"Land ho!" shouted a sailor in the crows nest, relief making his
voice hoarse. They sailed towards it and reached it in a few hours. But
it was a mere barren island, with no shelter, and lightning bolts were
beginning to strike down dangerously close to the colonist's ships.
"Look!" shouted Brianna, "there are caves!" And indeed, the cliffs facing the sea were riddled with caves.
Hurrying, the colonists secured the ships and ran for the caves. More than a hundred had already been lost to the lightning and the pounding surf, and it was too dangerous to turn back for the stragglers struggling to reach land; Naroai had more than one great serpent, and the lady serpent was perturbed by the loss of her mate.
Finally they reached the caves, and all piled into the largest of them. If they had numbered as many as they had before they brought down the wrath of the sea goddess, they would never have fit into the cave; as it was, they were nearly overflowing the cave.
Fathers and mother began to administer to their frightened children, and other rocked sobbing against the walls, mourning their dead.
Sitting in the darkened corner farthest from the entrance, the leaders of the colonists held a council. Brianna, head mage and Duchess, presided. Ronald and the other four captains of their small fleet were present. Randal stood for the soldiers, and Taka represented the civilians.
"What can we do?" asked Brianna. "I must confess, I am at a loss for ideas. If anyone has any suggestions, please, speak up."
"I have no suggestions, but I wanted to discuss something that has been bothering me," ventured Merna, the captain of the third largest ship. "It seemed to me to be too easy, how we reached here despite the wrath of the sea goddess."
"Nonsense, you thought that was easy, so many died." began Brianna. But the other four captains had begun to nod agreement with Merna, and Brianna was not so arrogant as to not take a sailor's word on matters concerning the sea.
"Umm.you think it was too easy?" Taka inquired. "Why?"
"I have seen storms as bad and survived them, and those were natural, not caused by the goddess of the sea," continued Merna. "If Naroai was truly trying to kill us, surely she would have succeeded long before we saw this island."
"What are you saying?" asked Brianna.
Merna hesitated, then blurted, "I believe that she wanted us to hide in these caves."
"Quite right," a new voice intoned. A woman had somehow entered the cave. She glowed faintly, and the smell of the sea clung to her like perfume. She smiled, and in that beautiful smile was something as cruel and as treacherous as the sea.
"Goddess," exclaimed Brianna, jumping to her feet in respect. All around the cave people were quieting and watching the two women, one mortal and foolish, one immortal and perfect, and wished that it was the goddess and not their formerly beloved Duchess Brianna who was on their side. Once they had thought Brianna to be invincible. Now, standing beside the goddess with the beauty of the sea and the compassion of one who has seen much sorrow, she seemed flawed, like a garnet which loses its appeal when placed next to a ruby.
"I have named my price for your lives, and now I should think you would be more inclined to agree after the tragic loss of so many of your number." The goddess smiled, and now the smile was sheer malice, not even a hint of beauty. "You killed my darling pet," she accused, and in a lesser being her voice might be descibed as a hiss, "and I WILL have my revenge." Then she regained her control and her voice once again took on the tone of sweet reason. "You have payed in blood, and now all I require is the death of the one who killed my serpent. You cannot escape this island; your ships have been reduced to mere kindling, my dead pet's mate patrols the waters with their children. You will die here of starvation; or, if not, I will grow tired of watching you feed off each other and bring the sea up to flood these caves. You have no alternative."
They tried many things. First they had the remaining eighty Chosen reach out to request help from their gods. But as it turned out, Naroai HAD been herding them to this island, for this was her sacred island where her will took precedence even over the six Great Gods.
Brianna contacted her great-great grandfather, the God of Dark. And the Evil One would've saved her (even the god of Dark knows what is owed to family), but he had no power on Naroai's sacred ground.
But the colonists would not sacrifice one of their nobility cruelly, even for the pleasure of a goddess and even though the Duchess had failed to do her duty. As Naroai watched in pleasure, they bound the woman to an alter of coral and a priest stood before her. But to the goddess's fury, the priest killed her in the most painless matter possible; for he was a child of Ragachi, and he leached out her soul and cradled it gently to him until he could give it to his master's wife, goddess of the underworld, there to be kept in honor. Because for all her shortcomings, Brianna had been right; the people would never kill a member of the Crananian nobility without her consent. And to save her people, she died.
But Naroai had wanted pain and blood, so she cried out in a divine voice painful to the ears of mortals, "You tricked me, but two can play that game. I said that you would be safely delievered to the place that you would colonize, and so you shall be. But you shall be mine now, a colony of Naroai's, and your city shall be under the sea!" And she sank the island, and all the people on it. But she enclosed it in an air bubble, and in that bubble, at the bottom of the sea to the northwest of the faerie kingdom of Lacar, Atlantis was born. And in time the colonists grew used to their underwater city, even grew to like it, and began to think of themselves as Atlantians instead of Crananians.
~~~ "And Vashka was happy, for she had in the end seen Brianna die. But she did not know about Brianna's illegitimate daughter, who survived and was raised by Taka. And to this day a drop of the Evil One's blood can be found in the lost colony of Atlantis. But that is a tale for another day.
"Look!" shouted Brianna, "there are caves!" And indeed, the cliffs facing the sea were riddled with caves.
Hurrying, the colonists secured the ships and ran for the caves. More than a hundred had already been lost to the lightning and the pounding surf, and it was too dangerous to turn back for the stragglers struggling to reach land; Naroai had more than one great serpent, and the lady serpent was perturbed by the loss of her mate.
Finally they reached the caves, and all piled into the largest of them. If they had numbered as many as they had before they brought down the wrath of the sea goddess, they would never have fit into the cave; as it was, they were nearly overflowing the cave.
Fathers and mother began to administer to their frightened children, and other rocked sobbing against the walls, mourning their dead.
Sitting in the darkened corner farthest from the entrance, the leaders of the colonists held a council. Brianna, head mage and Duchess, presided. Ronald and the other four captains of their small fleet were present. Randal stood for the soldiers, and Taka represented the civilians.
"What can we do?" asked Brianna. "I must confess, I am at a loss for ideas. If anyone has any suggestions, please, speak up."
"I have no suggestions, but I wanted to discuss something that has been bothering me," ventured Merna, the captain of the third largest ship. "It seemed to me to be too easy, how we reached here despite the wrath of the sea goddess."
"Nonsense, you thought that was easy, so many died." began Brianna. But the other four captains had begun to nod agreement with Merna, and Brianna was not so arrogant as to not take a sailor's word on matters concerning the sea.
"Umm.you think it was too easy?" Taka inquired. "Why?"
"I have seen storms as bad and survived them, and those were natural, not caused by the goddess of the sea," continued Merna. "If Naroai was truly trying to kill us, surely she would have succeeded long before we saw this island."
"What are you saying?" asked Brianna.
Merna hesitated, then blurted, "I believe that she wanted us to hide in these caves."
"Quite right," a new voice intoned. A woman had somehow entered the cave. She glowed faintly, and the smell of the sea clung to her like perfume. She smiled, and in that beautiful smile was something as cruel and as treacherous as the sea.
"Goddess," exclaimed Brianna, jumping to her feet in respect. All around the cave people were quieting and watching the two women, one mortal and foolish, one immortal and perfect, and wished that it was the goddess and not their formerly beloved Duchess Brianna who was on their side. Once they had thought Brianna to be invincible. Now, standing beside the goddess with the beauty of the sea and the compassion of one who has seen much sorrow, she seemed flawed, like a garnet which loses its appeal when placed next to a ruby.
"I have named my price for your lives, and now I should think you would be more inclined to agree after the tragic loss of so many of your number." The goddess smiled, and now the smile was sheer malice, not even a hint of beauty. "You killed my darling pet," she accused, and in a lesser being her voice might be descibed as a hiss, "and I WILL have my revenge." Then she regained her control and her voice once again took on the tone of sweet reason. "You have payed in blood, and now all I require is the death of the one who killed my serpent. You cannot escape this island; your ships have been reduced to mere kindling, my dead pet's mate patrols the waters with their children. You will die here of starvation; or, if not, I will grow tired of watching you feed off each other and bring the sea up to flood these caves. You have no alternative."
They tried many things. First they had the remaining eighty Chosen reach out to request help from their gods. But as it turned out, Naroai HAD been herding them to this island, for this was her sacred island where her will took precedence even over the six Great Gods.
Brianna contacted her great-great grandfather, the God of Dark. And the Evil One would've saved her (even the god of Dark knows what is owed to family), but he had no power on Naroai's sacred ground.
But the colonists would not sacrifice one of their nobility cruelly, even for the pleasure of a goddess and even though the Duchess had failed to do her duty. As Naroai watched in pleasure, they bound the woman to an alter of coral and a priest stood before her. But to the goddess's fury, the priest killed her in the most painless matter possible; for he was a child of Ragachi, and he leached out her soul and cradled it gently to him until he could give it to his master's wife, goddess of the underworld, there to be kept in honor. Because for all her shortcomings, Brianna had been right; the people would never kill a member of the Crananian nobility without her consent. And to save her people, she died.
But Naroai had wanted pain and blood, so she cried out in a divine voice painful to the ears of mortals, "You tricked me, but two can play that game. I said that you would be safely delievered to the place that you would colonize, and so you shall be. But you shall be mine now, a colony of Naroai's, and your city shall be under the sea!" And she sank the island, and all the people on it. But she enclosed it in an air bubble, and in that bubble, at the bottom of the sea to the northwest of the faerie kingdom of Lacar, Atlantis was born. And in time the colonists grew used to their underwater city, even grew to like it, and began to think of themselves as Atlantians instead of Crananians.
~~~ "And Vashka was happy, for she had in the end seen Brianna die. But she did not know about Brianna's illegitimate daughter, who survived and was raised by Taka. And to this day a drop of the Evil One's blood can be found in the lost colony of Atlantis. But that is a tale for another day.