The Long Journey Home (The Legend of Vanx Malic Book 8) Read Online Free

“Should I have a longboat loaded?” he asked. “How many are going, and for how long. It looks like a pretty big island.”
    “Can you cast spells beyond those of your current station?” Vanx asked.
    “A few,” Castavonti answered unsurely. “I mean, a few light spells and a protective ward or two; my kinetic pulses have a little thump to them still. I think. At least when I’m rested, they do. I can cast a handful in a day.”
    “It’ll have to do.” Vanx gave him a forced grin. “We will need you to help detect the exact location of what we are after and slip the wards if there are any.”
    “Ronzon, you’ll stay on board with Chelda Flar. Someone go fetch Master Ruuk. He, Zeezle, the sea mage, and I are going a questing.”
    “What about your better half?” Zeezle asked, indicating the dog that just came on deck.
    Chelda wasn’t far behind the pooch. She must have heard what he’d said, for her cheeks were an angry shade of red, and she was glaring at him.
    “Master Ruuk,” Vanx called down the spiral staircase, suddenly changing his mind about who should go with them. “Ship or shore? I’ll let you decide.”
    “I’d just as soon stay right here if you don’t mind,” the Zythian replied. He was clearly pleased about this option, for his words held more enthusiasm than anything he’d said since they’d run into the leviathan.
    Vanx had to remember the man had lost his charge, Pexicon, in the battle with the Paragon Dracus. The old Zythian was down there fighting more than sea illness. Grief was an ugly bastard. Thankfully, after singing about a hundred thousand laments, Vanx found that when someone in his world died, he didn’t dwell on the loss but on the good times. He gave them a ballad to live in forever, and that was that.
    “That settles it. Master Ruuk and Ronzon will stay behind and guard the ship. The rest of us will go ashore, so pack the longboat with a few days’ worth of provisions and gear while Zeezle and I map this place.”
    “That’s more like it.” Chelda’s crimson complexion faded back to normal. “Should I put a harness on the pooch?”
    “We have one?” Vanx asked, wondering when they’d have picked up such a thing.
    “I threw it in the pile when you were clearing out our credit at the harbor. I think it is for swine, but Poopsy has gotten fat enough to fill it, if I widen the leg holes.”
    No leash
, Poops barked.
    “Take it with us, in case we have to climb or haul him up a cliff.” Vanx eyed the dog, not seeing any fat on him, but Poops was twice as thick as he was the last time he’d thought about it. “Take plenty of rope, water, and food, too.”
    Vanx darted down into the belly of the
Adventurer
then and returned with a charcoal pencil, some parchment, and his lodestone compass.
    “Get comfortable, Zee,” he called up to his oldest friend. “Once we are close, I’ll be asking you to estimate all sorts of distances and elevations.”
    “Aye, Capt’n Vanxy,” Zeezle joked, as he dismissed Ronzon from the rigging to go help Chelda load the longboat. “Don’t forget to put some bedrolls on that tub,” he told the seaman. “Not all of us have a four-legged heater to keep us warm at night.”

Chapter Six
    Some things are hard to find, my friend
,
    some places hard to go
.
    There’s a reason, most like, they’re so obscured
,
    because no one’s supposed to know
.
    T he island was roughly shaped like a bean and resembled the wizard’s map enough that Vanx had his bearings pretty quickly. The lee wasn’t in the natural curve, where sandy white beach met coral-green sea, but at its opposite side on the southern, slightly larger end. There was a cut in a steep rise there, and a less graded, lightly wooded area to land the longboat a few oar strokes away.
    Even though the beach looked to be most optimal from the map and the terrain’s perspective, anchoring in the lee protected the ship. Vanx was already spying, with the short glass, a path