[Mkguild] Prepared for Sacrifice pt 9

[Radioactive Toast]

Day 7, June 5th 703 CR


 The first thing Zyn did upon waking the next morning was to check for the snake.

 It didn’t matter that the incident had been several hours before and the snake had likely moved on; he wouldn’t be caught dead with that thing around.  However, the others were likely to taunt him about it as it was without further paranoia on his part, so he made sure that he looked around discreetly.  Having failed to locate any sign of the reptile or its ilk in his vicinity, he was not content but satisfied that he wouldn’t meet up with it again.  As he roused himself to take in the morning air as the light of the morning lit up the cave, he noticed Xayk in the corner.  The thirty foot long beast was not asleep or in the process of waking as were the others; instead he sat there on his haunches staring with an intense, piercing curiosity.  

 Trying to take his mind off the dragon for a moment, Zyn took a good long look at the island vista that spanned out from the cave entrance.  They were a good sixty feet up from the ground, giving a view that in daylight could be described as nothing less than stunning.  Immediately below the shadow of the central mesa receded and gave way to ever brightening and lush green.  Surrounding this lay pristine white sand of the beach circling the entire island, indented by vivid blue-green lagoons.  The surface of the water around the island appeared glossy and smooth in contrast to the sea beyond the coral reef, which he could now spot with stunning clarity.  In a ring some hundreds of yards from the island itself beneath the water sat the coral reefs, lying placidly under the waves in a lazy pattern that belied their deadliness, as the wound on Zyn’s arm and certain makeshift grave on this island attested.  

 “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

 The sudden voice of his mentor made Zyn jump, and turning he saw him smiling wryly.  “Damnit old man, I have half a mind to push you off this cliff right now.”

 “I always wanted to fly, you know,” was the non-intimidated response.  “But assuming that there’s some way to fix a problem involving certain fickle pseudo deities, we all might have a chance to ride on our serpentine friend.”

 “Gah!” Zyn spat in disgust the choice of words, “you couldn’t resist.”

 “Resist what, I might ask,” Lorian asked innocently.

 “Damnit old man, quit being evasive!  Besides, you really want to call him a ‘friend?’”

 Letting loose a sigh, Lorian stared at the island vista before them.  “I call lots of people ‘friend,’ Zyn, you know that.  It’s simply being polite.”

 “For some reason I get the feeling that that [i]thing[/i] in there won’t really care if we’re polite or not.”

 “Perhaps,” Lorian said, brushing his beard with his one hand.  “Then again, he might appreciate such things.”  Upon Zyn’s sarcastic look, he continued, “No, I am quite serious, he might very well respond to them.”

 “He’s insane,” Zyn responded, as if this explained all there was to the dragon.

 “Perhaps, but there might be more to him on top of that,” Lorian said.

 “What in Eli’s name is that supposed to mean?”

 “We’ll see,” came Lorian’s cryptic response.  “So, how did your grilling of Mr. Scolastin go last night?”

 “How’d you-“ Zyn began before cutting himself off.  “Wait, nevermind.  He’s... he’s the firstborn son of a well placed family in Yesulam.”

 “The Motesta family,” Lorian suddenly added.

 The sudden interjection caught Zyn off guard.  “What?”

 “His mother’s family is from the Motesta family which at one time was in unquestioned dominance of much of Yesulam’s politics.”

 “No, no, back up.  How’d you know he’s from that family?  That not even the family of his name, that’s his [i]maternal[/i] side.”

 “I looked into it when I saw the passenger manifest before we left port.”

 The response was stunned silence from Zyn who sat there flabbergasted at his one armed mentor.  “You... You... I... That was... Damnit old man.  You knew this whole time?” he demanded.

 “Yes.”

 Zyn sighed in disgust.  Figured that the old curmudgeon would have everything worked out ahead of time; before Zyn could even breath he’d probably had every single man on that shipped profiled and all figured out.  

 “It wasn’t as hard as you think it is, Zyn” Lorian chided.  “The Motesta family is quite famous and well known in many circles, in the past for its glory, and nowadays for it stubborn clinging to that glory in the absence of other things.”

 “Like Biathan?” Zyn asked.

 Lorian smiled, a look that would have befitted a predator sensing a prey’s profound weakness.  “Ah, yes, him.  Apparently he is quite the crowning example for them, something they always point to, an Ecclesial insider if there ever was one.”

 “So what?  They just believe that because this one ancestor was so great that makes them and grand and such too?”

 “You’re doing it again,” Lorian said with mild distaste.

 “Doing what?”

 “Responding to everything with a question; you did it throughout your conversation with Parn last night.”

 “That’s only because I didn’t have to do anything more; he easier to crack than a broken egg,” he said with a wave of his hand.  Lorian folded his arms unconvinced.  “What does it matter?  He’s a simpleton.”

 This elicited a slight chuckle from the older man.  “I think you will find that this young man is anything but a simpleton.  Socially inept and easily cowed and intimidated, perhaps, but he is no simpleton.  Just look behind you.”

 Doing so, Zyn found the mage hunched over the smoldering remains of the previous night’s fire, staring intently and rubbing two stones together.  What was he thinking, that he’d somehow get the fire restarted or something.  “What?  He’s probably just staring at his bane.  It’s ‘not his specialty’ you know,” Zyn said, repeated Parn’s oft quoted protestation.

 “Perhaps,” Lorian whispered.  Of course he was letting that ever slight smile loose as well, making it clear that he thought more on the subject than that.  

 “Alright then,” Zyn said turning back to his master.  “If you know so much about his family’s life story and everything already, then tell me how the Scolastin side of the family fits in.”

 “Elevation of prestige,” Lorian replied as he tossed a rock out of the cave opening and watched it plummet below.  “They’re a relatively minor nobility that only became prominent by the marriage of one Corsa Scolastin to one Murxine Motesta.”

 Parn’s mother.  “Is that what’s causing trouble for the family now?” Zyn asked.

 “Oh no, the family’s troubles are far more myriad and complicated than that.  It is a relatively minor note in a much larger song.  Far much more has to do with self perceived status compared with that which is perceived by others.”

 Zyn nodded.  “Parn seemed to intimate as much.  Said his mother was a very pushy one who seemed to relish in the center of attention.”

 “Mmmm,” intoned Lorian, gazing out to the islands shoreline and stroking his beard.  “Relishing in the glories being from such a prestigious family.”

 “Ok,” Zyn sighed, “I’ll bite, what’s the big dichotomy?”

 “You asked another question,” Lorian chided.

 “But I’m trying-“ Zyn began before being cut off.  He opened his mouth again only to silenced by Lorian imitating a mouth closing with his hand.  

       “Less direct.  Last night you sounded like a drunk overexcited city watch guard interrogating a prisoner for the first time with your repeated awkward questions,” he said with a passive tone that was completely undercut by the sharpness of his words.  “I realize that this island is a stressful place, but you will encounter many stressful circumstances in life.  And yes,” he continued over Zyn’s imminent objection, “I am making the assumption that we will eventually leave this island, if for no better reason than there is no real harm in doing so.  Now, think back, flow into the conversation.  Bring something up that the person you are questioning can respond to in their own way.”

 Fighting the urge to make a snide comeback, Zyn tried to exhale and relieve some of his tension.  Despite the nine years Lorian had taught him, he still forgot some of the basics, such as not always asking direct questions.  While he knew that he could just ask such questions to get his answers, especially from someone like Parn, and on this island there wasn’t a terribly pressing need for much else, he had to admit he saw the wisdom in it.  He took a deep breath and forced his way back into the discussion he had been having with Parn, when he remembered something.  “However forceful a woman this Murxine is, she has some hold of Parn.  When I asked him his eyes darted to the floor and he shrunk sheepishly,” he said, before adding, “More than usual, that is.”

 “But Parn is a spineless worm, is he not?” Lorian said lightly, “How much could it really take to make one such as him avert his gaze?”

 “There... There was more to it, he slumped and cowered in a way I haven’t seen him do with any of us since this crazy trip began.”

 “Mm, good observation, but still, how can you be sure that you know the inner workings of his soul from a few days contact?”

 “Maybe I picked up a few things from my mentor,” Zyn said with an ever so small bit of placating snide.  

 “Perhaps, but quite frankly I don’t think you’ve picked enough up to be up to my level of competence,” he said dismissively and without any evidence of the humor that lay behind it.  Zyn just casually sneered in response.

 The younger man watched Lorian chuck a few more rocks out the cave before he made up his mind.  “Ugh, fine, maybe I made a random guess on that one.”

 “Perhaps.  Do not dismiss your observation, just do not rely on it.  Remember the first rule I taught you.”

 “Hear all, trust nothing,” Zyn recited.

 Lorian nodded in approval.  “And this applies to more than just words.  But in any case, your stab in the dark is correct.  Murxine Scolastin is a force of nature unto herself,” he smiled ruefully.  “It’s been several years since you’ve been to Ainador, but travel among its circles of power and it is inevitable you will hear her named.  Not someone most are dying to meet.”

 “Parn intimated that she tends to over-rely on her family’s past greatness.”

 “Yes, a great deal of prestige to be had from having an ancestor who managed to reach a great position.”

 “Speaking of that, there’s something that’s been bugging me.  I know that there was a Patriarch named Biathan two hundred years ago, but I can’t recall anything more than that.”

 “Indeed?” Lorian asked in a passing sort of way.

 Picking up on his mentor’s odd tone, Zyn continued.  “Aside from gaining the position of Patriarch, just what is Biathan known for?”

 Lorian’s smile spread out so wide it seemed to threaten to tear his face apart.  “Nothing; he was in the office for 35 days before he died.”

 Zyn stared at his master before bursting out in sardonic laughter.  “Oh, oh, that’s good.  That is [i]priceless[/i].”  His laughter aroused some of the others from their sleep at long last, but the one they were actually talking about Parn, barely cast them a glance as he continued whatever it was he was doing.  

 Any and all thoughts were immediately put on hold, however, when Xayk suddenly stood up.  “Alrighty then, who wants some breakfast?  You,” he said, pointing at a slowly rousing Pols, “Stinky, can we eat your leg?”

 “Uh, ex-excuse [i]me[/i]?” Pols asked nervously.  Zyn couldn’t help but note that the sailor was certainly not dead from snakebite.

 “Your leg, Stinky, I’m wondering what it tastes like.  Come on, just a teensy weensy little bite?”

 Zyn turned back to Lorian.  “You sure he’s anything but insane?”

 

* * *

 

 Xayk had insisted on flying them down to ground level from his cave.  Despite their collective reservation about trusting the dragon with their lives to any degree, was adamant, saying he had a serious discussion that he needed to have with Steve the coconut in private.  

 The ride down, which he did in threes by making two trips, was surprisingly not a trip to instant death.  True, he did rather brusquely shove them off several feet above the ground, just a bit high for comfort, but they came through without any real injuries (aside from Lum’s shin and Grumiah’s toes).  

 As such the six cast aways were left to themselves to do whatever it was that needed doing, though come to think of it, they weren’t quite sure what exactly that was.  With Xayk having revealed himself, it was suggested that they wouldn’t really have to worry about food or shelter until it was pointed out that this was Xayk they were talking about.  His mannerisms and habits, from what little they had observed, were entirely unpredictable excepting they could have been put forth by an over exuberant six year old (granted a six year old who was thirty feet long and weighed Eli knew how much, not to mention could fly and perform black magic and probably squash them into mush with hardly any effort).  

 Meanwhile, Parn continued carrying his stones around, running around at random, to and fro all over the place.  “Hey, mini-mage,” Pols yelled (a description that caused Lum to cross his arms in amusement), “What are doing?  The dragon’s crazy rub off on you or somethin’?”

 Instead of answering or even giving a weak shrug or some sort of meager placating gesture, Parn actually ignored Pols’ jeering and kept running around seemingly haphazardly until he arbitrarily stopped in the brush.  “Ok, that’s it,” Pols complained.  “This place is nuts; that dragon’s wacko and now the mage has lost it too.  How ‘bout we just jump into the ocean and start swimming?”

 Suddenly a bright flash lit everything up briefly like another sun before snapping back down, leaving everyone blinded and dazed.  “Great Yahshua, what are you doing Parn,” Lum yelled, “trying to blind us?”

 “Oh, bother,” Parn muttered before turning back to the others.  “Uh, sorry about that, it kind of... overloaded.  I did not mean to do it like that.”

 “Well I should hope so!” Pols cried in indignation before storming off to pout or some crap, Zyn personally didn’t care so long as he deigned to grace them with his absence even for a short while.  Shaking his head and trying to rid himself of the glare that still overwhelmed his vision, he tried to make out just what the timid mage had done.  He was still holding the two stones that he had obtained from Xayk’s cave, only now they were glowing.

 “What... why are those rocks glowing?”

 “Hmm?  Oh!  Oh, yeah, these... these... these?” Parn fumbled.

 “Glowing rocks?” Zyn finished for him.

 “Yes!  Yes, I was investigating a way to trap ambient magical energy and attune it in a synchronous manner to the pyro-directed properties of the fire in the cave and I needed a sufficient focus of currents to magnify it all so I could roughly duplicate all of it.”

 Zyn blink in a totally noncomprehending manner.  “You wanna run that by me again in Common?”

 “Hmm?  Oh, oh, sorry, I was not thinking about your ineptitude an- no, no, oh Abba, sorry, I did not mean to suggest...  That was not was I attempting...”  

       Zyn rolled his eyes.  “Just tell me what you were trying to do.”
       
 “I was, uh... trying to imbue these rocks with... fire starting abilities?” Parn put forward meekly.

 “Wait, I thought none of this fire crap was your specialty?”

 “Oh no, it is not.  My specialty is in enchantments and... well, just few side hobbies.  I was just trying to rig some spells together in a way that would help me get around that... a little.”

 Zyn blinked.  “...So your study in enchantments helped you with this then?”

 “Er,” Parn said, scratching his head.  “Not really.  I have worked more with fixed line and deep effect enchantments; working with trinkets is something I have never really done before.”

 “So then how did you just ‘infuse ambient pyro ambience’ or whatever crap to make a pair of glowing rocks that can start things on fire?”

 “I, uh... made it up?” Parn shrugged placatingly.  

 Zyn was about to say something when the sounds of shouting were heard in the direction of the beach.  He stood for a moment wondering what was going on before he took off to investigate.  “Wha- Uh, Zyn, Zyn wait up!” Parn shouted from behind.

 However, upon reaching the beach, Zyn found himself at the head of one of the lagoons that pocketed the island’s perimeter, a lagoon that now contained a crashing and splashing Lum and Pols as they dashed to and fro in the water.  

 “What were you doing, trying to take a two second nap?” Pols demanded, “They were right where you’re standing and you’re telling me you missed them!?”

 “I didn’t miss nothing midget, you pointed them out in the wrong place!” Lum shot back.

 “Well I was just judging off where you threw the spear!” Pols yelled, brandishing one of the spears they had crudely fashioned over the last few days.  “If there was any real mistake here it started with you!” he said with an accusing finger.

 At that moment Parn stumbled, literally, onto the beach with a great [i]fwomp[/i].  “Wha-what is going on?” he asked panting as he attempted to lift himself from the sand.

 “Nothing,” Zyn chuckled, “Just crabs.”

 “There!” Pols shouted, “To your left about twenty feet!”

 “How the hell can you see anything, that water’s neck high!”

 “I saw something, damnit!  I saw it with my own two eyes!”

 “I’m gonna make it one eye if I don’t find something over there,” Lum complained as he began trudging his way through deeper water.  

 “It’s there, idiot,” Pols complained.  Were these two always like this or was it just this island?  For some reason, Zyn got the distinct impression that it was the former.  “There’s something there, I saw movement!”

 “Yeah, that would be the [i]waves[/i] in the [i]water[/i],” Lum responded.

 “Not that, idiot!  There was bubbles and junk.  And something solid.”

 Lum stopped and shot his fellow sailor a damning look as he stood in well over chest high water.  “Yeah, like [i]crabs float[/i]!”

 “I [i]saw[/i] something!” Pols screamed.

 “And [i]I[/i] say that you’re full of shit!  Look!” Lum shouted, holding his arms above the water and pointing at the water that was lapping under his chin.  “I’m right here, I’m feeling around all over with my feet; there’s nothing here!”

 “Look harder,” Pols demanded.

 “Screw you midget!  How many times do-“ Lum began, only to start and spurt momentarily.  Zyn immediately took, notice, getting the distinct impression something was wrong.

 “Lum?” Pols asked concerned, only for Lum to suddenly scream out in pain and disappear, no, [i]be dragged[/i] under the waves.  Pols stood absolutely stiff, face ashen white before screaming out a long string of expletives.  

 “Xayk!” Zyn yelled out, instantly suspected the dragon was at work.  “Xayk, this isn’t funny!” to which he received no reply, only the sounds of the wind and waves and a still petrified Pols who, apart from the cursing, remained rooted in place, apparently unable to decided whether to go forward and fine Lum or to get the hell out of there.

 All of which was disrupted by the sudden burst of Lum breaching the water’s surface.  It was strange, one moment the entire lagoon was glossy as could be, with not even a hint of any struggle under the waves, then suddenly it was frothing and foaming with Lum’s frantic flailing of limbs.  And his screams.  Apparently this was enough for Pols who rushed forward to help his friend.  Zyn took a moment, searching for whatever monstrosity had done the dragging before deciding that getting Lum out right that moment was the most pressing concern.  As he splashed headlong into the water, he couldn’t help but think of Bresan, who hadn’t survived his last trips under the waves.  The water, already dark from the night, had been made black as pitch from the blood.  Now, once he splashed his way to about twenty feet away, he saw the thin, wavy flows of blood, now a deep red in the turquoise lagoon.  

 “Gah!  Ahh, great Eli!” Lum screamed as Pols helped him up and Zyn rushed to his side.

 “What is it?  How bad is it?” Zyn asked, unable to see clearly under the waves due to the splashing and the seeping blood.

 “My, arg!” Lum clenched his teeth.  “My leg, left one, feels like a lion ripped it apart.”  

       Zyn thrust his hand under the water to feel around, expecting the worst.  He felt the leg, and then the warm gooiness of exposed flesh.  Suppressing the ill sinking in his stomach he felt around more, but much to his surprise there was leg under it.  “Well, it’s not torn off or broken or anything, just a great big gash.”
       
       “Oh, right, just a gash!” Lum shouted derisively as Zyn and Pols helped him back to shore.  All the while Zyn kept look out for whatever had caused Lum’s sudden disappearance and injury, not wishing to fall into its sights as well.
       
       “Shut up you idiot,” the other sailor said, “wait until we get you onto the beach then you can curse and scream all you damn want to.”
       
       This is precisely what Lum did when Zyn and Pols dropped him onto the sand a minute or so later.  The wound was pretty much what Zyn had felt; there was a great big mass of red on his left leg on the inner side of his calf.  It was better than what he had been expecting, a leg broken and ruined or altogether torn off, but still, as it was it could seriously impair Lum’s ability to walk.  
       
       “Parn!” Zyn shouted to the mage who had followed them up to meet them on the beach, “I... you wouldn’t happen to know anything about healings, would you?”
       
       “Hey,” Lum said, “I’m for some pagan magic if it starts some fires or kills something, but I draw the line at it messing with my own flesh and blood.”
       
       “Uh...,” Parn fumbled for words, clearly embarrassed by the association of his skills with pagan practices, “It... it does not matter anyway, I have never studied such things.”
       
       “What’s going on?” a commanding voice rang out, to be followed by the sight of Grumiah and Lorian emerging onto the beach.  
       
       Lum pointed at the lagoon.  “There’s monsters in that lagoon!  I felt like I got stabbed with something, then I just got dragged down and somethin’ damn near bit my leg off!”  As an afterthought he added, “It wasn’t that dragon, was it?”
       
       Lorian shook his head.  “No, he only flew out of the cave a few minutes ago and was with us until just now... talking.”
       
       “Are you suggesting I’m not interesting?” an unseen voice demanded before Xayk literally dropped from the sky.  “That’s what Steve always says.  It gets really annoying.”
       
       “Um,” Zyn said, unable to keep from noticing an absence, “Does... Steve usually stay up in the cave or does he come... out?”
       
       “What are you talking about?  He’s right here.”
       
       Responding to the nothing that Xayk seemed to be pointing at, the men looked around confused.  “And,” Lorian said, “where would ‘here’ be exactly?”
       
       “Right next to you silly little man!”  They looked, and saw nothing but palm and coconut trees.  “He’s invisible,” Xayk explained.  
       
       ...[i]Ok[/i] Zyn thought warily.

       Lum groaned in pain (though probably some of it was brought on by their “captivity” on the island with this dragon), causing Xayk to cock his head sideways like a curious dog.  “Ooh, have you now given into the despair of your fate on this island and resorted to the cannibalism already?  Well don’t stop on my account, by all means, continue!” he said gleefully.
       
       “Um... uh, sorry,” Lum said placatingly to their draconic host, “it wasn’t cannibalism...”
       
       “But I wanna see cannibalism!  We’re only a hundred or so miles from the Lypomese islands; I was on my way to see them when I got stuck here you know.”
       
       “Look, er, Xayk,” Pols said in the most diplomatic fashion he had ever heard the sailor speak in, “we’d love to talk about cannibalism some other time, but... my... friend here was just sort of... attacked by some kind of crazy monster in the water.”
       
       “Impossible,” the dragon firmly declared.  “I’m the only one allowed to be crazy on this island.  It’s my island you know, I should just declare myself king.  Yes, King-no, [i]Emperor[/i] Xayk!  I shall now be addressed as ‘Your Royal Craziness.’  Well come on, call me that!” he demanded.
       
       Zyn swallowed, hard.  Nevertheless, he had seen apparent glimpses of Xayk’s dark side and in no way wished to see them expounded upon.  “Uh, yes, Your Royal Craziness.”
       
       “Good!  Splendid!  Now we can all do fun things.  Hmm, well, that stuff that bit you, um... Silly Sailor, yeah, that’s your name, the one with the gimpy leg.  That stuff.  I happen to think to suspect to have a clue as to where they might live!”
       
       “So, it wasn’t you doing anything?” Lorian asked before adding the obligatory, “Your Royal Craziness.”
       
       “Oh no, no, no,” Xayk shook his head vigorously, “If I wanted to do something to you I’d think up something much more creative than simply biting you of course.  No, you got bit by a Blorg.”
       
       “A what?”
       
       “It’s a big freaking crab that I made up a name for, you like it?  Anyways, they live in these big underwater caverns through the coral reefs.  And they’re poison by the way.”
       
       The color in Lum’s face drained like water.  “Oh, yeah, you got bit so you must have gotten a little poison too!  Why did I forget that?” Xayk said, slapping himself upside the head.  “Don’t freak out to much, you big baby, it’s easily fixed.”  With that he placed one of his massive taloned hands on a petrified Lum’s body and snapped his claws with the other.  “All better, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything for another few minutes, though you’d have been pretty paralyzed by then.  You’d be an invalid by then of course, so THEN the others could eat you.
       
       “But I digress.  The Blorgs, though aren’t the only things out there.  There also happens to be groups of outcast deadric worshiping merfolk and some wereorcas in the water too.”
       
       “You...  What?” Grumiah said, taken aback by the sudden revelation.
       
       “Aw, what’s the matter?  Aren’t you supposed to be the fearless leader?  The one that always goes in like he belongs on some painting or something?  Besides, there’s only a hundred or so of them all total, so not too much to worry about.
       
       Great Eli, wereorcas and demon worshiping merfolk in the waters?  Zyn almost didn’t believe what he was hearing.  In fact, thinking about it he didn’t.  This was probably just another insane scheme by Xayk.  Had to be.

 Grumiah seemed to be doubtful too, and despite their host’s utter unpredictability (and threat of crushing) spoke up.  “I’m no real expert, but wouldn’t those two groups hate each other even if they are both evil?”  

 Zyn himself knew a little of what Xayk was talking about.  Merfolk, the half fish people who lived beneath the oceans, had a somewhat adversarial with killer whales, or orcas as they were called: big huge and mean black and white dolphin like creatures.  And apparently, as humans had to deal with problem of werewolves, merfolk had to deal with mer who became wereorcas.  

 “Well that’s what makes it interesting!  That’s what I want to find out in the first place, and now that you guys are here we can do just that.  Come, follow your Emperor!” he declared before swinging himself around (and knocking Parn down with his tail in the process) and heading up the beach.

 “Wait a moment, where are we going?” Zyn asked.

 “I told you,” Xayk said, craning his head back with his characteristic grin, “We’re going to find out why those guys can go five minutes without killing each other!”

 Realizing that they were going to be left behind in the dragon’s wake, the six men scurried like mice to catch up alongside the massive beast.  “Have-have you not investigated this in your years here already?” Parn asked.

 “Well, that’s just the thing.  Just wait and you’ll see for yourself,” the dragon advised.
 		 	   		  

!DSPAM:4af0d585221311804284693!
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