The next morning Kayne, Naia, and Kismet packed what small favors they had brought including the few new ones given by Taras during their stay. They visited Nilah once more before somberly making their way to the docks where Naias skiff awaited them. The entire village came to see them off and provided them with rations for several days as well as a stock of at least a dozen Hamaio. Taras had told them that it would keep so long as it stayed in the special wrappers they’d come in. She or one of the other folk had enchanted the wrappers with an ice spell that wouldn’t break until opened. At which point an opposite spell would activate to warm and refresh the pastries like they’d been freshly baked. Finally as they began to untie from the dock Taras stepped to the forefront and told them: “Once you leave here I fear you may not be able to return until the world is set right. Should the enemy find us here the secrets we hold would spell certain doom for the rest of Sacalia. May the blessings of the gods be upon you Kayne Atula.”
Propelled by Naias water magic they slowly made their way out of the lagoon through the narrow passage. Naia looked back from the rudder and yelled “Thank you Taras!!!” Hearing this Kayne and Kismet both looked back to wave as well. At the behest of Naia they moved around preparing the rigging of the skiff by dropping the hydrofoils, preparing the sails, and all the accompanying lines. Though, as when they arrived, Naia navigated them to the edge of the barrier and let the small boat Coast through. While this happened Kayne had taken position by the mast looking forward like the excited teen he just so happens to be.
The front of the skiff began slipping through the powerful shield barrier just as before. It glided along the front several feet until Kayne came into contact with it. He reached out to touch it, with no reason to fear it, as they had passed through it without issue before. His hand touched and something new began to happen. It didn’t hurt at all but they were all startled by what happened next. A burst of blue light spread slowly from his hand outward along the shield. Slowly at first but as he came more in contact with the wall it increased in intensity.
Finally, he was wholly inside the translucent magical shield. The entire barrier shimmered blue and only once he began to emerge from it did he realize. Outside it had become a starry night with a full moon. That moon sent a streaming beam of concentrated light directly down to where he was changing the color of the barrier and turning day into night. The sea was still and not a sound could be heard except a faint celestial humming around them. Naia and Kismet finally emerged and upon hearing the sound all they could do was gasp. The boat finished passing from the barrier and they sat there in silent awe of the situation. The beam of light ceased and concluded by crashing down upon the shield with a splash of light and a heavenly glittering sound of falling starlight the three couldn’t begin to describe.
With the sparkling light all around them they hardly noticed the moon disappearing and turning night back into the warm sunny morning they had previously been experiencing. “What… was that?!” Kayne said as he found his voice again first. After which Kismet said, “Kayne… I think the blessing of Lumiara may be stronger than we could have ever anticipated. Everything seems fine but who knows what just happened. I just hope the island will still be protected.” From the back of the boat Naia finally found her voice as well saying, “Tha-tha-that was incredible. I felt the same energy when Taras forged my swallow blade down in the sea forge. And look! My blade is glowing!” She pointed excitedly. “I’m not sure what it all means aside from that Lumiara is guiding our path. So let’s set sail. What’s our first destination Kayne?” He looked back while stretching out a hand to catch the last glittering remnant from the light. “I think, home. This skiff can’t sail us all the way to Teswhyn can it? Maybe we can sneak into town, buy some horses, and head west. That book I read about the ancient Piscalians gave me an idea but we need more information and from what it told me Teswhyn may have been the closest city to those floating islands the book told me about.”
With that they hauled up their sails and the wind quickly returned to the sea after its dead stillness from before. They caught some speed once the jib was raised and Naia skillfully raised them up on the hydrofoils. And they were off. They spent the next day switching back and forth on the tiller so they never had to stop. Miraculously the wind perfectly cut across their bow for almost the entire way. When Kayne came back and took over for a bit Naia taught him the basics of how to keep a heading as well as how to read the sails in the wind. Once he seemed to have a handle on it she pulled out the map and consulted with Kismet.
Pointing at the map she said, “So, we started up here. And immediately began heading south. If we cut just a little to the west we should find Raka village some time near nightfall. However, if we do that we run the risk of overshooting it and ending up on the west side of the village. It might be better if we come in somewhere near the cave and sneak back in that way.”
Kismet considered it and replied, “Perhaps we should aim for making landfall after dusk. Sneak in under the cover of night. We can tie up on the beach and sneak our way into town under the bluffs of the beach. Best if we aren’t seen. The people of the village should be trustworthy but you never know if one of their spies still lingers in the village.” The other two nodded at his words. And they did exactly that. Heading due south at around fifteen knots at full speed, or so Naia had told them, they had a full day sailing ahead of them. It wasn’t all smooth and easy. At one point they passed through a sudden torrential downpour and if not for the special dwarven powder they had used on most of their gear everyone would have been soaked! Although it still felt like mid summer so they would have dried out quickly in the sun and wind.
As they traveled, and Kayne or Kismet took their turn at the tiller, Naia took some time to study the maps. She had made a tracing of the map some time the night before and was now examining the two trying to update their progress. As before it showed their position somewhere south of the island they had just left. The thing was. The two maps didn’t seem to line up perfectly anymore. She couldn’t be sure though because of the waves and not being able to actually set the maps perfectly over each other so she just sat there staring at the two for a while and came to no immediate conclusion about it.
The sun began to set off to their right, which Naia noticed and corrected their course by several degrees westward. She also took the time, passing off the tiller to Kayne again, and having Kismet move to a certain spot on the boat, to focus on her magic. Feeling that they should hurry due to the setting sun she added a spell which she’d been perfecting over the years to increase both the wind and the water speed. The skiff shot forward rising slightly higher off the waves than it had already been. She finished the spell and checked the map once more noting that they were getting close and should possibly see land soon. And as predicted a green grassy bluff began to show itself on the horizon. Seeing this Naia took control of the boat and the other two sat back and relaxed in the cool summer evening to watch the sun slowly catch the top of some hills to the west.
With practiced skill Naia guided them in letting her spells relax and having them prepare the skiff for a beach landing. They pulled up the hydrofoils allowing the boat to sit normally on the waves and like she was born to do so Naia came in fast swerving to catch a wave just right where she rode the surf in and onto the sandy shore. The extra height of the wave helped wash them high up the beach, with a bit of water magic as a boost, of course. The skiff came to a dead halt 10 feet from the cliff line and as instructed Kayne and Kismet loosed the sails to keep from straining the boat in the wind. The three of them pulled down all the sails and rigging and used a long line to tie the boat to a large piece of driftwood that was high on the beach. Feeling reasonably secure with the job they’d done they all plopped down on the beach to examine the map. Shadows had begun to hang themselves all around them significantly by the time they had packed up. So, to see the map at all, Kismet had to conjure up a small blue flame on his finger tip to see by. “Any chance you can make that brighter Kismet, sir?” Naia had asked, peering at the map. “Nooo….. I’m sorry, children. I’m afraid while I can manage a little bit of everything none of my magic skills are terribly impressive. This is about as much as I can do. Which seems plenty for an old story teller like me.”
They looked at the map and decided that they were a bit west of their own village and would need to walk the rest of the way or risk their boat being spotted. If it was safe later they decided they could come back and sail the little skiff into town or wherever they might need to go next. So, they set off on foot with all their non-ship related gear. They couldn’t risk needing to come back for something so they were all fairly laden with what they had brought off the small island. Although, Kayne joked about the fact that Kismet appeared to be carrying no more or less than he usually did. Which on its own was a lot! It seemed like any time they needed something in a hurry Kismet could produce it from a pocket within moments. They all walked down the beach together only talking in small amounts as they searched for a nice way up the beach bluff. No one minded walking on the beach though as it was fairly even and not rocky at all so it made an easy path.
They walked for what seemed like several hours. The moon was high above them providing plenty of light. “Naia, check that map, how much further to that cliff we snuck out of when we left?” Kismet finally asked again when he decided they had been walking long enough. Pulling it out and squinting at the markings that were faint in the moonlight she replied, “Well, I can’t tell for sure but it’s either a league further…” She said, lingering on the last word. “...’Or,’ its ten leagues. I’m still trying to figure out the scale of this map so I couldn’t be sure when we landed, how far off we really are.”
Kismet held a hand to his chin and scratched at his beard for a moment seemingly deciding something. With a great big yawn he stretched his arms and clearly decided. “There’s plenty of drift wood around. Lets pile some up for a small lean-to and then use some of the smaller pieces to make ourselves a fire. If we tuck both up into the hillside we should go completely unseen by anyone but another ship. If we dig the fire down into the sand behind this big log we should be able to avoid that as well. We’ve had a long day on the sea. Might as well get some rest before heading into town. We can try to time it so we make Raka village right around dusk.” No one had any complaints so they did exactly that. A fire was made, a bit of food warmed up, and then they all took some rest on their bed rolls. Kayne wrapped himself in the Alkin cloak and when he slept that night never felt too cold or too warm.
Having been awake half the night the three travelers continued to sleep well into the morning. Eventually Kismet woke up complaining about his old bones and muttering about a feather bed. The two teens continued to sleep until the sun got to a point where it had slipped through the cracks of their make-shift structure and hit Kayne straight between the eyes. His forehead got warm and then he woke with a bit of a start. Which caused him to slam his head into one of the structural beams of the lean-to. What happened next Kismet watched with a mixture of horror and hilarity.
The lean-to had begun to lean a little too far one way. Before he could do anything the whole thing collapsed on top of Kayne and Naia. She woke with a muffled scream and then was trapped. The way it had fallen Kayne was mostly able to wriggle his way out. Naia however was afraid to move for fear of something worse would happen. After Kismet chuckled at the event and Kayne squeezed out of his pile of wood. They both went over to help pick up the wood pile that had become a somewhat comical situation of a terribly ill tempered and swear riddled pile of driftwood. At the bottom they could see two feet wiggling and kicking. “Alright alright, calm down in there, we’ll get it off you. Just give us a second.” Kismet Said. The feet stopped kicking and the swears stopped momentarily.
They worked for the next few minutes managing to pull enough of the wood off to fully exume her from it. She turned around and with a last good curse, kicked sand at the pile of wood, and then sat down by the fire. “Well boys. What’s for breakfast?” She looked around with her hands in an open questioning gesture. Kismet and then Kayne looked at her without much to say. “We could get into the rations, or have some of the hamaoi.” Suggested Kayne. “Hhmmmm…. I guess I’ll have to do everything around here. She undid her cloak, Kaynes old one that he had shed for the Alkin made garment, grabbed her swallow blade and made her way into the sea.
The two sat there on the beach for somewhere around 10 minutes when they saw a big splash from the waves that didn’t seem like a normal splash. They saw two more big bursts of water and then a large tail came out splashing some more. Half a second later Naia burst from one of the waves with large flat fish skewered on the end of her blade. She made it to the shallows and began running up towards the camp. It wasn’t until she had almost reached them that they noticed the big fish she caught used to be about twenty five percent bigger. They looked at her, then at the fish, then back at her. She copied the motion panting for air a bit then said, “You won’t believe the size of that monster out there. I’ve never seen anything like it before!” The two sat there nodding somewhat slack jawed. “And I’ve never seen one of these before either. That thing ate almost half of it and it’s still this big!” She waved the fish at them. The two sitting by the fire were both wondering why she wasn’t worried the massive predator was going to come up out of the surf to finish the job. She just came to the fire and sat unconcernedly.
Kismet and Kayne moved some logs around and prepared themselves a decent surface to lay the huge fish across the fire. While they cooked it Naia sat there letting the warm sun dry her off. Once satisfactorily dry she once again pulled out the map and a few other parchments. Now that they were in full daylight she could study the map more thoroughly. She laid out her two maps and compared them. At one point she even laid them over each other and could see subtle differences in the coast lines. So she grabbed another scroll and traced out the whole map again making additional marks showing their own approximate path of travel. She determined that they were somewhere around half-a-days walk to where she thought Raka village would be on this map though it wasn’t marked. Amidst her drawing and examining the maps she cut off a large chunk of fish and ate it while staring at the, now three, maps. She’d copied every detail on each down to the letter. The only things she could really tell that were different on the maps were three things.
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First she noticed on the south west of the continent two large sections of land were missing from what she thought she remembered as the Gnomish port city. Second was that Ryuntas, which was a grouping of islands far west that was inhabited by only dragons, seemed to have a few extra islands to the north. Unfortunately very few of the towns, islands, or rivers on this map were labeled. She made a few of her own notes on the two maps she’d made herself, not daring to write on the magical map, of things she knew the names of. She was only familiar with Ryuntas owing to the fact that it's part of Piscalian legends and myths. Lastly wasn’t necessarily a map item but a note that was in an empty section of sea at the bottom left in an ornately drawn box. On her own copies she had simply made it a box with the letters contained in it. Unfortunately she didn’t recognize the first four symbols, but after those four were the letters ‘B.C.” written much smaller. From her first map to the second the changes were as follows.
Map 1: XVI A.C.
Map 2: MMDLXXX B.C.
She tapped her chin with the quil she’d been using. “Kismet, why do you suppose this map might have changed over night? It ‘is’ magical but I really can’t make sense of why.” Kismet looked over her work. She had done an excellent job recreating the map each time. “Perhaps while we were on the island it wasn’t able to accurately map everything out. When you bound it to you the first time the whole thing changed immediately. So maybe it wasn’t correct before. So strange.” He gave his beard a few tugs and then pointed to the two spots with different symbols on them Then said, “That right there is very strange. I believe these symbols are Kindel script. Probably numbers. But I’ve not the skill to decipher it. Perhaps if we come across someone from the fourteen tribes we can ask them. But we must be careful who sees our map. It truly is a rare item from a time long past. There may not be another like it in existence.” With that Kismet sat back down and ate his fill of the large fish.
It smelled wonderful, so good in fact that, without their knowledge, another strange animal had crept up near their camp. Peering down at them from over the edge of the small cliff a lizard like face looked over at their meal cooking on the fire. Kismet was the first to notice the creature watching them. He locked eyes with the creature and froze. Knowing it had been caught the creature crawled halfway over the ledge and was looking at Kayne. Or more likely it was looking through Kayne at the sizzling fish between them.
Kismet calmly and quietly said, “Kayne move slowly, without standing, over to me and Naia. Don’t turn around but prepare your blade.” In a somewhat awkward crouch Kayne shuffled his way over to the log where Naia and Kismet sat already on guard tensely holding their weapons in one hand and their bags in the other. Kayne, at this point, had also slowly drawn his Alkin blade while keeping it in its smallest form. When he got to where they were he slowly looked up at what they were both staring at behind where he sat.
What he laid his eyes on was a twenty foot long slender lizard like creature. It had red markings up and down its neck and back like wisps of flame. Staring at the creature it seemed that everyone had a similar idea because they all had their hands on their nearby packs. Without much warning the creature, now about ten feet away on a large piece of driftwood behind where their lean-to had been, reared back on its hind legs and tail. It was close enough now the three could see exactly what was about to happen. It reared back, opened its long jaws, and smoke began to pour out its mouth followed by a hint of flames. All three immediately rolled backwards and onto the sand behind the large piece of driftwood. They didn’t need to see to know exactly what had happened. They could feel the heat and see licks of flames spraying over the top of the log for somewhere around fifteen seconds.
The flames stopped and all three wordlessly scrambled to their feet and made to run down the beach as fast as they could. They made it around thirty feet and then turned, weapons drawn, and struggling to get the straps of their packs on but ready to fight if it chased them. The large lizard had scorched a ring around the food and then wrapped its long body around the flame and was now chomping down on what remained of the fish. Catching each other's eyes Kismet announced, “We’d better be going before we become charred bits of that things next meal.” To emphasize his point the lizard poured fire into the fish once again. Apparently it hadn’t yet been charred enough for its taste preference. Naia weighed in with, “ I think he’s right. We should go.” Her eyes wide in fear of the fire. Slowly watching the creatures' reactions they turned and began walking away. After they rounded a corner they saw a gully they could manage and scurried their way up the cliff as quickly as they could.
Up on the bluff now they looked down at the beach hoping the creature wouldn’t follow them. They turned and resumed their westward walk. Taking a hard look around after that Kayne saw yet another thing that confused him. “Um… I don’t remember there being a forest here before. Especially not a forest like that.” He said pointing in astonishment and confusion. The other two looked to see what he meant and their jaws dropped once again. He said, “I’ve never been south from Raka before but the closest forest was supposed to be pine trees at the base of the Dehnunin Mountains. No less than eighty miles south of here.” Kismet contemplated it and replied, “Yes, I think you’re right Kayne, to get to Raka village I came north from Tarstheim the dwarven city to the south. And now that you mention it those pine trees are the last patch of forest I had seen. Mystery after mystery today. Let's move on and maybe someone can tell us what in the fires of Ifia is going on here!” Without delay they continued westward. Kismet and Naia broke a sweat almost immediately pulling back cloaks and other layers while Kayne walked briskly with his cloak wrapped around him as it always was.
“Kismet?” Kayne asked while they walked. His only reply was a low growling “hhhmmm?” Kayne trotted a little faster to be directly beside him. “Taras mentioned that I needed to name the blade she crafted for me. That it might respond even better when I did right?” Kismet cocked one eye sideways to look at him under the brim of his wide hat that he always wore and said, “Why yes Kayne, I believe she mentioned it to me as well. Did you happen to come up with something?” Kayne looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “There was a word in Alkanan, I think I kept hearing while they spoke of me a few times in passing. But I didn’t figure out what the word means.” Kismet seemed intrigued by what the boy was about to say. “Well, I do know a few bits of Alkanan. What was this word?” Kayne seemed like he was trying to work something out as his forehead scrunched up and his mouth tried to form the word. “I think it was Kaybulan.”
As his mouth formed the word he felt a pulse of magical energy from behind him. So strong, in fact, that both Kismet and Naia felt it come from the direction that Kayne was standing. All three stopped, looking around for the source. Naia swung her mythril blade around to a guard position and daggers appeared in the hands of both Kayne and Kismet. Kayne turned in a circle looking for the source while the other two just stared at him. “Kayne, what was the word you just uttered?” asked Kismet. Kayne stood there confused momentarily mouthing the word. “K-kaybulan.” More aware of what might happen he was sure that the pulse had come from his own belt. Stowing the two dwarven daggers he slowly drew his Alkin blade. It lightly pulsed blue in his grip like usual. “Kayne, that word, it means starlight or moonbeam depending on the situation and the translation.” Gazing down at the flat of the blade Kayne uttered the word once more with more intent.
All around them went dark as night, the stars shone brilliantly around them, like they were on a different plane of existence. A glittering sound from all around them could be heard. A sound very similar to what they had heard the day before as they passed out of the shield barrier. From above Kayne, starlight seemed to be floating like celestial glitter down directly onto the flat of his blade. Each individual sparkle touched down on the blade and left a rune which inscribed itself in the glowing white of the starlight itself. Eight lights in all floated onto the blade leaving eight runes. When the last one touched down close to the hilt a blue wave pulsed outward from it and returned their surroundings to a normal daylit afternoon. They all stared at the blade in awe and speculation.
Kismet pulled out a pipe and stuck it in his mouth. He looked down its length at the blade and said, “It would seem that you have stumbled on the perfect name for it. Starlight indeed.” Kismet contemplated something for a moment and then, without so much as a hint as to what, he stood up straight and resumed walking the way they had been going. “We ought to keep moving. If anyone else was in the area they’ll have felt those pulses.” Kismet shouted back to them. Getting the hint Kayne and Naia bolted after him in a short trot. They walked until nightfall once again.
They reached a spot on the coast with a long peninsula jutting outwards and stood at the top of the mound that led down to it examining the map once again. Naia then said, “This is so strange! Kismet, can you shine a bit of light on the map for me?” Moments later the map was illuminated with clear blue light from above. “Thanks! That’s much better than last night. How did you learn to make it bigger so quickly?” Kismet hadn’t even started to make his small blue flame. He stood there looking at the map the same way she was. Realizing that something far brighter was illuminating the map they looked up. Kayne had drawn Kaybulan and was holding it over the map. The faint glow of the blade and the brighter glow of the newly acquired rune letters on the blade was illuminating the map enough for them to read by. “That’s quite the trick there Kayne. I guess it just means Kismet can save his astonishing magical prowess for more important things.” Naia said with a smirk directed at the old bard. As a response he just gave her a wry smile.
What they saw from their position on the map was that they had in fact reached the small marking on the map where she thought the gravestone had been when they left. Naia then said dejectedly, “This is supposed to be the spot right? And our house should be over there?” Kayne, confusedly, pointed in the dark to the spot behind them where he thought their house was just a few weeks earlier and replied, “I don’t understand. This is so strange. There should be a cliff here, not this hillside peninsula. Where is it all? And we should be able to see at least a few lights from the town and port from this hill.” They all stood there looking to the west expecting a town to just spring up. “I guess we could walk a bit further and find out.” she said with sad confusion in her voice. “This is odd indeed. If the Korrigan armies had attacked they would have at least left burnt ruins or something. It’s like nothing was even here. The cave we used to escape should be right below us. I should know I was there when they installed it for us close to sixteen years ago.” Kismet said as he frowned at the hill they stood on. He stood there looking dejected on the hill then said, “We shouldn’t tarry, never know what’s going to happen next on this journey we seem to be on.”
She rolled up the map, placing it in her bag neatly, and they all padded down the soft grassy hillside towards where their home once was. Not much was said as they walked past the spot. It seemed like both of them were too deep in contemplation and sadness over the events of the past weeks. All three continued down the coast, thick lush jungle on their left, and grassy fields all around them. They walked quietly in the night with only the sound of their footsteps and the swaying of tall grass all around them. Kayne progressed through the night and closed his eyes allowing his hands to trail to the side sweeping the tops of the tall stalks to pass through them. He would do this occasionally, as they trudged their way up the coast line, allowing his mind to wander only opening them occasionally to make sure he wasn’t going to hit anything.
In his mind he thought he had heard things from time to time. A strange rustle here, a crack of a twig there. He never saw anything when he looked but still the sound persisted. After some short time Kismet stopped in the center of a flat section of meadow. The cliff line was low along the water and not much beach line was to be had. Just a short drop with some rocks. He stopped and just looked around for a while and the other two did the same. Once again Kayne stood there in silence and just closed his eyes taking in the serene moment. Nothing but stars, grass, and waves. It must have been near midnight because the moons rose high in the sky. The one larger moon had waxed a few days from the full and the second peeked out from behind it. Between the two of them the night was bright enough to cast moon shadows across the grass around them.
As he turned in place a glinting light from the moons moved from the shadow of his hood allowing the full brilliance to shine on the left side of his pale face. At this moment Kayne stood frozen in place. The moon beams seemed to divide his face into light and dark. A few minutes had passed where Kayne could only stand like this. It was long enough that the other two had noticed he didn’t appear to be moving at all. Or for that fact breathing. Naia became somewhat concerned and took a step to be directly in front of him. She stood there snapping her fingers at him and saying his name. Kayne seemed completely unconcerned. It didn’t even seem like he could hear them in the night where nothing else made a sound. Finally it seemed like he had come back to his senses. He just stood there. Blinked slowly and shifted his gaze to see Naia staring at him in irritation. “Well there you are Kayne! You had me worried! What were you doing?” she exclaimed in irritation.
Still with a lethargic gaze in his eyes he spoke. “My eye did something again. It was like I was being shown something. I was here, looking down like the time we were in the bubbles during the Raka summer faire. I looked down and could see us standing here. Then days, months, season, and years passed. A road formed and then a few houses and a small dock. Naia it was like I could see it being built right here. I can’t be sure but I think I know what’s going on. But we should head that way.” He pointed southwest. “I think there’s a village that way. On the river. We might be able to figure out what’s going on if we find some other people.” Naia and Kismet shared a glance at each other but didn’t argue. So Naia said, “Well there’s nothing here. So we might as well.”
They walked for another hour or so in the moonlit darkness until they found a small circle of trees where a small ring of stones was and a well patted down section of dirt around it. Kismet stepped forward and said, “It looks like this place has been used as a campsite before. Seems like a good spot to stop for the night. I may be a traveller but I am getting old. Kayne, gather some wood and we’ll make camp for the night.” He wandered around and found several decent sticks but not many. Eventually he resorted to pulling out Kaybulan, shifting it into an axe, and chopping a few dead branches off the trees that ringed the camp site. When he came back Naia and Kismet had been talking but hushed when they had noticed him returning and finished setting up their bed rolls for the night. Once again Kismet gathered a few things around the site and, using a stick or two that Kayne hadn’t picked up already, and some large palm fronds. He then made a small shelter near the fire that Kayne was now starting. Without much to say the three quickly fell into sleep for the night.