Chapter Five
The next three days was a blur of food, sleep and luxury. The four of us spent hours watching shows at the ships many theaters and lounging on our cabins large balcony. We met and talked to dozens of the ships passengers.
I was starting to get a clearer picture of the civilization of this world, there were only five major cities that were known about, they were all surrounded by farms to supply food, each city had a population of about a two hundred thousand people.
The size of the cities could never increase since magic would not work past the large walls which surrounded each one.
The result of this was that the poorer and less powerful residents tended to be forced out into the wilds because of the lack of room.
The people I talked to had very little knowledge of the wilds, only that they were populated by many fierce and dangerous peoples and monsters. There were also rumors of large lawless communities ruled by the sword.
I also learned that the ship we were on, called a wind wailer because of the sound it made when at full sail, was one of about thirty. They were all ancient and had been rebuilt and refitted many times, the underlying superstructure which was made of iron was the only original part that remained.
They could fly about fifty miles an hour at a top altitude of about five thousand feet, they were used to provide a scheduled travel service to all five major cities.
The origin of this world was only known by the residents as a series of murky myths and legends. It was created by three powerful sorcerers, then populated by a migration from another world, which was clearly earth, there was then a falling out between the sorcerers causing a fierce war which resulted in the migration of Moses and his followers to another land.
The luxury and gaiety ended abruptly when we docked at Shadowfield, the vast majority of the passengers departed only to be replaced by a large battalion of archers and what looked like a much poorer and desperate looking bunch of travelers.
"They are destined for the wilds," Gwen said as we watched them board the ship from our balcony, she looked envious of them which surprised me.
"Gwen, why do you think Moses left this world?" I asked.
"Probably because it was so boring, nothing changes here," she replied.
It occurred to me then that because of the pseudo magic, the city dwellers every need had been taken care of, this had probably stifled any innovation, also that there was an enormous imbalance between the people inside and outside the walls
I suddenly wondered what was stifling innovation outside the cities walls, a feeling of profound dread suddenly came over me, whatever it was it must be pretty horrific.
I walked back inside the cabin and sat down on one of the soft couch's. I had conjured up a few books to read and bent down to pick one of them up off the small coffee table. I noticed Harry was sitting across from me with his nose in a book reading, he looked up when I sat down.
"So Kem you have never told me where you're from," he said.
"Um... South Africa."
"Your grasp of ancient Egyptian is extraordinary, where did you learn it?"
"The... um... University of... um... South Africa, I studied Egyptology."
"They must have an exceptional course, I wonder though if they skimped on the practical part of Egyptology by spending so much time on language."
"Absolutely not, I have a fine grasp of the history of the land," I said confidently.
"A little test perhaps," Harry pulled out a pen and on a piece of paper drew a profile of a ancient Egyptian persons head he then drew a cone like hat on its top.
"Can you tell what this is?" He pointed to the cone.
Relief flooded through me, it was a simple question. I was worried he would ask me about some minor detail that was believed to be true in this era but was in reality complete fiction.
"It's a simple cone shaped hat made of a light wood. It was worn by certain cults for religious ceremonies. The wearer would put a little dab of beeswax mixed with incense on the top of it. A modern analogy would be the little beanie worn by some religious groups."
"Are you sure? Could it not be a cone of animal fat mixed with perfume to provide a pleasant scent."
Harry could not fool me for I had had the benefit of actually seeing the hat being used.
"A blob of animal fat? Not in the hot sun of Egypt, it would be full of fly maggots in minutes," I said, smug in my reply.
Harry stared at me intently, "I always wondered about that theory, even if it was made of beeswax it would still have been pretty uncomfortable."
I suddenly realized Harry had tricked me.
"This is not common knowledge among Egyptologists?" I asked.
"Until now, no one had a clue, there were theories, the perfume thing, another was that it was a symbolic representation for Lotus flower intoxication."
I felt a surge of anger, some of it directed at Harry but mostly at myself for being tricked so easily.
"Lotus flower intoxication! You'd have to eat a basket of lotus flowers just to get a slight dizzy feeling."
Harry got up and walked over to the small bar, I heard glasses clinking, he walked back and handed me a glass with some ice and liquor in it.
"So you're what Charlie found, don't worry your secret is safe with me. No one would believe me anyway if I said anything."
I took a sip of the bitter liquor and said nothing.
"If it helps, I was already pretty sure anyway, there is something so different about you, and of course the whole sorcery thing . What is real your name, or aren't you able to say?"
"Kemamonit... why did you ask if I would be able to say it?" I asked, curious.
Harry's expression suddenly changed as if he was trying to hide something, "umm... no reason... thought you might just want to keep it a secret."
Shelley and Gwen walked into the room from the balcony and closed the sliding doors.
"It is getting colder," Shelley said.
"We should be under way soon, they are withdrawing the gangway," said Gwen.
No sooner had she said it then I felt the great ship begin to move backwards and then start to turn. I noticed that the ships subsequent turns and acceleration was of a much harsher quality then the first leg of the journey.
We rose in altitude quickly, there was obviously no consideration given to the passengers who may have wanted to sight see the large city below us.
"The crew seems very nervous, I tried asking why but they just pretended not to understand," Shelley said.
I knew a large minority of the crew spoke passable Egyptian.
"There must be three hundred archers aboard, they are obviously expecting something, do you know anything Gwen?" I asked.
"No, but I've heard all kinds of rumors lately that the people in the wilds are fighting a war," she said.
We flew without incident during the day, the ship made its characteristic wailing sound as we sped through the overcast sky.
Gone was the celebratory atmosphere that had filled the previous three days, all the expensive shops and restaurants were now closed and shuttered. There were no more shows being performed, all the actors and singers had left the ship.
I toured the lower decks of the ship and saw the hundreds of steerage cabins filled with many eager and frightened people. There were also large dining halls that served rudimentary meals twice a day.
I felt a bit guilty as I re-entered the opulent cabin we had rented and saw my three companions lounging on the comfortable couches and chairs. They were all eating the fine food and drinking the fine wine that had been supplied with the cabin.
The next day while we were eating our noon meal I felt the ship lurch to one side. The movement was so violent it almost caused me to fall off of my chair.
I heard a clanging noise then like some sort alarm had been set off. Gwen stood up quickly and then ran to the large glass doors. She pressed her noise against the glass while surveying the scene outside.
"Pirates!" She yelled, frantically pointing through the glass.
The rest of us ran up beside her and looked to where she was pointing. I saw a ship similar to ours about a mile away approaching quickly.
I could see that the pirate ship had been made more streamlined then our own, this probably enabled it to outpace the Jambres. I saw too that the decks had been modified with large gangplanks standing vertically ready to be dropped for a boarding party.
The Jambres made another violent turn, the pirate ship matched its course and pulled even closer. I saw a volley of arrows fly from the decks below us and pepper the pirate ships hull. The arrows appeared to be completely ineffective.
"We have to do something, there could be hundreds of soldiers on that ship," Shelley said.
"Yes, I do not believe the archers will do much," I said.
Shelley reached into one of the large pockets in her cargo pants and pulled out her leather bound spell book. She soon had it opened and was quickly writing down a spell, she then snapped the book shut and put it back in her pocket.
Shelley stood back and uttered a command word.
"Appiccicoso" she yelled
A wooden basket appeared in front of her filled with shiny metallic balls a about three inches in diameter.
"Start throwing them at the pirate ship," she said as she picked one up.
I picked up two of the balls and followed Shelley as she opened one of the sliding doors and ran outside onto the cabins balcony.
"What does it do," I asked.
Shelley turned and smiled, "you'll see," she threw the metallic ball at the pirate ship which was only about twenty yards away.
The ball hit a vertical gangplank and then burst into a growing blob of a light grey substance. I saw a sword blade emerge from behind the gangplank and try to cut the grey material. The sword blade dug into it for about two inches and then stopped. I saw the blade start to jerk as if someone was trying to yank it free.
I threw a ball of my own, it hit near the top of another gang plank the goo locking it into position, Gwen and Harry started throwing balls as well.
The pirates seeing that their boarding plans would soon be thwarted started pushing the planks down ahead of time, they fell like large dominos. I saw another volley of arrows fly from beneath us, the pirates now unprotected by their large boarding planks started to take casualties.
I saw a group of pirates drop their swords and pick up their own bows and start notching arrows, I threw my other metallic ball as hard as I could hitting the ship's hull behind them. I was soon rewarded by seeing them struggling to pull themselves free from the grey goo.
The four of us threw balls until the whole side of the pirate ship was covered in the grey sticky substance. I soon noticed that it had changed its course and started pulling away from us, the Jambres did not follow in pursuit.
"What was that stuff?" I asked Shelley.
"It was a substance designed to work with an experimental non-lethal weapon."
"How did you get magic to work here?" Gwen asked her brows furrowed.
I looked at Gwen, "we're real sorcerers," I said.
"That's... that's impossible!" she unconsciously took a step back.
"It's true," Harry said.
"But... but... Senbian magic... it's just a myth," she said.
Senbian magic? I thought to myself.
"Well its actually Kemian magic," I said, feeling a bit perturbed.
Shelley turned and looked at me her head cocking to one side, "yes... and it's a secret," she turned again and looked at Gwen," so don't tell anyone."
Gwen's eyes grew as large as saucers," of course not... you're um... not going to sacrifice me or something.... huh?"
"Well we may need to summon a demon... but you would need to be a virgin."
Gwen's cheeks turned a bright red, I started laughing.
"There is no human sacrificing in magic," Shelley said, she put her hand on Gwens shoulder to calm her.
We heard a knock at our cabins door, I walked over and opened it. I saw one of the ship's crew standing in the hall.
"We are looking for some suspicious people, did you see anyone throwing things when the other ship approached?" He asked.
"No, we didn't see anything, we were hiding in our sleeping rooms," I said.
I could tell he was trying to discern if I was being truthful.
"Ok, but if you do see something, you must tell the crew one of immediately," he turned and walked away.
I closed the door and flipped the small latch that locked it.
"Who are these pirates, and where did they get that ship?" I asked Gwen.
"I think that ship is the Quest, I have not seen it for months and there have been rumors that something happened to it."
"Your leaders are quite secretive, they said nothing?"
"They control the magic, no one opposes them."
"What about the pirates?" I asked.
"I don't know."
I started to realize that the five cities must have an iron clad control over the land. The cities would be almost impregnable because of their ability to use magic and they would never have to worry about their sorcerer's leaving since their magic would disappear once past the walls.
I also realized that if someone did want to oppose them the only way would be to capture the large flying ships and control the sky.
I felt the Jambres turn sharply, I assumed we were back on our original course to the garrison of La fin du monde.
"We should be docking at the garrison in a couple of hours, we must hide everything that would give them any suspicion of our abilities," I said.
Shelley reached into one of the large pockets of her cargo pants and took out her spell book, she put her smart phone between the pages, then she folded one of the book's cover's backwards in an odd way, then she folded it again and again, she was soon left with a small wooden pendant with the image of a book carved on it.
The pendant had a thin leather strap looped through a hole in one corner, Shelley put the strap around her neck causing the pendant to hang down on her chest, it looked like an inexpensive necklace.
I looked at Harry.
"What about you?" I asked.
"I have my notes hidden underneath the sole of one of my boots," he said.
"They can't be very extensive."
"They are enough to accomplish my needs," Harry said, trying to look inscrutable.
I flicked a series of squares on my magic bracelet, it responded by shrinking in size and looking much more decorative.
We walked around our cabin and put the books and other things we had conjured into a cloth sack. I took the sack and then tossed it over the side of the ship, I watched it fall until it shrunk to a dot and then disappeared.