The Long Journey Home (The Legend of Vanx Malic Book 8) (10 page)

Pirates, no doubt, and he decided, that he’d gleaned all of this without using the mirror. That fact alone strengthened his resolve to please his goddess. He just hoped he could have his cake and the icing.

Sooner or later, he would have to use the crystal to contact Moonsy for Chelda, but to do so now, just to have them get a message to Gallarael, seemed selfish, even to Vanx.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Through the open yonder
,

into the great unknown
,

What road are you on, good sir
,

or do you even know?

T
he
Ada Rosamond’s
bell started ringing at the same moment Poops picked up the scent of man—unclean men, to be more specific, and more than a few of them. Vanx knew they were only a day from Dragon Isle and wondered if the ship they were hauling hadn’t once been pirate’s bait after all.

Vanx studied the course and speed of the three ships that were closing from three different tacks. The
Adventurer
would be intercepted just about the time they could make land, Vanx decided. Then he saw that there were more than three ships coming.

“How many?” Vanx called up to the
Adventurer’s
empty crow’s nest.

From the
Ada Rosamond’s
higher rigging, a good way back, Ronzon listened as Chelda called up what Vanx had asked. He yelled back through a cone. “Seven! Seven ships: two, two, and three.” He pointed at each of the three groups of pirate ships coming at them.

“What do we do?” Castavonti asked.

Vanx grabbed the crystal at his neck and reached out to the Nexus. To his surprise, Elva Toyan answered his call immediately. He suffered her quick questioning before telling her of their situation. Then she told him the best news he’d heard in a long while.

“Help is coming,” he called out loud enough for Chelda and Ronzon to hear on the other ship. “We are going to fight.”

“Fight them?” Castavonti asked, as if Vanx had gone mad.

Zeezle was already laying out bundles of arrows and had more than one bow placed strategically around the boat. The harpoon gun had been reassembled and readied after Zeezle’s first warning of pirates, so Castavonti manned it, prematurely, leaving the
Adventurer
its own head and cursing the whole way forward.

Vanx cast a wind wish and the
Adventurer
lurched ahead. Even with the bigger vessel in tow, they went faster than the other ships could easily correct for. He did it twice more and knew that all the pirate ships would intercept each other if they didn’t adjust. He just had to keep his crew from getting pinned between those ships and the shore before he exacted the plan that was forming in his head.

“It will be hours before they converge,” Vanx said. “I need to know exactly when we are close enough for you to send Chelda and the two horses to shore.” He pointed at the speck of land just tipping the horizon.

“Land Ho!” Ronzon called.

“Land Ho!” Chelda, Zeezle, and Castavonti returned.

Master Ruuk, who’d been asked the question, was studying the distance. “A whole lot closer, please,” he finally responded.

Vanx knew that and shook his head. “How close?”

“I’ll tell you when we get there,” Master Ruuk said. “We will have to be at least as close to shore as we anchored on your invisible island.”

“That close?” This time Zeezle asked.

“We can get there and slide out.” Vanx nodded. “We have help coming.”

“You said that.” Zeezle stared at him, expecting an elaboration.

“There.” Vanx pointed to the sky, where three specks were growing larger as they sped from a higher altitude on widespread, gliding wings.

“Is that Moonsy?” Zeezle asked.

“Yup,” Vanx said with a shrug.

“I hope she can stay away from Chelda long enough to fight the pirates,” Zeezle joked.

I hope she can fly to Orendyn and get Gallarael
, Vanx said to himself.

“Castavonti, I need you to go over there and tell them the plan,” Vanx said.

“What is the plan?” Castavonti asked. “You’ve a plan?”

“When we get close to the shore, Chelda and the horses need to be on deck. After Master Ruuk sends them over to the island, you and Ronzon will disconnect our tow. Master Ruuk will bring you and himself back over, and we will use all our magic to outmaneuver them while the elves attack from above.”

“The elves?” Castavonti asked, and Vanx pointed at the three fae speeding by their ships, not so far above the mast poles, on great feathered birds.

Vanx immediately identified them as great hawks. He’d seen excellent pencil drawings at the librarium in the Zythian port city of Flotsam. It was a pirate haven, and these were a heavy crew of those pirates.

They would have magic wielders, sea mages, ruthless swordsmen, and head bashers, too.

“Ahh, those elves.” Castavonti nodded. “Can I join Chelda on the island? I can help protect her.”

“Do you know what island that is?” Master Ruuk asked him.

Castavonti shook his head.

“That is Dragon Isle, man,” Zeezle said. “Are you sure?”

“Well, no,” Castavonti finally said with a sigh. “I’m a sailor, and I’d rather die at sea than end up a dragon turd.

“Send me over. I’ll tell them the plan and get the horse hauler ready to be cut loose.” The sea mage stopped and looked at Vanx. “Don’t leave me on that ship.” He was serious, Vanx saw, and this only spoke of his lack of understanding of what his companions were really about.

“I won’t,” Master Ruuk reassured him. “We will need you to help get us out of the pinch. Why would we leave you?”

Hearing this seemed to reassure the nervous man, and Vanx nodded his respect for the old Zythian’s smooth words and tone. Then he began to mark in his head where the arrows and bows were lashed. He had to grin when he saw that everything was held in place with leather
ties, knotted so that a single pull of the longer strand would release, in an instant, the weapons they held secure.

He grabbed the Hoar Witch’s crystal and, like a whisper, heard his goddess say:
Follow your heart
. Just before his call to Moonsy was answered.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Look into the sky
.

Do you see the moon and sun?

Would you go up there if you could?

Or would you turn and run?

O
nce Vanx told Moonsy that Chelda was on the larger ship, the elf landed her great hawk on the foredeck of the
Ada Rosamond
, hastily dismounted, and gave her lover a long hug. They kissed, too, but only for a short moment. It looked to surprise Ronzon and Castavonti quite a bit. It was enough for Vanx to see the shock through the fear they were exuding over the giant predator bird on the deck. Then the beautiful little elf remounted and took back to the sky.

Instead of going directly at the pirates, as Vanx had asked her to do, the three hawk-riding elves went to Dragon Isle, and landed in the less wooded, rocky scree of the higher elevations.

“Are they hiding?” Zeezle asked.

“Not sure.” Vanx shook his head, and was pleased to see that, after a few moments, they were back in the sky.

“They probably had to piss,” Zeezle joked.

“Probably so.” Vanx remembered how it was to be over the sea on dragon back. It wasn’t all wind and rushing blood; sometimes it was hours of uncomfortable concentration just to manage your bodily functions. The memory saddened him, and he wondered how many dragons were still around the island. They hadn’t seen any preying from overhead on their approach. Before, there had always been at least a few wyrms visible, skimming the shore or the forest’s edge. He knew many of them had
gone through to Harthgar with him and the others and had died fighting the Paragon. But a few still had to be around. He could only hope his familiarity with Pyra would keep them from turning against him.

Master Ruuk appeared to land badly on the bigger ship. It was hard to tell from where Vanx was standing, but Chelda’s laugh and Castavonti’s “Oooh!” could be heard when the Zythian wizard landed.

Have you heard from Gallarael? Has she returned from Orendyn, yet?
Vanx asked Moonsy with the Hoar Witch’s crystal. As long as he held the connection this way, what they thought would be kept between them alone.

He didn’t wait for her answer, because what he was saying would affect her, too.
My goddess has tasked me with a quest to find and quicken the seeds of Heart Trees like yours, for they are needed to root in and replace the bind the towers once held on the world, but in a more wholesome way. I want Gallarael to go with me, but as you can see, I am not in a position to go ask her myself
.

There was a long silence, and in it Vanx feared he’d said this to the whole of Saint Elm’s Deep, but finally Moonsy sighed back at him.

Vanx of Malic, I will only do this for you because you’ve brought my Chelda back safe
. Moonsy seemed to have mixed feelings.
Now you are saying you are going on another quest, which my love will surely follow you on
.

It is her choice, Moonsy. I have not and will not ask her to go, but I can’t disallow it if that is what she chooses to do
.

I know, Vanx, but it’s an easy choice since I can go, too
. Moonsy’s tone seemed to brighten a bit
. I’ve relinquished command
.

She seemed to be giggling, and Vanx realized she must have tricked her way out of the strict duty that had kept her from questing with them after the Trigon War.

I only have to return with the Glaive of Gladiolus. No one said when. Since your quest is for the benefit of Heart Trees and all fae, I feel compelled, obligated even, to carry the Glaive of Gladiolus with you as you go forward. In Good King Longroot’s name and for his glory, of course
.

She seemed giddy.

Really?
Vanx was shocked.

It was a monumental thing, for Moonsy and her two charges had powers that the current group did not, skills that would be invaluable on a quest for magical gems in faraway lands. And if the great hawks would come along, it would be even better.

Vanx imagined riding the big birds so he could spot the schools of fish he liked to catch. He couldn’t ride one, he figured. They carried the waist tall elves well, though. They just didn’t seem big enough to carry a man.

There is a sprite on my shoulder that says even Elva Toyon of the Troika Sven agrees
. Moonsy voiced.

Now that is hard to wrap my mind around
. Vanx conveyed mirth through the ethereal.
She never agrees to anything
.

After we see to these ships, I will send a flyer for Gallarael
. Moonsy knew this part had nothing to do with the good of the fae, and Vanx knew Elva Toyon was probably in her ear about it, even now.
Pen her a message now, before this battle commences; and please hurry and get Chelda and her horses ashore
.

Thank you
, was all Vanx could think to reply. After getting his mind back on the situation, he used two more wind wishes to get the ship going that much faster toward the island.

Moonsy, he saw through the looking glass in a fish-eyed circle, was taking the battle to the pirates. From high above, the two elves with her dropped head-sized boulders. These rocks fell slowly at first, but were suddenly hammered downward by some invisible force, only to smash straight into a ship, probably leaving a gaping hole all the way through the hull.

This time, when the elves returned to the island, no one made jokes.

They were getting more rocks.

“They might cripple all the ships before they can get here,” Zeezle told Vanx.

Poops barked his agreement.

“They will be ready this time.” Vanx had to pull the glass from his eyes and take in the world without magnification for a moment.

“You’re right.” Zeezle pointed.

One of the elves’ rocks had been hammered down, only to be shattered to dust as it impacted a bubble-like shield. Another rock fell slowly for a moment before being sent streaking down at an impossible speed. It looked as if it would hit the unprotected ship it was aimed at, but it didn’t. It bounced and was deflected to the side, where it rolled down the face of the magical field on its way to the sea. The shield was only visible as a flickering glassine film when it was disturbed. The rest of the time, it was invisible.

“Four ships are down,” Zeezle said, after taking the looking glass from Vanx and studying the scenes. “That only leaves three…and only from two positions. We need a new idea. Crippling them before they reach us was brilliant, but now they are protected.”

“Not from everything,” Vanx said. Zeezle was looking through the tube and didn’t even notice when he dove into the sea. Vanx wondered what Zeezle’s expression would be like when he found naught but clothes on the deck where he’d been standing.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Every story has a beginning
,

and they all should have an end
.

The best thing about finishing a good tale

is that a new one can begin
.

T
he
Adventurer
shuddered, as if in indecision. This brought Zeezle’s attention off of the tube. He wasn’t shocked to see that Vanx was gone, but he had to use a wind wish to make sure the ship didn’t falter.

“He knows what he is doing,” Zeezle told the ship. He then repeated the words to Sir Poopsalot, who he was about to trick down into the belly of the boat so that he didn’t get thrown overboard in the coming battle. If Vanx was doing what he suspected, then there were surely about to be some waves.

Once the dog was secure, Zeezle found the deck and made sure they were still heading directly toward the part of the island where Vanx wanted them to leave Chelda and the horses. Then he turned to the distant battles.