Final Fieretsi: Part I of the Fabula Fereganae Cycle by Will Davidson
Chapter XVIII: Holy Capital, Sol-Acrima
For four straight days the Valtela plowed ever onwards towards Sol-Acrima. For four days Pheia continued towards the coast from the strangely deserted town of Chalja. And after four days at sea, boredom began to set in amongst the Fieretka.
Every day, it seemed, Shizai would appear on deck with a pop and a shower of water to babble about the most trivial matters, not even realizing that Ifaut often fell asleep during her ebullient expirations. She longed for the company, and although she went strangely silent whenever the subject of the previous Fieretka was broached, her enthusiasm could not be dammed. She was also more than happy to provide everyone with fresh water since, as they soon discovered, there was little on board. And she was remarkably effective at getting Cédes’s robes clean and white again.
Ifaut quickly took it upon herself to provide everyone with fish, despite the fact that she’d never used a fishing rod before. After pricking herself several times on the hook, (“Now you know how I feel!” Sansonis had laughed) she finally managed to cast her line into the boat’s wake. Unfortunately, she didn’t know that bait was required. It wasn’t until several hours later that Sansonis noticed her mistake, a revelation that reduced her to tears, but once corrected she happily caught enough fish for everyone. And enough to satiate her odorous obsession, much to Sansonis’s annoyance.
Stefi had mostly remained apart from the others, even the ferrets, turning over the name of the boat in her head and wondering if there was any connection between herself and Elian. Impossible, she thought. Surely if they were related she would have known. Maybe even Elian would have. Eventually Cédes managed to convince her that even if she was it didn’t matter. It was only a last name. She was also quick to point out that she herself didn’t have a known last name, an unusual thing even for a Furosan. And just because it was painted on a boat it didn’t mean it was his name anyway.
Around noon on their fourth day at sea, Shizai appeared with her now comforting pop and shower of spray. A smile bigger than any she’d brandished before lit up her face and her eyes shone like polished sapphires.
Hello, all! she gushed as Stefi and Cédes drew their wet hair from their eyes. Ifaut hurried over, a gasping fish in one hand and rod in the other. Everyone, look over there! Shizai pointed a glistening finger across the bow of the Valtela. The dark shape of cloud-covered land loomed from the horizon, looking like a snowy mountain range rising out of the sea.
We are nearly there, she continued. Sadly, that means our time together is almost up. What I mean to say is, it’s been fun.
“It’s been fun for us, too,” Stefi said as an ache grew in her chest. Even though she’d met and said goodbye to several people already on her journey, it was the water elemental that had made the biggest–and wettest–impression on her; from her cheerful demeanor, her caring nature, to the way she seemed vulnerable despite being immortal. If only Stefi could get her to open up about Yifunis and her friends, she thought she’d be one step closer to helping her. And finding out about her own doomed path.
“You’ll go back to Pheia, won’t you?” Stefi said. “Then what?”
I’ll guide her to Sol-Acrima to meet with you guys. I get the feeling she’ll be getting close, but she was intending to catch a boat in Leibos to Western Feregana to find you. I’ll just have to give her a little nudge up the coast.
Stefi sat down in the shade of the half-lowered sail and motioned for everyone to join her. As Shizai walked through the midday sun, the light refracted through her watery being and cast a rainbow dancing across the deck. Gemmie and Maya moved to attack it, but it faded from existence as she entered the shade.
“Right,” Stefi said, taking charge and putting herself back in the position of elected leader, a role that now grew more comfortable. “Shizai, where exactly can we find Fairun? I know Sol-Acrima is big. Very big. Couldn’t she be anywhere?”
Yes, but I believe I know where she may be held. First I must explain something to you.
“You haven’t been keeping anything important from us, have you?” Stefi asked.
Perhaps. Shizai’s eyes lingered upon the deck as if she suddenly found the grain of the wood to be remarkably interesting. As you may know, the humans are preparing for war, just like when Yifunis was alive. Fairun… The words seemed to stick in her mind and she cleared her throat with an odd gurgle before continuing, Fairun is having her power drained for weapons.
Cédes let out a frightened gasp and clutched the stone of Raphanos tight in her fist. “H-how is that even possible?” she stammered. “Surely only an Acharnian Furosan is able to wield her, just as only a Mafouran can command Raphanos and an Arigan Shizai.”
Although I do carry some will of my own, Shizai added. Just not a soul.
Now it was Stefi’s turn to gasp. “No soul? You seem so…” She was about to say ‘human’ but thought better of it. “Furosan.”
I know it sounds strange, and I do have feelings and everything just like you. But I am an elemental guardian. Immortal. Don’t forget that. The lack of a soul with me means I can never die, though sometimes I wish I could. I get so very tired sometimes. She yawned languidly as if to emphasize it, revealing her sharp, crystalline teeth.
“But what about Fairun? You said she needs to be saved before she dies. And now she’s being used for weapons. You elementals can’t die,” Stefi said, thoroughly confused.
Die, no. Though if our essence is drained and divided, it’s as bad as death, if not worse. With her power being drained to create weapons-
“What kind of weapons?” Ifaut interrupted. “A breeze to ruffle hair and lift skirts?”
No. Ships that ply the waters of the heavens, borne upon the winds. Ships that can go anywhere in the world without need for my seas. Ships, she said, that could ferret out the Furosans with no trouble.
“No,” Stefi said and clenched her fists in anger. “We can’t let that happen! Do you think you could get us there faster?”
While I’m talking to you lot, no, Shizai said with a hint of a smile. But if you really want to hurry, we can. She stood up and began to walk back towards the bow.
“Wait a second,” Stefi said. “You still haven’t told us where exactly Fairun is.”
You will find her, Shizai said. Just follow the flying ships. She turned to Cédes. And I have the funny feeling that my brother may be of some assistance. I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be so violent. She took Cédes’s hand and trained her blue eyes upon red. Just… be careful. His nature can be destruction, just like mine is peace. But he’s a good guy. Really. Look inside yourself to see that.
She released Cédes’s hand and addressed the others one last time. Once we arrive I’ll be drawn back to Pheia. So I guess this is goodbye. For now. I wish, Stefi, for you to fare better than Yifunis. I expect to see everyone come out of this again.
Then she turned to Sansonis, speaking to him directly for the first time since the voyage had begun. The whole time she’d avoided catching his attention. And when he did spot her glancing at him she’d hurriedly turned away and found something else to focus on. Your name is Sansonis, isn’t it? It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes,” he said warily.
She seemed to study him for a minute, her eyes boring right through him and causing him to shiver. You look a lot like him, you know. You have his eyes.
“Whose eyes?” Sansonis pressed. “Who do I look like? Do you mean a relative? My real dad?”
No, no. But I knew your great-grandfather. Same name, same eyes, same personality. I just hope it’s not the same fate.
“Wait,” Sansonis said to her retreating back even though he already knew, if his suspicions were correct, that she wouldn’t go into any details. “He was a Fieretka too? Why didn’t you tell me before?”
Because, she said, it is my fault that he and the others died. I’m the reason why Yifunis had to raise their son alone.
Before he could ask any more, Shizai was gone,
In the silence that followed, Sansonis was acutely aware that six pairs of eyes, one unseeing, were being trained upon him. He turned away in discomfort, his mind spinning with the first news of his real family: that his great-grandfather was a Fieretka; that through him he was related to the previous Fieretsi.
“What should I do?” Ifaut hissed in Stefi’s ear. “I know there are times when I really should leave him be, but is this one of them?” She bounced hesitantly on the balls of her feet.
“No, go to him. Make sure he’s all right. It’s a lot to take in, you know.”
Ifaut nodded and approached him. “Hey.” She patted his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Sansonis turned to face her and, to her surprise, he was smiling. “Of course I am! This is the first news of my real family. And to think, my great-granddad was a Fieretka too. And my great-grandma was like Stefi. Whoa... This Fieretka thing must run in the family, huh?”
Ifaut stared dumbly, her mouth hanging agape.
“You catching flies now?” He laughed.
She slammed her mouth shut so hard her teeth made an audible clack. “No! I… I just expected you to be upset, you know. I think we all did!” She laughed nervously as her gaze darted about, disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to comfort him.
“One more piece of the puzzle has revealed itself,” Rhaka said, barely audible. “I, too, have been curious as to your past. When I found your real father dying, he managed only to tell me your name before passing on. Little did I know that it was connected to the Fieretka, both past and present.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Sansonis said, uncharacteristically bright. “I bet we’ll find more answers in Sol-Acrima. Just think, I may finally find out who I really am.”
Ifaut gave him a puzzled look, tilting her head to one side. “Aren’t you who you are now? You won’t change when you find out more, will you?”
He laughed. “Don’t worry. If anything, you’ve changed me more than anything else!”
She gasped and turned to Stefi for help.
“That’s good,” Stefi mouthed and flashed a thumbs-up.
Ifaut smiled and latched onto Sansonis so enthusiastically that he nearly toppled over. “I’ll help you find out about your past,” she said and leaned her head on his shoulder. “But you have to promise me something, m’kay?” She turned her head and gazed almost drunkenly into his eyes, a sickeningly sweet expression on her face.
“What’s that?”
“Don’t change any more.”
“I promise.”
“Good,” she said and felt a warmth spreading throughout her, a warmth comparable to that when she drank chocolate. But she hadn’t drunk chocolate for some time. Then a realization bubbled up to her head, buoyed upon the rising light-headedness she felt. No, she thought, they were kamaes, that’s all. It was natural for her to feel close to and protective of him. And how could she feel anything more with him being a Kalkic human? It wasn’t right, she told herself. But… why not?
The next moment another wave of warmth hit her, washing away all counter-arguments to her feelings. That was when she let the truth flow through her and she felt freer than she had ever felt before. She was in love.
Sometime that was still closer to midday than evening, Sol-Acrima, seat of the worship of Kardin and the humans’ capital city, came into clear view.
“I hate to say this,” Stefi said in an awestruck voice, “but it’s beautiful.”
“And I hate to say that I agree with you,” Sansonis added.
“Yup,” Ifaut said. “Shiny!”
Before them, sprawling alongside the sea before climbing majestically up the face of a cliff, lay their destination. In front of the city itself was a vast harbor that had formed centuries ago when the hillside had blown itself apart with unfathomable violence. The same explosion had left behind a deep caldera. Any ships moored within were guaranteed a safe resting place, protected from the strong southerly winds by the rocks looming from the water.
Further back from the harbor, and rising in giant’s steps hewn from the dead earth, perched the lower quarters of the capital: bustling merchant levels into which scores of visiting ships unloaded their cargoes. They seemed to rise to dizzying heights above the caldera, finally giving way to the truly shining upper reaches that overlooked the sea. The soaring buildings of the rich and the church spires towered high above the sea, palatial in their grandeur and made from materials sourced from all across Feregana: cedar from the Terania Forest north of Acharn; the famed marble of many hues from the eastern Sumarana mountains; and the strangely luminescent stone columns hauled from the storm-riven ruins of Alzandia.
From either side of the crescent harbor two lighthouses reached up the cliff-face, stabbing skywards. They were built from blocks of pink and white Sumaranan marble, and their colors seemed to shift in the sunlight. At each of their tops sat a great array of mirrors. Come night great fires were lit within so that they cast their light over the seas to warn and guide ships through the darkness. And by day those same mirrors cast rays of light across the sea and city.
Stefi, holding Cédes’s shaking hand, had nearly finished describing the capital when the Furosan interrupted.
“And are there two towers of light?” she asked nervously.
Stefi blinked rapidly in surprise. “How do you know that?”
“Because… I have seen this place before, in my dreams.”
“Like in a vision?”
“No. More of a shard of a vision,” Cédes said. “Something not quite whole, if you understand.”
“I think so,” Stefi said, completely the opposite of how she really thought. Even though she could talk to ferrets, she had no idea of the inner workings of a Furosan’s mind. Especially one that could see the future.
As the Valtela drew so close that they could make out the vague shapes of people, there was a great noise like crashing surf and the boat began to slow, now drifting on the shoreward breeze.
“She’s gone,” Stefi said with sadness in her voice. She had to admit she’d grown, as Sansonis would say, rather fond of the watery ferret. Her knowledge on the past Fieretka (even if she kept it to herself) and their next destination, along with her somewhat strange, changeable emotions had made her a welcome presence. Reflected in her watery eyes Stefi imagined she could see parts of herself, both what was visible and what was not, reflections that could help her through what might well be the most dangerous part of her journey. Reflections, perhaps, that might prevent the present mirroring the past.
At that moment the sun reached such a point that as it shone upon the great mirrors, one of the towers threw a dazzling beam straight at the Valtela.
Cédes screamed, a high-pitched peal that made Rhaka cringe in pain. A golden shaft of light struck her in the eyes with such force that it might as well have been solid. Her legs collapsed beneath her and she fell, still screaming horrifically and with blind eyes burning in agony, to her knees.
“Cédes? Cédes!” Stefi shouted. The Furosan’s screaming rang in her ears. She knelt down and tried to wrap a comforting arm about her shoulder. It sprang back just as she touched her. She looked at her hand as her ears felt ready to bleed in pain. It was singed. Cédes was aflame.
Ignoring the pain, Stefi grasped Cédes’s shoulder, shaking her until the screaming and flames subsided. The two collapsed in an ungainly heap. Cédes barely moved.
“What… happened?” Stefi panted as she sat up and cradled Cédes’s head in her hands.
Cédes turned her red eyes upward, feeling like she was trying to push the world with the effort. “Stefi…” she said. “Everyone…” Her voice fell flat and hoarse from her raw throat. “I have had a vision,” she whispered so that the humans had to lean closer to hear her, “triggered by the light from those towers, the light that illuminated the lost shards of a shattered vision containing them. They have reformed, forming a near-legible
Sansonis restrained her, struggling under her surprising strength. The muscles in her arm were taut and strained like bowstrings.
“Fire,” she sobbed, although her eyes remained disturbingly dry. “Death at my hands. I cannot continue! Turn back!”
“What is it? What did you see?” Stefi asked. The raw pain in hands had become a distant throbbing, far removed from her body. But she knew it couldn’t compare to the anguish of Cédes’s mind.
“Two of us will perish in this accursed place,” she managed to say. “Two of us will perish through my blame… and there is nothing we can do to stop it.”