Deadtired

Chapter Seventeen — Naval Novelties

The Flameskimmer pushed away from the pier with a smidge of effort from our cultivator hosts. The outer disciples used some oars to make distance between the ship and the docks, then Captain Ashmud unfurled just a bit of sail that caught the wind with a snap, and off we went.

"We've got the winds at our backs," the captain said. "We'll make good time if it keeps up. I don't know if we'll be able to make land overnight, but we'll get to the opposite shore by morning."

"Good good good," Cinder said. She stood on the foredeck, right behind the ship's prow where it was cutting through the ashy surface of the lake. "I don't want to spend any more time on this lake than I need to."

"You dislike the lake?" I asked.

The young woman nodded. "It's... not a good environment for me or for my cultivation. I do not want to have such a glaring weakness, but I have no choice in the matter. These waters are not suitable for me to fight upon."

"I see," I said. "Do you measure everything on the scales of how easily you could fight upon it?"

Cinder tilted her head to the side slightly. "No, sometimes I measure things on the scale of how well I could fight it, other times on the scale of how well I could evade it. There are some cultivators that only measure things in relation to how easily they could defeat that thing. Those cultivators tend to die at their first meeting with a true adversary."

"Ah, yes, that kind of person. I encountered my share of similar adventurers in my day. Young men and women who saw the world painted in shades tinted by ego and self-confidence. Strange colours those."

Cinder nodded. "Here, the world is grey on grey, and it is always willing to kill you. It's one of the more valuable lessons the sect has to teach."

"The subtle art of running away?" I asked.

"I don't know if it's all that subtle, but yes."

"Subtle or not, it is very valuable," I said. "I might be quite a bit stronger than I once was, but even I have retreated from my fair number of kerfuffles."

Cinder eyed me for a moment. "I find that hard to believe. You are... powerful."

"I think that I'm undoubtedly well-versed in several magical arts and I'm a well-read scientist. That certainly gives me an edge. Add to that the undeath and millenia of experience and I suspect that I'd be a formidable foe for most. But I wasn't always this way."

Cinder nodded slowly. "Some of the elders of the sect have that same kind of humility. They are at the height of their power now, even in their old age, but they still recall a time when their cultivation wasn't as far ahead. They like to remind the rest of us about it."

"That's sensible. It's a good reminder that even the greats were once beginners. It takes a lot of effort and thousands of mistakes before you reach a level where you are no longer making a fool of yourself. It's commendable to remind others that you, yourself, were once awful at the things you are now great at."

"I suppose so," Cinder said. "And you were once awful yourself?"

"Of course! My interest in the arcane began... why, I was just a small child. But I, too, was unable to properly cast prestidigitation once. It took long laborious hours, years of work and practice, before I grew in skill and knowledge enough to call myself an expert. I think the only thing that set me apart at that time was that expertise was not enough for me. I wanted more than mere mastery. I wanted to be the perfect caster."

"You strove for the heavens, and you reached them," Cinder replied. "For all that you profess a dislike of cultivators at times, you-and no offence is meant by this-have certain traits in common."

"Hmm, I suppose I might," I replied.

The captain deployed all of the sail that he could, then he snapped at Char and Greyflake, setting the two of them to rowing even though we were still picking up speed. I suspected that part of the reason for that was to break up the surface of the lake. The oars churned up the ashen surface, allowing the ship to better cut through the muddy waters.

As we picked up some speed, the ship rose out of the water slightly. A clever trick with the sails acting as foils. It meant that we were soon skimming along the surface at a respectable speed. I leaned over the front of the ship to take a look at the prow, and discovered that it was quite thin, acting as a blade through the water, and it had small curved planks along its side that pushed the ship upwards as it moved.

That was some impressive engineering, moreso even than the complex system of oars, even if this part was entirely stationary.

"Ah! You've figured out our secret," Captain Ashmud said as he ambled over. He was entirely comfortable on the swaying, bucking deck.

"Indeed. It's some clever work. Is there an enchantment to lighten the ship as well?" I asked.

The captain grinned. "Aye! There is. That cost a fair deal as well. We had to have those lightened parts enchanted at the capital. It's just the beams that make up the frame of the ship. The rest is unenchanted, for the most part. Still, those are some of the heaviest parts of the vessel. The mast is enchanted as well. It keeps our centre of weight a little lower."

"Impressive," I said. "How did you come up with all of this?"

"Lots of tiny models," he said with confidence.

That was fair. Working at scale was often a fantastic way of experimenting on the effects of a larger-scale project.

I had a number of experiments that relied on that kind of trick. Once, I recreated an entire nation at one-hundredth of its original size within a mage tower. It took up an entire floor of the tower, and I needed catwalks to be able to traverse the scaled terrain without damaging it.

It had served as a fantastic testbed for the first undead officers I trained. A space for them to manoeuvre and give orders to simulated armies in order to get a feel for what a real engagement would be like.

"You mentioned that we would be arriving by morning?" I asked.

"That's right," he replied.

"In that case, I'll retire for the evening. Thank you for your time, Captain, and yours as well, Miss Cinder."

"It was a pleasure," Cinder replied with a short bow. The captain was a little less formal, nodding to me before returning to his work.

I made my way down into the lower deck of the ship and discovered Alex folding some clothes up and placing it into a small chest fixed to the wall. "Are you putting things away so soon?" I asked. "We'll only be aboard for a day."

"Maybe, but during that day things will be in their place. And it's hardly an imposition to pack up in a hurry when we leave. Besides, packing things is a good way to know what you have. It's like a tiny spring cleaning."

"I see," I replied. I glanced around the room. Rem was cursing in a low murmur while stabbing her scythes into a cloth. She seemed quite annoyed at her inability to fold it. Mem, meanwhile, had her face pressed up against a small glass porthole. She jumped every time a wave splashed up against the glass, but was quick to approach it again.

I suspected that she was fishing for a view under the water.

Heh. Fishing!

"Did Daddy have a nice chat with Miss Cinder and Captain Ashmud?" Alex asked.

"I did," I said. "You could hear it from here?"

Alex's ears twitched. "Yes. I have great hearing for that kind of thing. A proper maid always listens, and always knows the latest gossip."

I nodded. That only made sense. "And what do you think of said latest gossip?"

Alex paused in the act of folding some pants. "Hmm. I think that Papa Bones is kind to share his wisdom, but I don't know if these cultivators can appreciate it, even if knowing about their weakness makes them stronger."

Rem scoffed. "That's stupid. Being weak means you're weak. That's so simple even Mem gets it."

"I do?" Mem asked.

"Shut up, Mem."

"Okay."

I rubbed my chin. How could I explain this?

Actually, I could explain it in depth and at great length. It would then be up to Rem to listen and learn. "Do you know what a power fantasy is?" I asked.

Rem tilted her head. "No?"

"Well then, let me explain. Don't worry, this will only take a few hours."

* * *

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Chapter Eighteen — Opinionated Options

Chapter Eighteen — Opinionated Options

The Flameskimmer's hull grated as it rubbed against the sandy shore and came to a slow but definitive stop. "We're here," Captain Ashmud said, rather unnecessarily. I was standing on the topdeck already, and had been for some hours.

The winds had been kind to us overnight, and had pushed the Flameskimmer towards the distant shores of the lake. The two young cultivators, Greyflake and Char, had split their time between rowing and resting all night long once the captain determined that it would be possible for us to reach the shore early.

By his estimation, they'd have to do a lot less work this way than if the voyage was spread over a longer period. It was, according to him, better for them to be challenged hard than to take things at an even pace.

He wasn't entirely wrong. In my experience, growth happened a lot faster under adversity, and when there wasn't any natural adversity to be found, then one could always create some for themselves.

"It'll be nice to step on land once more," I said.

"Oh?" the captain asked. "Didn't have time to develop sea-legs, did you?"

"It's not an issue of dexterity, it's just that I'm far more shore-footed on land. Ohoho!" I cracked myself up, moreso at the look of confused disgust that crossed the captain's visage.

"Thank you captain," Alex said with a small, polite bow. "We appreciate your assistance in crossing the lake. Please forgive Bone Daddy. He had been on a boat for an entire day, and barely made a single quip about it. He is trying very hard."

"I've a-mast a vast collection of nautical wordplay, I'll have you know. It's knot so easy to deny my berth-right this way. It's practically my pierpose to find new and interesting waves to drown people in perfectly palatable puns!"

Alex cringed. "Daddy, no."

"Ah..." I said as I scanned the deck. The young outer disciples were spitting blood, and even Cinder seemed a little distressed. "Perhaps it's aboat time I stop?"

"I-it was nice having you aboard, sir," the captain said. He gave me a rather tremulous handshake, then quickly showed me where the gangplank was located.

We had very little by means of baggage to carry, only the few things that Alex had brought, really, but the outer disciples assisted us anyway, carrying our bags to the shore and clearing the immediate area of any threats.

"Will you be waiting for us?" Cinder asked the captain.

Captain Ashmud nodded gravely. "For three days and three nights. We'll be just off the shore, far enough into the waters that nothing will be able to get to us, yet close enough to the edge of the lake so that the monsters dwelling in the deep won't be tempted. If you're not here within that time, I'll have to assume the worst, or that you found your own way back home."

Cinder bowed. "Thank you. Stay safe."

"Stay safe," the captain agreed. Then he started to bark for his juniors to come back.

"Mem doesn't understand," Mem said.

I turned to the mantis girl... person? Actually, now that I considered it, I had never really asked Mem about her age or level of maturity compared to others of her species. Was she considered a youth? That might explain some things. "What do you fail to understand?" I asked as I started towards the gangplank.

Alex launched off the ship and landed on the shore, then fixed his skirts. Rem tried the same, but mantises were not made for jumping the way a cat was, and she ended up splashing on the beach.

"We're travelling to go home, right?" Mem asked. "Where Mom is, so that you can kill her?"

"I think that's what others want of me, yes," I said. "Whether or not I do kill your mother will depend a lot on how she acts. I am not a rogue or assassin who is so easily swayed into doing the dirty work of others."

Mem followed me down the plank, then stared as I started walking across the water-I didn't want any in my shoes. "Can Mem do that?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure," I replied before tossing a slight enchantment her way. Mem tentatively placed a leg down, and when her foot didn't pierce the surface, she jumped off the plank and stabbed all six limbs down at the water.

Then she started to bounce around, using her newfound buoyancy to use the water as a large trampoline of sorts.

I walked to the shore, Mem bouncing around me like an excited dog until we were both on dry ground. "So, what was it that you didn't understand?" I asked.

Mem shrugged. "Forgot."

"Ah, well, if you recall, let Alex or myself know," I said before turning to Cinder. "Do you know where we're going from here?" I asked.

Cinder nodded. "I do. Though we have... options."

"Oh? I would have expected you to want to go straight to the source of all your woes."

Cinder made a small ambivalent gesture. "I would like that, yes. As would the sect. Taking care of the Mother of Mantises would solve many of our problems. The trip is precarious, but not overly difficult. Her nest resides at the top of this mountain, in a crater of sorts above it. The source of all this ash."

"But you have something else in mind?" I asked.

Cinder acquiesced. "I do. This is for your benefit, mostly. Or perhaps that of your... apprentice?"

Well, now I was curious. "And is this something the sect would rather avoid?"

"Not necessarily, though I might be reprimanded for making the offer. But it's just us, now."

I nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"There is a large clan of dwarves who make this range their home. They have been here since time immemorial, living beneath these mountains in their dwarven cities. There are records of great wars between them and the empire. The last of these ended with the installation of the Mantis queen above. This was long, long ago."

"I presume that you're offering to lead me to these dwarves?"

"I suspect-and this is mostly conjecture on my part-that the reason that the dwarves have been so quiet for the last few centuries is the presence of the goddess above them. The ash here isn't kind to them, and her influence over the mountains keeps them below. Her many children are a very real threat within the tunnels."

"Oh, dwarves are those chewy little humans?" Rem asked. She rubbed her scythes against her mouth. "They crunch. Tricksy little ones, with dangerous tools, but they're slow. Easy to ambush."

Cinder tilted her head a little towards Rem, who was doing a good job of proving her point.