The Lives of Velnin chapter 25
Begin Third Life
The following text is a redacted transcript of the dying words of Veltrin, the third incarnation of Velnin, released by order of the Royal Family.
Blue-white fire flashed before my eyes, blinding me. A fraction of a second later I heard the thunderclap, and the rumbling of loosened stones. One fell upon me, crushing my body, cracking my bones, reducing my heart and lungs to a thin paste. My life flashed before my eyes as my brain went into overdrive to write these, my dying words.
Let's back up.
Aloree slapped me. Hard.
"That's what you get for dying on me again!" she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Her blue eyes were red and puffy from crying; her golden hair, though tied in fancy braids and beautiful with adornments, was dishevelled. She stood close to me, hands at her side balled into little fists, and I took the opportunity to kiss her. She didn't stop me. "From Veldin—his last wish was that I kiss you for him."
I pulled back some inches and she looked at me uncertainly. I leaned in again, putting my arms around her, and kissed her again, this time long and slow. "And one from me."
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
For me, it was our second kiss—my memories were a copy of my brother Veldin's, who had backed up his memories the day after he first kissed Aloree. Thanks, brother. The bright memory and happy feeling still sang strong in my heart. I wondered whether Aloree considered it out first kiss, or our thousandth.
Eventually, we broke the kiss. It was our first meeting for me this life—and I hoped not our last—but time was fleeting. An enemy army approached. We talked shop. I told her my posting, she told me hers. "I'll be at the Isthmus, working as a healer," said Aloree. The Isthmus was a narrow strip of land directly connecting the kingdoms of Tarmel and Talore, the next good chokepoint to defend after Dragonclaw Pass. Of course, the Dark Empire would first raze one of our kingdoms before reaching it.
"I'll be taking a glider to join the fleet shortly. Hopefully, we can get married before I get killed this time around."
Aloree looked at me coolly—or at least, with the coolest expression that a beautiful girl with tears drying on her cheeks, still flushed from our kissing, could manage. "Proposing on the first kiss? Tell you what... win the war, come back in one piece, propose properly, with a ring, and I might, just might, be persuaded to consider it."
I grinned. "Good enough for me." Then I kissed her again.
We kept at it for a while. Eventually, one of my retainers cleared his throat. "Time to go, sir."
As we decoupled ourselves and I headed out, Pol, one of Aloree's guards, gave me a wink and a thumbs up. I couldn't stop grinning as I headed up to the launch tower. Other than the imminent destruction of all I held dear, this life was going pretty well.
I strapped into the glider. Shortly I would kick off to glide to my rendezvous ship. With me were my weapons of war: not my sword Swelfalster, which had not yet arrived from Dragonclaw Pass, but gold and silver, to pay whatever bribes were necessary to keep our fragile coalition together, and magitech envelopes, to communicate directly with Soraina, the Dark Empress, if such communication could be turned to our advantage. My brother, Veldin, had sent the envelopes several days before his death. My father Melnin had used one to counteroffer Soraina's proposal, offering my hand in marriage and loyal service as a consort, with no rights to inherit the kingdom of Tarmel, in return for her turning her army around and henceforth not venturing to conquer beyond Mermaid's Strait. Whether she had rejected the offer, thought it moot with the death of my brother Veldin, or simply not received it, we did not know. At any rate, her army had not turned around.
The moment came. I kicked off the tower and entered a glide. A smooth windmaker blast propelled me from behind as I steered the glider onward.
Eventually, I was aboard Tarmel's flagship. Though the situation was much as my father had detailed me in my debrief, I gleaned new details from the direct words of those involved. All told, we had started with 271 of the large three-banked galleys, and a large number of smaller ships, and sent all our large galleys to the northeastern coastal straits.
When the Dark Empire's fleet saw ours, blocking the straits, they developed a simple plan: during the night, unseen, they sent a detachment of 200 galleys to sail around the large coastal island, allowing them to cut of our forces and surround our forces from the rear of the strait.
A deserter from the Dark Empire informed our fleet of these plans, as well as an earlier wreck of several hundred of the Dark Empire's ships in a storm, and our ships sailed to the south side of the strait to meet this detachment head on. However, finding none arrived yet, they opted to not wait, but sail back through the strait and engage the main fleet of the Dark Empire head-on, rather than perhaps be caught in a trap at the south end of the strait.
As they came to the mouth of the north end of the strait, the Empire's fleet surrounded them. Our ships formed in a circle, prows facing the enemy and sterns close together in the middle, and upon a signal, all rowed forward, fired their currentmakers, and attacked, crashing into the enemy with their iron beaks with a great smash. In the initial smash, our heavy troops boarded a number of enemy ships. The battle raged back and forth into the night in confined waters, until our side and their disentangled themselves as darkness fell. Our ships sailed back into the straits, with 30 captured enemy ships adding to our number.
After dark a heavy storm began, with rain, wind, and violent peals of thunder. Timbers of wrecked ships from the battle washed into our ships and entangled with our oars, and our crews hunkered down in fear. But so, too, did the enemy. The next day our side learned that during this storm, the entire 200 ship detachment that had been sent to encircle our forces wrecked upon the rocks of coastal island, and the main fleet of the Dark Empire was not without losses.
More reinforcements joined our side, with 53 more heavy galleys arriving at the straits, boosting our morale. Our side laid in wait, and that afternoon, attacked and destroyed a small detachment of the Dark Empire's ships, crewed by strangely-equipped men who carried two javelins and a sword each, whose ships had bunched up to the south of the others.
At this the Dark Empire's fleet pulled back, away from the mouth of the strait, and bided its time. Unwilling to leave enclosed waters in the face of the Dark Empire's much greater numbers, our side waited within the strait and bided their time in turn.
On the third day—which was also the day my brother Veldin died—the Dark Empire's fleet lost patience, and rowed into the mouth of the strait for an all-out attack at mid-day. They formed up into a crescent to envelop our fleet. Our fleet pulled back deeper into the narrows of the strait, then as the wings of the Dark Empire's crescent began to foul along the edges of the strait, our ships rowed forward and triggered their currentmakers in the attack.
The battle was ferocious. While in open water, the Dark Empire's sailing skill had shone, in the confined waters of the strait the many ships of the enormous fleet opposed to us kept fouling themselves, ships colliding with one another in the confusion and disarray. Nevertheless, they fought on throughout the day and did not give way. As night fell the two sides separated, ours into the strait, the Empire back into open ocean. Half our ships were badly damaged, and we were happy to pull back and make anchor.
In the morning, our side learned of my brother's defeat at Dragonclaw Pass. Faced with a hostile land army alongside their anchorage, and knowing holding the straits no longer prevented the approaching army, with the land route wide open even if the water route was closed, our fleet opted to make haste back to Tarmel, repair our damaged ships, and replenish our sailors. Here I joined the fleet.
Our fleet had had the better of it in their battle, and hearing of our success, more were joining us, anchoring at Soppressatas Island across the strait to the west. But for all our gains in confined waters, we were still badly outnumbered and running out of time, with an unstoppable army bearing down upon us from the north. I prayed that somehow, we would turn our fleet victories into more, and the more would prove enough to win the war.
The Lives of Velnin chapter 26
As the army of the Dark Empire approached from the north, the fleet both grew, and grew busy. Soraina was marching directly towards Tarmel, alternately destroying any town that opposed her and accepting fealty from those who quietly surrendered. Fealty was not on offer from Tarmel, and thus we expected utter destruction.
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