Naramsin: Ocean Part 3
Naramsin’s Journal.
Ocean, Part Three. 1797.
The scratching of fingernails on the floorboards above me gave notice of the first arrivals. I closed my eyes, and breathed deeply of the scents of the four, five, six waiting above. None were familiar, save one. Devon, the Englishwoman, led this pack, and immediately brought down her five charges into the hold: an old man, an almost-as-old woman, a young Italian couple, and one who looked but a toddler, but whose mad, glowing red eyes gave the lie to youth, and hinted of a darkling creature centuries old.
All eyed me suspiciously, but upon detecting my allowed scent, the old man bowed decorously, the woman curtsied, the couple shrank back, and the child grinned evilly.
They were followed by William, who brought with him four more: a suave Portuguese, two beautiful Austrians, and a colossal Moor. The Portuguese seemed startled, the Austrians coquettish, and the Moor silent and respectful, bowing with pursed lips and a knowing gaze.
Dmitri, the last shepherd, brought three: a sturdy Dutchman, a robust Frenchman, and a stout, voluptuous Hungarian, whose ample charms strained enticingly against her black bodice.
But two were missing.
The gathering seated themselves before me, with Devon and William in the front, and I heard them whisper amongst themselves:
It is he, it is Naramsin, the slayer, the bringer and scourge of light….
He is an Ancient One….
He is one of the Pact….
What does he want?
Why does he call Council?
If he is here, there must be Others nearby….
He will take us safely to the new lands….
Can he be trusted?
He is a soul-eater, fear him….
Dmitri stepped forward, and the whispering stopped. Fourteen pair of red eyes shone in the dark at the two of us. “There are two who are angry at the summons, o kupioc Naramsin,” he said, frowning. “They bade me say that they would come shortly, in accordance with the Code, but have made plain their displeasure that their wish to be undisturbed during this voyage has, in their opinion, not been respected.” He bowed slightly, and then sat down with Devon and William.
I folded my arms and said nothing as I stood, waiting.
Under the Code, a Council can only be called by an Ancient, an Elder, a Progenitor, or Designee. All vampires must answer the summons to Council when it is issued, for it is the obligation of all vampires to adhere to the Code. There is no choice. Those who refuse to honor their duty instantly become pariahs, rogues for whom the kinship becomes closed forever. Such rogues may be destroyed without question or comment by kin at any time, and revenge for their slaying is strictly forbidden, even if the slaying comes at the hand of man.
Several minutes passed in silence. I could hear the lapping of the waves against the hull, the creaking and groaning of the ship’s wood, and the scurrying of the rats in the hold. Then, slipping through the planks as mist, and congealing in the gloom before me, the final two appeared: ashen, sullen, and silent.
One male, one female, tall, slender, and foreboding, with great lengths of uncoiled black hair, they were unknown to me. Eyeing me narrowly, they bowed, and wordlessly took places at the very rear of the assembly. Yet from the certain angle of their heads as they bowed, I knew at once that they were Egyptian….
I spread my arms wide, palms uplifted, and spoke.
“By many names have I been known, and by many names will I yet be known. Know, then, that I am Naramsin of the Pact. As is my right as an Ancient under the sacred Code, I hereby invoke a Council of Kin. Are there any who would challenge this right?”
The unblinking eyes glittered in the darkness, as the silence hung thickly in the air.
After a moment, I smiled thinly, lowered my arms, and began.
“It is well that you respect the old ways, my children. I have called you to Council tonight for two reasons. First, to warn you. Second, to guide you.”
A murmur rose. The voluptuous Hungarian spoke, her bright white teeth luminous in the gloom.
“Warn us, you say? Warn us of what? There are only men and kin on these ships. The men are easily subdued, and the kin are all of similar accord and purpose.”
“Not all,” interjected Dmitri, pointing at the two Egyptian vampires. “Or have you forgotten them?”
The sullen pair glowered at him but said nothing, instead tossing their hair back defiantly.
“I refer,” I continued, “not to a danger from within, but a danger from without. The demons of Cadiz seek bitter revenge against me for the destruction of their Basque puppet, Robles the Aquitanian, and have sworn a blood oath to destroy me and any who accompany me. By your very proximity you are endangered, for the enemy is indiscriminate, and without pity.”
An anxious, excited chattering broke out among the assembly, and I had to raise my hands to silence them. I reminded them that we were stowaways deep at sea, and that it certainly would not be to our benefit to be discovered by the sailors who slept such short distances above us.
“But if what you say is true,” said the Frenchman, “then even now, while we consider our course of action, the sorcery of the Cadizeans may already be casting its net around us.”
I nodded. “It is true that the Cadizeans possess powerful magic. They have always sought to gain greater influence in the world, and have succeeded in doing so primarily through those abilities; but they are inherently lazy, and would rather have others do their dirty work for them, than face the wrath of their enemies directly.”
Many chuckled, and even the nervous Portuguese smiled at the insult directed at his neighbors.
“Do not, however,” I continued, “take this threat lightly. The Cadizeans are cunning, and extremely persistent, with allies abounding.” I quickly recounted my encounter with the Oanned to illustrate the danger now faced by them all.
“At sea, in the salt, under the sun, and under the ocean? Impossible!” said the young male Italian when I finished. “Our kind would die the first day!”
“Young one,” admonished the old man in a weary tone, “he is an Ancient One, possessed of many powers. Do not doubt his tale. He tells you this to prepare you for what may lie ahead.”
The almost-as-old woman nodded in assent. “They of the Pact are the First Ones, ancient beyond all imagining. You should be on your knees before him!”
The Italian waved his hand disparagingly. “All this talk of danger and demons makes for wonderful story-telling, but my mate and I are far more concerned with arriving at Bermuda in the next few days, and from there making our way to the Americas. Those are real concerns, not fictitious ones; and while I respect the Code, I, for one, will be glad when this Council is over, and we can turn our attentions again to the voyage west.”
Again the group fell silent, and stared at me, awaiting my response. I merely sighed.
“We all desire the soil beneath our feet again. On that point we are all in accord. But I do not craft imaginary stories. Like a baby with no conception of the vast world that awaits beyond his crib, it is clear that our friend is eluded by a conception of the world outside his limited knowledge.
“But it is not my intent,” I said sternly, “to disparage, nor amuse, nor persuade any assembled here this night to heed my words. It is my intent only to fulfill my obligation as an Ancient to take all means necessary to advise the kin in times of danger, and so have I done tonight. Now, as the rules of Council require, I direct all who choose to speak to do so plainly, without reservation, each in their turn, so that the light of our combined wisdom may illuminate the path to safety.”
Devon spoke quickly. “As your fellows, we share in the Life, and we are privileged to share in your burden. Danger is but secondary to the demands of honor. Ask what you will of us, and we will obey. Who concurs?”
William, Dmitri, the Moor, the old couple, the Dutchman, the Portuguese, the Frenchman, and the Hungarian each upheld their palms. The Italians sneered, the Austrians batted their eyes, and the Egyptians sat as stone, expressionless.
Then the mad child-thing tittered. “Death, you say, Naramsin? Why should we be afraid of death? We are already dead! And why should your fate concern any of us? Yes yes yes, you are of the Pact, and yes yes yes, you are an Ancient, and blah blah blah. Talk talk talk! All we have done is talk! I am not empowered to do so, else I would have called for a disbanding of this Council, rather than suffer through this ridiculous discussion. So you were shipwrecked and fought a fish! Why should we care?”
The Italian chuckled, but the child hissed at him, his red eyes flashing angrily in the dark as he shouted “And why, fool, should we care about you? You ignorant toad! You and your mistress, you sit there and preen yourselves every evening aboard the Salazar, thinking yourselves superior to the rest of us, while in the meantime you are as stupid as rocks! You and those - those fucking whores!” he groaned, pointing at the Austrian coquettes. “By the dark! I am over a thousand years old, I have waited the table of Arthur the King, I have fed on the blood of the Crusades, and yet here I am, surrounded by fools and whores! Ahhhh!”
The Italians and Austrians shrieked with anger and jumped to their feet as the toddler stuck out an impossibly long tongue at them, curling it obscenely at the females. I stepped forward to intercede, and heard the sound, rising from below.
It was then that the first jolt rocked the ship.
The sudden impact sent us all sprawling along the floor, crashing into each other as the ship tilted crazily before settling again. We heard the shouts of the sailors above decks, and in the distance heard more heavy thudding, coming from the direction of the aft ships.
Another jolt from the opposite direction sent us tumbling again as the ship bobbed crazily from the powerful impact. I sprang to my feet, and immediately standing next to me were the Egyptians, who eyed me ruefully.
“They have come,” said the woman.
By this time my loyal trio had made their way to my side, with Dmitri and William on either side of Devon. Suddenly we heard cannon fire above, just as a third blow rocked the ship. A thin spray of salt water burst forth from the floorboards, landing directly on the face of one of the Austrians. The salt ate away the side of her face like acid, exposing the cheekbone beneath. She screamed above the din, the insane din, the cacaphony of vampires shrieking below, humans screaming above, and cannonfire thundering and reverberating throughout.
Quickly I smashed through the boards above me, and we swarmed out of the hole straight into a company of at least thirty humans gathering gunpowder from the storage above. They screamed when they saw us, and, instinctively, several of the vampires struck. In a moment the floorboards were slick with blood.
“The fools,” I said grimly. I motioned to my charges. “We must leave this place now!”
A fourth blow spun the ship as we quickly ascended to the deck of the Defiant, now ignored by the crew as they scurried about, shouting and cursing and screaming. The air was pungent with the smell of gunfire as we moved up the central mast to the crow’s nest, where we beheld what remains to this day one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
All of the ships of the fleet had come to a complete halt. In the distance, the Destiny was ablaze, while the Salazar already lay turned on its side, bubbling mightily as the ocean began to swallow it. The Gloria and Princess were both at a standstill, as were we, battered and bobbing under the onslaught of a legion of giant squid.
We stared in disbelief as the squid rose from the depths and slammed into the ships again and again, using their bodies as battering rams against the fleet. Their huge, pitiless eyes glinted evilly as they swept the decks with their massive tentacles, raking sailors into the bubbling ocean like leaves, where they met their dooms from the slicing beaks of the monsters.
All of the vampires had made their way to and were now atop each of the three masts, with myself, Devon, William, Dmitri, and the Egyptians perched on the tallest, center mast. I stared down at two giant squid that now gripped each side of the Defiant, shaking it violently with their powerful suckered arms, as if to dislodge us from our vantage points. A heavy rain began to pour down from suddenly thundering skies, and lightning illuminated the macabre scene below us as the sailors hacked at the arms with knives and swords and pikes, blasting with cannon and pistols, all the while being swept mercilessly to their deaths in the churning sea.
“What do we do, Naramsin?” screamed Dmitri.
“We are all going to die!” yelled Devon.
My mind raced to find a solution, but I was at a loss for both thoughts and words. “Hold on!” I shouted to all. “If the ship sinks, we must transform, and fly!”
“But to where? To where? We are days from Bermuda!” screamed Devon above the din.
Where indeed? I thought grimly….
Then, suddenly, something huge and grey reached out from the ocean, and tore one of the squid from the ship, ripping off four tentacles that now jerked crazily, like the twitching tails of lizards separated from their bodies.
I peered into the water, and saw another giant rise from the deep, then another, then another.
It was a pod of mammoth sperm whales.
They attacked the squid furiously, ripping and tearing at their tentacles and bodies. The squid lashed and snapped at the whales, and the whales battered the squid, clamping their fearsome teeth upon them, tearing them asunder, and dragging them deep below the waves.
The water boiled with the fury of the titanic battles between the colossal enemies, and the surreal war continued, lighted by the moon and jagged lightning, until, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over.
The squid were destroyed.
And the whales disappeared.
We all stared entranced at the suddenly-silent, rolling black waves, slick with ink and blood and bodies and the floating remains of the Salazar and the Destiny. Our ship was now beginning to list badly, and the masts began to slowly topple sideways.
I saw that the Gloria and Princess were both still afloat, with the Gloria appearing to be the less damaged, though one of her three masts had broken off. I shouted to the assemblage to make for the Gloria, and at once the air was thick with bats winging towards the frigate.
My trio had still not departed, and I urged them to fly. Dmitri pointed to the Egyptians. “We will not leave you alone with them!” he shouted above the thunder.
I shook my head furiously. “Go, now, the three of you, off!” I commanded.
Reluctantly, they took their leave, and as I saw Dmitri, Devon, and William make their way toward the Gloria, I turned and faced the Egyptians. I narrowed my eyes at the male, who looked at me with a knowing stare.
“You are not without allies of your own, Naramsin,” said the Egyptian.
And I smiled….
We commandeered the Gloria openly, but we were not completely without mercy. Saving a few of the sailors for sailing, and a few more for sustenance, we dispatched the terrified remnants of the crew in oared boats to the Princess, which by now was drifting aimlessly in the rolling waves.
With my resistance to the sunlight, I captained the ship, and nightfall of the fourth day afterwards found the Gloria moving silently into the harbor of St. George. The portmasters were both horrified and baffled at what they found: a battle-scarred frigate full of dead men that had somehow steered itself into port. None had paid any attention to the eighteen large bats that had flown out from the ship as it approached, nor had they watched as the bats fanned out across the island.
And so it was that I found myself in Bermuda, en route to the Americas, where I would seek, and find, the answers to several questions. Most importantly, I would hunt; for among the now-scattered assembly, clever and deadly, lurked the betrayer….