BECMI Chapter 388 – Directions Unwanted and Not
Nonce watched them go with an expression that didn’t seem to change, but shifted between reproof, resentment, entertainment, and resignation to my eyes. She made no attempt to stop them, and certainly none of them turned back to look into her eyes.
They were her only neighbors and community, her only companions, even if they were literal bird-brains. And I had just taken them away from her...
“I have instructed the men of my armada to not bother you, and none will wander more than a half-mile from the shores. I ask that you not indulge yourself in tempting or charming or testing them, because some will fail, and then I, I will have to indulge myself to do the same manner of things to you.”
And I smiled. Just a little bit.
She did indeed take a step back, catching her breath at the sight, and her hands came up warily. Yet she didn’t try to transform me, which would have cost her her eyeballs, at the very least.
“I am still a servant of the Immortals, even if I dwell alone!” she declared, clearly nonplussed at what she had just seen and felt.
A great wave of crimson roses on black stems, thorns of shining silver, building up in a wave and coming for her, blossoms opening wide to fill her sight-!
“I wiped Delphax’s eye tyrant creations from their Eyeland. I destroyed His mind-raping and twisting attempt of the Thunderborn. I have spoken with Venton and earned His favor. I have defied the storms and defied the Avatars of Delphax repeatedly. If you think that an Immortal Creature like yourself is going to stop me from having fun with you simply by invoking an Immortal’s name, let alone one crass enough to leave you here for at least two thousand years, Lady Nonce, you clearly are not thinking very clearly at the moment.”
“You killed the Eye Tyrants?” she asked, shocked. “All of them?” she added, stunned at even the idea it might be true.
“You can use them as the reason your turkeys are all missing. Tell any visitors the Eye Tyrants visited, swept the islands of turkeys their central eyes turned back to human, and then you chased them back home, as they were not daring to meet your eyes themselves with so many of their own.” I dismissed them. “They aren’t around to refute you, and you can hint that it was you who finally disposed of them… if you dare.” I leaned forward slightly. “Given the Fool Emperor’s inclinations, I doubt you will.”
She averted her eyes. Courage was not one of her proclaimed virtues, especially in the face of the egotistical and unseemly proud Delphax’s nature. She had stayed in this one skyland for who knew how many years, no purpose to her, almost forgotten save by random sky sailors… and given we’d seen absolutely none of those, that meant no visitors was a very common thing.
Given her power and the fall of Delphan’s magocracy, it was plain to see that what natives had remained behind had decided she was largely more trouble than she was worth. An Overmagus could easily restore any fools Morphed by her in the past, but obviously it was not so easy to do now.
Isolation wasn’t doing her any favors.
But I wasn’t rude about such things. “I will leave you with two things, Lady Nonce.”
I turned away, heading back to Duum, who had quit his extravagant posing to extend his wing down for me.
I flicked a fairly sizable wooden box out of my sleeve, lovingly carved and rich brown with dozens of different flowers and herbs. It sailed through the air to her, and she caught it reflexively before it could knock her over.
“One hundred and fifty different teas,” I informed her as I walked up Duum’s wing and swung into his saddle. “You should be able to re-Create them with little difficulty.”
Her lips pursed in clear interest, and her hold shifted to something more a clutching or hug.
“Also, Venton’s realm is right over there, you can see it from here. He, like you, has almost no company of relevance, and His importance has fallen to near irrelevance in this era. I daresay that He might enjoy some company of His own.” I looked around at her skyland dismissively, and then at the opening back behind her. “And it would get the Sorceress of the Changing Eyes out of a cave.” I sniffed as Duum turned away, barely hopped, and began to glide away without flapping his wings as she watched us. “Your Patron is an idiot,” I told her over my shoulder as I headed back to the fleet, and there was no answer as Duum picked up speed, beginning to trail crimson.
I owed her nothing, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to do a Good thing for her, although she might not appreciate it.
Well, she’d definitely appreciate the teas.
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It actually wasn’t that hard rounding up all the transformed turkeys. Magevoice could cover a huge area, and one circumnavigation of her island easily had them all within range of my voice. Soon flocks of confused, nervous turkeys who only knew that they wanted to get out of there were running to the beaches, where patient launches were waiting to welcome them aboard the ships to get out of them once I Chain Split Paired Dispelled the Polymorphs of up to a hundred of them at one time that were binding the hapless sailors to those forms.
They were all sailors or familiar with skyships, so there was no problem recruiting them, especially since we were definitely heading in the direction of their homes.
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The Holo floated before the admirals and captains of the various fleets. There’d been multiple questionings of the native crewmen, who were happy to relate what they knew of what was coming up ahead of us.
The image was of an oddly reaching body of water that occupied a central zone between a massive asteroid field of tumbling planetary debris from the destruction of Delpha. The water was basically a planetary ocean sent into an orbit and held there by a gravity plane, any earthen basis was likely buried beneath the waves.
The waters were the only open path through the debris field of tumbling stones, unless we wanted to risk the decimation of the fleets via random meteorites punching through them.
“While I likely could navigate a safe path through the asteroid field, I don’t believe the risks warrant that approach,” I told the assembled men as they considered the course I was laying out for everyone. “The dangers of this path are actually fairly infamous among the sailors of this realm, so I’ll be going over them with all of you after cross-questioning from several captains about this path.
“The Exodus Sea is named because it is the path Emperor Delphax XXII took when he fled Delpha’s remnants, unlike the Followers of Air and Fire who departed from here. The spiral wave patterns developed on it afterwards, and some call it the Spiral Sea because of it.
“Crossing the sea is slower than risking the stones, as we will be sailing. However, it will be safe until about this area.” I indicated the center of the extruded disk of the sea. “This area is a known area for a large number of malevolent sirens underneath the surface of the sea, who control the winds to still the air, and then lure sailors overboard with hypnotic songs until they take their tithe in blood for passage. There will be steps taken to remove this threat.”
The captains smiled coldly, some of them already being disseminated. Earplugs were only part of it.
“From there, the course extends through the remnants of the Emperor’s Flight, a broad canyon that leads to a great whirlpool in the ocean. That whirlpool seems to be a great exit Portal to Elemental Water, draining the Exodus Sea slowly and surely.” The captains all frowned at the icon of the maelstrom there, a very uncomfortable resemblance there to the thing which had sucked all of us into here in the first place. “The maelstrom can be circumvented here without much problem. However, the threat then becomes the Emperor’s Admirers.”
The Holo zipped in close to the canyon walls, which abruptly began to move as something with definitely magical camouflage abilities surged and seemed to extend out of the canyon walls.
There were quite a few of them, all of them with massive necks and heads larger than any dragon they’d ever seen, capable of reaching any ships at the narrowest portion of the path, immobilizing them with two reptilian heads like dogs grabbing a large bone, and then the other half-score of heads would sweep the boats clean of life!
“Gargantuan Hydras. Admirers of the Emperor, indeed. They are usually dealt with by bombarding the cliffsides with flaming loads, both revealing them and making targets of them, driving them back long enough for a ship to pass. However, they have no natural defenses against flying enemies, nor proper Divination magic. I do not know how many there actually are, although they likely survive by snatching fish from the sea from the stones.
“I will be moving on ahead to bombard them from above and remove the threat before the fleet gets here. You need only remember to stick to the course.
“From there, it would seem to be a fairly straight course across the ocean to the surviving landmasses inhabited by the existing human nations of Omicra, Iotar, and Thatallix.” Each of the areas occupied in the shattered airsphere and connecting waterways at the far end of the Exodus Sea gleamed in turn.
“Our destination is beyond the far side of the remnant human nations. Unfortunately for us, and perhaps completely unsurprisingly, the three nations here are not united, possessing competing philosophies and inclinations, and are just shy of being at active war with one another.
“I am sure our arrival will not be enough to set off this volatile situation further.”
Grim laughter answered the absolute lack of truth in my statement.
“Once such difficulties are addressed through whatever means of the moment, we can take the Mists of Infinity and proceed to return to our homeworld.”
There were murmurs and nods from the watching officers as I concluded the presentation.
“I expect Immortal intervention at least twice during the course of events here, and in addition prompting action by at least one of the human kingdoms active here. It may interest you all to know that none of the surviving states here is a magocracy, and indeed there is a rather virulent opposition to allowing wizards into places and positions of authority. After they destroyed their homeworld and reduced it to the state you have seen on our journey here, I believe you might understand where such distrust comes from.
“Happily, that also means they have none of the overwhelming magical power that Delpha on our own world can bring to bear, so you needn’t fear that kind of magical might coming for us. It also means their airship technology has significantly regressed without the needed power and resources available on a magical and alchemical level.”
There was indeed not the slightest regret that we wouldn’t have to be facing off against multiple archmages or something, for some odd reason.
“While we will try to avoid hostilities in favor of getting home in a more timely manner, be prepared for fleet action once we are in human territory.”
There were many vocal and even eager assertions that they would indeed be ready for any fighting that was going to occur, which was hardly surprising. They were a naval fleet, not a merchant marine fleet! They’d been assembled to fight, and a proper scrum against another force and fleet was something they’d been dearly missing!