by Jeremy Dwyer
Only one (1) of the sides of the temple had an entrance and Herkheba made her way through it and then knelt down in front of an altar that was made of blue topaz.
Herkheba then prayed: “Illuminate Me. Elevate Me. This I ask the seventy (70).”
She stood up and then made her way to an altar on the far side of the temple where another woman was kneeling and praying. This other woman was dressed as a noble, with fine and fancy clothing, and wearing a blue crown with red stones upon it.
“My lady, I bring fortuitous news,” Herkheba said.
The noblewoman stood up and said: “Come with me, Herkheba, and give me your report in the proper manner.”
The two (2) women left the temple, went down the hill and walked toward a small castle that had a most unimpressive exterior, despite the fine décor of the interior.
After entering the castle, the noblewoman sat upon a single throne in a great room, and Herkheba knelt down on only one knee – kneeling on both knees was reserved for worship of the suns – and kissed the noblewoman’s hands.
“Duchess Uliana, I bring news from Emeth,” Herkheba said.
“You said it was fortuitous,” Duchess Uliana said.
“Indeed. It has been verified that you are, in fact, a descendant of Queen Vasanta,” Herkheba said.
“I am of a royal bloodline, then,” Duchess Uliana said. She considered the significance of this.
“Indeed, my lady,” Herkheba said.
“Vasanta was queen of a land – you do know – that is still great today,” Duchess Uliana said.
“Haza’Kedro’Maral Island – the port of trade and wealth in the Pirovalen Ocean,” Herkheba said. As a maker of star charts for use by navigators, she was well-versed in geography, if for no other reason than to have credibility with those navigators. She traveled considerably, and knew some of the major politics and economics as well.
“My royal lineage makes me the hereditary ruler of that land,” Duchess Uliana said.
“There are many who claim a share of the island; yet, their claims are inferior to yours, as even the records in Emeth do attest,” Herkheba said.
“Their claims are false. I and my bloodline shall take what is ours. We will assert our authority,” Duchess Uliana said.
Uliana was a forty-nine (49) year old drinker of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean. She had already given birth fourteen (14) times – eight (8) boys and six (6) girls – and had sacrificed three (3) of each of to the suns by the burning ritual. She was still fertile, as far as she knew, and decided that it would be wise to give birth yet again, and sacrifice the resultant child, in thanks for the good news.
“First, however, I must prepare to give thanks to the great suns who bring us their favor. Wait for me, and we shall leave in the morning,” Uliana said.
“As you wish, my lady,” Herkheba said, and then she waited in a small room for guests and spent the night there.
Uliana went to her own private quarters and called for a handsome young male attendant to visit her bedroom – he was a twenty-four (24) year old virile one who drank the Trerada Ocean waters for remarkable health and overly fine looks. She took him in pleasure and extracted his seed. She kept him for the night and took him in six (6) more times until the morning, until she was confident that his seed had a chance to take root within her.
The next morning, Uliana sent the young man away.
She then attired herself regally and returned to her great room, and called out: “Herkheba, soon we must leave.”
“Yes, my lady,” Herkheba said, emerging from the nearby guest quarters in the castle.
“First, however, I shall secure the services of a voice that calls to the sky. Bring me my cantor, and inform him of matters,” Uliana said.
~~~
Herkheba made her way through the castle and went to the chambers of Nehexalor. She entered and found him singing a song with no lyrics, which he often did to practice harmony and melody.
“Your services are needed by the Duchess. You are to know that she is of a royal bloodline – as we have recently learned, she is descended from Queen Vasanta. Thus, she is the rightful owner of a great land, and we are to going to support her claim to it,” Herkheba said.
Nehexalor nodded and moved quickly. He took several additional vials – all filled with the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean – and placed them into hidden pockets in his vestments. He attired himself handsomely so that his appearance was worthy of his songs and the suns to whom they were sung. Also, it was to please the duchess, as she did not suffer the sight of poorly dressed singers. She often said that “the eyes should not feel the pain of a hideous sight at the same time that the ears feel the pleasure of a beautiful song.”
Nehexalor was thirty-two (32) years old and had been a servant of the duchess since he was nineteen (19). He was conscripted, but it was a well-paid and beneficial arrangement, so he did not resist.
~~~
Herkheba and Nehexalor then returned to the side of Duchess Uliana in the great room of the castle.
Uliana then called for a small company of her guards – seven (7) strong, swift men who were drinkers of the Nabavodel Ocean waters and trained in sword fighting along with two (2) men and one (1) woman who were drinkers of the Lujladia Ocean waters and skilled with the use of light as a weapon and as a form of defense. These stood by her side.
They all left the castle and boarded one of the mid-sized ships owned by Duchess Uliana – a fifty-three (53) foot long vessel with two (2) sets of pivot-enabled double masts, each thirty-nine (39) feet high.
After four (4) days of travel – mostly at sea-level, temporarily as an airship over the intervening land bridges – they arrived at the docks of Haza’Kedro’Maral Island in the Pirovalen Ocean. They left the ship, with the sword fighters and the light benders surrounding Duchess Uliana and her scholar, Herkheba and her cantor, Nehexalor.
They walked toward the structure known as Trading Center One, which was an enormous rectangular stone building, over eight-hundred feet wide on its long end, and four-hundred feet wide on the short end, and ninety-one (91) feet high from floor to ceiling. It consisted primarily of a single, large open space where hundreds of tables were set up by merchants and bankers, busily exchanging all manner of coins, crystals and financial documents with traders and bankers from various continents and land bridges. There were twenty-one (21) other trading centers of similar proportions and occupancy and activity on the island, but this one was primary and had authority over the others.
Duchess Uliana, surrounded by her guard, walked toward the center of it all and then turned to Nehexalor and said: “You are my cantor, and thus my herald. Make the proclamation.”
Nehexalor drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from one of his vials and was energized. His voice was infused with musical qualities, and could carry well even when he wasn’t singing. He spoke up and addressed the crowd: “Her highness, the Duchess Uliana, is the true and rightful descendant of Queen Vasanta, who was the true and rightful owner of this land. All properties and assets hereupon, thus, by inheritance, belong fully to the Duchess. She shall determine how much she shall take and how much you shall keep. Immediate compliance is her command.”
Gasps of shock could be heard from the merchants and bankers.
One well-dressed merchant stood up and said: “It is well known that Queen Vasanta was a wicked and failed ruler. This land only prospered after her line was deposed.”
Another well-dressed merchant stood up and said: “A duchess who claims a royal lineage and who would use it to steal the wealth of others is no ruler. Your reign shall fail quickly.”
A blue fire suddenly blazed nearby. A man with blue skin and red hands appeared next to Duchess Uliana and spoke to everyone: “Speak not against the servants of the Sky’s Nine (9) Kings, and refuse not their righteous authority. Word has come from the city of truth that this woman is the inheritor of this land, and she shall be the possessor of its wealth. Do n
ot deny this, or act against it,” the man with blue skin and red hands said.
“Who are you to take our wealth?” another well-dressed merchant asked.
“I am Blazer Endrit, one of the Torches of Majesty, who serve the Sky’s Nine (9) Kings, whose reign is absolute and eternal. Those with the greatest wisdom – those who worship the blue suns – shall not be denied the kingdom or its wealth,” the man with blue skin and red hands said.
“Only the Unfailing King can be trusted. He will bring peace and prosperity, unlike your duchess, who lies and steals,” another, well-dressed man said. He was attired unlike a merchant – he wore more opulent clothes that might very well have been valuable given the many fine jewels embedded in them. He was a herald and it was his mission to proclaim the king. He wore a ten (10)-sided medallion with gold coins at the corners and a carving of a key in the center.
Blazer Endrit reached out his hands and a stream of water from outside rushed toward him and turned to blue fire in his hands. The blue fire jetted out from his hands and turned the herald to ash while everyone watched. He also burned the other merchants who spoke out, turning them into piles of ash, as well.
“The Sky’s Nine (9) Kings – the Nine (9) Blue Suns – Reign Eternal. This land is part of their kingdom, and the Duchess, who gives her proper praise to the suns, shall rule over it and be obeyed. Any who oppose her will be turned to ash,” Blazer Endrit said.
Then, Duchess Uliana spoke up for herself, and said: “One third (1/3) of all trade from every nation that passes through this land, and one third (1/3) of every reserve of wealth held anywhere in this land – shall be taken by me for use as I see fit.”
More gasps could be heard but no one dared to speak up. Everyone in the room – hundreds of traders and bankers and thousands upon thousands of their clients – felt fear and anger, knowing that economic hard times had just been announced and that their sting would soon be felt.
CHAPTER 8: Burden of the Darkness on Tired Souls
Daven waited in his room in the Scholar’s Hall in the city of Emeth. He reflected upon the recent experiences he had, confronting Victoria and the sunfire creature and the woman who created the illusions. His music, he realized, was much more powerful than he had expected. He had always used the music to bring joy and inspiration to others – or to teach them – and this was his chosen path in life. War – even a war of songs – was not what he had planned.
The Pirovalen Ocean waters resonated with him – his potential for using them was so great that he could achieve tremendous effects when he sought to give encouragement. He took the waterbinding when he was seventeen (17) and he was fifty-three (53) now. His parents provided for him from their considerable wealth, paying for his travels and his studies. They were also patrons of other students of Emeth, paying for many of the poorest to travel there and study.
Daven, however, received the finest training from having visited many parts of the world and having studied under the finest musicians. He learned techniques of using the waters, and telling stories in song, so as to renew grieving persons after losing children or spouses or becoming disabled. At times, he was able to even use music to bring about physical healing, although that was by no means a certain outcome. He attempted it often, but could not reliably succeed – sometimes, even cancer could be cured whereas seemingly lesser diseases could not. Yet, he did not abandon hope – he merely considered it to be more complex and requiring of further study and inspiration. It was sad to see others suffer, but he refused to let it bring him down, as so many depended upon his music. On many occasions, he used music to rescue people from their own hands – their troubles had driven them to attempt suicide, but he convinced them not to give up on life.
Daven was also a teacher of dozens of students of music, and would often meet with other master musicians and share what he learned. He and Lady Onora Elettra had a tenuous relationship, however, as she had a much more religious bent and he was not convinced of the existence – or the nonexistence – of any god. He felt that the source of joy ultimately had to be the individual person – you have to choose to be happy or to have some other person encourage you to do so – and that music was one of the greatest facilitators of that. Some people, of course, found their greatest joy in food, or in romance or story books of fantastic places. Others found joy in travel, or art or architecture. Some only found it in wealth.
Daven came from wealth – and it enabled him to do many things, including helping those who were in debt – and he used it in that way. Music could uplift the emotions, and do other things as well, but some circumstances had to be dealt with directly. Traveling to distant lands to meet with people and learn from them, or teach them, also required wealth. The wealth seemed unending, until it ended suddenly. He had no idea what became of his parents – they simply disappeared when he was fifty-two (52) and he found no sign of their death due to illness or old age, nor did he find a sign of their abduction or even their murder. Their circumstances remained a mystery to him.
He and his former student, Taesa, had begun investigating the matter, as it troubled him and made it difficult for him to concentrate on other matters, like helping those who needed his talents. Yet, the trail of clues they did find proved to have little value, and led them into the series of battles and hardships as of late. Daven was tired of the conflict, and wanted clarity instead. He thought of the most recent song – Let this Storm be Ended – that brought at least a temporary end to one of the tempests. He considered that the song was as much about the storm within him as the storm that had raged around him just a short while ago.
Daven recommitted himself to discovering answers and he left the Scholar’s Hall and made his way to the great building that was the Fifteenth Hall. This was where the records of birth, death and marriage were kept, from throughout the world and across the ages. He thought that there might be a record of their passing – if they had died – somewhere within there. It may be indirect, even ambiguous, if they had met a terrible end such that their remains could not be identified. However, he suspected that there might be some connection between their travels and their many homes and the place they might have been when – and if – they had died.
He searched the archives for five (5) days, yet found nothing definite. What he did find indicated that a number of people had gone missing over the past several decades and even recently, with no remains having been found, and that they had in common the fact that their last known location was in the southwestern region of the continent of Baradaxa. When he examined the records of missing persons, there were notes where it was hypothesized by some travelers and vigilantes that these people were being kidnapped for their wealth, but no ransom demands were made. Instead, it was suggested, that these people may have been telepathically probed for the secrets of their wealth and then the knowledge extracted was used to steal it in their absence. However, others contested this, as secret code words to access an account were not usually enough – a sufficiently wealthy person with a large account would often arrange to have a telepath read the mind of anyone making a withdrawal to prevent impersonation. This is usually how significant theft was prevented, so it seemed unlikely that his parents would have been robbed of their considerable wealth – an attempt may have been made, but it was unlikely to succeed. That arrangement usually made the murder not worth the effort.
Yet, the horrid thought did occur to Daven that an attempt may still have been made to steal their wealth, and that they may have been murdered, and their bodies never recovered. Whether the wealth was stolen or not, they may still be dead. This had to be answered, and he would have to investigate this.
Daven left the Fifteenth Hall and made his way toward the docks. When he arrived he found a familiar face – the navigator, Rayner. Next to him was the old captain, Guillermo, who was looking for any interesting tales that he could add to his repertoire.
“You’re all rested up, I see. Have any more songs?” Rayner asked him.
“What is?” Rayner asked.
“I need to look into something a little less pleasant,” Daven said.
“What could be more unpleasant than what we just went through? Don’t go looking for trouble – it’ll find you soon enough, when it wants to,” Rayner asked.
“It already has,” Daven said.
“Do tell. Whatever troubles you have, tell us, that we might share our wisdom with you. Answers could be anywhere,” Guillermo said.
“What are you talking about?” Rayner asked Daven.
“My parents. Both of them are gone. No explanations. Nothing. I can’t find any records of them having died. I checked – for days, I was searching for anything. No answers,” Daven said.
“Then where are you going?” Rayner asked.
“No answers, just some hints that might not be anything at all, but I have to look,” Daven said.
“Hints of trouble? Where do the hints lead you?” Guillermo asked.
“Southwestern Baradaxa. Several people have disappeared and that was their last known location – then nothing. There was no real rhyme or reason to it – children, adults, rich, poor. The missing person reports all seemed to point to that area,” Daven said.
“Fascinating, if disturbing,” Guillermo said.
“So you want to go there? And maybe get killed or kidnapped like the rest of them?” Rayner asked.
“I need answers. If you’re afraid to go, I don’t blame you,” Daven said.
“Not afraid. I just want to get paid up front. And not walk into too much trouble,” Rayner said.
“I would like to go with you. There may be something to be learned. If the poor are killed or kidnapped, then money may not be the reason. Something dark and twisted may be occurring,” Guillermo said.
