Compass of the Nymphs

by Sam Bennett

  “You’re not giving me a real answer,” Taisiya said, raising an eyebrow.

  “The simple answer is that I do not know,” Lahara replied. “I’m sure a variety of those concoctions were made with at least some aid from us nymphs. On the other hand, I highly doubt there are any of the elemental abilities, or as you call it, ‘magic’ bottled in them. That would be very hard and painful for a nymph to extract from herself.”

  “Hmm,” Taisiya thought for a second. “What’s the difference?”

  Lahara waved her hand in a flourish. The ship seemed to rock back and forth ever so slightly. “I just used my natural abilities to control the wind. You would say that it aided me in rocking the ship…you wouldn’t say that my ability is in the ship, would you?”

  “So, the legends are true? These potions and cures they sell really are crafted by nymphs?” Taisiya was getting an unsettling feeling in her stomach. Her parents had told her many stories as she grew up, and most of them she assumed were fairytales or folklore. If something as simple as this were true, she shuddered to think of the darker stories she had been told.

  The nymph nodded. “Most certainly. Long before humans even knew that good nymphs had infiltrated their lands, we had been using our powers to make a living. Some of the ingredients in those potions would be next to impossible to attain without some sort of assistance from a nymph. Still, it’s not like we’ve bottled our powers…or put them into a ruby.”

  “You sound a little bitter,” Taisiya remarked.

  “I suppose my bitterness has been taught to me by my parents, whose parents taught it to them. There never would be a ‘bad’ nymph if we did not have the need to use our natural abilities for evil against humans.” Lahara sighed and joined Taisiya sitting on the edge of the captain’s bed. “So, how did you meet Mr. Dreamboat out there? You two don’t seem like the type that would normally get along.”

  “We’re not,” Taisiya said indignantly. “He used to be the queen’s top spy. He knows all that she is up to…he’s very useful.”

  Lahara let out a small chuckle. “You say that as if you expect me to believe you’ve only befriended him because he’s an asset to you.”

  “That’s the only reason I’ve befriended you,” Taisiya said crossly.

  The nymph wrinkled her face in offense. “That may be so,” she said, “but I’m not dumb. One thing’s for certain – he has a soft spot for you.”

  “It’s…sweet…that you think that, but he’s more the type of man the queen would go after than me.” Taisiya started, “Sure, he’s attractive…”

  She didn’t get to finish her sentence. Zara came strolling through the door and she gulped, stopping to catch her breath. Lahara gave Taisiya a sly smile and got up to greet him. “Ah, Zara…”

  “How are things going?” he asked with a smile.

  “Wonderful,” the nymph replied. She walked over and joined him at the table for food. “I was just thinking about you, handsome.”

  Zara was taken aback by Lahara’s sudden flirting (and Taisiya was silently outraged.) He chuckled awkwardly and took a seat. Lahara joined him and pulled her hair back away from her face. Zara obviously was trying hard to pay her no mind.

  “Are you…putting a spell on me?” he asked in horror.

  The nymph cackled but shook her head. “No, silly boy. As easy on the eyes as you are, you are too young for me.” She turned her gaze to Taisiya. “Join us, Taisiya?”

  As obvious as Lahara’s attempts were to rile Taisiya up, Taisiya was more outraged at the fact that she had been so easily taken in. She had always been independent and even as a child was stronger and more focused than the boys. The last thing she ever saw herself wanting was a relationship with one. It irked her that the nymph had seen so plainly that she was beginning to change her ways.

  The three had quite a feast that night, and ate some of the wonderful food Ammon had prepared for them. Thankfully, Ammon was overzealous in his provisions and had easily bought enough food for them to make do with Lahara joining their traveling party. He also was smart enough to send along food that needed little preparation. Their meal wasn’t quite the delicacies they had eaten back in Ammon’s library, but it satiated them just as well.

  By the time they had all finished eating, night had fallen. There was a cool breeze blowing, and Taisiya and Lahara put on their cloaks and went onto the deck to be alone as Zara humbly tidied up from their supper. Lahara reached into a pocket of her cloak and pulled out a long roll of parchment she’d pocketed from the cabin. She unraveled it and the two glanced at a map of the trade routes.

  The map was very rudimentary for the most part, but had obviously been very effective over the years. Previous captains had etched notes and drawings in uncharted areas. No one had drawn in Ethnymphai, though. Lahara studied the map for some time, trying to get her bearings as she occasionally glanced up at the night sky.

  “This boat normally follows a trade route to a land called Egypt,” Lahara remarked, running her fingers along the map. “Most of the good nymphs that fled our home found themselves escaping to the land called ‘Italia’, as it was the closest human occupied destination.”

  Taisiya listened, taking it all in. Lahara continued, “This map shows Italia as being quite close to where we departed…If memory serves me properly, that would put Ethnymphai right around here…” Lahara drew her fingers together in a pinch at a little spot on the map in the sea down from Italia. “Taisiya dear, go fetch me something to write with from the cabin.”

  Taisiya darted off and came back with a pen and some ink. Lahara craftily got to work and soon the map had a new etching on it. Taisiya looked at the drawings Lahara had made. Beside the little dot noting Ethnymphai, she had written ‘The Unsafe Place.’

  “What does that mean?” Taisiya asked, “The Unsafe Place?”

  “For many years,” Lahara explained, “the humans that sought to destroy us and claim our land for their own called our island The Safe Place. They sought to have their safe haven all to themselves…I don’t want any humans getting any ideas after this map and ship are returned to their rightful owners.”

  Taisiya sighed, “There is so much that I don’t know or understand.”

  “I will teach you,” Lahara said. “We’ve got a good three days here at sea. You won’t learn it all, but you will be nicely prepared I should imagine.” The nymph had no clue as to how wrong she was.

  After a much-needed night’s sleep, the travelers were well rested and ready to endure another day at sea. The sun was beating down from high in the sky, but there was still a considerable wind chill that kept them all under the warmth of their cloaks. Zara went back to the crow’s nest for his task of being the lookout while Taisiya joined Lahara at the wheel with a couple of her lesson books.

  Lahara would occasionally glance up and make sure they were sailing smoothly, but for the most part they spent the day engrossed in the lessons. Taisiya learned that centuries ago the inhabitants of Ethnymphai didn’t even realize the gift they were blessed with. The island was sacred; it was lined up perfectly with the sun and the moon. The citizens eventually evolved and honed in on the innate skill of wielding the powers of the world.

  The power nymphs had with nature could be used to accomplish just about anything that a nymph sought out to do. She or he (Lahara explained that, although rare, some men did eventually learn the skills that nymphs treasured) used the elements around them to make their lives easier. It would be easy to have a simple mastery of all the elements, but most nymphs would specialize in whichever they deemed most valuable.

  The elements that nymphs could summon were Water, Fire, Earth, Light, and Darkness. Water Nymphs would be happiest at sea and spent most of their time offshore of the island. They were able to control the waters and its healing powers, breath underwater and some had even evolved into growing fins. Fire Nymphs prided themselves on being quite the opposite of a water nymph; they were impulsive, temperamental, and fierce. They had a m
astery of fire and were much more offensive than the water nymphs.

  Taisiya learned that Lahara was an Earth Nymph to be specific. Earth Nymphs were kind-hearted and avid guardians of nature. They were extremely crafty and if you got on the wrong side of one, she could use the ground beneath your feet to give you a run for your money. Earth Nymphs could also control the air and wind when they were on the offense.

  Nymphs of Light were not as serene as Taisiya had assumed. These nymphs were the closest to the enchantresses that scared the little children in legends. Light Nymphs used their powers to see the future and, in some cases, control it. Anyone who believed that a Light Nymph was an enemy of the Dark Nymphs was quite wrong. In fact, the two groups often would join together to unleash their devastating powers.

  Even Dark Nymphs weren’t originally so bad, though. They had a penchant for shadows and the night, but with the darkness came great power. Indeed, it seemed that over time the majority of the nymphs that wandered into the dark side had a flair for using their powers for evil purposes, but there were still many who used it for good.

  It wasn’t in any of the textbooks, but Lahara took the time to explain that after the great schism occurred, there rose up all kinds of evil nymphs from all the elements. They each kept to themselves for the most part, with one ‘queen’ for each element. Queen Adrasteia had been the only evil nymph to leave Ethnymphai, and Lahara supposed that was because ruling over one class of nymphs was not enough for her. Lahara also feared that Solames was not the first town that the queen had depleted in her thirst for powers that called upon sacrificing young children.

  After studying the history of nymphs and their abilities for hours, the two agreed to have a snack and rest for a while. The adventurer in Taisiya was getting the better of her, so she decided to grab Zara a snack and join him in the crow’s nest. Lahara chose to eat in peace in the captain’s cabin, leaving the two friends alone.

  When Zara saw Taisiya he grinned and reached down to help her get up to the crow’s nest safely. Once she had her balance again, she tossed him a sandwich in thanks. He took a big bite and asked her how her studies were going with Lahara.

  “Pretty good,” Taisiya replied. She still was finding it hard to believe how much she had learned in so little time. “The view up here is lovely.”

  Zara nodded. “Trying to change the subject?”

  “No!” She replied honestly, “I just wouldn’t know where to begin in telling you about it all.”

  Zara cocked an eyebrow. “Can you put a spell on me and erase my memory yet?”

  She laughed, “No…not even close.”

  He breathed a fake sigh of relief. The two sat in silence in the crow’s nest for a while, taking in the beauty of the water all around them. The seawater was breathtaking, and the gentle breeze that carried them along made the sun high in the sky tolerable.

  In the same instance of taking in the beauty of the sea around them, you also had to take in the eeriness of it all. For as far as any of the travelers could see there was…nothing. No land or other boats dotted the horizon. Only occasionally would a flock of birds fly overhead to remind them they were not the last life on earth. The isolation was both liberating and terrifying.

  Taisiya pondered what they would do if something were to go wrong. If the ship sank and there was no way to stop it, they all surely would die at sea. What if they got lost and simply floated on too long without reaching land, using up all their food and water and dying torturous deaths?

  Zara could tell that Taisiya was starting to think too much about the future, and he was about to say something when Lahara called up to them from outside the door of the captain’s quarters. She told Zara that she needed Taisiya back on deck to continue her lessons.

  Zara gave Taisiya a half smile and motioned for her to go on her way. She despised how Zara and Lahara acted like they knew so much more, but as she begrudgingly followed orders and made her way down the mast, she realized that they in fact did know a lot more than she even dared to imagine.

  She met Lahara and they continued learning about the history of nymphs. The day passed by rather quickly, and by the end of it, Taisiya was beginning to quickly evade some trial attacks Lahara had thrown at her. Taisiya concentrated as hard as she could on a simple ability that involved turning water in a glass so cold that it would freeze.

  When Taisiya had failed for the third time, Lahara comforted her by suggesting that perhaps seawater didn’t work quite the same as freshwater. Irritated, Taisiya quit for the night and tried to enjoy dinner with Zara and Lahara. Throughout the whole meal, she could only focus on the lessons Lahara had been teaching her.

  The nymph had made it clear that even humans could master some of the simpler lessons. After all, so many good nymphs had fled the island that most people had a trace, if not more, of nymph’s blood in their lineage. Why couldn’t Taisiya, who could break into an evil nymph’s castle practically undetected, not master the more simple lessons?

  She tried her best to get a decent amount of sleep but still found her self tossing and turning as her mind raced with thoughts of dark nymphs that were coming closer and closer as the ship sailed through the night. The sun came up far too soon for her liking, and with very little sleep, she trudged out to begin her second day with Lahara.

  She found the nymph in good spirits. Lahara was up bright and early at the wheel assessing the rest of their journey and consulting her various collection of maps and the Nymph Compass. As a disheveled and groggy Taisiya came in to sight, Lahara beamed, giving her a joyous wave.

  “Good news!” The nymph beckoned Taisiya to come more quickly. Taisiya kept at her snail’s pace but eventually made it over to the wheel, yawning and rubbing her eyes all the while.

  “What is it?” she asked sourly.

  Lahara gave her a puzzled look. “Well, the wind picked up quite nicely during the night. We should be arriving at Ethnymphai in the early hours after midnight. I hope you got a good bit of rest! I’m confident that it will be the last night we’ll have to sleep in this terribly uncomfortable ship.”

  When Taisiya didn’t immediately reply with delight, Lahara gave her a second lookover. “I’m guessing you didn’t sleep well?”

  Taisiya found her blood boiling, wishing she could have been left alone to stew in her misery rather than be surrounded by good news and a speedy journey.

  Hostility took over as she could feel her face turning red with rage.

  “No, I did not sleep well!” she huffed, “and why should I?! I am not a nymph, nor am I prepared to go fighting a whole island of them!”

  Zara was just waking up, and he popped his head out of his room. “Taisiya?” he asked worriedly.

  In the middle of her tirade, Taisiya turned around on the spot, her hair whipping around in midair wildly with her. “What?!” she screamed.

  There was no audible reply from Zara, but his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in terror. Behind her, Taisiya could hear Lahara shriek in fear as well. Puzzled, Taisiya turned around. The mast that held up the crow’s nest had caught fire.

  “What in the world?” Taisiya asked as Zara raced over to protect her. Neither one needed to worry for very long, as Lahara flicked her hand and soon seawater was racing up from the sides of the ship and extinguishing the flame.

  Once the fire was out and Lahara had inspected the mast for any notable damage, she turned around to face Taisiya. Expecting to see a look of anger on the nymph’s face, Taisiya was surprised that Lahara was grinning madly. “You did it!” She exclaimed, running over and giving the girl a huge hug.

  “I did what exactly?” Taisiya asked.

  “You channeled all your powers just now! Your hotheadedness literally set the mast on fire as you whipped around. Oh, this is just wonderful!” Lahara pulled back from the embrace and gave Taisiya another toothy grin.

  Taisiya still didn’t understand, so Lahara continued. “Nymph Power doesn’t come from saying a spell over and over; it comes fr
om within. Your emotion is what brought out the power. Because you felt it and desired it, it came true. You just need to be this this passionate when we arrive and are greeted by tons of dark nymphs.”

  Lahara took Taisiya by the arm, and they went off to try again with some more simple studies. Zara took his position at the crow’s nest but found himself peeping over and looking down at what was going on below. Now that Taisiya was beginning to grasp the innate power that nymph abilities required, it was more entertaining watching her set things on fire, summon the wind and lightning and other various things than watching the vast sea.

  On deck, exhaustion was still getting the better of Taisiya. She worried that her sheer tiredness and short temper that accompanied it were the only reasons she was finally able to breeze through the simpler lessons. As Taisiya’s patience wore thinner and thinner, Lahara eventually let her stop practicing to go get some rest.

  Taisiya drifted off to sleep, and Lahara began to gather up the potions and food from the captain’s cabin. The nymph knew that once they arrived at Ethnymphai, there would be little time to gather their belongings before nymphs were swarming to find out what they were doing on their land.

  The day passed by somewhat uneventfully; Taisiya slept soundly while Lahara and Zara spent their time getting better acquainted. The nymph admitted to Zara that her first impression of him was not a favorable one, but she went on to explain that most nymphs are wary of men by nature. Zara felt no ill will and went on to tell Lahara that his first impression of her was none too good either. He joked that men were wary of nymphs by nature as well.

  The two built up a rapport and with it, a friendship. As the sunlight faded, Zara was the first to come to the conclusion that they had been talking for hours. He thanked Lahara for her company and after she had assured him she would take his post, went off to get some rest for himself.