by Casey Eanes
Wael nodded and sighed, handing a small chip for his datalink. Take this. This should show you the fastest and safest route my scouts found into Lotte. Be cautious, Grift. Get to Rose and find Ewing. We will need his assistance.” Wael paused and looked at them both. “It’s not ideal, but it is time for us to separate. Go now with Aleph’s blessing. I’ll be in touch with you both via datalink.”
Willyn turned for the door but paused and called back to Wael. “What are you doing? Are you going to move our friend downstairs?”
Wael’s face locked with purpose as he shook his head. “No. This location is guarded by more than stone walls. I will seek the Exile.”
CHAPTER THREE
Gulls cackled overhead as the Elumite frigate carrying Seam and his detail pushed further out into the Endless Ocean. The green, foaming waves slapping against the hull gave way to bottomless, blue churning water. The shore dipped beneath the horizon, and Seam closed his eyes. He breathed in the salty air as he paced the ship’s deck. Bronson stood silently by his side.
Seam spoke, his eyes dancing across the magnificent view of the ocean. “You are awfully quiet today, Bronson.”
Bronson shifted and stood straight as if being called to attention. “My apologies, sire. I...I am only homesick.”
Seam gave his Captain of the Guard a sideways glance. “Why did you not bring your family down to Zenith? I would have seen that your expenses were paid. You would have had every opportunity to be with them there.”
Bronson nodded and gave a humble smile. “Your generosity knows no bounds, sire. It was my desire that they stay in Lotte, my lord.”
Seam turned to face him. “And why is that, Bronson?”
Bronson felt his heart slam against his chest, but he forced himself to remain composed. His mind flickered with the images of the gorgeous woman in the glass. The woman who he now knew was free and walked again among mankind. The woman whose mouth held a valley of bleeding daggers that made him want to kill himself. Cold beads of sweat formed on his brow as his king questioned him. Everything within him wanted to scream out the true answer for his decision. I would rather die than to have my children near the nightmares you are unleashing.
“I’m afraid that my wife and children are very content in Lotte. It is all they have ever known.” Bronson feigned a smile, praying to Aleph that Seam would accept the answer.
Seam nodded. “I understand. Mother will not come to Zenith either. She would change her mind if she could see what we were building.”
I very much doubt that, thought Bronson.
Seam continued to stare out over the horizon. “I’m going to the bridge. We can’t be far now.”
Bronson nodded. “Very good, my lord.”
Seam patted Bronson’s shoulder and climbed the metallic stairs, making his way to the ship’s control room.
The High King entered the bridge with few pleasantries. “Captain, how far are we from the coordinates I provided?”
The burly captain slid his chair to a nearby panel and blankly stared at the screen for a few moments before turning back around. He ran his hands through his long, greasy beard, calculating nervously.
“We appear on course, sir. We should arrive within the hour.”
Seam glanced down at the coordinates on the screen before peering back out over the empty horizon. “Very good. Make sure your divers are prepared as soon as we arrive. I don’t want to waste any time.”
The captain grunted as he shifted in his seat and tipped his head. “They will be ready. Any details on this mission, sir? I’d like to prepare them for what might be ahead.”
Seam turned for the door before replying over his shoulder, “I will inform them once we arrive.”
Seam’s datalink buzzed to life as Hosp’s face appeared across its screen. His cold gray eyes shifted from side to side and his nostrils flared as he spoke. “Seam, what is the status of the third mirror? Arakiel and Abtren are growing restless.”
Seam did not bother to make eye contact with Hosp. Instead, he peered out over the bobbing waves. “Where is your patience, Hosp? Do you still doubt my abilities after all we have accomplished? We are within minutes of the coordinates Arakiel provided.”
As he was speaking the frigate slipped into a halo of perfectly calm water. The waves came to an immediate halt, forming a perfect ring of water stretching nearly five hundred feet in diameter. Seam leaned over the ship’s railing and peered into the calm waters as they rippled away from the intruding vessel. As he focused on the center of the circle he could feel an electric charge inch up his arm, resonating from the bracer and its keys. He lifted his sleeve and smiled as he flexed his fist and felt his skin absorb the energy radiating from his wrist. The keys were calling out to the mirror resting in the waters below. Seam called through his datalink to the bridge.
“We are here! Shut down the engines and deploy the divers.”
Seam stood beside Bronson as four divers clad in black wetsuits emerged from below deck. The captain of the ship cut the engines as commanded and fumbled down the stairs to join the men at the frigate’s edge.
Seam stepped to the railing and peered over, allowing his eyes to focus into the deep abyss. He had not noticed it before, but the water’s color had shifted. What was once clear blue now looked dark as midnight. He turned and pointed into the water as he addressed the divers.
“Gentlemen. Below us rests an object of extreme importance for our alliance. A very important artifact that must be treated with the utmost care. Resting somewhere within these waters is a mirror.”
One of the divers shifted and smirked. Another shot a glance at the other crewmembers and spoke.
“A mirror, sir? Does it bear any special markings? Any other furniture that we need to pull out?” The diver’s remark sent a low chuckle through the troop.
Seam shook his head. He constrained his frustration to a whisper as he stepped close to the inquisitive man.
“This is no piece of furniture, you fool. This mirror is a lost piece of our continent’s history and it is extremely valuable. Now you will do your job and get in the water or you will not make it home.” The divers’ chuckles evaporated in an instant.
Seam stared at the men and then turned to look at Bronson. “Just so there won't be any mistakes, I am sending my own Captain of the Guard down with you.”
Bronson’s face went white.
“He knows exactly what we are looking for.”
The divers nodded as Bronson fought the urge to faint. He approached the king and whispered. “Sire? Me in the water?”
“You heard me, Bronson. Now go suit up.” Bronson bowed his head and nodded.
Bronson joined the dive team in an ill-fitting rubber suit and fidgeted with his oxygen tank lines as he addressed Seam. “Sir, if I may beg for relief once more. I am not properly trained.”
Seam leaned in close to Bronson’s ear and whispered. “I trust you will not fail me, Bronson. Failure is not an option. Do this for your family’s sake.”
Bronson swallowed hard and suppressed the urge to throw Seam and his insanity into the midnight waters below. “Yes, sir. Understood.”
The ship’s captain dropped a gate in the railing and kicked a ladder over the ship’s edge before walking back to the diving crew.
“Well, you heard the king. Hit the water, men. Careful to keep the thing in one piece.” He turned to Seam and offered a smile before spitting a wad of dark tobacco overboard and hiking his sagging trousers. “Don’t worry, sir. These men are the best divers in all of Elum. We will have your mirror up in no time.”
Seam squeezed the frigate’s railing and offered a thin smile. “Thank you, captain. I trust we won’t have any issues.”
Bronson’s eyes strained to focus through his goggles. The cold, murky waters clouded his vision. It was like swimming in an ink well. He fired up his dive light and tossed the beam from side to side beneath the water’s surface as he tried to gain a sense of direction. The other divers circ
led around him and fanned out as they pushed into the deep waters. Two of the men had towlines attached to their belts. Bronson kicked his flippers and pushed himself further into the depths following the lead of the others. He swam away from his king and closer to another monster buried in the depths of the sea.
You can stop this all now. The thought pervaded Bronson’s thoughts. This is your chance. As Bronson and the divers plunged further into the deep, the reality of the situation lay on him like a lead weight. There were three possible outcomes. He could somehow stop this mirror from ever making its way to the surface or he could die trying and sink into the Endless Ocean. The last and worst scenario is that he could fail and live to face the consequences. The thought of Abtren alone was enough to come to a decision. I will not willfully allow another one of these abominations on Candor.
Resolve quickened in Bronson’s spirit and propelled him to find the mirror before any of the other divers. He observed the other divers were swimming in a large circle, slowly covering an organized perimeter. With each pass they drew closer, tightening their search. The center. There was no need to search the perimeters of these calmer waters. The mirror would only be in one place: the center of the search area.
Bronson did his best to guess where the center would be. Breaking formation, he pushed downward, leaving the other divers behind. The depths swallowed him, and he could feel the pressure of the Endless Ocean surround him. He swam for what seemed like a long time until he was finally at the sea’s floor. He looked around, swirling in the depths for the mirror, but there was nothing there except dull gray sand. He scanned the gloom, desperate to find the cursed object. This isn’t right. I know it is here. Bronson shot his light from side to side, its beam barely penetrating the thick black water. He looked back up toward the surface, trying to orient himself using the other divers. Their searchlights looked like nothing more than fireflies blinking in the midnight sky. He outpaced them by a good distance but he realized he had drifted too far to the edge of the search zone. To be so deep was disorienting, so he turned toward what felt like the center and swam hard, hovering over the sea floor. A strange realization came over him. There is nothing alive in this water. No fish, no seaweed, not even shells littered the sand. As he pushed toward the center of the search zone his datalink lit up and Seam’s voice roared over his headset.
“Bronson, how is the search progressing?”
“Still searching, sir.” Bronson mumbled through his mouthpiece. “I think...”
Bronson stopped mid-sentence as he nearly swam into his own reflection. The shimmering plane of glass stood proudly, lodged into the sandy floor.
“You think what?” said Seam.
“Apologies, hard to speak in this thing. Think it may be hard to find.” Bronson shined his light on the surface, doing his best not to stare too deeply into the mirror. “I will let you know once I find it.”
“Very good,” Seam answered. Bronson sighed as the datalink went dead and he was left alone with his one opportunity to stop Seam’s insanity. Bronson shot a glance overhead and lowered the intensity of his searchlight, hoping to prevent the other divers from realizing his discovery.
Bronson’s eyes darted across the ocean floor as he tried to think of what exactly to do. He grasped at the knife on his belt. I can kill the divers. No. It won’t work. Seam will get more. As Bronson fought for answers, his eyes found what he needed. A large stone was lodged in the ocean floor not far from the mirror.
A broken mirror is no good to the King. Bronson’s heart raced as he swam to the rock and loosened it from its resting place. Bronson strained and finally lifted the rock off the ocean floor. As he moved for the shimmering glass, he glanced up, ensuring the other divers would not see his treachery. They were still far enough out; they had not tightened their perimeter enough. This was his chance.
Bronson tightened his grip on the rock and whispered a prayer to Aleph. “Let my death be quick for I know my king will blame this failure on me. End my life quickly, Aleph, so I may rest in Aether.” He held the rock and tightened his grip. “Remember and bless my children.” Bronson grabbed the mirror’s edge and cut off his light. Using feel to guide him he slammed the rock into the pane of glass like a hammer. The first hit thudded against the glass with little effect. The deep waters made it difficult to gain momentum but Bronson continued to fight, smashing the rock against the mirror.
Bronson furiously attacked the mirror until he felt the portal give way beneath the hand he used to anchor himself. As the glass snapped within Bronson’s grasp, a jagged edge of the broken mirror sliced into Bronson’s leg. Bronson let out a muffled scream and cut his search light back on. Aleph, no. His light revealed a cloud of crimson rising from his leg, but he could see that his work had been successful. The mirror had shattered with a large section broken away from the base.
As Bronson dropped the piece of mirror from his hand, it passed through the blood pouring from his wounded leg. The shattered pieces of glass ignited with an uncanny glow and shot through the water, rejoining with what had just been hewn away. The mirror was healing itself. The water around him began to bubble and Bronson felt a searing heat. The water is boiling. Bronson desperately kicked himself clear from the water that raged with life, his eyes locking onto the mirror that was once again pristine. The water roared, stirring the sand and silt on the ocean floor into a tempest.
Through the sand, blood, and rushing water Bronson’s headlamp shone on the face of a beautiful young woman trapped within the glass. She stood tall with a waterfall of black hair and piercing blue eyes. Bronson pushed away from the penetrating gaze as fast as he could manage, turning his face away from the monster that he knew was waiting inside. He would not dare to look at the face of another Serub as long as he could will it. As he pushed himself backwards, he slammed into something. He turned, his heart in his chest, only to see the dark mask of one of the other divers.
The diver carried the towline. Bronson’s eyes locked on the line and quickly weighed his options. She can’t go up. She can’t be freed. The fellow diver tried to plunge into the vortex past Bronson, but was whipped back from the violent current. It swept him end over end through the water. As the diver tumbled by, Bronson reached out to cut the line to his oxygen tank and push him back toward the surface, a pillar of bubbles erupting in the depths.
He watched as the diver steadied himself only to realize his line was compromised. He swam rapidly for the surface. One down, Bronson thought. The other three divers descended and closed in on the scene, pushing for the mirror. Two of the men planted anchors in the ocean floor and reached out to attach their lines to the third diver, the one who carried down the last towline. The two then hooked their lines to their own belts and used themselves as counterweights as they moved with skillful precision to pull the third diver toward the mirror.
The middle diver thrashed between the rushing waters but successfully grabbed hold of the mirror’s edge. Bronson swam to one of the anchors in the sea’s floor and slashed it with his knife. The line snapped with a resounding POP, whipping into one of the divers, sending him careening through the darkness.
The towline diver motioned for Bronson to come over and help him secure the mirror, but as Bronson made his way toward him he felt a massive blow connect with the back of his head. The anchor line had whipped across his skull, and the darkness of the water overtook Bronson as he lost consciousness.
Seam stood proudly as the shimmering mirror was lifted out of the dark waters. He could not hide his delight. He scanned the water and counted the four divers joining the crew. Only four. Bronson was missing.
The diver responsible for hooking the mirror ripped his mask away and looked to the others. “What is this thing? What was that all about?”
The oldest of the men pulled back his mask and chuckled nervously. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Nothing causes that kind of a stir. It was like a tornado down there.”
The diver that hooked the mir
ror looked to Seam, searching for answers. His eyes were wide and he gasped for breath. “But did you see her? I swear there was a woman in that mirror! This thing ain’t right.”
The other diver gave a mocking laugh. “What? A woman? The pressure got to you, Murdock. Those rapids knocked you silly.”
The diver slapped at the water. “I swear, man! Some woman was in that mirror. Her eyes. They were crazy blue.” His comrades went silent, and Seam’s lips pursed in anticipation. “Look, I know what I saw. Look at it!” The diver pointed to the mirror that was hanging overhead, but it simply reflected the evening sun. Murdock stared at his companions. “Come on, guys, you know I don’t play around. I swear I saw something.”
Seam clenched his fist and paced to the edge of the ship. He stared at the four divers as they chattered over the mirror’s retrieval. “Where is Bronson?” The men looked at each other and returned vacant stares.
One of them dared to speak, “He hasn’t resurfaced?”
Seam shook his head and pointed to the water splashing around the divers. “Get back down there and find him! Do not come back to this ship unless you have him with you. We will not leave without him.”
As if on cue, a figure resurfaced from the water behind the other divers. Bronson swam slowly over to the ship, and the divers helped heave him up to the deck. Red-hot blood painted the ship’s deck, pooling from beneath his body.
Seam screamed, his eyes flaring at the ship’s captain. “Medic! Get a medic over here immediately!”
An alarm sounded as two medics rushed to Bronson’s side. In the commotion no one noticed the river of blood running toward the freshly discovered mirror. Seam looked from the mirror to the blood making its way across the deck. He rushed to put his foot down against the stream. As Bronson’s blood pooled around Seam’s foot the High King called for the crane operator. “Hoist the mirror! Get it off the deck!”