by Jeremy Dwyer
The entire group – Tomiko, Tristan, Nina, Genevieve, Nerine, Stephan, Carter, Alistair and the Chronicler Ovid – all boarded the selected ship.
Tomiko and Nina took the controls and pivoted the masts.
Carter drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his own vial and was energized. He used his spirit powers and began to push away the haunts from them, but he read their intentions as he did so. He soon learned of their true target, who was to the north.
“Set our course, due northwest, for western Volaraden,” Tristan said.
“These little lights of yours are great, but for navigation at sea? Really?” Nina asked. She looked at the crystal that Tristan had made for her – like he did for the others – and doubted that it could guide them on an ocean voyage.
“I’ll steer,” Carter said.
“What? Shouldn’t you be talking to the spooks and getting them out of our faces?” Nina asked.
Carter approached the wheel to control the ship and said: “They’re heading north. That’s where he is.”
“Where who is?” Nina asked.
“The man they’re angry at. His name is Sebastian,” Carter said.
Alistair looked up and asked: “Interesting. You mean the wealthy diamond dealer, in Baradaxa?”
“No. I mean the wealthy murderer in Baradaxa who poses as a diamond dealer,” Carter said.
“Dirty secrets – I knew I was right to never trust the rich guys,” Nina said.
“He is more than wealthy – he is the most affluent single individual in the world,” Tomiko said.
“And ruthless. He’s got blood on his hands,” Carter said.
“And we’re going in his direction – to visit him?” Nerine asked.
“That doesn’t sound like a wise move. I was married to a wealthy man, who revealed himself to be very cruel,” Genevieve said.
“No. We just need to get our bearings straight. Once we reach Volaraden, we should do as Tristan suggested and make more of those crystals to give us better light,” Carter said.
“You guide. I’ll steer. I can’t navigate by the stars, but I can handle the controls. I still know how to make ships move,” Nina said.
Carter directly guided Nina as she steered the ship to follow the movements of the spirits and they traveled northwest across the Nabavodel Ocean toward the southern coast of Volaraden – a voyage that took a mere day due to the directed movements of the spirits which Carter deftly followed.
Ovid recorded all of this into his book, as well. Since he could not hear the spirits, the accusations against Sebastian were not proven.
~~~
Upon arrival in Emeth, while still in the privacy of their quarters on board the ship, Anan said: “Let me take the luminaries. The old man will know what to do with them.”
“Take it, if you’re sure he’ll be able to conceal it,” Portia said, handing the luminary to Anan.
“I will go with you, so that they cannot be stolen. The man with the machete may come for us even here,” Jaguar said, holding on to the two (2) luminaries he had captured.
“That’s reasonable,” Anan said.
“Don’t forget – you do have their help – from the darkness,” Portia said, gesturing toward empty space.
“Right,” Anan said, remembering the pair of Hidden Paladins who had escorted them.
Alonso immediately got up and followed them, to record the transaction, because he knew that it would be significant. He said: “Under the authority of the Oath, I will go with you.”
Jaguar took the two (2) luminaries and went with Anan – who held one (1) luminary – and they left the ship to head into the City of Emeth. Alonso followed them closely.
From the darkness, the pair of Hidden Paladins followed Anan, Jaguar and Alonso.
~~~
Romana turned to Portia and said: “It’s over – for you, anyway.”
“That’s right. It’s over – I’m no longer going to live my life to protect them,” Portia said.
“The sky is still dark. Let’s not celebrate too early,” Desmond said.
“It’s not a celebration. I just need to get back to work – as a librarian…a kinder and more helpful one,” Portia said.
“It just so happens that I need a librarian right now,” Romana said.
“What are you looking for?” Portia asked.
“Yes, what are you looking for?” Lady Onora asked.
“The answer to who made these luminaries, and how,” Romana said.
“I never gave it any thought – because I didn’t want my thoughts to be read – but now I can,” Portia said.
“They can’t be destroyed, if that’s what you’re trying to figure out,” Desmond said.
“How will answering those questions help the situation? Be careful not to depend too much on your own cleverness. Remember the power of prayer – the strength comes from He who hears the prayer,” Lady Onora said.
“We will pray – to find answers. I trust completely in the One True God. I also know that He makes us work to discover answers and to achieve good goals. We need to search for the solution, and pray for His Guidance to that end,” Romana said.
“Let’s go then, shall we,” Portia said.
“I’ll help, for what it’s worth,” Desmond said.
Portia, Romana, Lady Onora and Desmond left the ship and entered the City of Emeth.
~~~
Yared and Claudia traveled slowly in the sandship, at a low altitude, westward across the Citrine Desert and soon found a weather beaten castle partly obscured by the desert sands.
“That’s the castle! But where’s the town?” Claudia asked.
“There was a town around here? Judging by the height of the sand around the castle, and assuming it was the tallest structure, then the town was buried or destroyed,” Yared said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Claudia said.
“If they’re dead, we have to accept that they’re dead. We can’t help them now,” Yared said.
“How could a sand storm have struck so suddenly? This town has been safe for years,” Claudia said. She was taken aback…almost emotional.
“The inferno happened. The tempest happened. The darkness in the sky happened. Bad things happen, maybe someone had a power to cause it, maybe it was nature,” Yared said.
“This didn’t just happen naturally. The Jenaldej Empire would never build a city in an area this unsafe. They would investigate the climate and choose a stable location,” Claudia said.
“They do make mistakes, no? But, even if you assume this was a supernatural storm they couldn’t have predicted with all their planning and calculations, what would be the motivation of someone to cause the storm?” Yared asked.
“It was a mining town. The desert sands are loaded with precious gems: largely diamonds,” Claudia said.
“Robbery and murder – I guess there’s the motivation. But who? A lot of different interested rivals might want to steal their wealth,” Yared said.
“I may have to report this, and investigate,” Claudia said.
“I don’t know if now is the right time for that,” Yared said.
“Why not? Do you know how many tens of thousands of people lived here? This was a mass murder. Something tells me this was no ordinary storm – we know that’s possible. The tempest was supernatural – Victoria caused it,” Claudia said.
“I understand that. I’m willing to believe that you’re right. That still doesn’t mean that now is the time. Don’t forget what we saw in Thalkalana – outside forces are here, and more will probably come in time. We have no idea where they went, and we can’t see where we’re going in the darkness, much less find them,” Yared said.
“I’m still a citizen of the Jenaldej Empire. I have to look after their interests. Even if I weren’t, this isn’t right,” Claudia said.
“You’re focusing on a small problem when far larger problems surround us,” Yared said.
“I can’t help b
ut care,” Claudia said.
“This is a change for you. Before, you were a little tougher. Now, you’re sympathetic. I don’t mean that you didn’t care before, but now your compassion is warm, rather than confrontational,” Yared said.
“You think I was confrontational? You haven’t seen anything! I care about these people! Don’t you?” Claudia said.
“Caring is a good thing. I mean that the whole world is danger, so we can’t just focus on a single part. What about Revod? Isn’t that where most of the Jenaldej Empire is? Are they safe in this darkness? Don’t they need you there?” Yared asked.
“They need me to help them wherever they are,” Claudia said.
“Where they are is no longer here. Everyone here is dead. I’m sorry. You can only help the living. You know that,” Yared said.
Claudia stood there, torn with emotions, for what seemed like an hour, with Yared staring at her, waiting for her to come to her senses. He wasn’t without displeasure at the deaths of the people in this desert town, but he wasn’t prepared to linger on what was unfixable. Claudia, it seemed, was. He reached into her thoughts – something he previously avoided – looking to see if something extra was bothering her. He knew that she would detect the telepathic presence because she largely had the same powers. There, all that he found was a woman in despair, and who was emotionally fatigued from a life of both offensive and defensive telepathic maneuvers.
Yared’s own career was one of treasure hunting and a largely investigative use of telepathy. Wealth, rather than defense of nation, drove him. This woman, however, was actually noble, underneath her gruff exterior. Her thoughts were of selfless and endless work – fending off every threat, near and far, as she was assigned to do.
He came to admire Claudia – immensely – in that very moment. Whereas he had only recently taken an interest in defending against an external threat as opposed to collecting on his latest finder’s fee, defense of others was actually her life mission.
“I’m sorry. I’m so very, truly sorry. You’re right. You need to feel the emotions that you do,” Yared said.
Claudia knew that he had read her thoughts, and she did not resist. The truth was important, even if he knew too much. She nodded but did not reply for over a minute.
Suddenly, Claudia looked up. “Speaking of the living,” she said, detecting the thoughts of people moving into her radius of telepathic detection.
Yared detected them as well – the thoughts of several familiar people.
Claudia then steered the ship in the direction of the people whose thoughts she detected and lowered the craft to the level of the desert sands in front of them.
When the ship touched down on the desert sands, Yared pulled a lever to lower the boarding ramp.
Yared walked down first, followed by Claudia.
“Perfect! A dry and boring place, filled with dry and boring people,” Nina said as she saw Yared walk down the boarding ramp and onto the desert sands.
“Always a pleasure, Nina,” Yared said.
“Things aren’t boring. They’re dangerous. Angry spirits are moving about,” Carter said.
“We followed them here, with his help,” Nina said, looking toward Carter.
“We came out of the underground city in the jungle, to the east,” Yared said.
“And we found a ruined Jenaldej city in the desert nearby. A sandstorm buried and destroyed it, leaving only a half-buried castle that we could see,” Claudia said.
Ovid wrote of this encounter into his book, including the ship touching down on the desert sands and the people on board and what they reported. He considered the story of the ruined desert city and partially buried castle to be of interest. If nothing else proved more pressing, he planned on investigating it.
“The situation keeps getting worse. Waderav has been taken over by a tyrant named King Xander,” Tomiko said.
“He used an enchantment song to make people believe in him. I was able to keep it from affecting us, but it put everybody else under its spell,” Stephan said.
“And the king’s enslaved the people. He has them looking for something – a water that supposedly has all powers,” Tristan said.
“How is that even possible?” Claudia asked.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Yared said.
“Neither have I, but I’m also not confident that it never existed,” Tomiko said.
“I doubt – and even hope – that it never could,” Genevieve said.
“I hope that it could, in a way,” Nerine said.
“It would be valuable, of course,” Alistair said.
“We’re not alone. They’re here – the outsiders came. We fought them, but they retreated and left the underground city ahead of us,” Claudia said.
“We’re not alone here, either. There’s someone in the spirit world, standing right next to you,” Carter said.
“Lavakara, right? I was wondering where he went,” Claudia said.
“Are you hiding from us for a reason?” Carter asked.
Lavakara emerged from the spirit world and made his presence visible.
Ovid wrote a note into his book about Lavakara’s appearance. He could not be sure – despite what was said – that the man had been hiding in the spirit world and not under the cloak of darkness, so he did not state any detail he was unsure of. He did, however, write the claims that were made about hiding in the spirit world, indicating that other people had said those things.
“You seem to be handling things well enough on your own,” Lavakara said.
“Were you planning on helping?” Claudia asked.
“If an opportunity presents itself. Useless maneuvers don’t interest me,” Lavakara said.
“You mentioned some angry spirits. What about them?” Claudia asked, turning to Carter.
“They’re heading north, toward Baradaxa. For vengeance, against a wealthy man with blood on his hands. A man named Sebastian,” Carter said.
“He is wealthy. I never knew he did anything wrong. Seemed fair enough in business,” Alistair said.
“You dealt with him? I knew you were trouble, old man,” Nina said.
“He’s a telepath – a powerful one,” Yared said.
“I know. That’s among the many reasons the Jenaldej Empire doesn’t trust him, and never will. That, and the fact that he completely disagrees with everything that they stand for,” Claudia said.
“Whatever their quarrels with Sebastian, he’s still alive. These spirits want to change that fact,” Carter said.
“What are we supposed to do about that?” Yared asked.
“Nothing. The skies are dark and this king will likely move to extend his reach even farther, like he did in his prior lives,” Carter said.
“Prior lives? You mean he came back from the dead? How?” Nerine asked, genuinely interested in the question of how.
“I don’t know, but he intends to enslave as many people as he can,” Carter said.
“Tristan, you said you could make luminous crystals out of these desert sands,” Tomiko said.
Tristan drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial and was energized. He then took clumps of sand and began to manipulate their crystals to form them into gems.
“How will this work?” Alistair asked.
“The desert sands have been collecting sunlight for years. The energy is within them. I just need to restructure their crystals to release it,” Tristan said. In a few minutes, he had a brightly glowing yellow gem and handed it to Tomiko. He then made several more, handing them to everyone around, including Lavakara.
“Nice work,” Nina said.
Tristan then made several more, but these did not emit their light.
“What’s wrong with those gems?” Nerine asked.
“Nothing. They’re just spares. A slight change to their crystal structure will allow them to emit their light when we need it. For now, there’s no sense in wasting it,” Tristan said. He then handed everyone a spare as wel
l. He continued making more of these, until he was satisfied.
“Where do we go from here?” Alistair asked.
“That depends on what useful purpose we think that we can accomplish. We don’t have an army, so we can’t stop a king. Even with Stephan’s music, at best we can protect ourselves,” Tomiko said.
“I can keep making these crystals, so we’ll always be able to see, but they’re not going to help everyone,” Tristan said.
“There are more spirits coming. This isn’t over,” Carter said.
“This Sebastian made quite a few enemies…legions of them, it would seem,” Lavakara said, reaching out into the spirit world to detect the intent of the spirits.
“They’re going to tear him apart, aren’t they?” Claudia asked.
“Yes – along with everyone around him – who doesn’t have spirit powers to shield them,” Carter said.
“Then we need to follow these spirits and make sure they don’t cause any more harm,” Claudia said.
“You mean you want to fight a spirit war? You must be a fool. At best, your associate here can protect you. He doesn’t have the strength to do what you’re suggesting. Not even I do,” Lavakara said.
“Good intentions are admirable, but you need to have a strategy if you’re planning on defending against that great and numerous of an adversary,” Tomiko said.
“Who says I don’t? If they want Sebastian, they can have him. We just want to make sure he’s their one and only target,” Claudia said.
“You mean you want to telepathically draw him out of where he’s hiding?” Yared asked.
“If the accusations are true, we’ll know soon enough, and he’ll be getting what he has coming,” Claudia said.
“What if they’re not true?” Tomiko asked.
“Spirits can – and do – lie and murder. Don’t forget that the ghost of Captain Tychon still sails the seas, and some ships are unfortunate enough to meet with him. For all you know, Sebastian may be in the right and these spirits are in the wrong. This is not a struggle that involves you, so be careful about picking sides,” Lavakara said.
Lavakara didn’t truly care – this was only to irritate her and plant the seeds of doubt. He detested the thought of a female victory – he preferred that a strong male would step up and win the conflict, thus proving himself a worthy warrior. Then, Lavakara could possess that strong male, stealing his body and becoming a greater warrior.
