Demiourgos (41 page)

“I just wanted to stop to cook some of that meat in the hold before it goes bad. We can replenish our traveling rations using mainly mushrooms but I want to fill my belly before I’m subjected to that again.” Avreel turned and started down the stairs and tossed a wink over her shoulder at Rose who merely blushed. “Certain appetites have to be sated am I right?”

After Avreel had gone Rose and Liostro both shared a quiet moment before she left him to wake Nina and Talisbane. The lack of interruptions was serving to further her suspicions about their generous benefactor. When she reached the captain’s quarters she found Nina already up and mulling around looking refreshed and rejuvenated. “Sleep better?”

“I haven’t slept that good since we left the palace.” Nina smiled as she almost bounded around gathering up her things. She suddenly realized that it was light outside. “My shift! I’m so sorry!”

“Hey don’t worry about it; we let you sleep in for a reason.” Rose declined to identify the reason she just smiled and walked over to the bed scooping up a bleary-eyed Talisbane and setting him down on her shoulder. “How about some breakfast Talis?”

She couldn’t help but laugh when his head jerked up suddenly and he licked his lips with his forked tongue. He was quite the eater for such a small dragon. Rose left Nina to her morning routines and walked down into the hold after Avreel. Once she was below deck she walked over to the crate of foodstuff and pulled out a few slivers of meat. “Eat, ravenous beast!”

Talisbane was quick to comply by snatching the meat from her and zipping out of the hold like a madcap miser. Rose shook her head and assisted Avreel in gathering up an oiled cloth full of meat, mushrooms and spices for cooking. “I hope you know how to cook because I never learned.”

“Cook? I had servants for that.” Avreel replied with arched brows. “Wonderful, I was hoping that one of you knew how.”

Rose shrugged her shoulders. “I doubt Liostro does so that leaves only Nina.”

“Well for all of our sakes I hope one of them does. Otherwise this stopover will leave naught but fouled stomachs in our wake.”

It didn’t matter to her, the small sampling of peace she had gotten while sailing was well enough to overcome any sort of bad cooking. Rose helped Avreel gather the bundle of food and carry it out of the hold where Liostro was waiting. He took it from them and fastened it to the crane while she and Avreel climbed down and guided it down onto the dock. Once they were done the five of them carried the burden to the end of the dock and onto the stone floor beyond. Avreel led them to the face of the wall revealing a depression that housed not only a shelter but a kettle suspended over a fire pit.

“If we’re lucky,” Avreel said as she walked over into the corner and lifted a burlap sack from the stone. “Wonderful! There are dry stalks in here.”

“I reiterate, who can cook?” Avreel questioned looking at Liostro, Nina and then Rose even though she knew the answer. To her surprise it was Liostro who stepped forward and unwrapped the bundle. “You?”

“Surprised? Long days on the road lead to many recipes, some failures and others a success. Give me time and I’ll make a stew for us.” Liostro collected what dry wood they needed and opened a pouch at his belt, striking firesteel to his dagger the flammable lump caught instantly. “I would like to ask if one of you will bring my armor and sword down here though, I feel naked without it.”

Liostro filled the kettle a little with water and a few of the marked spices Avreel had gathered. Once it set to boiling he cleaned his dagger off with a cloth and cut several of the meat strips and dropped them in along with most of the mushrooms. When he got to some of the unknown vegetables he began sampling them by biting a piece off of each. Satisfied he used half of what he had and topped it off with a salty-but-sweet tasting sauce he had found among the gathered food. “Now we let it sit for a while and cook.”

Taking the opportunity to care for his equipment he pulled a flask of oil and a rag from his pack and a whetstone from his belt. Liostro set to tending to everything while watching the rest of them. To his surprise Avreel pulled a pipe and a leather fold of something from her own pack and stuffed the bowl of the pipe full.

“Might I borrow your firesteel?” Avreel questioned, holding out her hand. When he obliged she caught it midair and nodded her thanks.

“I would not brand you as one who smokes.” Liostro commented while polishing the embossed breastplate.

“In my home there are whole dens dedicated to smoking various types of pipe weed and drinking the finer forms of alcohol. It’s a cultural must as many gatherings are held around a table with a large smoke pot.” Avreel lit the delicate-looking pipe and sucked on the stem a few times to get the fire going. “If you don’t partake you will most definitely offend the host. My favorite is a type derived from slicing and drying up the cap of a lydra mushroom.”

“Lydra? I’m not familiar with that species.” Nina asked curiously. “Not that I’m an expert in underground flora mind you.”

“It goes down quite smooth and it has a sweet aftertaste.” Avreel replied by throwing the closed pouch to Nina. “Careful not to inhale too much, it can make your head light and your brain fluffy if you’re not used to it.”

When Nina took a whiff and sneezed lightly they all chuckled a little. Avreel caught the pouch and tucked it away in her pack then leaned against the rock face behind her. She took in the smell of burning driftwood and pipe weed mixed with the boiling stew. “That smells divine.”

“The right mix of herbs makes the difference when cooking.” Liostro said with a shrug as he stirred the pot then returned to his armor. Every now and again he would glance at Rose and sometimes he found her looking back and they both shared a smile. “This is what a journey is about my friends. Good company in a foreign land just teeming with adventure.”

“I had thought you were determined to beat the adventuring spirit out of me.” Nina retorted, to which they all grinned.

“I much prefer a soft bed and a table of delicacies but even I have to admit that after the ardors of our journey so far it feels good to relax in contrast.” Avreel pulled the pipe from her lips and used the stem to point to Liostro. “I can almost see why you adventurous types do it.”

“The thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of the score.” Liostro’s simple reply was his real logic and drive.

“Indeed.” Avreel replied coining a phrase he had used a few times. “I’m sure Rose agrees with you.”

When the two of them blushed Avreel laughed loudly and snickered at Nina’s confused look. Talisbane fluttered into the cave and settled down by the fire on Liostro’s pack. And silence once again took them. She took another pull on the pipe and offered it to Rose who refused it then to Liostro who took a sizable pull with only a slight cough. “Nina?”

“No thank you, I’d rather not. I think what little I got from smelling the bag was enough.” Her giggle was surprising to only her. “When is that food going to be done?”

“Soon.” Liostro sat back and puffed out a long tendril of thick smoke and leaned back, running the whetstone against the length of his long blade. The scraping sound relieved his tension more than the smoking could.

Rose, as an afterthought pulled an ink pen and well from her pack along with the journal Nina had given her. Since they had some time she figured now would be a good time to write down her thoughts.

When it was done the food was dished into bowls and eaten slowly, savored by all. Coupled with the pipe weed the stew seemed like ambrosia. Liostro was thankful because he did not recognize half of the ingredients he had put into it. It dwindled down to nothing rather quickly between them. Even Talisbane ate an entire bowl that looked to be more than his bodyweight. “You’ve a hearty appetite little friend.”

The dragon-ling burped loudly and licked his lips then settled back down on the pack. His sides huffed out as he drew in and let go a breath. Rose giggled at the volume compared to the small scaled creature and shook her head; she had just finished off her third bowl of the hearty meal. “My compliments to the chef.”

“Thank you.”

Liostro had finished his own meal and the fire was burning down to nothing and to Rose that signified their short rest was at an end. What Liostro had not used in the stew they gathered back up and sullenly the lot of them returned to the ship to carry on. A feeling of dread passed over her as they rolled up the boarding ladder and secured the crane. She almost wanted to beg them all to stay a little longer but she knew their mission was too dire and in her heart she had already figured out what they all dreaded to say. Leonidus, the former king of the elves, was a traitor to his people.

Nina took the wheel this time and Liostro cut the mooring lines. The nimble ship turned toward the large opening in the wall where the water flowed and followed eagerly as if it knew the journey by heart.

The dark cave looming before them only served to intensify the unease for Rose and as the shadows won the day she instinctively summoned a series of small glowing orbs to light the deck. Dozens of them flitted about the boat chasing shadows and flying between the four of them. She felt an unfamiliar sensation as she summoned the light that made it difficult to cast the simple spell.

With the diminutive dragon perched upon her shoulder she scanned the face of the rock wall. A sense of familiarity washed over her the closer they got to the exit. Rose could see the light at the end of the tunnel and it was growing. Deep within the recesses of the hidden walls of the cave echoes danced across her ears filling her with fancies of horror. She imagined creatures sitting in wait for an unsuspecting meal and worse. As quickly as they came the feelings were swept away when she finally laid eyes on what Avreel had called the astral fade.

The sea they had been sailing flowed into a river floating in mid-nothingness. As far as her eyes could see the silvery-purple horizon stretched out. It looked to be a seemingly infinite distance. Floating rocks ranging from palm-sized stones to moving mountains flowed across the expanse. Clouds of dust, debris and other matter drifted along only being disturbed when stones would hit them. Even then, as if the debris was a living being, it would reform and continue on its journey into oblivion.

The sight staggered her as it did the others and she dismissed the floating lights with a thought. Even Talisbane chirped excitedly as he looked around. The stone prison they had just been encased in stretched ever upward farther than her vision would allow. In the distance she could see the free floating river following an age-old weathered path carved by years of erosion. Rose gasped when they sailed around the large mass which was her continent and saw more floating in the distance. They were each as big as her home and bigger, though most of them were not turned toward them she could see the interior of one but it was the most distant and the largest. It looked like a big white disc standing in the middle of the flowing cosmic press. A bridge of pure ice stretched from the large continent to another and between two more a massive tangle of vines connected one to the next. Each had its own linking mass of elemental material.

On the underside of the continent closest to them Rose caught movement. To her amazement she spied an elemental made of pure stone, smooth and hunkered over. It was massive to say the least, easily larger than a mountain. On the creature’s back there was a city with large ruined buildings and spires of an odd make. “Gods above, what is that?”

“That my dear Rose is the walking city of Enk’hamaat, the lost wanderer of the naarabi.” Avreel replied with a growing grin. “Welcome to the astral fade, the plane of pure dreams and energy; home of the gods and birthplace of our world.”

Rose let her eyes drift again. Up and down, if the two could be distinguished, in the never-ending open space. She felt disoriented but at the same time she felt grounded and light as a feather. This place felt real to her yet surreal and amorphous. There was a feeling of being home not unlike what she had felt when she had laid eyes on the elven forest. In the distance a floating mass of crystalline material drifted past and then behind one of the continents out of sight. “Where does it end?”

“Philosophically it doesn’t. The astral spheres that make this place whole and tangible yet distant are more expressions of thought and emotion than physical. This is where the gods made their home and this is where they come to die when it is their time.” Avreel cast her eyes out as if for the first time, though she had made this journey before. Every time she saw it she felt wonder and mystery within its depths. They were feelings that, she was sure, her people had long ago forsaken. Now standing among like-minded people she felt better about her decision to leave the city and start a new life.

“There are many extraordinary things in this place, some benign and others malignant. Though it is beautiful we must be on our guard at all times. I don’t know how far we have to be away from the caverns but I would not try teleporting just yet. Besides we don’t want the ship drifting away into the nothingness. Not with such valuable cargo aboard.” Avreel turned back to Nina and something behind them caught her eye. “Liostro climb up to the crow’s nest and take up the spyglass there, what is that object drifting toward us?”

“No need, I can just…” Rose stopped suddenly with her hands in mid-air as if she were beginning to cast a spell. “I can’t use magic! It’s there but I can’t shape it!”

Avreel put a hand on her shoulder; though she hadn’t experienced it herself she had seen arcane casters have the same reaction that Rose had when she could not touch the source. “Don’t panic! The planes are infinite and each one makes magic work a little different from the next. It takes time to learn how to adapt yourself.”