Chapter 36: The Snowy Island of Braska
The next morning, the girls woke up to find Sam gone. They walked out onto the deck, and found him up at the control panel. He had his eyes closed and was placing his hand on the crystal ball.
"Whatcha doing, Sam?" Calista was the first to ask as they walked up the stairs to join him.
He opened his eyes and shrugged. "I was trying to channel my own Mana into the crystal ball to see if that would recharge the ship, but it seems to take a different energy source."
"Oh, well, at least it was worth a try!" Gabrielle said.
"Hopefully we’ll get it figured out in Nexus City," Lazula added.
Later that day, they were sitting in the lounge, and Lazula was looking at her personal calendar. "My birthday is next month."
"Oh, well that’s something fun to look forward to!" Sam replied.
"But it feels odd - technically, I’m still nineteen for another month and a half, but we spent all that time in the Time Chamber, so I guess chronologically, I’m already twenty?" Lazula wondered with a shrug.
"That’s a good point," Sam replied. "Callie and I still have quite a few months until our nineteenth birthdays, but I guess chronologically, we’re already almost there..."
"Ugh, my brain hurts thinking about it," Calista added with a groan.
"I’m just like, wow, you guys were in a Time Chamber?" Gabriella said with a mind blown gesture. The others laughed and explained their training to her. Afterwards, she just replied with another "Wow..."
Before long, the four days of sailing passed, and early in the morning on the fifth day, they saw the snowy mountain island of Braska appear on the horizon. As they got closer, they immediately felt the temperature begin to drop. The air became sharper and crisper, and sea ice started to appear before their ship. They dressed in layers, trying to keep warm.
Eventually, the ice became so thick that they could not progress any further.
"We’ll need to circle around the island until we find the docks," Lazula explained. "They should have a stretch clear of ice for ships coming and going."
They sailed the Emerald Draconis around the edge of the ice barrier, and sure enough, they found a wide path with open waters, which were kept melted by enchanted heat lamps attached to floating log rafts.
As they drew closer to the docks, a snowy village came into view. All the buildings that they could see from the ship were lined along both sides of a main road, which had been cleared of snow. The road curved out of sight, seemingly heading into a valley between two small mountain ranges.
They found a clear dock to moor the Emerald Draconis, and then the four of them exited the ship and walked along the main road. The buildings closest to the docks were mostly merchant shops, including a vegetable store that had its own enchanted greenhouse. Beyond that was a larger building that had both an inn and a tavern.
"Oh, we can get stuff for our greenhouse from there!" Gabrielle said excitedly as she pointed to the vegetable store.
"And there’s a furniture shop!" added Calista.
"Wait a minute, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this before," Lazula said, then turned to Gabrielle. "If you can convert your Mana into plants and stuff, can you create wood furniture too?"
The druid shook her head. "Something like that is beyond my abilities. Solid wood is a lot more dense than loose plant fibers. The Night Watchers and the vines I create aren’t very strong or sturdy. The weight limit is probably the wet laundry we hang over it to dry, that’s about it. Otherwise I would have offered to create hammocks for us or something."
Lazula shrugged. "Oh well, we’ll just have to fork over the coin to buy more stuff then. No biggie."
They were approached by a man wearing thick furs and a leather vest with a shield design on the chest. "Good morning to you, dear travelers! I am Ser Maravont of the Braskan Guard. What brings you to our humble island on this lovely day?"
"Good morning to you as well!" Sam said as he greeted him with a smile and a handshake. "We’re headed for Nexus City, but are in need of supplies for our voyage. May we browse your shops? We bring plenty of coin with us."
"By all means!" he replied, flashing them a toothy grin and a wide-armed gesture. "Make yourselves at home!"
"Thank you, good Ser," Sam said with a nod of appreciation.
They spent the next hour checking out the shops, picking out furniture for the ship, new clothing, food for the kitchen, seeds and gardening tools for the greenhouse, etc. Each shop had a staff of workers who insisted on transporting everything they bought onto their ship for them.
"Wow, everyone is so nice here!" Gabrielle said cheerfully as they stood in the main road, watching groups of people carry their goods to the Emerald Draconis.
"I offered to help, but they wanted to do it themselves," Sam added. "I imagine they don’t get a lot of business here, so maybe they’re just happy to have something to do."
As they were standing there, Ser Maravont walked up to them. "Excuse me, mister... I don’t believe I ever got your name?"
"Samreon Qhou - I mean - Draconis. Sam Draconis," he replied. "Is there a problem?"
Maravont shook his head. "Not at all. To the contrary, it seems Her Majesty, Queen Regent Valanta would like to see you at the Royal Palace before you depart."
Sam raised his eyebrows. "Did she say what the visit pertains to?"
He shook his head. "She did not. She only requested your presence. If you would be so kind as to follow me, we’ve prepared a carriage for you."
Sam looked back at the girls, then shrugged. "Sure, why not. Let’s go."
The four of them followed Maravont to a fancy white carriage pulled by two snow white unicorns. Servants opened the doors, and they all slid onto the plush seats inside.
They rode along the cobblestone road as it curved into the valley, coming to a tall wall of ice between two mountains. The guards on either side of the road revealed themselves to be cryomancers as they performed a pulling back motion with their hands, causing two large blocks in the center of the ice wall to swing open like a giant set of double doors.
The carriage proceeded forward, and Sam and the girls were shocked to see an entire city hidden in the valley, log cabins and brick houses sitting along a gridwork of cobblestone streets. At the far end of a valley was a huge castle.
"Oh wow, you guys have an entire society here," Sam said to Maravont. "Very nice."
He smiled in response. "Thank you! It’s not very often we allow outsiders beyond the wall, but Her Majesty saw it fit to invite you in."
I wonder what this queen wants with us, Sam thought to himself. Hopefully it’s not some kind of trap...