The Sovereign of Psiere

by K. Aten

  LIGHT OF THE first sun was just filtering over the horizon when the dirigible had Serpens Island in its sights the next morning. While it was easily seen from the height of the airship, the approaching island was still shrouded in twilight. They had been traveling over open water the night before and it was a shock to see the forested landscape of the island as the light grew brighter. Perhaps it was because the land was so green that the inland lake glimmering on the island seemed so out of place. There was no vegetation in the vicinity of its shore. As Illeos also rose above the horizon, the light nearly doubled and the red lake that drew ever nearer shone with the ominous visage of blood. Tosh stood on the staging deck on the port side of the airship. She was startled when Spc. Holling stepped to the rail next to her.

  “Dir Sanguis. A lake within an island within a lake. Dangerous and as of yet unexplored.”

  Commander Tosh shot a sideways glance at the original medican for the Connate’s unit. “Like two mirrors turned toward each other, a reflection within a reflection within a reflection. Nature is certainly strange.”

  Holling seemed more talkative than normal and they still had nearly twenty meens before arriving at their destination so Castellan let him go on. “Did you know that the red of Dir Sanguis is caused by a mix of toxic algae bloom and high acid content of the water?”

  Tosh smiled at the man’s bout of loquaciousness. “I had actually read that somewhere.”

  Holling held up his finger. “Ah, but did you know that the lake algae is an essential part of the drake’s diet? That is why their young are hatched on its shores. The drake’s abdomens have two chemical filled chambers that combine during emesis. The resulting spray is an acid that has been heated to more than two hundred pyrs! Not bad for a dumb water dragon, eh?”

  “That sounds rather unpleasant and dangerous. How do you know so much about drakes?”

  Gren Holling closed his eyes briefly, as if to see the memories that prompted his words. “I grew up on the southern seashore, in a small town that lies between the Dara Mountains and Dir Nubila. I’ve always been fascinated by the large sea serpents and when I got my secondary medican training in animal biology, I chose drakes as the subject for my dissertation.”

  The pale eyebrow of his Commander rose. “Oh? And what was the title of your paper, Specialist?”

  Holling blushed. “The Symbiotic Relationship between Psierians and the Drakes of Serpens Island.”

  Castellan looked at her guardian with new eyes. “And what was your conclusion?”

  “I believe the drakes to be psychic. Not on the same level as the Atlanteens, but certainly with more intelligence and understanding than say the average fish. Animal empaths have gotten flashes of emotion when near the great beasts. I would guess very much like what the team experienced when they encountered the Rocs on Mater. The drakes seem to understand that the Psierians that go out into the lake are no threat so they leave our fishing boats alone. In return we stay away from their island and its surrounding waters. Most anyways. And just like the rocs, they don’t seem to tolerate trespassers in their territory.”

  Castellan knew that the medican had animal empathy as one of his channels and assumed that he had felt such emotion. The people of Psiere could do much worse than to admire the greater and lesser animals of the land. She clapped him on the shoulder with a smile. “Well I’m certainly glad you’re along on this journey with us. Now tell me, worst case scenario, what are the effects if someone goes into Sanguis?”

  Holling rubbed his chin. “Hmm, the lake itself is not hot. However the acid content will cause moderate to severe burns to the skin. It will most likely cause blindness if it gets in the eyes and extreme pain no matter where it touches.”

  “Well as you were informed in my briefing, we don’t actually know where the object we are looking for is located. We are hoping to see a sign when we approach from the air. But the encrypted text specifically mentions Sanguis. So we all have waterproof suits to protect our skin and special full face masks in case we have to go beneath the surface.”

  The medican nodded. “I’ve seen the suits and read their specs. They will be sufficient. There have been many samples taken of the lake over the rotos. The scientists all come in via dirigible, just as we are, and lower sample tubes down to the water below. That is the only way to test the fauna and waters of the island.”

  Olivienne walked up closely followed by Lieutenants Madlin and Savon. Castellan held up her hand to forestall any comments from them because she still had one more question for her talkative medican. “And what of exposure to the drakes’ spray? What is the worst case damage if someone is hit?”

  Holling blanched and shook his head. “They’ll die. I’m sorry, Commander, but even the suits will not protect us from a drake’s spray. Between the tempyrature and the volatile acid, it will melt both the suit and skin right from our bodies.”

  Both lieutenants looked pale at the medican’s declaration and Olivienne spoke quietly in the lull. “We just came to tell you that we’re in position but perhaps we should rethink our plan, Tosh. We don’t even know what we’re looking for down there.”

  Rather than answer her worried statement, Castellan pulled her spyglass from the satchel that was slung across her chest and peered down at the red lake below. It was much larger than she anticipated. “It’s huge! Why, it must be at least fifteen mahls across!”

  Lt. Madlin nodded. “Yes, ser. Most people don’t realize that the lake within an island is the same size as Dir Altum that lies just east of Nubila.”

  Holling spoke next. “It’s not widely known because Serpens Island is uninhabitable and unexplored.”

  Castellan contemplated their lack of information and rubbed her eyebrow thoughtfully. “Are there any islands within Dir Sanguis?”

  Again, it was Holling who answered. “Yes, ser. There is an island near the center of the lake. It’s probably two dirigibles in length and naught but bare dirt. If you notice, the high acidity guarantees that nothing can grow right around the lake itself, so the island has no vegetation.”

  Tosh looked at Madlin. “Please go tell the captain to head for the center of Sanguis, and hover us over the bare island. That has to be the place!”

  Olivienne looked at her in surprise. “Are you sure?” Tosh tapped her head and smiled. “Ah, your intuition channel has decided to kick in, eh? Good to know.”

  Suddenly Lt. Savon stiffened and his eyelids began to flutter. Both Olivienne and Castellan grabbed him to prevent the man from falling to the deck as his knees buckled. Their touch only served to make his prescient vision stronger. “Blood...blood everywhere! The Makers of above and below, the gray ones will flood the menagerie...beware the rope...the seed is in the soil.”

  Just as fast as the vision came on, it left Savon once again. He stiffened and opened his eyes fully as the other three stared at him. After a few calming breaths, the lieutenant spoke in a shaky voice. “That was...intense. Did it make any sense to you?”

  Olivienne looked back at him in thought. “Blood would be an obvious analogy for the lake. I don’t understand the part about the gray ones and the flooding of the menagerie. Nor the bit about the seed and the rope.”

  Tosh snapped her fingers. “Back on Mater, Lieutenant Madlin mentioned gray ones in her psychometry reading! And the rope...” She grabbed her voteo to contact Lt. Madlin. “Tosh here for Lieutenant Madlin. Find out what the anchor line for the dirigible is composed of. Tosh out.” She turned to Savon and Olivienne. “Perhaps the vision references something happening to the anchor line. If it’s made of standard rope instead of cable, it would be at risk should the drakes engage us. After all, the anchor line is also what we will rappel down on.”

  Spc. Holling’s had been watching the exchange and his face abruptly lit up. “Ser! When a seed sprouts into a flower, it opens. Perhaps they mean the opening of the place we seek is below the soil.”

  “Yes!” Olivienne jogged her fist in the air in agreement with the
medican. “Well done, Specialist Holling!”

  The commander’s voteo crackled and Madlin’s voice came over the line. “Madlin here. Captain confirms the anchor line is standard woven rope. We should be wary on the descent, ser. Over.”

  “Confirmed. Gather the rest of the unit to this deck, descent in ten meens. Tosh Out.”

  As Castellan, Olivienne, Holling, and Savon all began stepping into their harnesses, the rest of the unit trickled onto the deck. A few of the ship’s crew also joined them. They would be handling the anchor gun that would fire into the ground below. There were also spotters posted on all sides of the airship’s decking to watch for activity in the water. The commander was going over details with Lt. Savon when Holling approached her again. “Ser!”

  She turned and leveled a look at the man for interrupting. “Yes, Specialist?”

  He quickly pointed at one of the crew members manning the rail guns. “They’re using standard issue, ser. The drakes are a protected species, we cannot use lethal force against them, per the old Queen’s directive that was signed into place after the Gammen incident. Article twenty of the Psiere Legibus states that lethal force may not be used upon a greater beast within their protected territory. The same law would have applied to the rocs as well, not that we needed to use such force then.”

  “Sheddech!” Tosh abruptly took off at a jog, taking the outer stairs of the dirigible to the bridge where the captain was located. Capt. Tomas looked up from his map of the region when Tosh entered the abundantly windowed space. “Captain, your crew may not use standard rail guns on the drakes below, even if my team is in danger. You must switch to non-lethal concussive shot instead.”

  The man’s face blossomed deep red at being given orders by someone twenty rotos younger and of lower rank. “Listen, Commander, my crew will use whatever means necessary to guarantee the safety of this airship. And if I tell them to use rail guns, then by the Makers, that is what they’ll use!”

  Castellan’s anger blossomed in the face of such insubordination but she did not let it outwardly show. Instead she calmly stood ramrod straight and looked the man dead in the eye. “My name is Commander Castellan Tosh of the Psiere Shield Corp. I am on active duty in charge of Her Royal Sovereign, Connate Dracore’s personal Shield unit, and on direct duty for the Queen herself. You, ser, are out-ranked!”

  Capt. Tomas’s face went from red to pale and rage-filled in an instant. “No one out ranks me on my own ship, least of all some—”

  He never got to finish his sentence because in the blink of an eye, Tosh had pulled her pistol and aimed it straightaway at his head. She paused to telekinetically immobilize the livid man and addressed the rest of the crew on the bridge. “Your captain has been relieved of duty per article two, section three of the Psiere Legibus for insubordination and mutiny. The rules of our governing system state that an active Shield Corp unit leader holds seniority over all other officers where a royal’s life may be in danger. Do any of you disagree with my assessment?”

  Six shocked faces looked back at her and after a few secs delay, voices responded. “No, ser!”

  “Good, now who is next in command?”

  A middle-aged woman with tidy short dark hair and a trim fit to her uniform stepped forward smartly and saluted Cmdr. Tosh. “Lieutenant Bescal Greem, ser!”

  Tosh nodded. “Good. Will you submit to a trust reading, Lieutenant Greem?”

  The officer paled but nodded her head. “Yes, ser.”

  Telepathically a person could not lie so Castellan asked the lieutenant a series of questions to determine her loyalty. “Who holds your pledge of service?”

  “The Queen, ser.” Lt. Greem’s mental voice was strong and resolute.

  “Do you agree with my assessment of Captain Tomas in regards to rank and the articles of the Legibus?”

  Again, Greem’s answer was solid in Tosh’s head. “Yes, ser!”

  “Will you have trouble with the rest of the crew when we head down to the island?”

  Lt. Greem glanced around the bridge and gave a minute nod of her head. “Some crew have been with Captain Tomas a long time, I think we will have problems with them.”

  Castellan grimaced at the voice in her head and grabbed the voteo from her belt. “Tosh to Savon, over.”

  Savon’s voice came clear over the speaker. “Savon here, over.”

  “Change of plans, Lieutenant. We need a team of—” She looked back at Lt. Greem and the woman’s voice came back into her head.

  “I think four of your black-shirts would be enough to steady the loyalists.”

  “Fine.” Aloud, Tosh spoke into the speaker again. “I need either you or Lt. Madlin to stay aboard the ship, and select three more of the unit to stay with you. Suspect mutinous element with the removal of Captain Tomas. Copy?”

  Savon’s response came back immediately. “Yes, ser! Give me five to make the selection and hand out orders. Savon out.”

  By the end of the five requested meens, Savon himself had elected to stay, in case he had any more visions. Spc. Holling was also selected for his animal empathy to better gauge the drakes in the area. He also chose Gen. Renou’s niece, Spc. Penn, and the unit’s hulking man of an engineer, Spc. Gar Soleng. Castellan had full confidence in the topside team and left Lieutenants Savon and Greem on the bridge to deal with the shackled captain. When she returned to the staging deck on the port side of the ship, she found Olivienne, Madlin, and Leggett huddled around a portable sonica cradled in Leggett’s hands. “What’s this?”

  Madlin and Leggett both saluted and Olivienne turned to her with a smile. “Everything sorted out up there?”

  “As well as could be I suppose, but he will face charges when we get back to Baene.” Movement farther down the deck caught her eye and Castellan watched as the ship’s crew unloaded the rail guns and replaced the shots with concussive marks instead. “All that’s left is to get down below and start digging, though I’m concerned about how long it will take to find a possible point of entry.”

  “Commander, I believe we have an answer to that problem. Lieutenant Madlin thought that perhaps we could make some adjustments to the wavelengths used by the sonica so that it would read differently between organic material and much more solid material. And if that does not work, we can try the Pyrometer that we have stowed in the gear. Maybe the entrance would hold a different heat signature.”

  Castellan grinned broadly at her enterprising guardians. “Excellent ideas, both of you!” Since the anchor bolt had not been fired, the ship moved farther down the small barren island until it sat roughly over the center. “Start there!” Tosh pointed right below them.

  As luck would have it, the sonica read an anomaly just to the right of where the airship hovered. Without waiting, Tosh focused on the dirt thirty yords below and began scooping the earth away from the spot with her telekinesis. Olivienne quickly caught on and used her apportation much the same way. Soon enough they’d dug nearly a yord deep and stared upon the exposed hatch in awe. There was a wheel connected to the metallic looking door similar to what could be found on both dirigibles and sailing vessels and Castellan quickly addressed the crew member operating the anchor gun. “Belay anchor, we’re ready to head down. Fire to the left of the hatch below.”

  The man saluted Tosh and did as directed. Rather than a dull sound of the anchor bolt hitting dirt, or the sharp crack of the bolt imbedding in stone, there was a muffled boom below and the lake water rippled around the island. Olivienne looked at Castellan with some concern. “Well that was decidedly odd.”

  Castellan frowned in concentration. “It certainly was, and perhaps it is a sunken ship, but it was also our signal to make haste. It will not be long before the drakes come investigate the intruders into their territory and we will be especially vulnerable on the ground so we must hurry.” She turned to the remaining ten members of the Shield unit. “Begin descent!”

  One by one the guardians clipped onto the anchor line and slid to the groun
d below. As originally directed, Spc. Branda Leggett was the first down the line. As an engineer she would have the best knowledge and skill to open any doors, though the visible hatch seemed straight forward enough. She had it open with no sign of alarm by the time Olivienne and Castellan made their descent. Olivienne marched to the door and made to enter when Tosh lightly touched her arm. “Please, Connate, allow me. It will not harm your adventurist reputation to let me go first for safety’s sake. This discovery is yours and yours alone.”

  Olivienne looked down into the opening of the hatch. Stele rungs descended into the darkness. She nodded and waved Tosh forward. “Be my guest, Commander.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  ALL TWELVE MEN and women on the ground turned on their headlamps and started the climb down the hatch. Lt. Madlin was the last one in and she called down to Castellan in the artificially lit darkness. “Commander, should I shut the hatch? There is a wheel on the inside for locking, it may prevent possible danger if the drakes should come up on the island.”

  Castellan quickly weighed the danger of the drakes entering against the danger of not making a quick enough exit. She decided that if worse came to worse, she could blow the hatch with her telekinesis. “Go ahead and close it up, Lieutenant. Best be safe than sorry.”

  Despite wearing waterproof full-body suits equipped with gear pouches, the soles of their suits had surprisingly good traction on the rungs and were only a little bulky going down. The full face masks for the suits hung off the back of the kit belts for easy retrieval. Even though the commander had set a fairly fast pace down the ladder, it still took nearly ten meens before they reached another access hatched in the floor of the vertical tube. Once it was open the team dropped into the space below. Then much to everyone’s surprise, the entire tunnel abruptly lit up from panels placed at regular intervals near the ceiling.

  “What in the Maker’s metal is this?” Tosh stared in awe.

  “I believe you just answered your own question.” Olivienne’s reply was forestalled when a rumbling sound echoed up and down the length of the lit space and they all felt the shaking in the soles of their boots. “I don’t like the feel of that.”