The HaRT Knight Decaverse

Heir of Magic

Chapter 01

Magic Fury

The two trireme ships met in a violent collision as the thirty-foot waves of the enraged ocean smashed them together, almost seeming eager to get the battle started. The howl of the wind and the roar of thunder drowned out the clash of metal and the screams of dying men. An arc of lightning illuminated the battle and transformed the horrible scene into a terrifying chiaroscuro. Men and ugly disfigured creatures slaughtered each other on the decks of The Golden Spear and The Shark's Maw.
As the battle raged on below, Alexander, the prince of the fallen kingdom of Tír na Angelus, watched from above, holding on to The Golden Spear's mast. The rain plastered his white tunic to his body and the wind whipped his dark brown hair in several directions. Another bolt of lightning flashed and for a split second, the warriors from both crews looked up at him. He grinned down at his audience before he leaped through the air, grabbed a rope, and swung across to the pirate vessel he and the crew of The Golden Spear had been hunting for the last year.
As he landed in the middle of The Shark's Maw and her crew, Bibi, a large cevarion man with the head of a fox yelled, “Alex! What the bloody Tartos are you doing?”
The pirates were abominations, men and women who had been genetic altered due to excessive exposure to unstable thaumaturgic energy. Their bodies were asymmetrical, crooked, and covered in hard, ugly tumors, but were otherwise human. They snarled at Alexander like feral beasts before they closed in on him. The prince drew his two leaf-shaped swords and black blood flew in all directions as he sliced and stabbed through their ranks with speed and accuracy gained from years of hard and obsessive training.
The sudden appearance of the tornado of death in the middle of their ranks caused chaos to break out amongst the pirate crew, and The Golden Spear's warriors began to overwhelm them.
“Alexander you fool, you could have gotten yourself killed with a stunt like that!” Bibi's scream came from somewhere in the chaos.
“You lot were getting in my way! I needed some room to move,” Alexander said as he cut down another three abominations with a fluent and flawless combination of attacks.
A fourth pirate caught him by surprise from behind. He would have run Alexander through with his ugly triangular spike of a sword if not for the spear that exploded through his throat.
“What have I told you about banter in the middle of a fight?” asked Aenor, the captain of The Golden Spear and the only human among the crew tall enough to look Alexander in the eyes. He pulled his spear free and struck out like a viper to kill two more Abominations.
“Yeah, I know,” Alexander said. “Speak loud and enunciate so you can have a laugh too.”
“Exactly, that's not asking too much, now is—” Aenor cut off as a bone chilling roar came from behind them.
The pirate crew made way for their captain, an eight-foot-tall cevarion with the head of a shark. Captain Sharktooth—as uninspired as that name was—was the biggest plague the oceans had ever known. For years now, his organized fleet of pirates had made it impossible for anyone to travel the waters between the Steredenn Islands, Svartalgard, and Primoris.
“Aenor, you again,” Sharktooth said in a snarl as he used his massive ax to cleave in two an Abomination who did not get out of his way fast enough. “I'm tired of you and your crew harassing me.”
Alexander gave the cevarion a gentlemanly bow in greeting. “I wouldn't worry about it, Sharky. Tonight's the last time we'll ever meet.”
“Ah, and the golden boy of The Golden Spear, what is it they call you? Alex Twin Blade.”
“Yeah, and what is it they call you? Prince of puddles, the disgusting duke, fish fuc—?”
Sharktooth swung his ax at Alexander who danced out of the way, and the blade to sank into the wooden deck. The cevarion held up his massive hand to reveal the ugly signet ring on his pinkie finger. “I am the Lord of Oceans, you insolent whelp!”
“What? That's a terrible name. Oh well, it doesn't matter, I guess. After tonight, the only thing they'll call you is dead.” To Aenor, Alexander said, “Captain, can I have him?”
“Fine, but this is your birthday gift,” Aenor said.
“Well it's about time, my birthday was three months ago,” Alexander complained as his captain turned his back on him to continue slaughtering the pirate crew.
“You dare mock me!” The cevarion pirate captain gave a beast-like roar and flew at Alexander much faster than he had thought the giant bulk of his opponent capable of. Sharktooth brought his giant ax down and the prince jumped back just out of the way.
As the Lord of Oceans chased after his prey with a relentless series of attacks, Alexander focused on finding a rhythm to the cevarion's fighting style. Though style might be the wrong word for this berserker rage, he thought. But there seems to be a crude rhythm to it. Now he'll try to take off my head followed by a sweep at my legs. Slice left. Slice right. Diagonal. Thrust with the spike at the top of the ax. Vicious horizontal swing.
Unfortunately, Alexander had been so focused on dodging and working out Sharktooth's attacks, that he had forgotten to keep his environment in mind. At the very moment of the predicted horizontal swing, his back hit the mast of The Shark's Maw. Unable to leaped back, he chose the only other direction that would leave him with all his body parts still attached and whole. Like a puppet with cut strings, he dropped to the ground. The ax blade sliced off a good three inches of his hair before it embedded itself halfway through the mast.
But with the ax stuck, Alexander had the opening he had been waiting for. He tucked and rolled beneath the pirate's legs before he uncoiled like a spring and shot up to his knees. He delivered two cuts to the back of the cevarion's right leg and Sharktooth went down to one knee.
Alexander leaped to his feet and pulled several strands of hair forward to examine them. “No wonder you're a pirate. You make one shit barber. This is way more off the top than I would have liked.” He shrugged. “But I suppose it's better than taking off the entire top.”
Sharktooth went berserk. In the same time it took a lightning bolt to finish its journey from the heavens to the top of The Golden Spear's mast, the cevarion mountain of muscle had forced himself to his feet, pulled free his ax, and swung it with all the force his bulk could manage. Alexander ducked, but apparently, he had not been the only one to study his opponent's movements. The pirate let go of his ax, letting it fly into the ranks of his pirates, and grabbed a hand full of brown hair.
“Got you,” Sharktooth gloated, and he slammed Alexander's head into the structurally weakened mast his ax had occupied a second ago.
There was a loud crack and Alexander bounced off the pole and onto the slick deck. Oh, I hope that was wood and not bone, was the only coherent thought he could manage. With some effort of will, he forced his blurred vision to snap back into focus. The first thing he saw was Sharktooth kicking the back of the mast and sending it onto Alexander's chest. This time he had no doubt that the cracks that followed came from bones. He coughed and tried to lift the log off himself, but even though he possessed above average strength because of his magic lineage, he only managed a few inches before Sharktooth slammed his boot on top, forcing the full weight of the mast back onto his chest.
“All right. All right. I'm sorry,” Alexander wheezed. “You'd make a good barber, okay.”
Sharktooth pulled a dagger from his boot and leaned in closer as he said, “Tell your jokes to the Shepherd King when he herds you to the afterworld.”
Well, this is unfortunate, Alexander thought as Sharktooth's dagger winked at him. There's so much I still needed to do. I'm only a few months away from Thaumaturgic maturity and being able to begin my magic training. Now there'll be no one to stop my uncle Cain. No one to make him answer for his crime of destroying all of Tír na Angelus and her people.
Sharktooth grabbed a hand full of hair and pulled Alexander's head back. The cold metal of the dagger pressed against his neck and he stared out helplessly at the crew of The Golden Spear, hoping someone might still save him. But they were all too busy. The abominations were overrunning them. The tide had turned once again when the lightning bolt had set the ship that had been his home for the last sixteen years on fire. And yet, despite the hopelessness of that moment, the only thing Alexander experienced was curiosity. In the middle of the chaotic battle, being ignored by everyone, was a woman, taking it all in with her extraordinary blue eyes. She turned on the heels of her laced leather boots and looked him right in his eyes. She seemed so familiar, and yet he could not place her. Nor did he understand why the sight of her caused him to experience such overwhelming feelings of dread. She smiled at him and winked, and then, she vanished.
“Hey, fish-breath,” Aenor said seconds before Sharktooth's own giant ax hit him square in the chest.
The cevarion dropped his dagger and caught the ax's haft, stopping the blade half an inch into his skin.
“Impressive, few humans could lift this let alone swing it,” Sharktooth said.
“Sounds like you have quite a lot of distaste for humans,” Aenor said.
“Actually, I find you delicious,” the cevarion said, licking his lips.
“Alex, you okay down there?” Aenor asked.
“Other than the fact that I just shit myself because I saw a shark lick its lips—I'm peachy,” Alexander groaned beneath the weight of the mast.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get Bibi to change you once this is over,” Aenor said. “But unfortunately, I’m going to have to take back your birthday gift.”
Sharktooth took a swipe at Aenor's head, but the captain of The Golden Spear made a pirouette out of the way and slashed out with his spear, leaving a vicious cut beneath the pirate's eye. He pulled his spear back, twirled it around his neck, and thrust it at his opponent's already injured leg. The injury Alexander had given Sharktooth slowed him down just enough for the spear to slice through the inner thigh, missing the artery by inches.
This was the last straw for the cevarion. He screamed at the top of his lungs and rushed at Aenor, ignoring the spear the other man thrust through his shoulder. Sharktooth collided with the other man and lifted him into the air before slamming him back down onto the deck with enough force to break the wooden planks.
No, Alexander thought as he went ice cold. He renewed his struggle to free himself from beneath the fallen mast, but still couldn't make it budge. He was trapped, forced to watch in horror as Sharktooth sat on top of Aenor and rained down blow after blow from his massive fists.
After Cain had killed Alexander's mother, Aenor had taken him in and dedicated himself and his entire crew to help him in his education and training. They had all become like his family, an entire ship of friendly uncles and aunts with the captain as his surrogate father. I was too weak to save my mother. I had to watch as she died because I couldn't do anything to stop it. I'm not losing a father as —
The thought died out as horror caused Alexander's mind to go blank. Sharktooth had gotten up and picked up his ax once more. He stood over the bleeding Aenor who was coughing up blood as he struggled to his hands and knees.
“No, not again,” the unbidden words fell from Alexanders lips.
He struggled desperately against the weight of the mast and his insides wanted to tear themselves apart out of frustration. The ax fell with a swish and stopped with a hollow thump.
All the warmth drained out of Alexander as the head of Captain Aenor of The Golden Spear rolled across the deck. The frustration and pain vanished along with everything else. For a moment, he felt empty. But then, deep in the abyss that now filled him, there was a spark of something. He embraced it and suddenly the void overflowed with fire, energy and rage.
What had been beyond his ability a second ago, Alexander now achieved with minimal effort. He flung the mast off him with one hand as he rose to his feet. The surrounding air crackled and red and blue sparks danced around him. His eyes fell on Sharktooth and the flames of rage inside him stirred. A wave of magical energy shot out from him and a ripple ran through reality. It raced across the waters and calmed the waves. It struck the clouds above and opened a hole to reveal the moon and stars. Alexander's body reacted on its own. His right hand shot up behind him and several lightning bolts fell from the sky and into the palm of his hand. He grabbed hold of the energy that writhed like snakes in his grasp. Wielding it like a sword, he sliced through the air and a wall of blinding white light raced forward, incinerating everything it touched. It burned through the hull of The Shark's Maw, consumed the abominations in its path, and slammed into Sharktooth, tearing him in two and reducing half his body to ash. As the remaining half of the cevarion's body fell forward, the wall of light dissipated like a reverse waterfall into the sky.
The anger and power that had filled Alexander vanished, and with them, the last of his energy. His vision blurred and his knees hit the deck of the newly bifurcated ship. The storm he had interrupted with his magic fury returned with a vengeance. Gale force winds rushed in and swept several people overboard. The rain fell harder than ever, making it impossible to see or hear what was going on. The ocean waves grew so tall they seemed to scrape the bottoms of the clouds.
A blurred figure fell to its knees before Alexander and said something he could not make out. There was only one thought that kept repeating itself as the massive wave lifted the two ships into the sky. It happened again. I couldn't stop it from happening again.
The blurred figure grabbed hold of him and the next moment chaos ruled the world before darkness swallowed it whole.