A Spell Misplaced, page 1
part #4 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
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Book Four
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By
Guy Antibes
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Author’s Note
Map of Oroia
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Gags & Pepper Characters & Locations
Comrades in Magic - Excerpt from Book Four
A Bit About Guy
Books by Guy Antibes
Copyright Page
A Spell Misplaced Copyright ©2022 Guy Antibes. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the permission of the author.
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This is a work of fiction. There are no real locations used in the book; the people, settings, and specific places are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual persons, locations, or places are purely coincidental.
Published by CasiePress LLC in Salt Lake City, UT, December 2022.
www.casiepress.com
ISBN:
Cover Design: Kenneth Cassell
Book Design: Kenneth Cassell
Principal Reader: Bev Cassell
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Author’s Note
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It’s about time that Gags finally gets the opportunity to rescue Miria from her unicorn fate. However, I couldn’t make it easy for Gags, and our hero has to go through a lot in order to get the opportunity. He makes a few friends and a lot more enemies in A Spell Misplaced.
I had to wait four volumes to get to this novel, and so far, it has been my favorite book to write in the series. For those of you who miss Pepper, I’m sorry, but he won’t be appearing in this one, but never fear, Pepper returns in book five.
— Guy Antibes
Map of Oroia
Book Four
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Chapter One
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G ags and Lucian looked at the seven other ships put in at the Perian port of South Pustule. Seppius Darkman’s ship slid into its place, and the gangplank lowered.
“South Pustule?” Gags asked one of the sailors.
The man laughed. “It is quite the place. The port doesn’t serve a lot of domains, but the town fathers decided they would have a jolly time and changed the name to South Pustule. There is no North Pustule. The port is full of jokesters. Be warned!”
Lucian groaned. “I’m going to pass,” he said, holding his stomach. “Between us, our seasickness spells didn’t help much.”
“I think it was the fish,” Noria Darkman said, standing with them. “I didn’t like the smell of the stew, and you must be sensitive.”
“Of course, I’m sensitive. Aren’t I, Gags?” Lucian said with a smirk.
Gags frowned. “I suppose my stomach is stronger than yours,” he said.
“Much stronger. Cast iron, I would guess,” Lucian said. “I’m going below.”
Gags watched him head belowdecks as Seppius approached Gags and Noria.
“Feel free to escort Noria around the port,” Seppius said. “I’ll be busy until we leave trying to scare up a cargo for Baxterton on Oroia and sending out more correspondence. We will be sailing on the midnight tide.”
Gags pushed a few letters he had written on the trip from Artport onto Seppius. “Can you post these along with yours?”
Seppius nodded and turned to his daughter. “Don’t get Gags in trouble. I don’t want to wait for you.”
Noria smiled. “You know me.”
Seppius sighed. “I do. Enjoy yourselves.”
Gags put out his hand to help Noria onto the gangplank, but she ignored him. He shrugged and followed her. They walked across the modest wharf’s open area and headed toward the tallest building they could see.
“Have you been here before?” Gags asked.
“No, but I’ve heard of South Pustule,” Noria said.
She had kept to herself for most of the voyage. Seppius had said she was disappointed to leave Artport and her life there. Gags was surprised to learn that, even though Noria was a few years older than he, she had already been married twice. Each had ended in unpleasant circumstances that had required Seppius’s intervention. That was from Seppius. Noria was mostly silent about her past life.
“Jokesters?” Gags asked once they crossed the harbor.
She smiled and nodded her head. “I need something to cheer me up.”
Gags had nothing particular in mind other than to explore the town. “Anything you need to do?”
Noria looked at the people walking past them. “No. They don’t dress any differently than Artport. I’m hoping for a market up there.” She looked toward the tall building.
After walking up a steep street, they reached an overlook of the South Pustule harbor. Gags thought that nature had blessed the town with a protected inlet, and the scene was serene.
The tall building wasn’t far and ended up being a church with a double steeple. The rest of the buildings around the square were no taller than three stories and were painted eye-popping colors.
“This is what is meant by jokesters?” Noria asked.
“I suppose so. The market looks normal,” Gags said, “except I see that people like to dress in bright colors, too.”
They entered and found that, other than a few booths painted up like the square, it was like every other Perian market Gags had visited. They wandered around, and Noria decided she wanted to eat lunch. Gags looked around the square and spotted an eatery that decently dressed people walked in and out of.
“Maybe there,” he said.
They walked inside. The walls were covered with drawings that looked like one of Gags’s urchins would paint. The food looked good, and the place smelled like he was in for a treat.
After navigating an almost too-cute menu, they settled for lunch. Noria asked for half portions, but Gags did just the opposite and ordered two full meals.
“I’ve never seen a magician eat as you do,” she said.
“I’m a bigger boy than most,” Gags said with a smile. “You don’t have magic? Your father does.”
“He’d rather work his magic on the books rather than create spells,” Noria said. “As for me?” She shook her head. “I take after my mother.”
Gags wasn’t going to respond to that, but luckily the food came. Gags thought the food was a little different, but different in a good way.
He smiled at Noria. “Better than last night’s fish.”
“Barely,” she said, stirring her food around. “It is odd tasting.”
“A unique combination of spices. Who knows, someone in the kitchen may be playing a joke on us since we aren’t locals.”
She managed a smile. “Figures.”
They left the restaurant, and Noria had seen enough of South Pustule, wanting to return to the ship. They reached the steep street, but as he looked at their ship from the elevated vantage point, he could see a flash amidst a lot of movement on the dock.
“We are being attacked!” Gags said. “I’m going to pick you up, so we can go faster.”
“I know how to run,” Noria said.
“Not like this,” Gags said.
He spelled airwalking and slid down the long incline, picking up speed. He had to curve from side to side to keep from falling and avoid running into people and things.
They hit the flat part of the wharf, and Gags let his airwalking technique take them halfway to the ship.
“Now run!” Gags said.
Gags had his sword but no bolts. He sped past Noria and took notice of the enemy. Seppius and Lucian kept the sorcerers at bay while the sailors fought with common thugs. The fighting had started long before Gags and Noria arrived. Noria stayed back while Gags waded into the fight, attacking sorcerers and thugs from the back.
The sharp breeze made spelling motes impractical. A sorcerer almost as big as Gags stepped in front of him and invoked a spell that broke Gags’s sword at the hilt. Gags gawked at the stump of the sword and stepped back as the sorcerer pulled his hands back to create another spell.
It wasn’t a time for the faint-hearted, and Gags rushed the sorcerer, pummeling him with his fists until he knocked the sorcerer unconscious. He stood over the sorcerer and pinched his neck to put him to sleep as he began using a combination of physical attacks and pitifully short-range lightning bolts on the surviving attackers.
The fighting ended with one of Seppius’s sailors perishing in the onslaught, and because of the death, the attackers were given no quarter.
“They ran their horses into the ground getting here,” Seppius said, wiping some blood off his sword. He nodded his head toward a group of horses with foamy coats milling about close by.
The South Pustule patrol, they called themselves, showed up after the fighting ended.
“These aren’t local thugs,” the garishly garbed officer said.
“They are from Artport. I thought I left my enemies behind,” Seppius said.
“You didn’t steal anything, did you?” the officer asked.
“Of course not! I own this ship and its contents. Your harbormaster has seen the paperwork so you can talk to him.”
“I’ll believe you. Two of my patrol members saw them entering the north gate and nearly ran over some of our beloved citizens. Are you sure you aren’t wanted for a crime?”
“Look at how they are dressed.” Seppius pointed to a dead sorcerer. “Artport authorities don’t have sorcerers.”
“Magicians,” the officer said.
“The Artport police force doesn’t have magicians, either,” Seppius said. “I did leave word with the Artport harbormaster that I’d be putting into South Pustule for supplies before heading to Oroia.”
“They were motivated to stop you,” the officer said. “Why is that?”
A patrol member walked up, interrupting the conversation. “Four magicians and eight others. That makes twelve.”
The officer nodded. “When do you plan on leaving our lovely port?”
“On tonight’s tide,” Seppius said.
“You’d do me a big favor if you left a few hours earlier,” the officer said. “Do that, and we will clean up this mess.”
Gags pointed to his large adversary. “He isn’t dead. I put him to sleep, and he shouldn’t wake up until after we have gone.”
The officer nodded and turned his back to him to direct his men as sailors began to bring the bodies off the ship.
“Why does everyone fight so well when you are around?” Seppius asked Gags. “I would have never thought my men and I would be able to handle so many.
“You forgot about me!” Lucian said. “Gags and I are fearsome fighters worth ten or more men.”
“In the right circumstances,” Gags said. “There are times when a few sorcerers are too many for me. In an open fight, Lucian is probably right. Fighting hard is contagious, and both of us fight hard.”
Seppius nodded, and then he looked at his assembled men. “I’ve got to find some additional seamen for our voyage, and then we will leave this cursed place.”
“I thought South Pustule was filled with jokesters?” Lucian asked Seppius.
“So did I,” Seppius said as he crooked his finger at Noria, who followed Seppius across the small wharf.
Lucian looked at Gags. “I thought we had left the sorcerers behind. The one you fought was impressive.”
“Did you see the spell he used to do this?” Gags picked up the bladeless hilt.
“Yes, I did. Impressive, but you let the sorcerer get too close.”
“Was that it?” Gags asked. “Luckily, it worked to get even closer,” he said, slamming a fist into his palm.
“You can do all the close-in fighting that you want. As for me, a discreet distance is best,” Lucian said with a smile. “There is nothing like a good fight to purge my seasickness.”
Gags shook his head and grinned. “I’m so thrilled.”
Gags wondered if Tibbeus Pepper would have gotten as sick as Lucian. He missed his partner, but Pepper would be in good hands with Patricia Garish, Portia, and Soxus at the Yearsend Vale manor. Gags didn’t know if Pepper would have come if he asked, since Patricia was either there or enroute.
“Let’s walk around on dry land,” Lucian said. “I think my tummy is beginning to complain again.”
The pair exited the ship and strolled along the harbor before stepping down to the beach where fishing boats tied to poles were floating on the rising tide. They stopped by a fisherman sitting on the sand, repairing nets.
“Is there good fishing in South Pustule?” Lucian asked.
The fisherman growled. “South Pustule is over there,” the man said, nodding toward the town. “This is Filcher’s Cove.”
“The old name?” Gags asked.
“It is. We don’t think so highly of ourselves that we have to make a joke out of everything,” the fisherman said. “And the fishing is fine, by the way.”
“We are heading to Oroia. Have you ever been there?” Lucian asked.
The fisherman pointed his net repair tool toward South Pustule. “Oroians came north to settle on Peria, and that is what we got. I’ve never seen a worse collection of rapscallions, renegades, liars, and puffed-up hoity-toities in my life.” He looked up at them and smiled. “Still, there are some good people over there.”
“What about the journey through the Maritime Gap?” Gags asked.
The fisherman examined Gags from head to toe. “You are both magicians?”
“We are,” Lucian said proudly.
“Good. You’ll need a good spell to keep your food down. The Maritime Gap is tough sailing. We have to put up with the bounciness of the northern edge of the Gap to find fish, but the sea only gets worse as you go south. If you’re on a stout ship, you’ll survive.” The fisherman paused. “My information will cost you. Buy some of my catch.”
The man opened a tightly woven basket. The smell of overripe fish assailed them. Lucian gagged and stepped away, covering his mouth as Gags pulled out his purse.
“We won’t have the time to store those properly but accept this token for your forthrightness.” He gave the fisherman a handful of shils.
“Have a good day!” the fisherman said, giving them a knuckle salute.
Lucian pulled Gags away. “I need to head back.”
“Is there a spell that will help?” Gags asked.
“A walking spell that will put me as far away from that foul basket as I can get.”
Chapter Two
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S eppius used his own version of a seasickness spell on Lucian, which seemed to do the trick, although Gags thought it might have been similar to the phony spell that Pophius had used on their voyage to Atto years ago.
On the second day of the voyage, the seas began to swell. A few sailors had crossed the Maritime Gap before, and they weren’t bothered by the waves because they said it would get worse on the third day.
Gags and Lucian trained with wooden swords on deck. Sharp blades would be too dangerous with the pitching deck. A few sailors became seasick, and Gags and Lucian were called upon to do simple sailoring as they proceeded. The passage wasn’t a pleasant voyage, but after the fifth day, the seas became calmer, but a new development made the trip even tenser.
“It could be a pirate ship,” Seppius said, looking at a ship to the rear starboard. “It has probably been waiting for another vessel to come through here. Take a look, Gags.”
Gags took the spyglass and looked at the ship, a sinister black shape on the horizon. He watched as the ship began to unfurl sails. “It’s coming after us,” Gags said, handing back the glass.
“It’s time to put on more yardage,” Seppius said. He called down to the deck, and the sailors dropped what they were doing and went into action. “My ships aren’t slowpokes, but I suppose pirates will use fast ships, too. The question is can we outrun him to Baxterton? I’m heading belowdecks.”
Gags and Lucian followed the captain, Seppius, the first mate, who had been promoted from navigator, to Seppius’s quarters, the captain’s cabin at the rear of the ship.
Charts were already spread on the map table, and the navigator pointed to a spot on the chart.
“Here is the pirate ship, as best as I can figure,” the navigator said, “and here we are.”
Seppius blew out a sigh. “We have a head start.”
“And that won’t give them an advantage with the wind,” the captain said. “The question is does this bucket have the speed to last three days.”
“Weather?” Seppius asked.
The navigator shrugged. “It’s liable to change at any time in the Gap. Weather can blow in from three directions. We can get a fair wind or get into a swirl, which is the worst case since it will make our relative headway less predictable. We need as much yardage aloft as we can.”
