Ready for the Storm

At the end of the storm half the docks was destroyed, a third of the ships damaged or destroyed, two men dead and a good number more injured, and Langley, Sabreur and crew at the Stormrider manor enjoying a celebratory dinner for surviving. The storm was on the horizon, moving slowly inland and greatly diminished in strength. The brunt of it had been expended on the town. It would take a couple days to repair the damage to the buildings but the populace was accustomed to it. For now, the town was content to lick their wounds and relax now that the danger was past. The majority of the people would be near the docks where a barbeque was being held with the tentacles that the kraken had been forced to leave behind after some rather well placed explosions.

A portion of the Stormrider family was absent. They were in another wing of the manor, grieving the loss of one of their own. The rest of the family was in the main part of the manor, feasting and relating stories – mostly about the cousin who had been killed by a particularly nasty blast of ‘mancy he was trying to divert from the town. Burned him right through. Died with no other sign than a small trickle of blood at his mouth.

Langley and Sabreur were uncomfortably quiet during the meal. Sabreur was largely unhurt from the fight. He’d kept his distance and used up his entire supply of firebombs. When the psuedo-kraken – wolf-size kraken-like creatures with the properties of a lungfish and fins that doubled as rudimentary legs - had crawled up and started grabbing for people on the deck he stayed in the sloop and kept his attention on the full-size kraken. Langley doubted he even noticed. She sported a limp herself from the burn marks the psuedo-kraken had left when it grabbed her. Their tentacles oozed an acidic liquid they used to paralyze prey.

Neria was unhurt. After the fight turned a bit more up close and personal she had retreated behind her daughter who drew rapiers and kept the pseudo-kraken back while her mother kept reloading the pistol. And the cousin that died? The twins didn’t know him. He was of a younger generation they had done their best to ignore. So as the talk swirled around them they sat in awkward silence, Crystal devouring everything within arm’s reach to their right and Ajiin in deep conversation with Grandmother Stormrider to their left.

After Crystal cleared their plates for them Langley decided that she’d had enough of being social. She grabbed the arm of her brother and the resident necromancer and with the two in tow left the room. Few people noticed and no one cared. Neria and Timoto might have wondered briefly but dismissed it as the twins being their typical selves, wrapped up in their own schemes and ideas.

They made for Langley’s room, the bigger of the two. Once there Langley put her shoulder to the bed and after some effort shoved it aside to reveal a circle of sand underneath filled with the runic inscriptions of a complicated ‘mancy working. Sabreur directed Crystal over to it.

“Right,” he said, “We’d get in big trouble if we tried this ourselves which is why we’re having you do the summoning.”

Crystal looked at the circle for a moment.

“Looks familiar,” she finally said.

“Of course it does! It’s for summoning Mihos. We want to ask him something. Now go to it.”

“It’s not the one I use though.”

“We’re not idiots Crystal,” Sabreur replied, “You summon him in physical form. We want spirit only. Less chance of him turning us into something unpleasant.”

“Please?” Langley added.

After a moment more of staring Crystal nodded and seated herself cross-legged at the head of the circle. Her head drooped as she fell into a trance. The twins stood there, Langley crossing and uncrossing her arms nervously, and they waited. Five minutes after Crystal tranced the circle lit up with green fire and the sand was turned into glass and then dissolved. A skeletal bird filled the circle and it fixed one glowing green eye on the two. Then it shimmered and shifted to the emaciated figure of Mihos, his multi-colored hair cascading over bony shoulders. Crystal did not stir, still in a trance.

“This had better be important,” Mihos said.

“It’s not,” Langley replied, “but seeing as we’ve been taking care of your friend there I think you owe us one.”

“I owe you nothing. The correct phrase would be I am indulging you for a moment.”

The twins glanced at each other. Sabreur was sweating slightly.

“You have our brother Andriss-“

“You are wrong. He is not in my realm.”

“-and er, what?”

Mihos seemed to sigh and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Your brother is not in my realm. He has no governing lord, in fact. I was able to find him simply because I am a ruler of the underworld, but he does not lie within my domain. He’s at the lowest level, where the contented souls reside as they have come to terms with their death and left behind their lives in the mortal realm. Does that answer your next question as well?”

“Come again?” Langley was speaking very softly, partly at a loss at what to say to that.

“He’s happy, Stormrider twins. Bids you well in your mortal lives and patiently awaits the day you are done and able to join him and the rest of the Stormriders. I am not going to bring his soul here for you to speak to him or anything else – I doubt he would allow me to anyways.”

Langley stared at her feet. Sabreur just stared off into space.

“I thought it would help our mother…”

“Let her help herself. That’s part of being a mortal. Do you have any other trivial matter to bother me with?”

“I’ve got some questions about Crystal, actually,” Sabreur said and Mihos just shook his head in response.

“I’ll not answer any right now. Find the answers yourself or wait for the appropriate time. Although…” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Yes. You can trust Professor Tremanis from the Academy. If you happen to see her again, she can be trusted. I’ll give you that much.”

“Are all avatars as difficult and cryptic as you?” Langley muttered under her breath.

To that, Mihos only grinned broadly and stepped out from the summoning circle. Sabreur swore and Langley went pale. He walked over and gently patted Langley on the head. She barely reached his shoulder.

“No, dear Langley, most of us are much, much worse. I’m the benign one of the bunch.”

And he chuckled, stepped backwards, and simply vanished from sight. The summoning circle was gone and Crystal stirred. Stretched and yawned.

“That was a nice nap,” she said, “Sorry for falling asleep on you though.”

“Crystal, you weren’t sleeping. You were in a trance,” Sabreur corrected.

“Oh.”

Two days later the Ark was being loaded with cargo and the next morning the crew was making their way onboard in preparation to leave. Langley and Sabreur stood on the dock with their parents, watching the skies.

“Looks clear,” their father said, “you’ll have good wind for most of the trip I imagine.”

“Storm season doesn’t start for a bit longer now. Get south as soon as this run is done, alright?” their mother said.

“We will.”

At the edge of the dock Ajiin was bidding goodbye to Grandmother Stormrider. She handed him a flask of something, he gave her a small hug in return. Then he turned, jogged past the twins onto the Ark and started shouting orders to the crew.

“We’re about ready to cast off, I guess,” Langley said awkwardly, “It was good seeing you again.”

They hugged, Neria cried a bit, and the twins turned to board the Ark. Halfway up the gangplank they were stopped by a shout from Grandmother Stormrider. With a groan, Langley turned and made her way back down to the wiry woman.

“Heard you lost your hat,” Grandmother Stormrider said and shoved something in Langley’s hands. A gray hat, similar to the one she lost except without all the wear, complete with a seagull feather already stuck in the brim. Then she turned to Sabreur. “My birthday is in two months. I want some of those bombs you were lobbing at the kraken.”

And without another word she turned and stalked off. The twins stared at her, exchanged glances, and with a shrug Sabreur walked back up onto the Ark.

“I love our family,” he said.

A small crowd watched as the Ark pulled away from the dock, sails rising to catch the strong ocean wind. At the very edge was Neria, waving. Someone ran up onto the top deck, crouched for a moment, then stood and waved a gray hat in the air back.

“And do try to write for once in your miserable lives!” Neria shouted at her daughter.

Then the Ark caught the wind and put on speed, skimming out along the calm ocean waters, out through the harbor, and into the open ocean beyond.

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