Chapter 12: A Long Way from Home
Lyr looked at the piles of papers hashed into a giant maelstorm of problems. Reports of imp raids on villages, worsening droughts in the borderlands, attacks on Tranmankand, accusations by the rulers of Tranmankand, the Three Lords, that Coneria was the one behind an attack...the list went on. Delegates from other nations disproving his claims that the Light Warriors even existed with their own scant knowledge of the Betar, others blindly vowing to support them.
It seemed like every problem the world faced lay on his desk.
No, the King mused, every problem the world faces is the Light Warriors' problem.
Lying back in his chair, the King sipped a glass of wine, wondering. Had he been right to send the Light Warriors away and hope they would restore the ever-increasing chaos that rocked Gaia's foundation? It was a brash move, one he felt he had to make before the lives of the four youths would be in danger in Coneria. Before they were killed. But could he have waited? What if, like the thief in the group, they were all fakes, cons? But it was done.
The Betar had left, leaving a weary old man to govern a shrinking kingdom while the world splintered in fragments. He had placed all hope that four warriors would deliver.
Lyr realized for all the problems he faced, it was nothing, nothing, compared to the path that was laid before those youths.
It happened only when the orb started to mysteriously to heat up, as balls of fire expanding and shrinking inside the miniature sphere in flashes. But the dream was the same every time. This nightmare wasn't.
Aki shifted uncomfortably in her nightgown, swaying with the slight motions of the ship as it dip and rose in the seas. Normally, they frightened her. It began, as all dreams seemed, beautiful:
A day in her village of Dylser as the sun rose to swath it in light. Aki was enjoying the rays as she pruned the rose bushes around her house. Her father, the village healer, was tending to the cut of a small child, mystifying the golden-haired boy as the cut and pain disappeared from his right palm.
Aki looked, smiling at her father's happy face, then wincing as she felt bites of pain arc through her right index finger. A bead of blood expanded, and like a fireball, popped, spewing tiny droplets everywhere. The rosebush thorns had cut her.
Suddenly, those tiny droplets of blood expanded, into gaping wounds in her skin, as blood poured from each one: dams bursting with blood. Aki screamed, as the necklace holding the orb on her neck grew larger, expanding with her blood pouring out and spawning monsters: Imps, Ogres, Undead. They rampaged, raping the village of its existence.
The fountains of blood stopped.
Aki stood, amid the chaos, amid her father's body, amid her friend's graves. Her orb had brought this upon the village.
It was like that. Over and over, it repeated, like those cinematic shows a traveling salesman would bring to Dylser. But this new dream expanded on the nightmare.
Aki shifted in her bed, sweat crawling through her face. The new portion began.
From the orb, a shadowy figure appeared, taking form.
It was a Fiend, who took her wounds away with a sweep of a hand. It appeared in an instant, a woman towering over Aki's crumpled form on the grass, serene in the midst of chaos.
It was beautiful, queenly with perfectly full lips, smiling. The hair was red too, flaming red like Aki's. The smile turned into a beautiful smirk.
It bent down, offering her a hand. Aki did not take it. Kary, the Fiend of Fire, stood again, her shimmering dress offsetting the smirk on her face.
"A pleasure to meet you, Akian Arkya, white mage healer of Dylser."
Aki said nothing, only wondering where she put her hammer, or if a knife was available.
Then, Klad jumped clear of her, holding the mage back while his sword swept to cut Kary's head off.
The blade reached an inch before shattering into minute fragments. The knight whirled in the air, landing with a horrific thump. Klad crumpled, dead.
Aki screamed, her yell shrill and surprising herself. A fresh wave of pain, not physical but emotional, stabbed through her. She wanted to heal him to see him up and on his feet, to feel his strong, calming presence. But now he looked pathetic.
She realized it was a dream. Aki turned facing the Fiend.
The smirk was still there.
"You see? Your power, all of your combined powers, are nothing compared to mine."
Those eyes, glowing red orbs, narrowed, while the Alatari stepped closer.
"I can make it different. I can make that knight love you. I can make him marry you. I can make you a queen of a kingdom. I can make you a powerful white mage. I can do these things, Arkya. All I ask you to do is join me, to serve me, in ruling this pitiful world."
She did not say to conquer, making that fine line of distinction clear in her thoughts. To the Fiend, this world was already conquered. Or ready to be.
Aki stubbornly refused to answer.
The eyes of the Fiend blazed violently.
"Answer me!" Screaming, it lifted Aki off her feet, a doll in the arms of an enraged child. No scream came from her mouth as she was shaken by some invisible force back and forth, neck wildly lunging as her hair flew from a neat bun.
She woke, gasping. The seas rocked the ship gently, as in a baby's cradle. Sara enjoyed her dream, smiling sweetly in the bunk opposite to hers.
Aki looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was matted, strands of it were awash with sweat, while she felt her body had been boiled in an oven.
Wincing in surprise, she felt an arc of pain in her neck, like it was sore from shaking. She suppressed a shiver, something odd as the night grew hotter. So the dream was real, or at least, partially so.
A wave of sweat broke out again, and she sighed, reluctant to get out of her bunk. But she did, opening a porthole window on Sara's side and smelling salt breezes of air cooling both of them off.
She slid back to bed, wondering if she could go to sleep after the nightmare.
A few hours later, she awoke.
Wearily, she rose, half inclined to open her eyes. A night of unweary dreaming only brings weary waking, her father used to say. She opened her eyes, surprised at how much light spread through the room. Blinking, Aki looked at the reflection of the Princess.
Sara grinned good-naturedly to her from a vanity mirror, brushing her curls as she sat down in front of a tiny desk in the largest cabin aboard the Everlasting.
"You're up," she said, simply. "Finally. You've been moaning about something before I was even awake."
"I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest, my princess," Aki answered earnestly. Her respect had lessened for Coneria lately, but she was still a subject of the kingdom, and inclined to treat royalty with their proper titles. But Sara's face fell as she heard the word princess.
"Don't," she said, frowning. "You don't have to call me that anymore, 'specially since we're so far away from home."
Aki nodded her agreement, and then excused herself to the small bathroom to the side of the cramped cabin. Staring into the mirror, she groaned. Her nightgown was soaked with sweat, reflecting how nightmarish her dream really was.
Like the others, Aki traveled light for the journey, storing two nightgowns, undergarments, and two sets of travel clothes she wore under her mage cloak, all wrapped in a neat bundle and strapped to Rose. At Mistress Ocusu's house, she had washed them before going; it looked like she would have to do it again. She dressed, then put on her cloak, wishing for a bath.
Sara frowned again as Aki walked out. The princess was wearing light clothes; a summertime flowery skirt and sleeveless shirt.
Aki smiled when she realized Sara was looking at her heavy cloak.
"Mage cloaks are special, made of lethean fibers that insulates one's body to keep it cool in summer, and warm in winter."
"And what about in spring, when it rains?"
Sara laughed at her own joke, then pointed to Aki's nightgown. "You are going to wash that with seawater?"
"I suppose...Sara."
Sara smiled again, never seeming to tire of her happiness. "Perhaps we can be friends, white mage Aki Arkya." She reached into a bundle of clothes, all in a roll as if recently strapped to a horse. After rummaging around, she handed Aki a shimmery, light nightgown.
"Here's a spare. It also keeps you cool in hot nights, especially if you are having nightmares. Come, let's get some breakfast."
Aki returned Sara's smile, walking towards the mess hall like two childhood friends.
A minute later, they arrived in the main room aboard the ship, cleared almost of sailors. The men who were still lingering dropped hasty and erratic bows to the Princess, almost embarrassed with themselves as she greeted them warmly.
Jakk waved a hand at a table, getting up and formally bowing to the Princess before sitting down, throwing a smirk to Aki.
The cook, in a stained apron, brought warm porridge and sweet green apples with milk immediately. "I'm sorry for the poor quality of the food, my princess," he said, bowing.
"Nonsense! I wasn't expecting you to fix it for us. It's more than enough."
The cook flustered, bowing low again before retreating. Delicately, Sara took an apple slice, tart juice spraying Jakk as he watched her take a bite, awed by his good fortune in being in the presence of Sara.
Aki shook her head in mock disgust, gently dabbing her spoon into the porridge to taste how hot it was.
"Where are Klad and Bane?"
Jakk woke from his stupor. "Where do you think? Like yesterday, and the day before: rising at the crack of dawn, going to the deck. Klad, improving his sword forms on this rocky ship, Bane; helping the sailors and looking for signs of land. Acting like their noble, honorable selves." He rolled his eyes for thematic effect.
"Blast it, but I wish some shark would eat one of them while they're at work."
Aki smiled, nodding in agreement. For the week they had been at sea, Klad and Bane always were first to rise, and last to bed, while Jakk, Sara, and herself lagged behind.
Sara sighed in the same way Jakk had rolled his eyes. "Ryar has always been like that. Always looking out for the welfare of others, and never for himself."
"So he's not mad at you then, for your little stunt?"
Sara snorted. "No. He's worried, but he covers it with silent anger."
"Ah. Well, I'll be on the deck if you need me. Our knight said he could kill me blindfolded and with one arm the way I fight; he said my sword movements at Pravoka were so predictable he's got to give me a lesson." The thief looked at his feet, embarrassed, then ran up the deck.
After Jakk left, the two woman ate silently, famished after the long night. Aki slowly savored her porridge; it tasted as good as her father had made it when she was a child.
"Ship's porridge isn't bad," Sara commented. "Especially for breakfast with commoners."
"Fit for royalty?"
"Of course." She set down her spoon. "Tell me about yourself."
The mage's eyes widened. The question was unexpected.
"About me? You know who I am. A white mage healer of Dysler, a small village three leagues northwest of the Dream City, at the gate of the Black Forest."
"And your parents? Who are they?"
"Were. They're dead. My father was a white mage himself. He served as a surgeon during the Imp Wars. My mother, she gave birth to me and my sibling. A boy, I believe. We're twins, but I've never met him. Our family was split during the chaos of the war."
"I see." The princess was interested, seeming solemn and concerned for a subject of her kingdom. "And you never found them?"
Aki shook her head bitterly. "After the chaos of the war? No. Tens of thousands were displaced, families like mine, split, great cities swallowed into villages and shantytowns, thousands of others dead. Not even the Dream Kingdom could stop the savagery."
"We tried," Sara commented quietly. "My brother died leading a company of archers. My father was wounded by an Ogre's club. It was a mage surgeon who helped him. What happened to your father?"
Aki hesitated for a second before replying.
"He died. The magic he used to help others could not help him, and he wasted away."
"Leaving you an orphan." The woman gazed out the round window by their table. No tears, Aki thought, but definite sadness. She knows what it feels like. "I'm sorry."
After their breakfast, they were strolling around on the deck, watching as sailors climb rigging and unfurling white masts to keep with the currents of wind, giving the motor-engine a break. Around them, the wild seas of the Aldi roared, but the calm was evident, as nothing was in their wake.
Klad practiced his sword movements, unleashing on fluid, flowing motion after another, like a dance.
"You like him, don't you?" Sara asked.
Aki stumbled on the hem of her cloak.
"What?"
"Don't think I haven't noticed, Aki," Sara replied. "I saw the look you gave me when I was mocking him on the Everlasting." She smiled cheerfully at the white mage. "It's alright. You can have him. Jakk's my favorite boy to embarrass."
It was Aki's turn to smile.
"Jakk? Really?"
Sara shrugged. "He's handsome enough."
"Yet his wits are below that of swine."
Sara laughed, and Aki felt herself grinning in a way she had felt on in her childhood, as a girl gossiping and whispering secrets to friends, while running to the peach tree orchards and playing games with the neighborhood boys. All before her father had died, and before she became the village healer...Aki's face returned to solemness.
"Yes," Sara said, curiously looking at Aki as they continued their stroll," I like Jakk. He may not be the wise like the lore-master, but he's cheerful and lovable enough. Beside, he has that mysterious aura he tries to conceal. Have you noticed? He's not himself sometimes."
The princess paused, unsure.
"He always has this depression springing in from nowhere, and feels the orb he carries on his necklace. You are all like that. I can feel it."
They were interrupted by a voice on the bird's nest on top of the largest of the masts.
A sailor looked in surprise at the darkened, red horizon. In front of that foreboding background, a wall of water was coming at the ship.
"Large wave coming starboard!" he cried, sounding pathetic in the roar of the ocean. Sailors looked to where he was pointing, as shouts and whispers of fear erupted.
Bane's yellow eyes narrowed to slits.
"Kraken's fury and revenge for Pravoka," he said quietly to himself. He lifted his arms, silently whispering an incantation he learned long ago, releasing a gust of wind.
Wind and water met, as currents blasted the wave back before another thunderous roar produced a solid wall of water. Bane was first to be hit, swept off his feet, as Jakk and Klad watched before they were gone.
The Everlasting disappeared, bubbles the only reminder of where it was, as it sank, only a few leagues off of Elfland.