Free War of the Magi: Azrael's Wrath (Book 2) by Joseph Robert Lewis Page B

from a thing of nature to a thing of engineering, a wide-bellied felucca with a narrow stern and a long sharp prow, and from the deck grew two tall, slender masts from which hung a pair of leafy green sails. There were thin cords lashed to the sails, and a pair of oars inside, and a rounded tiller reaching back to a long-tailed rudder.
    Iyasu still wanted to vomit, but instead he croaked out, “It’s beautiful.”
    “Thank you.” Samira stepped aboard and sat down by the tiller as she took hold of the lines to the sails. “Now, we will be much swifter than before.”
    Iyasu stood there and watched Zerai and Veneka board the lovely new vessel, followed by Petra and a moment later the tall figure of the alchemist.
    “Iyasu?” Veneka waved to catch his eye. “Are you ready to go?”
    He looked down one last time at the grass, which had nearly risen completely, and only his keen vision allowed him to see where her head had been, where his toes had dug into the earth, where his hand had held down her hand. He shivered.
    “Yes, please.”

Chapter 6

Veneka
    “Something is wrong.”
    Veneka sat up in the boat and peered at the surface of the lake. The Dusk Leyen had brought them swiftly west and north, and now they sailed across the open water in near silence, with only the soft churning of the waves beneath the felucca’s prow where the waters of the Dawn Leyen mingled to form the mighty Leyen River that would carry them the rest of the way north.
    “What’s wrong?” Zerai sat up beside her.
    The afternoon sun glinted red and gold on the lake.
    “Just a feeling. I have been here before,” she said. “And before, it was more lively. There should be more fish jumping, more frogs croaking.”
    Zerai slapped his leg. “Plenty of bugs though.”
    “More than I remember.” Veneka frowned. “Iyasu, do you see anything amiss?”
    The young seer opened his eyes and peered at her. Slowly, he sat up and squinted over the edge of the boat at the lake. “There’s something in the water. See the shine on the surface? Rainbow stains. Oil, maybe.”
    “Oil?” Bashir raised his head and stared at the youth. “How much? From where?”
    “A lot.” Iyasu sniffed. “And I don’t know.”
    Veneka stood up and felt the soft warm breeze on her skin. “I smell something. Sulfur? Something rotting?”
    “Probably just some dead fish,” Iyasu muttered as he huddled back down in the boat.
    “I don’t see anything,” said Samira from the stern. “I haven’t seen any signs of danger since we set sail.”
    “There is no danger,” the seer said. “Not out there, anyway.”
    Veneka frowned at him.
    What’s gotten into him? He was so broken when he arrived in the city, but these last few hours have been different. He’s… angry.
    I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry before.
    “Wait. I feel something.” Zerai placed his hand flat against the side of the boat and looked up at her. “Do you feel that?”
    “No.”
    A short distance away, the surface of the lake erupted in a fine spray of oily water as dozens of huge bubbles rose up and burst into the air. Everyone spun to watch the mist rise and fall, and the waves churned for a moment before melting back down into the lake.
    And then it was over.
    “What was that?” Veneka shaded her eyes with her hand. “I have never seen that before.”
    “Gas bubbles rising from the bottom of the lake, from rotten trees and fish,” Iyasu said, his eyes still closed as he nestled down under his blanket.
    “That’s no rotten tree.” Zerai pointed to a pale shape in the water.
    Veneka saw the decomposing arm float past them. It was slender and hairless, and a wooden bracelet floated near the wrist.
    A woman’s arm.
    She looked left and right around the lake, instinctively searching for the owner of this lost limb, but she stopped herself.
    It’s been here for days. Maybe weeks.
    “Look there.” Bashir pointed ahead. “More of them.”
    Veneka looked, and then looked