The Sorcerer's Legacy (44 page)

Azerick looked his friend in the eye. “Rusty, there is no one I would rather have at my back than you. You proved yourself when you saved my hide that night I fled the school, but this is going to be far more dangerous, and more importantly I need you to help prepare these students. I do not know how long I will be gone and I do not know where I will have to travel or whom I will face. Your place is here with your wife, babes, and these students. I am counting on you.”

Rusty nodded his head in understanding. He loathed to let his best friend, his brother in all but blood, go off on his own once again to face unknown perils by himself. However, he also knew that if anyone could do it, it would be Azerick.

Magus Allister cleared his throat to speak. “Azerick, we had another group of children show up at the door last night while you and Franklin were out. There were six in all, two of them with magical aptitude.”

“Great, I am sure you and the others can get them integrated quickly enough,” Azerick replied.

The magus shook his head. “That is not the problem, lad. The issue is that they were from Southport. Word has gotten out that you have opened your doors to homeless children and are running a sort of orphanage and school. I fear the children from last night are just the first drops of a potential torrent yet to come.”

“Ensure the builders extend the wall enough to encompass twice the number of billets we currently have. Simon can hire more cooks if need be and have another kitchen constructed. I suggest building it right up against the wall where the keep’s kitchen is now; there is plenty of room on that side. If we begin getting more students than we can house, build more billets. If it takes too long to construct them from stone then build them out of logs. We can always refit them with stone when time permits. Most of the students will be training on the martial side so hire some skilled swordsmen and fighters but only those who are of descent character. If you have any doubts, err on the side of caution. Above all, maintain discipline and order. I will not have my people abused.”

“Sounds like you are going to end up with your own little kingdom here, lad,” Allister rumbled with a smile.

Azerick shook his head to dispel the thought. “It is just a school, but a school that is capable of caring for its own. Zeb is the harbor right now and he will take me south on his swiftest vessel. Allister, I need to borrow that bag you brought the academy books in.”

“Sure, lad, you’re more than welcome to it.”

Azerick dismissed the assembly and retrieved the magical bag from the old magus. He went to the kitchen and filled it with a large amount of foodstuff, even complete full meals cooked and covered with the lids tied down. The bag would keep anything put in it for a very long time in the same state it was when it was place inside. A month from now Azerick would be able to pull out one of the cooked meals as if it had just been prepared.

He added skins of water and wine, changes of clothing, and traveling essentials. Perhaps he would be returning in a couple of weeks, perhaps not. He may find his resolution in Southport but he was prepared in the event it may lie far beyond the city’s walls and he was prepared to go wherever had to—and do whatever he had to do.

Azerick bid farewell and rode Horse down the lane towards North Haven amidst the shouts and cheers of his students, friends, and workers. He saw Wolf and Ghost standing by the side of the lane just ahead.

“What’s everyone screaming about? A guy can’t even take a nap in his own woods with all that racket. It’s even drowning out the woodcutters,” Wolf complained bitterly.

Azerick looked down at the half-wild boy as he rode by. “I have to leave for a while to take care of some business.”

Wolf kept pace with Azerick and Horse. “What kind of business?”

“What, didn’t Ghost tell you?” Azerick asked with a smile.

“We have not been on speaking terms since
someone
ate a whole coney off the spit and didn’t share,” Wolf explained with a dirty look at his wolf companion.

Azerick could not keep the humorous smile off his face and shook his head at the half-elf. “It is just some business that I need to look into.”

“Does it have to do with that man in black with the glowing eyes?”

“Now how do you know about that?” Azerick asked sharply.

“Ghost saw him and told me about him. No one comes in our woods without us knowing it,” Wolf told the sorcerer.

“Why did you not wake someone? That man was an assassin bent on killing me.”

“It’s not my job to act as your personal bodyguard! I have better things to do other than watch your back against everyone that wants to kill you. If I did that, I’d probably never get any sleep. You need to learn how to protect yourself eventually. You can’t expect me to always be there to save you. Besides, Ghost said you would be all right.”

“I thought you two were not on speaking terms?”

“I’m not speaking to
him.
It’s not my fault he can’t keep his big yap shut for even a minute,” Wolf explained. “If it’s the same kind of business like with the bandits when you rescued the princess you need be careful since I won’t be there to save you.”

“Why, Wolf, I didn’t know you cared,” Azerick replied sardonically.

“I don’t, much, but you still owe me for those feathers and if you get yourself killed I’ll never collect.”

Azerick looked pointedly at the magnificent shortsword slung across the boy’s back next to his quiver of arrows. “You know, most people would consider that sword worth more than every feather in the world.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’m not most people. Besides, that was a birthday present,” replied Wolf.

“It was your birthday?”

Wolf shrugged his shoulders. “Could’a been. I know I have one and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have another.”

“So when is your birthday?” Azerick asked.

“Should be about the time you get back so you might want to keep your eyes open for something nice.”

Azerick arched his eyebrows. “How do you know it will be your birthday? You do not know how long I will be gone.”

“And you don’t know when my birthday is so it works out perfectly,” Wolf countered with his usual incomprehensible logic.

“I think I might actually miss you, Wolf,” Azerick said, laughing.

“Of course you will, I’m Wolf. Well, have fun, try not to get killed, and if you find yourself in a real bind just say to yourself, ‘
what would Wolf do’
and you should be fine.”

Wolf and Ghost darted back into the woods, leaving Azerick with a smile on his face as Horse continued his plodding towards the city.

“Good day to you, Magus,” one of the gate guards shouted to him as he passed through. “I told my boy I might be sending him your way if’n he don’t straighten up!”

“Good, tell him I could really use him since my last apprentice got sucked into a demon-filled abyss. I am pretty sure I got most the kinks worked out of the spell and I am eager to try it again,” Azerick called back jokingly.

Azerick found Zeb waiting for him at the end of the docks with a sleek, three-masted schooner moored at the end. Her nearly brand new white sails shone brightly in the late morning sunshine. Her single row of twenty-four oars were pulled in and secured in their locks.

“Ahoy there, lad!” Zeb warmly welcomed.

Azerick brought Horse to a stop and slid down his left side. “I’m glad you were able to take me on such short notice,” he said and gave Zed’s back a clap.

“Hey, if I can’t meet the owner’s needs then I ain’t much of a captain!”

“They are your ships too, Zeb, I am just a silent partner,” Azerick responded. “That is a sleek looking vessel you have there, Zeb, she looks fast.”

“That’s
Dawn’s Glory,
my boy. She cuts the sea like a hot knife through butter, got a shallow draft, and she’s built light and smooth. I reckon she’s the fastest ship you’ll ever find in her class and nearly any other,” Zeb said proudly. “The boys are rearing to go so let’s get that horse stowed in the hold and get underway while the tide’s with us.”

Azerick led horse up the gangway and down into the hold where he strapped on a special harness and secured the ropes that kept the horse from moving about accidentally or with a purpose. The last thing a sailor wants is a terrified horse trying to kick his way out through the hull.

Azerick returned the many warm welcomes that the sailors gave him. There were several crewmen that he did not recognize but many of them were part of the group he had led to freedom what seemed a lifetime ago. He felt a pang of something like pleasure tinged with concern fill his heart when he thought of all the friends he had now and the people who were almost family. They were a family he had to leave to ensure that no one would hurt them or take them away ever again. A family he may never see again.

CHAPTER
14

Magus Illifan, one of King Jarvin’s two counselors, summoned Maude to speak with him. She did not need to ask what the meeting was about. These types of impromptu meetings always heralded a new mission for her and her marauders. The warrior woman wished to hells that they would recover the king’s precious artifact so that they could be released from their forced servitude. She was seriously starting to wonder if the gallows would not have been a better choice. Maude took a deep breath before knocking on the wizard’s door.

“Enter,” Magus Illifan’s voice came through the door.

“You have something for us I assume,” Maude stated blandly.

Magus Illifan appeared to be in his mid sixties with shoulder-length grey hair shot through with traces of brown. He generally garbed himself in nondescript grey robes, and to the untrained eye, looked every bit an old scholar or even a junk peddler. That is until one looked past his hawk-beaked nose and into his keen eyes.

“Yes, Ms. Ballister, I do at that. I have received some information from a colleague of mine concerning the location of a piece of Dundalor’s armor—his boots to be precise.”

Maude wondered if he expected her to be excited about the news. “You’ll forgive me for not jumping up and down in my excitement, Magus. Is there any reason for me to believe that this information is any better than the last larks you and the bishop have sent us on?”

The wizard fixed her with a steely gaze. “My colleague has assured me that this information is highly accurate and I trust his judgment implicitly.”

“Fine, where is it?” Maude asked without enthusiasm.

“The nearest town is Sandusk, a small town of miners and herders. It is perhaps three days ride to an ancient temple built into the sandstone cliffs to the southeast of the town.”

“Great, another abandoned temple,” Maude grumbled moodily. “So what can we expect in this one, demons, maybe an ancient dragon?”

“I am told it is completely abandoned though there may be some local wildlife that has taken refuge within,” Magus Illifan replied.

Maude rolled up the map that the magus had used and tucked it under her arm. “I’ll go inform my crew that we will be leaving first thing in the morning.”

Maude stopped outside Malek’s door but the feminine voices and giggles issuing from within kept her from going inside. Maude rapped loudly on the door with a sigh, wondering if other adventuring groups had similar difficulties. Somehow, she doubted it.

“Who is it?” Malek asked through the door.

“Pack up your stuff, we leave in the morning.”

Maude heard the women’s plaintive cries of protest at the news as she went in search of the other two members of her group. She found Tarth in his room hunched over a small pot suspended above a tiny brazier, breathing in his strange-smelling incense.