A Meeting Of Fate
Jonathan Cranobly opened his eyes. Live sluggishly returned to his body. The first thing he saw in the glaring light was a priest holding a holy symbol into his direction and speking words of a strange player. Weakened a he was Jonathan smiled faintly. He had used magic to put him into suspended animation an escape a boarding crew. There was no telling, how long he had drifted through the World Ocean. "I am still alive," he said, frightened by the weakness of his own Voice. "I may be in need of healing."
He must have been asleep for several years at last. "What date is it?" he asked. "It is February the 3. in the year 4042," a man replied, who was probably first mate or captain of the ship. "Ten years," he muttered. A decade were much time for a human life. Much could have changed since his ship was taken over by slavers. The priest bent over the Jonathan. This time the prayer was a soothing one and a hand touched the magician. He felt the surge of magical healing refreshing his body and healing much of his weariness. Carefully he stood up, his legs still feeling a bit wobbly.
"I am Carlos Evaristo, captain of the Corona," the man who had told Jonathan the Date spoke. "We are freelancers." The mage ran a Hand over his robe, which teh captain had probably recognised as belonging to a war mage from Unida. "What fate is so terrible that you would chance the World Ocean?" the captain asked. "We were attacked by Neogi and lost the battle," Jonathan replied. A shiver ran through the crew members, who heard. The Neogi were a terrible spider-like alien species, who strove to enslave all they met und do all the fighting and the menial tasks for them, or to be used as food.
"We were not prepared for the creatures they used as fighting slaves," the mage said. The Neogi fighting slaves were usually terrible and monstrous creatures, though usually weak of mind, so they could be controlled easily. "More and more of them are spotted recently," Carlos said. "Maybe they have a base in sphere near enough," Jonathan said. After all the five spacefaring worlds only knew their home sphere and the Oz'Nihead cluster, were they had already run into trouble.
"Kastanar and Unida are still at odds?" Jonathan abrubtly chanegd the subject. "You guys kicked the ass of our fleet a couple o' years back," Carlos said. "I can't say I am too unappy to them go. Made life hell for us freelancers." Kastanar was known for its unfair caste system and paranoid nobility, which drove many common people into space, particularly those with mystic abilities. The mage sighed. "I really have to sleep now. There is no magic left in my mind."
Jonathan slept for more than a day, but when he finally awakened, he felt the tingle of power at his fingertips and the presence of the runes of power in his mind. He went on deck and was instantly surrounded by the incessant glare of the World Ocean and its strange substance known as phlogiston. The strength of a stream in that substance filled the sail and accelerated the journey.
Suddenly there was a change in the rhythm, as though the wind had left the sail for a moment. The magic of the propulsion had changed. He jogged to the sterncastle and asked the captain: "Why did we drop to tactical speed?" The officers looked at him. How finely attuned the senses of the magician were. "I don't know," the captain said. "Let us find out," Jonathan replied.
He entered a dark chamber of the ship, which only contained table, some benches nailed to the floor and a gently growing crystal ball in the middle of the table. Jonathan used one of his many spells on the device. Instantly another ship appeared in the depth of the sphere. It was a sabre ship, sleek and winged, optimised for maneuverability and fighting with hit-and-run tactics. The wings were so sharp and sturdy, that they could be used to shear off the rigging of another ship.
"We cannot outrun them," he said. The Corona was a Scarabship, comfortable, spacious and giving room for much cargo, but not very well suited for battle. Jonathan turned to the crystal ball again and searched the deck. There was a woman on the aftercastle, only wearing a scanty silk skirt. She was tall voluptuous and lithe, her skin pale as porcelain, her hair red as fire, her lips full and crimson, her eyes green as the sea. There was a dull, befuddled expression in her eyes. Someone had messed around with her mind.
"This may help," Jonathan muttered. He turned to the others and said aloud: "I need a good sword." One of the officers ran to the armoury. "How did you do that?" one of the ship's regular wizards asked. "Magic," was the simple reply. "Who is that woman?" Captain Carlos asked. "Jean de Maraiya, a Lilian noble. She is probably a full-blooded nymph and she does not seem too happy about her current position." Carlos looked at the mage. "You keep strange company."
"You have no idea," Jonathan said. Before the dialogue could continue, the officer returned with a sword. The mage took it and tested its balance and weight. It was not perfect, but it would do. He put some magic on it, then he cast another spell and threw the weapon at the crystal ball. Instead of shattering the device, the blade passed through it and continued its way through the air of the other ship, until it stuck the deck near the woman. There it stuck and shook a little. Nothing seemed to happen.
"There is a simple spell which allows you to see what dropped you to tactical speed through a crystal ball or whatever other device you use for farsight," the mage answered to the question, how he had found the other ship so quickly. "It is tought freely at the schools and universities of Unida. I though it would have spread even to you by now." The ship's regular magicians looked at each other, but did not dare to look at Jonathan.
Jean de Maraiya looked at the blade with dull eyes. She was alone in her area of the ship. Dim memory stirred in her mind, sluggishly making their way into her consciousness. She lazily rolled over the deck and touched the blade with her hand. The edge did not harm her skin, which was strange for that was its purpose. Idly her hand moved upwards and touched the haft of the weapon. Magic tingled in her fingers and slowly moved along her arm.
She remembered a crimson tide, blood spilling over her arm and over her sword. The magic infused in the blade reached her mind and cleared it. The fey glow returned to her eyes. She rose like a spirit of vengeance and pulled the blade from the wood without any conscious effort. A man moved towards her to see, what was happening. Jean stabbed him with her sword with such strength that the blade burst out of his back. She moved close to him and said softly: "How do you like that penetration you bastard?" He gurgled and Jean twisted the sword in his body before pulling it out.
Another man approched her. He was the captain of the ship and a fine swordsman. "You will know your place," he said. He had already drawn his blade. He was wearing chain mail and she was nude. There was an arrogance in his bearing that made obvious, he did not consider Jean to be a serious threat. "I should command the wood to hold you and repay you in kind," she said with cold fury. "But I will just slay you with my sword."
She charged him with a wild scream, sword raised. The captain smiled evilly and timed his strike to pierce her heart. Instead of soft flesh his blade met only cold steel. Jean attacked him with a flurry of blows that forced him into the defensive instantly. He just parried for a time, hoping she would tire soon and the fight would become more balanced. Soon he had to realise how little he understood the power of Jean de Maraiya.
The woman was not nearly as wild a fighter as her scream and bearing suggested. She tested his defences methodically and with amazing speed. Jean found a hole and her sword pierced his heart, before the captiain realised that he had not been able to parry her attack. An expression of terrible surprise was frozen on his face, when he died. The Lilian pulled her sword back quickly and chopped off the man's head. Then she turned to the crew.
"Your captain is gone," her voice thundered over the deck. " Wil you follow me?" The men looked at the woman standing above them, tall and terrible, the sword dripping with blood in her hand. There was some shuffling and insecure looks at he and others. None wanted to make the first move in either direction. "You can't kill us all," someone shouted. "You don't want to find out," Jean said.
She raised her sword. The wood creaked. It began to remember the live it once had, before it was felled. Saplings burst from the deck and shot into the air, whipping the crew like tentacles. The men quickly found themselves tied and squeezed, some were being throttled, others slowly crushed to death. Jean looked at them with implacable green eyes. "Please make it stop," a man moaned. The woman surveyed the crowd. The vines relented, but did not disappear.
"Think," she spoke. "Where I could lead you, if all that power was turned against your... our enemies!" A strange green fluid oozed from the severed head of the dead captain. A strange befuddlement lifted from their minds. They saw the scantily vlad woman radiate more power, glory and leadership than their former captain ever had. Even the off-watch, who just came to deck was instantly captivated by her fey charisma.
"We will follow you," a woman spoke. The rest of the crew agreed. "There is on condition," Jean said. She requested several members of the crew to be brought to her and let the tentacles disappear. The men stood before here and Jean summoned new tentacles out of the wood to bind them. These saplings writhed and tugged, some of them looking like male genitalia. "I can think of terrible punishments for rape," she said and looked at the tentacles. "But I will only take your heads." She decapitated one after another, their heads rolling over the deck, their bodies slumping to the floor. The last one whimpered: "Please, I just..." Jean showed him no mercy.
The woman who had spoken out for Jean first went to her. "I don't have any sympathy for these men," she said. "But was it really necessary to do that in front of the crew?" she asked. "Perhaps my mind was clouded by vengeance," Jean said softly. "I do not want them to fear me, but they will. What you have seen so far was only a glimpse of my power." More loudly she asked: "You are the first lieutenant?" The woman said: "I guess so. I used to be second, but you just chopped the head off the first."
"I am Claire Hercule," the woman said. She had dark hair bronze skin and a shapley body. She seemed to become aware for the first time, that Jean was a head taller than her and unnaturally beautiful. "I will have to ask you to leave the aftercastle for a short time and prepare for the docking with another ship, when I am done." The shorter woman nodded and hurried down the stairs.
Jean dropped her blade and raised her arms, speaking strange words. Water crashed over the aftercastle in a huge wave, taking the bodies with it and washing the blood from the deck. Strangely the force ofthe current did not eam to affect the nymph. The water flooded overboard and disappeared into the World Ocean. "Now let us get to work," she said loudly.
"I told you so," said Jonathan on the other ship. Captain Carlos did not entirely believe, what he had just seen. "I know her of old," the mage said. Now let us dock with them, for I greatly desire to speak with her again." The captain asked: "How do you dock with a sabre?" Jonathan replied: "Stern to stern and make sure our gravity planes match."
It took them several minutes to reach the other ship. Turning around in the flow was a delicate manouever and the sabre did it, because its wings were better suited to the task, than the sail of the Corona. There was still a heavy thud when the two ships met. Jonathan noticed that Jean had far better control of her ship than Captain Carlos of his.
The mage passed over the plank as soon as it was, followed by Captain Carlos, who stared at Jean in disbelief. She looked even more beautiful in reality, than through the crystal ball. "Get yourself and your ship gone," Jean said. "You will just stare at me like the dumb ox you are for the rest of this meeting." He did stare at her some time longer, but then he left for his own ship and soon it disappeared in the phlogiston.
"I really wonder, who you intend to win over this crew," he said gently. "I will find a way," she said with a shrug. Jonathan moved to the green stain, the head of the former captain had left and knelt near it. "Strange," he said. "What did they put into his head instead of a brain, so that it still worked, but was completely under their control? I should sent some of this stuff to the royal academy for analysis."
"Still all business?" Jean asked. "It seems those dwarves have coloured off on me a little," he said while he rose. "I seem to remember other creatures using a similar method, but not even the Illithids co-operate with the Neogi," quoth he, not yet willing to abandon his train of thought. "The mind flayers once ruled the multiverse," she said dreamily. "They were broken by a rebellion of their slaves, but none know were the Neogi come from, but they seem to view all other creatures as inferior, only to be used as slaves or for food."
"You could have avoided a lot of this grief, if you had taken your lessons at the royal university," Jonathan said. "I could... return and do the training?" she asked. "I say so and my voice may still have weight back home," he replied. "Normally fey are tough to crack, even for those creatures, but you have an untrained talent for psionics, which opens your mind to them. It seems they wanted to keep the modified captain near you to make sure, guessing that you would shake off their powers sooner or later. Maybe we can get you instruction in the Sibran ice field. The ethae are probably better for you than the dwarves."
Jean chuckled and looked at the man fondly. They hugged and kissed passionately. There was a gentle cough. It came from Claire Hercule, the first lieutenant. The lovers let go off each other and turned to her. "Who are you?" she asked the man. "I am lord Jonathan "Spiderbane" Cranobly, trained war mage of the Royal University of Unida," he replied. "This is getting better and better," Claire said.
"We are at war," Jonathan said matter-of-factly. "Against a terrible species of slavers, who have more resources and ships than we do. If they are not stopped in Oz'Nihead, they will devour the Five Worlds. They are massing their fleet to quickly for normal travel through the World Ocean. My tasked is to find out how they do it and stop them if possible. The colonies were just lucky so far that the ethar of Sibran keep most of them from our colonies or the route to the home worlds. We can make things better."
"The colonies are not very well established and defended," Jean said. "We expanded to quickly and thoughtlessly, not realising we were entering a world of empires that were old when our worlds were young. We have to stop them from establishing a foothold and perhaps even a true gate in Oz'Nihead. There is too little military presence in the colonies to effectively fight them back."
"We have to go to Skullport," the mage said. "I really need an update of the last ten years and we can replace those crew members who do not want to sail with us." Claire spoke: "We have not yet found any bounty." Jean fixed the other woman with her eyes. "There are more important things to consider. If these creatures win, we will all be their mind slaves and think of nothing but pleasing them. Jon is a lord of Unida and has access to considerable resources, if the need arises. When this is over we can still think of other things to do. Call in a meeting of the officers."