Glacial ~ Elemental of Frozen Fire
by Lorelei Skye
Nature is alive, self-aware, 'other', aloof, and differently amoral. Set in the world of Elemental Magic and Masters created by Mercedes Lackey; at the turn of the last century bridging historical events and Fantasy. Inspired by description of the antagonists encounter with an Elemental of Cold, discovered while exploring a glacier in "Wizard of London," Elemental Masters, Book 4; DAW 2006. There are no spoilers to any books or short stories in the series.
"Only the fireborn understand blue." ~ Carl Sandburg
The glacier sat at the edge, seemingly motionless, on the expanse of the deep ocean.
Sunlight caused it to glow from within in shades of deep blue. Blue. As seen in the heart of all fire.
This was where water conquered fire. Where the cold flames burn and seared, locking water into formations shaped by air and time.
Hard as stone. Brilliant as diamond.
The children it had calved this season were now free to roam upon the water. Searching for prey.
And they Hungered. Not all the animals and elementals that roamed upon their backs and slipped into and out of the water to hunt and feed resurfaced. Although, by choice, never did any Calve or Glacier, Sheet or Flow take a deep sea singer before time itself brought them; our great, blue, and other whales.
The opposition Earth elementals caught off guard as the cold made them slow, are often the first food once a calve leaves its mother Glacier.
Elementals of air- whisps, sylphs, ethers, and even Aether's when slowed, lethargic, fatigued by cold, can be captured as they stop to rest along their surfaces.
The Water elementals- Nereids, undines, hippocampus, and all the half-creatures; such sweet sustenance.
Creatures of the middle planes that dwell among us- bears, walrus, birds, fish, and the boat builders.
For centuries the boat builders came in husks of fallen trees and even felled Dryads.
Some hunted the waters around the calves for those creatures that roamed the ice fields and flows. Their hunger seemed as insatiable as the calve. Bringing increasingly larger boats, tools, seeking larger prey in these frigid lands. The largest whales, the seals. Even those Seals of the half land-walker tribes.
Not all the boat builders who slipped into and out of the water to hunt resurfaced.
But the balance was broken when the boat builders brought Iron onto the sea.
Their iron ships, hidden bones of the Primal Earth Children exposed, and changed by boat builders.
Iron. Inimical to Opposition Earth and many Elementals, although not all. And not us, or our Calves.
But, allowing them to take more prey from the hungry calves; from the all neutral or elemental allies that live in symbiosis with the ice, the calves, and the Glaciers.
Yet, now, out of the reach of help of many Opposition Elementals who might aid the boat builders fallen into waters. Now they all become ours.
The Sea Ward declared this was the Blood Price of stealing the bones of His Primal Grandchildren.
The blue fire of a glacier is not fleeting. The ice holds eons and eons of quiet secrets.
Back to the Mother Ice that Calved us all, receded eons ago. Glaciers of now, from her fifth daughter.
Even Glaciers grow and recede- sometimes down to nothingness. But not forever.
And the Sea Ward, and his wardens, do not bother much with those of us in these deep cold waters.
It was the creatures riding on our backs that taught us the secrets of the iron boats.
The larger the shell, the more cracks. The iron bones, exposed, become brittle- like the wooden boats.
A crack can be widened. A shell can be pried open.
The boat builders named the smaller calves who tried to pry at them 'growlers', in part for the sounds made when their ice shelf dragged across the iron side was likened to voices and claws from creatures living among us. And how we feasted when our children pierced those iron sides of the boat builders.
One auspicious year, many calves were on the waters.
And there was a night- calm. Quiet. A wall of calves slowly drifted into the paths of the boat builders.
Three ships they stopped on that single moonless night in our dark waters.
One, small, unable to pass- crafty and wise to never try our Gauntlet.
Night air elementals flickered and danced illusions within the frosty mist between lights and shadows.
The second- became entirely ours. It submerged, failed to pass the ice wall- and was consumed entirely.
And the third? That one- we forever consider our triumph.
A story that will pass to our children's, children's, children's, children. Something to share with the Ice Giants at the End Of All Things.
Including the Great Ice Giant the Sea Ward told us about. Who will sound The Earth Horn at the End of All Things. Gifted, shaped from a Primal Earth Elemental with the Fourth and Final Treaty as Earth and such arose from our Waters and from Fire - shaped by Wind. A Land Ward always bears the other.
The ship had been made of those reshaped bones of our ancient Earth child.
Pierced and rended as the boat builders might do to one of the grandest and bluest of our whales.
Their smaller boats were put out onto the sea- these made of felled trees and Dryads.
More and more as our waters found ways into all the spaces. Pressing ever downward.
Carrying many hundred times more trapped in their maze of passages, some with locks and bars.
Oh, Yes. We know of locks and bars, also many made by the boat builders- from those left behind on the boats of wood as Water claimed them. Some transformed by us, neutral, or Opposition Elementals- never to return to land. Never wanting to.
Sharing their stories – teaching the Sea Ward, wardens, and eventually reaching all of us.
How there were still the boat builders.
Entering a phase where now there were the boat sailors. There were boat riders.
And there were those riding and working for the boats. Not in our Element at all by self choice, yet, many would choose to stay.
To dwell and dance in the Fires below as they had under Fire above, now and forever free.
We have witnessed given the choice of The Door, or to exist as one of us- some stay and bide, to change, and Become. Some to join with our own Great Water Serpents, able to ride great waves and create wakes, eddies, and whirlpools to topple yet more boats to our mutual bounty.
Some that night, trapped in the iron behemoth - given their Choice, left with our smaller elemental cousins and allies after the boat itself screamed with its dying breath and sounds faded to silence.
Some escaped the iron behemoth, like gulls bobbing on the surf. And were left behind by their fellow mortals to our paralyzing freezing Waters.
Taking vengeance for all left behind or still trapped; as the ship went dark- the Water Serpent coiled its great mass around and sundered the shell as it submerged.
Yes- we lost some of those to Opposition Elementals. To some of them who chanced Us, and the iron, to offer the mortals their own Transformations and Doors. And others lost by the Mortal's Own Choice, which- by The Treaty, even such as we Honor. My children, remember this is not a significant loss to us with such a bounty on the sea.
Let them leave with their small victories.
For, in that one cold night- from that one ship?
700 or so of their tiny lives escaped us, in or on their little wooden boats after their great iron one broke and submerged for all time.
330 were reclaimed by other boat builders. And 1,160 from this one ship - became, exclusively, ours and the Water's.
Returning our dark and still night to watchful reflective silence.
We have all learned so much more of the boat builders, and their crafts, from those that chose to Become of Us.
And how many more ways there are to bring down these massive vessels, including the sisters of this iron ship.
Knowledge shared across the currents of all Waters, across the globe, around and around. Salt, brackish, and fresh.
Water, most persisting of all elements, as so much returns to Water in the dance of Cycles and Spheres.
And in the deep hidden depths, our mothers' frozen heart of blue.
Fire conquered.
Holding eons and eons of all these quiet secrets.
.
.
One of the things I enjoy about the 'Elemental Masters' series by Mercedes Lackey, is how one way she establishes 'time and place' of the narrative within the Fantasy of the books, is by mentioning actual historical events.
Here some Historical and Scientific Footnotes for this short story:
- There have been 5 ice ages; as of 2019 we are watching the final receding of ice from the 5th.
~ geology-utah-gov /map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/ice-ages-what-are-they-and-what-causes-them/
- The Titanic sank, April 15th in 1912; in the chilled waters of the Labrador Current off of Greenland.
- The open water temp the night of the sinking has been established as being 28 degrees F.
- When an iceberg breaks off a glacier, this process is called 'calving' (same term is used when larger sea mammals, and most domestic cattle, give birth)
- The Glacier that 'calved' the iceberg that sank the Titanic is still present in Greenland (as of 2018).
~ blogs-scientificamerican-com /history-of-geology/the-science-behind-the-iceberg-that-sank-titanic/
- Growlers: "The ship swung to port but struck a 'growler' or small low-lying iceberg with the bluff of her starboard bow, making a comparatively slight jar with a grinding sound." (From testimony given by Second Officer Charles Lightoller during the Titanic inquiries)
- "There are smaller pieces of ice known as "bergy bits" and "growlers." Bergy bits and growlers can originate from glaciers or shelf ice, and may also be the result of a large iceberg that has broken up. A bergy bit is a medium to large fragment of ice."
~Article from NOAA: oceanservice-noaa-gov
- The Smithsonian has made an interesting case for a 'water mirage', as well as a 'soft horizon', as contributing factors of the Titanic Sinking.
~ www-smithsonianmag-com /science-nature/did-the-titanic-sink-because-of-an-optical-illusion-102040309/
- While briefly looking in maritime history of ships known to have struck icebergs, I found this intriguing quote:
"Many vessels have been lost without a trace in seas containing icebergs. These are not listed (for many reasons)..."
~ en-wikipedia-org /wiki/List_of_ships_sunk_by_icebergs
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Further Notes Regarding A Particular Point of Artistic License:
There had been a 3rd 'Mystery Ship' seen/perceived between the RMS Titanic and RMS Californian, which was trapped in place by the ice flow further north. As deceiving as the water mirage/'soft horizon' was that night, boats were viewed as both larger and smaller depending on POV.
This mysterious ship seen by many eyewitnesses has never been found in any shipping log of the time, afterwards, or still 100+ years later.
World War 1 began 7/28/1914, (2 years, 3 months, and 2 weeks after the RMS Titanic sank.)
It is well-established the German U-Boats and Armada ran an effective and unrestricted blockade in the Atlantic waters.
"The Germans' most formidable naval weapon was the U-boat, a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time."
The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours."
~ www-history-com /this-day-in-history/germans-unleash-u-boats
(*An interesting note for comparison, the RMS Californian (a cargo ship) was around twice that at 447 feet long, and carried 48 men that night.)
The Germans had been building effective submarines starting in 1890, and had 48 submarines in service or construction at the start of WW1. And had around 50 missing at the end of WW2. ((~ en-wikipedia-org /wiki/U-boat Early_U-boats_(1850-1914))
It is not outside the realm of possibility that a German U-boat on military maneuvers could have been in those waters- and would not have been logged as being in the shipping and passenger lanes. Such a boat could have gone dark, submerged and hit the underside of the ice flow that surrounded the RMS Californian. (Or, equally likely, 'overheard' the Morse/Marconi messages from the RMS Californian about the ice - submerged and left the area.)
No such wreckage was ever found near Titanic- however, once the Titanic struck the iceberg it was between 8 to 20+ miles south and west of the RMS Californian.
While searching for further information on submarines striking ice bergs- I did find a short notation of a British sub possibly hitting an iceberg in 2003.
I enjoy searching for, finding, and sharing these sorts of places where reality and Fantasy can co-exist.
However, for the purpose of a small point of speculation within a fictional short story? I can/should stop here.
A single footnote probably doesn't need to be 1/4 the length of the actual story! * LOL *
~ If you made it this far, thanks for reading!