Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

279 - Under the Sea

The tension grew without any speaking of the reason for it. Most of them had no real idea where it was coming from. Silver's new servants drifted into his room, each for their own reason and each at their own time. For each it was a seperate occasion that had nothing in common, but they gathered, talking timidly among themselves, unable to grasp what was making them less and less comfortable in their skin.

Silver was looking over his spells, not revising them, that time had passed. He was studying them, preparing and practicing with faux plays of magic over his horn like a flute player that worked on their fingers across their instrument without blowing into it, making no music, but still practicing the motions.

Glancing across at Still, he could see the kirin was doing much the same, her horn dimly glowing and flickering with the faint echoes of magic that had not been truly cast. She seemed so very calm, no emotions on her face, her breathing soft and in an easy pattern. If he had only her to measure it by, perhaps he would be fooled into thinking everything was alright, but she was far from alone, all the others gathered there with unvoiced fears, hoping he would chase away the unseen menace that clawed at the periphery of their minds.

The world ceased to be. It inverted in colors, becoming a gharish nightmare, but that was only an instant before complete darkness.

Brilliant light flared into being, not one but several. All the spellcasters that had arrayed to see to the trip had jumped into action at once. The ship began to glow around them, returning to their sight under the magic of the witch below them, giving it a ghostly cyan blue shade that trembled in the time of some unseen heart.

A rushing breeze of chill solitude swept out from Still, encompassing all the others in the room. It crept over the forms of the servants in the room, their faces illuminated into masks of horror, but as the ice ran swiftly over their forms, locking them into place, those expressions were eased just as they were frozen, instead chilled to a cool slumber under Still's practiced spell, protecting all that it spread over, rapidly expanding out over the ship to find other harried minds to lock away to safety.

Silver rose to his hooves as bright silvery energy exploded from his raised horn, sweeping over the ship, joining the cyan boat protecting energy and the cool mind protecting spell, giving the ship a rapidly spreading silver tint as their magics were made one, forming a barrier of three wills against that which would attack it. He could feel the others in the spell, their magics binding them together, a wedding, as temporary as it was. He could feel their hearts, their thoughts, their desires. He knew they could feel his as well.

They were one, united in the defense of the boat and all its precious cargo. He could even sense the wry amusement of the witch, who had not expected their assistance to be as powerful and coordinated as it was, but she did not buck their presence. In this task, they were united, and would fight as one.

"I am ready for the fight," spat Sheba. She had resisted the burst of horror, and with it, her mind was not in the proper state to be lulled to an icy sleep. "I see you two working. What part do I play? I am your guard, damn you, your sword. Point me at your enemy and let me dance."

Silver smiled a little at that. She had the fire that Nefertari had been so cruelly snuffed of, but it was different. Nefertari, even at her most loving, was ever hungry to see her own ends met. Sheba had become his. She wished to be swung, as the sword she described herself as, to sing as she cut and fought for him and kept him safe. She cared, and the knowledge of it kept his smile strong and fought away the headache that threatened, keeping his magic firm around the entire ship. "If we are--" His words were slow and methodical, his concentration on his magic. "--lucky, you will not dance, and our first plan will be enough."

He could feel Still was struggling much as he was, and the witch beside. All three of them were locked, focusing their power as best they could to keep those around them safe. It was in that union that he realized the horrible truth. He, they, they all had the power to simply shrug aside the attack. They could be greedy and selfish and sail forward largely untroubled. The witch, in fact, had long ago given up on protecting the entire crew, or even most. If it had been just her, she would not have even tried. She would have kept the ship safe, and those who succumbed were simply not hers to mourn.

Is was their cooperation that made the impossible possible. The ship was safe, the minds aboard it were protected in a layer of ice. His silver power ran through both of the other enchantments, fortifying and binding them together, making the ship into one solid bullet that propelled through the cursed waves, resisting the effects of what foul presence sought to reduce sailors and passengers to screaming ruin.

They were doing it. Everything would be--

All was dark once more. A great eye, opened before them, unfathomably huge, incomprehensibly inhuman. The others were not there, not the crew or the servants. Only those who were not shielded were present. Sheba sprang her claws free, growling low at the eye. Still scrambled to her hooves, backing away in a display of actual fear. The witch let out a weary sigh, as if she was ready to pay the final price for her work.

"We mean you no harm," spoke Silver, feeling the pressure of the spell gone, seperated from him as they were from the ship. Was it still going? He couldn't know. All he knew was that he had the full attention of something so vastly more than him that he couldn't stop from shaking a little. So that was what facing a cthuloid elder god was like... He wasn't sure he could be happy with marking that off the bucket list.

Words came, each as long as the universe itself, but as pointed as the big bang. It wasn't English, or Ponish, or anything else. It penetrated them down to the core and back out again, and left behind the rawest of meanings as if carved from their violated flesh, unable to resist the meaning even if they had wanted to.

Your (small/loud/many/few) thoughts are a (thousand/countless/few/painful/inevitable) screams in peaceful quiet(order/stasis/solitude/madness).

Still shrank away, but there was no away to move to, her motions meaningless, still just beside him. There was no motion in that non-space they were in. Silver's form trembled, but he knew so many counted on him. He would not be the first to give up. "We stilled them." He hoped it counted. Frozen in slumber, hopefully that had quieted them. If it was done properly, they should not even have had dreams to rile the great entity before them.

(Quiet/hushed wails)

There was a pregnant silence that could have been years, all ability to truly measure time seemingly lost in that spaceless location.

Do you seek favors?

The words that shook them were brutal in their curt bluntness. It was a direct question. There was no mistaking it. The witch turned suddenly, fixing Silver with a look of concern. He understood it. That way lay damnation. "We will pass. We will be quiet."

The great eye closed. They were no longer in its attention, forgotten and insignifcant before it.

The witch scowled at Silver. "For hundreds of trips have I guided ships, and never have I had to face the menace of the ocean. Never had I come so close to annihilation. Never had it seen me. Never had it even known I existed." She thrust a clawed finger, but it never arrived at his chest.

Sheba caught the witch's wrist, turning it aside easily with a low growl. "My employer has a reputation for trying for the impossible. Now I demand answers. What in the name of every god I've ever heard the name of was that, and where are we? Are we safe?"

Still shook her head firmly. "We are adrift." She took a slow and purposeful breath, trying to calm herself. "We are lost."

Silver gestured where the eye had been. "I doubt any of you want to get the attention of our host again, so we find our own way home or..."

"Never," growled out the dog of a witch. "If an eternity passed before I saw it again, it would be too soon by at least ten times." Her frowned stare turned to Still. "Are you with us?"

"Of course." She glanced around. "I may wish I was elsewhere, but beyond that... How do we return?"

There were no obvious exits, entrances, or much of anything but the four of them, standing on nothing. Attempting to move allowed the motions as if standing on a smooth plane, but it carried them nowhere. Silver tapped his hoof on the ground that made no sound with the striking. In his dream... They had already deviated from that. How much could he draw from it?

It had led him true so far. Working with the others in his life, never assuming he had to face it alone, had taken him that far. But there they were, floating in nothing. "But what if... we sang?" The three peered at him as if he were crazy, and perhaps he was, following the hints of a distant dream. "Hear me out. It's a pony thing. We sing."

Sheba threw up her hands. "I have a terrible singing voice."

"I doubt yours is worse than mine," barked the dog witch.

"I never tried," finished Still, her eyes on Silver. "What do we sing?"

What did they sing? "What we feel in our hearts," he lamely offered, but they weren't able, or willing, to try with such a tepid cue. It fell on him. He raised a hoof to his face, coughing softly before letting out a little breath. "When I'm lost and alone, I remember that I atoned. Even when I'm feeling down, a little song to ease that frown." He leaned towards the witch with a hopeful smile.

The dog crossed her arms, peering at him oddly.

"I thought I would be queen," sang Sheba, her voice melodic despite her insistance that it wasn't good. "The best the world had ever seen. I came with such large plans, my fate ended up in his hands." She sneered at Silver with a little smile. "And he doesn't even have one."

Still twitched an ear between the two singers. "I try not to speak," she sang almost despite herself. "My knees feel so weak. My new master, I want to trust. His love is academic instead of lust."

"Cthonic horrors--" The dog threw up her hands. "--or to sing in the void. Both are things to avoid."

"Tell the truth, we're glad you're here," jumped in Silver with a little smile. "Don't go away, we're safer near."

"Safer near," joined Sheba.

"Safer near," echoed Still, all three voices joining together. The void shook around them, trembling with the held note.

It cracked, as did their perception. All went dark one last time. It hadn't gone exactly as he had dreamed it, but perhaps it was good enough? A pity he hadn't gotten to use some of the spells he had planned.

Author's Note:

Hello from the road! I did this one early, just for youuuuu.

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Comments

[terrycloth]

Just make a save file and go back and antagonize Cthulhu to see what happens. You need to unlock all the Bad Ends!

[Dravkwn]

9712914
That sounds otterly delightful.

[Booster Spice]

Its at this point you hope that your Dead Mans Handle didnt trigger on the Big Red Button?

As Pinkie might put it. Oh, Cupcakes.

[Daremo]

flue player - flute player
in easy pattern - in an easy pattern

---

Thank you!

[Alaborn]

Cthulhu Fhtagn
What a wonderful phrase

[redmar]

Those spells would likely draw unwanted attention.

[Zintenka]

Woooo! Hot damn, I'm glad that I finally caught with this monster of a fic after years of putting it off... Wooo, and what a journey its been..!

Im really sad that NefNef went... and what an unpleasant way to go... At least Sheba's there and at least some of the Sultan's servants were saved as well as a potential research partner. There's a silver lining to this at least, eh?

[David Silver]

9747476
Always one of those, it was a name of his. Welcome!