Unspeakable Secrets The Alchemist Series (A Dark Medieval Progression Fantasy)

Chapter 72 Exalted One

"Captain," Erik said.

"Yes, milord?" the captain asked, casting wary glances at the wyverns flying above them and atop the cliffs.

"I should be able to handle them without any issue now," Erik said, "but set a watch just the same. I don't want any more surprises."

"Aye, milord," said the captain.

The captain stalked off and barked orders while Erik took a moment to recover. He pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose as he took in deep, steadying breaths.

The events of last night swirled in his mind like a storm as sailors around him hacked at wood with enchanted axes and cleared the tattered remnants of once mighty ballista with enough noise to raise Erik's dull headache into a pounding throb at the back of his skull.

Then, it stopped, the men falling utterly silent.

What now? Erik thought bitterly as he opened his eyes.

The sailors were all staring at him. Their eyes were glassy and vacant as axes and other tools hung limp and forgotten in their hands. They walked toward him. Their movements were stiff as though they were being jerked by invisible strings.

To a man they seemed to forget to blink as they drew closer, forming a loose ring around him.

Erik swallowed hard, his skin prickling with apprehension as he recognized the spell. He bowed low to the glassy-eyed sailors.

"Exalted one," Erik said.

"My divinations produced most unsettling results this morning," said the sailor in front of him.

"Explain," said the sailor behind him.

Erik whirled to face the sailor behind him and tried to think of where to start as several of the sailors looked around the ruined ship as though viewing it for the first time.

"I... we ran into trouble. A sea serpent, storm wyverns, and gorger fish," Erik said, the words falling over one another in a tumble, "It was all I could do to fight off the serpent and preserve what remained of the ship when I was done."

The sailors sneered.

"Forget the ship," said, a sailor to his left.

"What of the children?" said the sailor to his right.

Erik swallowed hard around the lump in his throat.

"I... they were lost at sea..." Erik said limply, "One of the sailors saw them go overboard. The gorger fish left nothing to find."

The sailors stared at him. Dark frowns adorned their faces as glassy eyes stared at him without blinking.

"You lost the children?" they said in unison as though they couldn't believe what they were hearing. The ship groaned as the air hummed with power.

"I did everything I could. They escaped and then—" Erik began.

"You allowed them to escape and then you lost them?" said the captain, his face twisted with rage.

"I—" Erik began.

A sharp mental spike went straight through his wards like they weren't even there and pierced deep into his mind like a dagger being driven through his forehead with a hammer.

A cold presence radiated through his skull as tendrils of magic scoured his most recent memories with a sensation like jagged spikes of ice scraping over his brain.

Erik screamed and fell to the floor, clutching his head as his body trembled in agony so intense he tasted it. Spots danced in his vision and his head felt like it would explode.