The Immortality Stone - The Cardinal

Chapter Eight - A Wreck of a Trip

Lethanas stood in front of his father's throne and knelt before the Elven King. His head was bowed as King Elnamed spoke coolly to him, the Wood Elf's features still raked with grief;

"You will take a small party with you. No more than a half dozen,"

"SIX!" Lethanas exclaimed. "That is nowhere near enough, my Lord. I require a dozen at the most."

"Impossible, we need men to patrol the borders to find your brother." The King snapped. "Six will be more than sufficient to defend you and whomever you find, if you find them."

"But the Astír told you he would return safely, father. Our people are more important, we need to save them. The Astír ask-" Lethanas pleaded.

"ENOUGH! What would the Astír know about family matters! Is it their son out there? NO!" King Elnamed shouted, his hand thumping the arm of the chair. "If you truly cared about your brother, then you would not ask such things."

Lethanas glanced angrily away, his hands clenching before he stood up quickly. He kept his eyes downcast so his father would not see the fury within them. Of course he cared for his brother, but they had a kingdom to care for. Elves and Elti, they all depended on him to cure them. He fought to keep his voice steady;

"As you wish. We leave in an hour."

And with that he turned on his heel and walked out, but he still managed to hear his father's cutting farewell;

"Why couldn't it have been you?"

~*~

 An hour later saw them on their way. At least Lethanas had been allowed to pick his own party, including his aide Elthanas, he knew he could trust them and that they were able bodied. Lethanas had refused to take any members of the Royal Guard, or any of the Royal Horses. Instead he had chosen those with whom he had fought before, a mix of infantry and cavalry, of Wood and Sky. Lethanas made sure all the packs were equally divided among them and was pleased that the Elves had selected sensible enduring horses, instead of flighty race horses. Now as they travelled through the Hadír forest, to Folly's Flight and then through the mountains to Oess, could Lethanas at least be safe in the knowledge that he was doing the right thing. His brother would return, as much as he disliked him, Lethanas couldn't disown him, but more importantly their people needed him first.

                                                              ~*~

Sameeca groaned as the ship rose and dipped with the swell, her stomach rising into her throat before plummeting ten feet into her pelvis. Her normal healthy pallor was now tinged with green and that sheen of sweat you only get when you throw up every half an hour. The floor heaved again, and so did Sameeca, right into a bucket;

"Dry land!" She cried. "My kingdom for dry land."

"You don't have a kingdom, Sameeca" Martin told her, wrinkling his nose at his sisters plight. "You're a woman, and would you please stop doing that. It’s disgusting."

"At leas' we have th'hold to ourselves." Aramon said from his hammock. "Th'smell keeps everyone else at bay."

"Shut up, you're one to talk." Sameeca growled, before turning to her brother and saying scathingly. "And as for you! Mr. Wizard! You have no claim to the throne either!"

"I will be something much better than a King. I will be a Mage*. An all powerful and all knowing being and-"

He was interrupted by the sound of Sameeca throwing up again.

~*~

That night there was a Storm. Even the experienced sailors were worried about the strength and ferocity of it. They said it came out of nowhere. That the lightning and thunder had sounded like a battle amid the screaming fury of the wind. The survivors of the wreck said this; when they were picked up some weeks later in the waters off Edenvarden. They babbled about the Woman that rose from the waves and smashed the ship before disappearing into the spray. One of them claimed that the ocean spirit had shouted "BLASTED SEA!" before it dissolved, but he was dismissed. What kind of Sea Nymph would despise their own element?

* A mage is another word for wizard, as is magi (madge-eye) and NOT a disease that dogs get. That is mange. It may debatable whether Aramon has it or not though.

Aramon and Martin lay splayed on the sandy beach. Water lapped around their ankles and a hot sun blared down on them. Aramon was trying to remember how they got there. He vividly recalled the ship splintering like a stick snapped over a knee, he definitely remembered how frigidly turbulent the waves had been and he was damn sure about Martin screaming like a little girl.....but how had they arrived on the beach? Aramon turned his head to look at the wizard, who was desperately trying to forget how they'd gotten there. His life had flashed before his eyes too many times to count in the swell, that he knew it backwards now. This being that it was depressingly short, contained too many books and not enough women. Aramon spoke;

"Who th'hell have ye pissed off noo?"

"What! This had nothing to do with ME!!!" Martin cried. "Everyone knew I was leaving. If it’s anyone we should be blaming, it's YOU! You with your light fingers and devil may care attitude. Who'd you get pregnant?"

"I've  been a pillar of morality! You useless sack of tricks-"

"Bone-brained lummox!"

"Fancypants Pansy!"

"Oh we could do this all day! Where's Sameeca? We may as well try and find a tavern. See where we've ended up." Martin reasoned as he struggled to his feet, water pouring from his robes.

"Aye, I s'pose you're right there." Aramon agreed, as he too stood up and glanced down the decidedly bleak strand.

It was covered with dune grass, sea shells and pebbles. Bits of petrified drift wood and ship wreck (some recent additions too) lay strewn about, adding an air of misery to the place. A seagull cawed out harshly and the stink of sea weed was making the Magi feel ill.

"She can't have gone far!" Martin said dejectedly, knowing in his heart that it would take a good deal longer than that.

"Righ' well, let’s get on it then." The thief replied, sharing an odd note of precognition with his friend.

"At least you smell better now."

And so, after a brief argument of whether they were to go left or right which was decided by the traditional coin toss (Martin won) they went right. Which was wrong, but very much part of family genetics.

                                                        ~*~

 Sameeca awoke to someone glaring sunlight in her eyes. She coughed and spat out some sea weed. Minutes passed as she assessed the scenery. Right, well she knew she was on a beach, either on an island or some sort of coast line. It was morning and it was hot. Sameeca was quite proud of that deduction, and now she could concentrate on panicking. She hadn't really had time to get into it last night, what with having this horrendous dream about smashing a ship up out of anger and then finding out something similar had happened. She had put on hold her breakdown, so she could concentrate on not drowning. This really hadn't helped her fear of water. So after a brief scream, some running around in circles followed by maniacal crying, Sameeca felt a lot better. She wondered where her brother was, a crab passed by her foot;

"I don't suppose you know, do you?" She asked.

"No, but I may be able to help you!" A dark voice drawled behind her.

Did the crab just say that? Sameeca looked at the crab in confusion as her head slowly made sense of the sentence. No, the crab did most definitely not say that....the person causing the giant menacing shadow in front of her had said that. Sameeca nodded to herself;

"Really? You don't even know what I asked!"

The sound of a sword being slowly drawn issued from behind her. She watched the never ending length of its blade revealed in the shadow on the sand. Sameeca gulped.

"Bugger this for a lark!" She cried.

And then she ran. The crab watched her leave with an air of disapproval, what kind of person asked a question and then ran off? How rude. Which is a pretty sad last thought to have, but then the poor crab never knew what hit** him. It was a Sarrveck.

 **or squished in this case.

                                                               ~*~