“Ten for each island, though there hasn’t been anyone to fully master all three since they were locked inside the barrier. Usually the current Reaver only has three of each tattoo, though the leaders of the individual islands of course have ten circles in their own specialty,”
“What’s on the other small island?” Jala asked indicating the last piece of land in the Seravae isles chain.
“That’s the Isle of Souls where the bodies of the dead are sent. In some cases they keep their spirits. In others they don’t. If it was a hero or well respected figure in their society the soul continues on with the body. There is nothing worse to them than to allow the spirit to continue on to Death. They despise the goddess of Death and believe if a Soulreaver is strong enough he will return from the isles alive once more. If they are not well loved in their society, their soul is devoured by the Keepers of the island and the body is wrapped and burned with whatever ashes and bones remaining entombed in the cliffs,” she explained and fell silent as the room began to fill with people.
Jala looked up as the sound of grating chairs and murmurs filled the hall, making sure no one was approaching her perch and then quickly wrote down what Emily had told her. Flipping the pages back and forth she compared the two sets of notes and shook her head slightly. There was so much more detail in what the Blight child had told her. “Emily,” she whispered, hoping the Blight could hear her over the surrounding noise.
“Yes?” Emily asked, her voice coming from very near Jala’s ear.
“Later when we have time will you go over the other cultures that I’ve already studied and tell me what I’ve missed? I think your mother was a very wise person and I’d like you to share the knowledge if you would,” she asked.
“Of course,” Emily replied, her voice holding a note of true happiness. “My mother was a very wise person and she would have wanted me to share what she knew,” she added quieter.
“Today we are going to speak of the Seravae Isles,” the teacher’s voice droned from below and Jala shifted in her seat to get a better view. From the way the man spoke, she could almost believe Shade’s story about most of the teachers being constructs. She could very easily picture him propped against the wall during winter break, gathering dust.
“The Seravae isles rest just off the coast of Arovan in the Deverish Gulf,” he continued, his voice still a heavy monotone. Jala heard Marrow yawn off to the side of her and silently cursed the Bendazzi as she fought back her own yawn in response. Settling back in her chair she did her best to keep her mind alert, comparing what he said with what Emily had told her and wondering why the Academy left so much out.
“This is going to be a very long hour, what is next?” Emily whispered to her.
“Mathematics. The teacher is much better but the subject is less entertaining,” Jala replied quietly and shrugged. “Just wait until we get to science. I’m sure you will love that.”
Chapter 7
Oblivion
Shade glanced over toward the passenger side for the fifth time and was relieved to see Charm still sleeping soundly. He wasn’t at all sure what the rogue would do if he woke now and saw where they were. This hadn’t been part of the plan that he had explained but it was a necessary step. Turning his attention back to the view screen he gave a muffled curse and jerked hard on the controls of the spell hawk narrowly avoiding a rock snag. The spotlight on the front of his ship wasn’t doing quite as much as he had hoped it would and the area ahead was incredibly murky. With a sigh, he slowed the ship’s speed farther and leaned back into his seat. He had been hoping to be out of here within a few hours. At this rate the herbs he had added to Charm’s dinner would wear off before he even found what he was looking for. A dark form moved past the view screen and he watched it for a moment, amazed at the size of the creature.
“Did I just see a fish swim by?” Charm asked, his voice thick from sleep.
“Shark actually, and yes,” Shade replied calmly as if that were perfectly natural.
“Why in the bloody hell did I just see a shark swim by?” Charm asked, his voice sounding more alert.
Flicking a gaze at the rogue, Shade shrugged and turned back in time to dodge another rock protrusion. “Because we are underwater and this particular part of the sea is overrun with sharks,” Shade explained, glancing at the rogue again. Charm was looking around with growing unease at the seams of the ship. “And serpents,” Shade added in a quieter voice hoping Charm was distracted enough not to really pay attention.
“Are spell hawks even made to go under water?” Charm asked as he sat fully up in his seat and stared through the view screen. “Where exactly are we, which part of the sea?” He demanded.
“I built my spell hawk. I know what she can do and water is no problem for her,” Shade replied a bit defensively. “As to where we are …,” Shade trailed off and watched a twisting coil of a serpent go past above them. The dark green scales glimmered in the spotlight as the creature swam past. The ship rocked slightly in the creature’s wake and Shade let the speed falter more. “We are, uhh …, damn that thing was big,” Shade said, his voice filled with a bit of awe. The serpent above them had easily been twice the size of the one he had seen outside of Sanctuary and that one could have swallowed his ship whole. He shook his head and glanced at Charm who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. “We are off the coast of Oblivion,” he said quickly and turned back to the view screen, taking care to guide the ship away from the direction the serpent was swimming.
“You are insane,” Charm said quietly and slowly nodded. “Why are we underwater off the coast of Oblivion? I don’t remember this being part of the plan.”