Thorn and Thistle

Thorn and Thistle

First Novella of the Tempest Maiden series

Alycia Christine

Purple Thorn Press

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Thorn and Thistle copyright © 2015 by Alycia Christine

Sloop and Sword excerpt copyright © 2015 by Alycia Christine

Cover illustration and design by Alycia Christine

Cover copyright © 2015 by Purple Thorn Press

THORN AND THISTLE. Published by Purple Thorn Press. Smashwords Edition. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher except for brief passages excerpted for review and critical purposes. Please contact Purple Thorn Press for more information. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Purple Thorn Press books may be purchased for educational, business, or for sales and promotional use. Please contact Purple Thorn Press for more information.

Purple Thorn Press logo designed by Alycia Christine.

Alycia Christine

http://alyciachristine.com/

Purple Thorn Press

http://purplethornpress.com/

ISBN 978-1-941588-33-8

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Information

Contents

Dedication

Thorn and Thistle

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Extras:

Meet the Author

Author Interview

Sloop and Sword Excerpt

Also by Alycia Christine

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To all those courageous enough to sail for the unknown

Chapter 1

Thorn ignored the pain of his split lip and gashed ribs as he smirked at his attacker. Really? That was your best?

The Asara mercenary growled and charged again with his drawn dao. As Thorn ducked his foe’s latest advance, he pulled out the two extra blades hidden up his sleeves to replace the rapier lost moments ago. The right dagger blade ripped through shirt linen as it met and deflected the opponent’s deft thrust. Thorn slashed the left dagger past his opponent’s sword guard and into skin. The mercenary screamed at the loss of a finger, but Thorn was quick to silence him with a dagger strike to the throat. The gurgling man fell back onto the crimson cobblestones even as his would-be victim retrieved his own sword.

Scowling, Thorn quickly dug through the dead man’s clothes and rescued a fat coin purse and two well-balanced throwing knives from his assailant’s pockets. He checked the other two dead mercenaries’ bodies as well before slipping stealthily up the street. It was a shame to leave the men’s beautiful daos behind, but there would be no easy way to carry them and his own blades without looking even more conspicuous than he already did.

Ah well, he thought, hopefully the beggars will find them before the City Watch does, and thus change their poor fortune. Swords like those would easily trade for a month’s worth of the choicest meat!

As Thorn turned down an alleyway, he stopped to splash water from a rain barrel on his blood-and-mud-spattered face and clothes. He looked irritably at the tattered sleeves of his new silk shirt and sighed. Yet another shirt to be tossed in the canal. That makes three. Where are these mao sug bounty hunters coming from?

You’re late, a quiet voice said.

Thorn jumped and then glowered at the shadows to his left. How can I be punctual when you choose to be early, Ebenezer?

The gray-haired wizard motioned the younger man to his side. Emperor Sung raised the bounty; he now offers twenty rubes for your head on a pike.

The captain hefted the mercenary’s bulging coin purse in his hand. How thoughtful of him! He must have known I was feeling unimportant, he mocked.

Be careful, Sea Wolf; he will send Asara hunting parties after you next.

And what makes you think he didn’t already? Thorn asked sourly, looking down at his ruined raiment.

Ebenezer cocked a white eyebrow. How did you escape, then?

"A pinch of snapdragon powder in the groin got the first. A couple of concealment spells you once showed me caused the second to accidentally fall from a roof and a knife to the throat dropped the third. Look, can we talk in a cozier spot? Despite my best efforts, that fight made a lot of noise and I can already hear the mage hounds howling about it. The Liston City Watch will be close on their heels. They’ll find those bodies at any moment and I don’t fancy being around looking and smelling like this when they start asking pointed questions."

Ebenezer nodded and then firmly gripped Thorn’s hand. With the old man’s muttered incantation, a gust of wind wrapped around the pair and flung them onto the nearest rooftop. They sprinted across the tiled roofs with the wind magic assisting their strides and leaps. Thorn had to give the wizard credit; he had no idea how such a fossil could outrun the younger man and still have enough energy to cover the trail of magic left behind them as they raced.

Neither of the pair dared slow their pace until they were safe inside Ebenezer’s home within the Magic Casters’ Guild district. The wizard lived above his apothecary shop and training house close to Liston’s main waterfront. Although the furnishings were sparse, Thorn knew better than to doubt either the old man’s instructive skill or the wealth he had accrued from teaching his numerous students. Ebenezer had never put much faith in material possessions and so much of his wealth had ended up distributed to the poor—including, at one time, into Thorn’s own hungry hands. The only true luxury that the wizard had ever invested in was the ornate iron bathtub that sat in the corner of his kitchen near the cooking hearth.

Off with your clothes then, Thornton, so I can draw a nettle-soak for you, Ebenezer said in a businesslike tone as he threw herbs into a large black kettle and then gestured for the man to follow him downstairs. Thorn helped Ebenezer fill the great iron tub with buckets of cool water from the rain barrels in the courtyard garden and then sat in a chair to strip out of his high black boots, mud-spattered pants, and sweaty stockings while the old man set the kettle to boil in the fireplace hearth. The Sea Wolf dropped his clothes into the nearby washtub to soak in a soapberry mixture and then regrettably tossed his ripped and bloody shirt into the fire.

Ebenezer sniffed as he watched the flames steadily consume the cloth. You got cheated, Thornton. That shirt wasn’t pure silk.

Thorn glowered at the flames and then watched as his mentor prepared the iron tub with the steaming kettle of herb-imbued water. Ebenezer then blessed the tub with his signature healing chant for extra remedial strength.

That is the least of my worries today, old man, the Sea Wolf said, cringing at the prospect of being dipped in the essence of stinging nettles. He obediently thrust himself into the familiar liquid nonetheless. The bath would not only ease his many aches, but it would also help disinfect his wounds. He’d gained two deep gashes during the bout with the mercenaries and, now that his nerves were relatively calm in the safety of Ebenezer’s home, Thorn could feel every sharp throb of his injuries acutely.

The wizard handed him a wash rag and then placed the fitted modesty panel over the top of the iron tub to help hold in the water’s warmth while the young man bathed.

So…who is this young magic caster you want me to protect? Thorn asked after settling into his current pungent torture.

Oh, of course, I should introduce you, the old tutor said and quickly strode to the guest quarters door. He knocked twice and it opened almost immediately from the other side. Come now and meet your knight protector.

I think rogue protector is more appropriate, Thorn muttered. As encumbered as he was, standing up to bow was not a viable option. Still he had enough room thanks to the modesty panel’s torso hole that he considered giving at least a half-bow to formally greet the new arrival, but upon seeing just who and what the newcomer was, he quickly sank as low into the reeking water as possible.

Captain Thornton Tobias Tarok, may I present the Lady Zana Cynara. Ebenezer almost purred with smug satisfaction as the dryad stepped forward. She was beautiful in the way of her race—with smooth, pale green skin, fiery-red hair, and a tall stature bearing all of the grace that her rare kind possessed.

Never in his life was Thorn more grateful for a bathtub modesty panel than at this moment. He would dearly enjoy repaying the old man for this supreme embarrassment! Although he had been naked around females a time or two before—mostly in the public baths of Poulapaus—this was not his preferred method to meet a woman.

Doing his best to keep a sincere smile plastered on his face despite the current discomfort of his body and the extreme awkwardness of the situation, Thorn extended his hand for hers. Milady, he said formally.

To her credit, the dryad did not blush when the bathtub-trapped man kissed her hand. Instead she simply inclined her head toward him. Captain Tarok.

After an uncomfortable pause, Ebenezer broke the silence. The Lady Zana is the daughter of Duke Edwardo de Lutz and Duchess Folia Cynara and has been my student for three years. As you might expect, she is fairly adept at growth magic. My sources tell me that Emperor Sung added a bounty for her capture just before he raised the bounty on you. I need her out of the city by midday tomorrow.

"And you want her to ship out with one of the most wanted men this side of the Jewel Sea? Are you daft? Sung will hunt me to the edge of the world if he must. He has never forgiven me for firing on his ships and taking his most beloved Tempest Maiden as my prize."

You’re a pirate? Lady Zana took an involuntary step away from him.

He stared at her evenly. King Connell has granted me a letter of marque, milady. I am commissioned to sink or capture all enemy vessels during times of war, so I prefer the term privateer, if you don’t mind, Thorn looked back at his mentor. Ebenezer, how am I, as a wanted man, supposed to protect her?

The bounty on my head is twice the amount of yours, Captain, the dryad said, as if that dispelled the argument.

The stout price shocked him, but he quickly recovered. With all due respect, that still does not explain why our ancient wizard here wants me to look after you.

Ebenezer sniffed in annoyance at Thorn’s quip. Look, Thornton, you are the only one I can trust not to turn her in for the bounty reward—

Because I have a bounty on my own skull.

—and you know all the best waterways and inlet hideouts from here to Asara. Don’t worry. This is just temporary until I can make the arrangements to smuggle her to my cousin in Terith. He should be able to complete her training there. All I need you to do is get her there safely.

Don’t you think that lovely green complexion of hers will stick out a bit among the ebony-skinned Forsans?

My cousin Ferrous is a Master Glamour Caster, the wizard said flatly. She’ll be fine.

Thorn glanced distastefully at Zana. I still don’t like this. I stand a great chance of offending the sea with a woman onboard my ship. I prefer to steer away from misfortune rather than invite it aboard my vessel with open arms. Besides, if Sung finds out she’s on board, we’ll both be sitting ducks for his falcon sloops—or worse, his warships. I can’t top his agents’ magic, you know.

You owe me, Thornton; the least you could do is take care of this errand for me.

I never said I wouldn’t do it! Thorn exclaimed, honestly hurt by the insinuation. I just said I didn’t like it.

You’re about to like it even less, son. Ebenezer looked from the captain to the lady, his countenance darkening. Show him, my dear.

Thorn turned in the tub to stare at Zana—sloshing lukewarm water over the side onto the brick floor as he moved. Show me what?

The dryad carefully removed something that looked like a dagger from under the flowing folds of one of her dress’s long sleeves. As she slowly unsheathed it, the double-edged blade glowed a pale green in the flickering light from the fireplace.

It can’t be… Thorn whispered and looked questioningly at his mentor.

Ebenezer nodded in affirmation. The Jade Warrior’s Dagger.

The captain stared at Zana. How did you come by this?

A deep sadness crept over her face as she said, My family was entrusted with its keeping after the Jade Warrior’s death and the pieces of his armor were scattered across the world.

Thorn sucked in a sharp