Phoenix Rising – Snippet 07
Chapter 7.
Tobimar squinted across the water. There was nothing to see, just more water, as the Lucramalalla continued through the five-foot seas. Of course, that was part of what bothered him; until now, the huge Sauran-built ship had sailed always just in sight of land, able to see ports and cities as they passed, ready in case they were hailed or if there was some need to stop. But sometime during the night, it seemed, they had swung far out to sea.
Still, even that didn’t seem enough to cause his unease. He felt something was wrong, almost could see it, like heat-ripples from the sand, but he couldn’t put a name to it. He looked around the ship.
To his mild surprise, he saw T’Oltha standing alone on the second deck, high above the first, immobile as a statue, looking out to sea as he had been. Well, there’s my best source of information.
It only took a few moments to make his way up; the eight-foot creature was still standing where he had seen her. “A good dawning, T’Oltha.”
The draconic head turned slightly. “A good dawning to you as well, questing prince.”
Of course the ship’s captain knew exactly who he was and something of the errand he was on. He just hoped it wouldn’t be general crew knowledge; better to avoid too many questions that he didn’t invite. “If it is no secret, why do we sail so far from land this day?”
The Sauran gestured with its taloned hand. “For this day, and for many more days, indeed, we must sail by guidance of stars and the gods; for there lies Elyvias.”
That
made sense. He hadn’t realized they’d come so far already; yes, they had left Tor Port, a major city of the Empire of the Mountain, quite some days ago, but the great inacessible peninsula of Elyvias jutted from the southernmost reaches of the continent. “So we cannot even sail in sightof the land?”
The headshake was like the weaving of a snake. “The Maelwyrd extends full forty miles from the land, with but three miles nearest the land safe to sail for those who live there.”
Tobimar glanced up. He had heard something of the latter, but never spoken of with the matter-of-fact certainty that T’Oltha used. “How do you know there is such a safe zone?”
T’Oltha gave a rumbling laugh like distant thunder. “Twice, under the guidance of the Lady of Aegeia, I sailed the shifting maze of the Maelwyrd and found my way safe to Elyvias. I have sailed those waters, young prince, seen what was left when the Archmage and Dragon King duelled at the end and sank part of the continent beneath them.”
“If you have sailed them before –”
“Only under the Lady of Wisdom’s guidance,” she said, emphatically. “And only following the partly-known paths through. Here we are on the northern frontier of Elyvias, a narrow shore backed by the Northern Cataclysm Ridge, and where the mazakh have a strong hold. We still must follow the currents and land in a general sense, and so shall turn northward again to round the portion of the peninsula that projects in that direction. But only in the southernmost waters has the Maelwyrd been mapped at all, and only with the Lady Athena’s guidance, or that of S’mbanullah or Elbon Nomicon himself, would I attempt even that route, let alone seek to penetrate the uncharted Maelwyrd here.” The weaving shake of the head again. “No, we shall make no port again until Olthamian’ a’ ameris.”
“Shipton.”
A snort. “As you and the other derntera call it, yes, as you remove the poetry and meaning of Fanalam’ T’ ameris’ a’ u’ Zahr-a-Thana T’ikon and say ‘Zarathanton’.”
Tobimar grinned, but had to admit that the Sauran had something of a point. Changing “City of the Sea of Stars” to what amounted to “place with ships” did seem rather a step down. On the other hand, as the name of the capital city illustrated, the Sauran names could get to be long enough to need a couple of breaths to finish. “We are blessed neither with your longevity nor your lung capacity, o T’Teranahm,” he said.
That gained him another deep laugh. “Truly said, little human. Truly said. As long as you remember the poetry that lies beneath, then the surface is of no matter, or so S’her once said.”
He looked up at the ancient reptilian captain again. The Saurans had inhabited Zarathan for longer than almost any other race of beings (save of course for the Dragons, their forebears and possibly one or two others), and – though they had, of course, had their own epics of betrayal and tragedy – had always been a force of stability and wisdom for the younger races; Khoros had often mentioned how much he had learned from the dragon-descended creatures.
That decided him. “T’oltha, you know something of our quest. Where do you think I should start my quest? Which port?”
To his surprise, the Sauran captain bowed to him. “You ask my advice? It is well. For know, that while my ship has carried many of your questers, since first I took this ship six millennia agone, none have ever asked. Your mother’s sister chose the Northern route, landed at the White Blade. Before her, a man, Karilar, and his choice was Tor Port itself, to seek an audience with the Archmage. Others, many others, yet none asking of me what my thoughts were.” She looked up to the sky. “All sought in places of peril, of distant lands; one even took passage through the Maelwyrd to seek on Elyvias.
“I say instead that you begin in the city where all once began, and where one of my people still sits atop the Throne that is older than all the derntera combined. Go to the First City, take ship with me all the way to Zarathanton, and there I think you will find, if not answers, the path to your answers.”
The capital city? Greatest of all cities?
The idea made sense. He had thought before of Shipton itself, the great port, or of Aegeia, isolated and proud deiocratic state whose ruler was, it was said, the living incarnation of one of the gods of Wisdom. But T’oltha’s advice resonated, fit with the part of him that could show him a safe path across a room in total darkness.
“I thank you, Captain. Then I am with you to the end of this journey.”
“The end of this voyage, young one.” The Sauran smiled, showing a fearsome array of teeth. “My journey is far from ending, and yours has not even begun.”
The Sauron Captain has a darn good memory and apparently a very long lifespan.
All this use of the ancient tongue(s) and allusions to ancient and dreadful deeds has the makings of great fantasy.
Ryk, without giving away the story, I’m guessing that this discussion of the Maelwyrd is going to have some significance in our young adverturers’ lives. Correct?
@2
adventurers’ NOT adverturers’
Clumsy fingers.
Actually… no! That’s one of the things about Phoenix Rising; it’s in a *huge* world with many, many things happening, and there will be plenty of things you see and hear that DON’T have to do with the adventure du jour. You will *not* visit every place on that map — so you can’t predict the course of the adventure by saying “Ah, he’s got a prominent city here, so they’ll have to end up there sometime”.
There are actually three separate major groups of Adventurers who are/will be dealing with various aspects of the world-shaking events that are happening. Phoenix Rising and its projected sequels (_Demon, Dragon, Phoenix, Toad_ and _Promise of the Dying God) follows Kyri, Tobimar, and Poplock. In _Phoenix Rising_ we will encounter at least some of the members of each of the other groups, but the main story of each group would be in a separate trilogy (one I call the Spirit Warriors trilogy and the other the Godswar trilogy).
@4 – Ryk
Wow! Quite a view you’ve got there in your imagination.
I’m definitely looking forward to reading Phoenix Rising. I hope the rest of the story gets to be written as well.
@1
She says she’s been captain of this ship for 6,000 years (about as long ago as the creation of the written word on Earth)… I’d say that passes fairly long-lived!
@5 and @6: I’ve been working on this world for about 35 years. The individual stories that are now Phoenix Rising are over 20 years old. Zarathan is indeed complex.
The history of Zarathan goes back over 500,000 years (in terms of “had an advanced civilization on it”); the regular Saurans have lifespans of well over 10,000 years, and the Ancient Saurans are effectively immortal (none are ever known to have died from age) just as are their Dragon forefathers/relations.
Is Drak an Ancient Sauran or just a regular Sauran? :-)
Just a human who likes Dragons. [Wink]
Sorry, Ryk.
Long ago I overdosed on stories that start, “Only you in all the land—you with your faithful Barbarian Shaman/Drunkard Dragon/Amateur Cracksman—can save the world from Evil!
I’m sick of the trope. It has been done, and done, and done again. They’ve been pumping them out ever since The Lord of the Rings. One series more derivative than the last. Before I invest in another of these, it really has to grab me. So far this one doesn’t. There’s nothing wrong with the story. But for me a tale needs extraordinary quality to overcome that initial handicap.
Besides, Raffles would hate visiting Mordor.
@10: To each their own. I see this story as very different — Lord of the Rings is nothing like this, and this is nothing like LotR aside from the fact that there’s inescapable effects of background. But I *live* in this world so I can see it for what it is. For you to see it will require you getting far enough into the story to see where the differences are. And that would be somewhere considerably farther in than we’ve gotten so far.
Yes, I could try to exaggerate the differences and shove them all up front obtrusively, but then of course I risk losing the PRIMARY market — the people who LIKE reading “that kind” of story and who’ve been supporting all of the fantasy writers for years.
Ryk,
I wasn’t saying Phoenix Rising is another Tolkien clone. At first blush, it’s not.
I’m saying I’ve learned to associate that LOTR theme with low quality stuff.
Actually, I’m getting more intrigued. Not by the story. By your description of your years of world building. That offers hope—though no guarantee—that PR might be better than I expect. I’m figuring to read along with these snippets and give the book a chance.
Not least because I loved Boundary. Intelligent people doing and learning interesting things with quasi-science for which I’m willing to suspend disbelief. Great stuff!
@12: Thanks! Zarathan has indeed been worked on for 35+ years. It’s a part of the same universe as my first book, _Digital Knight_, and in addition to being a setting I use for writing is also my primary gaming universe. I use RPGing as a tool for writing — have for all that time, in fact. As such, like many worlds, it started out as a mishmash of other people’s stuff, and has slowly become more uniquely my own as I’ve sorted out what I like and what I don’t, added things that I wanted to see that weren’t in anything else, tested what worked and what didn’t, developed the history and background and the logic by which the universe works, and so on.
FWIW, I think you’ve already got indications of difference, if not being “better”. The closest to the “Only you can do this” is Tobimar, but he’s not being told he’s the only one who can save the world — just that he had BETTER get out there and finish this thing that a hundred of his forebears failed to do, because the SH*T is about to hit the fan. Poplock… just sort of FELL into the adventuring, and a seven to eight inch toad is, himself, somewhat unusual as a protagonist. No one’s telling him he has a destiny. And we haven’t seen what’s going to drag Kyri out of her nice home in her distant little land.
The NEXT chapter gives us a different point of view, one we’ll have occasionally throughout the book, from one of the adversaries.