The Dark of the Moon

by E. S. Bell

  Svoz strode out of the remnants of the greenhouse, knocking aside the few beams that remained standing as if they were sapling branches.

  “Where is she?” he seethed to the nigh, his blood-red chest heaving. “Where is the old husk?” He threw back his head, unleashing another deafening roar.

  In the silence that followed, he listened to the wind. He sniffed the air. His master’s scent was there, detected under the smoke, under the stench of every other human that exhaled their stinking breath; and shed skin, bit by bit; and released their hair, strand by strand, into the air.

  Svoz found his master’s debris and inhaled. The whole of this wretched, watery orb telescoped like one of master’s little spy glasses to one place: a ship. The floating vessel of timber and hemp his master loved so much. Loved more than anything.

  But for her.

  The sirrak felt the pull. He was supposed to be with the master. Bound to him by blood, to be separated for too long was dangerous. But his master’s last order had been to kill the old witch. Svoz’s black eyes seemed to blacken further at the memory.

  The witch had won. She’d cheated, of course. The glass of his weakling cousins, the djinn, could hold them for eternities upon eternities, but not him. It had given way to his might—as all things should. Had she not cheated, his victory would have been assured. He’d have cleaved her in half. With one hand, if he so chose.

  Twin plumes of putrid smoke puffed out of his nostrils. He’d spent his short tenure in the djinn’s glass plotting all the ways he’d tear her apart. Another deprivation. She was dead. He could smell her debris and it was rotting. His master’s last order was moot and now Svoz couldn’t move until he uttered another.

  Call me, master, he said to the wind. Call me and I will return to you.

  In the meantime…

  Svoz craned his massive head to the jungle. His stomachs rumbled. He loped away from the melted stone and embers that reminded him of his own plane but they held no nostalgia. There was no blood on his plane and for it, he and others of his ilk would subjugate themselves to the human vessels that were full to bursting with it. But the jungle was rife with creatures that would satiate his body, and that would do. For now.

  A slow smile spread over his face, one of dual pleasure. His hand shot down and he snatched up a blind mole, poking its head out of hole in the soil. He smiled as the bone and gristle burst under his mighty jaw, a small but satisfying spurt of blood following after.

  And he smiled to think he still held some power on this plane. The old witch had called him a slave. How wrong she was.

  Master is slave to me until our blood oath is fulfilled. Call me, master. He swallowed the mole and it went down his gullet in a visible lump.

  I’m free now and I wish to play.

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  Shadow Moon Rising, Chronicles of Lunos, Book II coming 2018

  Beware, for the dark will try to swallow you, consume you, to make you something like itself.

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  Shipping/sailing terms

  Aft: at, near, or toward the stern (rear) of a ship

  Amidships: the middle of the ship

  Barge: a flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight, typically on canals and rivers, either under its own power or towed by another.

  Barque: a sailing ship, typically with three masts, in which the foremast and mainmast are square-rigged and the mizzenmast is rigged fore-and-aft.

  Boom: a spar pivoting on the after side of the mast and to which the foot of a vessel's sail is attached, allowing the angle of the sail to be changed.

  Bowsprit: a spar extending forward from a ship's bow, to which the forestays are fastened.

  Brig: a two-masted, square-rigged ship with an additional gaff sail on the mainmast.

  Doldrums: calm seas when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sailing ships for periods of days or weeks.

  Deckhead: underside of a deck in a ship. It bears the same relationship to a compartment on the deck below as does the ceiling to the room of a house.

  Fore: the front part of a ship.

  Foresail: the principal sail on a ship

  Gaff sail: any sail not set on a yard and whose normal position is in a fore-and-aft direction

  Gunwhale: the upper edge of the side of a boat or ship.

  Mainmast: the principal mast of a ship, typically the second mast in a sailing ship of three or more masts.

  Mizzenmast: the mast aft of a ship's mainmast

  Packet: a ship traveling at regular intervals between two ports for the conveyance of goods

  Press gang: a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service of a ship, in this case, for the service of a pirate collective

  Quarto: a set of four ships that sail together for a specific mission or purpose

  Quarterdeck: the part of a ship's upper deck near the stern, traditionally reserved for officers

  Rigging: the system of ropes, cables, or chains employed to support a ship's masts (standing rigging) and to control or set the yards and sails

  Schooner: a sailing ship with two or more masts, typically with the foremast smaller than the mainmast, and having gaff-rigged lower masts.

  Scrimshaw: to adorn (whalebone, ivory, shells, or other materials) with carved or colored designs.

  Shanty: a song with alternating solo and chorus, of a kind originally sung by sailors while performing physical labor together.

  Shrouds: pieces of net-like standing rigging which hold the mast up from side to side

  Spanker: a fore-and-aft sail set on the after side of a ship's mast, especially the mizzenmast.

  Spar: a thick, strong pole such as is used for a mast or yard on a ship

  Square-rigged: having square sails as the principal sails

  Stays: ropes, wires, or rods on sailing vessels that run fore-and-aft along the centerline from the masts to the hull, deck, bowsprit, or to other masts which serve to stabilize the masts. On a ship with a single mast, stays that run aft are called backstays and stays that run forward are called forestays.

  Stern: the rearmost part of a ship or boat

  Topsail: a sail set on a ship's topmast

  Yards: a cylindrical spar, tapering to each end, slung across a ship's mast for a sail to hang from

  Lunos Geography

  Alliance Isles: The ruling body of four islands on the Western Watch—Lillomet, Sevren, Parish and Killomede

  Eastern Edge: The eastern side of Lunos as delineated by its eastern location relative to the Heart Waters

  Heart Waters: the central ocean of Lunos, which cannot be sailed due to the merkind who inhabit its waters and who will destroy any ship that attempt a course across it

  Western Watch: the western side of Lunos as delineated by its western location relative to the Heart Waters

  Historical Eras of Lunos, in chronological order

  The Breaking: A terrible time of horror, death and destruction, where the continents of the Old World were smashed and destroyed by the Dragonwars, leaving only a few scattered islands above sea level. Hundreds of thousands of people died during the Breaking and the dragons became extinct.

  Age of Legend: where the stories of the Old World were lost in the chaos of the Breaking and fell into legend so that the truth of the Breaking and everything that came before was lost or obscured.

  Age of Horizons: The survivors of the Breaking began to explore their new world, and took to sailing

  Age of Discovery: new alliances, countries, and empires were born, colonization and migrations, wars for possession of the islands; conquerors and the conquered. Eastern Edge and Western Watch were named here. The longest era, spanning more than two hundred years

  Age of Sedition: Slave uprisings began with the support of the Western Watch powers, abolition of slavery ended this
age

  Age of Tranquility: an era of peace. The shortest era; only thirty years long.

  Age of Turbulence: unrest again, culminating in the Zak’reth war

  New Dawn Era: End of the Zak’reth war and a resolution for more peace, hence the name, though the unrest persists and war seems to be looming again.

  Dieties

  Two-Faced God is dominant. A world of seas and oceans is governed by that which regulates the tide.—the moon. The moon is the avatar of the god, and has two aspects: The Shining face and the Shadow face:

  The Shining face: the benevolent aspect of the god. Adherents of the Shining face—the Aluren —are granted the magic of healing out of salt water, and the weaving of light. The full moon, or a waxing moon is when this aspect is most powerful

  The Shadow face: the malevolent aspect of the god. Adherents of the Shadow face—the Bazira—are granted the magic of ice weaving and poisoning water with touch. The new moon, or a waning moon are when this aspect is most powerful.

  Adherents: those who pay fealty to one aspect of the Two-Faced god or the other, and are granted its magic via prayerwords

  Aluren: Adherents of the Shining face

  High Reverent: highest ranking adherent of the Aluren faith

  Reverent: high ranking adherents who are powerful in magic, second to the High Reverent

  Paladin: a warrior adherent for the Shining face, proficient in swordcraft, fighting, tactics, as in addition to using the magic of light weaving and healing.

  Healer: adherent for the Shining face who specializes in healing and does not carry a sword or weave light for the purpose of battle.

  A Summoner: an Aluren adherent so favored by the Shining face, he/she is able to summon the seas and command the waters to do his/her bidding

  Bazira: Adherents of the Shadow face

  High Vicar: Highest ranking adherent of the Baziran faith

  Shadow clerics: warrior adherents who are trained in swordcraft as well as ice weaving

  A Psyonicist: a Baziran adherent who can read minds or sense emotions, and alter the dreams of their victims. Powerful psyonicists are considered favored by the Shadow face, and are able to poison bodies of water, turning them into darkpools.

  The Moon Temple: The seat of the High Reverent of the Aluren faith, located on Isle Lillomet of the Alliance Isles.

  God’s Tears: a fountain of water in the Moon Temple, sacred to the Aluren. Drinking one sip is said to cure even the most deadly of ills.

  To Hear the god: to be called to its service for either faith; to be strong (favored) in its magic—”the god Hears you well.”

  Hear and be Heard: A common phrase among adherents; a wish for the god’s favor

  Ampulla: a small, two-handled vial an Aluren carries on her person, filled with seawater. One handle is for the Aluren, the other is symbolically for the Shining face to ‘hold’ during healing

  The Haru: an ancient sect of Aluren dating back to the Age of Horizons. The Haru nuns cut out their eyes in an act of Devotion to the Shining face in order to better Hear the god. In the New Dawn Era, the Haru are mostly died out.

  Darkpool: deadly pools of water poisoned by a psyonicist. They sicken their victims, turning them into mindless weapons of death for the Bazira before dying

  Illuria: the Aluren prayerword for healing

  Luxari: the Aluren prayerword for weaving light

  Krystak: the Baziran prayerword for weaving ice

  Weaving light: an Aluren culls the light from an area and refracts it via the god’s magic through water in the air, creating burning missile weapons or globes of light depending on the adherent’s power, and how much light/water is in the adherent’s given area at the time of the spellcasting.

  Healing: is done by using seawater, the source of all life on Lunos, and applying to a wound or sick person in conjunction with uttering the prayerword

  Ice weaving: a Baziran adherent uses water in his or her body in conjunction with the uttering the prayerword, to create bolts of ice. Bazira adherents carry small flasks of freshwater on their person to drink in order to replenish themselves. A powerful Bazira can cool the water in the air in a given area to freezing, or can freeze the air in a person’s lungs, thereby killing them.

  The Lesser Gods

  Shaizan: god of the Ho Sun Empire. Its practitioners work as seers or diviners, able to see future events with the specialized use of runes. Far-dreaming is the ability to dream the future and is rare

  Oshkat: god of the Zak’reth people. Oshkat is a war god; its magic is in fire. Its practitioners use its magic to imbue their weapons with deadly heat so that they burn as well as cut. Their armor is strengthened when put through the Oshkar’ii ritual and will burn anyone other than the wearer and other Zak’reth.

  Wor’ri: goddess of the Devala. Its druids are capable of creating flurries of weather, and to tame or command animals at will.

  The World of Lunos

  Abysmite: rust-colored rocks that sometimes streak out of the Void to land on Lunos. Abysmite is dangerous to adherents as touching one of these rocks will deafen an adherent to the god and strip him or her of their power. Jewelry is sometimes made from these rare stones and fetch astronomical prices on the black market.

  The Abyss: (archaic) the “place where gods go to die” though the origin of this phrase or its meaning is unknown. Commonly considered the black nothingness of a death outside the god’s favor—a terrible fate for an adherent and one to be avoided at all costs by continued pious service.

  The Alliance: Formed during the Zak’reth war in an effort to keep the peace and prevent another uprising, the Alliance is comprised of the Moon Temple and the four largest, wealthiest and most powerful islands on the Western Watch.

  The Alliance Isles: the four most powerful islands in all of Lunos, located on the Western Watch, and comprised of Isle Lillomet, Isle Parish, Isle Sevren, and Isle Killomede

  Alliance Armada: the vast battalion of ships and men that serve and protect the Western Watch and beyond. They are based on Isle Lillomet, at the Citadel.

  Armada Command: the ruling body of the Alliance Armada with rank as follows: Commodore, Admiral, Vice-Admiral, Commanders, and Captains

  Blood Oath: the breaking of a bond between a sirrak and its master by means of the sirrak drinking the human’s blood. The human then becomes the sirrak’s new master, however, he or she must kill someone of the sirrak’s choosing or else face an eternity in the Void.

  The Citadel: Headquarters of the Armada Command, on Isle Lillomet

  Cloud Isles: home to the Vai’Ensai. Humankind are forbidden.

  Currency: doubloon (gold), doubloon (silver), kroon (silver), penny (copper). 1 gold doubloon= 100 pennies or 20 kroons or 4 silver doubloons

  The Deeps: (slang) The bottom of the sea; i.e. death by drowning or the final resting place of any sunken ship

  Djinn: creatures from the Void, similar to sirrak’ah. They are beholden to a master who possesses the enchanted jar, chest, or vial in which the djinn is bound. Djinn can only survive on the desert isle of Juskara. Water is deadly to them; they cannot be brought aboard a ship, even while inhabiting their enchanted item. A djinn is useful to its master for three years, at which time it returns to the Void. Djinn are generally peaceful, unlike the murderous sirrak’ah, but are attracted to gold, jewels and coin. They make excellent thieves.

  Dragons: an extinct race of immense, powerful winged creature that were said to possess deadly breathweapons. The dragons were responsible for the Breaking during their great war and are generally hated and reviled in memory

  Dragonman: slur or insult for a Vai’Ensai—a humanoid creature descended from the dragons

  Dragonwars: the civil war among the four races of dragons that caused the Breaking and nearly wiped out all life on Lunos

  The Guild: Located on Isle Parish, the Guild is home to the greatest thinkers, explorers, engineers, and scientists on Lunos, each branch of knowledge run by an Order. The Or
der of Shipwrights, for example, heads the design and construction of all Armada vessels. The Guild houses the largest university and library, and Guild barges sail all over Lunos, collecting data. It is generally agreed upon, even among pirates, that Guild barges are free to sail without fear of attack.

  Gunpowder: invented during the Age of Sedition by the Guild. Flintlocks, canon and muskets followed shortly thereafter.

  Merkind: race of part humanoid, part sea creatures that live primarily in the Heart Waters. They are hybrids of a manner of sea life, including seahorses, sharks, dolphins, fish, etc. They are beautiful, awe-inspiring beings but dangerous. It is rumored that any ship sailing through the Heart Waters will be destroyed by a magical maelstrom of the merkind’s creation though it is rumored the maelstroms are merely legend. A vessel that attempts a voyage across any part of the Heart Waters vanishes without a trace.

  Justarch: One of four rulers of the Alliance Isles, a Justarch is elected by the people of his or her particular island and works closely with the Armada Command and the Moon Temple over matters of trade, commerce, and the safety of the Western Watch.

  Peliteryx: large pelican-hawk hybrid bred by the Guild for purposes of relaying messages. Peliteryx’s hold small canisters with messages inside in their throat pouch, and can be armored for their safety.

  Pirate collective: an organized crime ring of several pirate captains and their crew loyal to one boss. A large pirate collective can have several ships in their ranks. The largest, the Underworld, has more than twenty ships running guns, smuggling, stealing, and kidnapping for its boss.

  Sand baron: loose term for any one of the wealthy, powerful chieftains of the merchant tribes on Isle Juskara.

  Sirrak (Sirrak’ah, plural): a shape-shifting creature from the Void, sometimes called blood demon. Sirrak’ah are evil, vile creatures that lust after death and violence. In order to survive on Lunos, they must be bound to a human by drinking some of that human’s blood that they will then serve unfailingly. A sirrak, once bound, cannot disobey their master. Only the death of a master or a blood oath can break the bonds of servitude. Sirrak’ah can alter their shape in any animal or humanoid form they choose or are commanded to take by their master.