Maker of Fire

Tom, on the trip to Sussbesschem

"There it is again," Emily pointed at a spot in the sky that was moving against the wind. "This is the sixth day in a row."

"Sssso strange," Twee was standing on his tail with his forelimbs gripping the gunwale of our ship. The daytime weather was now warm enough for him to drop the rubber suit while the sun was up. "Why is it following us?"

The "it" in question was a flying horse. It showed up five days ago at mid-morning. It circled the ships for at least three bells and then flew back toward the shore in the middle of the afternoon. It did this every day since it first appeared. Given that we were traveling southwest, following the coast, it was certain that this mount was following us.

The flying horse in question was a very handsome beast, almost all black except of a splotch of white on its nose. It didn't try to land on any of our three ships. It just circled and then vanished every day. I assumed it was grazing the grasses of the beaches that lined the coast since I was told there was nothing to forage behind the coastal hills.

The interior behind the hills was a desert all the way to the Salt River on the north side of the giant bay called the Great South Wash. South of the Great South Wash, the thin coast strip was fertile and supported fortified settlements of Sea Coyn. These were satellite communities of Inkalem, set up to resupply ships and provide harbors for shelter from storms. Behind the coastal strip rose increasingly-tall ridges that eventually rose to become impressively high. The crews of our ships called these the Efaldhalos Mountains. The crew members also said they were impassible except in the height of Growing Season, when the passes were clear of snow.

Behind the passes was a vast and elevated plateau that slowly sloped downward to the east in a hilly forested hinterland. Beyond the mostly uninhabited forest was the fertile southern province of Impotu that stretched along both sides of the Stem River south of the former city of Salicet.

We stopped at all six of the Inkalemi harbor towns. The Sea Coyn inhabitants were surprised to see us since most Inkalemi ships lay up for the Cold Season. Emily and I with our fair skin and light-colored hair, and the presence of Twee as a passenger generated a lot of interest and a banquet at every stop. Emily went through a lot of matches at those banquets. We also did a lot of guitar playing. I suspect the instrument makers of Foskos are going to make a lot of money selling "divines" to the Sea Coyn until the Sea Coyn figure out how to make their own.

We picked up our flying horse after the sixth and last Imkalemi coastal town. By now we had left the hills and mountains behind us and the coast began to flatten out and break up into smaller islands and barrier beaches.

Ten days after our flying horse began to shadow us, we entered Sussbesschem. The Sea Coyn considered the boundary to be where we turned east into the northmost channel of the swampy delta of the Stem River. At this point in our journey, the flying horse vanished, leaving us to wonder why it followed us or why it disappeared.

The crew of our three boats dropped the sails and switched to oars. I took several turns at the rowing benches myself but had to argue Emily into staying put on the stern steering platform. She did not like hearing that she wasn't as tall or as strong as she used to be in our previous existence on Earth. She also didn't look like she was old enough to handle one of the big oars the Sea Coyn used on their cargo-bearing longships. She grumped at me for two full days over it, especially after Twee figured out how to handle an oar despite being the wrong proportions for the rowing benches. His feet didn't quite reach the foot rails but he solved the leverage problem by wrapping his long tail around the bench.

Twee really enjoyed being on our ship once it was warm enough for him to drop wearing clothes. Because he had five appendages which ended in fingers, he could climb straight up the mast and up the mast stays without using any of the ratlines. His antics in the rigging amused the Sea Coyn a great deal.

I'm glad the Sea Coyn with their detailed pilot books knew where they were going because I was disoriented as soon as I lost sight of the coast. What our boat crews called one of the river mouths of the Stem looked like just a wider channel of water through hundreds of islands. Some of the islands were little more than swampy patches of reeds and mud. Others were all sizes. The largest had some height to them and hosted the reed huts of Chem villages. Twee told me that the islands with villages were all large enough to host a stone-lined underground shelter. He said the shelters were used during the large storms common toward the end of the yearly monsoon rains.

Smaller islands surrounding Chem villages were cultivated with sugar cane, which is a staple of the Chem diet. The other major food group for the Chem was seafood, which they ate uncooked. I was shocked when Emily told me that fresh fish was quite good when served raw, depending on the variety. I told her that I would starve first.

It took four days to reach the town that supported the temple of Vassu at Sils'chk. The Chem authorities were waiting for us at the boat landing. The mysterious flying horse was waiting for us too.

The landing and the wood buildings surrounding it were built to accommodate Coyn, not Chem. The area was used only by Sea Coyn Traders. The docks lining the river bank had room for around ten longships. The land was cleared for about fifty yards from the bank. Beyond that was a row of godowns to shelter cargo for loading and offloading. Behind the godowns were what looked like barracks or boarding houses.

A delegation of five Chem spotted Twee and approached our boat. All five had the dark skin colors and bright spots that marked them as shamans. The flying horse stood back and watched. He looked to be as tall as Asgotl, and yes, he was definitely a he. Unlike the bulk of a griffin, the flying horse was svelte and sleek. Excluding the wings, he had the looks of an Irish sport horse or an American thoroughbred. Every one of his lines screamed that he was built for speed. I glanced at Emily, the former high school rodeo barrel rider, and saw the desire to ride him in her eyes.

I sideswiped her foot, leaned over and spoke softly into her ear, "Behave yourself. We need to greet the Chem dignitaries first before you drool all over the pegasus."

"Killjoy," she hissed back as me.

Twee scrambled over the gunwale and onto the dock. It was so strange that I could understand his greeting to his fellow Chem in the water language of clicks, whistles, hisses, and percussive consonants. Even though the language was the gift of the deity Vassu, and despite several rotations of practice speaking it with Twee, I understood it better than I could speak it.

"I greet you, friends. I am Twee, Shaman of Shwook, chosen revelator of our mistress of the waters." Twee's name in the water language had the TW sound followed by a noise made by his double tongue that hissed without making an S sound. The name of his village had a similar hissing noise which was lower in pitch and reminded me of a running faucet with a broken o-ring. The sounds of the water language just could not be expressed by a surface dweller's phonetic alphabet.

The five Chem abruptly stopped after Twee spoke and made faces that I knew were the Chem equivalent of being gobsmacked. A long silence descended while the Chem recovered from their shock.

The Chem in the middle of the group was a handsome specimen with saphire clue skin and bright orange spots. He finally spoke, "Twee, Shaman of Shwook, was lost to the salty waters twenty-one turns ago. His hut was burned and his nests eaten."

This was not looking good to me. The expression "lost to the salty waters" was a Chem euphemism for death. The Chem who spoke just told Twee he was dead.

"I know you, Twackl't't," Twee replied calmly. "We walked the spirit paths together when Twalkt, Shaman of Shwook, brought me to Sils'chk the first time, twenty-eight turns ago. The Cosm slavers of Mattamesscontess captured me and blinded me, but the salty waters of the ocean never claimed me. I am no ghost. Look upon me with your inward eye and see the hand of Vassu upon me."

"This is not possible," Twackl't't responded, consternation written on his face. "No one has ever returned after a Cosm raid. Our shores have been violated by the Cosm for so long that stars have moved relative to one another. For thousands of turns, everyone of those taken are dead. No one has every come back to us. Twee, Shaman of Shwook, is dead."

"Look inside, Twackl't't. See that it is me, Twee. I am alive, and so are thousands of other children of Vassu, blinded and enslaved by Cosm to force us to use our water magic to fill their cisterns and wells, irrigate their fields, and operate the locks on their canals. Vassu said she told you that I have come to free all the children of Vassu in captivity."

Twackl't't made an unhappy face, teeth bared, "Vassu said she would send one who would lead us to free the Chem who were enslaved. She never said that the enslaved were those killed by the Cosm."

"The signs of Vassu written in the well of the temple never said that we were dead," Twee's percussive sounds were forceful. "Go back and read them, Shaman Twackl't't. They read that those who are taken should be considered dead. The signs do not say that are dead in reality, but only legally, because before now, there was no way for the enslaved to return."

"Ghost of Twee, if you are truly alive, why are you not blind? The Cosm blind all the children of Vassu they have enslaved."

"The Cosm who live west of the Blue Mountains rescued me from slavery," Twee replied. "Their greatest avatar of the gods took me to the spider mage of the fens north of the land of the Sea Coyn. Ud, the spider monster, found a way to cure the blindness inflicted upon our kind by the Cosm who live east of the Blue Mountains. Ud has now taught that cure to the Cosm west of the Blue Mountains, who have promised to heal all the enslaved children of Vassu and restore their sight. The eleven gods are actively moving on the face of the world and Vassu is clearing our course to freedom with miracles. The sight of my blinded eyes is one of the first of those miracles."

"The words you bring, ghost who claims life, overturn thousands of turns of wisdom. Vassu promised great change but this is greater than any of us could imagine. Vassu also said you would bring the prophet of the third age of miracles with you, so that we might benefit from his counsel. We need to consider your words and decide if you are a living being and not a ghost. We also wish to meet the prophet."

Emily left my side and walked up to Twee. She sat on the ground next to him so her head would be at eye level with the Chem, who were standing on all fours.

In the best water language that a human mouth and tongue could articulate, Emily began to speak. "May the blessings of Vassu be upon you, children of Vassu. I am Emily, chosen by the eleven gods to be their prophet. I know that the shamans of the children of Vassu can see the marks that the gods place on the auras of the sapient races. Look upon me and see that the gods have indeed marked me as theirs."

For the second time, all five of the shamans were gobsmacked. They then put the tips of their snouts into the dirt.

"We greet you, holy prophet," Twackl't't said, snout still pointed at the ground. "May the blessings of Vassu continue to follow you for all the days of your life."

Twee turned to Emily and said something to her that I couldn't hear. The look on her face shifted to one of disapproval.

"Good people," Emily frowned so deeply that I thought her forehead might split in two, "I am not a god. I do not deserve your worship. I am an ordinary person just like you. I've been touched by the divine, just like every shaman in Sussbesschem. I am not different from you. Please stop what you are doing right now. It is not right to worship someone who is not a god."

"But...but...but...," Twackl't't was floundering.

"If you don't stop right now, Shaman Twackl't't, I will get back on one of those Sea Coyn ships and go back to my home," Emily threatened. "I can accept the same treatment that you give any shaman of Vassu, but I refuse to be worshipped like a god."

"We will obey," Twackl't't groveled as the five shaman picked up their snouts from out of the dirt.

Emily grimaced, "We need to unload our ships at the place where we will build our furnaces. Before that, we should let the crews of the ships settle in for the evening, to make a meal and then sleep. We can tackle the details of where we want to build the furnaces in the morning. While the crews set up to sleep on land for the night, I suggest that you, I, and Twee find a place to relax. We need to discuss what it will take to convince the children of Vassu that many of the dead are indeed alive and will be coming home."