The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (e book reading free TXT) 📕

If she took offense at his rough handling, she had no time to complain.

Lady White raised both hands and corruption poured out of her. It reminded Otto of a warrior flexing before a fight to try and intimidate his foe. Compared to the darkness at the guardian’s core, Lady White’s power seemed a weak imitation.

“It’s rising!” the lookout called.

In an explosion of water, what looked like an amalgam of a dead whale, a giant squid, a shark, and a few other random beasts Otto couldn’t begin to recognize burst from the sea twenty feet from the ship. A scattering of burning red eyes all focused on Lady White.

For a moment Otto considered throwing her over the side in the hopes that the beast would spare the rest of them, but he dismissed the idea at once. She was too valuable a potential ally to waste.

“Axel!”

Bows twanged and mithril-tipped arrows soared out, hammering through the creature’s thick hide with ease. The magical metal burned away the corruption around them, but it hardly made a dent.

Now that they were in place, it was Otto’s turn.

He tapped the blade of his sword, connecting his magic to the arrowheads.

Now the hard part.

With every drop of ether at his command, he drove the arrowheads deeper into the demon beast. It thrashed and howled, spraying the ship with water and bits of rotten flesh.

The flesh started moving on deck.

Otto had no power to spare. “Hans! Deal with those things!”

The soldiers hurried out, stabbing the fleshy slugs with their mithril weapons and flinging them overboard.

Otto continued to force the arrowheads deeper.

Only feet separated the tips from the creature’s core.

With a final grunt of effort, he drove them home.

The core dissolved and when it did, the amalgam broke. Pieces of different creatures fell off, splashing into the water until at last the whale corpse that served as the primary body sank out of sight.

Otto blew out a long breath and staggered back to lean against the main mast. At this point, staying on his feet took every bit of his focus.

A moment later Hans was there, slinging Otto’s arm over his shoulder. Corina joined him a second later, taking the other side.

Otto glanced at Lady White. “Join me in my cabin. We still have matters to discuss.”

She gestured at her warbeast to remain behind and trailed along behind Otto and his companions. When he’d settled into his chair and dismissed Hans and Corina she asked, “What do you have in mind?”

“An alliance. You’re clearly no longer welcome in your homeland. Yet having been cast out of the cult, you still retain your power. That makes you useful. Especially your command over undead.”

“As to my power, that comes directly from Lord Astaroth. Unless I displease him, I’ll continue to wield his might. The High Lords are another matter. They rule the Land of the Demon Binders with an iron fist and any failure is severely punished. I may well be the first to escape that punishment. You mentioned the undead before. Why the interest?”

“Before I tell you, I want you to swear an oath on your true name to not betray me, my companions, or the New Garen Empire.”

Her bloodred lips curled up. “You don’t trust my promise?”

“You’re a demon worshipper. No offense, but that doesn’t make you the most trustworthy of allies. But your talents will be useful in what I think will be the final phase of my mission. In exchange for your oath, I give you my word that should your former countrymen come for you, I will be there to help.”

She studied him, clearly uncertain, but equally short on options. While she might survive on her own for a time, eventually that time would be cut short.

At last she said, “I swear on the name Alice Young to not betray you, your companions, or your empire.”

The corruption shifted around her, bands of darkness wrapping around her heart and head. He’d never seen such a reaction. It had to be something to do with her unique nature. He made a note to ask Lord Karonin about it.

“Satisfied? Now will you tell me what you plan?”

“While I have no proof, I believe the next leg of my journey will take me to the Dead Lands. That haunted place is filled with undead. Who better to help me on my journey than someone that worships the lord of the undead? I’d like to drop you off on the coast and have you search for Amet Sur’s capital. I can meet you there once I finish researching the final item’s location.”

“And what’s in this for me?” she asked.

“Safety? A place at my side as an advisor to the second most powerful person in the empire? You’d be surrounded by enough wizards and soldiers that no one would ever dare make a move against you and if they did, they’d be doomed to fail.”

Her smile broadened. “I like the sound of that. Very well, I accept your terms, but I will never call you master.”

Otto smiled back. “As long as you keep your oath and serve my cause, I don’t care what you call me.”

He didn’t add that the first thing he planned to learn was how to use her true name to compel her obedience. Oath or not, she was still a demon worshipper.

Chapter 43

Otto studied the bleak landscape of the Dead Lands. It appeared devoid of life, or unlife in this case. That made the sheltered cove Captain Wainwright selected as their temporary anchorage perfect. Once they escaped Dagon’s guardian, the journey had continued without a hitch. After everything that had happened, no one complained about the stretch of quiet.

At least no one complained to Otto, who spent hours every day hunkered down in his cabin with Lady White learning necromancy. The magic fascinated and frustrated Otto in equal measure. Everything she knew about demons and undead was filtered through the teachings of her cult. Translating that into something useful to a wizard took more time