The vessel that approached was larger than the one that had belonged to the tracker Amanda’s father had sent after them, but not by much. It did however look a lot sturdier. It was wide and sat squat in the water with two tall masts and stubby looking sails. It also appeared to be sailed by one lone figure wearing pyjamas.

  “The dragon trader,” remarked Shiv.

  “Definitely a sorcerer given how he’s dressed,” added Sirius. He shot a brief glance at Amanda. He looked a little worried.

  “Alright, everyone back to work,” Shiv called to the men who were standing idly around. Many of them scattered, although a few hung close enough that they could still watch. “Neko, take Ghost below deck.”

  Neko did as asked.

  The sorcerer pulled his smaller boat in alongside theirs and two of the Black Dog’s crew dropped a ladder down over the side for him to climb up.

  The man wore a pink short-sleeved robe layered over loose black pants and a top, both of which looked like the sort of thing one might wear to bed. His black laced up boots were narrow and subtlety heeled. His hair was stark white and stuck out at angles while both of his ears were pierced from top to lobe with as many different earrings as one could possibly fit. Amanda wondered if they were infusements. The cloak almost certainly contained several pockets much like Sirius’s one. The sleeves were loose enough that the man could have hidden an entire book up his sleeve, possibly even several.

  He now stood alone on a ship filled with ex-pirates but Amanda had no doubt who likely held the upper hand. The criteria for becoming a sorcerer didn’t just require a talent for magic but for the mental and physical as well.

  He smiled at them, causing wrinkles to re-form in old familiar places. Here was a man who smiled often. Whether kindly or cruelly was yet to be determined.

  “Hello. I am Maz.”

  Sirius gave him a nod in greeting. “Sirius James. We’ll show you to your shipment and then we can shift it to your boat.”

  Maz started to follow him but part way across the deck he paused. “You opened it?” he asked as his eyebrows scrunched inward.

  Sirius turned back to face him, an apprehensive frown evident on his face as well. At least it was obvious to Amanda. Amanda wasn’t sure how obvious it was to the others. It had taken her awhile to distinguish between the subtle changes in Sirius’s otherwise stoic expressions. But she had little doubt that the sorcerer would have some way of reading him. Sorcerers did not like surprises. If he wasn’t an accomplished mindwalker, he’d almost certainly have some sort of empathy magic at his fingertips. And he already knew about the crates.

  “There was an incident with another client’s shipment that necessitated it,” Sirius started to explain.

  Amanda jumped in. The opening of box wasn’t what the sorcerer would care about most. She was sure of it. “We did our best to keep them safe though. To keep them hot,” she explained.

  The sorcerer fixed her with a curious look and the next minute she felt something reaching into her mind, like someone else’s fingers sorting through and rearranging her thoughts. She recognised the feel of a mindwalker, a very good one.

  She let him see what she had done with the eggs, how she’d warmed them but when she felt him trying to read further she did her best to counter him. She didn’t want him knowing what else was on this ship or about any of the infusements or books that they carried. Instead, she thrust at him other images, things she thought he wouldn’t want to see, but which were also hopefully harmless things. None of the killing or fighting. Rather she sent images of love and nudity. She didn’t know what his preference was but she sure he would not appreciate images of a naked Sirius. The truth was, when she thought of distraction it was hard not to think of much else, and the sorcerer hadn’t given her much time.

  She got lucky. Maz scrunched up his face and took a surprised step backward. Then he held up his hands. “Okay, okay, that’s quite enough.” He chuckled. “You’re quite talented it seems but you know, avoiding me does little good when the others are so easily read.” He glanced around at the rest of the crew who stood in close proximity.

  Amanda sighed. He had a point there.

  The sorcerer continued. “But out of respect, I shall dig no further. Your secrets are your own as long as my eggs are unharmed. I care not for what else you have on board.” He turned back to Sirius with a smile. “Lead the way.”

  Sirius did as requested.

  They were joined by Benny, Shiv, Fallon, and later a crewman with a blonde mullet and glasses who Amanda didn’t recognise. Given the way he and Fallon were sharing glances and small smiles though, Amanda could guess that this was Sable, the ship’s elusive materiokinetic.

  They all watched with baited breath as the sorcerer examined the eggs. After some time he took a step back and nodded. “They are alive and appear to still be in a healthy condition, albeit a little weakened, but I expect it won’t have any long term consequences.”

  One could practically hear the tension in the room evaporate as everyone else breathed out simultaneously.

  Maz looked around the group and finally his eyes fell on Amanda. “I didn’t expect to find someone outside of the university who could achieve such temperatures.” He paused for a moment as if considering something. No one interrupted him. Finally he gave a sigh and continued, “I have had some difficulty with moving the dragons around. As you may have guessed, this is not entirely above board what I am doing and I would prefer the other sorcerers not to know. Without giving any more details than that it would be in your interest not to mention this to anyone. Normally in such an event, I would wipe the minds of all who had seen inside these crates…”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  He trailed off and fixed them all with a pointed look. No one reacted. No one argued. No one dared challenge a sorcerer. A few nervous looks were shared but that was it. Amanda scowled at him. She had no doubt, given what she’d felt of his magic before, that he could do it if he wanted to and there was nothing they could do to stop him. But then why tell them?

  “However,” he started up again. “Perhaps there is some arrangement we could come to. I have more eggs I need to ship, a different species, this time going from Scarlett to the Tundras west of Little Rock, as well as several other trades lined up in the future. These infused fireproof boxes were extremely expensive and even among sorcerers, such fire power is hard to find. They also don’t work once they have been opened, as you will have noticed. It all leaves me open to some risk I would prefer to avoid. But perhaps with your crew, that is not necessary?” He glanced from Sirius toward Amanda.

  Sirius too gave Amanda a questioning look.

  “I would pay quite well for this service, and the silence of course,” Maz added.

  Amanda nodded. “We can do that.”

  She met Sirius’s gaze. He smiled at her.

  Shiv frowned and scratched his chin. “There is some concern about the silence of the crew. Most of them know about what was in these crates now. While we”—he nodded at each of those present—“are unlikely to blab, I can not say the same for the rest of the crew. Perhaps it would be wise to mindwipe some of them.”

  Fallon quickly shook his head, his brown curls bounced as he did so. He shot Shiv a sharp look. “They won’t tell if we impress the importance of it upon them. They understand what we ship isn’t always to be shared.”

  “I can assure you,” added the sorcerer,” that the consequences should this get out would almost certainly result in all of your minds being extensively wiped.”

  “That’s some risk for us then,” Sirius replied.

  “And for me also, but you understand the dilemma I face then.”

  “It’s not right to wipe the crew’s minds,” Fallon insisted with a stern look at Sirius.

  Shiv countered. “If they can’t keep it a secret then we’ll all get our minds wiped.” Both of them were looking at Sirius for a decision now.

  “Perhaps we just don’t tell them about the future shipments,” Sable suggested. “Benny’s clever enough not to snitch, and we know the rest of us won’t.”

  Benny was eyeing them all with wide eyes, obviously a little worried about getting his mind wiped.

  Sirius nodded. “We can keep the details to a small group from now on. As for this trip”—he fixed the sorcerer with a solid look—“I trust my crew. We will make it clear that none are to speak of this. It may be easier though, to allow them a half-truth. Dragons are often smuggled. On their own, and outside of Scarlett one might not even think much of them at all. Whatever your secrecy has to do with is either related to the specific type of dragon, the place you are getting them from, or the fact that it is you that is shipping them. I don’t know which it is and I don’t care. I cannot hide from my men the fact that there were dragon eggs on board but I can spread the word that these were not your dragons. There is another we could blame if that would suit you?”

  The sorcerer gave a single nod and a smile. “I agree with your terms.”

  “Good, then perhaps it would be best if we do this transfer slightly differently from usual." Sirius nodded toward Benny.

  Benny looked scared.

  Both Sirius and the sorcerer were looking at him now. Shiv, meanwhile had a pained look on his face as if he wasn’t happy with whatever plan Sirius wanted to use Benny for.

  “You’re a summoner?” the sorcerer asked Benny.

  Benny swallowed hard and nodded.

  The sorcerer looked at Sirius. “You intend to transfer my eggs by summoning?”

  Sirius gave a single nod. “With your permission.”

  The sorcerer frowned and he looked at Benny again. Now both of them looked worried.

  “Is he capable of it?” the sorcerer asked.

  Shiv grimaced. It was obvious what he thought.

  “I think he can do it,” said Fallon in a cherry tone. He sent Benny a reassuring smile.

  “Hmm.” The sorcerer pursed his lips together. Then he turned to Amanda. “What about you?”

  She was was surprised and confused at his question. “Do I think he can do it?” She wasn’t even sure what the answer was to that. She thought back to the only time she’d seen Benny summon anything. It was back on the beach with the snakes and the belladonna antidote. He’d managed to successfully summon the belladonna from the boat but before that he’d messed up and cut a book in half. Although this distance would be much shorter, the dragon eggs were much larger. She didn’t want to know what the consequences would be of only summoning half an egg.

  “No,” the sorcerer clarified. “Would you be able to do it?”

  She gave him a confused look. She wasn’t a summoner and they had no summoning infusements that she knew of.

  “You have an infuser on board.” He gestured at Fallon. “Combine that with a summoner…”

  Amanda widened her eyes. Now she understood exactly how Benny felt at being asked to perform such a task.

  Fallon’s laugh cut through before she could reply. He shook his head. “No, anything I infuse will be much weaker than what Benny could do.”

  “Yes, but with the right skill…” the sorcerer trailed off, his look of hope dimming as he noticed their reactions.

  Amanda shook her head. “I’ve never summoned anything before.”

  The sorcerer pressed his lips together and nodded. “Ah, well…” He turned back to Benny with a thoughtful look on his face. “Alright, we’ll take the risk. One egg at a time.”

  Benny nodded, although he looked much paler than usual.

  “You can do it,” Fallon told him enthusiastically.

  The support did appear to boost Benny’s confidence somewhat.

  Sirius sent Shiv away with instructions to share the plan of blaming the dragon eggs on Sirena with Neko. The bard would know how to sell it so the men believed it.

  Amanda figured that there was a specific reason that Sirius chose Shiv to go and talk to Neko instead of one of the others, for it was obvious that once Shiv was gone, Benny was a lot more relaxed.

  Amanda, Fallon, and Sable watched as Benny spent some time examining the eggs. Sirius and the sorcerer disappeared for awhile to discuss future financial terms. Meanwhile the others decided that sending the eggs in smaller individual crates would be easiest since Benny found those easier to visualise.

  Once Sirius and Maz joined them again they all went over to Maz’s smaller boat and he showed them where he wanted them. Sirius instructed Shiv to remain on the Black Dog to oversee things there but Amanda guessed that this too was more for Benny’s benefit.

  “It’s easy Benny. You got this. You know you got this.” Fallon was nothing but a pillar of support while the others watched in silence. Sable gave Benny the thumbs up and a smile.

  Benny closed his eyes. Breathing slowly he held out his hands beside the empty space.

  The next thing they knew, the empty space contained one of the egg boxes.

  Once again the group held their breath while the sorcerer inspected the egg. Finally he nodded, indicating the first one had been a success.

  It seemed like one was all Benny needed to feel confident because the next couple he summoned much more quickly.

  Finally every egg was accounted for and a beaming Benny sat exhausted on the floor. His brow was sweaty, the magical effort of summoning having taken a lot out of him.

  Sirius shook the sorcerer’s hand and then they returned to the ship. Another job well done.