by Nelson, J P
Jared planted his feet on the side of the bank, looked at me once more and the next time for sure I heard him yell, “Let’s go Sed, now, do it …” and he pushed off and out to fall into the rapids. His words still echoed through my soul from across the years.
Fear ran through me back then as I had looked below and hesitated for an instant, the same fear I was feeling right that moment high up on the cliff. He had been my best friend … my partner of chain, sweat and blood had made his bid for freedom. He would be in his forties now, if he had survived, and by human standards I was like a young adult of perhaps twenty.
I saw him surface from the rapids and grab a piece of broken wagon and get caught in the current. He was waving at me frantically and I just stood there. Terrified, I tried to muster the nerve to make the jump, but I just couldn’t do it.
Had Jared succeeded, had he taken the wife, raised children … he had too, I needed to believe he had succeeded and was happy.
After dinner with Lushandri the past Munday night, I hadn’t been able to sleep. So I put on my woodland clothes and headed into the forest. All day Tuesday and Humday I had wandered and tried to think. I now had the opportunity to meet many of my childhood challenges head on, to learn something of my blood father, to be part of sailing around the world … maybe … to learn something about my momma … again, maybe. That last scared me more than anything.
I had always thought of momma in the highest fashion. What if she wasn’t … wasn’t what? Allowing myself to think she felt something for Roveir, Captain Greybeard, now that was tough, but was it true? To accept he was really my blood father … was there any proof? Something in my mind said yes, his raging anger was indicative. I had never heard of an elf with a crazy rage, except Oshang. And I seemed to remember from momma’s tales that Oshang’s own father had been a half-breed, half-elf and half-human.
Then there was the way Roveir’s goatee grew. I had grown mine in memory of Hoscoe, but the way it shaped was identical to the painting. Should I shave it off; but what purpose would that serve? I now wanted dearly to read those logs, to learn of the old man. And then there was the ship. Wesney made it clear Jha’Ley wanted to find The Kelshinua and retrieve something from it. I had the chance to see the ship which bore my momma’s name.
What was my fear, then?
I was afraid of what I might find, it was that simple. There was no real urgency in confronting Herrol, he was probably going to be around for good while.
Looking down at the water, my breath kept catching and a violent shudder ran through me. Down below I had found a place and concealed all of my gear and clothing. Nobody was around, and except for a few lizards the place seemed void of all life. I had watched some of the native divers, and trying to imitate them I was standing naked in the darkness, only my blade strapped to my outer right thigh and a loincloth for adornment.
An ancient tale my momma used to tell me of a savage elf named Tra’Zann rose unbidden to my memory. He spoke the language of apes, the tale went, had been raised by and was a king among them. Supposedly Diustahn had told the tale to his children; there were several of the tales, actually, from which his granddaughter, the legendary Alohra ~ Mae Hahnah, got the idea of walking in the wild and becoming what is now called a Druid.
‘Standing on the edge of this cliff is insanity,’ I thought. ‘I don’t have to do this.’ There was no adrenaline rush, nobody to save to prompt me to jump from a perfectly safe ledge. If I made a mistake I couldn’t just lay there and heal. What I needed to do was go get my clothes and book passage home.
Home …
I didn’t have a home …
From far away I could have sworn I heard Jared say, “Let’s go! Now! DO it!”
My hands up in the air, I took in a deep breath … and jumped.
The fall seemed to take forever as I tried to get my hands just right. I knew the water would be deep, because I had checked the ground level below when I had been down there, but when I hit the water I thought I had broken every bone in my body. Immediately I knew I had to heal, fast, or I was already done. I had gone down, way down I believed, but how far?
The salt of the water hurt my eyes and I couldn’t seem to open them. My *Awareness* indicated something far away had also entered the water and was coming my way fast. Scrambling for the top, I couldn’t find it anywhere and something had happened to my own air. I had lost some of it with the shock of the impact, and even more when I exhaled to empower the *Self Healing*.
I couldn’t breathe, I-I accidentally breathed in water and panicked, horribly. Thrashing violently in my silent world, I lost all sense of mental clarity as the water rushed into my lungs with my convulsing attempt to breathe … suddenly strong fingers touched and then grabbed me.
[Open your eyes!] I felt, rather than heard, a soothing but strong voice say to me. Hands grabbed my face and back of the head and pushed lips against mine as legs wrapped strongly around me, keeping me from breaking away.
Those legs … they were so-o-o incredibly strong; strong enough to literally crush a man’s ribcage.
[Breathe with me …] the voice said, I knew this voice, it, she, she was speaking, thinking, thought-speaking in the Merceil dialect of Vedoic.
The water in my lungs was forcibly pulled out, through her mouth, as she held on tightly. And then she breathed back in … some kind of fluid … and I began to convulse again …
[Breathe … Adapt … take what your body needs and push the rest out …] What was she saying, this was, this was crazy … I tried to push her away but she wouldn’t let me, she held on tightly. Again she was breathing for me, but how …
[Brea-a-athe … breathe wi-i-ith me-e-e.]
Were we sinking further?
I tried hard to focus and still my mind. Like a rag doll I allowed my body to go limp as she held me strong and continued breathing for us both. She relaxed her grip and began swimming with her legs, and I realized her fingers had webbing between them.
Breathing fluid into my mouth I heard her words in my mind, [Adapt, Wolf, feel … you had fluid in your lungs long before you were born, in your mother’s womb … the water is your friend, it has what your body needs, you must only work a little harder for it.]
‘My mother’s womb,’ I thought, ‘my momma.’ Memories flooded through my mind like filaments of cloud. Memories … but of things I had never done and places I had never been … What …?
The water, it was one of the four main elements, I tried to reach out to it, as I would reach into So’Yeth or upward to So’Yahr … I inhaled … and almost panicked again … but she was there, Lushandri was with me. Her lips locked firmly around mine, a kiss of life. Concentrating hard, I felt the tingling in my body as I merged with the essence of the ocean.
With my hands around her wrists I tried to open my eyes. It burned, but then I found what seemed to be a new lid from under my brow close down so that I could see, a transparent eyelid. Lushandri’s face was beautiful as I gazed upon her from under the waters. She pulled away to give me a chance at breathing on my own. It was hard, but as long as I focused, as long as I concentrated, I could *Adapt* and breathe the water.
As I looked about, I saw what seemed to be a paradise. We were among underwater hills, and the rays of the sun shown down making transparent pillars of color. Looking at Lushandri’s face I saw she was smiling, and as the water billowed her hair I could see ever so slight hints of points on her ears.
She took my hand and led me into a world I would have never imagined.
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At first I didn’t recognize the knock on the door. In my mind I was propelling myself under the water caverns, escorted by a descendent of the legendary Rucea’Cahlif, the Elves of the Ocean. Again the knocking, it sounded so far away. I tried to turn in my bed but the room seemed to be wobbling. What day was it? How did I get here? “One mom-mun-nt!” I yelled, but my speech was slurred
Looking quickly around I tried to find my pants, and
I noticed the sun was out strong. Swinging up from the mattress for my buckskins in the chair, I promptly tripped on my moccasins on the floor by the bed. My head seemed to weigh a hundred pounds and I felt the sudden urge to throw up. Crawling to the chair and grabbing my pants, I tried hopping first in one leg, then the other as I made my way to the door. Falling flat on my face, I looked up and tried to ask, “Who is-s-s it?”
“Room Service, sir, here to provide your bath.”
Bath? My bath? Vaguely I remembered coming in this morning and … yes … it was coming back to me, I ordered a bath to be drawn just before noon. So it was Thursday, I thought, I hoped, good. Lushandri was going to take me on a carriage tour of Foljur. Lushandri, she had … Mon’Gouchett!
Managing my way to the door, I unbolted it and found my chair. Dropping into it I held my head in my hands and fought back the nausea. As my bath was drawn I tried to remember the night before. Lushandri had saved my life, didn’t she? Was it a dream? On the dresser was a seashell. I smiled, somehow remembering us collecting that shell twenty feet, or was it thirty, below the waves. And then I became drunk. How did I do that? Salt water, the salt water got me drunk. It must have been some combination of swallowing and breathing it in.
As I sat in the hot water I focused and *Self Healed* myself of the salty hangover. I felt all dried out inside, but once I finished the healing it was remarkable how good I felt.
So it was Thursday … then the Lohra Lai would cast off early the next morning, and I still hadn’t given my decision. I got out of the tub to find a cigar and lit it, poured myself a glass of Vambrolini, climbed back to recline in the tub and took a few puffs, and leaning back I closed my eyes.
___________________________
When the carriage pulled up, I was once more wearing the black shirt, but this time with a blue sash, white breeches and those black boots. We were going to be riding for most of the evening, and I was just becoming comfortable enough to not bring either of my swords. Besides, I had my ever present knife and I could do a lot with a piece of wood. Once more, when I saw Lushandri my blood quickened; she was radiant in a white tunic with matching leggings. The leggings weren’t fashionable in the mainland of Aeshea, the claims being they weren’t lady-like, but here in the islands they were common.
It was nice to see we were both pleased with the other’s appearance, although I stay convinced I got the better pleasure of a companion to view. I also noticed she was wearing a radiant purple, blue, white and black flower in her hair. Vaguely I could remember picking it for her while we were under the sea. It had dried beautifully.
She had told me Vambrolini White was her personal favorite, so I had two bottles. In my boot I had a flute I thought I would play for her. In the carriage she had brought a container of chunked pineapple and cubed melons, and a carafe of icy water. For a few moments I felt awkward, with regard to the night before. Then I said, “About last night …”
Lushandri hesitated, and then smiled her beautiful smile, bit a corner of her lip and gently shook her head. And then almost as an afterthought she asked, “I would like to ask one question, though …”
My glance gave her leave to ask.
“Why? Why did you make that jump?”
“Because …” I hesitated and then looked frankly into her eyes, “… I had to.”
She thought for a moment, and then said, “Alright.” She nodded gently, “I can accept that. But one thing,” she said with a quirky grin, “Next time, ask me. I will show you the correct way and the right place to do it.” To that we both chuckled.
We traveled a large area of Foljur and she really knew her way around. She introduced me to the remains of the original Emporium where sailors came to drink for decades, several old manor homes, the Sock-n-Top Trading Company which had been in business for over four hundred years, a great temple where the natives once worshiped, and then we stopped for a brief while at a rock wall ruin with an old sign that said Oranãche Biustahri.
I looked at the sign a moment, then back to Lushandri in query.
She tossed her head, I liked watching her toss her head, and as her hair settled on her shoulders she said, “It is a native phrase meaning Welcome to Tranquility. My father founded it a little over one hundred years ago.”
Leading me inside, I looked at the old place, how it was built with care, yet the marks of fire was everywhere. I gazed as she talked to me, “My father’s father, Rh’Omé, was the son of an old refuge from undersea battles. He managed to escape an uncertain fate and came here, not far from where you jumped.
“Rh’Omé managed to save a small fishing boat from a storm, and thinking he was some spirit from the sea, the family gave him their eldest daughter as a gift of thanks. Rh’Omé tried to deny her, but the family started to take that as disfavor and was going to kill the girl. He took her in after that, and they lived among the caverns we swam about. There are several more that are above the water level inside.
“Some years later she bore my father, O’Zydarr. He took to the water and eventually became a wanderer. He built a two-hulled craft that he traded from and he traveled far; he made many friends and some powerful enemies.”
We were both walking around the old, charred ruins as she continued, “Clash of friend and foe alike took place north of Vedoa. He was caught and imprisoned as a spy, his friends were unable to help him. But a young, patriotic woman from Merceil made a try. Her identity was discovered, but she succeeded in helping him escape. He returned the favor and helped her escape her own country, and they came here together.
“They started this place together, and ran it together, happily, for years. My momma grew old and died peacefully, and for a long time it was just father …” she hesitated, “… my two brothers and I.” I wanted to reach and touch her, but she had made closure with this long ago, she was just sharing … but sharing could still open hurtful memories, so I listened and let her tell it in her own time.
“And then a sailor came by and wanted to know where some kind of treasure was located. To keep it brief, they tried to force the information from my father.” She smiled an almost cruel smile. “Nobody forced anything from my father. But he was aging and my brothers were not combat trained.” Lushandri glanced up at the ceiling rafters, then to an old but cracked mirror behind what used to be the bar, “When he brought his crew up to burn the place, the natives came to help father.”
She looked up at me and said, “It was a horrible fight. I saw only a part of it, but I saw the sailor escape. I found … them … all three … I could do nothing for my oldest brother, and my father died in my arms. And my youngest …” She closed her eyes in painful memory. I knew, I knew what she felt … and I knew she was telling me probably because she just needed to talk, so I kept quiet.
Shaking her head from side to side, she wiped her eyes and looked at me with a sad smile of apology, and I just shook my own head no, she need not apologize. Partially to redirect her attention I asked softly, “What happened to the sailing captain?”
She held her hand out, palm up. That beautiful hand which not so long ago held me close, slowly elongated at the fingers into wicked one inch claws on each tip as she said, “I found him. His ship had not docked at port and was lying at anchor. He had only one crew member left with which to row his dinghy.”
“And so you stay here?”
“It’s my home. And these are my people. They have become my family and I wish to do what I can to protect them.”
It was coming together for me, now. Smiling I asked, “So you rebuilt and renamed the place the Orange Buster?”
Lushandri laughed and answered, “Well, the sailors who came in started calling it that, so-o-o.” She walked up and put her hands around my waist, then looked up and said, “Thank you.”
“Thank you for …”
“For letting me talk … and not trying to tell me it’s okay, or it’ll be alright.”
We looked at each other for several moments, and then we kissed an
d I just held her.
It felt as if we stood there a long time, but I didn’t mind. When we slowly stepped apart, we held hands. And then I ventured to say, “There’s not many sailors who frequent the Orange Buster, you know.”
With the innocence of a child she answered, “Yes-s-s but, that’s why I have Sam’s Kettle Kafé, Whiskin Boot, Quinosia Torio, and Codger’s Bunk & Bath.”
I threw my head back and groaned, “The Quinosia Torio? No wonder you didn’t say anything when I asked you to dance.”
She put her arm in mine and led me outside as she said, “Well, you suggested the owner wouldn’t mind … and I didn’t think she would either.”
And then I thought, ‘the Whiskin Boot, she must know all about the fight with me, Tiny and Captain Jha’Ley.’ Inwardly I groaned again.
I asked her, “Do you own any ships?”
“No-o-o, but I support a couple.”
“The Lohra Lai?”
“Yes. I very much support the Lohra Lai, and her Captain. Jha’Ley is a good man, and I believe if anyone can pull off what he’s going for, he can do it.”
Sheepishly I glanced at her. She caught my eye and then she giggled.
“What’s so funny?” I playfully, yet awkwardly asked.
With a little dance of her head and impish expression on her face she said, “I saw the fight. All of it.”
“All of it?” I implored.
Biting at her lip and with a playful smirk she said, “Yup. From the moment you ordered the Condroy Tea.” She laughed.
Me? I just held my head down trying to find words, shaking my head.
She was still smiling, “Actually, you did quite well.” She glanced into my eyes, and I looked into hers as she smiled and added, “I think Jha’Ley was having a good time. No one has matched him in years.”