by Jeremy Dwyer
Vadim led them to a riverbank where they boarded one of the duke’s ships – a forty-two (42) foot long riverboat – and they sailed south along a winding river to a point where several farming villages and mining villages were close together. The riverboat dropped anchor at that point and Vadim led the way as Duke Jovan, Fenella and the five (5) guards followed him under the cover of darkness. They stood at the edge of a field that was part of the farmland of one village, not far from a mesa belonging to a mining village nearby.
Suddenly, Vadim eased his powers of darkness so that Duke Jovan appeared alongside Fenella, with the five (5) guards in front of them, brandishing their crossbows. Several farmers and miners – seeing the dreaded Duke Jovan – stood up from their rest and began carrying their wares toward the riverbank, where they awaited merchant ships to buy them.
Duke Jovan sipped the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from his vial, becoming energized. “Do not insult me by pretending to work when I arrive for inspection. I came because of this…you are all guilty of sloth, a deadly sin – a sin against me, your lord. This is my land and you are my servants, yet you barely work it. Your laziness was reported to me, and I came to see it for myself. Tragically, the report was true,” Duke Jovan said. His voice carried far and the message was clear, as much as a mile away, because of those waters.
~~~
From where he worked in the field, Hayyim heard this announcement by the duke and walked across the field, then across another, going to its outer edge near the riverbank. Other farmers tepidly made the journey alongside him. When they were near to the duke and saw his armed guards, they were terrified.
~~~
From the side of the mesa that was the site of the quarry in which he was working, Noam heard this announcement from the duke and walked out of the mining town toward the edge of the farm field where the duke was standing. Other miners did the same, fearful of what was to be said. They became more frightened at the sight of the armed guards.
~~~
Fenella probed the minds of the peasants as they approached the duke. She was searching for expectant ‘guests’ of the Silver Cup Banquet – anyone who might not drink of a magic ocean water out of the foolish belief that it was sinful. She found no telepathic sign of those cultists, however. At the same time, her eyes probed Duke Jovan, who was attired in a slender silver breastplate, a crimson tunic with gold trim and a dark blue cape, as befitted his power, wealth and handsome features. Fenella regarded the farm and quarry workers – dressed in cheap fabrics variously colored stone gray, dirt brown and soot black – with contempt, as they were not even worthy, in her esteem, to breathe the same air as the duke.
Duke Jovan watched as more farmers and miners stepped away from their work sites and stood before him. When they came close – separated from the duke only by his crossbow-wielding guards – he drew his sword from its scabbard, pointed it at the laborers and said: “What shall your punishment be? How much will I add to your daily burdens? How much more will I make you toil and suffer? Let me tell you what you deserve, and what you owe to me. Listen as I give you all a painful reminder.” He then sheathed the sword, drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from his vial and was energized. Jovan began singing:
I own all the land on which you work and depend.
Every last acre belongs to me, I am its lord.
At the harvest time, the very best to me you must send.
Refuse me nothing ever or you shall meet the sword.
When you cut the stones from the mountain or the ground,
To mold into building blocks or precious gems that glitter,
I lay claim to the finest of all that you have found.
Give to me the greatest share or endure my vengeance most bitter.
(Refrain)
Your days and nights belong to me!
As my servants you must work my land until your death.
In my time of need, you showed no generosity.
Now I own your every heartbeat until your final breath.
You think you deserve either justice or mercy.
The high taxation that I now impose you resent.
You think your grueling work is nothing less than slavery.
The long labor hours leave you completely spent.
Remember what befell my family when my harvest failed.
There was no yield to pay the former lord over these lands.
My household was murdered. I was tortured while jailed.
None of you shared the least to help meet the duke’s cruel demands.
(Refrain)
The more that you complain of the burdens that you must endure,
The more that I remember my own suffering and pain.
Yet my pleas for help your hardened hearts did many times ignore.
A small loan and my family would not have been slain.
Now my love has died forever and my only care is wealth.
The sole purpose of your lives is to enrich my throne.
I care nothing for your dignity, your family or your health.
As punishment, you’ll work twice as hard when I burn the crops and break the stone.
(Refrain)
The sound of his voice carried far, magically alive with anger and destructive power, such that many fields went up in flames and the piles of large stones extracted in the quarries crumbled into dust for three (3) miles in every direction. It could have been worse if he had wanted it, but he wanted to save a greater punishment for greater defiance, should it come later.
“Now, you will work even harder, for even longer, to sell your stones and crops to the merchants to earn your tax money to pay to me,” Duke Jovan said to the farmers and miners gathered around him. He then nodded to Vadim.
Vadim drank anew of the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean from his vial, becoming energized. He then generated another cloak of darkness, extending it over Duke Jovan, Fenella and the five (5) guards. They returned to the riverboat, raised the anchor, and sailed north back to the duke’s castle.
~~~
Noam watched as Duke Jovan and most of his entourage disappeared and then as the riverboat sailed away. His eyes met those of Hayyim, who was watching all of this at the same time.
“There aren’t enough hours in the day to do the work he demands. Now, there’s even more to be done. I can’t take this much longer,” Hayyim said.
“None of us can. He’s still bitter from before, and he wants to take it out on everyone. He wants us to work ourselves to death,” Noam said.
“If we’re going to work that hard, why should it be for him?” Hayyim asked.
“It shouldn’t. We could work for ourselves,” Noam said.
“We just need our own land,” Hayyim said.
~~~
When Duke Jovan, Fenella, the five (5) guards and Vadim returned to the duke’s castle, Vadim eased his powers of darkness so that they reappeared. Massa was still in the throne room, having been waiting for them since that morning.
“I do hope your journey was met with success, my lord,” Massa said, not meaning success in the same way that the duke meant it, but hoping that there was no loss of life from the duke’s infamous rage.
“That remains to be seen, Massa. I voiced my concerns to my lazy, worthless servants. They will learn…the hard way,” Duke Jovan said. He then sat upon his throne and ruminated on his anger.
“What are your orders, my lord? Shall I return to spy on them, so that you know if they have begun working hard or not?” Vadim asked.
“Soon, Vadim, soon. First, bring me her skull,” Duke Jovan said.
“Yes, my lord,” Vadim said. He left the throne room and entered another room, taking a specific skull off of its ceiling-mounted chain and bringing it back to the throne room, where he handed it to Duke Jovan.
“She was in no small part to blame for all of this,” Duke Jovan said while looking at the skull and rotating it in his hands. He remembered the day he confronted her with her lies – a
fter his wife and children were murdered and he was tortured but then released.
“Your mother is definitively dead, my lord. I watched her spirit descend when you executed her,” Massa said.
“Hopefully more dead than the Dead Waters she insisted that I drink, Massa. Her cult religion deluded many, and caused too much suffering, especially mine, until I saw through its lies,” Duke Jovan said.
“You are wise, my lord, and no one can deceive you,” Fenella said.
“Had I been waterbound to the Gradaken waters, my harvest would not have failed, because of that water’s powers over plants and their seeds. No, my harvest would have been plentiful, and the merchants would have paid me well for it. I could have paid the taxes to the duke, and my wife and children would not have been murdered by him,” Duke Jovan said, remembering the tragic day, over and over.
“Sad and tragic, my lord,” Massa said. It was a story he heard all too often, day after day.
“The cult declared that all the magic ocean waters were the ‘Nectar of the Wicked’ because their powers were somehow sinful, even demonic. They awaited the Silver Cup Banquet. You know what that is, Massa?” Duke Jovan asked.
“It is when some say that a pure and righteous water will be served,” Massa said, to show that he had paid close attention to the duke’s incessant mention of it.
“It is a banquet which will never be held! Their silver cups will never be filled! They expected to be guests at the banquet. Now, they are the guests of the Maelstrom of Vengeance,” Duke Jovan said.
“You ordered them hunted down and killed, my lord. As many as we could find, we destroyed, years ago,” Vadim said. He remembered having spied on the cultists, learning of their gathering places, as his first assignment when Jovan took control of the duchy. Based on his reports, six hundred seventy-nine (679) of them were found and slaughtered by the soldiers under Jovan’s command. He, and all the soldiers, feared and respected Duke Jovan more than they feared or respected any cult. The duke also regularly had them torture or even murder underperforming villagers, outside of any connection to a religious cult.
“My heart aches that you suffered such tragedy, and that the sadness haunts you still, my lord,” Fenella said.
“The sadness is that religious cults still exist, manipulating the vulnerable. The tragedy comes from believing in any religion and acting out its precepts, which all bring failure and devastation,” Duke Jovan said.
“May your sadness end, my lord, and be replaced with joy,” Fenella said. She took Duke Jovan’s hand and kissed it, longing for his touch. She wanted to take the place of the duke’s wife. Over the years, she used her telepathy and soothing words to placate the duke, coming closer and closer to having that opportunity for intimacy. She didn’t have the high potential for telepathic power that would allow her to compel him, but she read his thoughts and knew the right words to draw him ever closer.
“My anger will end only when all my peasants submit to working for me diligently, without complaint; and when I am certain that everyone has renounced the myth that is the Silver Cup Banquet. Whether my joy will ever begin again is another matter,” Duke Jovan said.
“I will do my utmost to help you feel joy again, my lord. Always,” Fenella said and she kissed the duke’s hand again, sensuously and slowly.
CHAPTER 24: Citadel in Darkness and Light
On Haza’Kedro’Maral Island in the Pirovalen Ocean, under the shade of a small grove of trees, there was a darker than natural shade. Fulvius drank anew of the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean to be energized. By its powers, he created a cloak of deep darkness, surrounding himself and Erlend, who was busy assembling a small version of the constructor. The cloak of darkness was carefully shaped so that it was around them, but they were not within or under it, allowing ample light to work, provided by the many suns overhead.
Erlend drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his own vial and was energized. He molded eight (8) small sapphires so that they had a pattern within their low-level structure. Erlend stood outside a perimeter formed by a set of eight (8) curved, stone pillars. Each pillar was twelve (12) feet in height, four (4) feet square at the base and separated by thirty (30) feet from the next, all arranged in an octagon. There were spiral steps molded into their form so that he could reach the pillar tops and place the sapphires in position. When he did this, he climbed back down and molded a ninth sapphire – different from the other eight (8) – which he used to release a beam of light made from solar energy trapped within it.
The beam of light emitted from the ninth sapphire met with the sapphires at the tops of each of the eight (8) pillars and they all became bright blue. Beams of light formed between those sapphires along every diagonal – twenty (20) diagonal beams in all. The beams began rotating and the mists of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean around the island were drawn up toward the beams, becoming shaped by them, and then taking a form that only Erlend and Fulvius could see due to their cloak of darkness.
Sixteen (16) foot high luminous walls of blue crystal had formed between each of the eight (8) pillars around the octagonal perimeter. Moments later, the sapphires atop each of the pillars turned dark once again, having completed their operation.
“This small scale test proves that the interconnections are at least partially correct. But I need a larger scale test to be certain that they have full range. For that, I need much larger sapphires to engrave the pattern for the constructor to follow,” Erlend said.
“Tell the governor, not me,” Fulvius said.
“First, I must leave no structural evidence of this work, so as to keep it a secret, as the governor insisted,” Erlend said. He modified the ninth sapphire again, activating the constructor, but in reverse, so that the luminous blue crystal walls dissipated into a mist and floated away.
“So, these structures can be taken apart as quickly as they are built? Doesn’t that make them vulnerable to attack?” Fulvius asked.
“Yes, of course. That is by design. The central bank will sell these structures and lend money to the buyers to pay for them. The central bank can also reclaim a structure from those who do not make the loan repayments as agreed,” Erlend said.
“This is no different from before,” Fulvius said.
“In principle, no. But the process is on a larger scale, and much quicker. Time is money. We need to return to the governor. You may end the darkness,” Erlend said.
“What about these pillars? Do you need me to still hide them?” Fulvius asked.
“No. I will have them moved later. They are nothing more than signposts. If you look at them, you will see that they were previously used for public display of interest rates and currency exchange rates. There are still markings on them to that effect. The sapphires at the top are mere symbols…without this,” Erlend said, holding up the ninth sapphire.
Fulvius eased his powers of darkness so that the cloak of darkness dissipated. Erlend then led him back to the Trading Center Five building, and they knocked at the door to the office of Governor Lux.
The door did not open, but Erlend found that it was unlocked. When he and Fulvius entered, they saw Governor Lux sitting on the floor with his legs folded in a meditative position.
“First, close the door behind you,” Governor Lux said.
Erlend closed the door, preparing to give his report.
“You interrupted me with a good report, I trust,” Governor Lux said.
“Yes, governor. The small scale test was successful: both the construction and the deconstruction. However, to truly prove the correctness of our constructor replica, we need to build and operate on a larger scale, with larger and higher quality sapphires,” Erlend said.
“I have a larger scale project in mind. In Javanda, an east-to-west canal needs to be constructed for the loggers to transport the big timber more efficiently. I was going to assign this to Fantine. However, I would prefer that we do it ourselves, as a test. If the project succeeds, I have other work fo
r you, and alternate work for her. If it fails, then we will have to reevaluate our design,” Governor Lux said.
“Do you have a map of the route for the canal?” Erlend asked.
“I have an approximate map. However, you may have to make adjustments,” Governor Lux said.
“I will need several stone cutters to work with me, to mold the pillars, and then transport them to Javanda. Also, I will need larger sapphires for configuring the constructor,” Erlend said.
“I know what you need, Erlend, and it will all be provided. The Diversifier will be available to transport you into position. Begin your work immediately. Fulvius will give you cover as needed – remember: do not attract the attention of Duchess Uliana…not just yet. If she asks, you are surveying that territory for a future canal project. After we succeed at the construction, I will decide how much to reveal to her, and when,” Governor Lux said.
“I will need written orders for the construction materials and services,” Erlend said.
Governor Lux stood up, walked over to his desk and opened a book there, in which he wrote several notes onto a page. Lux tore the page from the book and handed it over to Erlend, saying: “This will afford you the materials and labor you need.”
Erlend and Fulvius left the office, closing the door behind them.
~~~
Indigo thought little of her destination as she traveled on board a ship meandering across the dark waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean. Days and weeks passed as the ship visited islands, picking up and dropping off passengers unknown. Sometimes she stood on the deck, making extra payments to the captain, so that she could stay for an extended time, until she found just the right place. She filled most of her time in her cabin where she slept with Drystan, who filled her personal needs day after day, bringing them mutual joy.
After forty-one (41) days at sea, the ship reached the northernmost point of the largest bay in the continent of Javanda, near its east-to-west center and above its north-south center.