by Jeremy Dwyer
Massimo generated a beam of light and bent it around toward the top of the remolded sailing crystals, to produce a slow downward motion of the unoccupied second segment of the Resolute Traverser.
Niels watched the complex maneuvering and quickly sketched it in his book in a series of drawings. He knew that this would be a fascinating addition to the history of airship piloting and become a useful lesson for others. Niels had never seen or heard of such a thing, but he knew that also didn’t prove it had never happened.
“Are you sure he’ll follow that ship segment?” Akantha asked.
“I don’t want him seeing us and changing his mind,” Akylas said.
“He won’t change his mind. He wants to attack me,” Pradrock said.
“And you’re here, on this ship segment,” Akantha said.
“And that’s when we will lead him to the other waterfall,” Pradrock said.
~~~
On board the Obliteration, the ghost of Captain Tychon watched the ship descend over the other side of the cliff and he directed the crew to follow it.
“After we take their skulls and femurs, we’ll play the remainder of the tournament by new rules. The first to reach the seven (7) point line wins the round. If your bones go past the goal line, you get one (1) penalty point and a final attempt. A second offense and you’re disqualified with no points for that round,” the ghost of Captain Tychon said.
As the Obliteration followed the descending ship, the ghost of Captain Tychon saw the waterfalls surrounding him, and began to realize where he was.
~~~
“He’s here,” Akantha said, gritting her teeth. A minute after she said this, the Obliteration became visible over the top of the cliff and began descending after the unoccupied second segment of the Resolute Traverser.
“Akylas, take the wheel and steer us forward, now, to the chosen point you noted earlier,” Pradrock ordered, pointing in the direction that he wanted them to go.
Akylas took Akantha’s place at the ship’s wheel and directed the occupied first segment of the Resolute Traverser forward, to the point that he had remembered earlier.
~~~
The ghost of Captain Tychon saw the other ship move and recognized Captain Pradrock. He grew angry and decided to exact his revenge from the prior insult and binding due to the wager on the game.
“My enemy is in sight. His bones will be my trophies, and his skull my drinking cup. Follow him instead,” the ghost of Captain Tychon said.
The ghost crew of the Obliteration then moved quickly in pursuit of the occupied segment of the Resolute Traverser and caught up with them, next to a waterfall.
~~~
“He’s on us!” Akantha said.
“Fritz! Now! The sails!” Pradrock said.
Fritz reached out over the deck of the ship to touch the spray of the waterfall – which was made of the dark waters taken from the Ikkith Tar Ocean – and he began to crystallize them so that they sprayed upon the sails and sailing crystals of the Obliteration. The crystallized dark waters blocked the entry of light and weighed down the sails like ice, ripping them; thus, the Obliteration was unable to steer or hold altitude and went sailing downward toward the waterfall as the ghost crew struggled to maneuver it.
“Akylas, lower the ship! Akantha, hold him! Fritz, cover him!” Pradrock said.
Akylas then positioned the occupied first segment of the Resolute Traverser to a height just above the Obliteration.
Akantha used her own powers of spirit to hold the ghost of Captain Tychon in place; though he was in material form, he was still a ghost and subject to the spirit powers that Akantha wielded.
Fritz then manipulated the flowing dark waters further, crystallizing them over the material body of the ghost of Captain Tychon, encasing it.
The other ghosts on Tychon’s crew became panicked without their leader and returned to spirit form, moving to attack Akantha.
Akantha then turned her attention to the swarming ghosts so that they didn’t disrupt the process of capturing the ghost of Captain Tychon. However, they overpowered her by their sheer number. She fell backward, and the ghosts tormented her, so that she writhed in agony on the deck of the occupied first segment of the Resolute Traverser.
“Akantha!” Akylas shouted. He abandoned the wheel of the ship and ran toward his sister.
“They won’t stop! There’s too many!” Akantha screamed in pain, still writhing around.
“We have to stop!” Akylas said.
“No! Get rid of Tychon! They’ll follow him!” Pradrock said.
“She’ll die!” Akylas said.
“No! This is the only way she’ll live! If Tychon escapes, he’ll kill us all! We all need to go over there – both ships!” Pradrock said.
Jolene believed that Pradrock was correct and telepathically calmed Akylas: “We have to finish this – that’s the only way.”
Akylas didn’t want to believe Jolene, but he did, so he took control of the Resolute Traverser’s first segment’s wheel again and steered it toward the apparently slow moving waterfall, pushing the Obliteration along with them. As the ghost crew was not at the wheel of that ship – their spirits were inside Akantha, instead – no resistance was offered other than the weight of the Obliteration.
The body of the ghost of Captain Tychon was already encased in crystallized Ikkith Tar waters. Soon the encased body was plunged into the flow of the apparently slow moving waterfall, along with the Obliteration itself.
Pradrock watched the Obliteration come to a halt in mid-air.
“Halt! That’s it! He’s gone!” Pradrock said.
“Hopefully for good, assuming that time stands still,” Fritz said.
Akylas halted the movement of the occupied first segment of the Resolute Traverser.
The spirits inside of Akantha lost their connection to the ghost of Captain Tychon and lost their sense of direction. They suddenly left Akantha’s body and swarmed away.
Akylas let go of the ship segment’s wheel and went to be by his sister’s side. He held her in his arms, hugging her, terrified that he had lost his truest and most essential friend.
Akantha opened her eyes, smiled and said: “Relax. The haunts are gone. I’m just tired. Don’t worry.”
Niels recorded all of what was said into his book, but he could not see what happened in the spirit world. He did, however, capture the physical battle in vivid detail on the book’s pages.
“It could have been worse. Much worse. Consider yourself blessed,” an unfamiliar voice said. Everyone looked up to find the source of the voice. They saw a woman with dark skin – perhaps fifty (50) years of age or more – emerge from the flowing water of the apparently slow moving waterfall and step onto the deck of the Resolute Traverser’s first ship segment. She was dressed in what might have been an ancient military uniform.
“Blessed?” Akantha asked.
“Who might you be?” Pradrock asked.
“The better question is ‘Who was I?’ I was an admiral in the Ihalik Navy. Admiral Gabrielle Ramalaxis. I fought a battle I wasn’t prepared to fight, and faced powers greater than I could handle. The spirit world is dangerous far beyond what you might believe, especially for those who don’t drink the Zovvin waters. The spirits defeated my enemies, as I asked them to; but then they came for me. Actually, it’s even more complicated than that,” the woman said.
Niels wrote all of this down into his book – the woman’s appearance and her words – but he did not immediately believe a word of it, because if it were true, this woman was a living legend who was long thought to have been dead.
Akantha stood up, assisted by Akylas, who held her close and hugged her again to be sure that she was well.
“Talking about time standing still – you’ve missed in a lot in seventy-five thousand (75000) years, Admiral. It has been a lot worse than this, all relatively recently,” Akantha said.
“Then we need to have a long talk. There’s also a lot of terrible things
that happened all those years ago. That’s a battle that no one should ever forget, and a strategy that no one should ever repeat,” Admiral Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
Jolene probed the thoughts of the woman and found them to be honest – she wasn’t lying – but accuracy was something she couldn’t establish. Still, the admiral’s memories – if true – were terrifying. “I believe you, Admiral,” Jolene said.
“After we get this ship back in order, I very much look forward to hearing your account, Admiral.” Pradrock said.
“I will steer the ship segments together again,” Massimo said. He then generated a beam of light as before and carefully focused it upon the remolded sailing crystals on the unoccupied second segment of the Resolute Traverser to steer it into the segment they were on. The segments met at their seams, but were not linked.
“We can reengage the linkage,” Akylas said, and he and Akantha went onto the unoccupied segment and manipulated the levers to link the segments to become a single ship again.
“Under the authority of the Chronicler’s Oath, I insist on returning to Emeth,” Niels said after recording these latest details. He wanted to submit the events in his records without too much delay. He also believed that, if this admiral was authentic, her firsthand account of past events would be just as valuable to have. The Verifiers in Emeth could put her to a test to weigh her claims.
“Understood, trustworthy Chronicler. Akylas, set our course for Emeth,” Pradrock said.
Akylas drank anew of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean from his vial and was energized. He listened to the sounds of the stars once again and heard their positions and movements as clear as ever. By these, he was able to chart a course and he began steering the Resolute Traverser east across the Zovvin Ocean and toward Emeth.
“You said a lot worse happened?” Admiral Gabrielle Ramalaxis asked as their voyage began.
“The inferno, the tempest, the sky turning dark,” Torin said.
“Let’s not forget the arrival of King Xander,” Luuk / Tallak said.
CHAPTER 51: Gathering of the Haunts against the Unfailing King
“Aura, command the people to double their efforts in their search for the unified waters. Only by these can all nations be free,” King Xander said while seated upon his throne in the palace throne room in northern Ihalik.
Aura, along with the Chronicler Gisella, were in attendance.
“They work to their limit, Your Majesty, in pursuit of your goals. Yet, they do not know where else to search, or how. What shall I tell them?” Aura asked.
“The difficulty of the search is the reason that so many have been brought under my command. We will take other lands in time, even Javanda in the far north. Baradaxa will come under our control, and they, too, will search,” King Xander said.
“Your beloved Rivka is dead, Your Majesty, so taking lands will be more difficult without her assistance,” Aura said, seething about the king’s relations with her late sister.
“Your songs are powerful enchantments, Aura. They will be enough for many purposes, if not all,” King Xander said.
“If enough people hear the music, then the songs are indeed powerful. However, Javanda has a vast area, while so few live there to carry the message throughout the land. The population of the entire world may not even be enough to search for the waters you seek, Your Majesty,” Aura said.
“I am well aware of the great expanse of the lands, Aura. That is why I want you to encourage the people to expand their numbers, so that they may spread far and wide. They will take other lands for me, expanding my kingdom, carrying my message of freedom and continuing the search,” King Xander said.
“If you would have created a bloodline through me, Your Majesty, I would have borne many loyal children for you, who could have carried on your search with passion,” Aura said, intending to mock the king for his earlier refusal of her advances. She now carried within her womb the child of the handsome guard, and she preferred that child to any royal heir, for she now saw that the king was vile and insolent.
“I offered you an opportunity, when we moved to expand into Revod. Had the endeavor been successful, you would have been rewarded with the honor of carrying my heir. However, you disappointed me, and lost the land to a more powerful singer,” King Xander said.
“I did my best, and always strive to give you what you deserve, Your Majesty,” Aura said.
“I will not have your focus divided between the dual great purposes of raising my heir and serving me directly with your songs, as both tasks are of great importance,” King Xander said.
“Indeed, I am not the woman to raise your heir, Your Majesty,” Aura said.
“Now, other women must carry my seed, and you are to focus entirely on the music. With practice, you must become strong enough to rival the other singer and hold onto our territories, lest she steal them from us,” King Xander said.
“I will prepare and practice many songs, Your Majesty,” Aura said.
“I am pleased that you have come to accept this decision. Now, encourage the people of my kingdom to grow in number, and make even their children loyal followers and believers in our purpose,” King Xander said.
“Yet, those who are under enchantment do not truly believe anything, and have no passion or purpose, Your Majesty,” Aura said.
“By your songs, perhaps you can instill that passion in some of them, and even teach them to believe,” King Xander said.
“Yet, I cannot give them knowledge of where to search, and their passion will be weak, for it will not be in spirit, now that Rivka has fallen,” Aura said.
“Their lack of passion is unfortunate, but their power exists in abundance because of the waters they already drink. In greater numbers, they will serve me well enough,” King Xander said.
“They are slaves lacking guidance and true love for the cause,” Aura said, hoping to plant doubts and expectations of disappointment into the king’s own mind. She wanted him to fail utterly, and she wanted to be the instrument of that failure.
“They are bound servants, which is better than when they were free. Then, they did not search for these unified waters. Some few, on occasion, would engage in the pursuit. Yet, they did not fully commit themselves to do that, and abandoned the quest when the difficulties overwhelmed them. The greater the difficulty became, the fewer who would persist in the search,” King Xander said.
“Did they believe that these unified waters truly existed? They have eluded so many for so long, giving rise to reasonable doubt,” Aura asked.
“The unified waters are the greatest of all goals, Aura. I am certain that they exist. Even another person who only believed that they might exist should find the chance worth the pursuit,” King Xander said.
“Yet, if the effort proved fruitless, then an ordinary man or woman would look at the limited lifetime they had ahead of them and decide to make the most of it. They would seek out love and start families, which they could see and believe in. Then, they would pursue work that paid well and with certainty, so as to give them support,” Aura said.
“That is because they lack vision and settle for less. We have that vision, and can see better things, under far brighter skies than before. Follow my orders and direct these people, with your music, to increase their efforts in the search for the unified waters,” King Xander said.
Gisella recorded all of this into her book, and suspected that Aura had become disloyal to the king after Rivka called Aura the king’s fool. She did not write her suspicion, as that would have been judgment and inference, which the Chronicler’s Oath forbade, but she suspected it nonetheless.
~~~
The demon Gadamalto was still filled with fury at King Xander for his refusal to pay for the services already rendered. He became determined to utterly destroy the king, and beckoned other spirits with promises of comfort if they should act against the king. He called them by the millions and they answered by the thousands, as not all were unrepentantly wicked, but sought
redemption they hoped might yet be found.
~~~
A swarm of haunts entered the palace and appeared before King Xander, such that even Aura and Gisella could see them.
Each of the haunts had a form that was translucent, and they came in many shades of red, yellow, white, blue, green, gray and gold. The spirits appeared to be dressed as he or she had been in their lifetimes: bankers, kings, captains, soldiers, sailors, merchants, priests, tormentors, assassins, slave traders, diplomats, architects and members of many other professions.
The first of the haunts – a king in illustrious robes and a crown – spoke first, saying: “Behold. The king of many ages sits before us. Your kingdom has begun to crumble around you.”
A second haunt – a priest wearing garments with markings of serpents – spoke next, saying: “You have called upon a demon to help you build your kingdom. Now, you refuse to pay your debt.”
A third haunt – a priestess wearing garments with markings of the suns – spoke next, saying: “Your kingdom was built under dark skies, but now the suns shine down brilliantly upon it, and the light of the sky’s nine (9) kings will reveal your failures to the world.”
A fourth haunt – a captain holding a map of the oceans of the world, over which he gestured – spoke next, saying: “These are the only oceans of the world. Their waters give the only powers to be received, and only one (1) can ever be had by any person. Yet, you foolishly search for the fabled waters giving all powers.”
A fifth haunt – a queen in resplendent robes, wearing a crown and holding a scepter – spoke next, saying: “And now your kingdom is built on lies, nearly as false as the fabled waters.”
A sixth haunt – a banker wearing fine clothing and holding an open chest filled with gems and coins – spoke next, saying: “Your debts must soon be repaid.”
A seventh haunt – an assassin holding daggers and spikes – spoke next, saying: “For his debts, he shall die, be it of fright or ruined flesh.”
Aura became frightened, but that fear was mixed with a hope that the haunts would change the king’s mind away from his pursuits or that they would kill him, for she hated him and wanted him to fail in his quest.
