The Stones of Fire and Water

by V. M. Sang

  Blundo thought for a while, then stood and walked over to a bookcase. He looked for a few minutes, pulled out some books and put them back before walking over to them flicking through the book he was carrying.

  He read a few lines, turned a few pages then said, `Ah! Here it is. This seems to suggest the entry into another world is not always the same. Somehow the magic knows the reason for the passage and puts the traveller as near to the best place as possible.'

  `That would explain how it was so easy—well, relatively easy—to find what I was looking for. The magic put me as close as it could to the emerald on Terra, and also to the diamond on Aeris. I was a long way away from the ruby though. Almost half a world.'

  `You needed to solve some problems in both cases, though,' pointed out Lucenra. `Perhaps the magic did that. Made sure it was possible, but not too easy.'

  Pettic sighed. `I don't pretend to understand magic. How can it `decide' something?'

  Blundo interrupted. `This is something that the greatest magicians can't decide about. Is magic somehow sentient, and if so, does it take the form of an actual being similar to a god? But we aren't here to discuss the nature of magic. If this treatise is correct, then the dragons will enter Terra at a suitable point.'

  That problem being laid to rest, they discussed how to get the huge creatures through the arch. They drew no conclusions about that, but there were a few more days to solve the problem.

  Chapter 7

  The night of the full moon arrived and Pettic and Lucenra went up to the Stones. They waited anxiously for the arrival of the dragons. Pettic worried that perhaps they would decide to stay here on Fusionem rather than attempt the passage to Terra. After all, there was magic here too, and it was only his suggestion that magic would be returning to Terra that made them agree.

  They heard the now familiar, to Pettic at least, creaking of leathery wings and the three dragons landed just outside the ring of stones.

  Pettic approached and saw each dragon had a hatchling in its mouth. They had grown considerably in the couple of weeks the dragons had been gone.

  `We're ready to try to get to Terra,' muttered Monarlisk round a squirming, yowling baby. `We thought of ignoring you and staying here as there's magic, but the idea of colonising an entirely new world is appealing to our sense of adventure. We trust you when you say there's a new belief in magic on Terra and that it will grow, especially when they see dragons in the sky.'

  Pettic was a bit worried about sending these large predators to Terra so he extracted a promise from them that they would stay away from people and their animals and only prey on wild game. This they agreed to, but it did not completely allay his fears. After all, dragons did what suited them at the time. Still, it was too late to go back on his promises now with three of the huge creatures in front of him. Goodness knows what they would do if he reneged on his promise.

  The moon rose and Pettic pointed to the arch. Was it a trick of the moonlight, or was the arch bigger than it was before? Monarlisk walked over to it and as the moon's rays lit the ground under it, he pushed his head through.

  To the observers on Fusionem it looked as though his head disappeared. He pulled it back and said, around a mouthful of hatchling, `There are mountains. I think I saw a volcano in the distance, but the land is green. Lots of trees, and grass. Not like Ignis at all.'

  He turned to Pettic `I thank you, human, for doing this service for we dragons, although it's no less than you should do! We'll establish our race, safe from extinction, if you're correct and magic is returning to Terra. If you're not, be sure we'll find a way to come here and exact our revenge.'

  Pettic frowned at that, but then said, `Monarlisk, there will be only one female on the world of Terra. I hope you and Bladmisk can find a way to co-exist.'

  `Oh, we've talked about that,' Crinilisk interrupted. `The little green that Monarlisk's carrying is female. He says he can wait until she grows up and then he'll take her as his mate. We dragons are long-lived so he has plenty of time. We'll all need to take special care of her as she's the only other female.'

  Monarlisk, becoming tired of talk, began to walk towards the arch, which did indeed seem to have grown, and he passed through followed by the others.

  `Well, that's that,' sighed Pettic. `I hope I've done the right thing unleashing those creatures on Terra. They could cause havoc there, you know.'

  `I've no idea what they said, but from what I heard of your side of the conversation, it seemed they promised not to harm people or their animals.'

  They were walking back towards the city now, and Pettic replied, `Yes, they did, but how much store can one put on the promises of dragons?'

  The pair discussed the question all the way back to the palace. They decided to go to see Blundo again and after climbing the many stairs to his laboratory they knocked on his door.

  The magician let them in himself. He had sent his apprentice to the gardens to practice some minor spells, he said.

  `Well, how did it go?' he queried, once the formalities had been got out of the way.

  `Well,' replied Pettic, `they've gone. It seems you were right about the magic accommodating them. The arch seemed to grow while we looked at it and they passed without any problem. As to where they came out, Monarlisk poked his head through first, before going completely through and he said there were mountains and he could see a volcano. It seems you were right about the magic choosing where the portal emerges.'

  `Good. I'm glad they weren't stuck in a place too small for them.'

  Blundo invited the young people to sit down and began to prepare tea.

  `A pity I can't talk to your friend, Harrik,' he said suddenly. `It would have been interesting to hear about the ideas of magic on other worlds, and this “science” sounds fascinating.'

  The three sat and talked for some time. Blundo asked many questions about “science” that Pettic could not answer. He was not, he said, a scientist, not even a magician.

  `Do you think we could find this “coal” stuff here on Fusionem?' Blundo asked. `We needn't go as far as the people on Ignis with this science stuff, but perhaps a bit of it would make life easier. You said travelling around using steam was quicker than horses.'

  The conversation continued until it was time for Lucenra and Pettic to go for the evening meal with the rest of the royal family, so they bid farewell to Blundo and made their way to the nursery.

  Aqua

  Chapter 8

  Some days later, Pettic and Lucenra were sitting in Blundo's rooms once again.

  `You deserve a little rest before you go on your next adventure,' Blundo told him. The next full moon isn't until two weeks' time. You've just missed it this time round.'

  Blundo promised to look up as much as he could about the dimension bubble and how it could be entered. That was the one question up until now they had not faced. There was also the question of proving the previous magician was the culprit behind the plot, and had not been, as he said at his trial, a mere pawn who did not know what was going on. Blundo promised to try to find out more about that by asking questions of other magicians and doing a thorough search of his own quarters, where Hellom had lived before him.

  When the full moon arrived, Pettic and Lucenra walked up to the stones. This time, Pettic decided not to take Cledo. What if the world were all water? The dog would have a difficult time of it.

  `And you won't?' Lucenra's eyes flashed. `Promise me if it turns out to be all water you'll come straight back.'

  `Can't, Luce. I need the sapphire to return, don't I?'

  The princess's eyes filled with tears.

  Pettic went and put a comforting arm round her. `Look, I was worried about Ignis, but that wasn't made of fire, now, was it? And there was land on Aeris too. I expect there'll be land on Aqua, we just don't know how much.'

  Lucenra gave a weak smile and promised to look after Cledo and to keep him away from Torren/Dilrong. She stood on her toes and gave her customary kiss on Pettic's che
ek and watched as the moon's rays shone through the arch. Pettic walked towards it, turned around, waved and stepped into the mist.

  He was on an island. He emerged from a cave and found himself on a narrow, sandy beach with the sun beating down. Rocks lay at either end of the beach and he could see a person sitting on the rocks at the east end. Pettic walked towards the figure.

  `Hello,' he said as he approached.

  She, for it was a young woman, turned, saw him and quickly dived into the sea. Pettic sighed. He should have been more careful. No wonder she had been afraid. A stranger appearing like that, apparently out of nowhere. He looked at where she had dived in. There was no sign of her resurfacing. Perhaps she had swum underwater to the other side of the island.

  He climbed up the rocks towards the low summit. It was only about three hundred feet above the sea and so it did not take him very long. Once there, he scanned the horizon. Water stretched as far as he could see, dotted with a myriad tiny islands. Some were smaller than the one he was on and a few were bigger, but he could see no signs of life on any of them, nor on the island he found himself on either. No movement, no rising smoke, no animals grazing. He frowned. Where had the girl come from? Where had she gone?

  He clambered back down to the beach and sat on the rocks waiting. Maybe someone would come with a boat and take him to where the people lived. The girl must have gone somewhere. If she were afraid, then she would surely have gone to get some help.

  As the sun rose higher in the sky, Pettic took refuge in the mouth of the cave where he had arrived. It was hot and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The sea glittered blue as the waves swept up the beach. Then, just as the sun approached its highest point in the sky, a figure swam towards the beach. It pulled itself onto the rocks and looked around. Then he heard a beautiful voice begin to sing.

  The singer's song attracted him and he came out of his cave. Slowly and quietly he walked towards the rocks, pausing fifty yards away. He stood still until the singer turned around.

  She looked him in the eye and then said, `So my cousin was right. There is a strange man here. And what a strange man you are.'

  She turned fully round and Pettic was shocked to see that where he had two legs, she had a fish's tail. She was very beautiful with long blonde hair and blue eyes that twinkled like the sun on the sea.

  `I am not strange where I come from. Everyone has two legs like mine. We live on the land, you see.'

  As he looked, he noticed she had what appeared to be three slashes on either side of her neck. Some kind of ritual, he wondered. He had heard of places on Fusionem where they gave children ritual scars on entering adulthood. Perhaps it was the same here.

  `How very odd. Both the…legs, do you call them…and living on the land.'

  Pettic had been approaching her slowly all this time and now stood on the rocks, only a few yards away.

  `Come,' she said. `Come with me to our kingdom under the waves. The other merfolk will be interested in meeting you.'

  `I'm afraid I can't. You see, I'd die under the water.'

  `You have no gills?' Her eyebrows rose nearly into her hair.

  Pettic shook his head. `Sorry, but I need to stay on the land.'

  The purpose of the neck slits came to him. They weren't ritual scars. They were gills. These people had both gills and lungs so they could breathe both under water and in the air.

  The girl spoke again.

  `I'll go down and get something to help you, then you can come down with me.' With that, she dived into the water, leaving Pettic gazing at the ripples she left behind.

  What was she going to get? These people would not need an aqualung, so how could she help him? Then he remembered tales of sirens who lured men to the depths of the sea where they drowned. What the sirens did with them, he had no idea.

  After a short while a merman appeared and clambered out of the sea. He flopped over the beach looking rather like a seal. It was obvious that the land was not his element. To minimise the man's discomfort, Pettic came out of the shelter of the cave and approached him. The merman had a bag slung over his shoulder from which he took two fishes. He dropped them at Pettic's feet.

  `Here's something for you to eat.'

  Pettic picked them up. `Thank you,' he said.

  The merman continued to speak. `My sister has gone to try to find a gem that will enable you to breathe under the water. She'll need to find a sea hag. There's one who lives near our city so it shouldn't take her too long. I'll stay here with you to keep you company until she comes back. Let me introduce myself. My name is Kinne.'

  `I'm Pettic. Thank you for your company. It'll be most welcome.'

  Pettic invited the merman to come into his cave out of the sun, which beat down mercilessly onto the beach. The merman accepted gratefully and flopped into the cave. He sat with his back to the wall.

  `Would you like some of these fish to eat?' Pettic asked him.

  `Thank you, yes. I am rather hungry. I had little to break my fast this morning.'

  Pettic began to light a fire to cook the fish when Kinne raised his eyebrows.

  `Why are you lighting a fire when it's hot already?'

  `To cook the fish, of course.' Then light dawned. `Oh, you can't light fires under water, can you? I suppose you must eat your fish raw.'

  He handed a fish to Kinne then continued to light his fire in the doorway to the cave. He threaded his fish on a makeshift spit and held it over the flames, while Kinne looked on with widening eyes.

  When the fish was cooked, Pettic pulled pieces off and put them in his mouth, chewing appreciatively.

  `We prefer to eat our food cooked,' he told the incredulous Kinne. `Why don't you try some?'

  The merman seemed eager for a new experience and took a piece of the cooked fish from Pettic. He looked at it, frowned, then popped it into his mouth. His eyes widened as the flavour of the fish burst on his tongue.

  `That's good,' he told Pettic. `We eat our fish raw because we live beneath the waves. I think I'll sometimes come onto the land and cook a fish, though. I may even have a party up here and surprise my friends.'

  Pettic agreed to try some of the raw fish. He did not find it entirely to his taste, but it was not as bad as he thought it would be. If Kinne's sister found a means for him to breathe under water, then he would have to get used to eating raw food.

  After eating, the two young men fell to talking. Kinne asked Pettic all about his world and how he had come to be on Aqua. Pettic replied by telling the merman about the kidnapping of Prince Torren and of his adventures on the other three worlds.

  `You seem to have to perform some task on each world,' Kinne mused. `There is something here that we need help with, but I must consult with others before mentioning it.'

  Just before the sun set, a call came from the beach.

  `Kinne. Where are you?'

  The merman looked at Pettic. `My sister. I'll go and tell her where we are.'

  He flopped towards the cave entrance and soon returned with his sister.

  `Here she is. My sister has managed to get an enchanted aquamarine, she tells me.' He turned to the mermaid. `This is Pettic.'

  `Hello,' she said. `My name is Stannia. Kinne was rude not to introduce me properly.'

  Stannia told Pettic that she had gone to a sea hag who lived near the city where she and Kinne lived. She told her of the problem and the hag gave her an aquamarine set in a stone. This, she told Pettic, was to be worn in his nose.

  Pettic looked at the stone. It was a small pebble, only about one quarter of an inch across, if that. It had a hollow on one side, probably gouged out by merfolk, and a long, pointed spike on the other. The pebble had a small aquamarine fixed in the hollow. Pettic's hand went involuntarily to his nose.

  `Come over here,' called Stannia as she sat herself on a rock at the entrance to the cave. `I'll fix it in for you.'

  Pettic went and knelt down in front of the girl. She took the nose-ring and said, `This will hur
t a bit,' as she pushed the spike through his nose.

  Pettic yelled. Hurt a bit? That was an understatement. His eyes watered and he felt blood running down his face from the wound. He raised his hand to wipe it away when he felt a strange sensation on his neck, so instead of wiping the blood away, he felt his neck. The skin seemed to be splitting creating three parallel slits on each side. He was growing gills.

  He took a sharp breath and his eyes widened when he realised what was happening. Stannia noticed his discomfort and laughed.

  `Don't worry. The gill slits will close when you remove the aquamarine and the gills themselves will absorb back into your own tissue.'

  `I hope so. I don't fancy wandering around Fusionem with these `scars' on my neck. I'd never be able to explain how I got them.'

  `Now let's go,' said Kinne as he flopped towards the sea.

  His sister gave one last instruction to Pettic.

  `When you go below the waves, open your mouth and take in the seawater. Then push it towards the back of your throat. It'll exit over your gills. You should have a flap of cartilage that will block off your lungs as you do this, so you won't take water down there. It'll happen automatically, so don't worry about it.'

  Pettic thus made his first venture into the sea and the underwater world of the merfolk.

  Chapter 9

  At first, Pettic found it difficult to concentrate on breathing using his new gills. His body wanted to use his lungs, but he managed to over-ride it. He found that as he used his gills more efficiently, the desire to breathe with his lungs decreased and when the three reached the caves that undermined what he thought of as his island, he found it almost second nature.

  The sea did not seem to be very deep and light penetrated almost to the bottom. a multitude of colourful fishes swam around the many rocks which covered the sea bed. Every now and then there were beds of kelp and other seaweeds. These seemed to congregate together, as if they had been planted. Pettic wanted to ask Kinne but he could not think how to speak under the water.