“True. Do you know where the name comes from?” Corenn asked.
“Ethèque,” Lana answered with certainty. “It’s in the first texts of The Book. Those that were transcribed from oral tradition.”
“The drawings of Ji’s portal were of that same origin. The same goes for Arkary’s great arch. Perhaps the Ethèques built them. We’ll have to look into them.”
The others wondered how Corenn planned on looking into the oldest people of the known world, who had disappeared several dozen eons before. But the Mother had an idea. It involved a special detour that, like everything else that was likely to be of any help to them, also involved a certain danger.
Two eventless days passed by. Grigán’s arm was still injured, but he managed to devise a few more exercises to satisfy Léti’s hunger for improvement. The young woman, now equipped with her rapier and armor, was becoming quite the fighter. The warrior knew she was skilled enough to become a truly formidable one.
Again, Corenn and Yan separated from the group to discuss magic. The Mother promised him they would move on to more technical lessons soon, perhaps after they met with Usul. For the young man, his theoretical training was almost done, and he could barely wait to put it into practice.
Meanwhile, Rey discovered a new passion for the Eurydian cult, scrambling for any excuse to get closer to Lana. Even though she knew his true motives, the Maz played along and discussed the universal Moral with him for decidays on end. No one felt like betraying the actor as the one who, historically, had followed these virtuous principles with the least fervor.
Bowbaq had fallen more quiet than usual. His battle with the Mog’lur had shaken him even more deeply than the events on Ji. This time, his family was in danger, and the giant began to doubt himself again. Unbeknownst to him, the third day of their voyage would see a major change in his character.
The Othenor left the Median Sea for the Rominian Sea, and the heirs gathered on deck to talk about their nearing destination. Corenn and Grigán knew enough about it to satisfy their curiosity, and they listened to the leaders of their group as they shared their knowledge, Bowbaq included.
The Land of Beauty was an archipelago of more than thirty islands ranging widely in size. They all belonged to the Guoris, a somewhat primitive people, but the lands still held inexhaustible riches.
The Guoris had endured several Rominian assaults from the north, during the time of Two Empires. The Land of Beauty maintained its freedom in large part due to its geography. Each island had to be conquered and held individually, which cost the invaders too much time and resources. The stakes weren’t worth it, and Romine gave up. After these failed conquests, the Guoris learned to prevent future attacks.
By and large they weren’t a warring people. Their only excursions consisted of the occasional trade with the Baronies and the sultans of Jezeba. But they used their occasional earnings to build up a war fleet strong enough to make any would-be invader think twice.
The money was quickly exhausted to meet the high cost of their growing fleet and army of mercenaries. To maintain their defenses, the Guoris had the idea to rent a few of their coveted islands. The tenants would have complete sovereignty on their island, and be protected by a fleet, an amenity included in the rent they paid.
It was a surpassing success: A third of the Land of Beauty’s islands were now occupied by Loreliens, Goranese, Rominians, Jez, and Junians who were wealthy enough to pay the extravagant rent. The fleet was manned entirely by mercenaries. The Guoris returned to their tribal life, unconcerned with the rest of the world, and stockpiled a fortune that they hardly touched.
“My friend has lived there for more than thirty years,” Grigán shared. “He might be able to arrange a visit to the Sacred Island for us.”
“How do you know someone so rich?” Rey asked in surprise.
“I got him out of some trouble in Manive, dozens of years ago. Some pickpockets had caught up with him, and I helped him out. Over the years he has amply repaid the favor. His name is Zarbone.”
“Zarbone?” the actor repeated, suspiciously.
“He’s no Zü. He’s Goranese.”
“Where did he make his fortune?”
“Frankly, I don’t know. I think he owns a lot of land in the Grand Empire. He also deals in antiques. He’s obsessed with collecting—so much so that he renamed his island Collection.”
“I would really like to have my own island,” Léti said, dreamily.
“You wouldn’t like your neighbors,” Grigán warned. “The Züu have an island in the Land of Beauty. The Valipondes too. Zarbone suspects that the island closest to his hides a sacrificial temple for K’lur.”
“He’s not sure?”
“Of course not! The tenants are masters of their island, but they are forbidden to set foot elsewhere. For us, too, to meet Zarbone, we will have to get through the Guoris’ mercenaries. The Land of Beauty is one of the most heavily defended places in the world!”
“Let’s hope the islands are better defended than Séhane’s castle anyway,” Rey remarked.
It was then that Bowbaq jumped up, a surprised expression on his face. His companions could see that it had nothing to do with their conversation. The giant was listening to something, but the others couldn’t hear a thing.
“Someone is talking to me!” he whispered seriously. “In my mind. An erjak!” He rushed to the edge of the sloop to look out over the horizon. Sure enough, there was another boat in view, but it was several leagues away.
“They can reach your mind from that far?”
“No, Léti,” Bowbaq responded with an absentminded air. He was troubled by the interior voice. “Not human. It’s an animal erjak. It’s the first time that an animal has ever started the conversation!” he joyously announced to the group.
Hoping to see the animal, the giant peered down into the water, trying to penetrate past the fading light. With the connection to the animal, the giant feared the immense expanse of water less. Besides, after confronting a Mog’lur, the fear of drowning seemed absurd.
“What are they saying?” Yan asked, as everyone else tried to see something under the water’s surface.
“He says: play,” Bowbaq said in an emotional voice. “It’s a message of friendship. I need to see him. I need to respond!”
“There!” Grigán said, pointing off the bow. His eyes were more discerning than anyone else’s. “Gyole dolphins.”
A group of four dolphins were racing fifty yards in front of the sloop. Bowbaq rushed to the bow and admired the merry animals, who seemed to be able to reciprocate Bowbaq’s same level of intelligent thought.
He concentrated and reached the closest one’s mind and entered it with ease. The animal didn’t have the typical reaction of rejecting him right away.
“He understands!” the giant exclaimed, tears in his eyes. “He asked me why humans never respond!”
The heirs enviously watched joy overtake the northerner, knowing well that they would never experience anything like it.
Bowbaq thought he could easily reach the deep mind of his new friend, but he resisted the temptation, fearing the avalanche of marine sensations that could overwhelm him.
The dolphins escorted the sloop for a while, until the Othenor met the other boat. It was then that everything went wrong.
Bowbaq felt the shock of a harpoon in his skin as if he himself had been the impaled dolphin, as if he really had shared its deep mind. He felt the animal’s agonized suffering as the whaler’s crew pulled their prey to the ship. He heard the desperate, incomprehensible cries of the other dolphins in his mind as if they were screaming in his own ears.
“Yan, could you bring us closer to that boat?” he asked, brow furrowed.
The young man obeyed. He did not know what the giant had in mind, but agreed without a second thought.
“Bowbaq, it won’t do any good.” Grigán tried to dissuade his friend, feeling the approaching conflict. “They’re only doing their jobs.”
“
It’s not even for food,” the giant grumbled, growing even more furious. “It’s just for money!”
As the Othenor got closer to the whaling ship, its crew began bustling about the deck. A dozen or so bronzed men stood at the ready, weapons in hand, and the whaler captain changed course to bear down on the heirs.
“By all the gods and their whores!” Rey shouted, momentarily forgetting Lana’s presence. “They’re going to board our ship too! They’re pirates!”
“If we hadn’t changed course, they would have left us alone!” Grigán complained as he went searching for his curved blade.
He came back with his bow and Bowbaq’s mace, but the giant refused, looking nauseated and weak.
“Thank you, my friend. You were right to tell me… that I needed to defend myself. But with a weapon… no. It’s unfair. Animals don’t have any. I want to fight, but without a weapon.”
“If you are barehanded and your enemy has a sword, that’s not exactly a fair fight either!”
“Grigán, have you seen the size of his fists? Is it really that unfair?” Rey hollered.
Corenn and Lana went down below deck, following Grigán’s orders. Léti stood firm, despite her aunt’s pleas for her to follow. Yan armed himself with the broadsword Léti was no longer using. His heart hammered in his chest, like everyone else’s. He thought for a moment that it would all be okay. It’s not like they would just ram right into each other.
Much to Yan’s surprise, the two boats did just that, and after the boats collided, three pirates jumped aboard the Othenor. Grigán put an arrow in the first one’s throat, and Rey put a crossbow bolt into the second one’s stomach. He then stumbled and fell overboard.
Bowbaq grabbed the third by his ankle and lifted him up, flipping him upside down. He could still hear the dolphin’s pain and confusion ringing in his ears. He swung the man around his head twice and flung him overboard, before jumping on board the enemy ship.
The heirs looked at each other, surprised. Bowbaq had never shown such aggression. He had already lugged three men overboard before Rey and Léti could jump aboard the whaling ship and join the fight. Arrow after arrow, Grigán took care of the most dangerously armed pirates, shooting them down before they came near the unprotected giant. With an ease that filled her with a wild joy, Léti injured the first two who came at her. But she quickly regained focus and tried to stay calm. Sharp mind.
The fight had only just begun, but already only five able pirates remained, and they were cowering away from their enemies on the opposite end of the ship. Léti and Rey came back aboard the sloop, but Bowbaq wasn’t finished. He first freed the injured dolphin, who fled with what remaining strength it had. Then, to Grigán’s dismay, Bowbaq disappeared below deck and out of sight. The warrior could no longer cover him. The giant quickly reemerged, though, and he joined his friends shortly after, wearing a satisfied expression on his face.
The whaling ship sunk below the waves before the Othenor had even sailed a half league.
“How big was the hole you made?” Yan asked, amused and happy that they had escaped so easily.
“Just big enough so they couldn’t plug it up,” the giant answered with a wink.
“Don’t you think that was a bit cruel?” Lana said timidly. “Those men will struggle to reach the coast.”
“They only have to ask the dolphins for help.” But Bowbaq wasn’t so cynical and added, “They have a small lifeboat. I detached it before leaving the ship. It will teach them a lesson.”
Corenn commented, “Still, we didn’t need to add this extra risk.”
“But yes! The heroes always sink the pirate ship,” Rey concluded, with a sense of humor that only he understood.
The first islands of the Land of Beauty appeared on the horizon at the apogee of the fourth day. If the western islands had been their destination, it would have taken them another two days to get there. Fortunately, according to Grigán’s memory, the island of Collection was located at the southern end of Great Island, the capital and largest island of the archipelago.
The Othenor hadn’t quite sailed past the first sandbar when a huge warship, which must have been a carrack, intersected their path and blocked the way. The heirs waited calmly for it to drift in closer.
“What do you think, Bowbaq, how big of a hole would you need to sink a boat that size?”
The giant shrugged his shoulders, choosing to ignore Rey’s joke. After the fact, Bowbaq was ashamed of his violent outburst, but the actor wouldn’t let any opportunity to tease him slip by.
The carrack and its crew were from Jez, but they had been hired by the king to serve the Land of Beauty. When the captain spoke, it was in the Guori tongue. None of the heirs spoke Guori. Grigán chose to answer in Jezac, yet another language he alone knew.
“We wish to go to Collection. The governor is our friend. It’s just a cordial visit.”
Each island’s tenant took the title of governor, which wasn’t far from reality, since each governor genuinely ruled their strip of land and held all the same powers as the Guori king, at least on their own land.
Grigán’s indifference relaxed the mercenaries. “Is he expecting you?” the Jez captain inquired.
“Unfortunately not. But he’ll be delighted to host us; I’m sure.”
Grigán hoped he wasn’t mistaken. It had been two years since he last saw Zarbone. It was possible he was no longer alive.
The mercenary captain volunteered to be their escort, an offer that was more order than courtesy. Yan steered the Othenor, trailing closely behind the carrack.
It occurred to Corenn that their small group of heirs didn’t include anyone from Jez. No descendant of Chief Ssa-Vez. Similarly, there was no descendant of Prince Vanamel, nor his counselor, Saat the Treasurer; the three emissaries who had perished during the expedition to Ji. Coincidence? Or was there an explanation, however complex it might be?
Her mind raced, making connections between other pieces of information, combining them to quickly form a new theory. The sudden clarity of it froze her with fear.
The queen had been spared from the Züu’s attacks for a long time. Their enemy might have kept her alive for a few extra dékades with the sole aim of setting a trap for the survivors, who would no doubt gather in Junine. Or then again… perhaps Séhane wasn’t on the blacklist?
The Mother quickly gathered her friends to debate the idea. From the very beginning of their journey, the heirs had learned to respect Corenn’s intelligence, and they listened to her attentively.
“Only children conceived after the wise ones’ return were invited to the reunions on the Day of the Owl,” she announced, excited. “Were there heirs who were never invited? Let’s proceed by a process of elimination. The wise from Goran, Vanamel, and Saat never survived the expedition, and neither of them had children. Their case is easiest. But the others?
“Arkane of Junine and Chief Ssa-Vez of Jezeba were the only ones who were fathers before they set sail for Ji. Vez never came back. His descendants always avoided the reunions, and the current generation of his descendants surely knows nothing about the whole story.
“Which leaves Arkane. He had a son, Thomé, Séhane’s father, and no other children. Thomé participated in a few reunions, but he kept his children from them. Séhane wouldn’t have known anything about us if it weren’t for her grandfather’s legacy.
“She wasn’t a target for the Züu. She was in danger only after meeting us! She might even still be alive if we had avoided Junine… no amount of tears and regrets will change the past.
“The rest of us here, apart from Yan, are descendants of children who were conceived after the emissaries returned. Our enemy is trying to kill off only heirs like us. I think that Séhane was killed only as a preventative measure, to keep her from helping us.”
“What does it mean?” asked Lana.
“I don’t know. When we figure it out, we’ll know how to fight back. Still, it’s just an idea. If Vez’s offspring were att
acked, the whole theory falls apart.”
“Unless our enemy wants to cover his tracks. Or maybe he has incomplete information. Perhaps he doesn’t want to take any risks,” Rey remarked. “In fact, we don’t know any more than we did before, no offense, Corenn.”
“There are so many things we don’t know,” the Mother said with a sigh. “Who is the Accuser? And why? Where do the portals lead? How do they work?”
“What did our ancestors live through?” Lana added.
“And who was Nol?” Léti continued. “And the Mog’lur?”
“And why is Bowbaq so huge?” Rey joked.
His interjection relaxed them all a little, and it was rewarded with a few smiles. Still, it was as if their minds were being swallowed up in a heavy, harrowing fog. If they didn’t find a few answers quickly, they might disappear into the fog forever.
The carrack, with its enormous sails, led the Othenor at a brisk pace. The Jez crew knew the archipelago’s waters well, its currents, reefs, and sandbars, so they could navigate easily through the maze that was presented by the Land of Beauty. They passed through stretches of water that the heirs would have hesitated to sail into alone.
The whole time, the mercenary captain didn’t speak a word to them, except once. Lana shuddered when Grigán translated. Had the Jez read their minds?
“They forbid us from going to that island over there,” the warrior repeated for his companions. “It is, of course, the Sacred Island of the Guoris.”
“I thought it was forbidden to step foot on any of the islands, anyhow?” Rey said.
“It is. They warned us to not even get close. It’s an extremely dangerous place. Not like that’s a surprise or anything,” he replied.
They all stared at the solitary island. It was covered in thick vegetation, and the only point of elevation was a bare hill that rose a few hundred yards above the greenery.
Yan added, “It’s becoming a habit of ours, visiting forbidden islands.”
“A specialty, even,” Rey clarified with a stilted air. “At least there won’t be any Züu on this one.”
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