by Dawn Chapman
I noticed several large ropes had been attached, and there was even a boat sitting off the water’s edge. The dock itself I’d not really noticed before. It was sectioned off from the water’s edge. To get the boat in itself was probably a huge task. I’d seen many practices over my years of nature channels, man-made ways of getting ships in and out of the water—the military vessel launches, I’d witnessed the most dramatic of just literally dropping the boat from the side of the river or water’s edge. This looked like it would be much easier on the ship if she hadn’t been full.
The magical energy around the ship started to hum, and I could see the colours as they swirled and swirled around her. I didn’t want her to sink, but the butterflies in my stomach swarmed. The small boat out on the estuary moved, and the large gates holding the ocean back were released as water came gushing inside the dock, filling her up from the bottom. I stood amazed. I thought it would somehow magically move from the outside, but no, this was pretty much how I’d seen our ship launches as far back as I could remember.
I watched as the ship started to rock, the flowing water so fast it managed to move it, even with the sheer weight she now contained. That’s when the mages energy really focussed, and they started to steady the vessel. I watched in awe at the sheer strength that it took to do this. From a rocking mess, she settled, and with the waters getting higher and higher, I could finally sense how amazing this process actually was.
I noticed Macie was tiring quickly, the sweat dripping off her forehead and her clean clothes already soaked through.
The water level was about half way now. The ship started to rock once more as the floodgates suddenly gave way with an almighty crack.
One of the lads shouted as the water rushed inwards at such speed that it was almost going to bowl Macie and the others over. I couldn’t watch, but then I had to—.
“Macie!” I called out, but I was already too late.
The water hit the side of the dock, rushing up the walls, and then crashing into the four mages. With their magical energies and concentration stopped, there was nothing to keep the ship from hurtling towards the wall with the wave.
“Macie, we’ve got to stop it!” I screamed at her as I tried my best to drag the sodden child up, but this too was almost too late.
I screamed once more, pushing her out of the way just as the side of the ship veered to crashing into the wall. With almost instinct, I reached for the pendant Oarhn had given me. The dolphin grew red hot in my hand, and then a white light erupted around me. There before me was a shield, least it looked like it.
Notification alerts popped up, but I ignored them all.
The ship hit the white shield, and it seemed to cocoon the vessel from splintering on the dock’s walls. It buffeted the wooden hull from breaking, but it could not stop one young man on top from falling over the side and into the raging inferno below us. I cried out once more and hoped he’d swim to the surface—or not be dragged under the ship or smashed against the sides of the dock. The water receded in a gushing swell of forward and backwards motions. This shield, I’d no idea how long it might hold or if the waters would settle, but the other mages were back on their feet, the surrounding energy multiplying as they got the waves under control.
Within a flat second, I saw Abel dive off the side of the dock and into the raging waters. Moments later, he surfaced with the young man in his grasp. I let out a breath of air and sucked in more, not knowing how long I’d managed to hold my breath, but needing the oxygen.
I moved to the side of the dock where I managed to help Abel and the young man to safety as the water really settled. He slopped himself on the dock wall, gasping for air and shaking his head. “That was the closest we’d ever come to a disaster. Whatever you did, Akillia, it saved this dock, and no doubt, our lives.”
“I just wanted something to stop the ship,” I said. Exasperated, I’d not thought of myself being able to use magic like that. And it had been so powerful. I’d never dreamed I could do that. I hoped, if I needed again, I would be able to do it.
Macie smiled at me, though her skin was pale and her fur stuck together, making her look like the poorest bedraggled creature I’d ever seen.
She tried to speak but, finding her voice hard to find. “It was a protection spell. You spoke it as clear as day, not for yourself but for others. The goddess of the seas only answers to those who truly want to save others’ lives, and you did so by honouring her and her ways. Inside you, Akillia, is a great strength. Though you know nothing of magic, it knows you. I’ll help you on the journey across to Maicreol. I’ll teach you all the basics, and we can go from there, in whichever magic sense or ability you wish to train. Lots of people choose to heal, but there’s a strength in you that I don’t think healing will quench. I think you need more than that.”
How could there be strength in me? I thought of Andy and didn’t feel strong at all. Yet, the fact I’d helped to save everything here without thinking, and only in believing I could, made me happy.
Myleen and Ferris came rushing over as the ship settled into its new position, the doors to the dock ruined. “I’ll get my team to help fix those while we’re on our journey.”
Macie nodded. “We might need them when we return. I have a feeling, even though Akillia has skills beyond what she knows, nature isn’t on our side. This was a warning that we shouldn’t be leaving the docks. I think we have a lot to come up against on our journey.”
I couldn’t agree more. There was danger ahead—and lots of it.
“Let us get aboard and out to sea,” Ferris said.
“You’ll all need to dry off inside when we are underway, but for now, we’ve all got jobs to do.”
I knew it. Moving towards the edge of the dock and towards the boat, we could get a set of planks across easy now and climb in without worrying pf the scaffolding or falling—now, if we fell, we’d only get wet.
Chapter 19
The wind rushed past us as the Eboyxei headed out to sea. I’d never spent much time at all in or around the ocean. Scared—no, not scared—I’m terrified of water. I looked down into the dark depths of what was below us, and my mind started to fill with dread. This wasn’t me. This couldn’t be me.
Abel stood beside me and placed a hand on my arm. “It’s okay to be scared, you know? I don’t like the waters much myself. The thought of drowning is really not my idea of fun.”
“What kinds of things can happen at sea?”
He pointed out to the massive blue waves ahead of us. “The usual—storms, beasts. I don’t know of anyone that’s been out this time of year. Usually, the storms are so bad, voyagers just hole up for the winter.”
I turned to the skies, seeing the blues and greys swirling around. I’d have to pick that book of Oarhn’s apart. There was no way we needed to come upon anything unexpected. The way we now sailed would be the life or death or us and the lands that they loved.
I really didn’t like the ‘getting’ to sea part. There was an urgency from the tiny boat ahead of us tugging us out to sea. I knew a couple of the team would be there helping, and then they’d return to Oarhn and keep his farm and lands in check while we were away. The fact was, now that we were heading out, I felt dread sinking deep into my soul.
There was a huge rush of water up the sides of the ship, and I narrowly avoided being soaked.
Abel tugged my arm. “Come on. Let’s get you inside and rested. Being out here isn’t something we need to do right now. The crew has this covered. They know how to settle her at sea.”
I shook my head and pointed to the main bridge, high above us on the deck. “No, you go in. I need to go see Taffie, Dovol, and Cris first to make sure they’re okay.”
Abel shrugged, and I knew he wanted to stick by my side, but there was going to be many a time now that we needed space, especially as I’d started to find him a little more than attractive.
I watched him sway his way into the main cabins, and then I headed on up. Reachin
g for a ladder rung, I heaved myself up and onto it. The swell of the oceans was something I really needed to get used to, but I enjoyed the facts, this was exhilarating. I really wanted to see everything, not to be cooped up inside. How they’d wanted to do that was beyond me.
Reaching the top rung, Taffie was waiting for me. “Bit strong for you to be up here, lass.” His whiskers twitched in the winds, dripping with the moisture we all were sprayed with.
“I know, but I wanted to talk, and to see and experience everything too.” He held out his hand, and I took it, the fur tickling my palms. A hug from this amazing cat-like creature would have gone down very well right now. They looked cute but warm. Wish I had fur...
I pulled my damp clothes around me and went inside the main bridge with him.
What I saw inside was a shock. I expected the old-fashioned sailing systems that were in most fantasy novels. The big wheel, the views...
No, this was modernised. There was the wheel, of course, and standing watching it was his oldest son, Dovol. His strong arms rested on either side of the huge thing, but to the left of that was a whiteboard and a 3D computerised system. “Some set up indeed.” I whistled. “Where did all this come from?”
“Just because we’re lowly seaman doesn’t mean we can’t afford the best equipment for the one thing that brings in our money.”
I nodded and moved to walk around the stations. All the fancy buttons and switches, glistening colours of greens, and only the odd red—and then I saw something else. Tactical and weaponry. “My, my. Mind running through this with me?”
Taffie stared at his other son for a moment. “Sure, Cris can do that for you. I think having another hand on deck might be useful when we’re out at sea.”
That was exactly what I was thinking. As much as I liked the NPCs around here, and trusted them, I wanted to be involved as much as possible. I wanted to be up here like a shot and able to defend or attack anything that was in our way.
Cris came over, his much smaller and yet muscular body dressed in shorts and a single T-shirt. His legs looked rather strange—furry and cute. I forced my eyes away and looked into his stunning yellow and orange eyes. He smiled and motioned to the screen before me.
“We have several weapons systems, but the most effective are the water torpedos. They’re not so easy to load once the barrels are empty, but your team wouldn’t find that too hard to learn, which they will. We need everyone up to speed in an attack situation.”
I shuddered. “How many times have you been attacked?”
Taffie was the one to answer this time. “There’s never been a voyage where the ship wasn’t attacked. That’s, unfortunately, one of the bad things about this side of the working lines.”
I swallowed. I hoped they were joking. They were really joking, right?
Cris stared at me, his eyes fixed. “Akillia, there’s a lot you don’t know about us and this ship, but it’s all in hand. We’ve been doing it for many years. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry, he says. No way. They were attacked and knew about it and didn’t tell us before we got on the ship!
I stumbled forward. This must have been my worst nightmare. I needed to log out, to sit down in the real world, and get over this. I was going to die at sea. I knew it now.
Andy would win his bet, and it would be over before I knew it.
“I need to talk with Abel,” I said and moved back to the ladder, fumbling my way and falling out onto the deck.
“We’ve got this.” Taffie didn’t follow me, but he watched with concern, but also determination.
I hugged the side of the ship as I made my way down inside the depths of her and tried my best to find the main quarters where my friends were. Friends was a liberal term. I was going to get us all killed here. They wouldn’t be my friends for long.
I finally saw light from a room up ahead, and I could hear talking and singing. Singing?
When I reached them, they were indeed celebrating, singing ocean songs with Macie and her sister. I didn’t knock on the door. I just went inside and plonked myself down. It was Abel who stopped the singing and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The ship will be attacked—did you know that?”
Abel nodded. “Yes, it’s inevitable. Macie’s run through some of the procedures already with us. We’ll do some more training later after we’re out in deeper waters.”
“You’re okay with this? Knowing there are monsters out there?”
His eyes never left mine. “That’s part of the life here. We’re here to fight, to learn, to live.”
The others didn’t say anything but went about their own conversations once more.
“Abel, I’m not just scared.” I lifted my hand for him to see. “I’m terrified.”
He took my hand in his, and the warmth I felt from him soothed some of my fears. “There you go,” he said. “There’s strength inside you. You just need to keep it harnessed.”
I swallowed and nodded, keeping tight hold for a moment longer until someone placed a nice big mug of steaming soup before me. I had picked up a spoon and dug in before Abel could even laugh at me. The food was tasty, and I felt myself relax with every mouthful.
“Hungry there,” Macie said. “You should have got food before you went to see my father,” she smiled and spooned in some more for me. I ate it greedily, and then thanked them all.
Feeling full and better, Abel motioned me to the door. “I’ll run you through the plan of being attacked if you want.”
I noticed the bunks to the other end, and added, “Mind if I get some sleep, just for a little while?”
He shook his head and pointed me towards them, and said mine was the one on the end. I took off and settled down to the slight rocking of the ocean waves. I wondered if there was something I could learn on the outside to help me. I remembered Jane’s warning, I shouldn’t log out again for the full ten days—but it had been over the ten days in game or was she meaning ten days at once. I was so confused. Would that matter? I wasn’t a prisoner, was I? I doubted it very much, but I thought I’d log out and see.
Once settled, I found my log out switch and punched it. At first, it didn’t work. My heart raced, and I tried not to shout out for Abel. The button wobbled, and then seemed to think about the request, then finally it turned colour and the world around me faded.
There was something about feeling sucked from the world you were in and arriving in darkness. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was about time to face off with the real world for a bit.
Jane was waiting for me. She raised one eyebrow and motioned me to move out of the room and into my side station.
“How are you feeling?” she asked and handed me some water. “You really shouldn’t keep logging in and out at the moment. Give your body time to adjust. This is only upsetting your rhythms.”
I let out a sigh. “For a moment there, I wasn’t sure you were going to let me.”
I took the water but was surprised I didn’t want to drink. “Your system is now getting used to the VR suit and how everything works inside. Your body is fully adapted to the new way of feeding and using waste.”
I cringed a little. I could understand how it all worked now, but then still didn’t like the idea of all my stuff being analysed by their scientists.
“It feels so real,” I said, the cup in my hand shaking so I put it down. Then the burning questions inside me just fell out. “Why would anyone really want to do this?” I asked, looking around the room. “Play this as a game?”
“There’s quite a debate about the why. You’re in the full immersion unit. There are people out there who would buy the smaller ones. That is meant for them. Their in-game time was limited to a specific quest or raid. They would need to plan everything carefully with their friends to use the system. You’ve got much more leeway. You could, in essence, stay in the game for a few real weeks, though we’ve not tested it out as long as that yet.”
“How long?”
“So far,
just a full week. It’s given them in-game time of almost a month. There were no residual effects of their being that amount of time in-game, so we are just keeping things like that close to our chests, for now.”
“Do you think people would want to spend longer times inside?” I couldn’t quite fathom it.
Her eyes lowered and sadness spread across her face. “Yes, some people would want to be inside forever. Those with brain damage, physical disabilities, those with no real life on the outside. We don’t want to capitalise on health issues, but it will come up. In fact, one of our alpha testers went in-game to spend his dying months there.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, he was removed only because his brain stopped functioning. He passed away a few hours later in the local hospital.”
I swallowed. “Why are you telling me this? Why trust me with your information?”
“I like you, and I think you have the game’s best interests at heart. Besides, the rest of the female population is also rooting for you.”
“I don’t like the sea,” I said.
When she smiled this time, her eyes lit up. “I don’t either,” she answered, “but you know the one thing you can do to keep yourself sane?”
I shrugged and finally picked up the water to drink.
It didn’t taste so nice, but I drank anyway. “Keep revenge and Andy on your mind.” When Jane reached forward, she patted my hand. “Emma, you deserve better, and you will not die in the ocean.”
“What about Abel?” I said. “If I were to get to know him better, would your viewers see all the gory details?”
Jane laughed and blushed as well. “No, there’s a reason for a lag, when you use the bathroom or are intimate with anyone else, it’s private, on the outside, the real world. They don’t even get an inkling of what’s happened. It’s a clean cut, and it’s something we do quite often, so they might never know if you did or didn’t.”