We walked in our seven-league boots toward the rising sun and the Gulf of Pirates. My companions were an elflord Dlarion, and his bodyguard of human warriors, pixie aerial scouts, and walking saplings who served as archers.



This was a typical elflord going into known danger. The elves were brave and kind and gracious, and they lived at least a millenium, so to them it made sense that each elf in war had a bodyguard of “lesser species”. The Human Kingdoms to the South disagreed, but the elves felt that the one hundred fifty year old rebellion was merely “a long sulk”.



We arrived at a pier on a stormy gulf. Flashing lights to the North glittered like a promise of love, but I had already been warned to turn away. It was not that the Sidhe were evil, it was acording to Dlarion that “As we Elven kind are to you, so the Sidhe are to us. Perilous to meet for such as you.”



It hurt to turn away; the lights for no reason that I could decipher reminded me of my lost homeworld and family and friends who I would find a way back to. The lights changed slightly seeming to agree with me, or maybe I was merely deluding myself. They were only a tower of flickering lights in the sky. I turned away, and the lights seemed to laugh at me before disappearing.



The ship waited impatiently for us.



Ten gnomes, short people with uncanny balance, and a super-abundance of energy, leapt off the boat at the end of the floating pier, and ran up to us snatching luggage from our hands, and shoving us along.



The saplings, so similiar to my conjured twiglings in the way an Old Master painting is similiar to a child’s sketch, and sentient had to stay behind. They were bound to the forrest and the Land, worshipping some ancient deity they would not speak of.



We clambered onto the flat deck of the sailboat, and the gnomes who were thigh-high on me, made us sit down, and tie down on the deck so we would not be decapitated by the boom of the sail.



They ran out a long spinnaker sail with a lot of holes in it, and we began to smoothly move away from the dock with the kind of acceleration that a car has. The sky looked rough, and I pointed this out to a passing sailor.



“It’s good, sir. Lots of wind, and Terracyl won’t be flying today.”

“Terracyl?”

“The Queen Dragon. Probably wouldn’t eat us. We’re too small. This is her favorite hunting grounds, tho’.” He cackled. “No worries, you’ll get to your destination one way or another.”

I looked up and down the length of the sixty foot ship and wondered what was the right size snack for a dragon.



They started closing the holes in the spinnaker sail with drawstrings, and I saw the gnomes running on tightropes high above the deck without any protection other than their skill if the ship lurched.



The speed became such that the other’s eyes were tearing, and the gnomes passed around goggles of glass and leather. I did not need it, another minor body modification I’d forgotten about. A second eyelid kicked into use to my surprise.



We wobbled, and everyone hung onto something, and then we rose into the air about ten feet. The ride smoothed to a rock-steady ride, and the gnomes cheered and began an awesome display of acrobatics in the rigging for the next ten minutes.



Then the captain came out of his bridge which was one of the few buildings on the flat deck, and bellowed.

“You lazy slackers. Quit the clowning. Work.”



They mocked him until he threatened to do horrible things to them, and I wondered if I had fallen into a mutiny. But my companions were laughing, and I relaxed.



Then I saw the real captain come out, and reclaim his coat, and the clowning stopped and they got to fine-tuning the sail, and re-fitting for running on hydrofoil rather than on hull.



The captain came over to us.



“Well a sweet transition means a good run… I hope. We have a choice gentlemen. I can go through the deep waters or skirt the islands. Either way its pirates.”



“We shall go the deep waters.” Dlarion announced.



“‘Scuse me, Elflord, but this is my mission.”



“You are a human, yes?” Dlarion said with complacency thinking he had finished the arguement.



“One I’m a lot older than any human you may have met. Two, you know nothing of my capabilities so how are you going to best use me?”



“I’ve met some very old human archmages, and you know nothing of this world.”



“I’m willing to accept your advice as a guide, but …”



He paled and bright spots appeared on his cheeks.



“Still your tongue, human until I give you permission to speak.” The compulsion spell fell on me, and I could not ward it off in time because my hands were wrapped in ropes to keep me steady. So I fought back with willpower alone, and pushed it aside. Still it was an effort to speak.



“When I want your opinion, elfywelfy, I’ll give it to you.” See, I could be as snotty as an elf.



“Master, let me cut his throat.” A human warrior asked the elflord who glared at me. I returned the glare with interest. The people of this world had some learning to do on the proper limits of tossing around compulsion spells.



“There will be no fighting, magic or steel on my boat.” The captain said. A crowd of gnomes behind him fingering short swords backed up his words.



The situation calmed, but Dlarion hated me now.



“As I was saying before those so tall that the breath of sense does not reach their brains, the Deep exposes you to pirates who rise from the undersea cities, and the shallows near the Islands are very bad for human pirates. Even gnomes to my shame. The reefs and water currents are very tricky, and only known to locals in the center of the Islands Archipelago. Many have tried to discipline these varmints, but the heavy warships cannot go into the shallow waters. Only during the very height of the Pale Elven Empire did those waters know peace.”



“And yet your hydrofoils can go in such waters. An effort to solve the problem?”



The captain looked at me with an approving smile.



“Clever indeed for a human.”



“Which is faster?” Came out of my lips without my willing it. The Pale Elves mountain island, Cloudshadow, was at the ocean end of the Islands Archipelago, and faster it seemed to skirt the Islands.



“Islands.” I said as I fought against the geas. Pain lay me out shrieking, and I passed out.



I woked to see a cute as a teddy bear, gnomish maid washing my face with a cloth.



“We go by the path of the Islands.” Dlarion said softly. “I did not know the burden you faced.”



I bit my lip, not wanting to tell him my arguement with him had been of my own free will without coercion.



The great advantage of the gnomish hydrofoil was its awesome speed. We zipped past islands and arrows chased us, but only a few. The pirates could not rouse themselves from bed in time to give us a thorough pin-cushioning.



Still the resistance got heavier, but we swept by it, until we saw Cloudshadow rising in the distance, and in the narrow strait between two islands we saw a half-dozen pirate ships lined up. They were all slower by far than we, but also far heavier in construction. The hydrofoil would shatter like glass on rock if we rammed one.



Already ballista bolts came our way, and I saw the beginnings of malignant clouds forming over the ships. Someone was summoning air elementals.



“They would not be so strong unless they were hired to wait for us.” The captain told us, and we all shared a look. The Enemy had made his first move.



“Why don’t you fix this, O Mighty Archmage?” I asked the air.



“I cannot; my strength goes to keep him from doing worse. We are stalemated in a contest of wills and power. He in his tower by his Gate, and me in the Lonely Tower.” The wind above the riggings answered me, and all heard the Archmage Valastin’s reply.



“Magic.” I said looking at the blockade.



“I cannot.” Dlarion said. “I have not the magic to defeat this.”



I looked at the captain, and he nodded. They dropped sail, and the hydrofoil sank to become a rocking boat that was too close to a raft for comfort.



I got up and walked to the edge. Never tried this before, I told myself, but it seems a good idea.



Something bothered me, and a bit ashamed, I turned to Dlarion.



“I’m sorry for insulting you. Not that I’m giving you your way, but there was no call for that.”



He looked blankly back at me, and then nodded.



Its better to not sin at all, but especially so when you are going to try for a miracle.



“He walked on the sea, calmed the waves, and enabled Simon Peter to do likewise. Thus He demonstrated his mastery over the element of water. Give me such mastery for the while, Lord God. Let me use it to protect those who need protecting, and to free myself eventually from this vile spell layed on me.” I prayed kneeling by the edge of the boat, and then without another word leapt over the side to bounce on the water’s surface. It was rather like walking on a trampoline.



I resolutely set out toward the pirate ships, keeping in mind the example both good and bad of Simon Peter who did walk on the waves, but also when his faith failed sank into them as well.



I still did not know how to defeat the ships, but I’d figure something out, I hoped in the five hundred yard hike.



Tadeusz