The Ancient Ones (The Legacy Trilogy Book 3) (42 page)

If he was to make claim of possessing one sure talent it was swimming. Seventeen years of living on a little rock in the middle of the sea had taught him how to dart about in the water as nimbly as a fish.

His sword dragged uncomfortably at his side as he swam, but he was not about to leave it behind. He stealthily passed the waiting Eudan vessels, making barely a sound, breathing in long, slow, controlled efforts. He could hear Eudans talking and moving about on the vessels, their boots clomping on the decks, confirming that all was not well upon the Farstride. He would have dearly loved to be proven incorrect—that allies had come from nowhere to join their efforts—but alas, it was not so.

Why is nothing ever easy? he thought, then scorned himself for adopting the magician’s words.

He bumped into something floating in the water and stopped, unsure. At first he thought a stuffed sack had been thrown overboard. Nearby, there were more of them. One of them had something pale hanging out of it, and with terrible realisation he saw it was a face, the eyes open and lifeless. They were bodies. The dark shadows of other such corpses floated around him, undulating slowly with the gentle rise and fall of the sea. There were hundreds of them. Some were dark-skinned Eudans, others fair Amandians. Leopold recognised some of the faces of Captain Orrell’s soldiers. Many others wore the sailors’ garb of Captain Merryweather’s crew.

Leopold avoided the bodies where possible and pushed their bobbing corpses aside when he could not, prodding them with his fingertips. It was disturbing to see their lifeless faces staring, many still screaming in silence, many whom he knew and had bantered with amongst the sails. The violence committed to many was obscene, with parts of heads cleft away, eyes gouged out, entrails hanging. Fingers and clumps of skin and flesh were floating freely of their own accord. It made him want to be out of the water as quickly as possible, for he could already smell the blood. The ocean was thick with it, staining his skin red as if bathed in wine. It repulsed him, but there was nothing he could do except forge on.

He reached one of the mighty chains that bowed out into the sea and scaled it, link by enormous link. He hung on with slippery hands and pushed himself up with bare, wet feet. The segments were so heavy they barely moved under his weight and luckily each one was nearly half as big as himself, providing the perfect scaffolding to ascend.

Nearly to the top, he peered down at the waiting Eudan boats. He was in shadow, but the danger remained of being seen by Eudan guards. Carefully, but quickly as he dare, he continued shimmying upwards.

The chain disappeared into its housing and Leopold clambered after it into the pitch darkness. Working from memory, he dragged himself around the mighty winch apparatus within, panting, straining in the tight confines—imagining his gruesome death if the device activated with him inside it—until he found a crack of light that marked the service hatch. He waited, and upon hearing nothing after the space of many breaths, he edged the door open and peeked outside.

The tiny room, hardly bigger than a pantry, was empty and the light he saw was coming through the slats of the door opposite. He slid out onto the floor as supple as a snake and stood lightly, quietly, for there were noises coming from the next room.

He could hear men talking on the other side, and he could tell from the way their voices played in his ear that they were Eudan. It was another sign that Lord Samuel had not yet perished or given in to his demons, for it was said that when any magician dies his magic dies with him. Leopold hoped his Eudan disguise was still also serving its purpose.

He stood there, barechested and barefooted, dripping on the floor, waiting for the men to depart. It was the only exit, save venturing back down the chain—and there was little point in doing that. There was nowhere else to go, and he would have little chance surviving in the Eudan countryside. Liberating the ship was his only hope.

After some time, the Eudans stomped out of the room. Leopold waited patiently for several more minutes to be sure none remained. When he was confident, he ventured from his hiding place, creeping silently.

Three doors marked this next chamber. The smallest, little more than a hatch, was the one through which he had just come. Another led upwards towards the deck. He turned his attention to the third. He was sure any surviving Turians would be kept in the hold. He eased the door open a crack and was surprised when it was pulled abruptly from his grasp.

A Koian male, tanned of skin and narrow eyed, muscled and thick, glared at him with thinly veiled contempt. Leopold was sure this must be another of the superhuman warriors they met in the palace. This one wore a tight, green shirt that had smudges of blood rubbed into it. His muscles bulged under the cloth. He was a monster of a man.

Leopold was wondering whether or not to run, when the Koian spoke.

‘What do you want?’ he said, deep and gruff in tone, using the Eudan language rather than his own.

Leopold shut his mouth and fought to find some sense. ‘Ah. How goes everything?’ he asked, trying to match the aggressive tone.

The Koian grunted. ‘No trouble from the prisoners.’ Other such warriors stood behind him at other doors along the passageway and a couple turned their heads to see.

‘Ah. Right then,’ Leopold replied and stepped back, letting the man shut the door behind him.

He wished there was a little latch or lock that he could push shut, to put some additional obstacle between him and the guards, but there was none. He knew it would be pointless, for these men could easily kick down such flimsy barriers, but it would serve to make him feel better.

Leopold turned his mind to what to do next. With no better ideas, he decided to get to his room and see if Salu and Toby were all right, to assess what he was facing. From there he could plan further. With this passageway blocked, the only route left to him was across the main deck. With a sigh he accepted his fate. He could not wait here; the other guards could return at any moment. If he was to live or die, this would be the deciding moment. He could lie on the ground and cry—accepting his failure and awaiting death—or he could meet his fate valiantly—well, slightly valiantly, given he had left his companions in the palace for dead.

He opened the remaining door and climbed the short stairs that led outside. There, he stood boldly in the entranceway. The main deck was covered with black-skinned Eudan soldiers and, above the fo’c’sle, a Eudan sorcerer was perched high on the yard, overseeing the ship from his towering vantage point. He seemed to be unmoving, like a sentinel chiselled from wood and affixed to the mast. How typical for sorcerers to be like magicians—always hovering about watching others and doing very little themselves. He only hoped this sorcerer remained as such.

Some of the nearer Eudans noticed Leopold in the doorway and accepted him as one of their own, turning away after noting his presence. How Samuel’s disguise spell worked, Leopold had no idea, but he was thankful for it. It gave him a fleeting pang of guilt for abandoning the magician. He had made no secret of the fact that he would eventually have his revenge, and all the fool Samuel for not preparing better. Still, a tiny part of him could not help but wish he had done things differently. Perhaps he would not be in this current mess at all.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind. Done was done. The man had made a misery of Leopold’s life since the day they met. If only the infernal magician had not been so magnanimous in defeat! Why had he been so forgiving? Why could he not have cursed Leopold and screamed aloud at his treachery? That would have made him feel better, but the magician’s closing words turned a screw of guilt further into him, deeper and deeper the more he thought of it.

Gathering his courage, Leopold sauntered casually across the deck, keeping close to the wall of the aftcastle, threading through the soldiers and heading for the opposite entrance. Blood stains covered the timber decking and he was conscious of its stickiness beneath his feet, although he dare not avoid it for fear of drawing attention to himself. He could hear the squelch, squelch, squelch of it parting with his skin.

He reached the opposite side of the ship and climbed the stairs to the second level. He knew enough not to look over his shoulder, so he kept moving into the ship, until he was safely within the sanctuary of the passageway. Eudan guards waited there also, talking softly of mundane pleasures, and he stepped past them without issue, focussing on the task of walking intently and with purpose.

Once in the internal hallways of the aftcastle there were very few guards. He made it to his cabin without incident and entered directly. The first sight to greet him was Salu and Toby, alive and well. The old man had his back to the door, looking out a window, while Toby was playing up on the bunk.

Salu nodded his head solemnly upon Leopold’s entrance, while Toby whooped and started kicking his legs against the ceiling with excitement.

‘Come on!’ Leopold told them. ‘Let’s go. I’ll get you out of here.’

But Salu hobbled over and clasped one hand around Leopold’s arm—that grip as tight as iron—and spoke. ‘Where is Samuel?’ he asked with his husky old voice. It seemed he was in the mood to be communicative.

‘Taken prisoner by the leader of the Eudans—or perhaps dead,’ Leopold told him and old Salu was surprised. His eyes opened enough to give a glimpse of his pale pupils, before once again receding beneath heavy eyelids. ‘Everyone has been captured. I was the only one to escape.’

Salu grunted. ‘He is not dead.’

He picked up his stick from beside his bed and took a shuffling step towards the door, forcing Leopold to step aside lest the old man walk right over him.

‘Where are you going, you silly old fool? Be careful!’ he said, careful not to raise his voice. ‘You’ll be cut down by the first guard you meet!’

Salu said nothing and kept going out into the hallway, while Toby jumped all the way down from the bunk and hurried after him.

Leopold sighed and started after the backs of them both.

Indeed, there was a guard waiting in the middle of the next hall and ‘You! Get back to your cabin!’ he shouted towards them.

Salu was unfazed, tapping his stick against either wall with each step, as if using it to sound his way. The man stomped towards them, grumbling.

‘Where are you taking them?’ he called to Leopold at the rear.

‘Ah ... I’m taking them for ... interrogation,’ Leopold bluffed, but the man was not convinced.

He stopped in front of Salu with his hand on the hilt of his sword. The corridor was tight and there was hardly room to swing it. ‘Get back to your cabin, you old goat!’ he demanded. ‘And you, boy, go with him.’

Salu paused before the guard, muttering under his breath. Toby chose that moment to grin and howl like a maniac, beginning a dance that made his little legs patter frantically on the spot like pistons. The Eudan stared at the both of them, not knowing which was the more incredible.

Leopold pushed to the front. ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘I have permission to take them out. There’s nothing to worry about.’

‘You will do no such thing,’ replied the guard ferociously, finally prying his eyes from Toby’s rapid legs. ‘The sorcerer himself told me to keep the old man under lock and key, and I will not cross him. Who are you anyway? What are you doing here? How did you open their door?’

The man had now turned his attention squarely to Leopold.

‘Ah, it was open when I got there,’ Leopold explained, and indeed it had been. However, he knew this was all pointless. ‘Oh ... is that your mum?’ he asked, craning his neck and looking over the Eudan’s shoulder.

Why he said such a stupid thing, he did not know, but he was nervous and it was all that sprang to mind. Remarkably, the dark-skinned man turned his head, looking quite annoyed.

It would have to do, and Leopold took his chance. He threw out his fist and shoved it as hard as he could into the side of the Eudan’s chin. Quite incredibly, it dropped the man to the floor.

He looked at his fist with wonder. It throbbed with pain, but it was worth it.

Salu prodded the body with his stick, gave a contented grunt, then stepped neatly over it. He opened the nearest cabin door in the hallway and Leopold and Toby followed him in.

A Koian woman was chained, blindfolded and gagged upon a cot and Leopold was surprised to discover it was Kali. She could not see them but she turned her head and mumbled through her gag. Salu bent over and fiddled with her chains while she wriggled in protest. When the old man stood straight, her hands and feet were free. She quickly sat up and wrestled off the remainder of her bindings.

‘What are you doing back here?’ she asked with concern. Her hair was unbound and loose, spilling down across her face and she quickly gathered and tied it in a knot with a lace pulled from her pocket. She glanced at Leopold’s bare feet. ‘Where are the others?’

‘Freeing you,’ he said to answer her first question. ‘The others have been caught,’ he said to address the second. ‘Come, we need to retake the ship.’

‘Most of your soldiers are down in the holds,’ she said, ‘under close guard. Three of my sisters are in the next room. They are all that remain. We must free them first.’

‘Aren’t you going to ask if we have a plan?’ Leopold said.

‘I’m sure you don’t,’ she said very matter-of-factly.

Leopold scowled, resenting her lack of confidence. Then again, she was right.

‘Did they hurt you?’ he asked her.

‘They didn’t dare,’ she replied, and the ferocity in her voice convinced him it was true. ‘Eudans learnt that lesson a long time ago. It is the Koian traitors amongst them that I was worried about, but luckily the dogs have been kept in check by their masters so far.’

They hurried next door and found three more Koian warrior women bound tightly; Eagle, Storm and Destiny. Leopold removed their blindfolds while Kali worked at their chains. She pulled back her arm and formed a fist with the middle knuckle sticking out. A precise strike severed one of the links and the bonds fell free.