by Jeremy Dwyer
Genevieve looked at the leg and saw that there were two (2) large punctures, but they were not bleeding. She was not surprised, as that was usually the result of viper bites, whether on land or on sea. The venom in her was the concern – she wondered if the high heart rate due to her run would have circulated the venom more than if she had stood still. However, it was essential to get away from the coast where the storm waters were striking.
She reached for her supplies and took some of her stock of purified Trerada Ocean waters and drank anew of them. She proceeded to take some of the less purified waters and apply her process to them, which involved mixing it with a limestone to extract impurities. She was hoping the Trerada waters would be enough to neutralize the venom.
Genevieve knew that the venom would kill her in a day, if it was going to kill her at all. After several more drinks of the highly-purified Trerada Ocean waters every few hours, she rested and let her mind turn to other matters. These subjects which interested her would be irrelevant if she died from the venom, but if she awoke in the morning, she would pursue them. She remembered the warnings that she had heard of the woman with the tiara, who could supposedly control all of the oceans – the woman named Victoria of the Ahitan Empire.
She considered her former concierge, Renato, whom she had sent to obtain the tiara. She wondered if the tiara might just be genuine, and had been used to cause the terrible storm that she had just witnessed. If it were real, it was immensely dangerous, and Renato may have already been killed by Victoria by using the tiara to strike him down in a storm.
However, if the tiara were genuine, she reasoned, then that also meant something else: it was proof that someone could make use of more than one of the ocean waters. Ordinarily, of course, that was impossible, because a person had to drink of a water to have its power, and that caused a waterbinding. Once waterbound, that person couldn’t drink of any of the other waters – save for the Dead Waters, which were safe but gave no power – or they would suffer the fatal disease called crixalethicis. The sting in her left leg had already diminished, she noticed, so she was cautiously optimistic about surviving the night.
Genevieve then considered whether the powers of the ocean waters could be gained, and then given up, by breaking the binding with a device that altered the body’s alchemy. The tiara may be such a device. This would allow one to drink the water of one ocean, accept the waterbinding and receive the powers, and use them for a while. Then, the waterbinding could be broken so that the person could bind to another water, and receive the powers from that second water.
She considered some experiments that might reveal the possibility of how to break a waterbinding, but she had doubts about them. Then, she considered what exactly happened – from an alchemical perspective – that made it lethal to drink more than one of the waters. If she could identify the toxin, she might be able to prevent or neutralize it. Breaking a waterbinding to allow for a new one would only allow the use of one water’s power at a time, even if multiple powers were now attainable. Preventing crixalethicis, she reasoned, would allow for the use of multiple powers at once. That would be the true prize.
Genevieve rested for the night, and awoke in no pain whatsoever – the sting was gone. She looked at the leg and the punctures were completely healed. The Trerada Ocean waters were renowned for their ability to preserve health and heal injuries and diseases, especially if they were pure enough. Indeed, they lived up to their promise on this occasion. She was greatly relieved – life could continue, and there was hope to learn more about the waters.
Genevieve then returned to her work and started her experiments. First, however, she would prepare to measure the before and after states. She had many lenses with different magnification factors, and combined a ten times (10x) lens and a fifty times (50x) lens and a twenty times (20x) lens and a five times (5x) lens into a cylinder to make a fifty thousand (50000x) magnification instrument. After this, she put on special glass protective eyewear and clothing to protect herself from any surprise reactions. Then, she took three (3) empty flasks.
Into the first flask, she poured an ounce of the waters of the Trerada Ocean, taken from her stock. She looked at its contents under the magnification instrument and saw tiny water crystals slowly moving around. She stirred them around with a small metal rod, and they quickly flowed together again, at both the microscopic and macroscopic levels.
Into the second flask, she poured an ounce of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean, taken from her stock. She looked at its contents under the magnification instrument and saw the tiny water crystals, which seemed to change their geometry as she looked at them. She stirred them around with another small metal rod, and their geometry changed even more quickly.
She had seen these behaviors before in both of those waters, taken singly, but wanted to have them as her control groups for immediate reference.
Into the third flask, she poured a half ounce each of the Kazofen Ocean waters and the Trerada Ocean waters, and she looked at the contents under the magnification instrument. What she saw was startling: the water crystals were turning black, and the water mixture with it. The mixture became hardened and the crystal geometry was more pointed. Small cracks appeared in the flask, and she put it down in a metal pan on a shelf that was meant to keep caustic substances. She was actually afraid of what might occur, because alchemy could sometimes be a dangerous undertaking.
Yet, Genevieve was not deterred. She found more empty flasks and continued her work.
She took a fourth flask and filled it with an ounce of Pirovalen Ocean waters, taken from her stock. She looked at its contents under the magnification instrument and saw the water crystals moving around in many strange paths. She stirred them around with a metal rod, and the crystals moved around in other strange paths, that could only be partly attributed to the direction of her stirring. She had not studied these waters up close before.
She took a fifth flask and filled it with an ounce of Nabavodel Ocean waters. She looked at its contents under the magnification instrument and saw the water crystals colliding with one another quickly and violently, before she even began stirring them. When she did stir them, it was like a storm at sea, and the water became more turbulent than she would have expected. She had not studied these waters up close before.
She took a sixth flask and filled it with Ursegan Ocean waters. She looked at its contents under the magnification instrument and saw the water crystals barely moving. When she stirred them, they moved no faster. This was surprising and counter to her basic understanding of mechanics. Yet, the Ursegan waters were known to have a strange effect on the flow of time, and allowed people to live for centuries or millennia, aging very slowly. Whatever the nature of the power, that might explain the slow movements.
These latest flasks were yet more controls for her experiments.
Into a seventh flask, she poured a half ounce each of the Nabavodel Ocean waters and the Ursegan Ocean waters. She looked at the contents under the magnification instrument. What she saw was startling: the violent movements that were characteristic of the Nabavodel Ocean water crystals were slowed down, so that the entire mixture appeared to have the slow moving characteristics of the Ursegan Ocean water crystals. However, the mixture turned black. She did not know what to make of it, so she placed it into another metal pan.
Into an eighth flask she poured a half ounce each of the Pirovalen Ocean waters and the Nabavodel Ocean waters. She looked at the contents under the magnification instrument and saw the water crystal collisions became violent, which was characteristic of the Nabavodel Ocean waters. Yet, the movements followed a strange path, which was characteristic of the Pirovalen Ocean waters. She heard strange piercing sounds – almost screeches – that became high pitched. The flask cracked and the contents spilled. She took a broom and swept the contents into another metal pan – having only three (3) sides – to collect the waste. This last reaction was dangerous – if any glass from the flask had the water crystals on it
, and it cut into her skin and deposited those water crystals, then she would be dead from crixalethicis. The Trerada Ocean waters that flowed through her could heal nearly anything – except crixalethicis.
She tabulated all that she learned from these experiments in a summary section in her laboratory notebook that she kept, organized according to which pair of ocean waters she had combined. She also wrote down the control group information – the notes on each flask containing only a single ocean water.
Before proceeding with more experiments, however, she considered the combinatorics. There were twelve (12) great oceans. Taken in pairs, there were twelve (12) ways to choose the first, eleven (11) ways to choose the second and they could be chosen in either order: for example, Ursegan and Pirovalen, or the other way around. Hence there were twelve (12) times eleven (11) divided by two (2) or sixty-six (66) ways to choose all pairs of waters. Many more dangerous combinations could exist among the remaining sixty-three (63) pairs she had not yet tried, so she would have to anticipate what dangers that she could and prepare more protective measures.
Genevieve also began to consider how far she would take this: would she go to triples or quadruples or even try all twelve (12) waters in one? To count that, she knew, was simply a matter of starting with an empty flask, hypothetically. For the first stage, let it be the Atrejan Ocean water, it could be included or excluded. That was two (2) possibilities. For each of those, consider a second water – let it be the Elanatin Ocean water – which could be included or excluded. That was two (2) second stage possibilities for each of the first stage possibilities. That meant there were two (2) times (2) giving (4) possibilities. Carried out to the third stage – let it be the Gradaken Ocean waters – that doubled the number of possibilities to eight (8). By the twelfth stage – let it be the Zovvin Ocean waters – that brought the number of possibilities to two (2) to the twelfth (12) power, or four thousand ninety-six (4096) possible combinations. However, that was overcounting: one (1) of those combinations was the empty flask, wherein each water was chosen to be excluded; twelve (12) more of those combinations were singletons, where all but one (1) water was excluded. Hence, there were four thousand eighty three (4083) combinations that had (2) or more waters in them.
A great many combinations might be dangerous in ways she could not yet anticipate. Also, her supplies of each water would not be adequate for the various combinations that included it. She would have to wait until safer times to take this process much further – she was not going back to the coast until the storms had passed, and that probably meant that she would have to wait until Victoria and her tiara had been destroyed.
CHAPTER 23: Impeded by the Heights of Evil
Serafina was in self-imposed exile from the Ihalik Empire – she could no longer serve as a general under Lavakara, whose military principles were at odds with her own. Whereas she believed in the necessity of conscription, he actively worked against it. Yet, she was aware of the earlier reports and knew of the devastating battle in the Trerada Ocean against the infamous Ahitan woman called Victoria. Serafina had a violent way about her, and envied the destructive powers of Victoria, rather than finding them bothersome. Destruction pleased her – if she was the one causing it. Serafina wondered if she could obtain the tiara for herself, if she could only deliver a devastating blow against this woman.
Serafina had traveled in disguise, and wandered incognito through the various sea ports of Ihalik. This is how she overheard the report of the latest appearance of a mysterious ship that probably belonged to Victoria. After this, she hired out another airship, and followed soon after the Jenaldej vessel commanded by Prince Emerond. She returned to sea level in the Gradaken Ocean. She then traveled out to sea, in the direction given by those same bearings.
~~~
“I see a ship following us,” General Joshua said while standing on the deck of the Persistent and looking out as far as he could. His ordinary vision was enough, because the other ship was close and approaching quickly.
“Likely an Ihalik vessel, to provide reinforcement,” Prince Emerond said.
“Or to watch us fail and die,” Daven said. He was still with them, ready to use music against the powers of the ocean tempest or of the evil woman. However, he was not feeling confident that the enemy could be defeated.
“Are you not confident in our chances of success in our mission? Do you not have a song against this enemy?” Prince Emerond asked.
“I have the beginning of a song, but I have no way of knowing if it will be enough. The destruction I saw on the coast – what she must have done during the previous battle before we arrived – was overwhelming,” Daven said.
“Just be ready, with whatever you’ve got,” Prince Emerond said.
Daven drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from the vial that he carried. He was energized, and planned out the appropriate lyrics, melody and tempo to have ready, building upon his preliminary ideas.
“Every advantage will help,” General Joshua said.
“Including that,” Romana said, pointing toward the Spirit Sword.
“We came to strike this woman dead. Yet this works against fire and spirit, as we saw; not flesh, as we were warned,” General Joshua said.
“It will help us to find her more quickly, next time,” Romana said.
“We were told it would take many wounds to kill her. Every opportunity to strike should be taken,” General Joshua said.
“Time is of the essence. Locating her quickly will afford us more opportunities,” Romana said.
A high wave of water came in to sight, and it was enormous – perhaps three hundred (300) feet tall – and rushing toward them. The winds also began to pick up around them, shaking the Persistent and making steering difficult.
“Now is the time that is of the essence!” Prince Emerond yelled, seeing this.
Despite the increased difficulty caused by the winds, the crew steered the ship out of the way of the wave, only to be confronted with something even more terrifying: an enormous sea serpent, perhaps ninety (90) feet in length.
At this, Romana drank anew of the waters of the Gradaken Ocean that she carried in her vial. She was on a ship sailing on an ocean of the same water, yet her vial contained a purer potion of it. Romana was energized, and was able to exert influence over both plants and animals as a result.
The serpent lunged toward them, and Romana gently stepped out of the way, while everyone else leaped. Romana touched the scales of the sea serpent as it passed by. Instantly, the sea serpent was under her command, because of the powers of the highly purified Gradaken waters of which she drank.
“Begone from here. Back into the sea,” she commanded, and the creature retreated without striking again.
“That was no song, but it worked!” Daven said, both surprised and impressed.
“I’m a scholar. On occasion, a farmer as well,” Romana said.
“A farmer?” Daven asked, curious.
“I drink the Gradaken waters. Both plants and animals cooperate with me better than they do for others,” Romana said.
Daven knew what the Gradaken waters were, but never before saw them so clearly at work in front of his very eyes on a creature so massive.
“There’s another one!” Prince Emerond said, pointing at a high wave.
“Another what?” Romana asked, and she and Daven both looked to see what was coming.
An accompanying gust of wind made it difficult, but the crew steered the Persistent out of the way of this giant wave as well.
“And another!” Prince Emerond said again.
“This is too much!” Romana said.
The crew steered the ship out of the way of another wave, just barely, in the accompanying high winds. After that, two (2) large sea serpents leaped directly over the ship, missing everyone on board. However, the scare was enough for them.
“Airship time!” Prince Emerond said.
At this, the crew converted the Persistent to airship mode
and rose to one hundred twenty (120) feet above sea level to have a better view of what was coming, and to have a better chance of avoiding it: airships were more maneuverable in the air than in the water, if one could endure the exposure to the suns at the higher altitude.
Judith and Ovid both recorded the effects of the storms – the winds and the water and the sea serpents – in their books. They also recorded how Romana was able to control them.
~~~
Behind them, following their example, Serafina converted her own ship to airship mode and elevated it to one hundred twenty (120) feet of altitude.
~~~
“This altitude won’t protect us!” Romana said.
“The waves are tall, I know, but we can maneuver better up here,” Prince Emerond said.
“I meant the sea serpents. They can easily jump this high,” Romana said.
“Please tell me you’re not serious!” Prince Emerond said.
A sea serpent – one hundred ten (110) feet in length – then jumped up to the ship, nearly knocking Prince Emerond over, but just missing him by inches.
Romana reached out and touched its scales and ordered it, saying: “Back to where you came from!” Again, the powers of the Gradaken waters that she drank worked within her to command the creature.
At this, the sea serpent jumped back into the sea.
Judith and Ovid again recorded Romana’s power over sea serpents in their books. Ondothel, the Guardian Angel of the Chronicler’s Oath, was with them, protecting the two (2) Chroniclers from actually being harmed while they observed and recorded the events in their books.
The waves of water were much higher than the ship, but the crew could now more easily navigate around them, for a while, since they were not directly on the stormy seas. The wind was still an obstacle, so ‘more easily’ did not mean ‘easily’. However, the onslaught of waves and wind soon became too much, with one wave of water and gust of wind and then another and then another.
