Mina’s face pinched and she stood up to leave.
Realizing what she had said, Mandi reached out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…”
Mina made it to the door, but then forced herself to stop, her tail wrapped around her leg sadly. “No, it’s…it’s all right.”
Evere stood up and walked over to her. “No it’s not, wife.”
She hugged her arms around herself. She seemed so frail. “You’re right…it’s not.”
Evere reached around and embraced her from behind.
Bunni Bubbles stuck out her tiny tongue. “Yuck, mushy stuff.”
Andolf turned to Athel. “We have six weeks, my child. What do you think we should do?”
Athel chuckled darkly. “That again?”
She sat up. Her grey eyes looked so exhausted, it was hard to even look at her. “All right, you want a suggestion, Kummeritas? I’ll give you a suggestion. I think we should just take Queen Sotol up on her offer. She said if I turned myself into her, she’d free the gods and save the world.”
Andolf leaned back. “What?”
Athel shrugged. “At this point, it’s our best option.”
Privet growled. “We’ve already been over this. Queen Sotol only made that offer so you’d be hunted down. She wanted the whole world too scared and busy looking for you to make a move against her.”
“Yes, exactly. It’s a diversion on her part, so we extinguish it. Once I’m gone, not only will all islands have no more need to look for me, but they will also see Queen Sotol for the deceiver she is. They’ll have no choice but to face the truth that she has no intention of saving anyone. Furious, they’ll rise up against her, and hopefully with their combined strength, they can take her out. Like I said, it’s the best chance we have.”
Privet would hear none of it. “So what, you’re just going to sacrifice yourself on a wild guess that it will cause a revolution?”
Athel glanced down at his limp legs, then looked away. “I’ve thrown away much more precious things than that, and received much less in return.”
Seeing so much pain in her eyes gave Privet pause. He was still stinging from her words earlier, but his compassion won out. He thought to grab a blanket and cover his legs from her view, but stopped himself half way through the search. In his heart, he knew it wouldn’t make her feel any better.
“Athel’s plan won’t work and she knows it,” Mandi countered. “Sure, the people of Aetria could form mobs and muster up armies, but they’d have no way of getting to Arianis Kultur. She’s just trying to toss her life away.”
Athel looked up at her darkly. “No, that was your plan. You had me in a cage to be gutted on some altar, remember? You don’t get an opinion on this matter.”
“Yes, that was my plan, and I’m sorry.”
Mandi sighed and looked away, her eyes growing moist. “You’ll never know how sorry. I thought this world was just some temporary thing. Some false place that would one day be replaced by the world this was meant to be. So, I didn’t take any of it seriously. I didn’t value any of it. I lived for momentary pleasure, and I didn’t care who or what I hurt as I carried out my orders.”
Mina looked her over carefully. “So, what changed?”
Mandi wiped her cheek and patted Molly on the head. “I found something I wanted to protect.”
“Hey, I’m not a puppy,” Molly complained. “I’m a big tough girl.”
Mandi laughed and gave her a hug. “Yes you are, punkin.”
“Don’t call me that, that’s a baby name.”
Mandi chuckled. When she looked up, she saw many of the people there looking at her with new eyes. It made her feel a little self-conscious. “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”
Mina nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, they do.”
Mina’s tail swished tenderly, and she glanced over at her husband. “I think we should trust her.”
“Are you crazy? She’s a Kabalist.”
“Yes. And I will never trust the Kabalist in her.” Mina glanced over at Molly softly. “But I can trust the mother in her.”
Mandi blushed brightly. “I’m not her…”
She trailed off, realizing it was true. “I guess I kind of am,” she admitted. “I-I don’t know when it started, but somewhere along the line…”
“It was when I fed you magic kitty food,” Molly beamed. “It made you good.”
The women all laughed warmly. Even Talliun managed a smile.
Mina turned to her husband. “What do you think?”
Evere harrumphed. “What do I think? I think there’s no way in the twelve seas I’d ever agree to this.”
Mina slapped her hands against her knees. “Well, Mandi, against my better judgment, I’ve deciding to make you an offer.”
Evere was aghast. “Now, wait just a blasted minute!”
Mina stood up and extended her white furry hand.
“What’s this?” Mandi asked.
“I’m offering you a place on this ship, to join the crew of the new Dreadnaught.”
Evere stood up. “Is this mutiny, woman?”
Mina glanced back. “No, it is the duty of the first officer to hire on new crew…that is, unless you plan on firing your own lovely wife from that position.”
“I just might, at that.”
“Fine, then you can find another room to bunk in. Civilians aren’t allowed to reside with officers, after all.”
Evere growled at her. “This is emotional blackmail, woman.”
“That’s the best kind,” she said with a wink.
For a moment, they stared each other down. Then, with a snarl, Evere folded his arms and sat back down, grumbling to himself about revenge.
Mina turned her attention back to Mandi. “Well?”
Mandi gave a kind of awkward half-grin. “I’m not really sure what to say.”
Mina lifted an eyebrow. “Say I won’t regret this.”
Mandi’s face became serious. She looked her in the eye, and took her hand. “You won’t.”
Mina looked back at her sternly. “See to that.”
Mandi nodded.
Evere took out an unlit cigar and began chewing on it grumpily. “All right then, Ensign Mandi. If you’re on my ship, you’ll follow my orders.”
Molly saluted as best she could. “Aye, old man.”
“So, your first assignment is to teach us how to beat the Stone Council.”
Mandi dipped her head respectfully. “I’ll do everything I can, Captain.”
“That’ll get us halfway there. So, let’s break this down. You said there are three components they need for the spell to work. Am I correct in assuming that if we sabotage any one of those elements, their plan will fail?”
Mandi nodded. “Yes. My plan has been to stop them from getting enough souls together before the eclipse by destroying the flight web. But that won’t work anymore. Everything they need has been moved to Arianis Kultur, at the bottom of the sea.”
“So, our first problem is how to get there. Can you show us where it is located?
“Um, yeah, does anyone have a chart?”
Rachael pulled out some of their charts and handed them to her.
Mandi looked them over. “Are these children’s chalk marks?”
“Don’t ask.”
Mandi shrugged and made a mark in the azure sea. “It’s right there, about two thousand fathoms straights down.”
Margaret looked the chart over. “Hey, we’ve passed over that spot before. Who knew there was a city down there?”
Evere righted a chair and sat down thoughtfully. “So, we would need a way to get down there.”
“In my homeland, we have vessels that can float along the surface of our lakes, even travel beneath them,” Albashire mentioned. “They’re not all that different from airships,
to be honest.”
“The problem is that if it were made out of wood or iron it would dissolve in seconds,” Andolf reasoned, leaning on his staff.
“Unless we used something with a little more muscle.”
“Tougher than iron?” Ryin said, leaning forward. “Now you’re talking my language. I don’t mean to brag, but my family’s forges can make the best red steel in all of Ferrus.”
“How long would it withstand sea water?”
Ryin thought. “Depends on the thickness. For a quarter-inch plate…I’d say about two minutes.”
“That’s not long enough. What else can we use?”
“Truestone,” Rachael offered. “Truestone is almost completely immune to seawater.”
Andolf was impressed. “Could we not make some kind of sealed chamber and float ourselves down?”
They turned to Odger inquisitively. “Yeah, I could prepare enough Truestone for that,” he snorted.
Everyone’s brows came up. “Really?”
“Yeah, if I had about three years, and a dozen other Stonemasters to help me.”
Everyone groaned.
Dr. Griffin snapped his fingers. “Dragon skin resists seawater.”
Talliun nodded. “The League created all those pouches to hold seawater and spray it on our trees. Couldn’t we fashion a suit out of them?”
Rachael shook her head. “No, that’s no good, all the dragon hides we confiscated from the invasion force are still back on Wysteria.”
“What do you mean ‘we confiscated?’” Ryin asked. “Weren’t you still on their side at that point?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Plus, the dragons would track us down and slaughter us if we tried,” Mina warned. “They’d consider it sacrilege.”
Margaret stood up like something had just bitten her on the backside. “That’s it! The dragons!”
“We already said that won’t work, Margaret.”
She shook her hands. “No, not the dead dragons, the live dragons.”
They looked at her oddly.
She pushed her cracked glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you see? Void magic is more powerful than the gods, but so is dragon magic.”
Mandi blinked. “Well, yes, naturally, but the dragons kill anyone who trespasses into their territory.”
“Not us. Athel and Alder saved some of the dragons.”
Ryin held up his palms. “We were there too, you know?”
“They even named her Dragon Friend.”
Mandi’s jaw fell open. “Did they really?”
“Yes.”
Mandi looked around, astounded. “Incredible…” She thought for a moment. “Yes…yes, I believe that could work. Dragon magic could easily overpower the rubric and part the seas, at least long enough for us to get down there.”
“Who needs Truestone, we can fly straight down ourselves,” Evere said, chewing on his cigar approvingly.
“You are not taking up smoking again,” Mina scolded, snatching it away.
Privet forced himself to look past the mists surrounding his heart, and lifted up his head. “And once we’re down there, the dragons could break the bonds that hold JaArian and Veritus,” he realized.
Now Mandi was getting excited. “Yes, yes they could! The second JaArian is freed, his dominion over the seas will be restored, and the rubric will end.”
Animated, Privet turned around to where Athel lay. “And the second Veritus is freed, Wysterian magic will be made whole again, and Alder’s life will be saved.”
Athel’s face went pale with shock. She opened her lips, her eyes flicking back and forth as she considered the possibility.
Evere leaned forward. “Or they break the circle, or they could free one of the sacrifices, or they destroy the supply of black shakes. Once we’re down there, we have lots of options. Any one of them would foil the Stone Council’s design.”
Margaret clapped her hands. “This is it!”
Evere clapped his hands. “Head up top, I’ll chart us a course for the Dragon Isles. And wake up the tree, she keeps falling asleep and dropping the sails.”
Mina, Ryin, and Margaret scampered off to work.
Andolf bowed his head and prayed in thanks. “At last, a light in the dark.”
Talliun rubbed her damaged arm painfully. “Now we just have to see if it works. The dragons won’t be easy to convince, even by a dragon friend.”
Evere squared himself. “They’ll have to help us.”
“Or what?”
He patted her cracked bronze shoulder plate.
“Or the world will end.”
Chapter Four
(2,105 years ago)
Hundreds of large sand gulls circled lazily on the columns of hot air rising up off the fragrant landfill. Wide conveyer belts clanked and clattered, bringing a steady stream of refuse from the high brick towers of the city beyond the dunes. Like an aqueduct of filth, the unidentifiable mass of trash fell down into the pit.
But two of the sand gulls did something quite un-sandgullish. They broke their circling, carefully scanning the area around the belts one final time, as if to make sure that all of the workers had left for lunch. When they were satisfied, they dove down, streaming through the greenish air, before opening up their wings and leveling out just above the stratified layers of garbage.
One of the sand gulls changed into a young man, his body tall and lean, his eyes sharp and keen as he looked around one last time, then began tearing through the muck looking for something to eat.
The other gull became a young woman. She looked across the sandy bluffs to the east where the ocean lay, calmly lapping at the white sands of the shores.
“Do you remember that place, Dev’in?” she asked, tugging mournfully at a lock of her blonde hair.
“Place?” he asked, tossing aside a bundle of discarded potato peelings.
She looked out, her eyes conflicted. “We used to play on that beach together…before the usurpers took it.”
“Hey look, Mariss, I found a bag of bread!”
He lifted up the wet sack triumphantly.
She crinkled her nose. He loved how cute she looked when she did that.
“It’s all moldy,” she complained.
He waved his hand. “Nah, you just break the rotten bits off, the rest is still good.”
He took one out and broke off the green tips, presenting to her what was now a fairly satisfying loaf of bread. “See? Tonight we’ll have a real feast with the others.”
Despite her foul mood, she couldn’t help but smile. Being with him always made her feel better.
He set down his find, and set about looking for more. “I’d like to stumble on some yams like last week, now that was a real find.”
She turned her gaze to the west, where the image of the city danced from the heat of the dunes.
“They’re calling this place Taldives now,” she scoffed. “Can you image the arrogance? As if they have the right to rename our home.”
“Well, there is an upside,” he noted. “They’d never image we’d return to this place, so they aren’t looking for us here.”
She balled her fists as she looked at the towers, filled with fat, slurping people. “I hate them Dev’in…I hate them so much. They squat on our lands, they reduce our forests to desert…they’re like roaches. They pollute everything they touch.”
“What, like this?” He became a giant roach and scuttled along the trash, zigzagging towards her.
“Yuck! Get away from me!” She jumped back, unable to stop herself from laughing.
He returned to his real form and stood up, looking at her softly. “I’m glad to see you can still laugh.”
She felt herself blush and looked away. He had really grown up the last few years. His shoulders had become wide, his
body strong and solid, his face squared and manly. She had never really thought of him as handsome before, but lately he most certainly was.
Dev’in could not help but notice how beautiful she had become as well. Even standing here, amid dunes of garbage, she brought an aura of femininity that made the place seem almost pleasant to his eyes. Mariss’ mom had been pestering him for weeks to tell her how he felt. Perhaps today would be the day.
Loud laughter coming from above startled them. They became badgers and burrowed into the filth to hide. The surface was terrible, but that was nothing compared to the putrefied layers of feculence they found beneath, laminated horrors, each worse than the last, pressed and made potent by years of confinement, now made free and released around them. It was a truly horrific concoction. The men above laughed in their gurgling language, tossing empty bottles of ale down into the pit, before getting back on their horses and riding off.
When they were sure it was safe, Dev’in and Mariss burst out again. If she was angry before, being forced to hide in hell’s lasagna had made her livid.
“Ahhh, those foul destroyers!” she hissed, turning her hands into scythes. “We should go into town and kill some of them.”
Dev’in moved towards her. “No, Mariss, you heard what the elders said. They can’t know we’re here.”
She looked at him, anger and hurt in her eyes. “Why? This is our beach! These are our lands! We don’t need their permission.”
“But, if they discover us, the hunts will begin again.”
Mariss sprouted a pair of wings and prepared to fly off. “I’m going to do it. I’m going to make them pay.”
“Wait, Mariss. This isn’t the way.”
“Back off, Dev’in, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Hey, let go of me! What are you…?”
Her words were cut short as he pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes shot wide open in shock. She raised her hands reflexively as if to fight him off, but the higher her scythes raised, the less force was behind them. Finally, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she kissed him back. Their bodies swirled and blended together, a twirling column of emotion and passion. When they finally separated again, her cheeks were flushed, her heart was pounding in her ears, and her eyes were dreamy, as if she were a thousand miles away from her body.
Isle of Wysteria: Throne of Chains Page 9