The sight staggered her as it did the others and she dismissed the floating lights with a thought. Even Talisbane chirped excitedly as he looked around. The stone prison they had just been encased in stretched ever upward farther than her vision would allow. In the distance she could see the free floating river following an age-old weathered path carved by years of erosion. Rose gasped when they sailed around the large mass which was her continent and saw more floating in the distance. They were each as big as her home and bigger, though most of them were not turned toward them she could see the interior of one but it was the most distant and the largest. It looked like a big white disc standing in the middle of the flowing cosmic press. A bridge of pure ice stretched from the large continent to another and between two more a massive tangle of vines connected one to the next. Each had its own linking mass of elemental material.
On the underside of the continent closest to them Rose caught movement. To her amazement she spied an elemental made of pure stone, smooth and hunkered over. It was massive to say the least, easily larger than a mountain. On the creature’s back there was a city with large ruined buildings and spires of an odd make. “Gods above, what is that?”
“That my dear Rose is the walking city of Enk’hamaat, the lost wanderer of the naarabi.” Avreel replied with a growing grin. “Welcome to the astral fade, the plane of pure dreams and energy; home of the gods and birthplace of our world.”
Rose let her eyes drift again. Up and down, if the two could be distinguished, in the never-ending open space. She felt disoriented but at the same time she felt grounded and light as a feather. This place felt real to her yet surreal and amorphous. There was a feeling of being home not unlike what she had felt when she had laid eyes on the elven forest. In the distance a floating mass of crystalline material drifted past and then behind one of the continents out of sight. “Where does it end?”
“Philosophically it doesn’t. The astral spheres that make this place whole and tangible yet distant are more expressions of thought and emotion than physical. This is where the gods made their home and this is where they come to die when it is their time.” Avreel cast her eyes out as if for the first time, though she had made this journey before. Every time she saw it she felt wonder and mystery within its depths. They were feelings that, she was sure, her people had long ago forsaken. Now standing among like-minded people she felt better about her decision to leave the city and start a new life.
“There are many extraordinary things in this place, some benign and others malignant. Though it is beautiful we must be on our guard at all times. I don’t know how far we have to be away from the caverns but I would not try teleporting just yet. Besides we don’t want the ship drifting away into the nothingness. Not with such valuable cargo aboard.” Avreel turned back to Nina and something behind them caught her eye. “Liostro climb up to the crow’s nest and take up the spyglass there, what is that object drifting toward us?”
“No need, I can just…” Rose stopped suddenly with her hands in mid-air as if she were beginning to cast a spell. “I can’t use magic! It’s there but I can’t shape it!”
Avreel put a hand on her shoulder; though she hadn’t experienced it herself she had seen arcane casters have the same reaction that Rose had when she could not touch the source. “Don’t panic! The planes are infinite and each one makes magic work a little different from the next. It takes time to learn how to adapt yourself.”
“I hope you can learn quickly.” Liostro called down to them. He had made the climb anyway just to see with his own eyes. “There’s a ship closing in on us and fast. I can’t tell what it’s doing out of the water or how it’s moving but it’s out there.”
“By the dirty gods and their dark schemes!” Avreel shouted and started running toward Nina while tugging Rose and a startled Talisbane with her. “Rose you need to pour some juice into this crate or we’re going to be overrun.”
“What?” Rose said in a startled voice as she was been pulled out of her daze. “What’s going on?”
Avreel stood at the rail and peered over the side noting that the rival ship was definitely attempting to close the distance. “Pirates, by all the bloody dead gods we’re being tailed by astral pirates.”
“Pirates?” Liostro called down to her as he let loose from the lowest hanging rigging to land near them all. “How can anything live out here?”
“There’s more in this expanse of space than just our shattered planet. The astral fade is infinite if your pea-sized brain can comprehend that.” Avreel turned to him and unbelted her mace. “Go get your sharp pointy stick; we may need to poke a few eyes out to be free of this mess.”
From the journal of Alethia Rose Nalfys
To this day I look back at my time on the sea as one of the best experiences of my life. It was more than just an experience, it was life-changing. So much happened after I merged with the primordial god and in so little a time frame; it staggers the mind when you think about it. Imagine fighting a dead god and living to tell the tale.
Nostalgia, that wistfulness that catches you when you pry a good memory out of your ever-working mind, is not something I experience often. My road has been hard and though I try and act stoic I am still just a person like everyone else. I’ve never felt as if the world owes me something, just the opposite, I have learned that the world expects something from me. That is a hard burden to bear.
Still, the short rest we took in the stone depression by the sea was something I had never experienced before. The joy of life just for the sake of life, the company of good friends with good food and conversation; it was all new to me. Even my stay in the elven forest was not as precious to me as that fleeting few hours. I can still smell the stew cooking, the sweet-but-salty aroma teasing our nostrils, Avreel’s pipeweed and Liostro’s oil.
Inevitably though the memory fades and I am left in the present with nothing more than a nostril full of memories and a tear in the corner of my eye. The remembrance of life, remembrance of friends, remembrance of loss, it is all too much to bring to light all at once.
Chapter 16: Astral Journey
“The most paranoid people I’ve run across and you didn’t think to put weapons on your ships?” Liostro shouted to Avreel as he watched the ship approaching.
“This ship is made to outrun our enemies so adding weapons to it would slow us down and kill profits.” Avreel shrugged as if apologizing for the lack then turned back to Rose who had taken the wheel from Nina. “Rose can’t you make us go a little faster?”
“I’m sorry I can only force it to go so fast. For some reason it’s dragging. The ship is frustrated and I can’t understand why.” Rose glanced over her shoulder at their pursuers and sighed, trying again to pour some more effort into speed. She was met with resistance again but she couldn’t identify what it was. From her shoulder Talisbane was nervously chattering and looking back at the approaching ship. “It’s not working, what do we do now?”
“We wait for them to board us I guess.” Liostro ran his finger along the sheath at his back and then flexed his arms and legs a few times as if to limber up. “I’m sure I can remember how to cut someone.”
“Wonderful plan mighty warrior but a ship that size will carry between forty and sixty men depending on the space allocated in the cargo hold and other factors. Not only that but we have to worry about their weaponry as well. Unlike us they’re sure to have some sort of ballista or ranged weapon designed to do some serious damage.” Avreel ran her fingers through her long hair and paced back and forth trying to come up with something. “I don’t know what to do!”
The ship in the distance was closing fast from what she could see over her shoulder and still she couldn’t get their vessel to move any faster. The ship was so close now she could hear the crew in the distance singing some sort of song. It sounded more like a dirge than anything else. Rose sighed and turned away from the wheel. “Nina, keep it steady.”
Without questioning her Nina grabbed the
wheel and steadied the ship. She was relieved when no one asked any questions. Rose stood by the rail and eyed the ship curiously. “Are you sure they’re going to attack us?”
“Her paranoia aside, they do look to be aggressive.” Liostro said before Avreel could chime in.
“Stand back, I’m going to try this again.” Rose spread her legs a bit and leaned forward with her hands on the rail. She almost smiled when Talisbane vaulted off of her shoulder and landed on Nina’s instead. Shifting her vision to the spectrum of magic she looked around and was satisfied to find that magic permeated everything on the plane. Once she was again viewing everything as normal she stood up straight and hung her hands at her sides. She could feel the power building within her as she sequestered it from the fabric of the plane itself, any debris floating by them was subsequently tapped as well. Her breathing increased; there was something different about channeling in this plane. Rose couldn’t put her finger on it but she didn’t think heavily on the subject as her stores began overflowing. Once she was satisfied she stemmed the flow and let her head slump downward for a moment. When she looked back up at the ship the silvery fires of the Spellrage ignited across her body with an audible tympanic noise. She lifted up from the deck as not to damage the ship. When the flames dancing across her body shifted from silver to gold she lifted her arms up and reached out as if grasping the distant pursuer.
Avreel and Liostro looked at each other then back and even Nina’s attention was taken away from her job. Liostro and Nina had never seen the Spellrage before but they could feel its power throbbing from the floating woman.
Her chest was heaving as she reached out and the three of them wondered what she was doing until they saw two large pieces of rock gliding toward the ship in the distance. They had to be several miles across each but they were moving as if they weighed nothing. The ship was close enough now that they heard the warning call and it drifted out of harm’s way just in time to avoid the rocks themselves but the shockwave they generated by colliding sent the ship skittering to the side. They watched as Rose worked her arms grasping and pulling and pitching as if she were throwing stones at them, the only problem was the stones were becoming increasingly large. The ship in the distance dipped and dived catching several of the rock projectiles broadside but finally a smaller chunk of rock and crystal collided directly with the ship sending it listing into the astral fade.
The fires around her died and Rose fell to the deck still conscious but exhausted. Liostro rushed to her side and touched her shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, it just drained me.” She smiled a little and put her head in her hands. “Maybe that will buy enough time for us to…”
A loud bass horn bleating caught their attention now that Rose was finished attacking the ship. All of them turned to find Nina staring up at the endless sky of the fade. Not far from them and a little ahead a large object had floated into view from behind a small island mass. It was huge, larger than huge, gargantuan was the correct word. The moving island looked as if it had been constructed from ships and buildings and other various objects. Not to mention the center of the flying mass was a chunk of rock that was big enough to house the city of Rahkshas. The construction looked to be gleaned from any number of different civilizations and it had strange three-pronged twirling objects on the bottom. Presumably for steering and propulsion they twisted and moved as if to change the direction the moving city was traveling in. Unfortunately it was headed directly for them. Rose was the first to speak. “What in the torturous hells is that?”
“I have no clue.” Avreel said in awe as she looked the ship over again. “It looks like some sort of moving island or city.”
Rose turned her gaze back to the city that was inching toward them and whistled. “I doubt I can destroy it and I don’t think we can outrun it.”
“Well I would guess our first interaction with the owners was less than friendly. I think the ship we just destroyed belongs to them.” Nina surmised while still staring in awe. “Any more bright ideas?”
“None.” The rest of them said almost in unison.
Several more ships embarked from a dock on closest end of the city. Two of them flew past their ship obviously heading for the badly damaged vessel floating off in the distance and yet four more headed directly for them. Rose opted not to attack them this time; she doubted she had enough left in her to destroy four more of the ships. They were still floating along the river of elemental water stretching out into the distance hugging the rock wall. When two of the ships flew up beside them Rose got a good look at the crew. They seemed to be human for the most part but several of them had strange clothing and some of them had odd-looking limbs.
The two ships beside them lowered boarding ramps that bit into the wooden rails and the top two just hovered silently along with them. The crew of the two boarding vessels poured onto the deck of their craft brandishing weapons and looking every bit the pirates Avreel had branded them to be. Rose was shocked at the closer look she got. Where an arm should have been she spied wood and metal and gears along with canvas cloth and at the end sometimes a hand-like appendage or even a hook. A few of them had what looked like glass orbs in their eye sockets. Some of them had wooden legs of the same mechanical make. The strangest was the one who seemed to be the captain. He had a wooden arm with a three-fingered hand at the end of it lashed together with rope and pulleys. His neck looked to have been burned away and within that hollow socket was a series of gears and machinery she could not comprehend. One of his eyes was covered with a patch but beneath it she could see a red glow. Though the rest of him seemed to be human, what wasn’t human disturbed her. Other than that he had long black hair tied in a tail and a goatee on a much-too-human chin.
As he strode forward through the crowd of about thirty men he looked them over, judging each with his eyes and something more. When he stopped on Rose he indicated her with an outstretched human hand holding a sword with a half-moon blade at the end. His voice was like listening to metal and wood grate together at the same time. “You are the wielder of magic on this vessel?”
“I am.” She replied simply.
“You attacked our scouting ship without provocation and have been determined to be enemies of the clockwork city and the detritus.” He said evenly. “You will surrender your vessel and return with us or you will be slain on this ship and we will take it anyway.”
When Liostro reached to unsheathe his blade Rose put a hand on his arm and shook her head. Sometimes diplomacy was a better answer than just killing people and taking their belongings. She had struck the first blow at their behest but it had been her decision. “I beg for your forgiveness, we thought the ship to be pirates.”
“Nonsense, the detritus are not pirates. Scavengers, yes but never pirates. Regardless it is not for me to decide. You will be given to the council of four and your fate will be decided by them. Will you submit peacefully?” Rose could sense that his tone had shifted; he was asking her nicely this time as if he believed her. Not one to trust people but unwilling to strike another unprovoked blow Rose nodded her head and drew her weapon slowly, laying it down upon the ground. She indicated for everyone else to do the same. They did so hesitantly. Talisbane returned to her shoulder with a growl and a hiss at the alien humanoids.
“I hope you know what you’re doing Rose.” Avreel whispered in her ear as she laid her mace down on the deck and stood back up with her hands high in a gesture of surrender. “I would hate to have to fight my way out of that odd place.”
“Have faith.” Rose replied as she walked down the deck and into the arms of two of the strange-looking humanoids. They led her to the captain who nodded his thanks as the group was ushered past.
“They came peacefully so treat them with the same respect you would treat a guest of our people.” The captain’s odd voice called from behind them. “Secure the ship and prepare it for departure, we sail for the clockwork.”
A cry came up from the gather
ed men and women and to Rose it sounded like a victory shout. Hoping she had not made the incorrect decision she allowed the sailors to lead them into the hold and to the side of the stairwell into a semi-cramped cell. Once they were inside and the door was locked a guard was posted on the opposite side of the wall.
“They are familiar to me now but only vaguely.” Avreel said softly to the four of them. “The name detritus rings a bell but it has been a long time. In my readings of the astral fade it was mentioned that one of our pods of ships was attacked by strange flying vessels. One of them was captured but the rest escaped and on their return they described strange half-humans that fought with weapons grafted to their bodies.”
“Well your people are not exactly friendly anyway so let’s just chalk that up to your winning personalities and hope I did not make a mistake in surrendering.” Rose said in reply. The captain joined them in the hold not long after they felt the ship move to depart. He would have been handsome if not for the mechanical parts and pieces and the strange rigging that was his arm.
He was quiet for a moment as he studied each of them. “I know that you are an infernis, a human and an elf. However I do not know what manner of creature you are my pretty witch.”
“I am a naarabian and my name is Rose.” She said haughtily, not enjoying being called a ‘pretty witch’. As if on cue Talisbane hissed at the captain and his little wings shuddered a little. “I surrendered willingly and I do not like the tone of your inquiry, if it was indeed an inquiry. I hope I did not do us a disservice in coming quietly.”
“My apologies I meant no offense lady.” The captain bowed a short bow and then looked back up at them. He took a seat on the stairs with a creak that could only signify some sort of wood beneath his breeches. “What are you doing out in the astral mother?”
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