|
| ||||
Lady Raven Jggidorrry Anima Spuds The Philosopher |
![]() |
Quick Links |
||
| Announcements: | ||||
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Caedryl Lake | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 4 2013, 11:19 PM (626 Views) | |
| Tasha the Gypsy | Oct 4 2013, 11:19 PM Post #1 |
|
With a smile, Harma saw the light reflecting off the gentle waves of the grey blue lake. She quickly shed her cloak, laying it out on the pebbles that covered the ground of the secluded inlet. She then removed her boots and vest and put them on the cloak, leaving her wearing a light cotton shirt and leather leggings along with a small pouch at her side. She tied the cloak bundle and shoved it in a small, hidden opening in some rocks behind her, then stepped into the cold water. "Retaan could have warned me about the temperature." muttered Harma to herself with a slight shiver as she waded deeper. With strong strokes she swam further out into the lake. |
![]() |
|
| Replies: | |
|---|---|
| Tasha the Gypsy | Oct 23 2013, 11:26 AM Post #21 |
|
Harma's head broke the surface near the docks. She immediately saw the people still milling around at the market, and quickly ducked back under the water, hoping she hadn't been seen. She swam down a few yards, then in the direction of the bay she had first entered the water from. A few minutes later she reached the pebbly shore. Harma pulled herself out of the water and stood up, surprised at how heavy the bag she carried felt out of the water. "Time to call for help I suppose." she thought. She felt the goo that covered her face, surprised at how quickly it dried. She peeled it off her face, then put her fingers to her lips and began imitating a birdsong. In seconds a figure appeared at the entrance to the small bay. "Over here Colam." Harma called. The figure quickly jogged over. "You're back m'lady!" The man exclaimed. He was slightly shorter than Harma, and his brown hair was showing traces of grey. Harma was rummaging through the sack, looking for something. She began handing pearls and pieces of coral to Colam. "Is it there?" asked Colam curiously, "Did you get it?" "Of course I got it." Replied Harma, still digging through the pearls and coral, "Ha! Here it is!" She exclaimed a few moments later. She took something out of the bag and quickly put it in a small glass bottle. "Let's go." She said, retrieving the bundle she had left there earlier and heading toward the entrance, followed by Colam with the bag of pearls and coral. |
![]() |
|
| The Inkweaver | Oct 28 2013, 07:52 PM Post #22 |
|
Gondu dove, headed back toward the palace. His bright eyes noticed beams of blue light scattering and rising toward the surface, instead of falling from it, as they normally did. Abruptly, one beam of light went out, followed by the next, as if a shadow passed through them. Gondu pulled up and watched the shadow carefully. The angular fins came into view, and Gondu knew: he was staring at a female tiger shark. The corners of his mouth pulled into a frown. What was a shark this size doing so close to land? Gondu swam over to confront it. Not only was the creature in the wrong place, but it was bigger than Gondu himself. A full five meters long, it maintained its course, headed straight for the island on which rested the town of Delaria, the coastal edge of Terrarum. Gondu adjusted his tactics and emitted a terrifying bellow, attempting to stun the creature with the noise. He swam forward against its snout, forcing the creature to turn aside and move away, return to the open sea where it belonged. The noise only served to agitate the monster. It turned aside, but it was Gondu who had to flinch backwards or risk being slashed by the vicious swinging tail. Abruptly, the shark turned completely around and now came at him from the back, teeth bared, out for blood. Gondu turned and pulled the huge sword made from the rib of a humpback whale sharpened to razor-thinness out of the loop where it hung on his belt. He dropped swiftly out of the shark's trajectory, yet the animal dove with him. There was no doubt about his opponents intent. Gondu dodged and jabbed with his sword, but the shark was moving so quickly that the momentum created a shallow, jagged tear that spewed blood into the water. Pain radiated through Gondu's body as the teeth tore the thin, sensitive membrane that served as his arm-fins. He struck again, but the shark was already turning away, readying itself for another attack. Gondu flexed the arm with the wounded fin carefully. If it tore any further, the damage could be irreparable. But his queen must be protected; the shark had to die. It dove at him again, ramming hard against his injured side and knocking the sword from his hand, but Gondu was ready. He wrapped his powerful arms around the shark's body and squeezed. The beast thrashed and twisted, but it could not reach him. Gondu lifted his leg and struck with the hard joint between the leg and the foot-fin against the wound in the shark's side. It roared in pain, and more blood spewed out. The red water was attracting even more sharks, and Gondu knew they would kill him too as long as he presented himself as a target. Briefly releasing the huge beast, he slid his grip to the tail and dragged it backwards through the water, away from his intended direction, flooding its gills and killing the animal, while providing the diversion he needed to get out of the area. By now, both arm-fins were tattered. The sharks attacked the body of their dead relative, and Gondu could only flutter-kick all the way back to the palace. --------- Back in the palace, Lady Kish awaited Gondu's return. The powerful merman was sure to be back at any moment. No other aquatic creature could make it to the Cove and back as quickly as Gondu could. When several hours passed with no sign of her large bodyguard, Kish began to feel alarmed. Chanka sensed her queen's agitation, but her own suspicions lay with the human he had been carrying; had the pirate-wench double-crossed them after all? Was her friend even now in a large net in the hold of some ship, sailing for another port? Lady Kish jerked up straight in her throne and her gills fluttered. "What is it, Milady?" Chanka asked. Kish turned to Retaan and Chanka, her bulbous, unblinking eyes flashing dull-grey in extreme terror. "Blood!" She breathed. "There is blood in the water!" Chanka and Retaan tasted for themselves; there was not even the faintest essence of the blood their queen sensed. Was it paranoia? Suddenly, Retaan felt the merest slip of a non-water substance pass over his sensitive tongue and gills. Blood, indeed! "It is only shark blood, Milady," He explained with some relief. She shot forward into his face. "Shark blood? So near? Gondu is wounded! It was he who wounded the shark!" Retaan and Chanka exchanged glances. How could the queen be so certain of this? "Perhaps some sharks are engaged in a battle some distance away, and we are only just sensing the remnants of that," Retaan assured his ruler. "Gondu is more than likely still on his way back, entirely unsca--" Before the word was even out of his mouth, Gondu's body dropped like a depth-charge through the membrane of the mer-kingdom. His wounds had rendered the huge merman unconscious. Now it seemed he would sink all the way to the Lake Bed if no one stopped him. "Catch him!" Lady Kish cried. Two or three merpeople swam quickly to get underneath Gondu's body and buoy him upward. "Take him to the infirmary!" The violet-eyed mermaid ordered. She followed, watching anxiously. Somehow, she had sensed the battle he'd been through. Looking at him now, she could almost feel the cut of the shark's teeth in her own fins. No one had been injured like this for many decades; what could save him now? Lady Kish swam down to the Vault, where the Waterstone stood in its place of prominence. Gazing into it's sparkling depths, the cry of her heart came to her lips. "Please," She gasped in a desperate whisper. "If there is anyone who can hear the call of a mermaid, hear me now: Save Gondu! Help us!" |
![]() |
|
| The Inkweaver | Nov 10 2013, 08:02 PM Post #23 |
|
As she waited, Lady Kish sensed a disturbance on teh surface. "Chanka!" she called, knowing that the loyal mermaid was never out of hearing of her queen. Sure enough, Chanka was by her side in a moment. "What is it, Milady?" "Go and see what is happening on the surface." Kish instructed. Chanka blew impatient bubbles. "In the Cove?" she verified. Kish tipped her head, trying to detect where the disturbance was coming from. "No; about twenty furlongs beyond that." "That's practically the opposite shore!" "Is it worth the distance if it might be something to save Gondu?" the merqueen demanded, her violet eyes flashing. Chanka nodded grudgingly. "Yes, Milady." The mermaid took off in a burst of speed, heading toward the surface on the far side of Caedryl Lake. As Chanka neared her destination, she scanned the shifting colors on the surface, looking for something that indicated another presence upon the lake, such as the keel of a boat, or the lower half of a body. She saw nothing, only clear water. A brief splash nearby attracted her attention. Something sank into the water. Chanka swam over and caught the object in her hands. It was a seed-pod from the tree overhanging the branch. The water above her swirled, tousling her hair. Chanka rose so that her hair extended above the water, but not her face. She felt movement through it like a strong current, but she knew that above the surface of the water there was only air. The air moved over her head. Was this the disturbance Lady Kish assumed would save Gondu? Chanka waited for another sign that something or someone was there. Hello, Mermaid. Chanka gasped and whirled around, trying to see who had spoken. She drew her bone knife. "Come into the open and say that!" She growled. The air beating against her hair grew stronger. Chanka looked up as beads of rain struck the surface of the water. I am afraid this is the best I can manage. You need not fear me; I mean you no harm. "Where are you?" Chanka demanded, ignoring the fact that she seemed to be talking to the rain. "What do you want?" I want to help. I heard the petition of your Mer-queen, and now I am sending you something that will heal your mate. "He's not my mate!" Chanka felt her gills fluttering in embarrassment. "Gondu is my friend!" Friend, then; I am your friend, too. Help is on its way. |
![]() |
|
| The Inkweaver | Nov 15 2013, 04:53 PM Post #24 |
|
Chanka frowned and retreated below the surface. No being had the power to stand above the water and speak below its surface. What did it mean? As she dove, a small whirlpool followed her, stirring up the water and pulling her back toward the surface. Don't go! the voice begged. Chanka scowled as she fought to escape the maelstrom. "Who are you?" She demanded, "What are you?" I have told you; I am a friend and I am trying to help! "You say help is on its way," Chanka retorted, "So what is it? Where is it?" It is on its way, but not to the Lake. I know what you need, but you must go to meet it. The vortex swirled around her like a giant hand gripping her tight. Chanka pushed against it, but the current held. She could feel the wind whipping the water into a frenzy. Small objects dropped into the whirlpool, swirling around her, but never touching. They looked to be seeds of some sort. "What do you mean?" The mermaid's curiosity overrode her reservation for a moment. "Merfolk cannot leave the Lake!" Ordinarily, yes--but it is your only chance to save your... friend. "That's not fair!" Chanka screamed, "Not even My Lady has the power to allow merfolk to walk on land! How can you pretend you want to help if the only way--as you say--is completely and totally imposs--" She stopped as a small object bumped against her leg. Chanka looked down. The seeds that had been swirling around her now closed in around her body as the whirlpool drew in tighter around her. The seeds streamed against her body and stuck to her skin. First her legs, then her arms, her front, her back, her neck, her face... Then the burning began. All over. Her skin flamed along the edges of her fins as if she was trapped in a volcanic vent. Chanka could not speak, such was her agony. The voice penetrated her mind as her body grew heavy with the "skin" of burning seeds. Nothing is really impossible, if you need it badly enough. |
![]() |
|
| The Inkweaver | Dec 18 2013, 09:35 PM Post #25 |
|
Deep in the Merkingdom's Infirmary, Kish watched the healers tend to Gondu. His enormous body had gone almost completely pale-white, so that every single blue vein stood out clearly. She had never felt safer anywhere in the Lake outside his presence--and she still felt that way now, even when he was unconscious. One of the Mermaid healers swam to her. "Beg pardon, Milady, but we have done all we can. There is nothing else for him now. We cannot repair the rips in his fins." Kish wanted to scream, to unleash the power of the Seven Seas upon everyone--she wanted a power to exist that would assuage her grief and restore her bodyguard to full health. She looked at the healer; there was yet one option for Gondu: a ritual called stassi, in which the patient was neurologically "frozen" and the body encased in a cocoon of coral, so that nothing could touch it. To break a stassi-pod would risk killing the patient outright--which was why the method was used in only the most dire circumstances. "Do it." The merqueen commanded. The healer returned to her sisters and together they began the neurocryosis. Kish swam away. Where was Chanka? It was almost a full day since she had left to investigate the disturbance at the surface of the water. Kish was so disturbed at the mermaid's extended absence that she swam to the surface herself, something she had not done in a very long time. Just then--as it had been when she first mounted the Waterstone--Kish felt an awakening of her senses, and she sensed a small creek nearby. She was nearly at the far side of the Lake from Delaria. As she watched teh dancing lights of the sunset over the surface of the water, Kish saw a strange white blossom fall to the surface of the Lake. She knew that variety did not grow anywhere near the Lake itself. Curious, she swam up and caught the flower in her hand. Instantly, her mind echoed with a voice. I have heard your cry, and I am coming to help. The Treestone! It worked! Someone was coming to help Gondu! Kish felt the thrill of hope all the way down to her fins. "Thank you!" She whispered to her unknown ally. |
![]() |
|
| The Inkweaver | Dec 31 2013, 02:13 AM Post #26 |
|
Lady Kish sat in her throne room, pondering all that Chanka had told her. The fact that one of her mermaids was currently walking among the humans was the most amazing thing she had ever heard. Kish had known that the Skystone was in play when the purple flashes of light came to join the blue, green, and white. Four Stones active--what would happen when all eight of them connected? Kish knew that though the Treestone-bearer promised to help, that assistance would be a long time in coming. Then again, she did not quite trust what the Skystone-bearer had told Chanka--about a magic medallion that could bring healing to Gondu. No metal in all of Terrarum could do that. Unless.... Kish mused over the possibilities. Metal was one of the aspects of the Earthstone, the heavy black gem that gave the bearer communication with the mineral elements such as rock and dirt--and also metal. It could be possible for a medallion to bring healing to her bodyguard, if it were imbued with such an ability from the Earthstone-bearer. Kish sat back in her throne. She had told Chanka to remain on her guard; she trusted the mermaid to assess danger carefully as she proceeded with the Skystone-bearers plan. All that was left was to wait and see what would come of this. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · The Terrarum Chronicles · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
3:19 PM Jul 11
|







3:19 PM Jul 11