James glanced around and found himself a rock that was large enough to have some heft, but small enough to hold. He reared back and threw it as hard as he could at the remaining creature. It too had started to make the hooting noise, which James took to be a summoning call. The rock smashed the monster in the face, interrupting the summoning.
“Jazhara!” James shouted. “If you’ve got anything left to deal with that thing, use it now before it calls yet another of its kind.”
Jazhara said, “I have one trick left to try!”
She pointed her staff and a ball of flames erupted from the tip. James and Solon both turned aside as it flew between them, for they could feel its blistering heat. The fire went unerringly to the creature and surrounded it. The flames suddenly turned bright green, and the creature vanished from sight.
Instantly the winds ceased.
Slowly, Kendaric stood up. Looking around as if expecting another attack, he said, “What were those things?”
Jazhara said, “Air elementals, I believe, though I’ve never seen them before. My mentors claimed things like that once attacked Stardock.”
James nodded. “I’ve heard that story from Gardan. If they touch fire, water, or earth they’re consumed.”
Kendaric nodded vigorously. “I hope to the gods that’s the last we see of them!”
Solon said, “Someone doesn’t wish us to raise that ship.”
“All the more reason to raise it before whoever set those guardians over the ship returns,” observed Jazhara.
“But which ship?” asked Kendaric.
Solon said, “You’re a slab-headed fool. That one!” He pointed.
“How do you know?” asked Kendaric.
James laughed. “Because that’s the one those elementals were guarding!”
Solon closed his eyes for a moment. “And I sense something down there, as well.”
“What?” asked the wrecker.
“What we’ve come here to recover,” replied the monk.
“Very well,” said Kendaric. “Let me have the scroll.”
Jazhara set down her backpack, and opened it. She reached in and withdrew the scroll she had been carrying since finding it in Kendaric’s room and handed it to him. He took it, read it, then nodded. “I could do it alone, but with your help, magician, we should be able to do this quickly.” He pointed at two places in the spell and said, “Make this incantation with me, then this other passage here. For a spell-caster of your power, this should be easy.”
“I’ve examined your spell,” Jazhara said judiciously. “I will do what I can to help.”
Turning to face the sea, Kendaric pointed one hand at the mast of the ship in question and began to chant. Jazhara joined in at the passage Kendaric had indicated, and their voices filled the air with mystic words.
A fog appeared where Kendaric had pointed. It coalesced above the water, and the sea began to roil with mystic energies. A keening sound filled the air and James saw the top of the mast start to vibrate.
Abruptly, everything ceased. The fog vanished, the water calmed, and the ship stopped moving.
“I think your spell needs work,” said James.
“No,” contradicted Jazhara. “It wasn’t his spell. As we cast it, I felt something fighting against us. Someone else did this to us.”
Kendaric glanced back up at the cliffs as if seeking sight of someone. “She’s right. I felt it, too.”
Solon’s gaze also went to the cliffs behind them. “Then we’ll have to locate the source of the interference. For if we do not, the entire Order of Ishap may be in jeopardy and one of its deepest mysteries may fall into the hands of the enemy!”
Kendaric looked at James as if questioning whether this was an exaggeration. James returned a grim expression.
Kendaric nodded, and Jazhara led the way back toward the horses.
Haldon Head was a small village, comprised of only a dozen or so buildings around a crossroads. The north-south route of the King’s Road ran from Miller’s Rest to Questor’s View. The east-west route led from Widow’s Point out to farms scattered between the village and the forested foothills.
At the center of the village sat an inn, the Sailor’s Rest. As the travelers rode in, they saw two men standing in front of the inn, arguing loudly.
One of them - a farmer, judging by his rough dress - was shouting. “This has gone on long enough! She must be stopped! You should have had those soldiers execute her when they were here!”
The other man wore a well-made tunic with a sleeveless over-jacket. He was of middle years and rather portly. He shouted back, “You’ve no proof, Alton. With all the pain we’ve gone through, you want to cause more?”
“You keep this up, Toddy, and you won’t be mayor much longer. Hell, you keep this up and there won’t be a village much longer. Lyle told me that - “
As James and his companions reined in, the man named Toddy interrupted, “Lyle is a drunk! If he thinks we are going to . . .” The arrival of strangers finally caught his attention.
The farmer said, “Looks like we’ve got visitors.”
“Welcome to Haldon Head, strangers. Will you be staying long?” the mayor asked.
The farmer interjected, “Not if they know what’s good for them.”