Captain Orin laughed. “Spoken like a man who has suffered a bad hangover once or twice in his life.”

  I laughed. “To be honest, that’s exactly what I feel like.”

  “In that case, make sure you chug some of that bean juice Aba called coffee.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You have coffee?”

  “Aye.” He chuckled. “It’s in that small wooden barrel in the corner. Feel free to take your fill.”

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. Meet me up on the deck when you’re good and ready.”

  Ulrich dropped into a back fighting stance and lifted his arms to a guard position. I nodded once and did the same. He swung with a quick left jab. I sidestepped and rotated my torso so I could gain control of his arm. Ulrich thought he was quick, but I saw his right hook coming from a mile away. He wasn’t bad; he just seemed to lack experience in hand-to-hand combat. Either that or he was holding back. Hmm. I locked his arm, twisted, and got my leg behind his.

  I made to flip him over my shoulder and onto his back, but halfway through the maneuver, the hairs on my arms stood on end as he somehow jumped out of my grip. He landed nimbly a few feet away.

  Not bad.” Ulrich grinned. “Now let’s try for real.”

  Cristof gasped. “Oswald, do you sense that?”

  He nodded. “I do.” He looked up at the sky. “Whatever it is, it’s above us.”

  “It is a bird,” said D’rorthar.

  “What is it?” asked Captain Orin.

  Cristof shrugged. “Not sure. We’re sensing necromantic energy.”

  I squinted at the overcast sky. “I don’t see—” Something was up there. “If you think it’s a bird, I should be able to connect with it. Give me a sec.” I furrowed my brow in concentration as I attempted to connect my mind with whatever was up there. If it was an animal of any kind… “There. But I don’t think it’s a bird.”

  “It looks like a bird?” said D’rorthar.

  A flash of pain disoriented me. I grabbed my head and squeezed my temples. Disgust flooded through me. Flashbacks of a million horrors and pure death washed over my senses. “Not a bird. Definitely not—” I dropped to my knees in utter agony and emptied my stomach all over the deck. I heaved and heaved until there was nothing left.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Ashley.

  I shook my head and gasped for breath. “Target located,” I managed as my stomach heaved once more.

  “Ashley!” bellowed Captain Orin. “Take it down. Now!”

  The air temperature suddenly dropped at least fifty degrees. My puddle of vomit froze into a solid chunk of ice. The deck was next. A solid layer of ice coated almost every surface I could see—including my arms. I looked up in time to see Ashley thrust her hands upward. Then everything went white. A moment later, a burst of air rushed past me as a gigantic column of fire shot into the sky. My connection to the bird was severed. I fell to the deck and landed on my frozen vomit, heaving for breath.

  “Thanks.” I stood. My knees shook. “I couldn’t disconnect my mind from it.”

  “I can explain,” said Cristof. “Your mind touched death. You linked with a bird that had been turned into an undead thrall. Your mind was trapped within the spell.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “How do you know this?”

  Cristof shrugged. “My friend and I are both necromancers. One of the first things you learn about reanimating the dead is to block your mind from its influence. Otherwise, the forces of darkness will invade your mind and corrupt you.”

  Oswald nodded. “It’s a good thing that Ashley cooked it when she did. Had you been exposed much longer, it might have caused lasting damage to you.”

  I looked over to Captain Orin. “While I appreciate that immensely, what made you decide to take it out? Are we afraid of birds?”

  “The birds, not so much,” he said. “It’s what comes after that concerns me.” Somewhere on the ship, a bell began to frantically toll. He sighed. “Case in point.” He turned away and rushed to the staircase. “Avast! We have portals incoming!” No sooner had he said that than a black streak tore in the air and unfurled into what looked like a dark cave entrance. That’s when the donkey-sized spiders began to scurry out toward us. All around us, more portals opened, and all chaos broke loose.

  Out of the frying pan and into the fire…

  Ulrich laughed. “Then trial by fire it is!” He surged forward, sword at his side, and cleaved a giant spider in two as it dropped from the air. Two disgusting halves splattered against the deck, still twitching.

  “I hope your stomach is stronger than Aba’s,” said Cristof.

  Oswald laughed. He drew a small dagger, and before I could stop him, he cut a deep line across his palm. A thick red mist shot out from Cristof. They nodded to each other and rushed forward and thrust their hands toward the carcass. It turned to a thick goo and flowed through the air, absorbing into their palms. They both grinned. If that wasn’t strange enough, they both grew a second set of muscle-corded arms.

  I stood, dumbfounded, as they literally punched spiders out of the air.

  Ulrich cleaved several spiders in half as he charged toward the opposite side of the deck. “We need to get these blasted portals closed,” he grumbled.

  “On it!” yelled Oswald. “Cristof, let’s go!”

  “Don’t get trapped on the other side,” said Ashley. “We’re going to need you both for the next fight.”

  “Understood,” said Cristof. He turned and ran toward Oswald who was just stepping through the portal closest to us.

  “I’ll close this one,” said Ashley. She held out her hand, and a staff appeared in her grasp.

  A gust of wind blew me back a few steps. Several pinpricks of light appeared in front of her. They were dazzlingly bright, like a magnesium flare. I couldn’t believe just how much heat they were putting off. Had I been any closer, I’m sure my skin would have started to peel.

  She thrust the staff forward, sending the miniature flares into the portal before her. Through it, I heard muffled detonations and a lot of people screaming. The portal collapsed.

  “Right,” I said. “I guess I’d best make myself useful.”

  A truck-sized spider lunged out of another portal that had just opened behind Ashley. Instinctive Foresight went off, and it unfolded before me. Without thinking, I tossed up a shield behind the monstrously huge spider. I followed up with another shield in front of it. I focused my will and sent the two shields at each other with as much force as I could muster. It didn’t have time to screech. There was a sickening crunch a moment before half of the deck was covered in slick black ichor and spider guts.

  Ashley turned around, saw the remains trapped between the shields, and nodded once in thanks. Ulrich shook his head and grinned. He turned away, no longer concerned for my well-being. I picked a portal at random and ran at it. Spiders poured out from it. I focused on my fire totem and blasted my way through them like a giant blowtorch Along the way, I hardened my skin with the stone totem. Pebbles flowed like water from the portal and up my feet. Passing through the portal was instantaneous. And apart from the cold chill as my body adjusted to the temperature in the cave I found myself in, I hardly noticed it.

  “Kill him!” screamed a woman on the other side of the cave. Two men jumped down from the stone shelf she stood on and rushed at me, swords held high. I blasted both in the face with a shield. Their limp bodies hit the stone wall and slid down, motionless. A red streak and several cracks in the stone marked their passing.

  “Just you and me,” I said. “You’re fresh out of spiders—” I looked down at the two dead men. “--and minions.”

  She laughed. “You wouldn’t hit a woman, would you?”

  I shrugged. “Not normally, no. But in your case? I’ll make an exception.” I willed the stone skin to harden a bit more, further reducing my movement speed.

  She leveled her staff at me and screamed. A bolt of sickly green lightning closed the gap between us in half of a heartbeat. It slammed into my chest, pushing my feet back. I held my ground.

  I grinned. “Ya know…it seems ironic that you’re facing someone who can control stone, in a cavern made of stone. Don’t you think?”

  She arched an eyebrow and moved to point the staff at me again. I reached out to the stone totem and sent my will into it. Five shards of razor-sharp wrist-thick stone exploded from the ground all around her. She gasped and looked down at the shards that had impaled her.

  “It’s not…fair.” Her breath wheezed out as blood began to run from her mouth. She slumped against the shards. I released my Stone Skin augment and made a beeline for the quickly closing portal. As I ran, I pulled as many stone shards as I could from the ground. They began to orbit me in a dizzying array of broken stone, keeping pace as I covered ground. The portal flashed past me and popped shut as my feet hit the blood-slick wooden deck of the ship.

  The smaller of the spiders, basketball-sized, were swarming up the mast and the upper deck. I sent my swarm of stone shards zipping through them and back to me. They made quick work of anything that got in their path. Jeez…that’s a bit overpowered. Almost feels too easy. Something heavy slammed against my back, dropping me to my hands and knees. I tried to fight it, but my hands slipped on the blood-covered deck. And then, to my dismay, my face was in it. I swallowed hard to keep from a new wave of dry heaving. The weight on top of me wasn’t helping matters any.

  I used Stone Skin again. The shards fell to the deck all around me. Some of them shattered and absorbed into my skin. Apparently, I couldn’t keep both spells going at the same time. Good to know. I reached out to the clay and called on my flames.

  “You’re too new to be tossing that kind of fire around on my ship,” hollered Captain Orin. “Find another way.” I let go of my mental hold on the clay totem. Around me, the chaos continued. And above me, the spider kept stabbing at me with a long taloned appendage. It wasn’t doing any damage—yet. But with every hit, I could feel the stone skin weakening. And with every passing moment, I was growing more and more frustrated.

  I formed a shield between the giant spider and my stone-covered body. That would buy me some time. The spider must have realized what I’d done because it screeched and brought in a few more arms to stab at me. The staccato-sounding machine-gun fire of stabby limbs breaking my concentration repeatedly finally got to me.

  “Enough!” I screamed. I fired the shield upward away from the deck, sending the spider airborne. Thirty feet straight up. It flailed its limbs as it tumbled end over end. I dropped the Stone Skin spell and pulled on the shards all around me. I blasted it in the ass with everything I had and then fired another shield at an angle sending all the spider bits into the ocean. I got onto my feet, shoulders heaving. It was a few moments before I’d realized that the fighting had stopped and everyone stared at me slack jawed. “What?”

  “That was mighty fine work there, Jack.” Captain Orin grinned. “And I appreciate you not turning the Swordfish into a bonfire. I think you’ll fit right in with the crew.”

  “Thanks.” I brushed off my clothes and looked around. The fight must have wound down while I was on my back and in the cave. “What now?”

  Captain Orin laughed. “Now’s the time for the crew’s favorite pastime.” He cupped his hands to his mouth. “Swab the decks!” He turned to me. “You don’t get out of it either. Cleanup is everyone’s responsibility.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. “Where do I find the cleaning supplies?”

  “I’ll show him,” said Ulrich. “I need to grab mine anyhow.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “That was impressive,” said a woman as she walked by. She looked at Ulrich. “He’s got potential, pretty boy.”

  “She’s right. That was pretty impressive.” He opened a nearby door. It was full of makeshift mops and buckets that showed plenty of use.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  “Katrina,” he said. “She’s a friend.” He chuckled. “I was glad when we were doing the hand-to-hand combat that you handled me pretty well. But the way you took care of those critters was downright impressive.”

  “Thanks. You aren’t too bad yourself. And your sword work is absolutely incredible.”

  He handed me a mop and a bucket. “Thank you. Years of training with my teachers.” He grinned. “Your hand-to-hand technique was different than anything I have ever seen. Where did you learn that?”

  I grinned back. “Years of training with my teachers.”

  He laughed. “Fair enough.”

  We cleaned the deck of all the bodies and blood. I, of course, cleaned up the remnants of my breakfast. Ulrich introduced me to many of the crew and taught me some things about ship life. We sailed for a good portion of the day until someone yelled, “Land ho!” from the crow’s nest.

  “Won’t we be seen?” I asked.

  Captain Orin grinned. “This far out, it won’t be an issue. And with the sun to our backs, we won’t be seen until it’s too late.”

  I looked over the deck railing at the sun. It would set in a few hours. I nodded. “Understood.” I pulled my new wand out of my inventory.

  Captain Orin arched an eyebrow. “What’s that ya got there, Jack?”

  “My new wand,” I said. “I haven’t used it yet.”

  His eyes widened. “You haven’t claimed its power?”

  I shook my head. “Hasn’t been time. I was supposed to after I left De León.”

  “I see.” He looked around for a moment and nodded. “Now’s as good a time as any.” He cupped his hands to his mouth. “Brace for blast wave!” He gestured at me to go ahead.

  Ulrich, Ashley, Cristof, Oswald, Katrina, and several other crew members gathered around. Many braced themselves to the rails. Ashley simply stood there, unconcerned.

  I looked down at the burlap-wrapped wand. I could feel the energy calling to me. I reached for the bit of yarn holding the wrapping in place. My hands shook as I pulled the string and revealed a beautiful mahogany wand about eighteen inches long. I dropped the wrapping and grasped the wood. The tingling sensation intensified. For a moment, it felt like I was holding a high-tension power line.

  I felt myself leave the ground as my body floated a few inches from the deck. A blast of air exploded out from me. People gasped, gripping the railings tighter. Ashley stood there, grinning—apparently unaffected by the sudden blast.

  The power flowed up my arms. I became keenly aware of many runes up and down the wand. And energy sizzled between them through the spiderweb of sub-connections rooted in the wand.

  I felt my feet touch the deck and grinned.

  “How’s it feel?” asked Ashley.

  “Incredible,” I said. “Indescribable.”

  She giggled. “When you find the right gear, it’s always like that.”

  “I like it,” I said.

  “May I?” she asked.

  I nodded and handed her the wand. She examined it closely, turning it end over end several times. She closed her eyes and smiled. “This is a very special wand, Jack.” She handed it back to me. “It focuses mainly on improving elemental magic.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “Apparently, I’m an elemental shaman. This should help me with all of the elements.”

  She nodded and smiled. “Yup! Whoever made that wand must be really good.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She’s incredibly talented.”

  “Make sure you take care of that,” she said. “And practice lots!” She grinned and ran off toward the lower decks.

  I stood at the railing, admiring the wand Mrs. Lennard had made me. I reached for the water rune in the wand, and it instantly responded. I pulled a swirl of water from the ocean and focused it into a ball. It floated before me, spinning lazily in the air.

  “You all right?” asked Ulrich.

  “Yeah,” I said. I released my hold on the water and let it splash back into the ocean. “Just thinking about a few things.”

  “I’m here if you want to talk about it,” he said.

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.” I pushed off the railing. “Let’s go find some food.”

  Ulrich nodded. “Great idea. I’m starved after that last fight.”

  “It looks bad,” said Ashley. “Almost as if they’re expecting us…”

  “I don’t think so,” said Ulrich.

  “Why do you say that?” asked Katrina.

  “It’s the way they are pointing,” I said.

  “Right.” Ulrich pointed off in the distance. “The way their camp is laid out. If you look there, they are guarding from farther inland. And the way their equipment is set up, that’s the direction they’re preparing to march. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it was a pincer attack. They will march up on Taenaran’s group from behind while they’re already engaged in a much larger force to the front.”

  Captain Orin nodded. “I have to agree with the young prince. His eye is keen, and his strategic sense is as sharp as a blade’s edge.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Ashley.

  “I say we hit them hard and fast,” said Katrina. “Take them by surprise.”

  Ashley nodded. “I can probably take out most of them from here.”

  Cristof shook his head. It would be better if we preserved as many of the bodies as possible.”

  “I agree,” said Oswald. “We can use that against the larger force farther inland.”

  Ashley frowned. “If that’s the case, then explosions and any of my heavier spells are off the table.”

  “What about you, Jack?” asked Captain Orin. “What’s your input on all of this?”

  I frowned. “I’m not so sure my ideas would hold much water. I don’t have a lot of experience working in a large group of magic-based allies.”

  Captain Orin held up a hand to quiet me. “Come now, Jack—let’s hear what you have to say anyhow.”

  “Well, I might have one feasible idea.” I turned to Cristof and Oswald. “How much time would two you need to be able to convert the bodies into something useful?”

  Oswald shrugged. “A couple of minutes maybe? Why?”