Space Pirate Charlie: The Dragon Mage Book 2 Read online

  Hertzall smiled sadly at his daughter. “You fought Malalia, my dearest. And not like your childhood spats he always overlooked. You’re a grown woman now, and from what you saw, the visla is on a war footing and will do anything he has to in order to protect his interests. You’re a slave, Leila. Do you think you are not expendable to a man like him?”

  “Your father is a wise man,” the Geist said. “While you may be willing to risk the visla’s mercy, I can tell you from personal experience, he will show none.”

  “But he’s always been a good man.”

  “To the public eye, perhaps. To the hundreds of systems he has ravished with the other members of the Council of Twenty, he has been an oppressor and tyrant. Here, you see him in his home environment, relaxed and content. Out there? He kills without mercy and leads with an iron fist.”

  Hertzall walked to the stone chimney of his fireplace and leaned on the mantle, staring at nothing for a time. He then pulled on a seemingly fixed rock, working it free from its home with a series of tugs.

  From within the small space behind it, he withdrew an emerald pendant the size of a large almond. The stone was a deep green, and the way it picked up the light as it slowly spun on the end of its chain made it glimmer with an almost enchanted glow as he grew close to his daughter.

  As it turned out, that was precisely the case.

  “Is that a Magus Stone?” the deadly Wampeh asked as he watched the light sparkle from its facets.

  “It was your mother’s,” Hertzall said. “A dowry she had on her person when she was captured and sold into slavery. She managed to hide it in––well, let’s just say she hid it well. The one possession she managed to keep with her as she traded hands until finally arriving here as one of the visla’s new acquisitions.”

  “I’ve never seen that before,” Leila said. “And what is a Magus Stone?”

  Her father went silent, lost in memory a moment.

  “A Magus Stone is something of a magic power sink. They are exceptionally rare, and only found in the Horahn system on Yudan, the home world of the Alatsavs,” Bawb said, eyeing the stone.

  “Hertzall, didn’t you say Leila’s mother was an Alatsav?” Charlie asked.

  “What? Oh, her mother. Yes, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” he replied. “Such a lovely shade of green, and those eyes…”

  The Geist was intrigued by the confirmation. “Properly used, a Magus Stone of high clarity can be slowly fed magical charge indefinitely until it holds enormous power.”

  “How is that even possible?” Charlie wondered.

  “Power-wielding families have been rumored to spend multitudes of lifetimes depositing magical energy into a stone, passing it down from generation to generation, adding to it over the years. It is believed one such stone may have been the key to the eventual destruction of Visla Balamar, destroying not only the man, but his entire domain.”

  “I’ve seen the place,” Charlie noted, “and I wondered how they had managed such destruction.”

  “Vislas have coveted the stones ever since the discovery of their existence, going so far as to make the Alatsav people something of a hunted race.”

  Hertzall walked to his daughter and slipped the chain over her head, the stone coming to rest below her shining, golden collar. “Alamansa doran nictori Leila.”

  The stone glowed slightly a moment, then fell dark again.

  “What did you just do?” she asked, alarmed.

  “I had held onto that all these years, hoping one day your mother would return and I could put it around her neck once more. But I’m no fool, and now it passes down her family line to you, Leila. It is now bound to you, and you alone.”

  She ran her fingers over the emerald. It was slightly warm to the touch, but other than that showed no signs of magical properties.

  “Another trait of the Magus Stones is they typically show no outward sign of the power within,” Bawb said, noting her expression. “One might just be a rock, while another could be a world-ender. This is why the black market is full of fakes. No one can argue they knew better, because it is impossible for any but the stone’s owner to truly gauge the power within.”

  “But I don’t sense anything.”

  Her father tenderly stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, “You are only half Alatsav, Leila. It will take time and effort to become attuned with your stone.”

  “My stone,” she repeated.

  “Yes, your stone.”

  Tears welled in the young woman’s eyes, matching those of her father. He embraced her, then stepped back, holding her at arm’s length, taking in the sight of her one final time. Content, he nodded his head.

  “You will be fine, daughter. Now do as your father says and go with these men. Leave this place, and don’t look back.”

  It took every ounce of willpower, but she did as he bade her, turning and walking from her childhood home, ready to see the stars.

  “Are you following, or coming with us?” Charlie asked. “I assume you have a ship stashed around here somewhere, being an assassin and all.”

  “A what?” Leila blurted.

  “Bob here’s an assassin, sent to kill Visla Maktan. Only the visla skipped town, so now he’s going to join us, seeing as Maktan wants Ara so bad. Pretty much guarantees he’ll come looking.”

  “And when he does, I shall complete my task,” the Wampeh said.

  “Seriously? He’s an assassin?”

  “It does not make me a bad person. And I can assure you, I mean you no harm.”

  “Great, I feel so much better now,” Leila said sarcastically. “Where are we going, anyway? I don’t see any ships.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. We’re leaving this place another way. And I think you’re going to like it,” Charlie said. “But, Bob, what about you? You haven’t answered me yet.”

  The Wampeh slowed his pace slightly as he contemplated the situation.

  “I had a small craft standing by. However, it was discovered and is now under a restraining spell. I was going to simply steal another ship and its crew if need be once the task was completed, but your option intrigues me, and I can always steal another ship at a later time.”

  “Hang on. How did you fly here? From what I’ve seen, all ships are run by Drooks, but I don’t see you having any partners.”

  “And I do not. Rather, I possess this,” he said, pulling a slender metal rod from a mount on his armlet.

  Charlie had thought it was an integral part of the armlet’s design. Once again, he was proven wrong about something in this strange galaxy.

  “So, you have a metal bar. Awesome.”

  “A metal bar, it seems, but inside is a Drookonus. In layman’s terms, it is a very primitive version of a Magus Stone capable of storing a significant amount of Drook power. Enough to power most smaller craft for weeks at a time. It was a costly item to come by, but has proven its value on many occasions.”

  “So why aren’t you stealing a ship?” Leila asked. “And what about this other option intrigues you?”

  The Wampeh smiled as they approached the darkened clearing. From the shadows, the waiting, enormous, deep red creature rose to her full height. The movement caught Leila’s attention and her eyes went wide as she realized what she was looking at.

  Charlie grinned. “You’re going to love this.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “She speaks?” Leila was flabbergasted.

  “Yes, she speaks. And you really should stop referring to her in the third person,” Ara said with an amused sparkle in her golden eyes.

  “I––sorry. It’s just, I––”

  “Yes, I imagine it can be a little bit overwhelming. Are you going to be all right? Charlie, perhaps a beverage for our friend,” the dragon suggested.

  “No, I’ll be fine. It’s just unexpected is all.” Leila blushed furiously. “Oh, God, I hope I didn’t say anything offensive around you.”

  “Not that I noted,” the Zomoki replied wit
h a toothy grin.

  Charlie showed the blankets they had lugged with them. “Hey, Ara. Do you think these will be good enough?”

  She glanced at the assortment. “Yes, I think for the three of you this should suffice. I will try my best to keep it as comfortable as possible, but it will still be cold.”

  Leila cocked her head like a confused puppy.

  “What will be cold?” she asked.

  “That’s the surprise,” Charlie said. “We’re not flying out of here on a stolen ship. We’re flying out of here on a Zomoki.”

  If it weren’t for the faint green already present in Leila’s skin, she might have looked physically ill. As it was, the plan was certainly not what she’d expected.

  “We’re going to fly on a Zomoki. This Zomoki. And she’s going to fly us in space? Blankets won’t help us, Charlie. I mean, I’ve never made an interplanetary flight, but even I know there’s no air in space. We’ll suffocate before we freeze.”

  The Geist smiled. “And now we arrive at the next part of this discussion,” he said, clearly amused at the girl’s compounding revelations.

  “Ara possesses magic, Leila,” Charlie informed her. “Like, a lot of magic.”

  “But I thought that was just silly legend-type stuff. I mean, sure, there’s been a little bit of reporting in the animalist community on Zomoki with minor power in them, but nothing of any significance. Only crazies believe that.”

  Charlie raised his hand. “Crazy guy, here.”

  “Me as well,” Bawb said, raising his hand aloft, throwing Charlie a conspiratorial wink.

  “Dude, don’t wink at me. It’s kinda creepy.”

  “Apologies. I found it amusing.”

  “It is, but I’ve seen you drink people’s blood before, so cutesy gestures feel a bit wrong, if you know what I mean.”

  “I suppose,” the pale assassin replied, lowering his hand.

  “Excuse me. Let me just clarify for our poor friend before your banter, witty as it may be, only confuses her further,” Ara interjected. “You see,” she said, lowering her head to Leila’s eye level, “I am capable of more than mere flight. I can jump us from planet to planet. Even system to system, given enough preparation time and adequate recovery. But first, I must gain adequate altitude.”

  Leila eyed the supplies they had gathered with fresh eyes.

  “You’re saying we wrap ourselves with blankets and hang on for dear life while you magic us to another planet? Is that it?” she said.

  “More or less. I’ll need Charlie to reduce the efficacy of the visla’s restraint collar in order to breach the enclosure fields surrounding his lands.”

  “You can do that?” Leila asked the human.

  “Yes, he can,” Ara replied. “But once we are clear of those, the collar should pose no problem, unless, of course, Maktan gets within line of sight of us once more, at which point he could activate it again.”

  “So keeping him far away is key.”

  “Ideally, yes. Though our Wampeh friend needs him close to complete his task. But we will address this issue and devise a proper strategy once we are clear of the visla’s estate.”

  “But he can track our collars. Eventually, he’ll find us.”

  “Which is the later part of the plan,” Bawb said with a pointy-fanged smile.

  Leila stepped back, arms crossed. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is not a plan. This is running with no goal in mind, and no idea where we’re even going.”

  “Well, that’s not exactly true,” Charlie chimed in. “We’ll have to make a few stops along the way, but ultimately, we will be traveling to the Balamar Wastelands.”

  The Geist’s eyebrows raised in surprised interest, but he remained silent.

  Leila did some quick mental calculations. “I know of it. My father told me the stories of what happened there. But that system is incredibly far away.”

  “Yes, it is. Hence our requiring multiple jumps to get there. It will take some time, but it can be done,” Ara said.

  “And once we get there, I’ll retrieve the plasma cutter from my ship. If it’s still functional, I think it may be able to slice through the visla’s collars regardless of whatever spells he has on it.”

  “How is that even possible?” she asked. “No magic, save the caster’s release spell, should be able to open a collar.”

  “But we’ve seen technology from my galaxy doesn’t always seem to be affected by the magical rules of this one. If my guess is right, it should cut the metal without any problem. What the spell will do at that point, however, is anyone’s guess.”

  The Geist removed several lengths of rope from their gear. “Wise One, if I may, it would be best for your passengers if we looped a rope around you so as to provide a more secure means of holding on as we soar. With your permission, of course.”

  Ara nodded and lowered herself to make the task easier for the nimble assassin. In just a few minutes a suitable rig had been carefully arranged, the knots lying flat, ornamental in their arrangement, like an unexpected bit of dragon shibari.

  “Shall we?” the Wampeh asked. “I hate to state the obvious, but the longer we delay, the greater our chance of capture.”

  Leila tucked her Magus Stone into her tunic and added a scavenged coat from the pile over her attire, then began hauling blankets atop the Zomoki.

  “Well? What are you two waiting for?” she asked.

  It seemed that once she accepted the situation and made peace with the reality of having to leave her home and family, that old practical efficiency she showed in all aspects of her life kicked back in, and with force.

  “Come on, chop-chop. The sooner we go, the better.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the human replied with a snappy salute.

  Charlie and Bawb shared an amused look and began hauling their gear to the rope harness, tying off the small crates to Ara’s belly and layering the blankets atop the Zomoki’s broad back.

  In less than five minutes they were seated and tied in, bodies pressed close and blankets wrapping them snugly. Charlie sat at the front of the trio, with Leila in the middle and Bawb at the rear. The seating arrangement had very practical reasoning behind it.

  Charlie wrapped a hand around Ara’s collar, gripping it tightly. His other hand wrapped around his own collar.

  “I’m sorry, Leila, but I only have two hands, and I need to focus on Ara and my collars. If the restraining spell takes me out before we’re clear, it’s all for nothing. But you should grab onto my wrist and maybe grab your own collar. If we’re lucky, some of the spell will reduce the power of your collar as well. But I have to warn you, it’ll probably hurt like hell.”

  “Pain I can handle,” she replied, the slight hitch in her voice betraying her confident act.

  “I will not let you fall,” Bawb said from behind.

  “Thanks, Bawb.”

  The Wampeh nodded once.

  “Okay, then. Let’s do this. How high do you think until we hit the boundary of the visla’s containment spell?”

  “I can’t say for sure, Charlie,” Ara replied. “He’s a particularly cautious man, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more than one, arranged in layers. Concentrate on your casting and nothing else. Don’t stop until I tell you.”

  “I won’t.”

  Ara flapped her wings once. “Everyone secure? Then let us waste no further time. Charlie, please begin.”

  The unlikely human wizard loosed the spell in his mind, forming a looping, rhythmic repetition of it as he pulled power from the Zomoki-charged konus. Her collar began to glow as she rose in the air, but Charlie’s spell immediately quashed the reaction, driving the restraining power back into the metal. His own collar, likewise, was entirely cold and unreactive.

  Leila’s began to glow slightly, her connection with Charlie being an indirect one. It burned slightly, and she found herself shifting uncomfortably in the cold air as they rose higher and higher.

  Suddenly, the pain stopp
ed entirely. She leaned forward and it returned. Confused, she leaned back again, and once more it ceased. Carefully, she snaked one hand into the layers of her blankets and coat. The collar was cool to the touch. Then her fingers felt something else. A warm stone around her neck that was just barely in contact with the metal band.

  Her mother’s Magus Stone. It was negating the visla’s spell.

  The stone did hold power, after all. And Leila, it seemed, was becoming increasingly connected to it.

  “Charlie, you may stop. We are above the outer limits of the visla’s reach. Now, hold tight everyone,” Ara said. “This may feel a little bit… odd.”

  The world shimmered and everything went sideways, then, in a flash, the dragon and her passengers were gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  It was rare for the visla to lose control. His entire existence, in fact, was focused on maintaining a carefully calculated appearance to all outsiders. But he was not outside, and those facing his wrath would never speak of it. Not because of loyalty or fear, but because they couldn’t.

  Visla Maktan stepped over the fallen body of the guards he had so brutally dispatched during their interrogation. To fail so completely at their duties, letting not only the Zomoki escape, but also the one man who might be able to control her, had pushed him over the edge.

  Normally, torture was left to his underlings to handle. At least in all but the most exceptional cases. In this instance, however, he had personally squeezed every last ounce of truth from his disgraced men. Then he dispatched them in a multitude of violent ways.

  If not for the soundproofing spell he had cast on the walls and door to the chamber, those waiting outside for their turn to be questioned would have undoubtedly fled, consequences be damned.

  He had been back in his estate barely ten minutes when word reached him. Dinuk was able to have the life of the messenger spared, and he himself was safe, having been off-world with his master. The others, however, were all fair game, and many would not see morning.

  “By hours, you say?”

  “Yes, Visla,” Dinuk replied, his head hung low. “The men who found Denna Maktan said it could not have been more than four or five hours ago.”