Glancing to the other man, the Ambassador nods his head and says, “Perhaps you’re right.” Turning back to the stairs leading to the deck above, he moves away from James and the guards follow. As they ascend the stairs, the other man glances back to James just before exiting through the hatch.
When the hatch closes, the hold is once more plunged into darkness.
An hour or so later, he’s not sure exactly as time down in the hold is hard to measure, the hatch again opens and the three guards who accompanied the Ambassador earlier enter and come down the stairs.
They approach James and in the hand of one is a small vial. When the man holding the vial stops near, he holds it out to him and commands, “Here, drink this.”
Not about ready to willingly consume more of the drug, as that is what this must be, he crosses his arms across his chest and clamps his mouth tight.
“As you will,” the guard says. Then he says something to his two companions who grab him. Once they have him tightly secured, the man with the vial comes to him and grabs his hair, pulling his head back.
Keeping his jaws locked securely, James stares at him in defiance.
The guard nods to one of the others who pinches James’ nose closed.
Unable to breath but through clenched teeth, the need to draw in a breath becomes greater and greater. Finally, unable to stop himself, he opens his mouth and a piece of wood is inserted between his teeth to keep him from closing it again.
Then he watches as the man opens the vial and brings it to his opened mouth. He upends the vial and James feels the liquid within begin filling his mouth. Keeping the back of his throat closed, he tries to prevent any of the liquid from going down. But the need to breathe becomes too strong and he starts choking as he takes in a breath and the liquid goes down.
They continue holding him for several more minutes to ensure the liquid has in fact been consumed. Then the man nods to the two holding him who promptly releases him.
James immediately bends over and puts his finger in the back of his throat and vomits out the contents of his stomach all over the hold’s floor.
“That won’t do you any good,” the guard tells him. “It’s already in your system. The drug is very fast acting.”
He looks up at the guards from where he’s doubled over and can tell the guard’s words are true as his mind begins clouding over. Not as bad as the other time, but bad enough to render him incapable of summoning the magic.
As the guards leave, the drug begins taking its full effect. Though his mind is beginning to be fuzzy, he’s at least able to keep conscious. The effect of this drug feels like having a bad fever without the heat.
When the guards have left and the hatch once again closes, the older of the two girls asks, “James, are you okay?”
“Sort of,” he replies.
“What did they do to you?” she asks.
Not bothering to reply, he closes his eyes and leans his head against the side of the ship.
Sometime later, the hatch again opens and the man who was with the Ambassador descends down the stairs. From the diminished light coming in through the open hatch, James figures it to be near dusk.
He notices that the man is carrying a sack in his hand as he comes nearer to him. Stopping several feet from him, he pulls a crate closer and sits down. Upending the sack on the crate next to him, James can see it contains the things which were taken from him.
The man holds up the slug belt and says, “Why do you carry this?”
James smiles and says, “I was given a sling by a friend and find that a handy way to keep the bullets for my sling.”
He puts the belt down, nodding. The next thing he picks up, James almost can’t even see what it is. “And what is the purpose of this?”
Squinting, he tries to make it out in the dim light of the hold. Then recognition hits him when he realizes the man is holding the little round hard object he made with his magic back in Cardri just before losing the ability to do magic.
“Oh that’s a toy,” he says.
“A toy?” the man replies. “I don’t think so. Tell me what it does.”
“Would you like me to show you?” James asks, giggling slightly. The giggle surprises him, it must be the effect of the drug.
“Yes,” the man replies, “I would.”
“Very well,” agrees James. He then opens his mouth and says but one word, “Leech.”
The round sphere pulses slightly and the man is about to say something when he suddenly gasps. “What?” he cries out as he drops the pulsating sphere as if it was a red hot coal.
The confident expression on his face turns to puzzlement as he begins to sense something is not right. “What are you doing?” he asks.
“Doing as you requested,” replies James. “Do you wish to see more?”
Shaking his head, the man pulls out a knife and says, “Stop it now!”
“Very well.” Looking to the sphere he says, “Leech by ten.”
The man doubles over as if in pain, lines begin forming on his face as he starts to gasp. Raising his knife in one hand, he holds his middle with his other as he lurches toward James in an attempt to kill him.
“Leech by a hundred,” James says.
The sphere flashes brightly as the man drops to the floor of the hold and begins writhing. Moaning, he looks to James as his fingers lose their grip on the knife and it flops to the deck when his arm twitches. Shortly after that, he lies still.
“Leech by zero,” he says and the sphere, now the size of a golf ball, stops its pulsing and becomes still. An amber glow comes from it, similar to crystals which contain stored magic.
“Is he dead?” asks the older girl.
He glances over to them and sees all the girls staring at him and the dead man with naked fear in their eyes. Nudging the man’s body with his foot, he nods, “I think so.”
“What did you do?” she asks.
James waves away the question as he takes his foot and snags the dead man’s body with his heel. Dragging him a little closer, he reaches out with his hands and pulls the dead body next to him.
Searching the dead man’s clothes, he finds a set of keys and as luck would have it, one fits the locks of his manacles. He removes first his wrist restraints, then his feet. Glancing up to the open hatch, he fears that someone up there had heard the man’s death. But when no one comes to investigate, he reaches over and picks up the glowing sphere, putting it in his pocket. Taking the rest of his things, he places the slug belt once more around his hip and then gets up, making his way over to the girls in the cage.
“Shhh!” he says, putting a finger to his lips. “We must be quiet.”
“How are we going to get out of here?” one of the other girls asks.
Turning the key in the lock, he says, “I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on being on board a ship.” Opening the door, he lets them out and has them move as far from the hatch as possible. They find a spot behind some barrels of tar to hide.
“Stay there and don’t come out for anything,” he tells them.
The girls just nod, fear on their faces.
Turning back to the hatch, he moves until he’s once more by the cage. Unsure what to do, he stands there in indecision as he ponders his next course of action. His mind still fuzzy from the drug, it’s hard for him to think properly.
He takes out the sphere and absentmindedly rolls it in his hand. When he had originally made the sphere he had only imbued it with a few simple commands. Leech was the first one, which would draw power from whoever it was near thereby infusing it with power for the other commands.
It was intended to use magic in circumstances when he was unable to, such as now. He only put one offensive spell in it and had he known that he was going to be aboard a ship, he never would have used that one.
Staggering slightly from the effects of the drug coursing through his system, he begins moving toward the stairs leading to the hatch. Suddenly from above, the light coming through the hatch is blocked as a guard begins descending down the stairs.