by P R Glazier
Chapter 12. A Trip to the Seaside
So the following day Jonas went with Nar’Allia to the harbour to see if any ships were due to make the voyage across the great Trad Ocean to the western continent where the Rust Desert claimed dominion. As they walked down the hill road from Solin’s house to the seafront, Nar’Allia mused over the tale Minervar told of how their passage was made across the Trad many years before. Not by sea born ship but in a Pnook airship. It was with some envy that Nar’Allia guessed that such an airborne journey would be much quicker and probably a deal more pleasant than traversing the great ocean by ship. Jonas had already told her that no such airships had been seen in Amentura for many years, possibly even since the very one Tnie piloted, in which Minervar and her companions travelled to the Pnook city of Scienocropolis all those many years ago. He told of how not a single one of the old hangers that were once used to house the airships remained now in Amentura, sadly all trade with the Pnook people had since ceased or at least dwindled to almost nothing, it was very unusual these days to see a Pnook in Amentura let alone an airship. He mused on the fact that he did not understand why, all he had to go on where the stories his forefathers told of the lucrative trade with the Pnook that did go on at one time.
When Nar’Allia enquired as to what ships may be found in the harbour these days, he went on to say that many of the sea-going merchant ships had been sold off through lack of trade, some had managed to hang onto a living plying local trade up and down the coast, others had turned their ships into passenger carrying vessels as some people wanted to travel up and down the coast of Dahl’Ambronis, to the various towns and villages that dotted the coast. With a sort of warning in the tone of his voice he said that very few, if any, sort passage to the western continent of the Rust Desert. Commercial feuds had been fought between rival shipping families and many had gone bankrupt because the operating profit had been driven right down to almost nothing. This had a knock-on effect with other merchants who supported the trade as their costs did not reduce yet the abilities of the shipping families to pay had been negatively impacted dramatically. He sighed as he told of how many long-standing merchant families in Amentura, famous families whose businesses had been going for generations were not trading any longer. He remarked that quite a few of the mansions in the area of Solin’s house were now empty and had been for many years because hardly anyone now had the income to pay the upkeep. He also told Nar’Allia that some traders had been reported as resorting to piracy to make a living, but even that was scarcely profitable due to the lack of potential prey in the form of ships crossing the Trad these days.
When they did reach the harbour their fears were realised, the only vessels tied up alongside the quay were the local boats belonging to the fishermen of Amentura, these at least seemed to be making a living still. When inquiries were made boat to boat none of the owners or captains of these vessels wished to make a journey across the Trad Ocean, not for any price it seemed. It was after all late summer and with the onset of winter; passage across the ocean in a small fishing vessel was likely to be perilous at the very least. Great storms were known to rage in the deep ocean during the winter months, coupled with strange stories of great beasts coming south from the northern reaches of the ocean to spend the winter in warmer waters and on occasion attacking ships, dragging them down into the depths along with all on board. All this put paid to any desire of any captains or crews to make the journey it seemed.
So, after exhausting all their options they had returned back to the house. Nar’Allia felt that same feeling of despair returning as when Minervar had first disappeared. Again she felt helpless, unable to even take the first steps of any attempt to rescue Minervar. She returned to her room and lay on her bed; tears of sorrow and frustration ran down her cheeks and soaked into the sheet.
The worst part of all this was the ever increasing thought that she would have to tell her father, break the saddest of news to the twins. Not only that but also tell them that she was unable to help in anyway, that she had failed miserably, powerless to change the course of events. It was then that she heard a voice, that same voice that she had been hearing recently, at first she thought it must be her despair; by the Maker she was going mad! She sat up, the room had become darkened, the sun had obviously set whilst she lay there revelling in her sadness. A glow from across the room caught her attention. It was the quiver again, the arrows could be clearly seen within. As before they looked ethereal in their usual way.
Then the voice again, whispering in her head, “Narny there are other fishermen than those of this town, seek to your own, seek help from those you know.”
For the first time Nar’Allia found herself addressing the voice in return, “what? What do you mean, who are you, tell me more, please, please.” She pleaded with the voice but she heard no more, the quiver that once glowed was now dark, she wept into her hands. She clenched her fists tightly, her finger nails dug into the palms of her hands, this was all too much, the loss of her step mother, the frustrations of the past day at the harbour, and now this voice in her head. It was all too much, her resolve was being sorely tried and she wondered why so many negative things seemed to be happening to her all at once. But it may have been the pain of her clenched fists or her natural positive thinking for her old determination returned in a flurry, yes these where bad things happening, but despair and resignation would only lead to disaster, that route led to madness. She sat up and dried her eyes, she then thought to herself, what would Minervar have done if it was her that remained and Nar’Allia who had disappeared? She would have said something like:
No more, there must be a way, after all she had always learnt that Eny’Nin’Rel, the Maker, always made good of even the saddest events, always turned things around for the better even though his children made some pretty disastrous decisions, he would always manage to make good come out of the bad.
She must have nodded off to sleep for she found herself dreaming. She remembered the voice in her subconscious thoughts. Other fishermen the voice had said, the reference must have been to other towns, there were many small fishing villages up and down the coast of the great Trad Ocean. Then a thought struck her mind. She had a great uncle and aunt living north of Amentura in the T’Iea seaside town of R’ealto’Noac’Trado. Her great uncle was a part time fisherman and boat builder; maybe he could offer some solution, especially if it was to rescue his wife’s brother’s daughter.
Nar’Allia awoke with a start; she rose quickly and ran downstairs shouting for Jonas and Amndo. Amndo came running from the direction of the library; Jonas was already setting the table for dinner. She blurted out to them her thoughts, she kept quiet about the voice from the quiver though, she was so excited she did not want to complicate matters further.
Once Amndo and Jonas had managed to calm her enough to understand the words she was blurting out as a stream of illegible sounds, they soon agreed that this was a good idea and one that they should follow-up on. It was decided that the trip would only take a few days and the fact that no one could suggest anything better proved to them that this was possibly the best course of action open to them at this time. It was decided that Jonas would also go, he was good with a sword and that may be an invaluable asset during the voyage, especially if pirates were indeed free to sail the Trad Ocean and plunder at will. Both Amndo and Jonas kept their thoughts to themselves around the suspicion that there was still a chance that this route may also prove folly, but neither of the men wanted to dampen Nar’Allia’s enthusiasm, at least not for the time being. Even if it proved fruitless still, a few weeks away from the house may also be good for all of them anyway.
So it was that Jonas made arrangements for the maintenance of the household and started to collect together all the things they needed to take with them. They had to be prepared for the optimistic outcome in that they would find passage to the eastern continent, so Nar’Allia decided that she would take Serinae’s chain mail, the short swords an
d bracers. The intent had been to leave them here in Solin's house when Nar’Allia and Minervar returned to the great wood and home. But that was not now to be, so it made sense to take such things on this trip. The black bow and Serinae’s old quiver were also to go with her, all these items felt like they belonged to her now anyway. Her only concern was getting a message to Iolrreas and the twins back home. Over this Nar’Allia was torn, she felt she should be going there to tell them what they deserved to know, but this would mean delaying the start of journey and risking that the weather and the winter season would stop them until the following year. She decided that to leave immediately was the only real course of action; she hoped that Minervar would be found quickly and they could all return home to the great wood. In the end she decided to risk her father’s wrath at a later date and not delay the journey any further when they could be setting out to save Minervar now. In the end Jonas offered to send a messenger with the news, so Nar’Allia wrote a letter explaining everything, this would be given to the messenger to take to her father and the twins back home. But she still felt some trepidation even though she had persuaded herself it was the best thing to do.
On the day of their departure, Nar’Allia donned the mail and the bracers, the belt on which the short swords hung she fastened around her waist, she took up the empty quiver and hooked that also upon the belt, it hung on the opposite side to where her own quiver full of arrows hung about her. Then she picked up the black bow from where it leant against the wall of her room. She turned to look at herself in the full length mirror. She was surprised she gasped as she was sure that for a fleeting moment there reflected in the mirror stood another T’Iea woman with long platinum hair and jade green eyes standing there behind her and smiling with a wide grin. At the same time she could not help but grasp the quiver at her side and looking down she could have sworn that she saw the elusive arrows in the quiver again. But when she looked back the figure was gone.
But she was astounded at the reflection that now remained in the mirror, it was of her, but she was no longer the skinny T’Iea girl. The regular exercise with Jonas had made her into a muscular female warrior, even the constant sunshine of Amentura had darkened her skin even further giving her a swarthy look. She wondered what Lo’Rosse would think of the changes. She found what she saw encouraged her and she was further encouraged by her decisions and the fact that at last they were once again doing something, taking some action in finding and rescuing Minervar. She thought she may make a fine T’Iea ranger in this garb if she had undertaken the years of training, performed all the trials and gained the necessary accomplishments of the house of the ranger guilds in Ter’Resell like Serinae had done.
Nar’Allia shrugged and reaching down to pick up her back pack and walking across the room, she took in a deep breath and opened the door. She walked through and after closing the door once more walked down the hall towards the staircase, wondering if she would ever be back in this house once again. She strode purposefully down the stairs, through the banqueting room where both Minervar and she had admired the pictures and other art on the first day they had arrived here. She stepped out into the long hallway and eventually walked into the entrance hall and from there through the wooden door with the wolf’s head and out into the courtyard garden. Amndo was already there seated on the side of the ornamental pond looking absently into the water. She approached and he looked up, she noticed that he was dressed in the standard garb of the Keepers, the long, formless hooded robe, although he didn’t have the hood pulled up over his head, at least not yet.
“Why do the Keepers wear those large hooded robes Amndo?”
“Ah Nar’Allia, my people do not travel abroad very much, if we do it’s normally via the portals and through the voids. We aren’t trusted in the main by many peoples so when we do walk among them it is normally in this simple guise so as to not attract attention and cause alarm. I am also told that our physical appearance is found to be somewhat strange, even perhaps a little distasteful to others that are not used to our kind.”
Nar’Allia looked at the blue in blue eyes, the pallid skin and completely hairless features of the keeper. Amndo tilted his heads slightly to one side and smiled. It was impossible to guess at his age, but then so it was with all the elder races, except the Grûndén for they always looked old and rugged. She smiled at this thought and Amndo gave her a quizzical look. Quickly she said, “oh, nothing Amndo, your appearance is fine to me, perhaps a few weeks on board ship, the sea air and the sun blazing down will tan you skin a little.”
She smiled, perhaps the thought of doing something at last, the excitement of travel and the mystique of the unknown had appealed to her T’Iea nature. She felt sure that she was feeling a little mischievous once again!
Just then Jonas appeared from the house, he placed a heavy looking back pack on the ground and shut the door. He picked up and shouldered the pack, he could not put it onto his back for a leather scabbard was there in which was hung a great broadsword, not the same one as that he had sparred with Nar’Allia with so many times. This one was a much finer example in its design and general look. Then turning to them he said, “well that’s that then, everything is arranged, the house will not miss me whilst I’m gone.” He turned to Nar’Allia and said, “well milady you look formidable, a force to be reckoned with I’m sure.”
Nar’Allia replied, “I could say the same to you Master Jonas,” she indicated the sword that hung across his back.
“Ah this has been in the family for a long time; you should recognise it, for it is of elven making. Many generations ago it was presented to my ancestor, he had served alongside the elven regiments as did many human men in those days, when his service came to an end he retired and was presented with this fine sword, I deem it an honour to wield it again in this small alliance of ours.”
Nar’Allia nodded and bowed, “honour in deed Master Jonas. Let us hope that if it comes to it your hours of training have left their mark upon me and I can perform alongside that sword and to your expectations.”
Amndo of course had no weapon, but she secretly suspected that he didn’t need a physical weapon as such, for she understood his people to be pacifists. Perhaps this was due to some painful memory or unspoken code they kept or upheld, for through discussions with Amndo she already knew his race remembered quite clearly their history and the mistakes of the past. But she also knew his intellect was surely as formidable as the rest of his people and also sure that he would combat threats in his own way. But as he stood he reached to his side and from the voluminous folds of his robe she could see he was handling a long staff etched with many runes and inlaid with many gemstones, metal bands were wrapped around it, the very air immediately surrounding the staff seemed to waiver and bend as it passed through.
“Is that your staff you carry Amndo?”
He looked at the staff. “No. I don’t normally carry such a thing. It is of T’Iea origins. It is ancient, probably it was owned once by some high ranking battle mage. Solin gave it to me the day she left to visit you in the T’Iea realm, she said she would no longer need it where she was going and I should use it to wreak some havoc once more, for that was what it was designed for.’ He looked at the staff and grimaced, as if he was slightly afraid of it. “I have yet to discover its full potential in harnessing and focussing of the arcane energies, in some way I hope I never have to. But it seems to me to be a finely crafted example of the kind. Undoubtedly crafted to order for some high T’Iea mage long, long ago.”
Nar’Allia thought of the old order of which Solin was the last remaining member, the order of high ranking T’Iea mages and said, “hmmm of that I have no doubt master Amndo, no doubt”.
Amndo smiled and as he stood he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head in a habitual manner.
Something struck Nar’Allia at that moment, something Minervar had said weeks ago, she had not thought anything of it then and it was said in a completely different context, but suddenly it
seemed to fit their current circumstances. Minervar had said under her breath, “the mage, the ranger and the blade”. But of course this was a common threesome in the T’Iea armies of old, in the T’Iea language the term for this threesome was Trete’Y’Thego or ‘three alone’ a little task force put together to undertake a certain job, a certain goal. But that of course was exactly what they were, the mage, the ranger and the blade. Nar’Allia shrugged the thought off, but secretly inside she thought this a good omen, a promising start to what lay ahead of them.
So the trio set off. As they walked through the town they tried to keep to the quiet back streets and narrow alley ways as much as possible. Such heavily armed people were very rarely seen in the town if at all and they did not want to generate any problems for themselves or the inhabitants. Gradually they climbed uphill towards the cliffs and headlands that were a common feature of this part of the coast of Dahl’Ambronis. They exited the town’s defensive wall via a small pedestrian gate high on the cliff path. Nar’Allia presumed it to be most probably the same one that Minervar and Serinae and their company had entered through those long years ago on the first leg of their journey. But no guard was set at this gate, at least not now. The sun shone down as it climbed to its zenith, it seemed to Nar’Allia to match their own journey up to the high headland that dominated this section of the coast. She took one long look back as they reached the top, her hair blew around her face in the warm breeze, she took a clip from a pocket and tied it back behind her ears. Then she took one last look at Amentura, basking in the hot sunshine of this fine day. She turned and strode after Amndo and Jonas and the town was soon obscured from view, hidden by the headland as they walked the downward path across the top of the cliffs.
They travelled the coastal path as it dipped down to briefly visit sleepy little coves with sandy beaches only to rise high again to breezy headlands with the green swathe of grasses in full seed waving to and fro in the breeze. Nar’Allia was reminded of the oceans waves, for they seemed to be reflected in the vast green of the grass as it to swayed back and forth. The slightly lighter green of the old seed heads also made her think of the white crested waves of the ocean to her left. Nar’Allia lost count of how many times they rose upwards on the path only to drop back down once more, following the undulations in the cliffs along this part of the coast. She knew from ages past that this part of Dahl’Ambronis was called the Coast of Coves her leg muscles were now letting her know why.
The air was warm during the day, even though the first early autumn chill manifested itself at night; an undeniable promise of winter was starting to make its presence felt as they slept under the stars. It only took them four days to eventually arrive at the headland where below stretched a massively long sandy beach backed with miles of sand dunes and beyond pine forests. About halfway along this beach could be seen the small town, of R’ealto’Noac’Trado. Nar’Allia had been there before, several times in fact, she had gone with Minervar and Iolrreas when they were first married, before the twins were born and one or two occasions after with her brother and sister. They went to visit Minervar’s relations, her uncle Tear’E was a fisherman by trade, but Nar’Allia had always thought that his true passion was to dabble in boat building and repair, indeed that was what he seemed to spend most of his time doing leaving most of the fishing to his three sons. Minervar had reminisced often about her childhood holidays with this jolly seafaring T’Iea family. Nar’Allia remembered being wholly taken with these simple, robust folk and the life they led here on the brink of the Trad Ocean. They made a living from the sea and were often at the mercy of the elements, but even though the life was hard compared with her existence in the forest, none she met in R’ealto’Noac’Trado would have traded their way of life for hers, of that she was certain.