19 Lux 778 P.S.

The north-western coast of Rezan

The raft creaked and groaned as it glided over the choppy waves. The creaks were accompanied by splashes as just under a dozen sailors rowed, using palm fronds and broken planks to push the raft forward. But, despite the arduous work they were doing, not one of the sailors made a sound. Each of them wore empty expressions, and they wordlessly executed their tasks. All except for one man, who sat in the middle of the raft holding on for dear life.

U’kzal’s stomach lurched. He silently cursed his host’s poor constitution, wondering how the Seeker ever managed to travel on a boat in the first place.

“Row—urp—faster!” he commanded. The sailors silently obeyed him, increasing their rowing speed.

For a moment he dared to stand up straight, bracing himself against one of the sailor’s shoulders so he could look out over the rough waters. He scanned the horizon to the south-east, looking for anything that looked like land. When he saw only open ocean, he silently cursed again. They had been rowing all day, how could they not have reached the coast yet?

A particularly large swell rocked their raft, knocking U’kzal back onto his behind. His stomach lurched again, and he put his head between his knees. How much longer would he have to endure this?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he angrily swatted the hand away. He looked up to see one of the sailors looking down at him with that same blank expression.

“What is it?” U’kzal asked roughly.

The sailor, a human man with long, unkempt hair and a scraggly beard, wordlessly pointed behind them. U’kzal looked where the sailor was pointing. There, to the west, was a small merchant ship.

“Stop rowing!” U’kzal commanded, and immediately the sailors obeyed. Then U’kzal pointed at the merchant ship and ordered, “Get their attention!”

All of the sailors put down their makeshift oars. They started waving and shouting at the ship in lackluster voices.

U’kzal, for his part, pulled off a small silver brooch that hung from his right shoulder. Nestled in the middle of the brooch was a yellow, spherical crystal about the size of a large marble – Seeker Torban’s Glow Sang crystal. U’kzal had learned how to use one from a previous host, so he had no problem using it now.

He stood up, leaning on the unkempt sailor for support. He held the brooch up as high as he could and willed it to get brighter. In an instant the Glow Sang began to shine, lighting up the raft and briefly blinding the sailors on it. He held the Glow Sang up until he saw the merchant ship turn in their direction.

“Ugh, finally!” U’kzal said.

Before long the merchant ship came up alongside their raft. The captain of the ship – a swarthy man with long braids in his hair – called down to them in a pleasant voice:

“Hello, down there! You lot look like you could use a hand. Here!”

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With that, a couple mooring ropes were thrown down to the sailors on the raft. The bull-like beast-man and another human man pulled the ropes taught. A moment later a rope ladder was lowered over the side of the merchant ship. U’kzal roughly pushed his way forward so he could be the first one up.

“Thank you, thank you so much!” he said, adopting a meeker tone of voice. He took the merchant captain’s proffered hand and allowed himself to be hauled up onto the deck.

“But of course! We sailors need to look out for each other. Although, if I’m being honest, you don’t look much like a sailor,” the merchant captain said.

“No, no, my name is Seeker Darius Torban,” U’kzal lied.

“Well, now, how about that?” the merchant captain said in awe. He quickly took in the amber-yellow robes and the brooch with the Glow Sang. He removed his hat and gave a deep bow.

“Welcome aboard the Gilded Gull, Seeker Torban. My name’s Captain Andile Kade, at your service,” he said.

“Well met, Captain Kade,” U’kzal said.

The ship suddenly rocked as the enormous bull-like beast-man climbed up over the side. U’kzal and Captain Kade both turned to see that the rest of the crew had made it up onto the deck. Captain Kade surveyed the sailors with a grim look on his face.

“You lot look worse than death. Jameson, get them something to eat. The rest of you, back to your stations,” he ordered his men.

The crew of the Gilded Gull quickly got back to work. The ship lurched again as the sails caught the wind. U’kzal was thrown off balance, and he clung desperately onto the ship’s railing.

“Woah, now,” Captain Kade said, grabbing U’kzal by the arm. He helped him over to a crate, and U’kzal sat down gratefully.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Seeker Torban, how did you all end up stranded in the middle of the ocean?” Captain Kade asked. U’kzal was prepared for this. When he hadn’t been fighting off seasickness, he had been prying into his host’s memories, so as to make this charade more believable. He proceeded to clean his glasses on his robe while he talked.

“I chartered this crew to take me to the islands just north of Minghar. Our ship got caught in the Everstorm, and we were marooned on an island not far from here. The few of us that survived managed to build a raft. We were making our way back to shore when you found us,” he said.

Captain Kade scratched his head, seeming confused.

“The islands north of Minghar? Why the blazes would you go out there? Everyone knows there ain’t been nothing on those islands in decades,” he asked.

“I was hoping to find some items from the Meonid Dynasty,” U’kzal said, putting his glasses back on. “I’d theorized that enough time had passed that some things might have washed ashore on those islands. But, as you can see, there was nothing to find, and now, by the grace of The Knowing One, here we are.”

Captain Kade regarded U’kzal for a long moment. Then he finally shook his head.

“Well, you certainly seem to be no worse for wear. I can’t say the same about your crew, though,” he said, turning back to regard the sailors under U’kzal’s control. Once they had gotten aboard the ship, they had hardly moved, staring about with blank expressions. One of Captain Kade’s men tried to give the unkempt sailor a cup of water, but the unkempt sailor just stared back, not seeming to understand. U’kzal quickly stood up, putting a hand on Captain Kade’s shoulder.

“Can you blame them, Captain? They’ve just been through a harrowing ordeal,” he said.

Captain Kade hemmed thoughtfully. Then he turned back, subtly shrugging off U’kzal’s hand.

“We’ll get you lot back to port as soon as we can. In the meantime, I have to get back to running my ship. Let my men know if you need anything,” he said.

U’kzal bowed, profusely expressing his gratitude. But as he sat back down on the crate, he noticed Captain Kade pulling aside his first mate to talk in lowered voices. U’kzal started cleaning his glasses again, looking down to hide his frown. The captain was probably too smart for his own good, and was already beginning to get suspicious of the enthralled sailors.

Then U’kzal shrugged, replacing the glasses and pushing them higher up on his nose. In an ideal situation he would have just forced his will on all of them, but without his Spirit Sang, that wasn’t an option he could take. However, should the worst case scenario occur, he wasn’t above committing mutiny.

He looked up at the darkening sky above them, resolving to wait and see how things unfolded. After all, the most important thing right now was returning to the mainland so he could get back in contact with his disciples. He had been gone for long enough, and it was time to put his plans back into motion again.