Casters Chapter 1

 

            Chapter 1: Escape The Cell

‘I guess … she was right’ Regan thought to himself as he looked at the last two caster shells he held in his hand. ‘I’m just another pirate, whose luck ran out”

He was relieved to finally have the cuffs off of his wrists but he had hoped he’d be able to disarm and incapacitate the two guards without them getting word to the rest of their troop, but that obviously didn’t go as planned.

Although he had use of his hands again he was still losing quite a lot of blood and his vision was beginning to blur.  The pain that was emanating from his side was sharp and distracting, but the gash on his side, although substantial hadn’t puncture his lungs and he could still breathe normally.

He frantically looked around the cell for some sort of escape route but his searching only made him dizzy. He wrenched over in pain and spewed a mixture of blood, saliva and the little food he had left in his stomach. When he picked his head up the room spun back into focus and took a few seconds to catch his breath and gather his thoughts, which wasn’t easy with that goddamn siren going off.

‘Think, shit head, think. You can’t die here, you can die today, you can even die on this air ship but you can’t die like a rat in this fucking cell…think.’ His mind raced he knew he only had a few more seconds before the first squad of guards got to his room and then the electrocutions would follow pretty soon after that.

He looked down again at the shells he clenched in his fist. They were silver capped which meant they were at least a decent quality of spells, he rolled them over and deciphered the etchings on the back of them. One was a water spell the other was duplication. He knew that he had to be more clever than strong in this situation in his current state he didn’t have the luxury of maxing out his aura like he usually did. He had to be smart on this one.

He took the duplication shell in his left hand and gripped it as tight as he could. Instantly his veins began to enlarge and constrict as if something was pumping through them. The convulsions made their way up his left arm and to his shoulder where it seemed to coagulate and morph into a growth. This bizarre vital substance began to pour out of his shoulder and on to the floor next to him. It was silver in color and it moved on its own. It suddenly began to bubble and build upon itself until it resembled a human figure the same dimensions of Regan who stood next to the silver manikin.

Suddenly the figure began to morph into an identical clone of the man who had just summoned it, and astonishingly there stood two Regans in the same place there had only been one just a moment before.

The real Regan positioned himself at the blindside of his cell door while his doppelganger remained in the place he was summoned. Regan didn’t have enough aura at his disposal to make his clone move let alone fight, but that was fine because all he needed was for him to be the bait. Regan clenched the water shell in his left hand instantly his right arm while keeping its shaped became liquid. Regan was only able to transmute his right arm up to his elbow, he was exhausted and well aware that he was only going to get one shot at this. He took to a crouching position and awaited the eminent attack.

A few seconds later the cell door swung open and eight armor clad guardsmen swiftly entered the room. They were all equipped with electro whips which they quickly ensnared around the torso and arms of the alloy clone. A vicious wave of electricity surged forth from each whip crippling the already helpless decoy. When their victim finally fell to his knees the guardsmen watched as their capture dissolved back into the silver liquid that it originally was. At the moment Regan knew that he had his chance and that he had to put every bit of aura that he had into attacking the guards.

With his right fist aimed at them Regan unleashed a massive torrent of water so powerful that the eight men were pinned against the wall for a brief moment. The attack had taken them by surprise and given Regan a chance to escape. He immediately grabbed one of the abandoned electro whips and a cape off of one the guardsman to wrap around his torso. Regan hoped that the cape would at least soak up some of the blood even if it could not hinder the bleeding.

Regan sprinted out of the cell and began to make his way down the long hallway. At the end of his path a man with a scarred face and a stringy black hair rounded the corner with a troop of a dozen guards at his back. Regan kept his right arm positioned behind his back

‘I knew you had some fight in you boy. You might just be a pirate but you’re a tough little shit you know that.’ Sneered the scarred man

‘I’m a tough little shit because I’m a pirate Sir Ravenbane’ Regan shot back at his pursuer.

‘You know I think I might even enjoy this more the second time around’ Ravenbane spat ‘Boys have at him !’

With that order, Ravenbane and his men charged directly at Regan with overwhelming numbers. Regan immediately revealed his fist from behind his back and even though he was exhausted and in terrible pain he was able to muster enough aura to shoot a stream of water soaking the floor of the hall way.

Although the guards were surprised by this peculiar attack, Ravenbane’s roar of “Make him a bloody corpse!” rallied them to pursue their prey even more intently.

However their eyes widened and their stomachs dropped when they saw Regan reveal his stolen electro whip. Quickly they all realized that they had walked right into his trap and all they could do was slip and fall over themselves at they tried to sprint back in the other direction.  Regan grit his teeth and raised the whip high above his head and with a mighty crack the entire corridor was illuminated.

The horde of guard was struck with a current of white lightning. Regan’s pursuers lay face down in the water incapacitated. Regan wasted no time to examine his work, he quickly used the butt of his whip to pry open an overhead vent. He climbed through and found shelter in the ventilation system, he stayed there for a few moments catching his breath and deciding his next move. Usually he was quite good at dealing with things in the moment but right now he couldn’t get her face out of his head. The cold stare she gave him as she confessed her treachery and the wink she left him with while she walked out of his cell.

Regan had spent his whole life around cut throats, thieves and murders and he was respected amongst all of them ( company that is not so easily won over). He prided himself as great judge of character, and for the most part he was, but something about this girl, this princess , this traitor always fooled him and always kept him chasing her.

Underneath him he could hear guards racing up and down the hallways searching for him. He knew he could stay there and catch his breath, it would be hours before they even thought to check the vents. Viceroy Calis’ guards were well equipped but not the shrewdest of warriors.

He took a deep breath and tried to swallow some of the regret and anger that was swimming around in his stomach. He knew he had to get to the launch bay and find himself a skybike; if he could do that no one could catch him on the winds even if he was leaking like a faucet. Once he got off this ship he could cruise to the island of Arthana which was his only refuge in the Southeast Province, and the rendezvous point he and Kavil had discussed three nights prior. They had a feeling that things might turn sour the night they arrived in Merek, it was busy port full of old enemies and nosey bounty hunters looking for a good prize.  Whenever they went to a place like Merek they always had a contingency plan ready just in case they had to make a quick escape and got separated. Usually it was the intervention of some law keeper or upstart pirate band trying to make a name for themselves by taking on the infamous Silver Wings, but he never thought that they would be sold out by one of their own.

The ventilation shaft was small, dark and especially cold. Regan peered down the seemingly endless path of darkness that was lined with a few perforated rays of light, displaying the individual vented portals in the distance. His situation looked bleak but this was by no stretch of the imagination the first time that Regan found himself in a dire situation. When he was fifteen he and his uncle fended off a pack of ferocious khyberwolves for three days and three nights, while they were stranded in the Aurane Jungle.

Khyberhounds were infamous for being tenacious hunters; their hides were tough as steel and their fangs could even shred through the iron skin of a Titan. It was very rare for a pair of men, even if they were skilled casters, to survive an encounter with a hoard of these legendary predators. Regan and his uncle survived those nights not by their fighting prowess alone, but with shrewdness and clarity of mind.

Regan thought back to those nights now. He remembered every close call, every near death encounter with those steely fangs and claws. It had been many years ago but when he closed his eyes he could still hear his uncle’s voice whispering to him, “Your enemy may pin your back to the wall, but your never cornered as long as you have your wits Regan. We are survivors, our entire family that’s what we’ve always been, survivors.”

These words echoed in his head, as he clutched his right side. By now the pain was beginning to subside and the bleeding even began to lessen. Regan finally had some strength back and he had some time now to devise a plan of action. However the more he tried to form his thoughts the faster he fell into crippling despair. Regan couldn’t shake the nagging sense of disappointment he had in himself. The fact that he could be so foolish be so easily betrayed by Alicor and abandoned by Liora. Worst yet he got himself captured and now he had no way of knowing if his crew was safe or not. His sisters Runa and Riari, his first mate Kavil and their navigator Kit could all very well be locked in a cell somewhere, or worse dead.

This tempest of emotion clouded his judgment and dulled his usually razor sharp intellect. This was the first time since The Night of Black Fire that Regan felt so helpless, the same night his parents died and he fled East Alvia with his sisters. Since that night he vowed he would become stronger and never let anything hurt them. They were the only family he had left and he had to do whatever he could to find them.

‘You have to get back to the girls.’ Regan muttered to himself. He knew there was no more time to waste on self pity; he had to find a way off this flying fortress. Regan knew that without Riari’s caster shells he wouldn’t be able to fight his way out of this predicament. Regan leaned over to his stomach and began to crawl down the cramped, dark ventilation shaft. He knew his only chance of escape was to somehow slip in amongst the ranks of the guards and disguised he could wait for the opportunity to hijack one of the skybikes in the hanger.

This wasn’t the first time Regan had to conceal himself amongst his enemies; nevertheless these schemes always came with a great deal of danger. He would have to rely on all the stealth and deception that he possessed to escape and find his family.