Nilah was the last to reach the room with the other three. She arrived and told them how she’d sealed the secret passage on her way down and collected their store of precious coins and gems. Reaching out a hand to Kayne she said, “this was the last of the Alkin gifts to help you on your way. More than enough for us to buy a small township. It’s how we’ve managed to live such a luxurious life all these years. There’s actually still a few gold left over from the fateful day when my midwife Doula first met Captain Anahitia and Kindarii. Yes Naia, your mother. I believe you were also there, from what Doula told me, so many years ago.”
She reached inside the bag before handing it to him and drew out two of the small blue gems. “Kayne you should take the lot but, Naia should take these two. I believe you can make use of them at some point. They respond to and hold sea magic.” Taking the two gems from Nilah she gazed at them glowing in her palms. “I read about these briefly in one of my instructors books a few summers ago. If I find an enchanter, I think I have a perfect use for them!”
“Children, Nilah we’re not out of this yet. We need to find a boat to get us out of here and then make our way to Ashjunta, the trading port to the west of here. From there we can charter a much larger ship to take us where we need to go to meet up with more of the Kotonami. They can help us get you two on your way to saving the world,” Kismet told them.
Kayne looked at Naia meaningfully. Seeing this, the other two did the same. He then said, “Naia where’s your skiff? You’ve got that new sail and all. Might as well show us all how good it is.” Slightly dumbfounded she had forgotten the sail that was literally slung over her shoulder. “Oh right! But, I’ll have to swim to it. Depending on where this cave is I think it may be just down the beach.”
Kismet followed that up with, “Alright why don’t you do what Piscalians do best. Leave your bags and such with us here. Swim underwater down to where you tied it up last. Bring it back without the sails up if you can and we’ll open the hidden cave door when you get back here.” Nodding at this she dropped her bags, tucked in the newly found gems to her water tight little money bag and jumped right in without hesitation.
Diving in head first she cast a small spell on her own eyes that only Piscalians ever really knew. It was a water charm enhancing her already decent vision for the darkness underwater. Piscalians have great vision underwater and in the dark. If they spent too much time in the daylight, sometimes it would fade a bit. So most knew this simple spell to improve it.
Seeing clearly now she looked around and saw the obvious opening leading out to the sea. Moon light flickered down into the water illuminating the rocks and fish outside the cave. She swam down the coast. Having no need to come up for air she let her webbed hands and feed propel her quickly through the evening swells. About a half mile down the beach there was a trail. It was how they normally got down to the beach from the cottage. This was where she had previously tied the skiff. She slowly raised her head out of the water to look around. There it was right where she had left it. The tide was slowly creeping up to it. Maybe five feet from it right now. But she noticed by the moonlight, her spell only helped under water but her usual vision was more than enough, several Korrigan with jagged swords and an ax or two roaming the beach and sniffing.
She had to figure out a way to get the boat untied and into the water. The waves coming to shore were not very big but with a little extra push from her own magic she caused the water to swell a bit more than usual. It drew back and she decided to go with it. She and the wave surged forward and it sent her right up under the netting between two of her pontoons. She snagged it with her fingers and let the wave naturally course back into the ocean. She grinned with a little satisfaction at her skill. Nothing had noticed her yet and she’d made it to the boat. It wasn’t a huge boat so she had to stay on her back almost laying flat under it. She pulled herself up and forward until she made it to where the bow was tethered. She reached up and untied the boat, hands working blind on knots she knew by heart. Her heart was pounding knowing that the monsters paced the beach so close to her as she worked. She got the knots undone and began to slide back down the beach under the cover of her rigging when she heard it. Between splashes on the beach a Korrigan sniffed nearby. Maybe five feet on the other side of her middle hull.
She froze! Hardly able to hear over the beating of her own heart. It was like the sound inside her chest was so loud that she was sure they could hear it. She began making tiny “come hither” motions with her hands. Praying the Korrigan weren’t magically talented enough to notice her small spell in the water. She beckoned the waves harder and harder until she finally made one that was big enough to come sweeping up underneath her. She held onto the rigging tightly and just hoped the wave would take them both out to sea.
Feeling water rush past her, the boat began to lift. She took one hand off to reach back and gave herself and the boat a hard push dislodging it from the sand. In a dramatic and violent way the whole boat quickly moved down the beach into an oncoming wave where the rocking dislodged her from it. She dropped below a wave and watched the boat bounce around until it had gotten pulled far enough out that she saw a rope hanging down. She swam over and began towing the boat into the surf slowly and surely trying her best not to raise suspicions. Afraid to alert those wandering the beach obviously searching for her she continued like this for another few minutes until she thought they were out of sight.
Pulling herself up onto the deck made of nets and rigging she looked back at the beach unable to make out any of the figures anymore. Still, she didn’t raise her sail. Instead she opted to gently push herself along with water magic while trying to use the natural currents as much as possible to save her own energy. She’d not fully recovered from the spell she had cast earlier that evening. Now the couple of wave spells had further depleted her mana stores. After about an hour since leaving the cave she thought she had arrived. Unraveling a long line and tying it to the bow Naia dove back into the water. It took her a few moments to find the underwater opening again but she swam in letting out lengths of line as she went. She surfaced quietly.
As she did so she spoke to the room at large. They had been chatting about something that she couldn’t make out. “Well? What’s everyone waiting for? There’s a half dozen of those beasts on the beach front and I could only guess that those fowl hounds must be getting close to our hideout by now.” Nilah gave a start and Kayne stood quickly drawing a dagger from his belt. When they figured out who it was, they let their guard down.
“Finally, Naia! We thought something had happened to you!” said Kayne. Putting away the dagger and taking the rope from her hands. Kismet went to the back of the room and pulled a heavy looking statue of a small dragon with its front right paw in the air. Dust fell from the ceiling near the entrance. A moment a later crack formed in the middle of the water way. It creaked open from both sides as the stone doors swung inwards. Kayne saw the small boat outside and drew it in with the rope until it bumped against the walls.
The boat was a trimaran, about eighteen feet long and fourteen feet across in all. The one main hull was about three feet longer than the other two. As it slid silently in, Kismet took no time and hopped down onto the closer side pontoon with a small splash and quickly moved past the boom to the far side. Next Kayne hopped down and onto the closer side grabbing one of the rigging lines to steady himself. He then turned to give a hand to his mother.
She stepped over to the edge. Without thinking, as though he knew it would happen, Kayne stepped quickly forward and caught his mother who appeared to be limply falling towards the boat. “Mother!” He cried as she fell face first into his chest and they both collapsed in a pile on the netting that made up the space between hulls.
Sprawled out on the netting Kismet came over as Naia still waded below with a look of concern on her face. As Kismet did so he commanded. “Naia, get us out of here, we’re all on!” In the commotion of falling, some of Nilahs dress had come up revealing blood dripping down her right shin. Kismet had noticed this as Kayne rolled her over positioning her like the netting was a bed. Naia began tugging the boat out of the cave. As she did so she yelled back at them. “Kayne my bag and new sail!” He hurriedly reached out onto the dock area and pulled the two onto the boat using the rigging to lean out extra far. Almost falling in they fell into the netting with Kismet and his mother who was now coming to.
“I think I got hit by one of that witches daggers.” Is all she could say before shutting her eyes again. “Kayne, Naia. I need you two to get us out of here head West by Northwest.” He said as he inspected the leg with a bright flame sigil appearing in his hand near it. All Kayne could manage was “right!”
As she pulled the boat out into the water, Kayne moved around the boat getting all the baggage off to the other side tying it down to the netting any way he could. Naia gave the boat a firm push off a set of rocks nearby letting it drift forward into the night. Waiting just a moment she dove under the water and with a burst of speed off the bottom of the sea floor she exploded out of the water into the air and landed on the left pontoon with a splash that rocked the whole boat almost knocking Kayne off his feet. Reaching down to the pontoon she lowered something down into the water between there and the main hull. She quickly scurried to the other side to do the same and briefly stopped to touch Nilahs hand. “I hope she’ll be ok.” She said looking meaningfully at Kismet. At that she lowered another board down.
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Quickly she moved to the middle and lowered one more doing a latch over top of this one. “Kayne help me rig this new sail. We’re going to need it I think. Bouncing back and forth on the gentle evening waves they quickly undid the old sail from the boom and rigged the new one in. Kayne pulled the main halyard and Naia expertly clasped in each section to the mast. Finally anchoring it into the boom she pulled it taught and showed Kayne how to tie down that main halyard to the main hull. She pulled a few lines and with a snap the main sail began pulling them along.
One hand on the rudder and one on the main sheet the boat began clipping along with a surge. It quickly skipped along the waves and the boat silently made its way through the water. Naia continued giving directions to a worried looking Kayne. Pull this, loose that, and tie that down. Eventually with more instruction, though Kayne was somewhat familiar with her boat, he managed to get a jib up in the front of the boat. Finally reining it in the little boat picked up some more speed on the light evening wind. Muttering mostly to herself Naia said “hmmmm not quite fast enough. Gotta give her a little boost.” She drew on her mana again and tried to urge the boat forward using some wind magic. “I just don’t have enough power right now. I’m going to have to coax her up with an old trick I learned out here.” She said over the wind and spray coming up from below their boat. Everyone was getting drenched ever so slowly. Kismet had taken his cloak and wrapped Nilah in it.
“Everyone needs to hold on. It’s going to get a little bumpy for a sec until I can get her off the waves!” Naia said to the group. She began to kind of zig zag the boat and began hitting waves at odd angles. She was searching. Searching for the perfect wave. Splashing off this and that, intentionally hitting them wrong. Finally she found a decent swell. Kayne had taken to hanging on the rigging that went out to the far pontoon from his mother.
Seeing her chance, she plowed Kayne’s side up a particularly big wave. As she did she luffed the main for a moment then drew it in as hard as she could. The boat came over the top of that wave and she caught a slightly stronger gust of wind. As she did so it lifted off the water ever so slightly and the foils below the boat finally caught and her hulls stayed in the air as the boat gently came down the other side and smoothed out. Everything about the situation changed. She stopped pitching the boat from side to side, the spray stopped, and the bobbing smoothed considerably. “Ah! This new sail is fantastic!” Enjoying her craft so thoroughly she had almost forgotten about her mother's plight.
Finally feeling he’d done his job Kayne tried to move over to the other side of the boat. It shifted and rocked uncomfortably. “Kayne you have to say over there. I need you to keep the boat balanced!” She herself was leaning out into the rigging around her as far as she could while still being able to reach her rudder and lines. “Right! Kismet what’s wrong with her? Is she going to be ok?” Kismet looked up at him in the pale moonlight. “She got cut by one of those daggers the witch was throwing all over the place. She uses a nasty poison I’ve only seen once before. The area around the wound is already dying. Had she told me about it sooner I might have been able to help more. But for now all I can do is slow it down. Kayne, if we don’t get her to a very skilled healer soon she’s going to die!”
Kayne hung onto the rigging and just looked more and more resolved, glaring into the night. “Who was that witch anyway? You seem like you knew her.” Kayne asked him. “THAT fowl witch is none other than Mourwyne. She’s the top assassin of the Yizhenre. A dark organization that formed after time froze at Aumatias Door. And she has been hunting you for years. Slowly gathering information from anyone she can find. Fortunately I had been keeping her at bay until now. She’s almost killed me more than a dozen times. The howl of her fel hounds haunts my sleep most nights.” He said with a shudder in the cool night breeze.
The night went on as they sailed along at a fairly quick pace and Naia kept them steadily heading the direction Kismet had instructed them to go. It had been a long day but the cool night air and the occasional splash of warm summer water kept them mostly awake. That is until a strange fog rolled over the small crew. Blotting out the stars and even the moon they sailed into a dense soupy fog. They sailed like this for what seemed like an hour until without them realizing what was happening, they each began to drift off to sleep. Nilah was already sound asleep before this but soon Kismet could be seen laying face down across her with little shame. Next Kayne could be heard muttering to himself. “We have to be going now. The sails must stay taut.” At which time he slumped down from his perch in the rigging and rolled to his side in the netting between hulls. Lastly was Naia, slowly, she slumped over the rudder she had so dutifully been tending. “Can’t give up, they- they’re all counting on me. Gotta make it to Asjunta….” And with that her eyes faded shut. The sails all luffed and her rudder began pushing her back and forth gently like it had a mind of its own.
In the unnatural cloud their small boat continued silently through the rest of the morning into the afternoon. Little went on for them except what happened to Kayne. In his sleep he rolled and muttered. He began to dream and see things completely foreign to him.
Kayne flew through the air on something he couldn’t describe and left an island surrounded by flying winged creatures then approached a floating paradise. From the sea it was surrounded by fog and bathed in moonlight. The island in the sky had multiple levels and was big enough that each level had its own massive lake covering almost their entire surface. From each floating island a river flowed into the next below it through the air. Oddly enough, none of them ever broke laminar flow but instead curved gently this way and that connected to the next large body of water. Kayne wasn’t sure but he thought he could see things swimming in the water between lakes.
Rushing forward like someone had sped up time he plunged directly into one of the lakes. He gasped in his sleep momentarily, it took him by surprise that he could breath. He saw a city made up of what looked like coral and inside an ornate room, two dark figures loomed over a glowing orb of faint blue light sitting on a pure white pedestal. Beside it on the stone plinth was something he couldn’t quite make out glinting in the faint moonlight. He thought it could be two oddly shaped weapons. A bright light blinded him then revealed a view from above once again. Ice all around him rippled and cracked like a wave outwards from himself. This vision faded from his sight and another quickly replaced it.
A small tropical island is covered in dark stormy clouds and a dark sheen of purple energy surrounds it like a magical shield. This time Kayne was clearly on the prow of a boat. Hand outstretched to the shield. They passed through it harmlessly. Doing so the island transformed immediately. Tall square and angular buildings filled his vision lit from within by white and blue light sources. Strange boats lacking sails filled the harbor and shiny metal vehicles with four wheels were in the streets that seemed paved by a hard, smooth, black substance. Everything here was by design and unnatural. Even the tropical tree’s were clearly placed by the people who lived here in perfectly arranged and neat rows illuminated by lights from the ground.
But, there were no people. Just spectral figures that could have been Alkin at one time. Their arms were too long, ending in either tentacles or claws. Their faces were all skewed and very sad looking. At the top of a hill his vision flashed him forward to a large complex surrounded entirely by metal fencing with cruel barbed wiring across the tops. Inside the fenced courtyard were square buildings on each side of a large metal glowing ball with large windows. From the center of the ball were tubes and glowing bits coming off a chamber in the middle. A small viewing window allowed him to see another glowing orb inside but this one emitted a faint purple radiance. His vision then once again faded.
This next was very brief. And was cut off before much was revealed. But what he saw was a churning and rolling pile of rock and dirt that seemed to make up hands and somewhat of a face. By this point he slowly began hearing voices of men on what sounded like a ship taking orders. “Careful there we don’t want to drop them.” Said one. In the background he heard “Heave. Ho. Heave. Ho.” Rolling onto his belly, arm slumping off the edge of the netting toward the water, he saw the water slowly moving away from himself and the small boat.
He began coming to and rolled over then sat bolt upright. Looking around he realized the small boat was being lowered onto the deck of a much larger Piscalian vessel. He thought it was going to lower down into a hold as he noticed the center being positioned over a large open section of the ship. But to his surprise the smaller boat nestled down right over top of the gap allowing its foils to hang free below the triple hulls. Jumping upright he drew his new blade as several human and Piscalian men began to surround him. “Stay back!” Kayne shouted. “You’ll not take us!” He took a wild swing at one very large Piscalian man. The opalescent blade he’d been given the previous night did something that surprised both of them.
Catching the boy's blade on the edge of his own fairly large scimitar, the two locked blades and then both looked at Kaynes in shock. Not only had it sunk more than an inch into the scimitar but it had become a long two handed blade gleaming with a red sheen across the flat of the blade. Its crossguard had become a jaggad wicket looking thing while the blade itself went from about four inches wide at the hilt and ornately curved outwards on both edges to about six or seven inches at its widest about half a foot from its curved point. The entire length of the blade had become close to five feet. After catching such an unexpected blow on his, now severely damaged, scimitar the large Piscalian man had actually needed to brace his own blade with a second hand as Kaynes nearly approached his shoulder.
From an above deck a stern female voice shouted an order. “Mr. Jasper! Subdue this whiley teen!” Next thing Kayne knew his world was becoming black again and a sharp pain could be felt on the back of his head.