The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  Dolanna and Keritanima seemed to accept that explanation. Sapphire flapped out of the room and landed on Tarrin's shoulder, rubbing her head against the side of his neck affectionately. "Well, the magic hasn't affected the drakes either," Kimmie chuckled. "Maybe it's targeted at humans and Wikuni. After all, who else would have the ships or nautical expertise to get this far? Selani and Vendari don't sail, and the Were-kin wouldn't care to do what we're doing. I don't know of any other races intelligent enough to sail ships."

  "The Aeradalla, but they wouldn't bother building a ship," Tarrin said. "If they can't fly there, they don't go there."

  "Well, I think we know how the magic is affecting us," Dolanna said. "Now we try to counter it."

  They did that for the rest of the day. Keritanima didn't punish anyone for the mutiny attempt, but she did order everyone, even the Wikuni on the other ships, to go to their quarters and rest. She explained that there was a magical force affecting them all, and that it was imperative for everyone to rest and remain calm until the magicians among them could come up with a way to counter the magic. Keritanima and Dolanna didn't restrict their efforts to themselves, they summoned the Priests of the other four ships and the Priest on the steamship, they released Camara Tal and Phandebrass and had them join them, they even brought in Dar, Allia, Kimmie, and Tarrin, and then they all put their heads together and discussed the matter, and tried to find a way for those among them to find a way to counter the magical influence.

  By nightfall, they had a solution, but they also had a serious problem. Keritanima had engineered a Mind weave to protect from the magic, but it was not something that a Priest could duplicate. Any Sorcerer could cast the spell, but the fact that it was a Mind weave meant that only Dolanna and Keritanima could use it on the humans and Wikuni on the ship. For Dolanna, this wasn't a daunting proposition, for there were only fifteen humans for her to protect. But Keritanima would be responsible for protecting over two hundred Wikuni, and she would have to cast the spell at least three times a day. Mind weaves weren't permenant, but their effects did linger beyond the expiration of the spell, how long they lasted depending entirely on the mental toughness and willpower of the mind being affected. Keritanima wouldn't be able to protect every Wikuni on all five ships, and Dolanna and Keritanima both reasoned that the closer they came to the source of that magic, the stronger its effects would become. The better conditions and higher level of discipline on the military clippers hadn't caused any dangerous problems on the clippers, but as they got closer to the source of the magic, they too would be affected. And the other four ships were carrying cannons. If the crews on board those ships began to get affected by the magic, they could start firing on one another, or even the steamship.

  Keritanima and Dolanna cast the counterspell on the men on the steamship, one after another, as the men waited in line to receive their magical protection from the ship's magicians. The Wikuni sailors looked very sheepish and quite nervous that the Queen herself would be personally using magic on them, an act that made them very proud and very ashamed. Proud that the Queen would do such a thing for them, and ashamed that they had not resisted the magic better and had actually attempted to mutiny against her.

  The captains of the four clippers were outraged by Keritanima's solution. "Absolutely not!" Captain Jalis shouted, a burly bobcat Wikuni with a scar marring the fur on the right side of his face. "Your Majesty, your ship is unarmed! If you send us back, you'll have no protection!"

  "Captain, you fail to see the point," Keritanima said cooly. "This magic affects Wikuni and humans. If we continue on alone, I seriously doubt that we're going to run into any opposition. We got in this far because of the discipline of our navy. Do you think these rag-tag vessels carrying these mages will have the same discipline to breach this magic this far? Their crews would have turned on one another long before now. Think about it. Why haven't we seen any more ships since the Zakkites? It's because this magical effect is making them avoid this area."

  "I will not gamble her Majesty's life on maybes!" he said adamantly.

  "Are you a loyal servant of the Crown?" Keritanima asked calmly.

  "Of course!" he said proudly.

  "Then accept my orders," she told him. "I want your ships to turn around and see if you can't sink those Zakkites tailing us. Once you do, anchor somewhere outside the magical effect and wait for us. I'll have our Priest contact yours at regular intervals, so you'll be constantly appraised of our progress and situation. If you feel that we're getting in over our head, then you can come in after us. But only one ship, and manned by only your most disciplined veteran sailors. A strong will resists the effect of the magic."

  "I will obey her Majesty, but I refuse to allow you to go in there without some kind of protection. You must at least take on a few cannon, so your ship can fight if needs be."

  "I'll talk to Donovan," she promised him. "If he says it's safe to carry the gunpowder, then I'll agree to that."

  "You also need a capable ship captain, not that human engineer," he said doggedly. "So, I request transfer to your ship, so a real Wikuni captain can establish some better discipline and leadership to the crew."

  Keritanima blinked, then smiled. "I don't think that's an unreasonable request," she agreed. "Very well, permission granted. Welcome aboard, Captain."

  Jalis nodded with a satisfied look, then sat back down.

  The other ship captains looked more than pleased by Jalis' requests and Keritanima's assent, and were much less resistant to Keritanima's orders thereafter. They still grumbled and protested, but Keritanima was the queen, and they had to obey her. They felt much better that a very capable captain like Jalis, one of the fleet's best, would be taking command of the queen's ship, and were willing to agree to Keritanima's commands.

  The next morning, things were readied. Donovan did agree to taking on some gunpowder, so five cannons were brought over and set on the deck, and enough powder and shot to use them were also brought on. Jalis transferred to the steamship with his personal effects, and immediately took control of the vessel. Wisely, the first thing he did was talk to the Tellurian engineers and come to an understanding about the revolutionary new steam engine, learning about its limits and its abilities, learning as much about his ship as he could. That was a smart thing for a captain to do. The next thing he did was transfer out almost the entirety of the Wikuni crew, breaking them up and sending them to other ships. Jalis didn't want a group that had mutinied once to stay on the vessel, so he asked the other ships to send their very best sailors to man the ship that would be carrying the queen alone into untold dangers. The other four ships responded in tremendous fashion, sending Jalis a group of very experienced-looking Wikuni to man the ship and operate the cannons. The men that replaced the old crew looked confident and very professional, and even Donovan looked relieved to see them aboard. Jalis didn't waste any time taking full control of the vessel, but he didn't alienate the engineers in the process, showing that he had good leadership qualities. Donovan took the new crew with Jalis that morning and explained the differences of the steamship over a clipper, and trained them in the unique duties they would be expected to perform. The men learned quickly and devoted themselves to their tasks, and that was why both Jalis and Donovan announced to the queen that the ship would be ready to steam ahead the next morning.

  The next morning, they left their four escorts behind and steamed south-southwest alone, sailing into a bank of dark clouds that threatened rain. The ship's attitude problems were gone, as the new sailors went about their duties with quiet efficiency. They didn't grumble and complain as the last crew had. They did their jobs and did them well, doing their duty for Queen and country, with the Queen herself watching on in approval. This crew was probably the best of the best on those four clippers, and they showed it as they kept the steamship running in proper order as they moved towards their ultimate destination.

  There was a little excessive quiet. Now that the business of finding a
solution was done, both Camara Tal and Phandebrass looked a little embarassed that they had been affected by the magic. Camara Tal especially looked rather contrite, for her warrior's pride was stung that she had been so easily influenced. They both avoided talking to everyone for most of the day, until Camara Tal and Phandebrass met at the starbord rail and had a long, quiet talk. Camara Tal wasn't the only one that was apologetic. Azakar approached Tarrin as he and Allia were playing chess, and took Tarrin aside and quietly and earnestly apologized to him for his behavior. Tarrin understood that it was the magic that had caused it, so he made sure to tell Azakar that he had nothing to apologize for, that Tarrin understood that it wasn't Azakar doing it.

  Keritanima seemed to have been right about one thing, and that was how alone they were. The four clippers keeping the Zakkites off their stern had left them virtually alone on the ocean. They saw nothing the first day nor the second, but there was little time to look for anything on that second day.

  The bank of clouds was a storm, and a very violent one. The rain was very heavy and driving, blowing straight from the bow and slashing into everyone, propelled by the powerful wind. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed, the lightning raking the two masts of the steamship with multiple hits, even striking the two smokestacks several times. It was more than the average sea squall, it was an impressive storm that made the seas high, forced the steamship to batton down its hatches and wallow in the high, strong waves for nearly a full day. Everyone inside was thrown about like rag dolls for most of the day, Tarrin thanking the Goddess that the Wikuni had experience enough to nail all the furniture to the decks. The thrashing of the ship on the waves would have sent the furniture flying in every direction. The ship managed to breach the far side of the storm at nearly sunset that day, and everyone came out of their hiding places to discover that almost everything that had been lashed onto the deck was gone, washed overboard, and the foremast had been split by the power of the wind. The only thing left was Phandebrass' flying device, a fact that made the Wizard almost religiously thankful, and the heavy cannons that had literally been bolted down to the deck. The supplies they'd lost on deck had mainly been parts and supplies for the steam engine, but Tarrin promised to Conjure whatever Donovan needed to keep the engine going. So the supplies had not been a critical loss. If anything, they gave everyone alot more room, and the sailors, engineers, and passengers actually seemed happier with the increased amount of living space afterward. In more than one way, it was more of a blessing than a curse.

  The morning of the third day the ship found itself steaming into clear sailing, the skies ahead clear and a brilliant blue, except for the narrow white line that was the Skybands that was almost directly overhead, pointing out east and west to the men and women on the ship below. The rain was over, but the wind was still quite brisk, a constant strong gust that blew from the bow, making the Wikuni flag on the mast snap and stand almost straight out in the breeze. What got Tarrin's attention was that the air was dry and much, much cooler than the air they'd passed through just a few days before. This air was pleasant during the day, and would probably be pleasantly cool at night, since there was no humidity in it to trap the day's heating. Tarrin was standing on the deck with Allia and Dar after breakfast, as Tarrin had let Kimmie go on to her studies as she continued to study the spellbooks Phandebrass had recovered from the Zakkites, and Phandebrass continued to study the flying device. He had his drakes with him, happily studying every square finger of the device with a piece of glass that magnified what one saw when looking through it.

  "Strong wind," Dar said, pulling his robe a little. He, Tarrin, and Allia were standing at the bow, staring straight ahead as the steamship made good time even against the wind.

  "I think this is the wind the poem spoke of," Allia said calmly, her white hair whipping in the wind. "It said that the Firestaff is behind the wind. The wind has been blowing in from ahead for two straight days now. I would say that we are getting very close."

  "Well, if we're going to go on what that poem says, it's almost your turn, Allia," Tarrin told her. "Kerri got us here, now you have to find behind the wind. Whatever that means."

  "If you need my eyes, they should be where I can see the most," she said, pointing to the crow's nest above and behind them.

  "I guess," Dar said. "Just make sure you tell Captain Jalis."

  "Who better to serve as lookout than a Selani?" Allia asked with calm assurance, then she patted them both on the shoulder in farewell and walked towards the sterncastle.

  "You think this really is the wind the poem talked about, Tarrin?" Dar asked.

  "I think it's a good bet," Tarrin said in agreement with Allia. "The wind has been blowing from the same direction for two days now, like she said. And since it's been coming from straight ahead, no ship moving with sails could keep moving forward in it."

  Tarrin put his paws on the rail and looked over the bow, considering. And feeling just a little anxious. If this was the wind that the poem spoke about, then that meant that they were very close to their destination now. If they had indeed reached the wind, as soon as the got behind it, they would be there. It felt strange to think that, for things to be so close to being over. He'd been at it for so long, the very thought that it may soon be ending seemed very strange to him. It was almost as if he'd been doing it his entire life, and now that part of his life was about to come to an end. There was a poignant sadness to it in a way, but that didn't last long when he considered the idea that he'd soon have his life to himself. No more running around and doing the bidding of the Goddess. He'd still obey her, but she'd promised him that there would be no more after this. All they had to do was find the Firestaff and wrest it away from this fabled guardian, then hide the damned thing until after that special day came and went.

  The only part of it he'd regret would be the breakup that was sure to come. They were a very diverse group, and they lived in places scattered all over the world. Tarrin would return to Aldreth, and Allia would return to the desert. Keritanima, Miranda, Binter, and Sisska would return to Wikuna. Dar would probably go back to the Tower with Dolanna, and Azakar would return to the Knights. Phandebrass would go who knew where, and Camara Tal would return to the Isles of Amazar, her home. Whether or not she went back with Koran Dar was the hot question among them at the moment. Kimmie would come back with him to Alrdreth, whether she wanted to or not, and he'd make sure that she set up her new territory within easy walking distance of the secluded meadow in which he intended to build his homestead. They were all his friends, his dear friends, and he didn't want them to leave, to break up. But that was going to happen sooner or later. Tarrin would be happy to take control of his own life, but he'd regret leaving all of his friends behind to do so.

  "The poem said twenty stone of coal and wood would get us behind the wind," Dar mused, breaking him out of his reverie. "If this is the wind, then it certainly seems to fit."

  "It also makes it sound like the wind won't last forever," Tarrin added. "Then again, as strong as it is, it wouldn't have to last very long to push almost any sailing ship away."

  "Does it feel like magic to you, Tarrin?" Dar asked curiously.

  Tarrin paused to assense the area around him. "No, not at all," he replied in a curious tone. "That means it's either natural, or it's another kind of magic that I can't sense, like the magic that affected everyone."

  Sapphire landed on his shoulder suddenly. Had Tarrin not gotten used to her surprise landings, he would have been startled by it. He reached up and scratched between her horns affectionately, and she replied by rubbing her head against the side of his neck.

  "It's kind of hard to imagine Sorcerers making a spell that can do something like this," Dar said, shielding his eyes from the wind.

  "Jenna would know," Tarrin said. "Since Spyder gave her all that knowledge, she should know if the Sorcerers ever made something like this."

  "I wonder what it would be like to know all that," Dar sighed.

&n
bsp; "Jenna's writing it all down. When she's done, we'll be able to read it."

  "That's good. Sometimes I think--"

  Dar cut himself short as Tarrin felt a sudden violent realignment of the Weave. It was a Weavequake, and a powerful one. The magic of the Weave was disrupted by the shift, the strands trembling and quivering as the flow of magic within them began to stop flowing, to cease and stand absolutely still. Then the magic flared, roared from the Heart like a dam, flooding into the strands and expanding them all, making very strand in the Weave just a little stronger, just a little richer. Tarrin's sense of the Weave expanded and contracted with the Weave, and its tremors flowed through him, causing him not a little discomfort. Even Dar, who was not a Weavespinner, felt it, gasped and winced as the Weave's strands shifted and reset themselves.

  The wind, which had been blowing strongly from the bow, just stopped. Then it picked back up as strongly as it did before.

  Tarrin and Dar weren't the only ones affected by the Weavequake. Sapphire squealed in pain, her claws sinking into Tarrin's shoulder as she endured the pain of it. Sapphire was a magical creature, and she too was subject to the effects of a Weavequake.

  Then it was over. Tarrin took Sapphire off his shoulder and held her closely, tightly, stroking her scales and calming her as she trembled in his grasp. "Tarrin, what was that!" Dar asked breathlessly, rubbing his temples.

  Tarrin knew exactly what it was. "That, Dar, was the next sui'kun," he said quietly. "The sixth Weavespinner was just born. What you felt was the Weave reorganizing itself to take that into account."

  "Really?" Dar asked with wide eyes. "That's incredible! But why did we feel it when we didn't feel it when Jasana was born?"

  "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's because the Weave is alot stronger now than it was when Jasana's birth affected it," he answered. "When the seventh is born, it should cause another Weavequake, and it will be even stronger."