Awakenings

by C. D. Espeseth

  Her memories of the ‘shark incident’, as she called it, were foggy at best, but she remembered the feeling all too cleary. That high-pitched squeal vibrating through her very bones accompanied by the massive spike of fear.

  She had been twelve, and it was her first trip out on a proper fishing boat. She had begged the captain to let her come. They had needed the money, but a freak wave caught her off-balance, and then her blood was in the water. One of the mooring hooks had gashed her leg, and the crew had already baited in a large lion shark with chum.

  It had gone straight for her.

  The high-pitched scream had torn through her. One moment she was in the water watching that terrible fin rip the waves towards her, she heard the scream, she felt the disorientation of being in the in-between state, and then she was sputtering back on the deck behind the crowd of sailors desperately trying to get a pole to her in the water.

  They had thought her dead before she walked up behind them to stare at the shark thrashing about trying to find its vanished prey.

  That had been the first time. Today had been the third. Yet, to Naira, it was an annoyance more than anything else. Something that just randomly happened to her and any time she had tried to talk to people about it, they had given her a look as if she were possessed.

  Adel was the only person she had told who didn’t look at her that way.

  Naira’s strange ability was just another reason she had needed to come to the Academy. They had people here who might be able to explain why she was so strange.

  Naira was dramatically jerked out of her memories as they pulled up alongside Sampson’s ship and began to overtake it.

  “Watch this.” Jake giggled.

  Naira scoffed as Jake dropped his trousers and jumped over the gunwale, holding onto the edge as he did so. He planted his feet against the outer hull and thrust his naked backside at the other ship.

  They both roared with laughter at the look of shock on Darrell Sampson’s face.

  Their moment of triumph, however, quickly turned awkward as they realised just how slowly they were overtaking the other boat.

  “Well, you’re on your own. I’ve got to get back to the rudder, and I need you here just in case we need to adjust the line.”

  “Wow,” Jake said, “this prank has turned on me.” He was struggling to get his hand into some position to regain the waistband of his trousers, but couldn’t seem to manage it one-handed with the choppiness of the water and his need to hold onto the side of the ship.

  Naira shook her head. “It’s the belt. You’ll never be able to secure it one-handed. I think you just have to commit to it.” She leaned forward to get a better view of Jake’s exposed posterior. “Besides, there are worse bottoms to look at.” Naira winked at him.

  Jake wiggled his cheeks back at her, and they then proceeded to execute one of the most lurid and awkward overtakings ever seen at sea.

  “For Halom’s sake! Put that moon away, you’ll blind us all!” Darrell yelled over from the other yacht.

  “I can’t!” Jake yelled back. “I didn’t think this through!”

  That elicited a chuckle from the other boat even though it was now clear Naira and Jake would beat them to the line.

  Naira laughed as they took the lead and Jake fumbled another attempt to regain his trousers.

  ***

  Fellow Hinobi was not pleased.

  All the paddle-steamers had been moored, and the initiates stood at rigid attention in front of the sailing master. No one dared move as they sensed the mood in the air. Fellow Hinobi was staring at Naira and Jake as if his gaze might melt them where they stood.

  “That was quite a manoeuvre you made to turn into the wind,” he said. “What exactly would you call that technique?”

  Naira squirmed under his penetrating eyes. Winning the race might have just lost her the respect of her teacher.

  “We don’t have a name for it, sir,” Jake managed to croak out.

  “Ah, good, as I believe I have the perfect label for it. Reckless.” Fellow Hinobi didn’t yell, but his quiet words cut just as deeply. “Pushing experimental machines to their limit in a training exercise can have dire consequences. You’re lucky. If something had been pushed too far, Orcanus might have been guiding you down to the sleepless country. Very lucky.”

  He slowly paced away from them, shaking his head.

  At that moment, Naira wished she could crawl into a tiny dark hole and disappear.

  “You did win,” Fellow Hinobi stated, “yet take enough chances like that and your list of victories will be cut short prematurely. Risks are part of life as a naval officer, a large part of our history in fact, and the sea will claim the careful just as readily as the reckless, yet we do not give her any extra chances if we can avoid it. Manoeuvres like that need to be practised and coordinated a hundred times before being attempted in the heat of battle, not during the first exercise on a boat you’ve barely trained on. Is that understood?”

  Everyone nodded and Naira forced the lump down in her throat.

  “Besides that extremely dangerous turn, and young Jake’s unfortunate wardrobe malfunction ... there was some very good sailing on display. Darrell and Niska, in particular, showed some very fine skill.”

  Fellow Hinobi inspected his students for a moment longer, before giving a very small nod. “Get out of your wet clothes, eat, and be back here in an hour. Dismissed.”

  They saluted and began making their way down the pier towards the stairs back up to the Academy.

  “Naira, I’m sorry. I just wanted to beat him so bad,” Jake said, looking just as shaken as she felt.

  “Don’t apologise, I’m just as guilty as you. I jumped at the chance.” Naira waved his apology away but gave him a reassuring smile.

  Jake eased a bit at her words. “We did win, though.” His smile would have fit an imp’s perfectly.

  “You won this time,” Darrell’s deep voice boomed from behind them.

  “Do you ever wear a shirt?” Jake asked in disgust as they turned to see the big burly man stripped to the waist behind them.

  “Never on a lovely day like this,” Darrell said, spreading his muscled arms out to the sky. “We’ll see if your luck with holds true tomorrow.”

  “Luck?!” Jake’s face went red. “You were outmanoeuvred, Sampson. We read the wind and waves better than you and–”

  They were cut off by the sound of a great whistle cutting through the air. Beside the dock, a massive door began to lift at the front of a boathouse. Smoke billowed forth from the gap between the door and the water, and the great shriek of the whistle sounded again.

  “What in the world?” Naira gasped as the door continued to lift. A monstrous hull slowly began to take shape from within the smoke, and a sleek ship slipped forward onto the water. It had no masts and no paddle-wheels and seemed to be made almost entirely of metal. There seemed to be massive platforms on the fore and aft decks.

  “It’s a new design.” Fellow Hinobi had joined them on the dock to watch the strange ship emerge from the massive boathouse.

  “I’ll say. I’ve never seen anything so strange in my life. Where are the paddle-wheels? No sails?” Naira asked. The ship floated out beside them, she could see a white cloud pumping up into the air from the bowels of the ship. “What are the platforms for?”

  “Weapon mountings. It’s a battleship,” Fellow Hinobi explained. “The Chroniclers say the design is something out of Jendar history, they’ve pieced together an ancient way of propelling boats through the water. Many in the Research Wing of the Academy say it is the future of travel on the sea.”

  “It looks about as manoeuvrable as a floating brickwork,” Jake said. Though his mouth was as wide open as everyone else’s.

  “Maybe,” Fellow Hinobi chuckled, “but is this not how progress is made? Before a babe can run, awkward lumbering steps must first be made. The babe must fall a few times to know about balance, but with enough attempts and practice, walking ens
ues, the babe becomes a child, and it is a fool who tries to stop that child from running.”

  Naira had to admit Fellow Hinobi’s point as she stared at the strange contraption. “What’s this old Jendar method then? How is it moving forward?” From what Naira was estimating it was picking up speed quite easily and its boiler did not seem to be working that hard.

  “This is the first prototype of its kind, and that information is classified. I’m afraid,” Fellow Hinobi said. “In a few years, you might be training new recruits on how to sail these metal ships powered by steam. I’m quite proud of it really. The information I gave them after one of my expeditions helped them put the final pieces together. I’ve seen the husk of one of the Jendar’s giant metal ships stuck up in the ice, north of Asgur you see. One of my officers was a dab hand with charcoal and captured the image of the old leviathan well enough to spark a breakthrough for the Chroniclers.”

  Naira shook her head, what a truly remarkable place she had come to, never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined a ship like it, but there it was, chugging out onto the ocean, breathing steam like some fat water dragon and speeding off into the open sea without sail or paddle-wheel.

  “Ahem, all right, we’ve seen enough, and it’s best we’re about it then,” Fellow Hinobi harrumphed and shooed them off to their duties, but not before one final nugget of wisdom. “The world is changing fast, initiates. The High King has given the Research Wing a lot of funding for Jendar-related projects. In the thirteen years since the Academy’s inception, we have seen many ancient wonders revived, and the Chroniclers say they have only unlocked a handful of the mysterious black slates the Jendar left behind. What wonders will tomorrow bring, eh? We are on the cusp of a new age.”

  He gave them a smile and turned towards the officers quarters leaving them to wonder at what marvellous inventions tomorrow might bring.

  Darrell and a few other of Naira’s classmates finally tore themselves away and set off to find dry clothes and food.

  “Come on,” Jake said. “I’m starving. Let’s go get something to eat.”

  Naira turned for one last glance at the strange new ship, but as she turned to follow her classmates, she couldn’t help wondering if some of the Jendar secrets were better left in the past.

  3 - Past Instructions

  Now is the time to introduce my enhancements to the gene pool of the survivors.

  Test site A comprises of a genetically-diverse group to the north and will be dosed with the enhanced mutagenic agents we have finally perfected to help facilitate the awakening of subjects to the flows of the Tiden Raika.

  - Journal of Robert Mannford, Day 026 Year 16

  Thannis

  The Academy - Dockyard and Port, New Toeron, Bauffin

  Thannis stared out over the sea at the behemoth spewing out clouds of steam and smoke as it slipped forward through the frothing waves.

  “It’s the future cousin,” Dennis said from beside him. “Steam and pistons, valves and gauges, copper and engineering. The future for us, the past for the Jendar that is.”

  “Reading about it is one thing. Actually creating working machinations based on those descriptions is another.” Thannis’s mind was whirring with the possibilities. He could see hundreds of applications for such power already.

  “Fair point, yes.” Dennis nodded with a smile. “The Chroniclers are getting better at translating. Their numbers are beginning to swell now that the church isn’t allowed to stretch the neck of anyone dabbling with Jendar technology. Though, I’m sure our friends in the faith are not happy about it.”

  Thannis just nodded. That was a moot point. The future, as he saw it, had little to do with organised religion. He was already envisioning a world connected by steam and santsi power. The High King’s advantage with his Syklan knights would be swept aside as easily as a leaf in a strong wind. He could see how to make it happen, he just needed to force the world to speed up with him, and that meant using his position as Prince of Northavre more effectively. Father wouldn’t be happy with that, but father never was.

  “We need the schematics for that ship, Dennis,” Thannis stated.

  Dennis swallowed. “We?”

  Thannis sighed. Does no one else see these things?! “Yes, we, Dennis. You have a high proficiency with scientific equipment and a mind more open than many in our family. Can you not see the implications of combining the new santsi we have discovered with the machinery aboard that hulking vessel?

  “I, uh, I must confess that I am lacking that particular foresight at the moment,” Dennis said with a grimace.

  “Do not presume to limit your own ability to learn, cousin,” Thannis snapped. “See those components through an artists eyes, allow your mind to view the possibilities and then bring your intelligence to bear on the problem to bring those possibilities into the world,” he explained in an oddly open moment of reflection. In the recesses of Thannis’s mind, he thought of his hunt of Elise Syun and how his intricate plan became a reality. His body shook with the remembered ecstasy of her death and the satisfaction of killing her two lethal bodyguards beforehand. That had been art as well, and he had done something beautiful that night.

  Dennis didn’t quite know how to take the smile on Thannis’s face as the hint of something darker twinkled in his cousin’s eyes. “I will try to do as you say in the future. Through artist’s eyes …” Dennis squirmed, waiting for Thannis to continue.

  “Nevermind, the moment is passed. Rest assured, there are great things ahead for us. We will need to learn Jendar as well.” Thannis took one last look at the new steam-powered ship from their position atop the Academy walls before turning on his heel and not waiting for Dennis to catch up.

  “Jendar?” Dennis spluttered, “can we not just hire a Chronicler to help us with that?”

  Thannis shook his head and decided to stop trying to educate his cousin. It had been a rare moment for Thannis to try and include someone else in his plans, perhaps Dennis was not as much of a kindred spirit as he assumed.

  Thannis turned on his heel. “On to the next thing then, to the Artificium. Now Dennis, how many research projects are currently underway within the Academy that deal with the revelations within the Jendar’s, A History of Steam?” Thannis was formulating a very large plan as he began to walk along the wall. A plan which his position as Crown Prince of Nothavre would serve very nicely.

  “Perhaps six or seven,” Dennis said as he ran to catch up.

  Thannis nearly choked at that. Six or seven? Didn’t they understand what they had? He turned to look at Dennis and opened his mouth in disgust.

  “I know.” Dennis nodded with a similar look of exasperation on his face. “If you think that’s bad, the Chroniclers’ Artificium in Xin Ya have apparently made some amazing discoveries involving that exploding powder you like to play with, yet they have been forbidden to work on it. Last year the hierophant made a special trip down from Dawn to Wadachi to impose his will on those Chroniclers. It’s the funding you see. The Singers have a veto on all research projects within the Academy, as bequeathed to them by the High King during the founding of the Academy. It was one of the conditions the Singers insisted on before they allowed the Hafaza to commit to the war alongside the Syklans.”

  “I see.” Thannis turned and began to walk again. “Very short-sighted of the High King, though not surprising given his barbarian nature.”

  Dennis sucked his teeth at that and made a placating gesture to the pair of students they passed on their way down the stairs. “Not so loud, cousin. The High King is still respected by many of the common-folk.”

  Thannis rolled his eyes at Dennis’s lack of spine. “I suppose the High King did finally get the Singers to stop hanging every Chronicler they could find. I’ll have to give our esteemed leader a point for that.”

  “Old grudges die hard, especially for old lecherous windbags like the hierophant. That old buzzard probably attended every hanging and preached about the Jendars’ godle
ssness and corruption more than anyone. He can’t hang the Chroniclers any more, but he can do his best to starve them of funds.”

  Yes, another biased and close-minded old idiot running the world, Thannis thought to himself. He would have to do something about that. The new world that was coming had no place for such fools.

  “Perhaps this incognito plan of mine is not the best idea,” Thannis pondered aloud. “I could announce myself and take a guiding and controlling hand within the Academy. I’m sure they could do with a bit of new blood.” And most definitely some blood-letting from members who refused to cooperate. He smiled at the thought of tasting the soul of such ripened and knowledgeable fruit. They would be like sampling fine wines. He had to swallow to keep himself from salivating at the prospect.

  The words had only just escaped his lips before he thought he saw a shadow flicker across his vision. He looked to the corner of the courtyard they had just entered. He could have sworn a person in black had been standing and watching him.

  As he stared at the spot, his mind began to wander, and he forgot all about the logic of announcing himself as the crown prince. It had been a bad idea. His vision swam for a minute, and he felt light-headed.

  “You all right?” Dennis said, holding his arm. “You wobbled a bit there.”

  Thannis stood and took his arm back abruptly. “Fine,” he said sharply, letting Dennis know he was not to be grabbed in such a way. “Now, which way to the Artificium?”

  ***

  The two Beau’chants walked briskly away from the courtyard, and Esmerak let out a shallow hissing breath. The prince had almost seen her that time, she was sure of it. His mind was becoming resistant somehow, and that should not happen.

  She would have to report this to her king. He would not be happy if the prince were to become embroiled in the politics and machinations of the Academy.