Chapter 13 Following the Waves

They left the cavern and waited for the tide to come in. They drifted off into the big wide open sea full of monsters and islands of cannibals. The captain followed a strange map made of sticks and shell beads counting the swells. Many islanders in the great sea can find islands days apart by counting the swells. They can map out leagues from their home. Good thing too, it will take a full lunar month to reach the Sivka River valley. As they were adjusting the sails to the wind, Ilio felt the entrance of another soul onto the boat. He called for his ladies. He let out a loud praise that he would have another son in a year. Alifair hugged her mother in excitement. The great sea was vast with many islands that are hard to find. Their food was fish and drink was wine. Their lamps burned whale oil and Ilio began a map of the other side of the world. Creatures bump the boat to nearly upend it. Food was strictly rationed. Storms give the ladies seasickness Ilio cured with ginger root. Soon they began getting sailor sickness with bleeding gums and bruises. They met a monster squid and Ilio had to spear the creature to save the ship. Many days passed by with rain and finally the Sivka River Valley was in sight. Then they sailed the coast to find Lothal. Great fish of the sea swam underneath them. Mermaids peaked out and fled. Sailors feared them enticing them to drown so they often hurled harpoons at them. They appeared differently than in the North or South Sea. They have green hair and yellow skin, not the beautiful creatures he was used to viewing. Many elves and humans have fallen in love and made one their wife. Here mermaids were monsters who kill sailors to eat. Great seducers and witches, to look at one meant death from drowning were to come. Days later, they arrive at the mud brick walls of Lothal. Right away they ate fruit and shellfish to cure the sailor disease. Ilio delivered a stone tablet letter for the brother of Queen Koyla. A man with bronze skin and short black hair lived in a brick palace and wore the fine cotton cloth. The people wore short tunics baring the midriff and skirts to the knee. The brother wore a jacket of gold threads Ilio never seen before. He also saw gods painted in murals using gold crushed into paints. The brother welcomed the travelers and replenished their food supply. Half the cargo sold to the city craftsmen, the sailors dined in the palace.

Here the bronze people burn black dirt that emits black smoke. This dirt is hot enough to create iron tools. The people called Medes living to the north the Tea Mountains blocking the cold winds have traded iron tools and these farmers fully use them. Iron plows, knives, and spear points. Ilio noticed they have not mastered charcoal mixed in iron makes stronger steel. They also bring amber beads, chert axes, silver mirrors, gold rings, and incense rocks. The Medes live in mud brick cities and have fountains of water in the marketplace. Their temples are so tall they need steps to walk up to the altars. Ilio listened to the stories sipping this black tea squeezed into bricks from mountains so high that birds do not fly to the tops. These Tea Mountain people called Anduos use these bricks as money during trade and in bad times eat it. They live in stone houses and eat flesh of dead people. Great horse warriors living in stone forts carved into the mountain and fearless in battle. Priests make skulls into drinking cups and make sand paintings during ceremonies. They bring goods on ponies and mules of very colorful rugs of long Anduo ox fur, ivory from forest elephants, copper, salt bricks, blue lapis gemstones, and crystals from cave temples. These people fail to commit animal sacrifices to please the gods. They also make butter tea by mixing milk and butter into the black tea. They love coming to Lothal to see the ocean. Every time they come, they wade into the water and sing praises to the sea goddess. Though they do no sacrifices, they were amulets of feathers and cotton strings in fear of The Man of the Mountains. This ghost of a man who drowned during a storm haunts the forests of the Tea Mountains. Anduos wear long robes covered in embroidery. When the Prince of Lothal demanded a foreign story, Ilio decided on the thrilling phases of the elf world.

The first elf world the people gathered food in forests and caught fish in streams. They traded for pearls with the mermaids. Then the second sun fell down from the sky. Believed to be a weapon of sun goddess Petrie to strike her husband the sky god Andos and missed, the second sun shined bright across the sky and burst into a great light that blinded all. A loud thunder roared, wind knocked down their bark lodges, earthquake knocked the elves off their feet, rocks on fire scattered all over the forest, and burnt down their home. The great Black Forest got its name and the agriculture god Daxus as a fawn hiding from the fires was found with his mother in a cave. The father creator god Alano made the doe his wife and her fawn his son. The second world began and the elves learned to hide in large trees called Fionian and ate nuts from Fionian cones that open when exposed to fire. Soon the snow god Vanir and ice goddess Ymira reaching adulthood ran amuck across Lotan making the whole world ice and snow. Lotan was covered in ice down to the Olin Mountains. Elves stored their gathered food in caves and painted pictures of animals they wished to hunt again. Many years past of this ice world and then the snow god Vanir married the love goddess Ishtar. Their son Idun gave life back to the plants and melted the snow. He planted golden apples that give youth back to the old. We celebrate the Holly King on winter solstice. The third world of the elves was great exploration on rivers and sailing the seas once the snowball world melted. They met people of the other side of the glaciers in Blythe and on islands in the sea.

The elves occupied the lost Doggerland of marshlands of rivers and lakes. Hunting was good and gathering led to farming gardens when the fawn Daxus grew up into the agriculture god. Why travel far away gathering seeds when you grow those seeds at your home? And then, this world ended in a great flood. A monstrosity of a sea wave never seen before or since came and drowned Doggerland. The elves that survived were the ones on mountain tops as the Mermaid Islands were created. One elf in a tree used the branches as a raft and saved by a mermaid. In gratitude he married her and all the islanders are their descendants. Since then, elves not only trade, but protect their mermaid allies. When King Hades of the griffins finished eating the drowned elves, the griffins feasted on mermaids swimming around the newly created channels. Queen Aurora declared war and crushed the griffins causing King Hades to hide his treasures from the mermaids in Dragons Pass where volcano goddess Maya stands guard of it. Then the fourth world began and brought the Blythans to Lotan shores when their island was destroyed by a volcano. Ever since, the humans have been fighting over land and trade routes. Elves, centaurs, fauns, sprites, and mermaids get involved in these power struggles or loose what they have to the humans. The elves have eras of peace, ice, sailing, and war.

Ilio presented his gift to the prince in thanks of his hospitality, an iron sword with a gold hilt. The steel was much stronger than their native iron from red hills outside the city. Ilio declared the Lotans have worked hard to created tougher iron. He showed his iron helmet and chainmail. The brother was ready to steal it from him, but instead accepted a suit of armor on his return. Ilio measured him and wrote the needs of the armor. Their swords are shaped differently here and armor would have to be altered to accommodate it. The Prince of Lothal promised to gain enough iron to make his suit upon his return. Chloe and Alifair were entertained by the mistress of the house. They had said that Ilio was a pirate who attacked villages and sold people as slaves, yet he holds no slaves of his own. Ilio explained it was against the elf beliefs to enslave anyone or any animal. He simply trades commodities and attacks villages when he has little treasure. It is quite profitable and makes him a guest with many kings. He even has command over colonies and elves ready to fight when humans start wars with each other. In his spare time, he trains apprentices in magic, sailing, and warfare. They left in good spirits and sailed out to follow the current that would take them to the other side of the world. Ilio asked where these sugar rock islands were. The captain said in the Eastern Sea, but at this time the winds were too harsh to sail into so they were going to follow the current in the Western Sea to get there. They sailed out for days and days fighting storms and local pirates. Alifair proved handy with a sword. The ships sailed on and at night, Ilio freaked because he no longer saw the North Star in the bear constellation and his lodestone spun in a circle before pointing south. This night they had sailed into the other side of the world where the seasons are opposite, spring was autumn and the currents went the opposite way. He would see strange animals and dark people with curly hair. His shadow stick shadows that were getting longer as they sailed began to shorten again. The captain said on the other side, they are guided by the south star in the cross constellation.

He followed his stick map for months and visited several mysterious islands with no human villages. They sailed into a fog near an island covered in forests and rocky cliffs. When they reached the sandy beach, they saw large silver birds soaring over the trees. The people say they are large enough to grab a human. The captain said their last storm blew them off course. The crew hunted for a meal and found a large egg from the silver hawks. The egg contained a baby bird with sealed eyes and no feathers encased in the yellow yolk. The baby bird provided the evening meal. The captain roasted the meat on the beach and the next morning, the mother silver hawk arrived. It screeched and attacked the sailors. It carried off a sailor to make up for its lost egg and flew up into the trees. It returned dropping huge boulders to create holes in their fourteen ships. They avoided the bronze people here called cannibals and attack visitors to sacrifice to the gods to make it rain. The bronze people consider the silver hawks as gods and fear their anger. Repairing holes in the ships, Ilio understood their fear. They chopped down a tree and made boards to repair the ships. The bronze cannibal people showed up coming out of the forest. The captain approached and offered a pot of honey from Makan. He bowed walking backwards hoping their silence meant good tidings. The leader with a wood cone hat came up to the pot and tasted it. The captain explained they were attacked by pirates and needed to repair their ships. Pirates are known to kidnap and carry off bronze people to sell on the dark people mainland. He bought a small cannibal boy from a marketplace and the silver bird people were interested in learning about what happened to their lost people. The boy recited how slaves on the mainland must carry their city kings everywhere and lesser princes sit on the shoulders of their slaves. The cannibal boy was happy to be at sea and return home. Alifair asked what happened to the cannibal boy. The captain said he is tasting the honey. The leader screeched a loud call of joy. The captain stood up straight and embraced his friend. The leader said the captain had aged greatly since last he viewed him. They walk into the forest and cut wood for the ships and carried branches to their village.

One bronze boy was enchanted by Ilio and he delighted the forest village with an omen ceremony. He set up a silver plate, poured water in it, lit a pouch of plants to place it on the water, and waited for the smoke to rise. In the smoke, he predicted the boy would come to sail with him and return with fantastical stories his people could not believe. Ilio agreed to take Timsah as his apprentice. Timsah’s father and mother gave him bow and arrows, a knapsack, and a knife. Ilio pulled out a bronze sword he once used as a child. Awed at the gift pulled out of thin air, the villagers gave Ilio strings of shell beads. The captain explained their understanding he was a priestly man. Alifair asked how he made things appear. Ilio showed her the magic pouch he has and helped her create her own. The forest people bid them farewell and they sailed on getting back on course with the current. After some time they needed supplies and again stopped at an island. This island had gray birds standing waist high, tiny wings, hooked beaks, and short legs that were fast scampering through the island forest. Aggressive and known to stare down a human before a flock charges. The meat was tough so the captain looked for flying swans that were tender. Only starving sailors would eat the gray Dodo birds. Ilio thought they sounded like a smaller version of ostriches of South Sea countries and picked up few feathers he found on the ground. He spotted a small gray bird in a bush stiff in fear. He reached out and tossed over some nuts he found. He spoke in magic language to the baby bird and stroked its feathers. The baby bird straightened up its neck hearing a call from its parents. Ilio left before the whole flock attacked him. People tried to settle here, but they had difficulties surviving and left. They ate clams cooked on the beach and got a good night sleep listening to the waves.

They sailed out again on the morning tide and met one more island stop on Seabird Island before finally reaching the destination of the large dark island called Sahul near the winter solstice. Seabird Island was barren place with shrubs, grasses, and a silent volcano. The shrubs made good wood for repairing ships, but food was scarce. Seabirds that waddle and seals were in the ocean with their babies this time of year. In the summer, there is good hunting. People tried to settle here once, but their seeds would not grow so they left. They grabbed some shrub branches, fresh water, and seashells. They reached Sahul at last and found dark people returning from a seal hunt. The people were very short and Ilio seemed like a giant to them. They had black curly hair, narrow faces with large noses, and wore only loincloths. This coastal plain next to a forest is called Boorloo by the captain. The nomadic hunters welcomed the sailors into their grass homes and the chief held a large banquet of roasted birds and fish. Like the Anduo mountain people, the Boorloos made a sand painting to honor their arrival. A priest blessed the ground and ten men with reed tubes shook a different color of sand telling the story of the coming of a god with blue skin, meaning from the sea. They entertained the sailors with a dance acted out of a brown dog hopping up and down a boat as they came to this large island. Ilio simply eating and drinking gained much attention with the people. A prophesy was made saying a great sea god would come at the solstice and bring a great spear. Ilio thought it meant his steel sword. The chief was enamored with it like Prince Mahara of Lothal. He asked for mountains to find the metal ore he needed to make great spears. A dark man volunteered to guide him to the Black Mountains to the east.

As the sun rose and he searched for omens, he spotted an odd creature with a deer head, standing upright at the height of a man, hopped around on its back legs, and had a long cougar tail. More startling was when a baby came out of a pocket on the mother. More of these creatures came, ate some leaves and grass using their front paws to grab as humans do. Then Ilio saw two of these kamarus leaning back on their tails and doing battle kicking their back legs. His guide said they hunt these creatures as well as birds and seals. They set out for the mountains and in the forest he saw brown ostriches the dark people called emus. The coast had many trees in the marshes that were brown and lifeless since it is the dry season. He walked the red dirt of a valley with his lodestone hanging near the ground inside a bag. The lodestone twitched the bag towards iron deposits for Ilio to find. He gathered the dirt on weaved grass baskets to take back to camp. They worked on finding iron several days until Ilio heated enough iron dirt to make a great sword. In the process, he taught this dark man how to make iron tools. The captain had brought copper tools, but never irons. Most of their arrow heads and spear points were made from flint sandstones, but axes and knives were copper. I guess there is not much warfare here. They returned to the coast when Ilio gathered enough iron and needed lots of wood to burn to make the great spear.

He worked on this great spear for days heating the iron, mixing charcoal into it, and pounding the metal into a sword. The sailors with the Boorloo people went to Kamaru Island and around the coastline to trade. They had gemstones, shell beads, tools, and skins to trade. They learned to farm from the Sugar Rock Island people with copper tools and people from Minka to the north taught them pottery techniques. When the blade was finished, he needed to make the handle called a hilt. He carved a piece of acacia tree branch into a beautiful hilt. He used grass twine to attach the handle to the sword’s tang that goes into the handle. The chief adored his great spear and his wife had finished the kamaru leather scabbard to hold the sword on a leather belt. Ilio took out his own sword to show how to swing it. He warned of rust and need to oil it. He showed how to sharpen it against the whetstone. They continued on their journey to a desert where large crocodile lizards haunt the rivers. The captain noticed the lack of people greeting them as they reached another coastal village. Reaching the destroyed houses and skeletons of people did they realize the village was no more. After more traveling through coral reefs, they reached at long last the Sugar Rock Islands Ilio was searching for. Ilio traded for twenty casks of sugar rocks using shell beads, gemstones, black pearls, shark teeth, silver rings, and gold beads. He witnessed the islanders make the sugar rocks chewing on the cane grass to get the sap out and dried in the sun into hard rocks. They left the islands to head back to the mainland and got caught on a reef.

The ships torn apart on the bottom and filled the ships with water. The sailors used the wood from the canoes attached to the ships to repair the holes. They used buckets to empty the water from the ship. A day later the tide came in to release the ships. Ilio gathered the corals to sell when they got to the mainland. Next the lodestone began to spin and point north again. The shadow stick measurements got shorter and the north star reappeared while the south star was lost. They reached the mainland of forests and river villages growing rice grain and large cows called water buffalo pulling carts while they were gathering the harvest. These people had dark wavy hair, large eyes; flat noses, tan skin, and wore woven hemp skirts with geometric patterns. They made things out of a bush called bamboo and feathers to trade. Ilio traded shell beads for a bamboo flute. The rice farmers had used stone tools and had little knowledge of sailing. They said they came a generation ago from further inland mountains where their ancestors lived in caves after jungle rats ate the plants and then all died when they ran out of food to eat. They followed the rivers to the coast and planted rice like the elephant people on the other side of the mountains. Sailors from other places have not really traded here, but with the people who hunt on elephants on the other coast. Those people use yellow knives from the Lothal sailors, but the rice people thought they became dull too fast to utilize them. Minka people from islands to the east bring black volcano glass they love much better for tools and elephant people eagerly trade for feathers.

Ilio enjoyed the rice wine and vegetables stews. Their pottery was beautifully painted and woodwork covered in a hard finish to preserve it. The people say it is something they scrape off tree bark. In the mountains, there lives an emperor whose ancestors came from up north called Shennong who taught the rice people how to farm the land. His capital is Phong Chau. The farmers do not have any written language, but it was said that the Emperor Phu Dong writes symbols on silk that a few scribes can understand. The forests are dense and few people live in this hot and humid place. Here, large striped cats swim in rivers. Large black bears that never hibernate eat anything. Little orange hairy men called orangutans are believed to be descendants of the people who survived a great flood by climbing into the trees. Then the gods made people from clay and breathed life into them. Tiny deer, boars, and cattle live freely in the forests. The sailors crossed the mountains to visit the elephant people. These people were had bronze skin with straight hair and rounder faces. They met another crew from the Minka Island. They were tall like Ilio with tan skin, thick wavy black hair grown in long beards, protruding forehead, large nose, and dark eyes. They wore robe-like fur garments in bright colors and knee high boots with straw cone hats. They work much in copper and bronze, with limited iron knowledge. He showed them his shadow stick and lodestone as they showed him their star charts.

Ilio decided to explore a little and took a boat upriver. He saw a mystical creature appearing like a horse in the water. Thinking it was female deer, he ignored it. Then the horse raced to the boat and capsized it. The goddess seahorse took them to the depths of the godly domain to drown them. His guide screamed in terror and Ilio begged to set him free. She killed the man and began to feast. Another goddess came to him and began to sniff at his skin. She claimed he smelled of magic. Ilio confessed his mother is an immortal goddess and his father a mortal elf. He lit his magic sword into a flame and slashed at his captors. He grabbed what was left of his guide and carried him away. But, he did not know the way back to his world. He came across the bones and skin of a striped cat. He knelt and prayed to the cat’s spirit to guide him out of this prison. A ghost of a creature appeared. It was the jinn he released from the copper jar. The jinn had traveled the world since his release and he found a lovely goddess. He transformed into a striped cat to seduce her. She tried to kill him and eat him instead. He left behind his cat costume to free himself and she would never know of the deception. He looked for a way out and found a charming pool of ladies encouraging to stay. Ilio begged for help leaving to return to his world. He added his wife was about to have a baby in the spring. The jinn transformed into a cloudy black spotted yellow cat who hates water and showed the hero the way out. On the other side, there was a pool of ladies swimming and splashing about without a care. He quietly slipped by them unnoticed into the forest and he walked back to the village dragging on poles the body of the guide.

In need of a story to explain the death of his guide and how he got away, he made a striped cat skin to wear. The villagers gave the guide a grand funeral and buried him in a cave in the mountains. The chief had the cat skin made into a cape to protect against the rain. He recited the tale of the water horse and his escape with his magic spear. The days went by trading at villages and many rice people took notice of his iron sword, especially the brother-in-law of the emperor who resides in a village upriver. Soon, Minka sailors arrived with an invitation from the Dragon King Phu Dong who was intrigued by their descriptions of his weapons. Ilio’s entourage boarded their ships full of supplies for the capital city Phong Chau. Once they reached the Red River delta, they had to sail upriver to the capital city surrounded by limestone walls. The city had a limestone temple and palace. The Dragon Emperor sat on a stone bench with a carved dragon above him surrounded by his advisors. He wore silk robes and decorated silk headdress covered in silver beads. Through the Minka sailor he relayed a wish to inspect his iron sword. Ilio handed it over and he inspected it intensely. He inquired about the magic. Ilio touched the tip of the blade and it glowed like a fire. The Dragon Emperor challenged his guards to fight him, and their blades broke in half. Then he asked Ilio to keep the magic sword. Ilio declined for the magic would be more powerful than he could contain, and he made enchanted his sword to float out of the emperor’s hands and to his own. Phu Dong understood the magic came from Ilio. He invited the visitors to a meal and had musicians entertain them followed by dancers. During the meal, Ilio offered to make him a steel sword. Like with the Boorloo, Ilio showed how to mix charcoal with the iron to make a stronger steel. The blacksmiths knew the people from the west sea mixed black stones called mei with it to make iron stronger. Ilio inquired about the black stones they light on fire. They said they mine them from the ground and they burn for extended periods of time. Ilio was invited to take a hot bath from burning coals underneath the stone pool. The Dragon Emperor next invited him to hunt deer with him. Ilio admired their horses and the emperor said few of his subjects could ride them. He was impressed with this foreigner’s skill with horses. They shot several deer, and a striped cat called hu. They returned to enjoy a feast of rice wine and stews full of meats. As they were ready to leave and setting the sails into the wind, Timsah got curious what the sealed copper pot contained, perhaps treasure. He took his copper knife and opened the sealed jar. The wind that came out blew so hard men flew off the ship into the water and they found themselves the next day on the coast of Punt where very tall dark people with curly hair, large eyes, large noses, and wore simple wrap around skirts lived. Like the Bird people leader described, slaves carried their masters on their shoulders around the streets. They wore no shoes and women were of a large stature. Queen Mazu said this was where she landed coming to Aferdia. This time they adjusted the sails to follow the wind back to Lothal. Prince Mahara was most eager that have iron armor like Ilio’s. He searched months for iron ore to mine and found ivory to trade for it. His craftsmen have burned much black dirt to heat the impurities out and formed it into small sheets like scales on bronze armor. They made arrow heads and spear points, but this iron turned red and rusted. Ilio arrived in time to show them to make his helmet and chain armor. He gathered tools of metal workers and went straight to work. Like in Boorloo, Declan proved valuable in working the iron. The timing was perfect because the winds were shifting directions and created whirlwinds sailors feared.