binders as soon as the supplies are loaded. I’ll be in my cabin trying to figure out what we can trade for a new mast.”

Corina debated following him, but from his stony expression decided to wait on deck for a while.

“He’ll be alright,” Hans said. “I think losing Cord bothered him.”

Corina watched her master’s retreating back. Hans was probably right, but not in the way he thought. Lord Shenk no doubt considered losing Cord a personal failure. That would certainly bother him more than the death of a single soldier.

She tried to think of something that would cheer him up, but nothing came to mind. Her master wasn’t the sort of person that a joke or kind word would affect. Corina would just have to be patient and be ready if he needed anything. That was part of an apprentice’s job after all.

Chapter 34

The chill that ran down Otto’s spine had nothing to do with the temperature. They were still in the tropics and sweat plastered his tunic to his back. No, this chill was entirely magical in nature. The ship eased its way through a thick fog that rose off the water as they moved toward the Land of the Demon Binders. At least, according to the charts Otto had found in his master’s library, they were headed toward that fabled land. He seriously doubted anyone living had ever visited the place.

“Master, why do I feel like I want to throw up even though my stomach is fine?” Corina had come to join him on deck the moment the strange fog appeared and with it the magical dread.

“Look closely at the ether. You can see the tiny threads of darkness running through it. That’s corruption, a sign that demons, undead, or something equally nasty is nearby. I’ve never seen it diffused like this. It must be some sort of barrier to dissuade those less determined than us. Wrap yourself in an ethereal barrier. That will block most of the effect.”

One of the sailors vomited noisily over the side. For those with no magic to protect them, the effect of the fog must have been far worse.

“My lord, should we turn back?” Captain Wainwright asked from the helm. The good captain, as stalwart a fellow as Otto had ever met, trembled when he spoke.

“Have you thought of another way to fix our forward mast?”

“No.”

“Then sail on. It can’t be much further.”

Less than a minute later, a rhythmic splashing sounded deeper in the fog. He couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. The sound was muffled and indistinct.

Corina clutched his arm. “What is that?”

“Sounds like paddles. If there’s trouble, I’m going to need that arm. Why don’t you go fetch Hans and the guys? Tell Axel to stay below but to keep his ears open for sounds of trouble.”

“Yes, Master.” She hurried belowdecks.

Once he was alone, Otto allowed himself a single, deep, steadying breath. Looking terrified would do nothing to improve morale, but if he was honest, this whole situation scared the hell out of him. They had no idea what they were sailing into, no idea how the locals viewed uninvited visitors, no idea about anything really beyond the fact that they needed a port to do repairs.

“My lord?” Hans and the remaining four members of his squad emerged from below deck, swords drawn.

“Put those away,” Otto said. “I think we’re about to have visitors and we don’t want them thinking we’re spoiling for a fight.”

Hans hesitated, one of the few times he’d failed to obey an order instantly. “Having the blades out helps with the sickness.”

Otto frowned and studied the ether around Hans’s sword. Whenever one of the wisps of corruption touched the mithril, it went up in a puff of invisible smoke. Just the presence of mithril purified the corruption. How interesting.

“You can keep them drawn for now, but as soon as whoever’s coming gets here, put them away.”

“Yes, my lord.” After a moment Hans asked, “Are you certain it’s a