“I want to talk to all of you now because I can feel that all of your emotional states are very raw. First, I’m going to link with your minds so I can communicate with you. I might prompt you to say something. If I do, consider it an order to say what’s on your mind, understood?” We all nodded. He took a deep breath, and I heard his voice in my mind. ‘Do I have permission to speak and to listen until this session is over?’ I responded in my mind. ‘Yes.’ He nodded. “Now. Do any of you have something you would like to mention or talk about? By show of hands.”


    Céírde rose her hand. “Captain? Can you tell us just exactly what happened today? Who were they? Why were they here? How did Sacae get out?” Edorin nodded.


    “I’m assuming Croí told all of you about the mushroom.” We nodded. “Good. To start, The Wonder was stolen by pirates and chased south. It got turned around in a storm and pushed out to sea, where they met The Glory. The Glory was a merchant vessel, who made semi-regular trips to the Trial Islands to try and grab anything valuable. This time, they brought along slaves and new labor. One of them stepped on this.”


    He pulled out one of the deflated mushrooms. “We believe it was a slave that got infected. There’s mention in their documents of strange behavior from the slaves, then of an attack and strange clouds of dust. From there, The Glory was seen as a target by the pirates aboard The Wonder. The documents end there, but I’m assuming that’s when the crew of The Wonder was infected.”


    “Why didn’t your Tellis work on them?” Leola asked.


    “It did. That’s the problem. The Captain of The Glory was one of the more well preserved infected, so I didn’t notice anything off with him. The mushroom made him truly believe what he was saying, so I saw he was telling the truth. It wasn’t until I saw the Captain of The Wonder, and his crew, that it started to sink in.”


    “So there are other people on the Islands?” Flint asked.


    “Not so much. They’re not as well versed on the Island as we are. They go there to grab specific things. They know some plants are medicinal, and catch a few creatures to kill for sport later, that sort of thing. We’ve had Agers run into them before. Didn’t end well for them so they keep to themselves for the most part. Either way, if you see a ship that isn’t the Pony, assume they’re not friendly.” Flint added it to his book.


    “What about Sacae?” Klintock asked.


    “When Zanataz went below to gather the crew, it seems Morean was on guard duty. He moved too close to the cell and Sacae grabbed him, knocked him out, took his keys, and waited for Zanataz and the others to move up on deck before letting himself out. We assume Morean woke up and was running for his life or for help when Sacae caught him in the galley.”


    There was a moment of silence. All of us took in the information, then Edorin looked at Jael. She rose her hand.


    “Does anyone else?...” She trailed off for a moment, then inhaled sharply. “Does anyone else keep seeing dead bodies when they close their eyes?” Silence fell on the room, then Sable rose her hand, followed by Keokin, Lánn, Céírde, William, and me. We looked to Flint, Klintock and Leola. Leola spoke first.


    “I was unconscious. By the time I woke up, the bodies were dragged from the room, and I never went above deck.” We slowly nodded and looked at the other two, curious if they knew how to get the images out and keep them out.


    “I’m kind of on the same ship as her.” Flint started. “I got knocked for a loop, came back in time to pull Jael away, then before I knew it, he was on the floor, but I didn’t see his face.” Flint said quietly. “I just…” He glanced at Edorin, and I noticed Edorin’s eyes were remaining purple instead of vanishing, and I also noticed a small Tellis effect in my mind.


    I wondered what Edorin was saying, but then Flint suddenly continued. “I just wish I could’ve done more. I just froze when I saw him. Didn’t think it was real for a couple seconds, didn’t think he would really do it. Even when he started swinging his sword at all of you, I just sat there. I can’t help thinking, what if I hadn’t moved? Jael would be dead. Nobody else would’ve been there in time.”


    “Thanks for that by the way.” Jael said.


    “You’re welcome.” Flint said smiling.


    I understood him. I felt the same way. Sure, I fought with Sacae, even injured him, but I froze, froze long enough that Klintock, Jael, and Keokin all stepped up first. Then he stabbed me, and while I was sitting there with a sword in my belly, he tore through the rest of my group.


    ‘Tell the group.’ I heard Edorin’s voice in my mind.


    “I feel the same.” I said quietly.


    “What are all of you talking about?!” We were surprised by the sudden outburst from William. “You guys can’t talk like that! Me, sure. But you can’t!”


    “What’re you talking about?” Sable thrust out. “You’ve been a pain in our ass since day one. You called my father a coward, said Klintock and Flint’s dad wasn’t all that great when you thought nobody was listening, picked on Croí and fought with us day in and day out. You even screwed up training exercises just to mess with Croí. All the while claiming you’re this big grand fighter. Then when it comes time for you to actually contribute, you just curl up in a ball and cry?! Ever since the tournament, you’ve been acting like the crybaby you kept claiming Croí to be and it’s pissing me off. What’s your problem?”


    “I’m dead! That’s my problem!” William yelled. Sable reeled back, confused. Seeing this new side to William was strange. We were used to the anger, the bravado, the insults, even the punches. But crying? Weeping in fear? It was disconcerting.


    “What do you mean William?” Leola asked, leaning forward slightly. William glanced around at us, fear stricken, wet eyes, and took a shaky breath in before answering.


    “My older brother.” His bottom lip quivered. “Was the strongest man I’ve ever known. He could lift things that normally took two or three men to lift. But he… he died. He got… eaten. He never came back!” His voice broke and he sobbed. He looked like he was trying to hold it in, and keep talking, but it was coming through anyways.


    “I alwa... always believed… the only ones to survive, wou...would be the strongest. I fought everyone, beat everyone. Then I came here, and got stuck as a Support, wa… washing dishes while you all trained to fight. W... Watching as the weakest Guardian became st... stronger than me. Now I… I know I’m the weakest. I’m going to die!” He buried his face in his hands and sobbed, grieving like he was already dead. Lánn got up and moved slowly around the table and held her hands out to him, tapping his shoulder.


    “Hugs?” William accepted her tentative attempt, pulling her close and holding her tight. Edorin looked at Leola, she took a breath and addressed William.


    “I think you’re wrong though, William. You heard what the Behemoth did to The Glory. That thing was big enough that if it really tried, we’d all be at the bottom of the ocean, or in its stomach right now. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, everything else is stronger. Or at least we should assume it is. So, saying that you’re going to die because you’re weak? I don’t believe it. How did Lanaea survive? She’s probably not as strong as you physically, but she’s tremendously strong mentally, quick as a whip. She works with her crew and doesn’t hesitate to do what needs doing without whining about it.”


    “Maybe that’s one of the things you needed to learn. Maybe that’s why you were put in the Support role. So that you could learn what true strength really means, and which type of strength you need to focus on.” Edorin added calmly.


    “But… what’s the point? Why do all this and learn all that if some monster is just gonna leap out of the ocean and swallow us whole? Why not just stay home where it’s safe?” William asked.


    “Because it isn’t safe. Not yet. We as a race are not strong enough. We need to be a power that the neighboring kingdoms see as an equal. Otherwise, there is a chance one or many will try and step on us. They’ve tried it before by probing us with wars. We may not die from the slow creep of time, sure, but we might die if we’re stupid, complacent, weak, or monumentally unlucky. That Behemoth wouldn’t have attacked like it did if we hadn’t chummed the water with blood, and we wouldn’t have chummed it with blood if the marauders hadn’t attacked and left us laden with bloody bodies, and they wouldn’t have attacked if I had noticed what they were sooner. But we gained from it. We gained in resources that we took from the ships. We gained another ship that we can give to a neighbor for some good will. We gained experience that we can use in the future to help us survive and thrive.” Edorin said. William seemed to calm down, taking all that was said into account, mulling it around in his mind as we continued. Céírde was next to raise her hand.


    “I would like to say that I agree with Leola, and Edorin, but I feel like I understand you a bit more William. Thank you. I also don’t really remember much about the attack. I remember Morean dropping to the floor, then a shadow in the doorway, next is being in the galley.”


    “That’s the concussion. The potions we drank from Lanaea will help heal us, but we’ll have spotty memories about what happened. Maybe forever.” Leola responded.


    ‘What about the rest of you? Croí, Klintock, Keokin, Sable, and Lánn?’ Edorin pushed. Keokin spoke first.


    “I feel like I failed on many levels, much like Flint and Croí expressed. My combat skills weren’t enough, and the group suffered for it. On the Island, Sacae would’ve killed at least one of us, especially if he was a creature. I blame myself for that. I feel like I haven’t been a very present or involved leader and I would like to apologize to the group.”


    “Well, I accept the apology, but I don’t think it’s necessary.” Klintock said, nearly with a smirk. All of us at the table nodded agreement. “You probably think it is, but to me, you stepped up when we needed you, put your life on the line to help and protect us, and if not for that well placed knife, Sacae wouldn’t have been stunned enough to miss the catch on Croí’s knife, and then he would’ve caught my knife too. So, thank you. And thank all the rest of you for what you did. Even William, because now that he’s figured his shite out, I hope he’ll be supporting us next time.” We all agreed and accepted his gratitude. Lánn raised her hand.


    “I share William’s fears.” She was taking in breaths to calm herself, then looked at Edorin. “Ok. I’m… It’s just hard.” She looked at him again then took a breath. “Sure, I’m a Support, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have to run, or fight, or hide. I’m terrible at all of that. I’m not a fighter. I’m too small, and I’m not skilled enough to fight like Sable. Honestly, I’ve been trying to hold off on this for the longest time…” She wavered, holding a hand over her mouth for a moment before continuing with a shakier voice. “But I’ve realized it since we set sail. I’m bite sized. Like William said when we met. I’m slow, weak, and clumsy.”


    Tears were streaming down her face and her hands were shaking as she spoke. “I just want to go home to my family and my friends.” None of us really knew what to say. I thought about saying something like. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.’ Or. ‘It’s ok, we still have time to train.’ But I realized that both of those weren’t really things I could promise. I was sure that we would do our best, but some of the things on the Island, like Bháis, we couldn’t fight that, and if she was too slow, or tripped. If any of us were too slow or tripped, well… we’d all heard what happens from Edorin’s story. She put her head down. “See? We all know it.” She sniffled as more tears ran down her face.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    “That’s not why they were silent Lánn.” Edorin said gently. “They want to offer words of encouragement, but they have the same fears about themselves. Worried that they won’t be fast enough to keep you and William safe.” He looked to Jael and Klintock. “Or that they won’t be able to see the danger coming.” He looked to Sable. “Or that the group will meet something big enough that if any fall, they will die.” He looked at me. “Everyone here lacks confidence in their own ability. Which to an extent, is healthy for what you need to do.”


    He sat forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Too much confidence in your strength and you might try to wrestle with wolves. Too little and you leave your friends to be devoured by them. Just enough, lets you realize that with your friends, you are stronger than the wolf pack. If it were just me against that Behemoth, I’d be dead. But because I had Zanataz and ánadaí to bombard it, Aenrick to spot it, we made it out alive. You all need to pay attention to each other. Know what your friends excel at, and where they lack. Think back to your fight with Sacae.” Lánn reacted much the same as William. Taking the words in and thinking them over intensely as she nodded slightly and leaned back in her chair. “Croí, Klintock. You’re the last two.” I glanced at Klintock.


    ‘Croí, you first.’ I raised my hand uncomfortably.


    “I’m uh… I think most of what I had to say has already been mentioned.” Edorin looked at me, then he squinted and pursed his lips slightly. At first, I thought he might say something, but he kept quiet. Probably for the best. If anything, he would just pull up more of my whining. Nobody needs to hear that. But something did come to mind.


    “I think you’ve been a great leader Keokin.” He glanced at me. “Remember when I came out of the infirmary? All of us were sitting in awkward silence till you pushed us to talk. We talked a lot and came to some important understandings because of that.” I stopped for a moment, then heard Edorin.


    ‘Good Croí. But you have one more thing to say. About Sacae.’ I sighed, looking at Edorin. I felt taxed already for some reason, like talking about this stuff was physically draining me. It made me shake with nervousness, but I knew there was worth in it.


    “Another thing. About Sacae. I need to apologize to the group for that. I was thinking that the only way to prepare myself for the Island was to conquer my fears. William was first. I’d been afraid of him since day one, and with Zanataz’s help, I beat him. I also hurt him in the process. Then I focused on Sacae, thinking he was the next fear to conquer, but as soon as he entered the room, I froze. I fought him eventually, sure, but then I almost immediately got stabbed and had to watch him tear into the rest of you.”


    ‘Go on Croí. Just a little more.’ I groaned.


    “And what’s worse, is that I feel bad for killing him. I can’t get over the way his eyes changed. They were filled with emotion while he was on the ground, then just… nothing. It was like they weren’t even reflecting light anymore, and I thought that he didn’t deserve that. If I had conquered my fears, and been more competent, none of you would’ve been hurt, and he wouldn’t have to die.” Klintock scoffed, glaring at the table with pursed lips. He glanced at Edorin, and an eyebrow raised for a split second.


    “All right. I think that last part is bullshite. I don’t really understand why everyone is so squeamish about what happened with Sacae, or those marauders. Yeah. It’s unsettling seeing a dead body, but feeling bad for them? Why?”


    “Because he was just misguided.” I replied. “Even the marauders were just possessed, hungry. They’d eaten their shoes first before turning to the slaves.” It was strange, I hadn’t thought about it till now, but I did feel bad for them, bad for their families. “They had families too. What if Sacae has children? Or a mother back home that he was taking care of like Keokin? The marauders too. They just needed to sit down with Edorin maybe and it would all be alright; they could have gone home to their families. Maybe a cure could’ve been found and they could be fixed.”


    “Croí, that is ridiculously naive and unhelpful. What about the slaves?” Klintock asked. “What about their families? Do you think they wanted their sons, daughters, brothers, whatever, to be slaves? Or worse yet, to be cut up and eaten by a bunch of infected, feral, cutthroats?! What about our families? Do you think they would be ok with what Sacae had planned for us?”


    I shook my head and Klintock continued. “I’m glad he’s dead, and I’m glad we were the ones to do it. More specifically, I’m glad I was the one that did it, because he deserved it. Misguided or not, he still tried to kill a bunch of Agers. Twice! An atrocity by all Cianían standards. And those marauders weren’t innocent even before when they were pirates. Pirates steal, kill, rape, pillage, and sell people all the time. They were all horrible people who got what they deserved, first by being stripped of luck by Aebhsean, then by being stupid enough to attack The Glory.”


    Céírde and Flint were nodding. Leola hung her head but looked to be somewhat in agreement. “You can all mourn their passing, but I’ll celebrate it and our survival.” He sighed, seeming to calm down a little. “Think about what we’ve been through. We’ve survived a sneaky attempted murder from Sacae, then a full-on assault by him, an attack by marauders and a Behemoth. We’ve already faced death four times. Twice as a group, and we’re all alive.” I had to admit, I could see his point of view. I could partially share it too, but a big part of me kept thinking that maybe they could’ve been helped, though I couldn’t see how. Klintock’s words were making me debate on whether saving them was the good or right thing to do, but it did bring to mind more troubling things. I was curious if Klintock experienced these things as well.


    “So, you don’t see his dead eyes when you close yours?” I asked.


    “Of course, I do. I killed him; I was looking at his face when I pushed the knife out of his neck. It scares me, and the memory is still stuck in there. But it was justified. It was him or us, and I chose us. I’m proud of that.”


    “Then why do I feel guilty?” Jael asked. “I know what Klintock’s saying makes sense. More sense than that they could’ve been helped or cured, but I can’t help but feel guilty, and I don’t know why.” I nodded, as did Sable.


    “Because our bodies don’t like us killing each other. It doesn’t matter if the person we kill deserved to die. Our minds have a difficult time with the idea of killing. Especially young, naive minds.” Edorin said.


    Edorin held his hands out, motioning to us as he continued. “You all did nothing wrong here. You did what you needed to do to survive, and I’m proud of you all. I did what I could with him too. He was just… too possessed by his perception of reality to see it differently. I’m sorry that it troubles you, but you’ll eventually be able to deal with it better.”


    All of us had a lot to think about. We sat quietly for a minute, then Edorin broke the silence. “Agers. I’m expecting all of you to meet in the training room tomorrow. There''s about a month left until we reach the Island. We’re going to do all we can to challenge your group until it’s time for you to go.”


    He sighed. “I appreciate your honesty and candor, and I hope you’ve learned a lot from this. I do plan to have at least two more sessions like this. Individual ones too.” He glanced at Sable, then waited to see if we needed to respond in any way, but we mostly just nodded to him. He got up and left the room, followed by Zanataz. Just like last time, leaving us alone with our thoughts.


    “That’s right.” Keokin said breaking the silence. “There’s a tournament this weekend. We face the crew this time. That’ll be exciting, I’m sure.” Some huffed a chuckle.


    “Well.” Sable said, standing up. “I don’t know about all of you, but I actually feel much better. I didn’t really say anything, but everything on my mind was still out in the open. Thanks to Klintock, I don’t feel as guilty, and knowing that everyone else feels like they should’ve done more helps me too. I think we should go to our room and talk, or go out and help, then play cards. What do you say?” She smiled, but her eyes didn’t show as much happiness as she was projecting.


    “Sounds good to me.” Klintock said. “I vote for helping first though.”


    We went out and talked with Edorin to see if we could help in any way. He didn’t seem to think so. I remembered getting slivers in my toes during my fight with William. I mentioned this to him, and he nodded.


    “The deck could use an extra coat; it hasn’t been done in a few years. If your group wouldn’t mind, we can get that done.” Keokin agreed and for the next several hours we worked on the deck of the ship with Orae and Knuckles until we had run out of proper light from Kolob. They had us leave a large portion of the deck bare, on the starboard side.


    “Why?” Flint asked. Orae and Knuckles exchanged a glance.


    “For Hanaes.”


    “Hanaes?” Lánn asked.


    “One of the crewmen that perished.” Céírde said. Knuckles nodded.


    “His reverence will be carried out tonight, just an hour or so from now.” Knuckles said.


    “Should we attend?” Leola asked.


    “Not unless you’d like to pay your respects. It’s not necessary though.” Orae said.


    “What’s going to happen with the rest of the bodies?” I asked.


    “Landae, Morean, and Sacae will be stored in the morgue.” Knuckles said.


    “We have a morgue?” Flint asked.


    “It’s in the larger freezing box two decks down. Normally they keep the food in there, but a section is converted into a morgue when needed.” Orae said.


    “Wait. They put the bodies in the same place as the food?” Sable asked. Her eyes wide and scared.


    “Not entirely. They’ll be sealed away in their own containers, and they won’t be touching any of the food. I can show you later if it’ll ease your mind.” He said. She nodded, still looking a little uneasy.


    “Why store Sacae’s body? Why not just toss it overboard?” Klintock asked.


    “He’ll get taken back to Ionad Talún and be judged by your families under the eyes of one of Flunác’s Shepherds. Together, they’ll figure out some way to give him an appropriately dishonorable burial.” There was a moment of quiet.


    “I don’t envy that Shepherd. Keeping the peace between our families is sure to be a tough job.” Keokin said with a small chuckle.


    Orae dismissed us when we’d finished, thanking us for our help. Leola, Keokin, Sable, Klintock, Céírde, and I stayed up on the quarterdeck. We were curious about the burial but didn’t want to intrude. The others went below to relax and play cards. We chatted idly as we waited. I joined in where I could, but I also felt nervous, even more so as more crew gathered, and we all went silent.


    Five fires were lit in a circle. Lanaea, Zanataz, and Cormick spread out a large cloth, almost like a blanket. The center had the image of a large, many tentacled, beast. The edges had writing all around it. The rest of the blanket was filled with images.


    One was an image of an island. The next was a figure with a spear fighting a large predatory bird. Then an image of a ship on stormy seas. A beautiful woman, then that woman with a child in her arms. I gasped.


    It’s his life. The Island is his Aging. He fought some big bird monster, then came home in a storm, met a girl and got married, had kids… The blanket was full of symbols, but I was distracted. Edorin was carrying Hanaes. He was mostly nude, except for his undergarments. Edorin held him over the blanket as Cormick spoke, too quietly for me to hear.


    Once he’d finished, Lanaea laid a rope from one end of the blanket to the other and attached it to a small anchor. Edorin laid him on the blanket and, with Cormick’s help, tied him tightly in it. When they were done, Lanaea tied the small anchor around his ankles, then she took out a needle and quickly sewed the blanket shut. Cormick, Zanataz, and Edorin picked the bundle up and brought him over to the starboard side of the boat.


    They put the rope on a pulley attached to an arm that swung out over the ocean. Each crewman took a turn lowering Hanaes. When the last man had taken his turn, Hanaes was already far below the water. Edorin pulled his sword, held it in front of himself, said a few quiet words, then sliced the rope. There was a moment of silence, then Cairen poured a tankard of ale and handed it to Edorin, who poured it overboard. Then Cairen poured for the rest of the crew. They all stood in the circle, waiting until Cairen himself had a full tankard, then they raised their tankards starboard and drank heavily.


    The mood changed and they started talking and joking amongst each other. Some wiped tears away, others wept and were comforted, but when they’d finished two rounds of ale, they slowly left the circle. Zanataz, Lanaea, Cormick, and Cairen each doused a flame as they left, leaving just Edorin. He snuffed the last flame and headed to his quarters. We moved down to the main deck, looking over the starboard side railing to the black water below, glistening like stars as it reflected the moonlight.


    “I don’t want to go like that.” Sable said.


    “Same here.” I said.


    “Seemed kind of peaceful and beautiful to me.” Keokin said.


    “Sure, the first part was, but the idea of being sewn into a constricting blanket like that, and dropped into the abyss sounds terrifying.” I looked down at the black, imagining the horror of being dropped into the black abyss, full of Gods only know what and shivered.


    “How would you go then?” Leola asked.


    “Fomhár’s reverence, planted in the soil like a seed, where I’ll feed Edon with my body, and new life will spring out.” I said.


    “I’d prefer the reverence of Lugh (Loo-ck), God of Dualities and Honorable Warriors.” Klintock said


    “So you’re aiming for a military career?” Keokin asked. Klintock nodded.


    “I want to serve Ionad Talún, like my father did.” He confirmed.


    “An admirable endeavor.” Keokin said.


    “Technically this topic holds no bearing. All of us will receive the reverence of Dagda Father of Gods.” Céírde pointed out.


    “Not necessarily, I can do my best on the Island to give each of you your preferred reverence.” Leola said.


    “Only for simple ones, like Croí.” Céírde said.


    “Or mine. Curnunnos, God of the Wilds is pretty simple, well mostly.” Sable said.


    “Your favored God is Curnunnos?” Klintock asked. Sable nodded. “How come I never knew that?”


    “You never asked.” She shrugged.


    “Hmm.” He grunted.


    “I think this is a conversation for the whole group to discuss. We should all go over our preferred reverences with Leola, and if she can, she will deliver them to us if the need arises.” Keokin said. We nodded, and moved below deck to talk, and go over some Common before lying awake for an hour or two until sleep took us.