A Twist of the Sands

by P R Glazier

  Chapter 15. In Peril on the Trad Ocean

  Nar’Allia spent a good deal of time during the first stages of the journey enjoying the views across the ocean and watching the sailors go about their duties under the watchful eyes of Tear’E and the first mate. To many the sea must seem monotonous after a while, but to her eyes it all seemed new and exciting, the ocean seemed to play with the vessel, buffeting it along and at times pushing up on the hull and making the ship glide effortlessly across its surface. Nar’Allia quickly realised a fondness for the wide ocean. There was a freedom about it, something about the wide openness of the place. The wind had the feel of a powerful force kept in check, a friendly power aiding and keeping the ship moving gracefully across the waves. She felt a great feeling of independence, they were alone, a microcosm of T’Iea society, responsible to no one but themselves, commanding their own destinies.

  Nar’Allia sighed, she felt a weight lift from her shoulders, she smiled and gave a small giggle of delight thinking that maybe she was too hasty when she thought that to fly to the western continent would be preferable to sailing across the surface of the Trad Ocean. But many of the crew she chatted to constantly reminded her that equally the open ocean required much respect almost a certain reverence, for it could be a force that at any moment may change its nature and become a formidable enemy intent on smashing the ship into a million pieces and sending its crew and passengers to a watery grave never to be seen or heard from again.

  She would not be perturbed though, the ocean was far from sterile, much life could be seen surviving above in the form of sea birds and below in the form of many types of fish and other sea creatures. She took great encouragement in the abundance of so much life in the open ocean, fish seemed to be everywhere, of all shapes and sizes. In fact they caught many on a daily basis to feed themselves. It seemed at times that just casting a line out from the stern would hook something edible. One sailor named Du’oughny, who was also the ships cook did most of the fishing, he chatted with Nar’Allia regularly. He took great delight in naming every fish he caught, describing the best way to prepare and cook each one to ensure the best flavour.

  “Ah this’n be a Dory, easy to gut an’ spit roast o’er a slow fire, fine eatin’ he be. This’n, now this’n be a Silverside, he’n be a bait fish, no good fer table, tastes like old leather dipped in stale milk. Here ‘e be a T’orc’fin, ne’r a better fish wit’ fried beans an’ ground dried apples. Now this’n milady, ye need be careful, ol’ spiky ‘ere ‘e be ‘avin a nasty poison in these ‘ere spines. Grip ‘im careful like, lest ‘e sticks ye an yer hand an’ it be a blowin’ up like a great bloated bladder, an’ no sleep will ye get ‘cause o’ the pain.”

  Up until that moment Nar’Allia thought fish were fish, you fried, smoked, boiled or baked it in a pie. But Du’oughny it seemed had spent much of his life trying out a multitude of different ways to cook fish and he had many recipes to boot. 

  Nar’Allia also made friends with the dolphins that loved to toy with the currents and waves both at the bow and stern of the Ocean Belle. She laughed at their skilful antics around the waves and gasped at the speed that they were able to travel through the water. They made a chattering call that sounded like laughter sometimes. She marvelled at the great intelligence shown in their eyes as they watched her giggling at them from above.

  Then there was one type of fish that had long gossamer fins that when fully extended to either side of its body looked like the wings of a dragon fly. Indeed these enabled the fish to actually glide above the waves for considerable distances and height. When the dolphins were about hunting, Du’oughny always ensured that any of the crew that could be spared from duty held buckets, or strung up nets between the rigging of the masts, for these flying fish used their ability to leave the waves as a method of escape from the hungry mouths of the dolphins. They never looked before they leapt though and many would fly across the deck of the Ocean Belle only to find themselves remaining high and dry inside a bucket, or floundering in a net, to be cast into a barrel so that Du’oughny could prepare them in one of his many ways to be eaten later.

  On one occasion a giant of a fish could be seen off to one side. This fish was enormous, far too big to catch. It basked on the surface sunning its back and keeping pace with them for a while; every so often it would blow a plume of water from a hole at the back of its head that would shoot several metres up into the sky where it would hang in the air like a mist. Eventually though it took in a deep breath of air that could be heard whistling as it entered the creature’s great lungs. Then the creature seemed to stand on end, lift its tail high above the waves and plunge vertically downwards into the unknown depths below. As a final fare-thee-well it slapped the flukes of its great tail into the waves causing a massive splash of water that sounded like a thunder clap. This great beast of the ocean stayed with them for a couple of days, surfacing and diving regularly. One morning at first light they found the great beast close to the side of the ship, Nar’Allia rushed to the side to see it, she noticed its eye like the dolphins had a knowing thoughtful look as if it were scrutinising them in the same way that they were looking at it. The creature kept its eye fixed upon hers even when it took in a deep breath and made its dive into the unknown depths beneath their hull. As it did so a large plume of water splashed over the deck of the Ocean Belle. Nar’Allia laughed out loud as she found herself soaked to the skin in sea water, her eyes stinging slightly with the brine. She couldn’t help but cry out, “you did that on purpose!”

  At night they found themselves surrounded by total darkness, not a light to be seen anywhere across the surface of the ocean. The only brightness emanating from the myriad of stars that shone from horizon to horizon in all directions. Nar’Allia thought it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. Often she would lay in the gently swinging hammock in her cabin looking out of the rear windows or lay her legs outstretched on the deck, her back leaning against the mast or gunwale looking up at them in wonder. Always a shooting star or sometimes a whole shower of shooting stars would spend out their brief existence in the most spectacular fashion. She began to notice other dots of light in the sky after a while; these did not flicker like stars but remained a solid light. One was a deep red colour another a green-yellow shade and one, her favourite was a rich blue hew, it reminded her of a button upon a party dress that she had once worn as a child. 

  On one night the ocean itself seemed to glow with an eerie orange light, it seemed to be all around them. One of the crew, the man who was on watch explained that this was caused by billions upon billions of tiny sea creatures that rose to the surface from the great depths below, something in their bodies made them glow orange. Why they came up to the surface from the depths he did not know, but he explained that this was a regular sight at this time of year. The crewman cast a bucket and line overboard and drew it in so that Nar’Allia could see the sea creatures up close. She was amazed for hundreds of tiny jerking bodies could be seen afloat in the water within the bucket, none seemed to have a particular direction in mind, they all seemed to just swim this way and that with no intentional design just as long as they kept moving in their sporadic fashion. They didn’t even seem to acknowledge others of their kind close by.

  Amndo joined her on occasion; he too seemed to love to stare at the night sky. She asked him about the heavens, how many stars there were and what the more solid coloured dots might be, especially the beautiful blue one she liked so much. He looked up and told her that there were more stars in the sky than all the grains of sand in the world and that they extended across the great void further than any eye could see. In fact many of the stars they could see about their world would quite likely have worlds like the one they inhabited in orbit around them, for each star was a sun like the sun that shone down upon them during the day. He went on to say that the solid coloured objects were in fact other worlds also traveling alongside their world on individual journeys around their own star, their sun. She
didn’t know whether to believe him or not, yet she suspected that he was telling the truth for there was something wistful in his tone that suggested no reason why he would fabricate such a tale. She marvelled at what he said, what if one in every one thousand stars was like their sun, then there may be lots of worlds like theirs, with people living upon the surface amongst oceans and mountains.

  She asked him how he knew all this. His reply was just to say that all Keepers had this knowledge, it was taught to each from an early age. They had a story that long ago in ages past the Keepers once travelled the stars, they explored the vast expanse of the outer voids travelling in ships that could sail across the immense distances.

  She gasped in wonder, what a creation the Maker had made, a thing of ultimate beauty, untouchable, unchangeable in its vastness. She could see the nature of the Maker reflected in the stars and in the ocean, even in the great variety of creatures that swam there. All of a sudden she felt insignificant in the scope of it all, yet deep down she knew that the Maker knew all of his works intimately, every single thing he knew and loved, even down to the seemingly mindless sea creatures she had seen within the bucket earlier. All had their place, their part to play in the greater plan. She knew she would never, could never, grasp the scope of it all, only the Maker himself understood the reasons for everything, for he had made them all with loving care and great skill and placed a part of himself within. It was like a great peace of art she thought, the skill and imagination of the artist shone through, it was like looking through a window into the very soul. All this had to be intentional, a great master work, there had to be a creative design behind it, for it all just fitted together perfectly. Any artist doesn’t just throw paint onto a canvas and expect a master work to appear, an artist carefully and methodically applies paint gently and with purpose, slowly building depth and variety to each detail, only in that way is a masterpiece created from a blank sheet. Such grace, such love. She felt humbled at her thoughts and said a prayer of thanks.

  Early one morning Nar’Allia was in her cabin stirring from slumber when she was aware of great excitement on deck. She got up quickly and pulling on her breaches, jerkin and a shawl ran outside and up the stairs onto the deck. Men were there pointing up at the still quite dark sky.

  Jonas had a spy glass to his eye and was looking in the direction in which the men pointed. “Pnook flying ships,” he said as Nar’Allia stood by his side.

  At first she could see nothing but then plainly coming towards them were two dots of light. Not fast enough for shooting stars but never the less moving across what stars were still in the sky. But these lights grew brighter as they drew nearer. Initially their course would have taken them a few miles south of the Ocean Belles heading, but it soon became apparent that the flying ships adjusted their course and came straight on an intercept course with the Ocean Belle.

  “They have spotted us,” uttered Jonas. He offered the spy glass to Nar’Allia.

  She placed it up to her eye and immediately she could see the silver shape moving towards them high in the sky. When the shape was closer she could make out people standing on the deck of the flying vessel looking over the edge of the gunwale. She didn’t know what to think so she asked, “what will they do? Will they attack us?” 

  “I doubt they will attack was the reply, unless of course they have orders to do so, but no doubt they will report their sighting of us back to their commanders wherever they are, so the Pnook at least will be aware of our coming.”

  “But surely there must be many ships sailing across the Trad, why would they make a special example of this one?” Asked Nar’Allia.

  “I rather hope they do not,” said Tear’E coming up to stand by the side of Nar’Allia, “yet the fact that this vessel has a chequered history may mean we become that exception.” He frowned and walked back to the helm where he stood still looking up at the flying ships.

  The two flying craft flew around the Ocean Belle several times before they flew back off in the direction in which they had come in. No attempt at communications was made by either side, the Pnook flying machines seemed to purposely stay beyond the reach of any ranged weapons that may be aboard the ship they were circling.

  “But the Pnook are a friendly people aren’t they?” Asked Nar’Allia. At least Minervar used to give that impression in her stories to the twins. In fact she travelled with one called Tnie on her journey. It was Tnie who had the flying ship that took them to Scienocropolis.”

  Jonas replied, “I cannot comment on the attitude of the Gnomes I’m afraid Narny,”

  Nar’Allia remembered that to humans the Pnook were called Gnomes.

  But Jonas continued, “I have never really met a Gnome, or been to their city in the clouds. I don’t know if Master Amndo here can shed any further light either?”

  “Amndo looked at the receding flying ships and said, “well I also have never met a Pnook. None of my many travels have taken me to them.”

  Jonas nodded his agreement and said, “As I said before, Amentura was once a place where many of their flying ships would dock to trade with the peoples of Dahl’Ambronis. In those days Amentura was a rich town indeed. But since trade has dwindled, no contact with the Gnomes has occurred in my living memory, at least none that I am aware of. It is a mystery as to what happened to them, why they ceased to travel to Amentura. But something never the less gladdens my heart to see their flying ships are still about, it means that they survive yet, at least in some form in the Rust Desert.”

  One day Nar’Allia was leaning on the side of the ship looking down into the crystal clear blue waters when she saw many silver shapes glinting and moving fast beneath the ship. They all seemed to travelling in the same direction. She called to one of the sailors to take a look. He came over and said that they were a large school of fish. But, he commented curiously, something seemed to be scaring them for they only normally swam fast like that to escape predators. He said that a school of dolphins was probably out hunting. He went back to coiling the ropes he had been pulling on to adjust the tensions of the various sails. Nar’Allia continued to watch the fleeing fish, the school seemed endlessly large. It was then she became aware of a strange sound away off to the side of the Ocean Bell. When she looked in that direction the sea was moving in a strange way. She was reminded of water boiling in a pan over the fire. Large swirling blisters of water where being raised up from beneath, just as if something was pushing the water up from below. Not only that but the disturbances seemed to be on the increase and the area of the ocean affected was widening at what suddenly seemed an alarming rate.

  All of a sudden a great black shape rose vertically out of the ocean, bursting through the surface of the ocean with such a force that it seemed to be jumping clear of the water. It was obviously the body of a great beast for its mouth was open wide and it swelled to a great size as it engulfed hundreds of the small fish in a single gulp. Then the great body fell to one side and following an enormous splash sank back below the waves and all was calm once again.

  Nar’Allia recognised the great beast that had appeared, it was the great fish, the same one perhaps they had witnessed alongside the ship a few days before shadowing them for some time, the one that finally dived into the depths never to be seen again, or so they thought. The same thing happened again, the great beasts head and a good portion of its body again was projected clear out of the water its gaping maw swallowing more of the school of fish. But now others joined in the feeding frenzy, many dolphins darted around snapping at fish when they came close enough, they had the agility to catch them on the move. Sea birds had gathered in great numbers, their screeching could be heard above the splashing of the water as the great fish continued to plunder the shoal. Nar’Allia was transfixed. But as she watched this time the great fish hardly broke the surface at all it lay on its side with erratic movements of its body as if struggled against something. Nar’Allia gasped as she saw three or four large sinewy snake like things explode from
out of the water and wrapped themselves around the great fish’s upper body. She heard the great fish gasp a massive lungful of air with the same whistling noise as it did before. The snake like appendages where now wrapped tightly around the body of the fish as if trying to drag it back beneath the waves. The great fish fought, swinging its body one way then the other trying to get its jaws around one or more of the sinewy arms that embraced it in a death struggle. She could see that the great fish despite its large proportions was having difficulty staying on the surface, as it was being continually dragged back down by whatever monster the sinewy arms belonged to.

  Nar’Allia called excitedly to a member of the crew, waving frantically towards the struggle that was happening, the crewman looked at the sight and a great fear showed in his eyes. He ran to the ships bell and started to ring it loudly all the while shouting “Alarm!” “Alarm!” The great fish managed to break the surface again but this time with urgency it blew out and then breathed back in a large volume of air. This blast blew water into Nar’Allia’s face and to her dismay she realised that the titanic struggle was now much closer to the Ocean Belle and getting closer, for as the great fish plunged again into the depths it was clearly swimming straight for them. Before she could think again there was an almighty shock as something smashed into the underside of the ship. The deck beneath Nar’Allia’s feet heaved first upwards with a violent force and then tilted at an angle before crashing back down into the waves. Water splashed over the gunwales and soaked her feet and legs up to the knees. Most of the crew were now on deck running frantically about; some had long poles with metal spear heads on the ends and where standing their feet splayed apart and eyes wide in expectation as if awaiting the invasion of an as yet unknown enemy.

  A second, more violent shock came and again the deck of the Ocean Belle heaved upwards. Several men fell to the deck and lay there helplessly waiting for the ships upheavals to cease before they attempted to stand once more. The deck stayed high up for what seemed like minutes, but all of a sudden it fell sharply and the ship’s hull hit the water with a resounding clap. At the same time one of the sinewy arms that Nar’Allia had seen wrapped around the great fish was flung across the deck of the ship, clear across to the other side, one of the ship’s crew was trapped beneath. Nar’Allia watched in horror as the arm pulsated, seeming to tighten its hold on the ship, the hapless sailor trapped beneath was being squeezed to death, his eyes were bulging madly. His ship mates were all now standing, each repeatedly plunging a long spear into the fleshy arm, numerous wounds were now showing, each gushing red blood. The ship gave another violent heave and Nar’Allia fell to the deck and to her utter dismay started to slide towards the gunwale which was now beneath the waves. She was brought up short as a strong arm was wrapped around her waist, she was winded as the force of her weight came up against the arm that now held her tight. She turned to see Jonas looking at her a look of horror on his face. She was pulled back up to a sitting position. She managed to gasp “thank you”. Jonas just nodded, he stood and grasping his great sword swung it down madly at the great arm. The weight of the weapon slammed into the arm which was severed completely from whatever creature it belonged to. There was a deafening roar of what must have been the creature in pain. The ship was then assaulted by repeated blows from beneath the water line and two more of the arms of the creature were slung across the deck. The ship started to tilt even more alarmingly, some great weight was pressing upon the side of the vessel as if a body was trying to climb aboard out of the water by the side of the ship. Jonas, was staring at something beyond Nar’Allia’s field of vision, she turned dreading what she was about to see. There alongside the Ocean Belle a mass of bulbous flesh was hard against the gunwale where minutes before she had been watching the school of fish swimming madly beneath the ship. In the centre of this bulbous fleshy object there was a clear crystal eye, the iris of which was twitching madly open and closed adjusting to the sunlight.

  The eye moved in its socket looking up and down the deck. Nar’Allia thought she glimpsed some form of calculating malice in that gaze; it certainly was not the gaze of a wildly attacking animal driven by ancient instincts alone. No this eye looked at them in turn as if surmising the best strategy for its attack. The eye was the same size as a warriors round shield. She started to move her legs and feet on the deck trying to scrabble away from the hideous eye, but the deck was slippery with water and blood and no amount of movement enabled her to get a good purchase on the wood. The creature gave a wild cry from a large mouth that was circular and surrounded in sharp fang like teeth about the same length as Nar’Allia’s forearm Nar’Allia winced as the teeth seemed to wave about as if beckoning for her to enter and be ripped to shreds. All of a sudden one of the long spears the men had been using slammed into the creature’s mouth and entered down its gullet, immediately the teeth all moved inwards looking like a flower closing speedily in the twilight. As this happened they grasped the shaft of the spear tightly, within seconds the thick wood was splintered and snapped. Another spear was thrown, this time it entered the centre of that eye, clear jelly like fluid exploded from it. Nar’Allia felt several drops hit her face and arms. But the desired effect occurred and the now blinded creature released its hold upon the ship and sunk back below the waves its many arms splintering wooden balustrades and snapping ropes as they slid along the deck and followed the creature beneath the waves, Jonas managed to cleave another of the arms with his sword, it lay there twitching before a couple of the crew manged to push it over the side. Immediately the weight of the creature was freed from the ship the deck shot upright again and Nar’Allia was flung back down onto the deck as were all the other men who had been standing. With great relief the ship seemed to remain motionless the sails refilled and they felt the ship move forward and pick up speed once more. 

  They all looked back and witnessed the waves being breached once more and a mass of grey flesh was lifted clear of the water, it was the creature, now it was clear of the waves Nar’Allia could see it had a long cylindrical body around which ran a thick fleshy skirt. Its head was roughly cylindrical in shape; the mouth was at the pointed end. Many twitching and waving arms extended from around the mouth and just behind these was the damaged eye of the creature. The reason it had been projected clear of the water became apparent; the great fish had surfaced beneath it and lifted it clear of the water. Nar’Allia watched the titanic struggle that was going on, the great fish had managed to get its jaws around two of the arms, as it closed its jaws around them these were severed immediately and blood gushed forth from the remaining stumps. The arms now lifeless seemed to float away like two great logs of a fallen tree before sinking below the waves.

  But the ship was moving fast now and her view of the ocean was obscured by the higher gunwale towards the aft section of the ship. Nar’Allia was helped shakily to her feet by Jonas; they both ran to the aft end up the stairs and looked behind. There in the wake of the vessel a great cylindrical body lay in the water, its remaining sinewy arms thrashing about madly. Other large shapes could be seen swimming just below the surface. The great fish had been joined by others; they were all attacking the monster that had assaulted one of their kind and the ship with relish. Great mouths full of rows of teeth bit down upon the creature’s body and severed arms. Each great bite sank deeply into the body of the monster creature, the sea was turned bright red with its blood. The sea birds that before had been diving into the school of silver fish were now dipping and diving, grasping the smaller pieces of flesh that had been ripped from the body their white feathers stained pink with the bloody water. The great fish continued to bite or tare off large chunks of the monster creatures flesh, the area of the Trad where once had been clear blue water had turned into what resembled an enormous vat of boiling offal, the smell of it was clear on the breeze. Nar’Allia was reminded of the abattoir tent in tent town where she had found herself going into out of curiosity one day, she remembered being horrified at the he
ating vats full of bones and other unmentionable things being boiled down into broth.

  Many sea creatures, even the smaller fish, perhaps the same ones that had fled earlier, had now joined the great fish and the birds and all were gorging themselves on the monsters flesh. Even the dolphins were back demanding their fair share of the feasting. Nar’Allia wretched and turned away in disgust and buried her head in Jonas’s chest. She felt sorry for the great monster creature, remembering its intelligent gaze, she felt angered at the wanton feeding frenzy of the other sea creatures the ones that she thought were the friendly benign ones, the sea birds and the large fish, even the dolphins, creatures she thought she knew well yet were exhibiting a darker side to their makeup. She realised that any prejudice she felt against the great monster beast was possibly unfounded. Yes it had attacked the ship, or was that purely because they were in the way of the struggle. Perhaps the beast had been attacked first by the great fish and it was just defending itself? Jonas held her there for minutes until the site of the carnage was far behind them, the only reminder, the many sea birds that remained in great numbers wheeling about the sky occasionally diving into the surf below.

  “Well milady that was a close shave if ever I experienced one.”

  Tear’E joined them on the upper deck he was panting with exertion, soaked to the skin.

  “What was that creature uncle?” asked Nar’Allia.

  “I do not know, I have never seen one before, I have heard stories told of such though. But up until today I thought them just tales told t’ impress or scare youngn’s. But who knows what be layin’ within the depths o’ the ocean, all we experience be the surface of the waters and a few metres beneath. I dread t’ think how much deeper the waters go and what secrets may be hidin’ there in its deeper places.” Tear’E staggered, Nar’Allia noticed deep gash across his cheek, blood from some other wound ran down his right arm and dripped onto the wooden deck.

  “Your hurt?” exclaimed Nar’Allia, but Tear’E just stared behind the ship at the boiling water and gasped in breath. 

  He wiped his face on his sleeve and said, “take no note Narny, it be nothin’ just scratches.”

  The Ocean Belle had managed to survive the onslaught with only minor damage. A few days’ carpentry work and a tidying up would put things to rights; at least this could be done whilst under sail and would not interrupt their journey. Thankfully the sailor who had been trapped beneath the monsters crushing arm was only nursing a few cracked ribs and a broken arm, he was being cared for below decks by Amndo. Tear’E to was right, his wounds were only superficial, they just looked worse because the water had thinned his blood and made it look far more than it actually was.

  But they were under sail again and back on course for the Great Rust Desert. Nar’Allia’s opinions of the ocean had changed somewhat, she recalled the warnings of the sailors and now understood a little of what they meant. She hoped that it would not be many more days until they docked and she could once again walk upon the safety of dry land.