“That’s not so bad.” She smiled over at me and patted the rail next to her. “I spoke to Muu. He supported what you had said, and he also pointed out that it may have sounded like I was supporting what Tarron was doing. I do not. I just think it better that you know there are people out there who would help you. Like me.”
“I know you would.” I joined her. “I mean, you’re here now, right?”
“I am,” She chuckled, her tusks flashing a bit more. “But I would be lying if I told you that I hadn’t come because I was jealous of Maebe and how much time away you spent with her. Now I know what it’s like, and I cannot begrudge you having little time to send messages to me when in the grand scheme of things, you were likely even busier then than you are now.”
“At times,” I ceded, but I reached out and took her hand and pulled her closer to me. “But there were times that I should have made time for you. And I didn’t. I’ll never be able to make that up to you, and I’m sorry for that.”
“I understand.” She grasped my hand and squeezed once. “Are you tired?”
“A little, but I need to enchant this first.” I patted the ballista. “Are you?”
“I am, but I will wait for you.” She let me go and stepped back so I could get to work.
I spent some time thinking about what I wanted the ballista to be able to do, and that was act almost like a rifle, but to also have the highest amount of piercing damage and probability that we could manage. So, that left me with a couple options here. What did I do? I engraved the side of the weapon’s wooden body with a rune for endurance that Hubris showed me, it looked kind of like the symbol for infinity but had a line in the center going directly through it. How it correlated, I couldn’t tell you, but the scepter hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
Next, I engraved symbols for power and strength on the limbs that looked like a mountain and river flowing over it. Once that was done, I affixed a metal plate to the front of the weapon just under where the projectiles would be launched and added a large cut opal to it. The opal gave a bonus to accuracy somehow.
When the light shines on it, master, you and all others will understand.
I shrugged and went back to work. I figured I might see if this would help and used Vulpine Casting to help keep from not having enough power since I was on my own. After powering the enchantments, I once again felt the pull of inspiration and added multiple components to the enchanting. Equal parts diamond on the body of the weapon and then faerie iron to the limbs. Finally, Hubris encouraged me to add some of my blood.
Even that made me a little leery of the scepter at that moment, but with the risk of failure looming over me, I bit my left thumb and pressed it onto the centermost portion of the ballista where the projectile would sit.
The final siphoning of my mana stopped, leaving me with only a single point of mana left and a splitting headache.
Shapeshifter’s Ballista
+20 to attack, +19 piercing damage
Shifter blood – Each item used as a projectile for this weapon will be changed into that of a giant bolt. Upon impact, the normal damage will apply, but added damage is possible.
When a fox comes to you in a strange forest, be wary of them, for you never know if the shape before you is the truth, as will the target of this weapon always wonder.
“Oh, my god,” I muttered to myself under my breath. Vrawn touched it and gasped as I checked my enchanting level and saw that I had gone up by one.
“Zeke, this is amazing!” She whispered to me. “How is this possible?”
“Hubris helped me.” I frowned and noted that the scepter had indeed done so, but was nowhere to be seen.
I am here, master. I am just in my pocket plane. Our bond has grown with your trust, and that allows me to assist you even from here.
“Well, thank you for your help.” I could feel the pleasure at my surprise, and I left it at that.
Vrawn and I walked into the cabin and found Muu snoring blissfully in his cot with Yohsuke sitting in the bottom one.
“I finished telling Archemillian what happened.” He seemed a little tense. “He says that since I was force-fed the blood, I’m not in any kind of infraction of our contract, but he’s going to insist on trying to collect something in recompense. He just doesn’t know what would be the most advantageous thing yet.”
“He wasn’t getting your soul to begin with, so I can’t see what he has to gain from trying to get you killed or anything. Besides we already did him a favor.” I was starting to get a little angry that people seemed to be coming out of the woodwork like this. It was still suspicious that he was there, to begin with.
“Right, but he could insist on me trying to pay him back,” Yohsuke insisted. “I hadn’t even seen that that was an issue in the contract, but it was right there, three paragraphs in, third-page subsection six: the obtainee of any demonic power shall not willfully or negligently become a member of the undead for any reason upon which time the patron finds out the contract can be considered null and void.”
“Wouldn’t the negligently portion cover being bitten?” Vrawn asked curiously.
“I thought the same thing, but he said that it was intended to be there so that people couldn’t just not fight back and become one. Since I had been fighting when I was bitten by one, the contract is still in force. And since it was Zeke acting of his own volition by shoving the vial in my mouth and not me, me telling him to didn’t count either. Especially since you stopped me from spitting it out and forced me to swallow it. We got lucky there.”
“Yeah, we did.” The relief I felt at that moment was immense, and I was suddenly much more exhausted than I had been before.
“Get some rest, man. I’ll be up a little while longer to watch things. Dawn is in a few hours.” He gave me a side hug and headed out the door.
Vrawn and I walked into the Happy Home and found my room, one that I had previously only been in with Maebe, and my heart ached for her absence. I wrestled with the idea that I should reach out to her to see if she was okay, but I knew that if I did, I might interrupt her in something really important, and that could be deadly. I opted to lay down on the now-bigger bed with Vrawn and tried to get some more sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
I woke up to Muu shouting inside the door, “Up! Everybody get up!” I stumbled out of bed with Vrawn grumbling evilly behind me as I opened my door.
“What is it?” I yawned, I had finally been able to get a few more hours, but I had to imagine it was still early.
“We made it to the edge of the lord’s territory, and he should be showing up soon. Cap’ wants us all on the deck.” Muu explained as he stepped outside the door. “Yohsuke is still up, but he’s a little pissy about it, and I had to feed him.”
“I’m fuckin’ tired, you bastard!” The vampire snarled. I walked out onto the ship to find him wearing his cloak's cowl up, even in this room. “My coffin has my name on it as soon as we meet this stupid fucker.”
“Well, let’s get dressed, and we can all get out there and be presentable,” Bokaj muttered and turned around to go do as he had said. I did the same after passing shadows over myself and Vrawn to clean the two of us up. I dressed in a green shirt with some brown breeches that tucked into my black boots. Vrawn wore a similar outfit, but her shirt was gray and the breeches a deeper brown.
I smiled at her and shifted into my human form to give her a kiss before we left. I walked out, and Odany grumbled as she stepped out of her own room. I passed shadows over her to clean her, and her clothes, and she shouted at me, “That felt weird! Don’t do that!”
I just laughed at her as she eyed her clothes, then smelled them and dropped them in surprise. “They’re clean?”
“Yeah, maybe someday you can have that much control over the wind?” I raised an eyebrow at her, and she gasped, much more alert and happy than before.
The rest of us piled out of the room, and Balmur dispelled the doorway to it so that we could use it again
that night. The sun was near its zenith, but what caught my eye was the island we sailed directly toward in the distance.
“Why has no one called that out?” Balmur wondered out loud, the island seemed a few miles out, but still, it was interesting. Maybe the guy lived on the island? It would be nice to step onto solid land once more.
I found myself smiling at the prospect of moving my toes in the sand, and it put a little pep in my step.
Captain Holly stood up by the bow of the ship watching the horizon line carefully. “Ah, welcome to the land of the woken,” she teased, eyeing all of us, her eyes lingering on where Vrawn held my hand. “Glad to have you all here to meet with the lord of these waters.”
“I’ll be glad to walk on land!” James grinned and stretched enthusiastically as if getting ready to go running.
“You landlubbers.” Holly rolled her eyes and turned back to her watch. About forty-five minutes later, we had come close enough to the island to make landfall, but instead of doing that, they dropped the sails and anchor.
“What’re you doing?” Jaken asked curiously as the captain pulled out a long horn.
“Contacting the lord of these waters.” She smiled back before blowing a long, deep, blasting note out over the water.
“Oh, so we just wait until we hear something, and then we can make our way in?” Muu asked excitedly, then began to watch the trees on the island as if looking for something. “Or they give us some kind of sign?”
“You will see.” She purred, her tail twitching slowly back and forth.
Water began to move around the area before the ship on the port side, and several of us muttered, Muu being the loudest, shouting, “Oh! Secret entrance! James Bond supervillain shit going on here!”
Then a large head almost the same size as the ship erupted from the waves, and large greenish-blue eyes opened and peered down at us. It was almost draconian in shape, the beak-like tip a jaw like a dragon’s, and the ridges on the top of its head had several horns that burst from the tan skin atop the head.
“Oh, what the fuck is that?” Muu screeched noisily, and I rammed my elbow into his ribs, making him gasp and double over.
“Lord of these waters, Eldarna the Great and Wise Tertle, we of the Pussy Willow beseech you grant us the boon of passage through your territory, and we request aid in battle to come. Will you assist us?”
A loud booming voice that was impossibly deep returned, the mouth moving as it spoke, “What… do… you… offer… in… return?”
“We offer you shinies, and shimmers to add to your hoard, and continued tales of your benevolence and might.” Several sailors moved, bringing a large chest forward and placing it on the deck next to the captain so that she could open it and motion to the coins and gems inside. She pulled out the weapons of the sailors who had fallen and held it aloft as well. “We offer the weapons of our fallen, enchanted, and pristine for your aid.”
The head dipped lower, the large eyes looking at each of us in turn. “Do… they… know… my… rule?”
“They do not, Lord Eldarna.” Captain Holly bowed her head but reached out to us. “He will need to collect your scents and a portion of your lives. This portion is only a drop of blood, freely given.”
“Blood is a powerful thing to give to anyone.” I glared at her angrily. “Is that why you never told us?”
“It is.” She crossed her arms. “It is partially nourishment to him. He gains time for his own life from it, and he’s never done anything wrong to us in the years I’ve sailed these waters.”
“Fine,” Jaken answered as he stared at me pointedly. “What do we have to do?”
“Go to the side of the ship and reach out your bloodied hand.” She made motion to do the same, but Yohsuke charged forward and did it first. He pricked his finger with a sharpened nail and offered his hand out to the tertle.
Eldarna dropped his massive head to the side of the deck and touched the hand offered to him with the space between his giant nostrils. He inhaled deeply, and our clothes moved toward him with the gust of his partaking. After he inhaled, he lapped up the offered blood and grumbled, “Undead… you… pass.”
And so we continued, all of the new members of the crew and the guests to the ship making their own small offerings in accordance with the rules. I was wary of it at first, but when all the others did, I wouldn’t have wanted to start a fight with the draconic-looking creature myself.
I slashed my thumb with my right hand and offered it up to the creature. Doing the same as the others had, though, I was curious as to whether or not I was strong enough to claim this sort of form. Was he mythical or legendary? Did he have a class at all?
He touched my hand with his beaked face and gasped, “Mother’s… chosen?”
“I am he, I suppose.” I tried to hide my pleasure at gaining his form but failed miserably.
“If…I… had… known… you… were… in… my… domain… I… would… take… you… myself… to… anywhere…” He licked my entire body, wetting my clothes and all. “You… are… beloved… by… all.”
Dozens of creatures separated themselves from the trees on his back, animals, and other mysterious types of creatures watched us. “What are they, Lord Eldarna?”
“My… wards.” His head craned back into the air, and he turned to look at them, slipping into a watery tongue that I understood perfectly due to my tie to the water elementals. It seemed that he no longer considered his words carefully, so this must be his native tongue. “They are weak or injured. I protect them in their time of need, so they will come in my time of need. Now. They say you need my aid?”
I responded to him in his preferred tongue, the sound feeling weird to me. “Yes, we will likely be fighting a general of War in the ocean, and I am not as well versed in water combat as I would like to be. My brothers and I are in danger if we can’t come up with a way to fight him and the creatures he will likely bring with him.”
“Many evil creatures have gathered in the waters around my territory, and some have even approached me about joining with a fell creature who wishes to rule all of the oceans and depths. I refused and have been threatened. Do you think these creatures one and the same?”
I nodded, fear gripping my chest. “It does sound familiar to something they would do.”
“Then, I will offer my aid, as it is what the Mother would wish,” he replied, and a sort of turtle-like smile crept over his face. “I have many I oversee on my back who would happily aid you in learning water combat.”
He turned and offered his side. “All of you who wish to learn water combative techniques, come and climb aboard my shell. I will have you speak to some of my little friends.”
I passed the word on to my friends, none of them could understand him except Balmur, who had a language spell that let him understand things others said.
The boys and Vrawn with Odany hot on her heels scrambled over the deck of the ship onto the water below and sped toward the shore of the shell.
Odany splashed into the water, and I realized I hadn’t planned on her getting off the ship until now. So I would be equipping her with a water walking ring as soon as I could. Vrawn pulled her from the water and carried her to the shoreline.
“I… will… pull… your… ship… do… not… fear,” Eldarna spoke directly to the captain, and then we were off. Waves surrounded the ship, and the tertle began to move on his way to where he would. “Continent… of… Beasts… is… your… heading.”
“Yes!” Captain Holly shouted, and he turned back to his direction of travel.
On the shell, we moved toward the creatures who watched us fearfully from behind the trees. “Hello, all of you,” I tried in a friendly tone. They shrank back, some of them looking humanoid with gills on their necks and ribs, fins on their arms and legs.
They moved further back from the tree line and seemed to be leading us toward the center of the shell. It was quite the trek I led us on, trying to get to the center and keeping them in
sight. An hour at a swift pace, as if they were fleeing for their lives in a deadly game of chase. When we finally thought we had caught up to them, there was a large humanoid figure with a shark-like upper body holding a large spear facing toward us with a scowl on his face. Behind him was a bowl-like indent in the shell of the creature we rode that held water in it that looked like a large lake.
The shark-man spoke a guttural version of Aquan. “Why you chase my friends? How you get past great one?”
“We’re here at the great one’s consent,” I replied in Aquan, the language of the water elementals. “We’re here so we can learn how to fight in the water for an upcoming battle.”
“Why should we teach you, land walkers?” A lighter voice asked rudely. I turned to a stone in the water and saw a small woman poking her head out from behind it, grasping the stone as if it was all that kept her there.
Balmur translated for the others as we spoke, and I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Well, that’s up to you.” Jaken shrugged next to me. “If you don’t mind something truly evil taking over the ocean and destroying it and everything you love? There’s no reason because if we lose, that’s what will happen.”
“Things already pollute these oceans!” she screamed, her face coming out from behind these one, part of it blackened, the eye a sickly yellow with a red pupil. “Things that had no place being there.”
“What happened to you?” he asked for me to translate.
“I was swimming near a set of islands, and the waters turned to poison and changed me. I swam as far away as I could, but the poison had taken hold, and the only thing keeping me something close to normal is this water.” She stared at us with sheer hatred and loathing on her face. “This is likely your fault!”
“We killed the dragon that had been poisoning the waters of a set of islands with his presence,” I explained softly. “We cleaned the area of his body so that his taint could be cleansed by the water elementals.”
She stared at us hard, finally challenging, “You could be liars.”
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