Golm

Golm - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I woke up by myself or maybe the bed woke me up. My sleep was so good; I felt no aching, nor any drowsiness. I was trying to get out of bed, by the softness kept absorbing my hands, but as soon as I thought about the bed being a little harder, then magically, the bed hardened! So I got out with ease after that. I stood up and stretched. I peered through the window. Through the metropolis of water, I saw the sun, which had just set and the moon, which was full, up in the sky.
I turned around and looked at my bed. It was a very smart bed. The perfection of it all and the extra things that made it more than perfect, were still unbelievable. It even molded downwards for my tail too. All sleeps had been a little uncomfortable to sleep on my back, because my tail would get squashed and become numb. But the bed fixed that; it was just too good.
Though the real mystery was how Maurna created it and how she designed it to be so perfect just by asking a few questions. She did say that she would answer all my questions at this feast. This feast must be some kind of celebration for me or something else, I thought.
Then I heard something, “It is a welcoming feast for you and the Aquasian’s break fast.”
I jumped and looked around, I asked, “Who said that?” The voice that explained the feast was in my head, but I didn’t think it at all.
I got a strange feeling and looked at my bed. I asked, “Did you just talk to me?” There was a long pause. I shook my head and laughed. I must have been stupid to think my bed spoke. I walked over to where I threw my shirt, socks and shoes.
As I went to grab my shirt, I heard in my head again. “That was me who spoke to you, Herridan.”
I jumped again and raised my voice, “Let me get this straight. You can talk to me?”
“Yes I can, I’m doing it right now.”
I got cautious and demanded, “How do you know my name?” A pause.
Then the blob of water spoke inside my head again, “You know that. I read your mind at all times, so I can make you comfortable.”
I relaxed a little. I crossed my arms and turned my tail at it and suggested, “Well then prove it! What number am I thinking of?”
The bed waited for me to choose and as soon as I made my decision, the bed answered, “You had no number. You were waiting for me to guess the wrong number, and you would have admitted that your number was 0.123456789 after I guessed the wrong number. Do you believe me now?”
My tail and my mouth dropped. I turned back to the bed and asked it, “Did you see my dream?”
“Yes I did.”
“Will you tell anybody?”
“No I can’t. I can only speak to you or my creator.”
I was relieved. I finished putting on my clothes and I began to walk to the door. I stopped and asked the bed, “How long until the feast?”
It answered, “I woke you up one half hour before it begins. You have ten minutes left.”
I thanked it and took a few steps more, but stopped. I asked, “Do you have a name?”
The bed thought about what to say for a second, then explained, “I am just a living being made from Aquasian water. I have no purpose, but to fill out my reason for being summoned; in this case, for your sleeping comforts. I have no name. I am not important enough to need one either.”
I comforted it by telling it, “You are very important to me. You are very smart and nice. Remind me to name you when I get back.” It agreed.
I got outside on the balcony and I guessed to get down to the ground, would be the same process to get up. So I looked at one of the circles on the ground and concentrated. Nothing happened. Then I remembered. I thought, “ground floor.” The ground shook for a split second and water burst out from below my feet. The water continued forward and arched. Once it finished and got to the floor, it solidified a little and made ripples. I stood on the ripples and was carried off to the ground. I got to the floor and got off. The water went back into the circle.
I continued forward to the very large table in the center of the floor and noticed some Aquasians waiting at the table. I saw Maurna sitting at a chair near the end. I walked over to her and asked her, “Where do I sit?”
She pointed to the chair at the end. “That’s your seat, the guest chair.”
I walked a few steps, then turned back and asked her, “Do you know what we’ll be eating? Because if we’re eating something really messed up, I don’t want to insult you by not eating.”
She answered, “We are eating fish like we always do. The fish is so delicious, I can’t see how any one would turn them down.”
I asked her for good luck, “Are the fish dead and cooked?”
She explained, “We can eat all we want outside, but the fish would be live. At our break fast, we kill and prepare the fish. They are not heated. If you want I’ll go ask the cook to heat yours?” I agreed and she left.
I walked over to my chair and sat in it. It was wooden and had an arch on the top for an Aquasian tail, but no hole down below for me. I ignored it. I mainly thought about how hungry I was. I hadn’t had a decent meal, since the morning before the tournament, three days ago. I saw all the Aquasians go to their seats, then the flow of people stopped. There was no more Aquasians left and there were only about 20 at the table. They were right, Aquasians are an endangered specie.
The talking amongst them stopped when one Aquasian walked from a room and announced, “Please rise for his majesty, King Libben!” I rose for him and so did everyone else. He stepped out from a room on the ground floor. He looked like a normal Aquasian, from toes to tail, to arms to tentacles. The thing that made him special looking was that he was about eight feet tall and about 200 of those short, breathing tentacles all over the back side of him. As soon as he sat down at the other end of the table, facing me, we all sat down.
He looked around and smiled. He looked at Maurna and nodded, then he noticed me. He stared at me for a while, then he waved his tentacle across the room. He announced with his deep, low voice, “Ah, it’s so wonderful having a guest here. In case some of you don’t know, this is Herridan. I have heard great things of him and expect greater things from him in the future. He will be staying with us for some time, for he is wanted by the Emperor. Please don’t let his odd appearance and actions alarm you. I’m sure he feels the same way about us. Our magic must be very overwhelming for him, isn’t it?”
At first I didn’t know that he was talking to me, but I realized that he had asked me something. I answered, “Yes it has been too much.”
He then asked, “I’ve also heard that you haven’t eaten in days?”
I answered, “Yes.”
Then he stood up and shouted, “Well let’s not keep you waiting any longer.” He clapped his tentacles and ordered, “Bring in the feast.”
Only two Aquasians came with food. They had carts with a bunch of plates on them. They walked down the side of the table giving every body a plate of fish. They were all very happy to get food. When one of them got to me, (I was guessing), she stopped and took a close look at me. She said, “You must be the tail man. You’re a strange looking fellow. Maurna asked me to cook your food, I don’t know how you could eat that, but who am I to judge?” She handed me a plate with a big fish on it. I was thankful she didn’t over cook it, but she did under cook it a little.
I looked around the table for a fork and knife, but I couldn’t see any. I asked the cook before she left, “Where are the forks and knives? Or do you use your hands?” She pointed to her arm and gave it a ripple. I guess that meant I had to eat with my hands. I wiped my hands on my shirt. I remembered that I had a huge cut across my chest, when my hand went over it. It still stung a little. I ignored that pain and sought to satisfy another; hunger! I ripped a piece and started to bring it up, but I noticed every one at the table staring at me.
King Libben stared, but then burst out laughing. After he finished, he said, “Where’s you manners? You really are a tail man. You must wait for me to give you permission to eat.” I sat there holding the piece of fish inches from my mouth. The King waited for a while, then he said, “You may now feast!” I ate the fish. It tasted like fish sticks, only better. I ate the whole fish in at least a minute. I leaned back a little and patted my stomach. I said to myself, “That fish was very filling and delicious.”
Though when I looked around everyone else was done and looking at the terrible mess I had made. Their plates were empty, meaning they must have eaten their fish whole. The King was staring at me, then he joked, “You take your time, young one. We’ve all finished and are waiting for you.” I felt discouraged that eating a 3 lb fish in a minute was slow.
I began to get out of my chair, but Maurna called, “Herridan! Stay and talk. I am sure you have many questions to ask.”
I sat back down and asked her, “So this is the ‘later’ you’ve been saying? It’s about time.” I began my first question, but I was interrupted.
The King spoke, “You do know that it’s polite for the host to speak first? We all have questions for you.”
I shrugged and told him, “Make an asking circle.”
He didn’t know what I was talking about, but he explained to me, “We will ask you in order around the table.”
I gave him a stupid look and thought, “Kind of what I just asked you to do.” He pointed to someone beside him. The person looked at me and asked, “How are you so talented with the sword?”
I was afraid of that question, because I’d have to explain my life’s story. I stood up and spoke to everybody, “Hopefully this will answer lots of you’re questions. This is my story until now…”
I laid it down to them. I told them everything that had happened. My foster parents, my crash, my dream, my adventures on my own, how I got to Golm, how I met Channdis, the tournament, the trial and how Maurna saved me. From page #1 until now. They all hung on to every word I said. When I finally finished, after about an hour, the King started to clap. He stood up and said to me, “My oh my, you’ve had quite the struggle young boy. Is all that you say true?” I nodded. He looked around the table; then he asked every body, “Does anybody still have some questions?”
One Aquasian stood up from his chair and asked me, “How old are you now then?”
I would have answered that, but I haven’t seen a calendar that I knew how to read in a long, long time. So I pulled out my only readable calendar; my tail. My tail still had continued its one millimeter a day growth. I did a close estimation and added what I remembered from my life and the seasons. I answered, “My 23rd birthday should be in about 2 months.” He nodded and sat down.
Then another Aquasian stood up and asked me, “What’s a coma?”
I remembered that they had no scientific knowledge, so I explained, “It’s a deep sleep that you can’t get woken up by anything. You wake up by yourself or you die.”
After he sat down, another one asked me a question, “Why are you’re breathing tentacles so thin and are yellow? Why do you have so many?”
I rolled my eyes and explained, “I guess you’ve never had a good look at some one like me.” I grabbed my hair. “This is my hair, it keeps my head warm, because my kind makes its own heat. We have to be warm to survive. Anything else about my body, before I stop?” She shook her head. No one stood up for a while. King Libben asked if there were any more questions, but no one had any. Now it was my turn to get some answers.
I turned to Maurna and asked, “Who sent you to kill me at the tournament?”
She sighed and turned to me. “The Water Element ordered me to, as a test.”
I asked, “A test for what?”
She replied, “A test for you. The Element knew of your presence and wanted to confirm the prophecies.”
“What prophecies?”
“The ones about you. The Element believes you are Golm’s last hope.”
“For what?”
“Stopping Runar.”
I slowed down for a second and asked, “What is this Water Element?”
She explained, “It is the guardian spirit for all that is water and pure.”
I guessed, “And is there three other Elements, Wind, Earth and Fire?”
She looked surprised, “How did you know?”
I bragged, “I thing we call Final Fantasy.”
She continued, “Well, what ever you say. The Wind Element is all the sky and the laws. The Earth Element is all the land and the majority of people of the world. The Fire Element is evil and chaos, but also love. Alone the Elements are wise and will help us, but when they meet each other… they don’t get along” I rubbed the fuzz of hair under my chin.
The elements seemed to be the balance of everything in Golm. If there were an unbalance, the results would be catastrophic.
I asked Maurna, “So when you were summoning my bed and when we thought of where our rooms were, that was us commanding the Element?”
She shook her head, “Not exactly. The Element listens to everything, but won’t be commanded by some one who isn’t from the Element’s race.”
I asked, “Race?”
“All the elements have races or ranks. Water has fish and us. Earth has all the ranks you’ve seen in villages, Sages and the dead. Wind has the birds and royalty, such as King Banokkon. Fire is the unpredictable one. It has love and light, warriors who would give their lives for peace, but Fire also has creatures like Runar and many demons who dwell underneath.”
So Channdis and I were Earth and Maurna was Water. Elesia was Wind and Runar was Fire. Pieces were added and put together in my little puzzle, but I still didn’t see the picture. Though why was I able to use water magic, when I am Earth? I decided to ask that, “Why can I command my bed and the water bridges when you said I couldn’t?”
She answered, “I had gotten permission from the Water Element for you to use its magic.”
There were a few more questions I had to ask. “So you survived my attack at the tournament because of your regeneration, Maurna?”
She nodded and complimented, “Yes you’re right. Might I add a very smart way of fooling the Runar of my death. Oh, sorry about the cut.”
I rubbed it and told her, “Yeah, it really stings.”
“Maybe we’ll get some one to treat that later.”
I continued, “Who sent you to save me?”
She smiled, “Why you’re love, Princess Elesia. She couldn’t bear the fact of your death, so she flew over here, asked one of our land guards to speak to me. She told me to save you, because we had known each other for a while and she trust me. Also with my liquid body and magic, She thought it would be an easy escape.”
I knew now that Elesia loved me; I felt happy. There were a few more questions I needed to clear up, though. I asked Maurna, “Why is Solwashi in a giant floating sphere of water?”
Maurna explained, “Ever since the attack, we have lived in this sanctuary. After the attack, we did our greatest water summon ever. We enclosed Solwashi in the sphere and placed it thousands of feet in the sky. We connected it with some other rivers, like the one we swam through to get here. No one can get in or out with out drowning. Though you got here with my assistance.”
I asked, “Doesn’t your magic wear off? How long has Solwashi been up here?”
Maurna pointed out a window and told me, “Look outside and see why.”
I shrugged and got up. I walked over to the window she had pointed to; I peeped out it. I was surprised to see that we were on land. The sphere of water was in a crater, so we looked like an ordinary lake from a distance.
I walked back to the table and guessed, “The sun gives the water the power to stay in the air and rotate the pyramid.” Both Maurna and King Libben nodded. Then some thing hit me. I asked Maurna, “So is this pyramid, those three stars that are red, blue and yellow and spin around and tell fortunes?”
The King nodded and asked, “The stars are actually the last bit of light reflecting off the corners of this pyramid. The rotating is when the pyramid falls and spins. The colours do tell fortunes. What did you see?”
I answered, “I saw blue.”
He nodded and mumbled, “That’s always the start of a journey.”
I asked the King, “What was this attack Maurna talked about?” The King didn’t want to answer.
After a long pause, Maurna pointed out, “We do not speak of it. Please get it off your mind.”
I pondered for a second, then I asked another question to the King. “Why do you have so many breathing tentacles? Everyone else has two, you have like, two hundred!”
He chuckled and explained, “When ever the previous King decides he wants to give up his throne, he’ll give all his breathing tentacles to the new King. The new King must keep and carry on the tradition.” I nodded and understood.
Though one question was still on my mind. So I asked Maurna, “My bed can talk. Is that normal?”
Maurna half laughed, “Any water that we summon that has its own intelligence is supposed to talk. They’re fallen Aquasians that don’t remember their past lives.” I nodded slowly, thinking that basically I had slept on a talking dead guy last night.
I asked one last question before I was done, “If no one can get to Solwashi when it’s up in the sky. How does it stay protected on when it’s in this crater?”
The King answered, “We have thirty men patrolling the perimeter, no one can be seen, especially with our great sight in the dark. Plus the exact location of Solwashi is known by very few people, so chances of attacks are extremely rare and the Princess and Channdis are some who know where Solwashi is. But even so, your sword skills would be appreciated just in case of the chance of an attack.” He remembered his first comment, sighed and spoke to himself, “To bad thirty men is most of our race.” I heard what he said, but I don’t think he wanted me to.
Everyone started to leave. I got out of my chair too. Then a guard ran through a door and shouted to the King, “There is a intruder inside!”
Libben stood up and shouted to him, “Well find the intruder, before something happens!”
He ran back through the door. I wanted to pull out my sword, but I didn’t have it. Runar had it. There was nothing for me to do. Maurna had told me that they would find the intruder very quickly. I looked at the King and thought, “Right, no one can get past the patrols.”
But like Maurna said, very quickly, a guard shouted from the top floor, “Found her!” In no time, the water staircase came up and the guard brought the intruder down. But to my biggest surprise the intruder was, Elesia! Maurna and the King both realized that it was the Princess and asked the guard to let her go. After she was released, she looked around and saw me. She broke a tear and ran towards me. I got over the shock of seeing her and ran to her. We met and hugged. Then she kissed me quickly.
She stopped and said to me, “Oh I’m so glad you’re alive! I couldn’t bear the fact of loosing you!” She burst in tears, “I love you!” She clung on to me again.
I put my head on her shoulder and stroked her wings and calmed her by saying, “There there. I’m Ok. We’re together again.” Though I couldn’t believe she told me in front of my face, that she loved me.
I let go of her and asked, “Why have you come here?” Her joy turned to fear. “It’s terrible Herridan! Runar has learned of your escape and he’s offering a reward of 100 000 GC for your head! He’s furious! And in his rage…” She didn’t want to finish. She hung her head and started to cry.
I lifted her head up and asked, “What? What happened?”
Elesia was still full of tears, but she explained. “I…I…I was reading a story in my chamber when Runar burst through my door! He thought I was hiding you, but I denied it. He started to hurt me, he grabbed my neck and choked me.” She poured a few tears, then continued. “Then Father came in, after hearing all the screams. He saw Runar hurting me, so he pulled out his sword and stabbed Runar. Though it didn’t hurt him at all. Father ordered me to fly away. I didn’t want to leave him alone.” She screamed in emotional pain, “Runar was crushing his head and he still told me to fly.” She stopped and weeped more.
I picked up her head again and wiped her tears, “What did you do?” She put her head on my chest and I rubbed her back with my tail.
She finished, “I flew out the window and came here. But I saw father through the window while I was in the air… his head was gone. Runar was laughing.”
She absolutely exploded in tears after that. “He’s dead! That monster murdered him. He gave his life for mine and it all happened so fast. I can still hear the screaming, the grunting and the splatter…” I was shocked, though I remained cool. I continued to hold her and comfort her. She got angry, “That Runar has hurt too many people! He just won’t stop and he can’t stop; he is immortal!”
She stepped away from me. She told me, “Oh well. It doesn’t matter now. You’re alive and well.” I didn’t know what she was saying. She continued, “I flew away, but I came back later with a plan. I rallied five of my best soldiers and they will be here tomorrow.”
I asked her, “Why did you gather soldiers?”
She put on a game face and told me, “Runar has gone too far.” She reached behind her back. She pulled out a sword, but not any sword, my sword!
She said, “Here, I managed to get this when I recruited the men.” She handed it to me and I took it. It felt good again to hold a sword.
I told her, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go after Runar so soon. I know you’re upset, but I still need to heal and I still need to see how desperate Runar is to kill me. Please Elesia, let’s just calm down.” Elesia knew that I was right, so she wiped her tears and tried to get happy.
She turned around and looked at Libben, Maurna and the other Aquasians. She walked over to Maurna and thanked her, “Thank you Maurna, for saving Herridan. You will be rewarded.”
Maurna said, “Your welcome your highness, but no reward is necessary.”
Elesia nodded and walked to Libben and thanked him, “Thank you for letting Herridan and myself stay here.” The King gave a startled looked, when she mentioned herself staying, but he didn’t mind.
Elesia and I walked outside and both took the dry way outside, through an air tunnel on a bridge and walked through the forest that was hiding Solwashi, together.