Tiara & Tempest

by Jeremy Dwyer

  ~~~

  The Persistent arrived in the Elanatin Ocean, having traveled as an airship, over both continents and land bridges and seas, for a great distance. The Spirit Sword glowed blue and guided them the whole way. They looked upon the seas below – passing over the Trerada Ocean and the Medathero Ocean along the way.

  Neither Prince Emerond nor General Joshua nor the scholar Romana nor the singer Daven, nor the Chroniclers Judith and Ovid, could see any signs of a tempest in those oceans. As the Spirit Sword’s blue glowing lines continued to point northeast while General Joshua held it, they concluded that Victoria was in the Elanatin Ocean, which was the furthest to the northeast.

  The powerful waves in those waters were still evident as they approached at airship speeds, and so they felt confident that they were close. They also felt something terrible – a wave of immense hatred all around.

  As the Persistent traveled by air over the waters, at a mere one hundred twenty (120) feet of altitude, they approached an area that appeared to be at the center of the waves, and the center of the hate. There was a ship below in the middle of it all, and they saw a familiar sight of a woman standing on the deck of the ship.

  Yet, most of them were filled with a terrible feeling of hatred that filled them with despair. It almost felt as if someone was speaking to them, saying: “Die and cleanse the world! End your own pathetic lives, as you do not deserve to live. You are my worthless enemy, and the world would be better without you. Your greatest achievement will be to bring your own end.”

  Daven and Prince Emerond both fell to the ground, on the deck of the Persistent, under the weight of the evil emotions. Many of the crew did as well.

  “How is this? My anger turns toward myself, making me wish to die,” Prince Emerond said.

  “I want to die. This world has become too terrible for me to remain,” Daven called out, in pain.

  Judith and Ovid, as Chroniclers of the Oath, were both specially protected by the Guardian Angel Ondothel. They sensed the hatred around them, and heard the telepathic message, but they did not feel it take control of them.

  Romana sensed it, but it did not enter her, as she was filled with the Love of God so purely that she was shielded. She began to pray: “I call to the One True God, the One True Creator, Who loves all, but Who detests sin. I call to Thee for Thy Brightly-Shining, Life-Giving Love. I call to Thee that this hatred be banished from our presence and that our souls be filled with the warmth of Thy Overwhelming Love.”

  The wave of hatred around them died down. Daven and Prince Emerond felt relief and were able to return to their feet as did the affected crew members.

  “Prayer has power, because the power calls to the One True God. Fear not! Hate not! God’s Love is more powerful, by the greatest amount, than any adversary. Stand and see the Truth. Admit His Love into your heart, that you may not know fear or hate or death,” Romana said to them.

  Emerond’s own faith wavered and was lukewarm, yet he was protected by Romana’s.

  Daven had no faith at all. He benefitted, instead, from the faith that Romana had.

  “Your words are uplifting to troubled hearts,” Daven said.

  “No. It is God’s Love that Uplifts. You need to believe,” Romana said.

  “Your beliefs are powerful, whatever they might actually mean,” Emerond said.

  General Joshua, however, was of a like mind to Romana. However, he was less vocal. The hatred did not enter into him, either, so he remained on his feet, resistant to its effects. His faith and virtue were extraordinary, and nearly the equal to that of Romana. Yet, Joshua was a man of strength, speed and steel rather than words.

  Judith already had faith and shared Romana’s view, if not the full strength of the faith. She recorded what she saw and heard, but not what she felt.

  Ovid, despite his protections by the Guardian Angel of the Oath, did not share their theological view. He also recorded what he saw and heard, but not what he felt.

  ~~~

  Hidden in the spirit world, yet near to them, Lavakara watched. He was not touched by the emotional attack, because telepathy and empathy did not cross over into the spirit world. He observed what the others were saying and doing. And he sensed that spiritual powers had moved to protect them, but he did not know which ones.

  ~~~

  “Prepare yourselves. On this occasion, you must wield a sword to draw blood. This is a time for justice against a murderer,” Romana said.

  General Joshua continued to hold the Spirit Sword, but also took up an ordinary sword that had a sharp blade that was almost perfectly balanced and newly made, having lost none of its edge.

  The Persistent moved inward and approached the Tidal Sovereign.

  ~~~

  On board the Tidal Sovereign, one of the light scouts looked out and saw a ship.

  “I see a ship approaching! To the southwest!” the light scout said to Victoria.

  “Prepare the cannons!” Victoria ordered.

  The archers had been positioned around the cannons and were trained in their use. They aimed the cannons at the Persistent and fired.

  ~~~

  The Persistent was a highly maneuverable ship, and airships were already more maneuverable than ships at sea level, so they easily avoided the cannon fire.

  “Move in! Quickly! I need us to be eight (8), nine (9) or ten (10) feet directly above them,” General Joshua ordered.

  The crew of the Persistent maneuvered it above the Tidal Sovereign and General Joshua brought his steel sword down upon Victoria, striking her chest and penetrating into her heart.

  Victoria screamed and was filled with fear, anger and horrific pain. Yet her heart still beat strong, as the demon, Matatirot, kept his protective shield covering her.

  Her pain got worse when Joshua ripped the sword back out and twisted it as he did, however.

  Joshua then swung the sword at Victoria’s neck to behead her, but the blade was blocked by an unseen barrier.

  ~~~

  Under the cover of darkness, some of Victoria’s dark scouts and swordfighters blocked the decapitating attack.

  ~~~

  Judith and Ovid both looked down from the deck of the Persistent on the combat that occurred on the deck of the Tidal Sovereign and saw what had happened, including how Joshua had twisted the sword as he pulled it out. They recorded everything they saw in their books.

  ~~~

  Victoria’s archers fired a hail of arrows upon Joshua, but his armor protected him. He ran to the side of the Tidal Sovereign where he took hold of a rope ladder that had been lowered from the Persistent and climbed up quickly.

  ~~~

  Victoria cried out: “Master, take me from here now!”

  At this, Matatirot heard her cry, opened a portal and pushed the Tidal Sovereign through it. The ship disappeared from sight.

  ~~~

  “Her heart still beats while her wounds grow in number,” Judith said.

  “She has rejected the One True God by serving a demon. You can be certain that the demon will not grant her eternal life. Her soul will be claimed in time, and the Maelstrom of Vengeance shall be her eternal unrest,” Romana said.

  “Where is the Spirit Sword pointing next?” Prince Emerond asked.

  General Joshua looked at the Spirit Sword and the glowing blue lines on it pointed south.

  “South,” General Joshua said.

  “Along that path lie the Dead Waters Ocean, the Nabavodel Ocean and the Ursegan Ocean,” Ovid said.

  “Set your course due south,” Prince Emerond said.

  ~~~

  From the spirit world, Lavakara watched what occurred. He found the Spirit Sword useful, as it led them to Victoria quickly. He also found it threatening, in that it could be used against him, so he decided not to make his presence known. As the crew of this ship was proving capable of dealing damage to Victoria and escaping, he saw no need to appear and give assistance – yet. If the Ahitan woman proved overwhelming later, he might
step in, at an opportune moment.

  CHAPTER 26: Rescued by a Fool of Fortune

  In the Elanatin Ocean, during the tempest brought on by Victoria, some ships managed to survive the violent waters. One of these was a ninety-two (92) foot long vessel known as the Escapade, whose captain was the old fool known to many as Alistair. He was seventeen hundred eighty-six (1786) years old and a drinker of the Ursegan Ocean waters, enabling him to slow time within himself and live those long years. He filled them with great mischief – at times, humorous; at others times, cruel; on some occasions, outright criminal, making him quite wealthy; on yet other occasions, disastrous or nearly so. In this dangerous hour, his small crew managed to steer the ship in the storm.

  At that same time, one of the ships that did not survive the storm was a thirty-one (31) foot long vessel known as the Determined, and the crew of seven (7) was thrown overboard and struggling to keep their heads above water. The lookout on the Escapade noticed the destruction of the Determined and how the crew had survived but was in need of rescue.

  “Crew in distress. Men overboard!” the lookout called.

  “We’re in distress! These waters are going to tear this ship apart!” Alistair said, actually worried for once.

  “We have to help whomever we can! That’s the law of the sea!” the lookout called.

  “Be quick about it! Quick!” Alistair said.

  The captain of the Escapade steered the ship closer and the deckhands threw ropes overboard and even went into the water to help the crew that had fallen over. They managed to rescue all of them.

  After the rescued persons came on board, Alistair ordered his crew: “Steer out of this storm!”

  Just then, they all felt a wave of hatred fill them. A voiced entered into their minds, saying: “Die and cleanse the world! End your own pathetic lives, as you do not deserve to live. You are my worthless enemy, and the world would be better without you. Your greatest achievement will be to bring your own end.”

  Even Alistair, as jovial and lighthearted as he usually was, felt despair and death approaching. He no longer wanted to live, and couldn’t control the urges.

  “Yared, do something,” one of rescued passengers yelled – he was an older man in his fifties.

  Alistair looked to see what was happening and another rescued passenger – a man in his forties – acted in response to what the older man said and drank a vial of water. Then, he began to concentrate. He focused as powerfully as he could, and the wave of hatred seemed to push back the emotional assault.

  “We have to leave! Sail away from here! I cannot hold off this attack for long. It is far too powerful,” Yared said.

  Another one of the rescued passengers was a woman – apparently in her late thirties – who drank quickly from a water vial of her own. She concentrated and then said: “Bearing one-quarter (1/4) north of west, full-speed,” she said.

  “Listen to Nina! She knows her way around the oceans! By the stars!” the older man in his fifties said.

  Alistair ordered his crew, saying: “If that’ll get us out of here, then do it!”

  The crew of the Escapade set the indicated course and steered out of the storm, and the waters were less turbulent as they went on, soon becoming manageable.

  “I am Tomiko, the organizer of this group you were so generous as to rescue,” the man in his fifties said.

  “I am Yared,” the man who apparently fought off the telepathic attack then said.

  “I am Nina. Star-reader and navigator,” the woman who had called out the bearings then said.

  “I am Tristan. Crystal-bender and gemologist,” another man, said.

  “That’s Carter. He listens to the spirits,” Tomiko said, pointing to another man.

  “Or maybe he’s just crazy and listens to himself,” Nina said.

  “That’s Stephan,” Tomiko said.

  Stephan was carrying a small lyre and ran his fingers across the strings.

  “If you didn’t come to rescue us, he was going to play our requiem,” Nina said.

  “I am Caemgen, Chronicler of four-hundred twenty-three (423) years,” another man among the rescued passengers said.

  “I am Alistair. Owner of this marvelous vessel – the Escapade,” Alistair said.

  Caemgen knew who Alistair was, having heard of the man’s exploits and mischief. Yet, he said nothing and wrote details of the immediate rescue in his book.

  Nina looked toward Caemgen with eyes that Alistair could even recognize as being more than affectionate. Alistair generally acted the fool, but his mind wasn’t empty, and he knew that Chroniclers of the Oath had tenuous intimate relationships at best, and usually had none at all. Nina was very attractive and Alistair had his own eyes on her.

  “Where will your course take us?” Alistair asked Nina, at least as interested in her as he was in their destination.

  “The Dark Platinum Road. From there, we’ll see, depending on how the weather is,” Nina said. She was an Atrejan Ocean drinker, and that made her highly sensitive to the movements and positions of the suns. At thirty-eight (38) years old, she had already spent twenty-one (21) years listening to the stars and charting courses for hire.

  “We all picked the wrong day to go out to sea. Something bad is out there. This is far more than a storm at sea,” Yared said. He was a drinker of the Elanatin Ocean waters, forty-four (44) years old, and sharp with telepathic and empathic power. He knew that a tremendous negative emotional energy assault had taken place, and he could still feel the fringes of it.

  “It’s that so-called Ahitan woman, I believe. Victoria. The world is now under attack,” Tomiko said.

  “We need to put as much distance as we can between us and her. The telepathic attack was too much – she has powers that are deadly. Anyone without defense is dead. It could be thousands (1000) or tens of thousands (10000),” Yared then said.

  “I’m afraid that it might be more than that. This tiara supposedly gives power over the entire ocean. If she can tap into that much power, millions (1000000) or tens of millions (10000000) could be dead,” Tomiko said. He had done some research into the matter. He was a fifty-two (52) year-old Medathero Ocean water drinker and had studied the legends of the tiara in Emeth, seeking clues to its power, and how that would vary with the declining intensity of the sunlight. The only conclusion he could come to was that, at a minimum, it could kill at least two million (2000000) people on shore if used at its fullest power.

  “Which entire ocean?” Carter asked.

  “Any ocean she sails upon,” Tomiko said.

  “The suffering will be immense if she uses the powers of the Zovvin Ocean. Control of the ghost waters will allow her to bring forth dangerous spirits. There are ancient ones that must never be awakened,” Carter said. He was thirty-seven (37) years old and a Zovvin Ocean water drinker, which made him sensitive to the spirit world and its inhabitants, and gave him the ability to communicate with them and even enter the spirit world.

  “She must have a lot of pent up ager inside. Music can calm that, and give peace and joy, and turn hate into love,” Stephan said, running his finger across his lyre to make a few pleasant musical notes. He was a drinker of the Pirovalen Ocean waters, and at the age of twenty-one (21), had become accomplished with string instruments, even more than with vocals. His music continued to fill the air, because of the powers of the water within him, which made all his musical performances resonate and reverberate.

  “Say, you are very good with that lyre. You should play at weddings. There might be one coming up,” Alistair said, thinking of the moves he was planning on making toward Nina.

  “The wedding will have to wait. We’ve got work to do. And this woman isn’t just angry. The rage within her – and within all the Ahitan Empire – is far beyond the ordinary,” Tomiko said.

  “The Ahitan Empire is a demonic one. Their connection to the spirit world, and the evil within it, will overwhelm us if we don’t prepare spiritually. We have to put an end to Vic
toria,” Carter said.

  “From what I read and what I understand, the tiara has diamonds in it. If the opportunity presents itself, Tristan may be able to destroy them, and disable it,” Tomiko said.

  “If you can get me close enough to take the tiara, I can alter its diamonds, and liquefy them, so that they will no longer have their power,” Tristan said. He was a drinker of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean. He was twenty-nine (29) years old, and a skilled gemologist, capable of extracting various gems from stones by directly manipulating their structure, because of the powers of the Kazofen waters.

  “That’s going to be the real trick, isn’t it? She’s not looking for a husband – not a live one, anyway – so you won’t get too close,” Nina said.

  “I agree that it will be dangerous, and that is not our line of work. We are not warriors, and fight only if there is no alternative. Entire fleets of warships cannot face this woman without great losses, and we lost the one ship we had,” Tomiko said.

  “What line of work are you in?” Alistair asked.

  “We are procurement specialists,” Tomiko said.

  “You pay us a fortune and we do the impossible and find things that no one else can. Then, you pay us another fortune and we actually give it to you,” Nina said.

  “We research and acquire difficult-to-find artifacts, for historical archival purposes, and bring them back to Emeth. We do expect, for our expenses, a fifty (50) percent payment to begin,” Tomiko said.

  “So what are you looking for now?” Alistair asked.

  Tomiko considered this, and didn’t want to give away too much, so he said: “A lost and classical musical instrument. A large harp, from an ancient culture,” Tomiko said.

  Caemgen noted Tomiko’s statement. He knew that it was a partial truth, as the harp was purported to be the means to reaching their true goal. He knew that the sages of Emeth had hired Tomiko because of his reputation for finding lost artifacts, and paid him to seek out the lost city of Thalkalana. Caemgen used his authority under the Chronicler’s Oath to travel with this crew.