Dawn of the End
Part 1
Cold. So cold. That's what they say about me. But ten thousand year is quite a long while. Ten thousand year is enough to forget, but I did not. I remember when the one I loved was with me, when there was no cold. My frosty nature is nothing compared to that cold I hide in the depths of my heart. This would make me even harsher, as some might consider. But I remember that ten thousand years ago, that era where only my attitude was of ice, my heart was melting before the fire of love. I'm Wednesday's Dawn, and I did have a sweetheart. Staring through memories and through my eternal love that pierces through death, I shall tell you the tale of the Border Sea from my eyes.
It started too long ago to interest you. Let's start a few days after the Breaking of the Will, when my heart was filled with tenderness. That was an aspect of my personality I thought that would interfere with my career. Being an executive of a Morrow Day, I could not afford to be emotional. Many underlings said that if I ever plunged into water, it would freeze. Some rumours even said that the sails of the ships I commanded were constantly frozen. Of course, nothing of that was true, but I did try to be less kind as possible with those who worked for me. I'd dare say I was cold. At the time, I was only responsible of the security around the Border Sea. My brothers, Wednesday's Noon and Dusk, were respectively responsible of official salvage and on shore administration, along with their particular department for their respective time of the day. Noon was very young spirited. His short red hairs and green eyes did portray his boyish and fiery attitude. He was always dressed like any peasant would be but everyone respected him, although his underlings did like his playful personality, so they would always work in a smooth ambiance. Dusk had green eyes too, and they did fit well his physic. Always wearing a cape and a cavalier hat with a feather, he was really gentleman looking. His hairs would fall on his shoulders but no further and portraying his function, he was very shadow like.
That very day, a few weeks after my Mistress, Lady Wednesday, became Duchess of the Border Sea, I had a day off and decided to assure personally the security of the ship carrying food from mortal worlds. The Trustee I served was strangely hungry, but kept doing excellent job despite always eating something, preferably light. As long I could please her, I would be alright. However, I could have simply commissioned some ships to escort that one, but Noon and Dusk were on the ship too, taking a day off too. We would have a stop at Mount Last and climb it to enjoy the great sight from above. They said stars were wonderful at night, almost as beautiful then the ones in the Secondary Realms.
-"Well this is not going to be as entertaining then some race around the sea, but it will certainly be entertaining." Exclaimed Noon. "I expect that at least the two of you will have real fun. I suppose while you will be sightseeing, I might as well try to climb up and down Mount Last as fast then possible. Without wings, mind you."
-"Sure, do what you must." I simply answered. "Just don't be too noisy, a part of the charm of the place at night is the sweet silence."
-"I'm not noisy! Depending of what you mean by noisy…" answered Noon with a smirk. "Nah honestly, if you ask, I'll try to not be too noisy."
-"I trust this time you'll stick to your word…" said tranquilly Dusk, kidding with Noon. His voice was not high but always audible, yet only a bit more then a whisper. "Not that it disturbs me but if you say something, you should stick to your word."
-"When did I not do what I said I'd do hmm?" The young man mused, with his eternal smile.
-"I remember a time you said you would jump from the top of the same Mount Last we're going to and that you never did…" I said.
-"Hey! That was because Lady Wednesday expressly didn't want me to do so!" reminded us Noon. Then he laughed and left us alone, probably to find some fun to have elsewhere.
I stared at the sea, in various directions. My eyes did seem warmer when I stared at the deep blue horizon. It was so peaceful. But I frowned when I began to think about the few problems that emerged since the Will was broken. Oh, they were minor problems but still were too numerous, for the few they were, to be a coincidence along with the Breaking. First of all, mysterious ships were sighted. Nothing to worry but apparently, none of them were figuring into a list and they were not Regular Ships, yet, the seamanship of these crews were quite rivalling those composed of Nautical Denizens. I did not notice Dusk who was at my side and by the time I realized his presence, he was staring at me, staring at the way I was focusing on the sea. In his gaze, I could read concern, that kind of attitude any brother would have toward a sibling he loved.
-"What is it, Dawn?" he started. "You seem anxious and quite lost in ponders."
-"That's nothing, Dusk. I was only thinking of the weird recent events. The mysterious ships and all these matters like the emergence of more Nithlings and such like."
-"Hmmmhmmm. And that strange hunger our Mistress is suffering." said my brother, thoughtfully. "I must say, that is indeed worrying… But fear not. All will be well. Let us take full benefit of that climbing of Mount Last, and we shall see what is to be about these less interesting matters."
I simply nodded to that. He was right, at the moment, nothing of that was our concern. In any case, my brothers and I were superior Denizens. There wasn't much in the whole Creation that we couldn't fix, except Days to Days businesses and what was about Nothing, at most.
The journey to Mount Last went smoothly. The rock spire was high in the sky, its 300 feet of height visible from afar. As the ship was a bit slow, Dusk, Noon and I flied to get to the mountain faster. Needless to say we kept a vigilant eye on the food one-boat convoy. As I said earlier, things went uncertain at the Border Sea therefore we couldn't afford to let our guard down. We never know what kind of nasty surprises these mystery ships had in reserve for us, good or bad…;
Noon flew high up and reached the top of Mount Last in a matter of seconds. Dusk and I were flying too, but in a much smoother rhythm. We didn't want to spoil the fun so fast. By the time I got to the top, it was the evening. My red-haired brother wasn't noisy enough to be disturbing, as he promised, so my other brother and I could take full benefit of the magnificent sightseeing location we had the chance to visit. There wasn't much to look down there, but the stars were easily as entertaining then staring at the Front Door down in the Lower House. Of course, it was less addictive, but still pretty beautiful. As he wasn't looking at me, I glanced at Dusk. He was certainly handsome from a mortal point of view, but from mine, he was rather cute. In fact, I began to wonder if he was more then just my brother to me. At that thought, I shook my head and coincidence or not, he turned around to face me. He seemed concerned more then anything else. His voice, even if it was the softest one I ever heard, shattered the silence like a stick crashing on a glass. I suppose I was a bit entranced by the watching of the stars and the ambiance. But what he said was really not what I thought he would say.
-"What's that smell?"
-"Huh… smell?" I looked around until I smelled it too. Smoke. There was a fire somewhere. "Perhaps Noon's doing something a bit flashier then he promised it would be…"
But it wasn't. I spun around because my eccentric brother was on the other face of the mountain, but at the horizon, I soon saw the source of the smoke. We noticed a small flotilla when we neared Mount Last but we didn't pay any attention to it. Now it was prey to a hellish inferno, with a few other ships quickly leaving the site of what was clearly a battle. My trained eye quickly noticed their flags weren't from any Denizen's faction in the Border Sea… or from any factions of the other parts of the House. The last possibility was they were mortals or some fools fancying some piracy, which was unlikely.
-"We'd better get going." I finally said. I was the responsible of the security on the Border Sea, I had no time to waste in theories. I had my duty to attend BEFORE asking questions. Without waiting Dusk's answer, I jumped down the mountain. Half my fall, I spread my golden wings and pulled up a dozen meters above the water. As I got at least half Mount Last's height in altitude, I glided down toward one of the flaming ships. It took me less then a minute before I landed hard, but perfectly, on the deck of the less fire-damaged vessel.
I looked around, not paying attention to my two brothers who landed on the deck too. I merely looked sideways at the sea and a giant wave splashed on the side of the ship, spraying water all over the ship, extinguishing the fires. Any mortals would have thought this was pretty impressing, even House Sorcerers, but for superior Denizens like me and my brothers, this wasn't much more. The crew of the ship dropped their bucket and approached me and my siblings. Some of them bowed, others were too shaken to do something.
-"What happened." I frostily asked. "Isn't this ship meant to be regular? Are you not Nautical Denizens? Better then the mortals your formation is based of?"
-"Actually, my lady, these sailors used a very traitorous technique to… defeat us, I daresay."
-"Speak!" I ordered.
-"We had a fire fight at first. Our Nothing powder guns or muskets were the first weapons that fired. Apparently, these Denizens weren't so though because the fell immediately after being shot, though it may have something to do with the fact our ammos are Nothing laced. Custom made, you understand… In any case, they then fired the cannons and so we did. As the enemy fleet was losing, they used some kind of incendiary bottle of wine and we had to cope with both a firefight and a critical incendiary. And we were outnumbered. We sank six of the nine vessels that assaulted our own three boats. As you can see, one already fell and one would require some help to fight the fire. We didn't suffer any losses or serious harm. Apparently, their ammos and weapons were mortal made and definitely not fired with Nothing powder to deal so little personal damage… though they do dig a hole in ships."
I quickly produced a feather and a writing book, and then I wrote a report. I wrote:
Report #34541
Subject: Attack from unknown faction
Location at writing of report: Mount Last sector
Importance – 10/10
Mysterious ships were spotted near the Mount Last. Their weaponry is inferior but their techniques were sufficient to sink one Regular Ship. The enemy ships weren't from any registered factions of the Border Sea or the House, unless they were but only masquerading under falser flags.
I stopped writing then I made another book appear. The title was "Entries and exits through the Line of Storms" and I read its last pages. The book was constantly writing the entries and exits through the Line, stating the name of every ship that went through, where they crossed and where they would appear. I frowned and finished my report.
Attack coincides with crossing of the Line by mortals very recently.
Author's note : Yeah. Yeah I have a preference for Day's Dawn. Even Tuesday's Dawn (who I assumed was a girl and who is more or less my character) who never was described by Garth Nix is among my preferred characters. Monday's Dawn and Wednesday's Dawn too. I did like Monday's Dusk but somehow preferred Monday's Dawn. It's all because they radiate such mysteries or power… I suppose. What's sure is if one of them were to be of my entourage, I'd sure show some interest into them, even if they're perhaps millions years older then me…
About being late… I have one thing to say. I'm sorry… gee that sounds weak for being THAT late…