Lighting Distant Shores

by Nathan Thompson

  He turned and looked at me.

  So what you’re saying is that most Earthborns do not have access to six different Ideals, and all three Saga schools, like you do?

  Correct, I confirmed, or at least I think that’s the case. And I think they are used to battling basic Water and Air mages, if that. They didn’t really attack until this world was already in the middle of a Tumult.

  He sneered at that, and through the mindlink I gathered that he had an extremely low opinion for beings that purposefully sabotaged a planet’s efforts at survival. I didn’t blame him for it.

  It’s a good thing you didn’t order me to take any prisoners then, he snarled, showing more anger than I had seen yet. But they’re veering off anyway, so everything is still going to plan.

  And, true to his observation, the ships had indeed split up. The Horde ship slowed down and turned hard, using its oars to try and maneuver the farthest away from the ice with a hard right rotation. But the two escorts veered to the left and the right, while still trying to maintain pursuit of either ourselves or Via’s ship.

  They didn’t pay as much attention to the smaller chunks of ice. They did bother to dodge anything the size of a small boulder, but they had trouble spotting the random iceberg that showed less surface area than the size of a human head above the water’s surface, and when they did see them, they didn’t bother with massive course corrections

  Unfortunately for them, said icebergs were still a good bit bigger underwater, at least five times the mass visible from above. Frozen cubes this size were called growlers, due to the noise the air made while traveling through the small tunnels they contained.

  We had placed these smaller ice traps some distance behind the bergy, making them look like debris trailing in its wake. These had been even easier to make, especially when I combined with Breena’s mana pool. I didn’t even need to create them myself. I just had to freeze small masses of water, and enchant it to last for a couple of hours at the most. I was able to make a little over a dozen floes, with some big enough to be obvious, that were spaced in such a way that the easiest way to avoid them was to take the path dotted with the much smaller, harder to notice icebergs.

  The result was that at least three growlers struck each escort ship. And, as far as I could tell, some of the debris from the previously shattered bergy also made contact. The glyph shields on both vessels flared red as the ice floes crashed into them. The first block to impact either ship was disintegrated completely without causing any damage, though it exhausted most of the remaining shielding. The second blocks finished off the shields of their respective ships before detonating when the anti-contact glyphs channeled energy through them. Despite being destroyed, they had effectively damaged both ships by spreading out and poking small holes all along the keels. The final icebergs each cracked a two-foot hole right beneath the water line on either ship, one penetrating directly at the prow. Both ships immediately began to dip, and the barely visible figures on deck scrambled frantically.

  It will take time to sink them completely, Gabin confided. But we’re off to a good start. Let’s keep up the damage before they realize that they can probably patch the holes.

  The Malus escorts fired another volley at us, but the new damage to their boats had clearly distracted them. They were even less accurate than before, and our faster ship had little trouble dodging them.

  Not to jinx us, but this is disturbingly easy, I whispered to my Atlantean captain.

  They seem used to dominating unglyphed vessels at sea, he replied. I doubt they’d ever had to fight any ship with their own capabilities.

  Our own artillery fired again on the starboard side enemy. Only one bolt struck, but with the ship’s shield exhausted, the damage was more spectacular than just a scorch mark on the side. Wooden splinters flew through the air and a small fire started that was quickly put out.

  We’re still going to have to rely on closing in to finish them off, the captain warned. Which means more of their weapons will engage, too. Be prepared.

  How are your archers? Weylin suddenly asked over the link. Gabin blinked at that.

  Passable for normal volleys. At the Journeymen level, for the most part, since it’s not our strongest suit. Especially since a wet bow string is rather useless.

  I’m requesting permission to climb one of the ship’s masts and snipe at the enemy crew, the elf said next.

  Granted, our ship’s captain replied.

  Weylin began casting an Air spell around his body and his bow, which I suddenly noticed was new. This one had a greenish tint to it, as if it had been soaked in Woadfather sap. The song mage bounded up the mast across from the crow’s nest, and I saw him string the weapon, whispering more magic into it.

  I should have range on the starboard ship within ten minutes, he sent to us. Is there an ideal target I should aim for?

  It depends on how much their glyphs are like our own, the captain sent to us. Just shoot anyone standing over a bunch of glowing symbols. If they don’t have that, hit the person next to a mounted staff or the helm.

  The next few minutes passed quietly. I looked back at Breena and noticed that her face bore a smug expression. She began whispering again, smirking and tilting her head a little as she finished, then crossed her arms like she was waiting for a reply. Then she frowned, looking angry for a moment.

  “What do you mean, ‘it’s not over yet,’” I heard her mutter under her breath. Then she began whispering again, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward. After another few seconds, she sighed and turned to look at me.

  “Via says thanks for helping, but to not get too confident yet,” the little fairy drawled tiredly. “And she’s still mad you didn’t show up sooner. But she is sorry she called you a pendejo.”

  “Tell her that she has every reason to feel angry and frustrated about her situation, and that I will give her the full account for my delay when we are all safe. Assure her that I am still taking our enemies very seriously, and that I welcome further input from her for the rest of the battle, should she wish to provide it. Also inform her that there is enough room and supplies on our ship for her to bring her own people over, including herself, if we win the engagement. I am inviting her over personally, with the captain’s permission,” I glanced over to Gabin, who nodded at me.

  “That’s a really patient attitude you’re taking with her, Wes,” Breena said irritably, but she began whispering again. A moment later she started growling. “Oh, you’re finally talking to someone sane now, are you? You say that right to my face, from just a few knots away?”

  “Breena,” I tried to interrupt.

  “And you say that about Wes?” she actually shrieked that last part. “I am going to—”

  “Breena!” I shouted.

  “What?” she shouted back, rounding on me.

  “Orange cream scones,” I said quickly. “You’ve earned them.”

  “What?” she repeated, blinking. “I have?”

  “I packed some before we left,” I added hurriedly, and it was the truth. Because I had a triple-digit Wisdom score now, and I wanted to be prepared, damnit. “You can have them after the battle.”

  “I can?” she kept blinking. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” I replied firmly, projecting my honest intent through our bond. “But I still need that sharp head on your shoulders, and that means holding your temper when your other body starts lashing out unfairly, because it looks like she’s had an absolute shit time of things here, and you’re the only one she feels like she can vent with right now. Pass on a message that I’m asking her to be patient with you too, because both of you have been responsible for far too much, and have gotten far too little recognition. I will take her patience as a personal favor, and I invite her to express her frustrations with me after the battle.”

  Breena took a deep breath, letting it out in a huff.

  “I have to say all of that,” she pondered slowly. “For orange cream scones…”


  “Deal,” she said after waiting a whole second, which showed just how flustered and angry she was. Then she took another deep breath and began mouthing slow words at her counterpart in the distance. Then she nodded, much more calmly, and began speaking again. Finally, she smiled, and seemed to mouth the words ‘it’s good to see you, too,” or at least, that was the impression I felt through our bond. Her face took on a pleased expression, like she had just made up with an old friend. Then her eyes narrowed shrewdly, and she peered around at the rest of us.

  “I was good. You all saw that, right?” she asked sternly. “You all saw me being an adult. Like Wes asked.”

  The nearby crew all nodded warily, giving the little fairy a wide berth for reasons they probably weren’t even aware of themselves. Breena gave a satisfied nod, then turned back to me.

  “Via says she’s appreciates that you’ve drawn fire away from her ship, and that she’s sorry she’s been so tense. She’ll talk with you after the battle, but she wanted you to know that she’s glad you’re here. And thanks, Wes,” the fairy added. “You’re right about us being stressed out. We don’t usually fight this much with each other.”

  I nodded, and chose not to bring up the fight I saw Breena and Merada having with Stell over me a few days ago. We had a battle to fight anyway.

  The two escorts continued to launch ineffective volleys at us, and Gabin continued to take advantage of his superior familiarity with their artillery, anticipating their attacks and shifting course in advance. One fireball did come dangerously close, but our own glyphs flared, preventing the ship from being damaged by the nearby flame. It did get uncomfortably hot for a few moments though, and Gabin muttered in frustration.

  “Gonna have to be more careful,” he sighed. “Their missiles will do a lot more damage to us than our missiles will to them.” He looked up to the mast Weylin was currently perched on.

  Ready, archer? He asked privately.

  They’re in range now, my elven friend observed. Want me to open up?

  After our next volley, the Atlantean captain replied, waving his hands to signal the crew to fire again. This time both attacks hit, tearing a great hole through the largest sail on one of the Malus galleons and starting another small fire on the deck of the other.

  Now, he commanded. While they’re distracted with the new damage.

  Weylin complied, and began singing softly as Air enhanced arrows began whistling over the water.

  Air is the Ideal of distance, farsight, and travel. Most people think one can just use it to throw gusts around, or maybe learn how to fly one day, but the reality is that the Ideals often pair well with other skills that fit their themes. That knowledge had contributed to my insistence on learning so many different skills. Even a single Ideal, comprehended at the innate level, grants a large degree of flexibility. In the context of battle, there are a number of Air spells that enhance and compliment weapons that fire physical projectiles over long distances.

  I hadn’t been clear on the range of medieval weapons back home, but according to Stell, someone with an enchanted longbow on one of Avalon’s sister worlds had a maximum range of about half a mile. Weylin’s Air magic was roughly on the same level as my own, and allowed him to triple that range, giving him almost half of the maximum range of the enemy’s own fireball stave-cannons.

  Aiming for the fellow waving his arms around the most, my friend told us, and then began firing.

  Weylin had used his bow in the fight with the Scalelings earlier, but with all the other magics being thrown around at the time, I hadn’t had a chance to pay more than passing attention to his new weapon, and definitely not when he had the time to spend over a minute enhancing it with various Air and Song magics. The shafts left the bow with a loud crack, almost like a gunshot, flying through the air and leaving a thin rainbow-hued wake. The song-mage fired them in quick succession, in part due to his Air-enhanced speed, and in part due to the fact that medieval archers could actually fire a lot faster than people on modern Earth realized.

  The trails aided me in assessing the results of his work. He was operating at extreme range, so some of his projectiles missed entirely, but I saw at least one figure drop as a shimmering arrow struck his head and unleashed a small explosion of magical energy. Others writhed as they were struck by explosive arrows elsewhere in their bodies, but their vital guards prevented an immediate kill and they began diving for the deck, abandoning their positions on the front of the ship.

  When did you learn to—I began to ask, but the Testifier cut me off.

  Song magic— the archer sent tensely. Learned it last Rise. New bow was made by one of your sisters. No more questions.

  That worked for me, I decided, as I let the man work in peace. Val, however, looked really excited.

  That’s awesome! I want a bow too, Wes!

  I nodded, though it wasn’t exactly something I could really help with. Archery was probably my weakest skill, and if she wanted to grab a bow from the armory, she didn’t need permission from me. I wasn’t going to deny my team any gear they thought they could use.

  Eventually, the Malus crew recovered enough to find shelter and take positions. A few of them pulled out bows even larger than Weylin’s and they began to take aim.

  We’ll be in range of their own attacks soon, Gabin confided. Everyone get ready for mid-range combat. Lord Wes, this is where your people will truly have an opportunity to shine. Please strike the locations directed here.

  He sent a series of images to us, quickly showing how he wanted us to strike the enemy ship, and where. Again, I felt his appreciation for the level of easy communication our mindlink allowed.

  As the range narrowed, both of our ships opened up.

  Both ships activated more glyphs that had been scribed on the sides, sending enchanted projectiles blasting through the air. These were about the size of a human fist, larger versions of the missiles Karim typically fired through his script magic, and were the same color of either the Malus ship’s red fireballs or our own blue bolts, depending on which ship they came from. The red script blasts crashed into our ward shields, causing our smaller ship to shudder from the impact. The Malus archers also opened up with their arrows, sending a handful of bolts nearly as long as my arm into the deck and crew. One struck me, though I doubted that they recognized me in my armor. The feathered shaft didn’t go much further than piercing through my script shield. It slammed hard into my outer layer of Atlantean scalemail, lost most of its force, failed to get through my Woad chain mail underneath, then clattered harmlessly to the ground. The kinetic energy didn’t even make it through my aketon, much less my Earth and Ice protection spells.

  I remembered back in the beginning, where nearly everything was breaking through all of my multiple layers of protection, and suddenly felt thankful for how things had changed. I decided I’d mention this fact at the next holiday dinner my people had.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who had been struck. One of the crew took an arrow in the shoulder, and another caught one directly in the chest. Fortunately, both men had Risen numerous times and had donned armor before the beginning of the battle, so the wounds weren’t immediately fatal. Val had opened her pack minutes before, and now Ball-ee leaped out of her pack and headed toward the sailor with a chest wound, and another crewman reached out and began whispering a healing Water spell to the man with the shoulder injury.

  Wow, I thought through the mindlink. The entire crew can cast healing spells?

  The Scholar-Marines were once as famous on their world as the Gaelguard are in the Woadlands, Breyn confided over the link. He hurled a javelin at one of the enemy archers asthe caravel shuddered, and a red script blast blew up a piece of railing right next to him, knocking him off balance and setting the wood on fire. The young Gaelguard caught himself by grabbing the nearby railing while the Woadtattoo under his armor flared green, the energy traveling into the ship itself. The wards on the ship mimicked the emerald hue, immediate
ly extinguishing the small fire and slowly shifting the cracked railing back into its prior shape, with the broken splinters levitating into place. The nearby crew swore in surprise.

  Gaelguard tattoos, Gabin muttered through the mindlink. I should have known. See if you can continue repairing the ship, if you please, he asked the young man from the Woadlands. We’ll talk more about this discovery after the battle.

  Breyn nodded, and maintained his contact with the ship. I began to wonder if my own tattoo would to the same, but it would have to wait until I finished my own combat assignment.

  The Malus ship had already exhausted its wardshields due to the iceberg damage, so the results of our own assault were far more spectacular. Our wardcannons were smaller, and we had no more than a handful, but they were of a much better quality. Their blasts tore basketball-sized holes though the enemy ship, sending splinters hurling through the air and starting more small fires across the ship’s deck. Our two staff-cannons fired as well, aimed directly at the Malus ship’s long guns, destroying one and forcing the crew away from the other, preventing them from being able to target us.

  While they scrambled to defend themselves, their mages exchanged fire with those in our crew. Weylin’s archery kept most of them pinned down, but two of them managed to send a fireball and a storm of sharp rocks at our ship, searing and pelting our crew. Another crewman dropped to the deck, burning and rolling, while the two sailors next to him immediately chanted Water spells to douse the fire and heal his burns. The rest of us gritted our teeth through the flurry of jagged shards and unleashed our own magic. Petal flung a fireball at a small group of enemy crew, immediately following it with a Friction Slice upward that cut halfway through one of the sails, causing it to tear apart and tumble onto the deck. Eadric unleashed his own fireball through the totem I had seen him use before, detonating the steering section of the deck and sending burning splinters through the air. He immediately followed up with an Earth spell that sent a fifteen pound rock crashing into the side of the ship right at the water line, creating another head-sized hole for water to stream through.