***
"To find me is to find meaning. Do not lose your stride."
(excerpt from "The Sarcana")
***
My three days of recovery passed fairly fast.
The conversations I had with sir Samson certainly helped to make time fly.
I regained some of my strength and was now eager to return to my duties.
Just stepping foot outside the hull was filling me with anticipation.
And boy oh boy did the scenery change while I was out.
Gone were the lush canopies of the forest. All that was left from it was a faint thin line, now so distant in the horizon.
Once even that thin line was gone, the cartographers informed us, we would be deeper into the land than any man in history ever was, including those of legend.
We were nearing the hearth of the desert.
Ready to bare witness to some of the last mysteries left to explore.
The aforementioned cartographers were in a frenzy. They were doing double duty for days now with no stop at sight. Not only was their job to mark the path we took but to also chronicle the wildlife we encountered, so the next venture had greater chances to make it. Even without the help of the Al'ma.
And boy oh boy was there a lot of wildlife.
"The Beggars plate" was a tittle given to the desert by ignorant men, that only grasped what their eyes could see from the edge. They did not dare to take their chances with the monsters that lured within. So, when the first maps of the world were drawn there was a huge blank spot at the top of the world. Only dotted by some of the higher boulders that towered in the distance.
A huge flat plate with mere crumbs in it. The Beggars plate.
What would those men think were they to see what we stand to journey through?
An almost alien landscape exempt from the natural laws of things.
Were I a bit younger I would have thought it magic.
We passed under the shadow of a stone plateau whose entire surface looked like it was covered in gigantic mushrooms that glittered in the sun like drops of melted glass. Those fungi turned out to be enormous ant-like animals that tried to give chase to us while we were leaving their territory. Like common street dogs giving chase to carriages passing by.
One soldier swore on the life of his mother he heard them howling.
Later a cartographer spotted something not to far from us that seemed like a field of rugs somebody just discarded and left there laying in the sand. All hell broke loose after the rugs went airborne and flew towards us.
A combination of light-brown moth and vulture decided to make us their pray. Most likely smelling the rot on the betas side. Poor thing.
The beasts were able to expand their slim necks to astonishing lengths and mid flight bore their heads into the Al'ma's open wound.
Since the beasts didn't want to leave us alone the men from the beta opened fire from their muskets. Imagine our shock, when the butterflies exploded like they were made of gunpowder.
Maybe if their wings were of a different color the explosion would even feel festive. Like the famous colored-flames of Mahharani.
The following day, in the morning light, we were greeted with the sight of a pillar of titanic size. It eclipsed even the Al'mas crowns by a good bit. One of the smaller crumbs on the Beggars plate stood in front of us.
First we thought it alive, since its surface looked fuzzy, almost like hair. But the Al'ma didn't seem scared of it so we headed in its direction anyway.
Turned out the fuzzy stuff were just leaves of reddish color that the pillar shed on our approach, revealing a surface of solid silver.
The merchants begged my uncle on hands and knees to stop the ships right then and there but they were shortly and simply dismissed not by Graham but lord Kali.
"No."
"Well, to bad lads, ha ha ha."
No extra profits for our trades I guess.
On the topic of that pillar though... I... I have no idea what that was.
Nearing sunset that day I was once more scrubbing sand from the deck. Unease was heavy in my hearth as I remembered what happened the last time.
My eyes were constantly drawn to the edge and handrail that almost cost me my life. But there was nothing there, not this time, no monster to grab hold of me.
Plus, I wasn't alone. The mustachioed cartographer Nicolas Westlan was mere two meters away from me rapidly scribbling into his notebook.
It amazed me how he filled page after page, after page, without even looking at it. There were even some flies buzzing around him and landing on his face.
He ignored all of them.
Instead of his handicraft or his assailants, the mans eyes were fixed onto the horizon.
"Busy night?"
"Busy indeed my boy."
"Am, could you maybe move so I can get to the sand around you?"
"Mhm."
I waited a few moments. He didn't move.
Nicolas was currently siting cross-legged on the edge of the deck with but his eyes, nose and moustache peering above the handrail. He was positioned on top of a chest that, I believe, he pulled there himself some time ago, but what was now just a small mountain of sand.
"Sir?"
"Hm, yes?"
"Would you kindly move?"
"I dare not my boy, for who would take my post in that precious time?"
"It's only for a minute sir. I just have to..."
"A minute indeed lad. A minute is preciously long. A minute might make all the difference. A minute is sometimes all that is needed to change the world."
Oh, so he's one of the coo-coo ones. I understand. My time with Graham prepared me for this moment.
I know the drill.
"Ay, I understand sir. I shall just clean around you then. But be wary of the sand on top of your hat. We wouldn't want it to fall into your eye and thereby impede your watch."
"Ahhh, wise words lad. Good thinking ahead."
Nicolas reached for something in his breast pocket and pulled out a small device made of wood, string and glass. A pair of peculiar goggles now adorned the mans face, which he fastened without loosing sight of the horizon.
He didn't budge one bit. Defiant to the end.
Look old-timer, if I don't clean the sand around you I'll hear a lecture first from Gal about a soldiers attitude, then from Kali about cleanliness and how that is the main cause of death in the army, and lastly from Graham about duty and "fulfilling ones promise".
We can't have that, can we now?
"My good sir, I do not wish to undermine the value of your watch but it seems our missions cross each other. I know not what consequences failure on your part would bring but I am all to fell aware of the ones that await me were I to fail. So would you kindly allow me to fulfill my task. I promise it will not take long."
"Hmmm..."
Come on old man, I don't have all night.
"...My post does carry great value and I dread to think of the consequences if my time here is squandered, so let's make an agreement. I shall leave my post and allow you your machinations, but after they are done, you will join me for some time to make up for the time that I hereby forfeit to you. You will do so in a timely manner. Agreed?"
He blurred that out in one breath.
I... I think that sounded agreeable. I'm not sure, but ok.
"I...agree."
Without hesitation and with agility that rivaled a cat that slipped and fell into a bucket of water, the old man jumped, shook himself like a canine and moved a mere three feet to the right. Once again taking his post as the devoted sentinel. Leaving behind a vortex of sand.
Sigh.
A few minutes later I was done. Everything was clean, as clean as it can be in our situation.
"Your throne my lord."
"..."
"Sir?"
"..."
"Sir? Sir, do you wish me to move your box over to you?"
"..."
Puzzled at the lack of reply I moved over to the old man and took one look at him.
His face was that of a martyr in the midst of his trial of fate. It was the look of a man whose whole being was torn asunder by pain and agony but that was nevertheless determined to do what he believed in.
With what very well might be his last breath, the man spoke.
"Lad, listen to me."
I was stunned and managed no reply other than a nod.
Frozen once again in fear I waited for the man to muster his strength and speak.
"Lad, I... I appeal to you to carry on my task in solitude. As it seems I am not long for...aghhh"
"...hah, hah...point your sight at the horizon and find the string that binds this world..."
I listened as the man pushed each word out under his torrent of pain and decided. No! Whatever abomination got to my compatriot didn't finish the job in time. There is still hope. There will not be the ninth.
"Meeeeedic! Help! We need help!"
Boots clambered on the deck. Soldiers with muskets drawn surrounded us in minutes. Searching high and low for whatever creature got the cartographer.
Shortly after the designated doctor of the Gamma arrived, still dressed in his night gown and carrying a bag.
"Nicolas. Speak to me if you can. Where did it get you? Oli help me lay him down, and tell me what happened."
The bald doctor directed us quickly and methodically.
"I didn't see anything. He was fine moments ago. I have no idea what happened."
"Agghhh...my..."
"Nicholas I'll have to undress you, to see if there are any bite marks on you, or if the thing is still inside your clothes. Where does it hurt?"
"My...my back."
"Your back. Understood. Oli, help me move him on his stomach. If you spot something on him tell me quickly and watch out that it also doesn't get you."
"Ahhh!"
We stripped the old-timer to his undergarments and a couple of flies landed on his sweaty shirt.
Smack! "You son of a wench!"
A soldier behind us yelped.
We got to the mole covered skin of Nicolas.
"Oli find something yet?"
"No, I don't think so..."
"Wait." the doctor proclaimed as he laid his palm onto the old man's back, near his spine.
Crack!
"Haa...aa!"
"Are you feeling better Nicolas?"
"Hmm, yes Theo. Thank you."
"Here. Take this ointment and rub it twice a day for the next month. And no more heavy lifting old man, or sitting with a crooked back, understood?!"
"Hmmm, but my work here. I can't abandon it!"
"There are others to make up for it. I hate to say this Nicolas but you might be too old to..."
"I decline."
"What?"
"What what? I said I decline"
Nicolas slowly got up, still a bit cracking as he stretched.
"Nicolas, you have to listen to the medic. Such are the orders on any ship, including this one."
"I'm not declining that. I'm declining being old."
"You can't decline to being old."
"Well I do my good Theo but non the less i shall adhere to your advice and take my rest. Good thing the lad here agreed to take my post. Didn't you lad?"
"I....well..."
"Of course he will exchange posts with you Nicolas! My boy is a man of his word!" Graham shouted from the alphas crown.
How the heck did he hear us? I thought.
"Don't you dare bring shame on me boy!!"
"Ay, then it is decided. Here, you take my notebook and I take the ointment. Done is done. Find me at my quarters come morning lad and show me your findings then. I expect great things from them sharp eyes of yours. Tha-tha."
Now that the tension was broken the soldiers disbanded and Nicolas got escorted by the medic to his room. Leaving me with his notebook in hand.
"Guess I have to add this to my chores as well now. Great. Just....great."