The Sorcerer's Ascension (62 page)
“All hail Solarian,” the dark cabal intoned in unison.
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR BRAVE SORCERER IN
THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE SORCERER’S PATH SAGA
, COMING SOON.
Excerpt from the next book in the Sorcerer’s Path saga.
“
Balor
, take a few men below and report back to me with an assessment of the damage,” Captain Zeb ordered before going to his cabin to consult his maps to try to determine where the storm had blown them. “Azerick, follow me if you please.”
Azerick followed the captain into his quarters. Zeb pulled a large map from a rack of deep pigeonholes, rolled it out on his table, and weighted down the corners to keep it from rolling back up.
“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. 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 just oars 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 railings. The new ship flew no sails or flag to identify its origins but at least a hundred oars sprouted from the sides of it like the legs of a hundred-legged 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 while 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 scorpions followed by the heavy whoosh and thwack sound of the catapult firing. The huge
minotaurs
aboard the oncoming ship simply ducked behind the rail and raised large thick wooden 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 broke 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 magic 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 immediately followed up with a blast of lightning into several of the beasts crowding the bow of the enemy ship. Two of the monsters were hurled back while the one that had taken the three magical bolts let out a below 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 minotaur crew threw thick ropes with grapnels to lock the two ships together while man and beast met at the rails to do battle. The crew of the
Sea Star
outnumbered the fighters already 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 to 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 they may have a chance. He was readying a fire burst when he spotted a horrific figure emerge 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 mind reaper screeched out in either rage or pain. Azerick 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 his last lightning bolt off on the mind reaper, 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 simply dissipated as he lost his hold on the Source. All he could do was watch the wooden planks of the deck rush up to meet him as he collapsed.
As he thudded onto the deck, he was able to remain conscious just long enough to see every sailor in his field of view struck down in a similar fashion. The mind reaper 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.
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
I hope you enjoyed this book and will try my other as they are released. Feel free to drop by at
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The Sorcerer’s saga is an open-ended fantasy series of a young boy of wealth who loses everything before discovering great potential as a sorcerer while trying to survive on the deadly streets he now must call home. Travel with young Azerick as he grows up, grows strong, and grows steadfast in his determination to survive and make those pay who have taken everything from him.
Shrouds of Darkness is a modern day vampire tale. Who doesn’t like those these days? Leo Malone has been a vampire for the better part of the twentieth century. Once a prominent Sherriff (vampire cop), he now earns his living as a private eye and occasional bodyguard for anyone that requires some serious protection. The daughter of a mob accountant who has gone missing hires Leo to find her father.
The fact that the accountant is also a werewolf has Leo following a trail of grisly murders that will lead him through a web of intrigue and conspiracy involving his fellow vampires and the local werewolves that make New York their home, all the while trying to keep one particularly determined cop off his back and himself out of jail. Leo is not some pretty-boy vampire that all the girls ogle over but a hard-eyed, remorseless killing machine who does not take crap from anyone.
The Portal
is a fun and exciting story of some less than popular teenagers that accidentally open a portal to a mystical land during one of their role-playing games. Drew, a dour and anti-establishment teenager, is pulled through and captured by evil creatures lying in wait on the other side. Now it is up to his friends and older brother to rescue him, but who will rescue Drew’s captors from him?