Fairy Opera Chapter 13: Dead Island

 

Dead Island

“So where did Jastle learn all this?” I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. No one answered me, of course. Magic was suppressed in the Empire, so anyone at all who knew something about it was a rarity.

The ship rocked back and forth as I sat. Then I sat back up and looked at the scroll I had written. The scroll was silent, unmoving, a bastion of magic. The words that I had written on it appeared different than the words I normally read, but how exactly they were different escaped me. I began doodling words in Scode on a piece of paper that was laying around.

The officer’s quarters weren’t luxurious, but they weren’t spartan. It was a middle-of-the-road kind of affair. I stood up and walked around the room, pulling open drawers and checking what was inside.

I found knives, maps, gold coins, and cigarettes. Whoever used this room last was probably a well-organized person.

After about an hour, Jastle returned to the room. “Here’s the deal. Orion and I have made arrangements to continue your training in magic. We’ll be switching days as we travel to Anerville.”

“How long will that take?”

“We’ll be at sail for a week.” Jastle sat down in a chair that faced the table. “In any case, here’s today’s practice work.” He pulled out several blank scrolls and handed them to me. “Write three separate versions of the Fire magic scroll, using Null Bravos. I’ll help you out when you need it.”

Jastle watched as I wrote the first scroll. “Here. To make it easier for you, I’ll give you my fire library scroll.” Jastle handed me a scroll that was a lot longer than I was used to. I opened it and there were at least a dozen separate entries, each one of which had the word “callsign” and a word behind that.

“Look at each library unit and ascertain their function.”

“This one creates blue fire?”

“Correct.” Jastle folded his hands. “These are all the fire-related library units that I have. Use them while you practice. See what they can do. We can test the spells out on deck, as long as we fire everything into open sky.”

I wrote the first fire spell. This fire spell created a tornado of fire that swirled around a target.

Jastle handed me another scroll. “This is a diagnostic scroll. It will tell you everything you need to know about a magic scroll’s effects, including how much energy it will produce.”

I nodded and wrote the other two scrolls without much trouble. When they were done, Jastle took me out to the poop deck, where we practiced casting them.

They worked just as intended. Jastle whistled when I was done casting the third spell. “You really have this down, don’t you?”

“Right. Yeah, I don’t know much about how I’m able to do this.”

Jastle shrugged. “Technomages are really quite mysterious, so I don’t blame you. Even though you are a technomage yourself.”

Orion came up to us. “Rock. I’ve been tasked by Tae and Jak to teach you how to handle a sword.”

I followed Orion to the deck’s practice ring, which was along the starboard side and tiled with a different wood from the rest of the ship. Orion took a practice sword and threw it to me.

“What do you know abut swordsmanship?” Orion started circling me.

“Not much. I’ve been able to get by somehow.”

Orion knocked his sword on the ground. “I’m a big proponent of learning through experience.” He took a step towards me. “Let’s go!”

We fought for about five minutes before I made a mistake and got a bruise on my shoulder. It was right near my previous wound, too.

“Ah!” I grabbed my wound and gritted my teeth.

Orion stepped back. “Sorry, Rock. But you’re not always going to be in top shape when you get into a fight. When you have a weak spot, you must prioritize defending it.”

We kept sparring. Orion landed a few more blows, but none fell on my wound again. When the day was almost gone we stopped our match. Tae climbed up to the deck from below. “It’s time for dinner!”

We all climbed down to the mess room, which was on the second deck of the ship. It was only large enough to fit half our crew, so we would have to eat in shifts.

I stared at the food that was presented to me. With the stuff right in front of me, I understood why the ship wanted us to restock at Anerville Island. It was just hard tack in broth with salted, dried meat. Luckily there were no worms or weevils, but I was sure it was because Tae worked really hard to get rid of them.

We ate and we drank. Our crew consisted of about thirty of the slaves we had freed, though only half were in the room, of course. They seemed to be fine with the fare, though none of them really seemed to enjoy it. The atmosphere in the room was actually quite happy. The sailors appeared to be celebrating something. One of the sailors proposed a toast, and dedicated it to the heroes who had fallen during the battle. We all drank to that—everyone was served a large mug of beer with their meal, including me.

After dinner, pleasantly buzzed, I returned to the deck. The stars were beginning to appear in the sky, and the sun was almost gone.

Tae walked up next to me. “Did you ever think we would make it this far?”

“This isn’t very far at all, compared to where we need to go and what we need to do.”

Tae shrugged. “But we’ve done good for ourselves, I would say. We battled the Empire several times and won.”

“I wouldn’t say we won. I would say that we survived.”

Tae sighed. “Well, you could look at it that way.”

We watched the stars for a while. Then we went back down to the hold where we assisted with arranging some of the food stores. When it was time to sleep I was dead tired.

For the next week, Orion and Jastle taught me a lot about magic and fighting. Jastle was actually really good at Scode, though he was no technomage. Several times I surprised him with new words that he didn’t know before. Orion’s training was tough, but it really helped me solidify my combat readiness. By the end of the week I was no amateur with the blade.

On the afternoon of the eighth day of travel, our lookout spotted Anerville Island. We approached it, but something seemed to be wrong. Smoke lifted from the island’s town. There appeared to be no one there. When we got closer, it was clear that the whole place was abandoned.

We pulled into the docks and moored our ship. Orion, myself, Jastle, and Tae got off the ship. The rest of the crew, including Ruby, stayed on board. Something was obviously wrong.

We knocked on the door to the dock tender’s hut. There was no answer. When I pushed on it, it swung open. We walked in. The table was set with food, which had not yet rotted. There was a strange smell hanging around the air. I heard something thump, like a cat in the attic. I looked up. Dust floated from the ceiling.

Orion and Jastle looked at each other. “This is strange. There seems to be no indication of a struggle. It’s as if everyone disappeared overnight.”

We left the hut and followed the main street towards the town center. The place was as abandoned as it appeared from afar. Some of the houses were burned-out husks, but most of the houses remained intact. There were no bodies, nothing out of the ordinary except those couple of burned houses. We traveled further along the road until we came to the castle at the top of the hill that the town was built on.

Orion knocked on the large wooden doors. A scared-looking soldier poked his head out from behind a parapet. “Who are you?”

“We’re here for supplies! We have a long journey ahead of us and we need to stock up on food! We’ll pay, of course.” Orion looked up. “Has something happened to the town?”

“Yes, yes. It’s day, so they’re not out. At night, they come. They come everywhere.” The soldier retracted his head. Two minutes later, the doors slid open, creaking as they moved. We walked inside and the doors closed behind us.

“What happened here?” Orion faced the soldier who had opened the gate. “Where is your king?”

“I’m the only one left here.” The man kept looking to either side as if he were being hunted. “They all turned. The inquisitor came with the ball of light and they all turned.”

“Inquisitor?” Orion looked around the castle’s garden. “Do you know which one?”

“I don’t know, sorry.” The soldier swallowed. “My name is Randy. I’m the last person alive on this island. Maybe you can take me away from here?”

The sun, which had been going down ever since we arrived at the island, started to touch the horizon.

“If you want, sure.” Orion looked up at the sky. “I feel something magical about this place.”

“At night. They come. They devour. They killed everyone, and everyone who was bitten became one of them.” Randy shuddered. “If you want food and supplies, you can take anything as long as you take me with you.”

“Okay. Then let’s go.” Orion turned towards the door.

“No!” Randy stepped in between Orion and the door. “If you go out now, they will kill you! They will rip you apart!”

Orion sighed, taking out a scroll. “Null Canus. Double. Talk to Jak.” He established a distance connection with Jak. “Jak. There’s something wrong with this town. Take the ship a short distance from the docks and stay there for the night. We’ll be hunkering down in the town castle.” Orion seemed to be listening. “You know what we’re talking about? Monsters, you say?” He grimaced. “Get out of the dock. It appears they only hunt after sunset. Come back in the morning.” Orion gritted his teeth. “Okay. Thanks.” He let his hand fall. “Looks like we’re stuck here for the night.”

Something banged on the door to the castle. Then multiple somethings started battering at the wood. Randy backed away from the door.

“No, no! They’re going to eat me too!” He rushed back to the keep and pushed the door open, diving into the building.

Orion, Tae, myself, and Jastle followed Randy into the keep. The place was finished with stone. It wasn’t a very elaborate place. There was a wooden staircase up to a second floor.

“Is there any food here?” Orion walked to the small kitchen that was tucked away at the back of the room.

“Yes, yes. Plenty of food.” Randy walked into a storeroom and brought out a barrel full of salt pork.

We partook of the food and then Orion started walking around the perimeter of the building. “So what, exactly, happened here?”

Randy shuddered. “The inquisitor. He brought the light. Everyone who looked at it turned into a monster, and they started attacking everyone else. I was able to lock myself in here.”

“Where is your lord?”

“Gone. He tried to escape and was eaten.”

“But they don’t attack during the day, right?”

“Oh, they do, they do.” Randy shuddered. “But they only attack at day if you’re trying to escape.”

Orion sighed. “This just became a lot more complicated.”