A Gleaming Path Page 15

  Alamor could not help but feel that she meant to admonish him for considering to trust in Samuras more than what he and his friends could accomplish. If that was truly Tsunari’s intention, then her words achieved the desired effect. Alamor was humbled after her cautionary explanation, enough so that he immediately cast aside any further thought of Samuras completing the task that he and his companions had taken up.

  But he was also inspired by what she said. Tsunari had been the herald of wisdom and poise every time that he had seen her, acting as an anchor for her people even in the wake of an immense catastrophe. If she knew fear or doubt, she did not reveal them. She only continued to display inexorable faith that somehow, the kingdom of Tordale and its inhabitants would overcome the chaos that threatened them.

  Faith.

  The word suddenly echoed through Alamor’s mind. He recalled the conversation that he shared with Tiroku as they sailed down the Cabos River shortly after he claimed Xogun’s Radia, when the Champion of Light implored him to have faith in his aspirations. Although Tsunari did not utter the word, nor did she advise Alamor the same way that Tiroku did, he felt her message reach him just the same. If Baldaron was ever to be defeated, if the Legend of Light was to be fulfilled, it would require faith long before it required absolute power.

  Alamor smiled as he felt a great understanding flow through his being. Faith had taken him this far—perhaps it was meant to take him even further.

  “Tsunari,” he eventually said, his voice filled with such regard and graciousness that it drew her attention immediately. Once her eyes were upon him, he bowed. She may not have been royalty to the humans of Tordale, but in that moment, Alamor felt that she deserved to be honored like such. “Thank you for all that you have done to help my friends and I on our mission.”

  Tsunari hardly acknowledged his show of reverence. Instead, she smiled as she waited for him to stand. Once he did, she bowed to him. “Thank you, young hero, for all that you and your friends have done for the Onda. Good luck in the rest of your journey. May the waves forever guide you to bountiful shores.”

  When she straightened, they shared a silent moment where their eyes met and their tremendous respect for one another passed between them.

  Tsunari then turned and left Alamor, heading in Samuras’s direction. She made her way across the beaches until she was near to the resting behemoth, where she then issued her request for the Queen of the Ocean to accompany Alamor and the others along their swim to the mainland.

  Alamor watched as Tsunari communicated with the majestic titan. It was still odd for him to hear Tsunari utter the base, booming cries that she used to address Samuras, the secret language that only the Onda’s leaders were allowed to learn. Tsunari always spoke in such a gentle tone that it seemed impossible that she could ever release such undulating cries as what she loosed into the morning air to gain Samuras’s attention, and yet Alamor stood and listened for the second time as Tsunari’s throat produced the series of rumbling vocalizations that Samuras appeared to understand.

  Samuras turned her eyes down at the lone Onda, eventually replying to Tsunari with a tilt of her head that vaguely resembled a nod, along with a single grunt that bubbled from within her throat. The great monster lifted herself off the rocky outcropping and strode into the waters, where she then began to make her way around the island until she was headed in the same direction that Alamor and the others would travel.

  As she swam about, Alamor thought he saw one of Samuras’s huge, reptilian eyes turn to him for a brief moment.

  Alamor eventually took hold of his possessions and stepped off the rocky hill. He made his way across the island until he arrived at the beach where his companions and their Onda escorts gathered for their departure. Along with Sharq, Alamor counted ten additional Onda scouts who would venture with them through the ocean.

  A second group of Onda would escort Tagran and the remaining King’s Fangs to the islands where the other survivors from Tridian’s ships were said to have taken refuge. Rawner was speaking with Tagran as Alamor approached them.

  “Make sure to give all of those boys and girls my best once you meet up with them,” Rawner said. “The same for whenever you get back to Geldiar.”

  Tagran chuckled. “I’m sure that everyone at the Red Helm will be asking a lot about you. I’ll certainly let them all know what you’re up to. General Sagar will also be very glad to hear what you’ve accomplished.”

  “Much appreciated, my friend,” Rawner said. His grin was wide, but his tone proved his sincerity. “I know Tiroku and the Prince probably said it enough by now, but it’s only right that I tell you myself how grateful I am that you took this task. There’s few better than you to go rally our troops.”

  Tagran smiled. The veteran King’s Fang clearly appreciated the praise, but like any longtime soldier, he did not relish it so much as he did the personal gratification that came from helping his fellow comrades. “Thank you for that, old friend,” he replied. “I wish I could join the rest of you; I’d give anything to see the Princess found, and all of you obtain the other Radia. But the rest of our soldiers can’t be forgotten, either. I consider us blessed, in spite of all that’s happened. The way that I see it, we have the ideal people still around to complete both missions.” Tagran extended his hand, and Rawner immediately accepted it with a firm grip.

  “Be careful out there,” Rawner said. “And don’t worry, we’ll watch out for the Prince just like you would.”

  “I have no doubt that you will,” Tagran agreed. They released their handshake, and Tagran stepped away. “Best of luck to you all. I look forward to reuniting with you back in Geldiar, soon enough.”

  The veteran King’s Fang turned and headed off to the other Royal Guardsmen who would accompany him. After they said their goodbyes to Tridian, the Onda Waveweavers had them ready to safely dive beneath the waves.

  Once they disappeared into the ocean, Rawner turned to Alamor. “Glad you could finally join us,” Rawner remarked with a grin.

  “At least I didn’t oversleep this time,” Alamor replied, well aware of his good friend’s harmless joke.

  “What exactly were you up to all morning?”

  Alamor stopped next to Rawner and set his armor and weapons on the sandy ground. A blithe smile came over his face. “I just needed a few things answered before we left this place for good.”

  Rawner could see that Alamor preferred to keep the subject private, and he respected Alamor’s wishes by not prying any further. The man instead reached down and handed Alamor a large sack that was made up of some shimmering, grey material that Alamor did not recognize.

  “Then load up your stuff so none of it is a rusted mess by the time we get back to the shore.”

  “This definitely isn’t fabric or leather,” Alamor said, pointing out the obvious fact as he looked over the peculiar bag. “What is this?”

  “Ray hide, they told us,” Rawner answered. “The Onda say that it’s waterproof, so it’s an extra layer of protection aside from that mussel secretion to keep all of our weapons and armor from rusting during the swim back home. The mussel secretion eventually wears away, apparently, and since we’ll be swimming much longer this time, the ray hide sacks are one more piece of insurance.”

  Alamor placed his sword, shield, armor, as well as the pouch containing the Radia of Gallantry into the ray hide sack and tied it as tightly as he could at the top. When he finished, Sharq approached them.

  “You’ll be amazed at how well those sacks keep out water,” Sharq said. “When you open them once we get you back to the continent, the insides will be bone dry. It’ll be as if we wrapped your weapons and armor with our Waveweaving.”

  Rawner chuckled as he began to place his pieces of armor into one of the ray hide bags. “Good thing for that, too. We likely wouldn’t get very far once we landed back on Tordale if our weapons and armor were all brittle beyond use.”

  Sharq looked back to admire the calm, scenic ocean fo
r a moment. “And luckily for us, the weather has more than cooperated to keep the ocean at ease. This journey to the continent should be no trouble for us. I’ll be surprised if we so much as see a single cloud in the sky along the way.”

  “About how long is this swim going to take us?” Rawner asked.

  Sharq grinned. “We Onda may not be as fast as one of your battleships, but we’ll be able cover this distance in short time; it shouldn’t take us more than two days.” Alamor and Rawner briefly showed concern on their faces before Sharq clarified. “Don’t worry, we aren’t planning to swim straight through. There are several small islands along the way that we can stop at to rest and eat, and if by some chance a storm happens to roll in over us, we also know of a few reefs and atolls that can provide enough shelter for us.”

  Rawner breathed a whistling sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear all of that; for a second there, I thought you had planned to drag us across the ocean nonstop.” The big man indicated Alamor by nudging him with his elbow. “I think the kiddo here was just as worried.”

  Alamor nodded his head in concession with a sheepish grin. “I’m not going to lie, I was.”

  Sharq threw his head back and laughed. “Trust me, after all we’ve been through the last few days, none of us Onda have the energy to do that. We’ll just have enough to pull you all along as far as we’re heading.”

  “And you boys and girls are doing the Waveweaving this time, as I understand it?” Rawner noted.

  “That’s right,” Sharq said. “Even though it’s been a few days, I can assure you that Tsunari’s magic isn’t fully restored; that was probably the most people she’s ever used her Waveweaving on at once when we took you all to Waverock. Asking her to do that again, especially for as long of a swim as we have, isn’t safe for either her or all of you.”

  Rawner laughed. “If it gets us back to the continent safe and sound, I’m not going to question whatever the method is.”

  Sharq glanced further down the beach, where his Onda scouts and the rest of Alamor’s company were making final preparations. The Bachus and the humans were beginning to attach themselves to their Onda escorts with the tideweed ropes.

  “Let’s go join our friends and get this journey under way, then,” Sharq said. Alamor and Rawner grabbed their ray hide sacks and followed. They were soon attached to an Onda scout, and standing to accept the air bubble that the same Onda summoned for them.

  Once they were certain that their tideweeds were secure, that the air bubbles were conjured effectively, and that their bags were tied tightly to their waists, they began their march into the waters. Just before they dove under, they turned back to call goodbyes and wave to the Onda who watched them leave, including Tsunari, whose eyes showed a mixture of joy and sadness as the Onda’s brave, newfound allies departed from Onda Reef.

  As soon as Alamor and his company were submerged, Sharq and the other Onda propelled themselves onward in the direction of the mainland. Even though the Onda had previously displayed their swimming prowess before, Alamor—and most of his companions, he assumed—was surprised by just how fast the amphibious beings darted through the water. Even while dragging the humans and the heavy equipment behind them, the Onda’s sleek, deceptively-powerful bodies glided within the ocean depths like a bird of prey in the sky. Alamor sensed only a small amount of Waveweaving magic coming from the Onda to help them swim, their natural strength and grace doing the brunt of the work.

  For Alamor and his friends’ part, they made sure to maintain a firm grip about the tideweed constricting their palms. They were also keen to keep their bodies as flat as possible, just like Sharq and the Onda had advised them, since letting any part of their body fall would create resistance and slow the Onda down.

  It was certainly an unconventional means of travel, something which Alamor would never have guessed in his life he would ever experience. But, just like during the swim to Waverock, it proved remarkably effective. Although the idea was something like a sled dog pulling his master through the snow-laden wilderness, Alamor felt more as if he was flying, soaring throughout the vast, blue miasma with solid ground far below him. While journeying to Waverock, the waters were relatively shallow compared to the rest of the ocean. As they made their way west toward the continent, the depth was dramatically greater. The ocean floor fell far beneath them, often lost entirely within the blue void.

  They soon caught up to Samuras, who had chosen to make straight for the mainland after Tsunari requested her aid, rather than wait around for the Onda to join her. She swam at a far more reserved pace than what she was capable of, clearly in no great rush to reach their destination as she had been days earlier when she sped through the ocean to Onda Reef with incredible speed.

  Her pace did not diminish her peerless strength. At one point early on in their journey, the ocean became engulfed by a kelp holdfast—an immense mass of seaweed that looked like a floating jungle. There was so much kelp, and so tightly clustered together, that Alamor, the Onda, and his friends would have had slowed to a halt at the risk of becoming trapped.

  But Samuras cleared the way for them. Even while moving at what amounted to a peaceful glide, she tore through the fields. As she parted the holdfast with each stroke, it opened the way for the Onda to swim through accessible waters. At one point, her jaws fell open and she began to gobble up entire mouthfuls of the kelp. Each bite she took out of the holdfast seemed to contain enough kelp to fill one of the courtyards in Tordale Castle.

  When the kelp forest was behind them, the ocean came alive with some of the same sights that Alamor and the others had seen in their journey to Waverock. He glanced about the sprawling surroundings to take in the unbelievable scenery. When he had first traversed the watery depths, he had been leery about journeying for miles underwater with only a magically-constructed air bubble as his protection from drowning. His mind had also been plagued by a number of thoughts during that trek to Waverock, namely the vivid memories of his conversation with Tiroku the night before about his Serenity and the Radia.

  But now, Alamor’s mind was free of any disturbance. He was able to enjoy the amazing sights all around him, whether it was the mountains of rock that rose from the ocean floor, or the forests of tall kelp and other aquatic flora that brought living rainbows of color to the otherwise blue landscape. He spotted all sorts of ocean-dwelling creatures along the way, even more than he and his company passed by on their way to Waverock. None were as large or as stunning as Samuras, but Alamor found himself no less fascinated whenever they came into view, particularly such giants like the lumbering whales.

  There were four of them that Alamor spotted in the distance, slowly advancing toward their party. Although the whales likely posed no threat, Samuras did not allow them to come any closer to the creatures who she had been asked to protect. She turned her head in their direction as a guttural grunt flew between her lips, rolling through the waters and reaching the whales. The huge creatures promptly turned and began to swim in another direction, showing no desire to challenge her warning.

  Alamor watched them go, once again amazed by the commanding presence that Samuras had. She did not even need to utter an actual cry to frighten off four of the ocean’s largest inhabitants—merely a fleeting breath told them not to approach her underlings.

  He only stopped watching the whales when he suddenly sensed a faint hint of Serenity.

  Alamor immediately looked to Tiroku. The Champion of Light was as idle as anyone else in their group, and upon studying him for a few moments, Alamor realized that the magical presence could not possibly have come from him. It felt very distant, as if it hailed from an unseen corner of the kingdom. Alamor tried to focus on it with his mind and spirit, but no matter how close he ever thought he came to meeting it, the mysterious power remained elusive.

  He could at least discern that it emanated from a very strong source. Whoever projected it was able to do so over a tremendously vast space; that feat, alone, required masterful
control over it. But he also sensed that it was not from an act of strength, such as the means that Champions of Light like himself and Tiroku used their magic for. Whatever this Serenity was, it was not intended to fend off evil or overwhelm a foe. It seemed like its sole purpose was to search out and connect to something.

  Or someone.

  Alamor was not sure whether he eventually locked in on it, or that it locked in on him when he began to see images in his mind. The distant magic carried visions of an unfamiliar wilderness, one that appeared barren and unforgiving. In time, the visions cleared, and he understood that what he saw were images of the desert that he and his companions traveled to—the Arid Reaches.

  Another image flashed in his mind. It showed Alamor the person who commanded the Serenity to reach far out across the land.

  He recognized her immediately.

  Raissa!

  12

  Elisstriss hurried over the sandstone hills with Ausmus and the rest of the Aesur soldiers ringed about her. She glanced over her shoulder once or twice while they ran. Night had fallen over the desert, making it difficult to discern most shapes beyond what was near her, but she could see several torches burning through the darkness.

  They were still being pursued.

  Three days earlier, Elisstriss had detected a distant, but immense outpouring of magic. Even though she had only experienced the powers of Airtamers in her life, she knew that what she sensed was the empyreal essence of a Spiritcaster. Believing that it could lead them to a valuable ally, who could possibly provide answers on the state of the surface world, Elisstriss guided her team of Aesur soldiers through the Tower Mountains into the region where the far-off source of magic seemed to originate from—the Arid Reaches.