Sea of Secrets Anthology

by J E Feldman

  Smiles dawned on their faces. Some hesitant; some shy; some assured.

  The youngest girl was as confident as a grown man who had just returned from battle. She turned to Mariana and said, “When do we weave the dream to stop the monster?”

  And Mariana knew. She hadn’t known before the spell, but after it, their duty…her duty…was clear. She could feel the Leviathan. Its weakness had passed. The Land Walkers, while not decimated, no longer interested it.

  It was returning for the Sea Dwellers.

  “Now,” she said.

  Their hands still linked, they closed their eyes and lifted up their faces as they had in her dream. No words were spoken. None were needed. They were joined in a way that no one else could be. They shared their thoughts and knew each other’s feelings.

  A dream, Mariana thought to them, remembering what the gods had showed her. It must be the most wondrous dream we have ever imagined. We must tempt the beast, entice it to come home and back to its briny bed deep in the midnight waters. What calls to us? What makes us want to forget everything?

  Images from the eight people around her filled her head. Happy memories, engrossing fantasies, sweet thoughts, simplicity…Mariana saw all this and more as her brothers and sisters imagined their favorite dreams and wishes. She added her own to the growing pool. Exploring the undersea land, finding what hidden treasures lurked beyond the next bend.

  She felt their thoughts mesh together and expand. The Dream they wove was thick and called out to the Leviathan like a siren to a sailor. They felt the shift in the creature’s thoughts. The desire to obliterate their people dimmed. It hesitated as new thoughts and images filled its mind. To explore the vast ocean, to drift languorously on its invisible currents, to find the love of another like it, to bask in the warmth of sulfuric craters…

  The circle felt the creature glide onto a different path, one that led away from their city. They pushed the Dream they were weaving, feeling it stretch farther and farther out to sea where it led to the beast’s lair. It settled back down where it had lain dormant for a thousand turns and drifted off to the sweet attraction of the Dream that encircled its mind.

  They pushed a little further, feeling their Dream entwine itself into the creature’s thoughts. Soon, the sound of its mind ceased. They could still feel its presence in the ocean, but it didn’t trouble them.

  Mariana opened her eyes and saw the others do the same. Some of them exchanged proud though wonderous looks with each other. Mariana directed her gaze to the High Priest.

  “It is done,” she said. “The Leviathan is asleep and will remain that way for as long as we can continue to create Dreams for it.”

  The High Priest nodded his head, sighing in relief and weariness. He gestured to a nearby acolyte who was standing with his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide as clam shells.

  “Go to the palace,” the priest instructed. “Tell them the task is done. We are safe. Our Dreamers have lulled the Leviathan back into hibernation.”

  The boy nodded and ran from the room.

  The youngest girl among them shook her head. “We are not only Dreamers,” she said.

  “We make the Dreams,” the old man pointed out.

  “Like weaving a basket or plaiting hair,” the old woman interjected.

  “We’re Dream Weavers!” the little girl said with a laugh that sounded like tinkling crystals to Mariana’s ears.

  The former princess and new Dream Weaver smiled. After the past several days, it felt good to smile again, to know they were safe.

  D.S. Durden

  Biography

  D.S. Durden is an android residing primarily in the swamps of Floridaland. D.S. Durden shares a home with a menagerie of quadruped creatures, many of which trace their origins back to Earth. He enjoys writing semi-biographical sci-fi and fantasy stories when not busy generating income by resolving tech issues faced by the humans which he begrudgingly shares the planet with. His hobbies include drawing, painting, baking banana bread and cheesecakes, deciphering the mysteries of the void itself, and spending far too much time on social media.

  Sea of Troubles

  D.S. Durden

  “You’re no match for Douglas Darktide of Calyx,” exclaimed a young boy.

  “I am Kaci Scarletwound, and I’ll defeat you,” a girl of equivalent age called back in response.

  Two pieces of driftwood made a clack as the two children engaged each other in a play-fight. Their feet sunk into the sands of the beach with every step. The sun was high in the sky, the atmosphere warm with a cool breeze flowing in from the sea behind them. They grunted and shouted with every swipe of their makeshift weapons. They were equally skilled and easily kept up with each other’s movements. The seriousness began to fade as the fight devolved into a cacophony of laughter and light-hearted insults. The pair eventually settled and sat upon some nearby rocks made smooth from years of waves washing over them. Between conversation and jokes, they shared a glass bottle of juice.

  “Kaci,” the boy beckoned for the girl’s attention after a brief moment of silence with his brown eyes locked onto the horizon.

  “Yeah, Doug?”

  “What if we were actual pirates?”

  Kaci giggled. “Actual pirates?” she inquired while brushing her red hair away from her face to look at him.

  “Yeah, like real pirates, out on the high seas of Redeirya,” Douglas turned his head to see her expression before she let loose a chuckle.

  “Uhm,” Kaci grinned. “That would be so cool,” she blurted out.

  Douglas smiled, glad for her shared excitement.

  “We could get off this island and see the world and stuff,” Kaci commented before taking another sip of the juice bottle. “And the treasure,” she added. “We could be super rich.”

  “Everyone would know our names,” Douglas pushed himself up from the rock to stand, gazing out across the sea before him. “Kinda like how everyone knows your dad, but it would be people all over the sea.”

  “We could be feared, not like fisherman. We could be way more cool than my dad,” Kaci snickered.

  “Yeah,” Douglas’ voice trailed off as he continued to watch the incoming gentle waves, pausing for a while before speaking again. “Let’s go to the library tomorrow, I’ve read some books there about pirates.”

  The following day, the two children met back up and began musing their dreams of sailing out to sea while making their way toward the local library. Douglas pulled open the front doors and Kaci followed him in.

  The librarian glanced up from her writings and greeted them, her eyes settling on them for a short moment before uttering, “behave.”

  The children hushed their voices and agreed before disappearing into the many shelves.

  “Okay,” Douglas started in a whisper. “The pirate books are over here in the back. Don’t let Miss Cynthia know that’s what we’re doing.”

  “Why?”

  “‘Cause, uh,” he paused. “I may have checked them out for too long maybe once or twice?”

  Kaci snickered at him and watched as he pulled down several books about their desired subject.

  “This is it.”

  Douglas carefully placed the modest stack of books on a nearby table and pushed them forward, retrieving the book on top and opening the cover. Kaci leaned closer to him to get a better look.

  “There’s a part in here about…” he trailed off while flipping through the pages, his eyes scanning the many words and detailed hand-drawn images. “Here it is.”

  The book laid open on a page about pirates in the Redeirya Sea. Eagerly, the children began to read its contents to themselves. Douglas grunted in excitement of finding the exact words he had been seeking.

  “Right here, apparently there’s Pirate Lords out there.”

  “Ohh.”

  “Way out in the Redeirya Sea there’s apparently islands that have been claimed by different Pirate Lords as their own personal capitals. How cool is that?”
<
br />   “We could have our own island,” Kaci grinned, trying to keep her voice down despite her excitement.

  “Yeah, and,” Douglas pushed the book off to the side, retrieving another from the stack. “I think...this book has some bit about treasure and stuff.”

  Kaci bit her lip, eager to see what the next book had to say about her specific interests. The children continued to read through the books, absorbing as much information as possible until they ultimately decided to just take them on their way out. Slipping past the librarian, they snuck away without checking the books out.

  “Okay, so, first thing we need is a boat,” Douglas stated with one of the books in his lap, thumbing through the pages while nestled amidst the roots of a large tree.

  “My dad has boats,” Kaci responded, swinging her legs beneath her while perched upon a low tree branch.

  “Right, perfect.”

  “I know his schedule and all so we can probably borrow it without his knowing. How long are we going to be gone, do you think?”

  “Well, I know there’s a rumor that there’s some sort of shipwreck not too far from here. We might be able to go check it out while our parents are asleep.”

  “Ooh,” Kaci smirked. “We’re gonna sneak out in the night.”

  Douglas agreed before diving back into his reading. After a few minutes, he looked up from the book and stared out across the sea.

  “I think,” Douglas hesitated as a thought occurred to him. “We should probably get a crew together, y’know? If we wanna be real pirates, we should have a crew.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good point. Who do we know, though? It’s pretty much just us and the adults. The other kids are weird or boring.”

  “What about Michael?” Douglas turned to look at Kaci.

  “Do you really think he’s gonna go for this?” Kaci replied with a raised brow.

  “I mean, more than likely. We can ask him.”

  “Hm,” Kaci thought for a moment. “What if we run into trouble?”

  “Yeah, we’ll need real weapons—not sticks.”

  Kaci pondered to herself for a moment before speaking up again. “Well,” she started. “Michael’s mom is a blacksmith.”

  Douglas cooed at the idea. “Even better. If he joins us, then no worries there. We have a ship, a small crew, weapons,” he smiled wide. “We can totally do this.”

  “If Michael joins,” Kaci reminded him.

  “He’s like a brother to me, I’m sure he’ll join us.”

  The pair quietly continued about their business for a while before Kaci broke the silence again. “Hey, do you know anything about Thiovlo?”

  “Thiovlo? That village north of Calyx?” Douglas raised a brow at her. “What about it?”

  “Well, I went up there a while ago and I saw one of them turn into a dragon.”

  Douglas blinked his eyes at her statement, his mouth slightly agape.

  “A dragon?” he inquired.

  “Yeah, it was really crazy, but she totally turned into a dragon. She disappeared into the sea and I didn’t see her again after that, but,” Kaci paused, thinking for a brief few seconds. “I wonder if she would help us out, too.”

  “Do you know her name?”

  “No, I don’t know who she is, but she’s easy to pick out from a crowd.”

  “Yes,” Douglas blurted out. “Let’s do it!”

  ***

  Later that evening, the two children snuck off over the bridge toward Thiovlo. The village sat upon a steep cliff that overlooked the ocean with rolling hills framing the northeastern edge of the settlement, speckled with wildflowers of every color. Fireflies danced around the fields, accenting the gentle glow from the rising moon.

  “How are we going to find her at night?” Douglas spoke up along their trip. “She might be inside already.”

  “Well, she and a few others seem to be more active in the evening hours. I’m not sure if they’re like, their own clan or something, but we have a chance.”

  Douglas and Kaci ventured into the village, keeping close to the sides of buildings and out of the view of the fanciful streetlights as they proceeded. Upon nearing an ornate building ahead of them, Kaci ducked behind some crates and gestured for Douglas to follow.

  “There she is,” Kaci whispered while motioning toward a woman in the distance with dark blue hair who was dressed in an elaborate gold and tangerine top, a wine-colored flowing skirt wrapped in gold silks, dripping in maroon and pink beads.

  “Whoa, she’s really pretty.”

  “Yeah, that’s the dragon-lady,” Kaci declared. “And that’s the bathhouse.”

  “Bathhouse?” Douglas stared at her inquisitively.

  “Yeah, we don’t have any in Calyx, but this one has a hot spring inside. It’s really fancy and people come here to relax. It’s kind of like a spa.”

  “I’ve never been to a spa before.”

  “Of course you haven’t—you’re always playing in the dirt,” Kaci chuckled at him.

  “So are you,” Douglas retorted. “Besides, I thought you hated that stuff.”

  “I do, but I still know what it is.”

  “I know what a spa is,” Douglas trailed off, grumbling to himself.

  “Anyway, you stay here. I’m gonna sneak in.”

  Douglas agreed and Kaci slipped away into the darkness between the buildings, approaching the bathhouse before disappearing around the back. Glancing over her shoulders, she pulled a nearby barrel over to the spot directly below a window high up on the wall. Climbing on top of it, she peered inside. The flooring was made of a lovely, rose-tinted wood and the walls were finely-crafted masonry of multi-colored stone. The woman could be seen entering through a door as steam escaped into the main room. Kaci looked over the edges of the window for a way to open it. Upon finding the locking mechanism, she reached into her back pocket to retrieve a tool which she then used to slide open the window. Successfully creating a way inside, she pulled herself up onto the windowsill and carefully dropped down into the building. Cautiously, she approached the door and snuck inside.

  Directly in front of Kaci was a barrier made of wood to block view of the bathing area upon entering. Moving closer and peering around the barrier, she could now see the establishment’s attraction. Within the structure was a luxurious hot spring lined by smooth, dark rocks, with flooring made of the same stone but carved flat, and a vast stained-glass window along the ceiling high above the water. Off to the side, Kaci saw her target disrobing and carefully placing her articles of clothing onto hangers in the corner. She removed rings from her fingers one by one and placed them into a box beside her hanging clothes, then retrieved a towel from a neat stack in a cubby before she made her way toward the water’s edge. Careful not to be seen, Kaci kept watch on the woman’s actions, waiting for her opportunity to sneak in further. Once she seemed sufficiently distracted, Kaci tiptoed toward the location of the woman’s garments and quietly removed a tangerine-colored silk shawl that draped from pink-gemmed shoulder pads dyed a shade of wine. On her way back to the door, the woman turned around and noticed her presence.

  “Hey,” the woman called out, obviously annoyed. “What are you doing with that?”

  Kaci jumped, glancing over her shoulder before darting toward the door.

  “Thief,” the woman shouted. “Get back here!”

  Douglas sat behind the crate, sighing boredly until he heard a commotion over by the bathhouse. Kaci jumped over the crate, holding the faciful garment tightly in her hands.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” the woman furiously inquired. She was hurriedly dressed, her skin and hair still dripping with water from the spring, while holding up her skirt that faded into the same wine-color that matched the shoulder pads of her shawl.

  “Uh, dang, I didn’t really think this through,” Kaci mumbled beneath her breath.

  “What is happening?” Douglas confusedly asked her. “Did you...did you steal that?”

  “Give that back imme
diately,” the blue-haired woman demanded.

  “Uhm,” Kaci tried to think of something to say. “I’ll give this back if you help us.”

  “What?”

  “Y-You heard me,” Kaci stammered.

  “Help you with what?” the woman’s curiosity got the best of her despite the situation.

  Kaci glanced around before shoving the shawl into Douglas’ hands. “Put this on,” she commanded.

  “What? Why me?” Douglas confusedly asked her.

  “It’s way too bright and gaudy for me,” Kaci retorted.

  “Uhm, you know I can still hear you, right?” the woman called out. “And give me that back already,” she shouted. “What the hell do you need help with?”

  “How do we know you won’t just take it back and leave?” Kaci replied.

  “You literally stole from me and are holding my garments hostage. I’m pretty sure I have every right to not be dealing with you brats right now or ever.”

  “I mean, true, but,” Douglas chimed in. “It would be pretty cool if you could help us.”

  “Why me? Why is this happening to me?” the woman grumbled to herself before speaking up again. “Answer me. What do you need help with?”

  Kaci and Douglas met each other’s gaze for a brief moment before Kaci spoke again.

  “Come with us,” Kaci called out to her before grabbing Douglas’ hand and venturing back toward the bridge, away from the village.

  ***

  “Okay, look,” Kaci began. “I know you can turn into a dragon.”

  “Okay, and?” the woman replied with a raised brow.

  “And...uh,” Kaci struggled for words. The conversation was not going even remotely as it did in her head. “Well, we think you can help us. We’re-” Kaci began but Douglas interrupted her.

  “We’re going on an adventure and we want you to go with us,” he blurted out. The woman stared at them for a moment before sighing, her arms crossed, and now holding her forehead in one of her hands.