Chapter 6: A Tense Encounter
Sam and Calista reluctantly allowed Lazula to travel with them. They took turns keeping night watch as the ship sailed along, rotating every two hours so that all three of them were somewhat well-rested by morning.
Calista had stocked the galley with magically-preserved food, so they were able to make a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, and potatoes - and only came close to burning the ship down twice!
"We really need to find someone to teach us how to cook properly," Sam said with a chuckle.
As the three of them ate their breakfast, they spread the map Calista had retrieved across the table. It showed the western half of the Sapphire Sea sitting between two continents - Jagrasar to the south and Kravica to the north. The two landmasses were much closer together at the western end, and the Strait of Gorzon passed between them.
On the other side of the Strait was Shannarport, and then the expanse of the Unseelie Blue beyond that, which dominated most of the map. There was also a huge swirl drawing just north of Shannarport that encompassed many miles of ocean.
"What is the Spiral Stream?" Sam asked as he pointed at the title of the swirl labeled on the map. "It looks huge!"
"Big storm," Lazula explained, spreading out her arms to indicate the size. "It’s been in that exact spot for centuries, just spinning endlessly. Some say it’s from an ancient Unseelie weapon that exploded and caused the space around it to become magically unstable, but no one really knows."
"Damn..." Sam replied.
"We should arrive at Shannarport after one more day of sailing," Calista said as she studied the map. "Does that sound about right, Lazula?" The elf nodded.
The following morning, Shannarport creeped into view on the horizon. As they drew closer, they heard a booming, magically-amplified voice ring out.
"You are surrounded! Drop your cloaking spell now!" cried out their unseen observer. A moment later, the air around them began to shimmer, revealing a flotilla of vessels on all sides, matching their speed. They had been cloaked as well.
The crews of these ships were humans, elves, fauns, gnomes, and many other races. They were all wearing fancy white coats with gold trim, and shield-shaped pins over their chests depicting a gold fist held up in victory. Lazula recognized it immediately.
"Fuck! It’s the Paragon Navy!" she explained in a hushed whisper. "They have a hard on for hanging pirates!"
"You are not responding swiftly enough!" the leader of the naval officers yelled out. She then snapped her fingers and made Calista’s cloaking spell vanish against her will. She then locked eyes with their new elf friend. "Lazula Rose. We meet again."
"Captain Verricka... Kindly fuck off, would ya?" Lazula said as she held up her hands, blue electricity crackling at her fingertips.
"I will not," the tall orc woman said with a grin. "We’ve just finished rounding up the rest of your crew. We uncovered a nefarious plot they were about to unleash upon Shannarport. You are under arrest as well. You and your companions will be escorted to the local jail until we can extradite you all back to stand trial before the High Court of Paragon City."
Lazula deactivated her electricity and just began laughing hysterically. "Sorry! Not gonna happen!" She then pushed off the deck with a gust of wind from her feet, landing on the roof of the cabin, and then began building a rapidly swirling ball of wind between her palms. "Hold on to something!"
"Wait, what?!" Sam cried out, followed by a "WHOA!" as Lazula unleashed the wind at the sails, sending them rocketing forward along the surface of the water at super speed.
"HEY!" the orc captain screamed out as they took off.
Sam noticed Lazula was not only propelling them forward with a constant flow of wings from her outstretched hands, but she was also mentally conjuring a teardrop-shaped energy barrier around them to shield them and the boat from any damage that they might endure from traveling so fast.
"We’re gonna have to use the Spiral Stream to escape!" Lazula cried out as the naval vessels were speeding along behind them in hot pursuit.
"WHAT?!" Sam and Lazula cried out in unison yet again.
"I’ll use my storm magic to guide us through!" Lazula promised.
As they neared the edge of the Spiral Stream, the entire horizon was dominated by a towering wall of dark storm clouds rushing past at intense speeds. It was like a tornado the size of a small continent. It was illuminated by rapid flashes of purple and green lightning. But there was no thunder, just a constant hum that got louder as they drew closer.
The sky around the top of the wall cloud was ignited in a brilliant display of multi-colored auroras that whipped around violently from the friction. The water along the Spiral was moving so fast that it sloped up from the rest of the ocean.
"Wow, this is so beautiful!" Calista said as they stood on the deck, watching the splendor of the lightshow.
The humming became much, much louder as they approached closer. Lazula used her wind to steer the ship into the storm at an angle, tilted nose-up as they ascended the slope of water. And then Sam and Calista fell flat on their backs as the ship was sucked into the wall cloud rapidly.
The humming became a deafening roar of violent wind. Sam and Calista struggled to rise to their feet, holding the captain’s wheel for support. They looked around in awe - and terror - as their ship was absolutely flying along a blurred tunnel of dark clouds and flashes of rainbow lights. The energy barrier of the protective ward was crackling and glowing from the sheer friction. Water vapor was rising from the ocean and whipping past them as white ribbons.
They were moving so fast - and the space around them was so magically unstable - that time seemed to lose all meaning as they rocketed along. It could have been minutes, hours, days, or even weeks before Lazula finally veered the ship back out of the storm.
They were momentarily blinded by bright light as they shot out into the sunshine again. The entire vessel was vibrating and skipping along the ocean like pebbles on a pond. Everything was rattling, only held together by the protective ward.
Lazula gradually slowed them to a stop, and then jumped off the roof of the cabin and dropped to her knees, exhausted. "Woo! What a rush!" she cried out with a weak cackle.