The dream is of a party, something after a wedding it seems. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that the dream is the same as that which I heard the others speak of – echoes of a long-past event in Al’Veydra, before the coming of Veyd and the capture of the town by his trolls. I recognize that the party is outside the keep walls, on the garden before it. There are dozens of people around me, all laughing and enjoying the sun.
Things seem very real here, even though the people are ghostly, unreal. The tables, the plates, glasses, all these things are solid. The smell of food is enticing, and the goblet before me has wine in it. I see the original lord of the place – this is his wedding, and his bride beside him. She is destined to descend into an insanity that dwarfs many of those I would have called insane. She will one day poison her groom, and all those around her, in a murderous fit of paranoia. I even see Casava here, as he was when he was human, the retainer of the lord of the castle. His fate, which is to fall into undeath, makes me feel a certain sympathy for him. That his life could have taken a different direction, but instead led him to become a living cancer on all those around him.
But pity and sympathy do not interfere with the job to be done, and in the end it was appropriate that we destroyed him.
I looked more closely at the passersby, the partygoers who were enjoying the festivities here. I begin to recognize them now. The first that tipped me off was to see Natha, the medusa from Devil’s Due, whose head now graces the mantle in the Death’s Head Inn. Did she look at me? Notice me? I don’t think so. I see Kaenig then, glass of wine in his hand, congratulating the bride and groom. I suddenly realize – aside from the married couple and their immediate servants or family, every guest here was someone whom I have personally killed or hand a hand in their death. This was slightly disturbing at first, but dreams ceased to hold their power over me a long while ago.
As I enjoyed the party in my silence, things somehow shifted. Took on a gray tone, colors muting themselves around me. I realized before long that everyone had somehow become wet, drenched with brine. The scent of the ocean permeated the whole scene, and my cup was no longer red with wine, but clear, spilling over with salt water. My journeys intrude even into prophetic dreams, I suppose. Shame, it was good wine.
This recurring dream of the wedding, that took place several centuries before any of Fellbane’s members came to pass, and during which time it could legitimately be said I did not exist, draws my attention. There is something to it, something that still resonates there in Al’Veydra. Perhaps because of the ley-line nexus flowing through that place, perhaps the event drew them there, or perhaps simple coincidence. Whatever the case, I feel something there in that dream is important. The others and myself would not keep having it if it were not somehow relevant. Perhaps it foretells something.
I do not yet know. I know only that the place echoes with old power, even if the residents don’t see it. What I once thought would be simply a holdover seems to command a much greater amount of my attention now. I do look forward to finding a solid vantage of the lines, and tapping them for my use. I think a great deal of additional fortification can be made with them, both arcane as well as enhanced physical bulwarks.
As I was thinking this, one of the guests sat down across the table from me, setting down a jeweled goblet that spilled a little saltwater upon the table. He was dressed in purple finery, with a silk brocade down his chest, and his hair was of a similar shade. Unlike the other figures in the party, he actually looked at me. His eyes, and the slight points of his ears, showed him to be of Fey origin. When I looked more closely, his eyes had irises of violet. His expressionless face regarded me for a little while before I spoke up.
“I didn’t know you could enter my dreams uninvited.”
“There are a great many things I can do which I have not yet told you of.” He responded. He sipped at the glass. “Do you know these people?”
“No, not the bride and groom, we’ve never met – though that one over there…” I pointed to Casava, “we sent to his final death in Cozule a few weeks back. The rest,” and I scanned the crowd again. “The rest I was more or less responsible for their departure from the World.”
“I thought he looked familiar. That’s the one Sered killed, isn’t it? Casava, the one who made so much trouble for you?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
“Seems unhappy.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Let me ask you, Shadrim, do you know what is worse than death, even such as his?”
“I know many things that are worse than the fate he suffered, but I don’t know the one you are attempting to lead me to.”
He leaned forward, elbows upon the table, and tapped his finger on the table. In front of him, a long blade lay upon the surface. Drained of color, I could still see it to be Sybarron.
“Imprisonment. Any fate is better. For my kind, freedom is our life, and I would do anything to escape my prison.” He looked a little sheepishly at the blade. “I have done anything to escape this, now that I mention it.”
“Yes, and I would appreciate your consulting with me before you try any more of these unique solutions of yours. What are you saying here?”
“We sail towards the kingdom of a Lord of Dreams. He is archfey, and in his realm he has power rivaled only by the gods. He has offered me my freedom on condition of service. I intend to accept.”
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“We have never been friends, you and I, but I would say that an ally deserves notice.” He played his finger down the blade. “I have been trapped in this prison for a very long time.”
“So I take it the offer I made is not to your satisfaction?”
“I like your ambition, and it sounds like a very interesting journey you have before you. But the time-frame is too long for me. I must be free. This lord has the capability to grant me that freedom, and he is much closer to me now than your potential future.”
“Are there other alternatives?”
“I was actually hoping to take you in my place, but cannot. Your destiny cannot pass through this blade. There could be others, others who might be suitable to replace me here. Most of your companions are not suitable, they have no life to substitute for mine. The deva, however, Sered, his thousands of pasts could provide enough substance.”
“Would this be a better solution for you? To have a volunteer take your place?”
“Of course – this would grant me freedom without obligation. When we arrive at this island, I will be exchanging one set of bonds for another. But know this – I will do anything to get out of this prison.”
“Sybarron, you have treated me fairly, and I would see no one bound against their will. Whatever crime you have committed against your queen, I agree this punishment is unfitting. If I am able, and it does not do harm to me or mine, I will see you freed from this. As I have said before, though, betrayal shall be met with most harshly. I will pose the question to Sered, though I will not compel him against his will.”
He looked at me neutrally.
“I really wish you had mentioned this to me before now, we might perhaps not be so bound for time. Back in Al’Veydra I might have actually found a suitable volunteer for you – either in the town itself or perhaps someone from Spiderwatch. Even Ihnbharan might have provided us with a better choosing ground. Here, all I have is endless ocean.”
He nodded, still expressionless. “Well, perhaps my timing is not as good as it could have been, but this opportunity is here for me.”
“Is this what you truly wish?”
“I would sacrifice you and all of yours to get it.”
“Then I shall see to it you are delivered to the Lord of this place myself.”
He looked surprised. “You would give me over freely?”
“On the condition of safe passage for myself and mine here, yes. Come to think of it, I wonder if he would not be amenable to a trade. After all, we seek the release of a soul from his realm, and if he would accept you in exchange for Feyan Eire that would be a solution for you and for my companions. Do you think he would accept such an offer?”
“I will bring it to him on bended knee.”
He stood and walked away among the phantom revelers, blending into the crowd swiftly before I lost sight of him. The blade remained where it lay upon the table.
I stood, and wandered away into the meadows, sleep taking hold of me again and leading me into darkness.
- * *
Waking, I found the ship tossed in a strange storm. Thunder raged outside the hull, and great waves with flying foam-caps sailed past us like sliding mountains. Karac was already on deck, as was Sered and Zenith – all were doing their best to secure ropes and keep the sails trimmed tight. I finished belting Sybarron to me – for what better time for a frigid ocean-dweller to attack than in the middle of a storm – and staggered to the starboard railing to watch for rocks. I noticed Dex doing so on the port side as well, and Bingo was up at the wheel mount with Captain Shalvar.
The lightning threw shadows upon the deck beneath its enormous spectrum of colors. Unlike lightning in the real, this wasn’t slashes of white, these bolts instead came down in a torrent of different colors – as though someone had passed true lightning through a prism, and the multiplied strokes of the rainbow each struck at us individually.
I had wrapped a rope around my arm to hold me in place, watching Shalvar cling to the wheel with the desperation of a helpless victim. Watching him and watching the wheel spin, it dawned on me just how little control he actually exerted over the Waves of Grass. Ereliya was the true soul of the ship, and she was the one piloting. In many ways this actually comforted me – a being born to the water and who had lived in it for her entire life, she’d know better than even the most hardy sea-captain.
I could see rocks ahead, and shouted out to the wind, hoping Ereliya would hear and that I was being helpful.
I felt the ship flex beneath me, Ereliya sliding corner to the waves. The rocks I’d seen cornered off and away. I sighed in relief, a sigh that rapidly turned into a drowned sputtering as a great wave crested directly into my face.
Shaking the water from my eyes, I looked down to see a stream of water flowing up and over the side, just past my leg. Like a great snake of fluid, this ropy mass slid by my right leg, unnaturally defying both the pull of gravity and the fury of the storm. I shouted in alarm, and twisted to see where this new threat was going. I saw behind me then, a pile of ice-flecked water forming up into a vaguely man-sized mound, which quickly developed a semblance of limbs. Its greenish hue looked like the skin of a drowned sheep eight days gone. Around us, several others of its kind were taking shape across the deck.
I screamed out a warning, hoping others would take heed, and drew Sybarron to defend myself. The thing slammed into me, much as a wave from the sea would, and I nearly lost my footing – but I recovered quickly enough to channel a burst of fiery power through the blade and into the creature. The resulting blast of steam shoved it back a ways, and I reeled back into the railing. The rope around my off arm saved me from going over, but I almost dropped Sybarroninto the waves.
Recovering myself from the stumble, I swung out randomly through the spray to keep the inevitable resurgence of my enemy at bay. The purple afterglow ofSybarron’s blade created a strange strobe effect in the air before me, water droplets seemingly hovering in the air. I felt it slide through something watery and plunged a hefty charge of winter freeze through my strike – perhaps it was my imagination, but the simple slip of water became a grinding of slush as the blade swam through the thing.
I saw and heard the lightning at the same time, and the blast pushed me against the rails again. This time I lost my feet, barely in time to be missed by a large chunk of wood that flew through the air where my chest had been a moment ago. The lightning had struck just where the first mast connected to the deck, and although I couldn’t see any serious damage to the ship, being struck by lightning is never a good thing. The others had all been blasted away from the mast, though two of these water creatures were still standing there, moving after their chosen targets.
Karac still stood, right in the path of three of them, swinging his axe like a madman, screaming something I couldn’t make out through the storm. As I watched, he mowed one down completely, its form disintegrating into water and sea foam. He shouted something triumphant and proceeded to hack at the other two, which were retreating after seeing their compatriot treated so roughly.
As I was rising to my feet, the creature I was stuck with rushed into me, inadvertently helping me to my feet. Being more than a little tired of this, I blasted it with a furious spray of ice shards, which froze its bottom half almost solid. Using the moment of respite, I slid across the deck towards the bow, shouting a warning to Ereliya when I saw a twisting spiral of cloud passing by on my side. When I got up a few yards, I turned back to see the green-tinged column of water slowly getting its mobility back. Before it could close with me, I tapped into a reserve of heat granted me by my familial curse. Brimstone flashed into the air, and liquid flames coruscated up and down the verdant water, blasting it to steam where they touched, and boiling the remainder. Before it could cover two yards, it already had reduced to half its size, and as I watched it collapsed from its quivering remnants into a wash that went over the side and into the sea.
The others were faring similarly – no one had gone over the side that I could see, and the enemies were reducing in number almost as quickly as I could count them.
When only two were left, the clouds above us broke, and the Waves of Grass sailed clear of the storm, almost as if it were a curtain parting between two rooms. We coasted down the side of a great grey mountain of water, the spray already dying out. The two remaining creatures quickly dashed to the side and flung themselves into the sea.
I took stock of my companions, and seeing none in life-threatening danger, sheathed Sybarron before sitting down in a heap on the deck. Exhaustion was setting in, my arms and even my tail aching as if I’d run a mile in mere minutes. I scratched behind one horn with the hard edge of one of my tail flanges, and let myself forget for a few minutes what we were doing.
Shalvar didn’t give me much time to relax, though. He had me rearranging materials on the deck before long, and Zenith and Sered went belowdecks to straighten out the mess that loose flying gear had caused downstairs.
“That was their storm, I’m sure of it,” he said as he walked up to me. I kept re-coiling the rope I’d found loose while watching him. “I hope those weren’t coming at his beck and call.” He nodded his head towards Sybarron.
This was not of my doing. After our agreement last night, I will not act thus again. His voice now had a face attached to it, after my dream last night. I found this more than a little disconcerting, even though I should have made such a connection a long while ago. Unless, of course, you call our deal off.
“He did not do this. We have an arrangement now.”
Shalvar looked unconvinced. “We’re coming into the thicket of Vasylim’s Teeth now. This gets a bit more difficult to navigate, and a mistake costs us dearly. I’ll throw the both of you over, pact be damned, if he does bring more down upon us.”
“I understand, and I’ll be the first to throw him if he does.”
I finished coiling the rope, re-secured it to the rigging, and headed downstairs.
Looking for Sered.
I found him in the galley, hanging pots back up on the hooks over the stove. He observed me coming in with a nod. I sat at the small table, and he turned to face me, eyebrows raised in question.
“I had a conversation last night, with Sybarron.”
He didn’t change his expression.
“I don’t know how much of this I’ve told you, so forgive me if I cover things you already know. We have a proposition for you.”
He didn’t seem to like the idea of this.
“Sybarron is a knight of the court of winter. A long while ago, he gave grave offense to his matron. In response, she cursed him to live with no flesh, in this blade as his prison.”
“Go on,” Sered picked up a cup and began buffing it casually.
“The lord of the Fortress of Nightmare is willing to free him, but will do so only in exchanging his current bindings for a bond of his own. Sybarron will accept this exchange, and I suppose if that is his choice I will let him do so.”
“But he has indicated that there is another option – that he can exchange places with an individual freely, if that individual willingly accepts the bindings he is under. I am apparently not a candidate for this, but he has said that you might be capable.” His eyes widened at this, and I could see he was a bit angered at this.
Before he could interject, I continued. “This is not as much as it seems. He has been trapped in this blade for centuries, and is desperate to escape it. I see a path in which I can free him in what might be only a short while, but even my time-frame is too long for him when presented with this exchange is in his very grasp.”
“What path are you referring to?”
“I am destined for a throne – and upon taking it, I will have the power to undo this curse. It will be a while yet before I can attain it, but it has been foretold many ages ago that I will be the one to achieve it.”
“What throne are you speaking of?”
I thought of a gentle way to say it, but in the end settled for simple honesty. “Hell.”
“What?”
“I am destined to overthrow Asmodeus, and take the throne of hell from him. I was born to this prophecy, and he destroyed my empire in an attempt to forestall it.”
“I see. You understand that might be a bit of a stretch for me to accept? And how would this exchange of places transpire?”
“I would not tell you were it not true, but I cannot truly expect you to accept such a claim out of hand. I believe I must give you this weapon, for you to bear instead of me.”
He thought for a moment, and spoke very slowly, cautiously. “I take no offense at this, be certain of that. But also be certain, my soul will never be bound thusly. I could no sooner accept this than I could pull one of the mountainous islands outside up from its roots.”
“I am glad no offense was given, it was not my intent. He told me of an option available to him, and I promised to relay it to you. I will continue to seek other options that would not include servitude in Taer Lan Doresh. I just don’t see many options here upon this ocean.”
He nodded. “I am sorry I could not help you, but my answer is no.”
I shrugged. “Thank you for at least hearing me out.”
He turned back to his pots.
- * *
We sailed through the Teeth of Vasylim for another day and night, the great craggy spires jutting out of the sea like to no other comparison but their name – they were as the jagged teeth of a dragon, sticking up menacingly from the ocean around us. The wind played strange tunes across the waves to us, alternately whistling and moaning, and at times even seeming musical in nature. Sea birds clustered around their sheer faces, calling out in their harsh and discordant voices. One could almost be at peace here, as the Teeth seemed to dampen the heavier surges we had encountered in the open sea.
Sered and Bingo even managed not to be sick, which I felt was a feat in and of itself. We had a peaceful meal together as a group in the galley that night, Shalvar telling us stories of his past exploits on the Sea of Scales. When sunset finally came, he went topside to see Ereliya, who could only come out when the sun was no longer shining.
The morning came easily, no storm to assault us, no beasts rising to attack us. It was nearly peaceful. Karac kept giving me sidelong looks – I suspect he distrusted Sybarron more than a little, and were I in his position I would likely have felt the same. It felt strange to me again, considering a dwarf to be my peer. This group has given me many new insights I might never have gained in the old Empire, and not the least of them is to assess matters from another’s perspective. This would no doubt grant me some further advantage in future negotiations.
I wondered where I might find a suitable volunteer for Sybarron’s place in the imprisoning blade.
Towards evening, as the sun was settling toward the horizon for its evening of sleep, the wind took on a haunting melody, clearly music of some kind. Quite beautiful, really, it seemed to harmonize with the rolling waves.
Where I stood on the deck, looking out to port, I could see a distant crag, and another closer by behind me to starboard echoed its pounding surf across our decks.
“Don’t stand so close to the edge, Shadrim,” Shalvar called out to me from the wheel deck.
I stepped back quickly and looked up at him, the question in my face.
“The music may sound lovely, but the players are a troublesome lot.”
Oh yes, so much clearer. It explains much of why the Eladrin never became a conquering force in the World, they could never give each other clear orders.
As I pondered turning that into an axiom, Karac let out a startled yelp from the starboard railing. Too late, I turned to see a strange jug arcing over the deck, where it impacted just ahead of Shalvar and detonated with a bang and a spray of ash and foul-smelling offal. Shalvar had thrown up his arm when the missile first appeared, and this probably saved him from further damage to his face, but the blast wave caught him and swept him clear off the back of the deck. Karac was shoved roughly into the railing and fell to his hands and knees, coughing and spitting pieces of fish-gut onto the deck.
While he sat there, an enormous head, like some cross between fish and snake, reared up out of the water to snap loudly at him. Its features looked like the most fearsome creatures from the depths, all angles and eyeball, with clear glassy teeth the size of daggers. It had a bit in its mouth, and a harness of sorts wrapped around its body, little hand-loops all up and down it. Its great fangs snapped the empty air above Karac as he rolled out of the way, before it moved past him and took a second bite at Dex – this time the great glassy teeth sank deep in into her shoulder before it retreated with haste into the sea.
I shouted out the alarm and ran to the aft deck to see if I could recover Shalvar from the water, but he was nowhere in sight. Instead, a lovely woman, nude, swam in the water looking up at me. She grinned, and the illusion of beauty was shattered as quickly as it set in – in her mouth were row upon row of serrated needle-like teeth. I realized quickly that she had no legs, but instead had a long green-scaled tail. She whipped that tail at me, unleashing a spray of sharp stickers that arced through the air to embed themselves in my right arm and chest. I’m proud to say that I didn’t cry out, but by the nine gates, those things hurt.
She swam rapidly up the length of the boat to hover in the water adjacent to where Karac was rising to his feet. She flung a long lasso of some kind, covered with small spikes and hooks, around him and pulled it tight. Apparently this mermaid had no experience with dwarvenkind, for trying to move one of them against his will is rather like trying to move a thick tree-stump by sheer force of muscle. Rather looks like the same situation, come to think of it.
He shrugged himself out of the noose, grunting as the hooks caught flesh and tore, but he was free in a snap.
“Shalvar went over!” I shouted. The others, variously coming up from below or looking over the rails, started charging to the rails. Bingo sang a few arrows at the mermaid I’d seen, missing with one and sinking the second into her tail. She dove briefly and swam with the speed of a racing dolphin out of his sight around behind the ship.
I began to see the shadow of others in the water, several angling to swim beneath the ship. I assumed that was where Shalvar was, probably being swarmed down there. Karac and Sered did a quick countdown and both threw themselves over the side, swimming down to intercept the shadows. I lost sight of them there. Zenith came up to join me, where I was arrowing freezing blasts at the one mermaid I had a clear view of. She wrapped him up in her lasso with a quick throw a moment later, dragging him right up to the edge of the rails before he caught himself. I saw him mutter something, then release hold of the railing to float cleanly a few feet above the waves. A filck of her tail sent another streak of spines up at him, sticking into his leg and drawing a not-insignificant amount of blood.
I could see a jumble of shadows all overlapping beneath the waves where Karac and Sered had gone, and hoped they had taken a good breath before going in.
I also could see that the ship, now out of control, was making a slide towards the rocks to starboard. It would be a while yet before sunset, and I dearly hoped Ereliya would be able to come out before we were dashed against them.
Zenith did something to the mermaid that got her attention quickly, and she sang out a strange verse at him. Seriously, she sang to him – which sounds incongruous, and after a fashion it was – and it was as if he’d been struck in the head with a lead pipe. His face went slack, and his arms went limp at his sides.
She began to reel him into the waves with her lasso. As she did, Dex – who had remained on the starboard rail, flinging small sharp somethings into the sea when she had a good shot – gave out a shout. The huge sea-serpent had returned, biting her yet again and shaking her about like a terrier with a rat in its mouth. Over the side both of them went, vanishing into a magnificent spray of foam.
I continued to pour arcane frost into the mermaid, wishing I had a clear view of the creatures below. I could see red tinging the water where Karac and Sered were, and Dex also must have been bleeding, for I could see the water clouding a bit off-color where she was as well.
The mermaid I was dealing with must have sensed she was close to the end, for she released Zenith with a quick whip of her cord and began to turn below. At the same time, Karac surfaced a ways off the side of the ship. “They’ve taken Shalvar, swum off!”
Suddenly the mermaid I was fighting took on a new meaning – she might be the only link we had to finding our captain. Knowing this was probably a foolish decision, I clutched Sybarron tightly and dove into the water to get a last shot at the fleeing mermaid. I knew I’d only get the one chance, so I did my best to make the dive on a collision course.
Although the point of Sybarron did not hit the mark, my head certainly did.
Shadrim are known for having thick skulls – our horns simply add additional weight, and our bodies compensate for that by giving us stout necks. The end result is that a head-butt from a Shadrim is something like that of a bull ram in mating season.
My head slammed into the mermaid cleanly between her shoulders, and I swear I could feel the snap of bone beneath my horns. Stars flickered across my sight, and I was grateful for the leather strap securing Sybarron to my wrist. Her body went limp almost immediately, for all intents and purposes – this time the pun was intentional – like a boned fish.
I wrapped my weapon arm around her waist, gripping the cords of her harness, and kicked as best I could to get to the surface. When I reached the air, I swam back slowly towards the Waves of Grass dragging my prize with me.
Zenith was already on deck, and threw down some netting for me to lift myself up in. I wrapped the she-creature up in it, and held it tight as we were slowly dragged from the water.
I saw then that the others had already returned to the ship – even Bingo it seemed had flung himself into the waves, for he sat there dripping on the deck.
Dex came forward to bind the mermaid’s hands. “Her fellows have taken the captain,” she said as she tightened the ropes.
“They aren’t stupid – this one should know where they’ve taken him.” Sered offered.
“And if she refuses?” Dex looked up at him.
I interjected. “She won’t.”
Although I felt sure we’d get the answer from her, I wasn’t so sure we’d get it in time. The rocks were getting closer, and the sun was still a finger above the horizon.
Without Ereliya released to move freely, we were bound to be crushed.
