Sailing Ether Tides

Sailing Ether Tides

Ch: 39 One Too Many Or One Too Few

Captain Elaine woke slowly and peacefully, with the sun streaming in through a porthole. There were dryland birds singing and chattering and the water was as still as glass, but she was aboard a ship, at least. That child in the silly blue dragon pajamas had assigned them quarters on the little trader, Moonrise; where she was now moored to a dock in this wide, deep, mountain lake.

She dressed and ducked out into the companionway finding her sisters’ doors still closed. She brewed coffee in the well stocked galley and waited for just a few minutes, before the groggy women staggered out of their bunks; heeding the dark siren’s call in grand naval tradition.

“Morning…” They croaked in unison, experiencing the sense of lassitude that a good night’s rest after a long journey can create.

“It’s best we ignore how this vessel came to sail these waters…” Elaine muttered, once her fellow captains were properly coffeed and ready to start facing the day.

“Say no more.” Bethany muttered sourly. “I feel a little dizzy, when I think of just how high up we are…”

“Ohh, gods and spirits, sweet empress of Light… I hadn’t thought of that…” Hermione muttered crossly. “It seems solid enough, I suppose…” She glared out of the wide galley hatch at the expanse of the lake and the snow capped mountains rising high above, in the near distance. All three fell silent, as they held their mugs and contemplated that alien vista, so different from what they had known so far.

Their reverie was shattered by Gabriella Rex, empress of Light and their sworn ruler, when she popped her smiling face into the hatch and waved at them.

“Good morning captains!” Her deep brown chocolatey cheeks dimpled in a manner too adorable to fit the ruler of uncounted loyal subjects and giggled.

“Our hosts are away, riding their mad machines for the pleasure of it, so Joco and I will be exploring the city and grounds with you today.”

The empress’ left hand carried a lidded wooden pail in his hands and a sack over his shoulder, as he clambered through the hatch with her imperial radiance following right after. The empress stepped into the galley and relieved her husband of his burdens, unpacking a set of lacquerware boxes in the traditional style.

With brisk efficiency that could only be born of long practice, the empress opened the pail of hot, seasoned and lightly vinegared rice and began filling bowls. Her colorful containers opened to reveal boiled and salted soybeans, pickled radish, carrot and cabbage salad, fresh plum tomatoes, poached eggs enveloped in delicate dumpling wrappers and salt grilled lake trout.

All three women and the assassin gasped in delight at their first taste of the familiar foods of home in so many days, while the empress smiled at them smugly.

“Even so far from home, little comforts can still be found, if one is willing to search them out.” She declared with deep satisfaction.

“Don’t believe her…” The muscular imperial assassin mumbled between bites, while making an abominably rude pinchy gesture at his wife with his chopsticks.

“She found most of these things in the kitchen of that mad witch’s inn. He’s intolerable, but does seem to understand the basics of hospitality.”

“Jocomo!” Her radiance huffed and glared at her husband in feigned outrage, but her smile widened even more when he sniffed at her and winked.

“We’re in barbarian lands… silly woman.” He barked, as though speaking to the farm wife of some backwoods smallholding.

Somewhere nearby, someone grunted in appalled outrage and then squawked in surprise. A heartbeat later, something massive landed on the aft deck, just out of view with a loud, metallic clatter.

“Sir Dermaptera, I left strict instructions with lady Scorpion… I will be accompanied by my husband and the good captains today. You and the other Whispers are to take the day off.” The empress spoke calmly and formally, reinstating his title and erasing the hated ‘earwig’ appellation with her declaration, drawing a gasp of pleasure from the as yet unseen armored retainer lurking outside.

“We will discuss how a highly trained imperial whisper managed to fall from the rigging of a moored ship, at a later date…” Jocomo called to the unseen warrior, just to deflate him a little.

“Yes, Lord Jocomo…” The meek and embarrassed reply drifted in through the open hatch, followed by the sounds of an armored man departing the ship in some haste.

“Eat up, I’ll show you around the inn and garden, then we will explore the town!” Her girlish giggle brought smiles to the entire galley table, even her usually somber husband’s stoney features.

Out on the lake side, the town was quiet and almost tranquil, even with so many Adventurers, warriors, friends and relations staying on the inn’s grounds. Tents and pavilions of every description stood on widely scattered lawns, surrounded by well groomed fruit and shade trees, garden beds and flower arbors. Even in simple bowers under the trellises and trees, bedrolls and cots were all over the place.

A steady stream of people moved in and out of the place, almost all bore the look of Adventurers of some kind, even the beastkin that seemed to be everywhere. Feline, canine, ursine and mustelids were everywhere in the outlying wards and even in the town itself. They bustled and traded, hawked wares and drove carts laden with early produce into the busy market.

Even a few of the very rare bat folk were around, wearing wide, shady hats and with smoked lenses over their sensitive eyes and earmuffs protecting their ears from the ruckus of daylight dwelling folks. They draped their leathery wings around themselves as cloaks, but were obviously unusual anyway.

The imperials found themselves staring at the bat kin and goggling openly, awash in too many new things to realize that their shared incredulity was intensely rude.

“The bat folk seldom come out in the daytime… but they are simply mortal people, living their lives…” The rich, warm voice was smooth and confident, carrying the speaker’s smile of amusement audibly, somehow.

The dark clad, improbably handsome man from the night before stood beside the imperials, gently scolding the empress herself.

“My regrets, Ward…” Gabbie muttered unhappily, as she sketched an apologetic bow to the leather winged men and women.

“They are often persecuted, or even killed when men encroach on their homes… They are commonly mistaken for monsters when they fly in the moonlight.” He sighed wistfully. “Theirs is the power of flight… so it works out, I suppose.”

“Flight…” Gabbie whispered softly.

“Yes… the power of flight is truly remarkable… My brother and I have both flown through the sky on wings of human artifice on the world we came from… perhaps that is why we both took on flying familiars when we arrived here…” He murmured quietly to himself. “I gather that almost no one bonds with flying creatures here.”

The tall man in the long leather coat that was strangely reminiscent of the batkin’s own wing cloaks, led the embarrassed visitors away into the market: after smiling and nodding an apology at the subjects of the imperial gaze.

“Would you mind terribly if I were to guide you through the town? I promised the birthday girl that she and her friends would get to meet some humans and other folks.” He turned his head slightly revealing the tiny, bright red and gold wasp girl clinging to his neck. “Mariah, Kree, Sasha, meet my sister, Gabbie and her friends.”

A small golden and black girl in insect armor with dazzling jewel wings clung to his other ear, while an enormous dark moth shifted and rustled for a better view inside his coat.

Mariah and Kree waved cheerfully from their perches, while the moth slipped farther inside the man’s shadowy coat.

“Sasha is a little shy, in daylight.” He muttered apologetically.

“Are they really… Dryads?” Jocomo asked warily, eying the strange man with suspicion. “You are that other Gary Ward, aren’t you…?”

“No, only Mariah is a dryad.” He answered cooly, while Gabbie shushed and scolded her bluff, plainspoken husband. “And yes, I’m Ward, his brother, in a way…” His smile widened and became warmer when he addressed the empress. “That makes Gabbie my sister and you…”

His gaze chilled rapidly when it fell back on the smaller man.

“That makes you the guy who tried to kill my brother three times… I don’t usually allow anyone to survive that once.”

With the mercurial swiftness only the mad possess, the man’s attitude warmed and the pall of dread and uncanny malice he was emitting drifted away on the summer breeze.

“I suppose you’re my brother in law!” He chirped merrily before becoming distracted. “Ohh, look! A dumpling stand!”

#

For such a small town, there was much to see. The largest smithy in town was run by two giant ginger twin brothers and their team of apprentices, raising a mighty clatter and rumble that dominated the commerce and craft district. A rushing cataract from the mountainside powered a series of waterwheels, driving the mills and tools of the ward.

Their guide insisted that the imperial party should see the innovative water driven tools that kept the place rumbling along.

Beaver and muskrat folk dominated the sawmill, it was a well known stereotype… but an herbivorous aquatic mammals’ gotta make a living and when one is born with certain skill sets and interests…

By the same token, a small clan of otters were running a fish market near the gate, selling freshwater clams, mussels, crabs and snails, along with crayfish and actual freshwater fish of course. Their sleek and lithe forms often wriggled with excitement when they gleefully haggled and negotiated with their customers.

Kids of every kind romped and goofed on the wide greensward around the city gate, playing complicated foot games with small balls of knotted rags or tossing wooden disks that floated lazily through the sky as if held aloft by magic.

Kids buzzed around on the ‘skates’ and ‘scooters’ that had become fashionable among wealthy children in the upper quarters of the empire… Here, the children flew around on those remarkable toys seemingly regardless of social class.

Hunters and farmers rubbed shoulders with crafters and merchants in the bustling pre festival throng, as the busy little town got moving in the warm sunshine.

“I spent a little time bumming around the corners of your empire… not too much; I don’t have any cultists there yet.” He grinned ruefully at the empress, her consort and the three captains.

“Your society is very rigid and rejects new things by default… and that’s why I wanted you to see this busy, modern little community. This is what you guys are missing.”

He waved at the bustle of humans and others, carrying on with their daily lives in the little frontier town. From there, it was off to the small temple district, housing a number of shrines to gods familiar and new.

Only Healer, Joy and Knowledge had actual temples, though all but Healer’s remained under construction to one degree or another.

He led the little party from one shrine to another; visiting the four wind dragons’ little pagoda, Thirp’s spider webbed shrine and lace draped altar and Eponna’s marvelous statue, carved from a single massive log of the local giant redwood. The deep red wooden mare seemed almost alive, rearing in joyous challenge to the sky.

Ward led them under the boughs of a towering golden fig tree, trained to grow up and over a narrow lane leading off the temple square and into a small park that was even more thoroughly tree shaded than the rest of the largely forested town.

Under the tall, whispering trees, they felt the gaze of the forest primeval running down their spines… a sense of something deeply profound and wise watching from the shadows beneath the leaves.

“This is a druid’s grove, unique in the world… at the moment. Only when a druid settles down and truly makes a place their home can these conditions arise.” Ward whispered softly. “Here, under these boughs, as in ancient times, the fae can interact with the mortal world more easily.”

He spread his dark leather coat, releasing the creatures hidden inside out into the parkland, before his coat also took wing. The garment flapped and fluttered, in the form of a vast, immaterial shadow bat taking flight from his shoulders.

“Go play with the ladies, girls… I need to talk with these mortals.”

The moth, bat and winged insect girls vanished into the undergrowth amidst a vast, feminine chorus of joyful greetings. A truly startling number of voices raised in happy cries that seemed to drift to the human’s ears from a very great distance; as though a distant, enormous crowd of women were cheering the appearance of a beloved friend.

The man turned back to the mystified imperials and smiled at Gabbie in particular. “You’re our sister in a lot of ways, but the pantheon sees you very differently than any of us… than the Ward family, I mean. That means I can speak more freely, without the other divines getting all salty and butthurt.”

“So you really claim to be a deity… The new god of death and vengeance…” Jocomo demanded sharply.

“Yuppers. In the not exactly flesh. Outside this grove, without the presence of one of my mortal kin; like the Wards or empress Gabbs here, I’m mostly intangible. Most of the time in the mortal world I’m an illusion of Will, shadow and moonlight.” He yawned and stretched in the shady grove, smiling even more brightly, if that was possible.

“Why have you brought us here?” Elaine demanded hotly. “Is this some plot or scheme?”

“Not at all, I promised to bring the girls to visit the rest of the dryads and I needed to introduce myself, before things get complicated and I wanted to explain some of these concepts to you, before the whole gang comes crashing down on you… they are a lot to take in all by themselves.”

#

Count Liam watched the kids ride out, heading for the mountains, from the windows of the palace… They pedaled out onto his trails… Without him.

A sigh breezed past his lips, poorly hidden behind his coffee mug. He turned his attention back to duke Mubarak and his family, who were perfect guests, following tradition and custom with exacting thoroughness.

“...We’ve arranged some entertainments and exhibitions of local arts and crafts…” Tawny was explaining with real excitement, all the tiresome and dull things she’d planned for the festival and their noble visitors… those not too exhausted by the rigors of travel.

Duke Rummel and duchess Fernlowe had the good taste to make feeble excuses, claiming to be exhausted by their journey, before sneaking out to enjoy the festivities in common garb, a giggling noble foursome with their spouses.

The imperials had simply dipped out in the night, escaping to the inn by the waterside through some stealthy means that infuriated the Whispers, when they discovered their monarch’s escape.

The noble house Mubarak held fast to tradition… No matter how terrifyingly bored the duke and the two children seemed at the prospect.

“...Census data and a detailed report on local crop yields…” Tawny was enthusiastically telling her mother, Celeste Belen and beloved auntie Jaspreet, who seemed enthralled by the prospect of pouring over a heap of dull government forms.

“Beloved wife… I should perhaps take the children and get them some exercise…” Abed coughed and blushed at his own colossal rudeness to his hosts, but just listening to the itinerary had numbed his mind.

“Capital Idea…” Count Liam pounced on that opening like a starving dog on a plump roasted chicken. “If the duchess will allow me to steal away her family for the day…”

Across the breakfast table, Rolf, Angie and Ester leapt into the slim chance at escape the duke of Shiraz had created.

“Yes, count Liam… We would be pleased to accompany you on a tour of the palace grounds and the city… a very extensive, mounted tour, if you would.”

“Oh dear…” Tawny muttered unhappily. “Well, I guess we three will have to spend the day in a garden bower, sipping tea very demurely, as we await your return from your adventures.”

The sounds of chairs being evacuated by young people filled the room, as the breakfast table emptied rapidly.

“A scandalous breach of noble etiquette… but I suppose that on the frontier such atrocious behavior might go unreported.” Celeste scolded the escaping guests, from the golden heights of her lofty position.

A moment after the doors closed behind the retreating noble ne’er do wells, Celeste sighed and smiled at Tawny and Jaspreet.

“Let’s wait a few minutes before we head to the stables… it would be embarrassing if we all met back up there.”

“Gods and spirits, yes!” Tawny enthused. “If we get caught by my chamberlain, we might have to actually review those crop reports. The man is a tyrant!”

Coun Liam rode out on his remarkable, floral mount, with the Mubarak children gleefully clinging on behind him, flanked by Rolf and Angie riding double on Ester and duke Mubarak himself, on a fine palfrey mare from the Belen stables. The knot of happy riders vanished down a country lane in mere moments.

Twenty minutes later, three more noble ladies trotted out of the now quite empty stables, headed out into the far flung, shady town.

They rode in a loose group, accompanied by Runningtree and Larksong; two doughty veteran Adventurers from a fringe tribe that had a very casual attitude towards the nobility and a long, close relationship with the count and his wife.

They roamed the wards and districts, riding under the trees and pausing to rest their mounts when anything interesting appeared; interesting usually meant something tasty.

“Lark, what is this meat filling?” Duchess Jaspreet asked with delight, once she had licked her fingers and wiped them on her homespun skirts in a very un-duchess-like manner.

“Freshwater stone snail… They are common in the deep parts of the lake.” She answered while juggling her own hot frybread and gastropod sandwich from the stall by the road. “They are a local delicacy.”

“Snail meat…” Celeste asked around her own meaty mouthful. “We’re eating snail?”

“Mother… you have enjoyed several meals at Shai’s house…” Tawny began very delicately. “They are Adventurers, you know…”

The golden duchess paused in the street, one hand clutching the rough skirts of worsted wool her daughter had dressed her in, the other gripping that damnably tasty snailwitch that was still tempting, even after learning its terrible secret.

“Tawny… what did you let your friends feed me?” She demanded sharply. “Was it… monster…?”

“Yes, mother… it was. Monsters of every kind; bugs, leeches, snakes, shellfish and worms.” She smiled wanly at her outraged mother and shook her head.

“I thought you knew… all this time…” She whispered in awe. “Papa never told you what you were enjoying?”

“No, daughter… he did not.” She spoke very coldly on such a warm and pleasant day. “Your father and I will be discussing that at length, when I return to Wheatford.”

“Gods above and below, mother… every time you and papa have a quarrel, I get another little brother or sister!” Tawny huffed at her mother; whose glare of frosty outrage had become something much warmer and hungrier, as she contemplated what form her revenge on her duke might take.

“Silly girl… if you quarreled with that delicious Liam of yours a little more, I might have a grandchild by now!” The duchess of Wheatford purred at her deeply embarrassed daughter, while Jaspreet giggled childishly.

“I’ll have you know, we had a frightful argument a few weeks ago, mother. Your impatience and constant demands will be rewarded by next spring.” Tawny scolded her mother right back, just as fondly.

“Don’t spread it around, mother, we are waiting until after the festival to make any announcements.”

“Who could I possibly pass this news to, daughter, from this wild hinterland of yours?” She sighed happily, leaning close to hug her daughter and oldest friend, while the horses and sweet Magnus, Tawny’s pony and companion since childhood, cropped the undergrowth nearby.

#

“What’s that, girl?” A compact man in finely wrought traveling leathers and a billowing cloak asked his gigantic mount. “Tawny and Liam? Having a baby?”

A woman’s scarred features emerged from the voluminous folds of the horseman’s dust cloak with an eager and ecstatic smile on the mobile side of her face.

“A baby?” Luna demanded sharply. “Why are we only just learning this now?”

“Lady Eponna is the goddess of horses and swiftness in motion… not gossip.” He replied archly, before kissing his wife on the moon tattoo on her acid burned side and settling her back into their custom tandem saddle, onto his lap.

“We’ll be in sight of town by tomorrow morning.” Khan muttered to his wife and horse, a wide smile of pleasure peeking out from behind his large and splendidly waxed mustache.

#

As the evening closed in over Foresthome, an eclectic blend of friends and family began collecting in the big outdoor hotspring pool.

“So, who’s still up at the palace?” Count Liam asked, as he took a careless census of the steamy pool. “Pretty much just retainers and servants?”

“I told them to fend for themselves tonight, husband.” Tawny tried for a mildly disappointed tone, the kind she could use on her new son, when he arrived.

“Elsewise our poor cook would be tearing his hair out with worry, and the chamberlain from fretting over the wasted food.

“Twas ever a woman’s burden tae bear, the thinkin’ an plannin’ o the household.” Shai agreed with a pleased smile on her lips; while gently drowning her husband and Wilf, silencing their heartfelt defense of mankind.

Rio was wise enough to keep his thoughts on the matter to himself, at least while he was within reach of any of the womenfolk. Wilf bobbed to the top a few moments later, smiling and chuckling to himself, while pretending to be deeply offended.

Eventually Gary’s hand rose to the surface and slapped the water three times, ‘tapping out’ to signify yet another victory for Shai and her team. She hauled the soggy minstrel up and gave him a good punishment kissing for his temerity and obstinance, drawing catcalls from the gathered friends and kin.

“The girls will be landing in a moment…” He mumbled happily, once his lips were free. “Kree is coming in hot with Sasha and Mariah.”

As he spoke, a sputtering, sizzling firework erupted over the baths, dropping a single ember that drifted down slowly, to land in the center of the pool with a soft, exhausted hiss.

“I’m tired… Who’s got candy?” Mariah demanded imperiously, as the moth and wasp girls fluttered home in a more subdued manner.

#

Once more Barry was snatched from his mortal dreams, drawn out into the beyond, by the insistent golden light of lady Dana, the balm in man’s suffering. He barely alighted registered her presence, as Amy, Wilf, Rio, Larry, Perry and Harry all arrived beside him.

They stood on a wide granite precipice, surrounded by that same dismal white fog layer, hiding the land below, if there even was land below the pinnacle jutting through the clouds.

The world of mortal dreams below them was unimportant; or so the beaming, radiant figure standing among the stars, beside the moon seemed to silently declare. Around her floated a half dozen lesser lights, her immortal followers. Caduceus the physician, Baba Yaga, immortal witch of the deep forests and others lingered around adding their divine weight to her demand.

“You six mortals have been very obstinate and disobedient! this ends…” She paused mid speech, when a shimmering silver figure drifted closer and whispered in her ear.

“Speak up Arimed… I’m scolding some silly mortals right now but that requires only the barest fragment of my attention.” The golden deity sighed. “I have so much on my plate…”

“Seven mortals are present, divine one…” The slim silver figure said weakly to the greater deity. “They brought an extra, the extra one is unripe… by a full turning of the mortal seasons, my lady.”

“Don’t be foolish, there’s simply no way…” The vast, elegant figure of shimmering golden light ran her blazing, eternal eyes over the little cluster of mortals, trembling before her awe inspiring grace and radiance.

She moaned softly, as she took a head count of the annoyed and amused kids. She counted twice and kept landing on Harry, who smiled and gave her a cheeky little wave.

“Hi, I’m Harry Ward, you must be the goddess that has it in for my dad…” An evil and devious grin spread over his face, as he considered his current position.

“I’m only just turning fourteen and I already don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

“Lord Marduk is already insufferable…” With a heartfelt sigh Dana shrank down to human size, landing before the Wards, dressed in the robes of a common cultist of the Healer.

“When he hears about this he’s certainly going to squawk to Joy!”

#