SoD Chapter Four: Of Traditions Doubled
Laura remembered falling, but she couldn’t pinpoint when she had struck the water. It had all happened so fast, and yet so slow at the same time. Where she was at one moment seemed ages from where she was before and in that time she found herself even more confused, for instead of striking the violent waters of the Sea of Loe, she had struck light. The pattern-less light approached her from the water as a narrow beam. She hit it and found herself not in the water at all, but someplace else, somewhere bathed in an ethereal glow that was warm and cold at the same time, and featureless except for the strange walls and pillars that made up the landscape. No designs, no markings to tell her what sort of place she was in. In that moment she thought she had died.Then a new light flashed before her, brighter and strangely terrifying. When it faded she found herself face to face with a creature, or a man, or both—she couldn’t be sure. He stood taller than anyone she had ever met in her life and was clothed in nothing but light except where metallic bands surrounded his wrists. Two glorious white wings were extended, presenting a massive wingspan. In her peripheral vision she imagined he had an eagle’s head, but when she looked at this creature, the face seemed human, with prominent cheeks and eyes that shined gold.And now she really believed she had died and gone to heaven. The revelation brought her to tears and she collapsed. She sobbed and was overcome by loss. She would never see her friends or her family again; this was the end.It seemed like an eternity before the enormous man-creature approached her. He lifted her to her feet with massive arms and stared straight into her eyes. Warmth came over her and her tears subsided as if commanded to do so. Fear and sadness fell away and warmth enveloped her like a cocoon.“Shed no tears, child,” the creature said. “Do you know me?”She nodded. “You’re an angel,” she blurted.He laughed. “Close. I am no angel, child, though perhaps where you come from you would know me as such. I am Nessian, the Father.”She sat dumbfounded.“Child, I am one of the Great Fathers that rules this land, or used to rule. But that is for another meeting. Now, time is pressing.”“I don’t understand.”He let go over her arms and she stood for herself. “I don’t expect you to right now. I’ll let James explain when you are brought back to the Luu’tre. Now, however, is your trying time, you moment of exposure to a world you have only begun to see. The world that inhabits something your people have forgotten.”“Magic…”Nessian smiled and flexed his wings. “Yes.” He paused as if in thought, then continued, “Be careful. Carelessness cannot be afforded, for Luthien hunts you. Beware his eye. Beware those that would claim to be your friends who do not know you.” He turned and started to walk away, the bright light suddenly warping around him.“Wait!” she cried, but he was gone.For a while she just stood there, unable to comprehend exactly what was going on. The white light swirled like a cloud around her. She wondered who this Great Father was. Who was Nessian, or who had he been once? She shook that thought away. The Great Fathers didn’t interfere with the mortal world. They were gods, creatures of magic and power, rulers of a universe bound by order and law. Nessian couldn’t be one of them.Yet, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, she realized that Nessian was someone of importance, someone she knew Triska, Pea, and the others would be interested in hearing about, and possibly divulging informationg about. Maybe he was one of the Great Fathers. And thinking that startled her into a type of fear that she had never felt before: fear of the world gone completely wrong. If the Great Fathers are getting involved, then something worse than we expected is happening here. Loe is only the beginning.The light swirled again and reared up like a snake. It struck down at her. The brightness blinded and she closed her eyes, burying her face into her arms. Laura woke just as an enormous wave struck her floating body and pummeled her into the pink reef nearby. The porous, living creature cut into her sides and she jerked into action, trying desperately to swim away. Light erupted in the dark blue and something coursed through her veins—an energy, pulsing as if the veins were constricted. The water around her bubbled, becoming steam and rising until it exploded from the surface and disappeared from her view. Then, the energy coursed around her, through and into her, and, to her surprise, she rose up like a balloon. She broke the surface and gasped for air. Waves struck all around and a strong current tugged at her legs. Sea sprayed against her face as she kicked with all her might to stay afloat.Looking up, she could only see the side of the Luu’tre, tilted to the side and gently rocking as waves pummeled the wooden sides. A loud boom sounded and something crashed nearby, sending bits of splintered wood all around her. She covered her face just as an undertow dragged her under. She fought it and managed to get back to the surface to find that a hole had been blown into hull of the Luu’tre. The Luut’re leaned precariously to one side, jarred by whatever had struck it.“Help!” she screamed, but there was no response.Another boom sounded and this time she saw and heard something shoot through the air and strike the ship on her side, sending more bits of wood raining down into the ocean.What’s going on, she thought and tried to look through the misty swaths of vapor and the now forming fog. Another boom sounded, slamming into the water nearby. Cannon fire. The realization
SoD Chapter Three: Of Ocean’s Fury and the Hunt
James slammed into the railing of the Luu’tre, his face stricken with terror after seeing Laura plummet over the edge. He barely held to the wooden edge as the ship rocked like a teeter-totter, partially settled in the giant reef below.“Laura!” he screamed over and over, his voice becoming a hoarse cry of despair.Captain Norp bellowed orders at the other end of the ship, but James could see that little could be done with the Luu’tre tilted thirty degrees on the port side. Two sailors at the other end of the incline lost their footing and slid wildly. He watched them, praying that they wouldn’t plunge into the sea and breathed a sigh of relief when someone managed to snatch the rope the two sailors held on to from the air and tie it to a beam. Both men jerked upward; one of them lost his hold and continued downward. He smashed into the railing and by a stroke of luck managed to hang on. Another sailor repelled down from the mast and eased the poor wretch into a safer position. The fallen sailor clutched his ribs, groaning.“James!” Pea cried from behind and then appeared at James’ side. “Do you see her?” The Littlekind peered over the edge between the ship and the railing.James watched the waters spraying white vapor and smashing against the reef. “No,” he said. He couldn’t see anything in the rough seas. A violent riptide ran through the narrow passage. Laura was somewhere below and the thought of her drowning brought such pain to his heart that he clutched the railing until his hands bled. Where is she? He wanted to scream he was sorry, even though he couldn’t explain why he felt that way.Scanning the waves, James searched for anything that looked like a person. The frothy waters made it hard to differentiate the coral from the water and the water from anything else churning below, especially under the shadow of the storm. Winds ravaged the ship, rocking it against the coral now, splashing water high across the bow and forcing the crew to wrap the sails lest they be ripped completely away, dragging the masts along with them.Then something caught his attention. A strange shape that stood out against the frothy waters. Maybe it was Laura, or maybe a bit of coral that had been dislodged by the rough seas. It bobbed in the water along the edge of the coral, a pale thing barely visible against the waves. The sea pushed it against the edges of the coral.“There!” he screamed, jutting his hand out and thrusting a finger down. “I think I see her!”“Are you sure?” Pea said.James looked over at the Littlekind; Pea returned the gaze. He tried to tell Pea that he wasn’t sure with that look, only, what difference did it make? They didn’t have much time either way and if it didn’t turn out to be Laura she would be long dead soon enough.“Alright.” At that, Pea slipped away and Darl slid into view.“If that’s her, we’ll get her,” the old man said, clapping James hard on the shoulder. James bit his lip, stifling his cries of pain as Darl continued to bat his shoulder. His shoulders ached as if the wounds on his hands had moved there too, but he wouldn’t tell the others that—couldn’t tell them.A moment later and Darl left, replaced by Iliad, who skidded down the wood surface of the Luu’tre and appeared by James’ side, carrying with him his bow and a single arrow attached to a rope. “We’ve got one chance at this,” he said through gritted teeth, “and then she drowns.”“What are you going to do?” James said, pursing his lips in anticipation.“It’s called being insane.” Iliad drew the arrow and let it fly. The rope hissed as it was dragged through the air, jerking violently one way or another as the wild winds of the storm blew against it. The arrow curved suddenly, yanking the rope into a wide “u”, before crashing through a foot of water and making contact with the reef. Iliad gave one quick pull on the rope and said, “And I don’t recommend it.” He immediately walked away, leaving James to stare down into the turbulent sea and the long rope that was now being pulled taut—though, despite that, it still wobbled in the wind and dribbled rain.James turned around and almost wished he hadn’t. The rope had been tied in an endless collection of complicated knots around the central mast of the Luu’tre. To make matters more complicated, four of Captain Norp’s crew were now holding the rope firmly as if playing a one-sided game of tug-o-war. Iliad was nearby, fastening a pair of thick leather gloves—a mottled brown and gray color that made them look particularly old—over his hands.“You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do?” James said, widening his eyes as it dawned on him what was going on.“Depends what you think he’s going to do,” Pea said, scurrying around the mast and double-checking the knots—an occasional burst of silver magic forced the rope to re-knot itself, becoming even more tightly bound. “I’d hazard to guess that tap dancing and aggressive berry picking are not likely to be what he’s going to do.”“To answer your question,” Iliad broke in and turned to face James. “Yes. I’m going to do something I probably shouldn’t do. And it will probably kill me.“Dare I ask if it will succeed?” James smiled faintly, recalling the last time he had asked a similar question.Iliad got the joke. “Only if you want the truth, James. I’m afraid I’m in no mood for a good fib.” Then Iliad held out a strip of oiled leather, gritted his teeth and slid down the tilted ship, reaching out his leg at the last moment to propel himself over the edge. James could only watch helplessly as the nimble man disappeared. He closed his eyes tight and held his
SoD Chapter Two: Of the Lives of Loe
The Luu’tre had struck ground. Sort of. She had hit something hard and unmoving, that much was clear, but when James and the others came out into the tempest they found the ship held at bay by something rocky, porous, and the color of the sun at sunset over thin mustache clouds.Laura knew then what they had struck: a coral reef. Captain Norp cursed and fluttered about the deck, running one way and another, commanding and demanding to pull lines one way and then the next. Everyone else had already accepted that no wind would pull the Luu’tre from the great mass beneath them. They needed the tides.Laura felt alone and crowded all at once. There was so much she didn’t understand about this world. Why did the great current in the Straight of Loe run so swiftly? Why did it run all the way down the coast of Traea? And most of all, why did this world exist in the first place? James had shown her his magical dictionary, humorously called How Not To Be a Barbarian, Fifteenth Edition. She was dismayed to find that the author, one Azimus Barthalamule, had gone into hiding and would no longer be supplying new entries. She wanted to know what was going on just like everyone else, and this little book that had once been sixty pages was their only connection.Laura most of all wanted to understand why Luthien, a man she couldn’t quite remember, even now some weeks later and after having seen his face in Sempur, had wanted her in the first place. What did she have that Luthien, a man of apparently untold power, wanted?Now she looked down over the deck of the Luu’tre and into the great red and pink mass below. Great waves bubbled and exploded. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Darl was right. They were grounded.James stood beside her and she tried to give him a sympathetic smile. He had tried to hide his emotions from her, but she could see through him, even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself. He was terrified and disappointed in himself. She stopped speaking to him about his magic to make things easier. She wouldn’t want to be reminded of her faults either.But James was in bad shape, and she knew it despite not having a clue how the magics of this mysterious world worked. What she did know was that anyone with a hand that was constantly healing was not in good health; James needed more powerful healing magic and fast.James didn’t return her smile, though he glanced at her with sunken eyes. “Coral,” he said.She nodded. “I wonder how far it goes. Maybe it’s like the Great Barrier Reef.”“Maybe.”“You remember that Discovery Channel show we watched,” she started, attempting to keep up the conversation. It had been too long since they’d talked as friends. “The one with all the little orange fish.”“Clown Fish,” he said.“Right. And that really long slithery snake with the pointy teeth.”“Moray Eel.”“Right. So you remember it?”“Yeah.” He eyed the reef below. “It gave me nightmares for a week when they showed those sharks eating the seals, though.”“I remember. You wouldn’t stay at my place because we had fish.” She laughed. “You were afraid of the goldfish.”James frowned. Then with enthusiasm he said, “Those were huge goldfish though. They had those big eyes too.”Together they laughed.Laura turned to look out into the vast ocean beyond and found herself face to face with Captain Norp and his tiny Littlekind face. He grinned and looked her straight in the eye. She yelped and jumped back.“Don’t sneak up on people like that!” She cried.“Beggin’ your pardon, ma’am. Couldn’t help listenin’.”“No, I imagine not. You nearly scared me half-to-death.”“Better than full-to-death.”Laura grumbled.“What’s the Discovery Channel?”“It’s a T.V. channel,” she said instinctively. Catching herself, she corrected, “Where I come from it’s a visual show about nature.”“What, like a play?”“Kind of.”“Why’s it called Discovery Channel?”“Well, because they discover stuff.”“Bout nature?”“Yes.”Captain Norp rubbed his chin. “Sounds boring,” he said, ending the conversation and hopping off the railing to the ground. He skipped back to the bridge. A moment later his little arms could be seen grasping the wheel, turning it one way and then another. Curses followed.Laura groaned. The Littlekind was going to drive himself madder than he already was if he didn’t let up. Or, he was going to drive everyone else mad with his gallivanting about with concerns and quibbles. She watched Captain Norp turn the wheel, run one way, then other, and slip down the stairs to pull on ropes and scream out commands. When she turned back she noticed that James had gone. She frowned. Whatever was going on in his head he wasn’t going to talk to her about it, even though she was his best friend. And he certainly wasn’t going to talk to any of the others.Triska came to the railing from across the other side, taking care not to get hit by the whirl of ropes and pullies around the center mast. Laura returned the woman’s smile out of courtesy; she was too worried about James to smile with sincerity.“He’ll be alright,” Triska said.Yeah right. “I just wish I could help him,” Laura said, letting her weight fall to the railing. “He won’t let me. He saved my life and I just want to help him, but I can’t.”“He has to help himself. We can’t do anything for him now.”“I don’t believe that. There has to be something we can do,” she pleaded.“Would he let us even if there was?”No, she thought.“Just let him get over this. He has a lot weighing down on his heart.”Triska patted her arm reassuringly and walked away. She looked back over the railing into the pink below. In the background she heard the wind battering the sails. Voices spewed commands left and right, ropes became taut, snapping with resonating sound, and the ocean roared a violent triumphant note as she lunged her watery arms over
SoD Chapter One: Of Dire Passages
(I am going to start reposting these in the correct order along with new chapters as they become available. And so the journey begins! Chapter One of The Spellweaver of Dern! Thanks for reading!) The Luu’tre lilted to her side, spraying water up onto the deck and drenching anyone who wasn’t already soaked from the rough seas. The Loe Straight was a brutal, treacherous, and otherwise unfriendly passage for any ship to take lightly. But the Luu’tre never took any trip lightly; her captain saw to that. This was a trip that could end good or bad and nowhere between, because as she was forced hard by the rapid currents, plunged into a relentless expanse of ocean that would fight with all its might to keep her from finding her way across into calmer waters, her captain had wild, slightly crazed ambitions that couldn’t be quenched by the physical demands of the world. Men pulled and vied for control of the massive sails that flapped and snapped as wind tore them one way and then another.It was here, just below the captain’s deck, where the giant wheel tipped and turned even in the stern grip of a madman, that James Fortright sat, huddled beneath a long set of stairs and hanging on to one of the support beams. He was wrapped in all manner of warm clothing, including a thick, manky cap of dirty gray and brown material. It looked itchy, and indeed it was, as he tried to reach up and scratch himself while winds and water sprayed against him, even in the shelter of the stairs. His left hand was bandaged, but the cloth that covered his wounds, wounds of battles long since ended, was tattered and falling from his grip. He groaned as a new spray of wind and bitter sea water slapped him in the face.Someone bellowed above and he looked up instinctively. Captain Norp was arguing with the rudders, with the violent winds and the otherwise unfriendly sea. And the sea responded by pushing the Luu’tre so she suddenly leaned to the other side. It was clear to James that this ship, no matter how strong and sturdy, couldn’t afford to argue in any fashion with a sea that could easily crush this pile of floating wood.James looked up into the sky. Gray clouds created a narrow strip of violent weather, but in the distance he could see the bright blue of the clearer skies and rays of sun. Here, in the Loe Straight, it seemed, a deeper magic lay. The sky was a torrent, an angry invisible god powered by long lost magic that James knew he would never understand, and with this invisible entity came a perpetual grayness and a never-ending, writhing sea.What have I gotten myself into, he thought, pulling his jacket tighter around his body. It seemed like ages since he had last put his feet on sturdy ground. He had lost count of the days he had been at sea, with the Luu’tre and her otherwise insane commander, and his companions, and Laura. Laura. She’s safe now. His face warmed at the thought of completing at least one part of what he had promised.Pain surged through his hands as the ship rocked. He tightened his grip. His wounds had never truly healed. Some still bled from time to time. Magic had torn him apart more than once. He hadn’t tried using his magic recently. The last time he remembered having utilized his abilities was when he and Pea had crashed an anchor into the dock in Sempur, subsequently allowing all of them to escape by sea. Luthien would be after them and he knew it. There were plenty of ships in Sempur for the man to use. But could any of them catch the Luu’tre?“What are you doing up here?” a familiar voice said.He turned to face Triska, her plump, motherly face pursed with concern. She gently took hold of his arm.“Get back inside before you catch cold.” Then she tugged him back and he followed her through the door at the center of the bridge and into the captain’s quarters.There was one large bed covered in what used to be white sheets. Now they were a dull gray from years of use and abuse. A long wooden table, dresser, and various other household items filled the rest of the room. This was a room that could have been fit for a king once, if not for the dust and the cracking wood beams that were ugly marks on an otherwise well rounded space. A grand window filled the back, silver curtains strung over the square panels to obstruct the view. The ship rocked and flung him sideways into the side of the wall near the door. He grunted and shook his head, spraying water everywhere.“You should take better care of yourself,” Darl said—the grumpy one. His aged face looked even more worn than it had before and the old man hadn’t taken the time since leaving Sempur to clean up his scraggly beard and hair. James thought about the first time he had met Darl and how much the old man had changed inside. Darl was still the same angry, bitter, and otherwise grumpy old codger, but James had earned the old man’s respect, something he sorely needed.The others were in the room too: Pea, the tiny Erdluitle, sitting in a pair of grayish children’s clothing that had once been owned by the Ship’s Boy, the likes of which had long since fallen overboard on one of Captain Norp’s crusades for greater adventure; Iliad, sitting in a corner wrapped in matted fur, stringing his bow and testing his arrows. And Laura.Laura, he thought, allowing himself to smile for a brief moment as he looked at her blonde hair that couldn’t be tamed with sea water. She was his friend and the reason for coming to this dangerous place; his only friend. No, not my only friend. I have