Echoes of the Well of Souls

Vergutz

The coastline was now out of sight behind them, and the mighty stacks of the great ship belched out plumes of white smoke as the ship accelerated to full speed.

Terry sat on the afterdeck next to Nathan Brazil, oblivious to the stiff wind and chill in the ocean air, looking not back but forward.

Brazil himself stared into the rolling waters, put his arm around Terry, and thought only of good possibilities. Since no one could possibly know which route he would take and no passengers or crew had signed on to the ship after he purchased their tickets, he was reasonably certain that whoever had hired those bumbling assassins was left behind. It would be next to impossible to set up anything serious at his destination before they arrived, unless somehow they already knew that destination and had allies there. Unlikely, but he could cope. If it was Mavra, she’d be more likely to go hell-bent north herself than worry anymore about him. She had started from the same place and at roughly the same time, so they had equal distances to travel. He would also have liked to have checked up on Tony and Anne Marie, but they, too, could wait. If there was any place a potential foe would figure he’d show up and be laying for him, it would be around either one of them.

At any rate, once he was on the northern land mass, they’d be damned difficult to track and he’d have many options open.

Once the entire Well World had marshaled to prevent him from getting up there. This was much easier. And once inside, he’d find out about this Glathrielian business, and maybe, once he normalized the girl here a bit more, they might stick around a while, take the grand tour of this place. Perhaps, if she still loved him then, he’d add her to the master Well matrix. Then, perhaps, he could also find out what the hell was the bug up Mavra’s ass for the last three thousand years.

The hell with it. He was on a great ship going across a beautiful ocean, an attractive and loving if mysterious companion at his side, and things didn’t look nearly as rough as the last couple of times.

Hell, after all he’d been through before, he was owed one easy one…