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From: Amemshehu & the ST
Date: 18 May 2000
Time: 17:47:27
Saving Private Nothing
Amemshehu peered over the edge of the skiff at the churning, black waves beneath the Tempest before turning and looking back at the Harbinger wraith directing the boat. The crew of the Egyptian skiff sat in two rows rowing and keeping their eyes lowered, the storm thundering in their ears as the navigator walked over to his master at the railing and tried to raise his voice over the storm. "ARE WE KEEPING THE PROPER COURSE, LADY?"
Amemshehu nodded firmly to the Harbinger, arms hugged around herself to keep her robes wrapped tightly around her. She would not try to raise her voice above the din unless she had to. "AND YOU ARE SURE WE'LL FIND WHAT WE SEEK?" persisted the navigator, appearing to want a more vocal reassurance.
"WE SHOULD BE APPROACHING THE VICINITY OF THE TARGET... UNLESS THE SPECTRES REACHED HIM FIRST", she shouted, raising her voice defiantly above the booming storm. The navigator looked at her as if he did not understand, then nodded as the wizard kept her eyes on the churning storm. The skiff held relatively steady, but black water regularly splashed onto the deck and spectral howls reverbrated through the winds far away. The navigator walked to the other side of the railing to check a rope, then turned back to watch Amemshehu squint out at the horizon for a moment. In the distance, she saw a tiny speck of light with unusual brightness. Turning to the navigator and beginning to speak, he misinterpreted her and yelled to the crew, "HOLD IT HERE!" She nodded, believing he anticipated, and watched him to see if he would comment on the light.
"ARE WE HERE THEN?" the wraith said loudly, uncertainty and disappointment accenting his tone. He apparently did not see the light becoming stronger and nearing their craft by the second.
Amemshehu gestured to the light, finally, to point it out. "WHAT IS THAT?"
The navigator looked out in the light's direction. "I AM NOT SURE...MAYBE ANOTHER VESSEL."
"CAN WE SIGNAL THEM?", she asked.
"YES, I WILL LIGHT THE TORCH WE HAVE IF YOU WISH..." he offered. The Harbinger walked away to a small chest, and came back quickly with a hard wooden torch with a blank crystal set in it, as the white-clad woman nodded slowly.
"WHAT COURSE OF ACTION WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?" the mummy pursued...she might outrank him, but she did not intend to usurp his authority on his own ship.
"I SAY WE RETURN TO OUR CITY SOON, TRIPS LIKE THIS ARE ALWAYS DANGEROUS," he replied as he looked down at the torch, which flared up in a pale green burst of flame. Amemshehu followed him as the ghost walked to the prow and held up the torch, which was almost blown out by the wind.
"AGREED," the wizard finally conceded. The light had neared close enough that they could both see that it was a small boat, with a lantern on a pole. The navigator returned and extinguished the torch as he watched the oncoming vessel.
"I THINK IT HAS SEEN US," he surmised as Amemshehu nodded in acknowledgement. She squinted, as if that would help her see its markings better, though there were none on a such a simple rowboat. The boat drifted quietly up to the side of their skiff, seeming to be completely untouched by the storm around it. Glancing at the navigator and the crew to ensure that they remain on alert, Amemshehu nodded in approval at them and turned back to the boat, the navigator standing silently at her side. The boat was occupied by a single figure cloaked and cowled entirely in black, holding a long bladed scythe in its hands. The lantern hung from the head of the scythe, its light is piercing this close up.
Amemshehu placed a hand in front of her to shield her eyes as the figure looked up silently at the ancient and her boatsman. "GREETINGS. WE'RE SEEKING A LOST COMRADE. HAVE YOU SEEN ANYONE OUT HERE RECENTLY?"
As a sudden reply, the sorceress heard a droning in her ears, not forming words but still conveying meaning: "I have." The figure looked over the skiff slowly, from side to side. His method of communication was surely better suited for this environment...perhaps he was meant to be out here.
"COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PERSON...AND PERHAPS DIRECT US TO HIS OR HER LOCATION?" she shouted over the noise. His features seemed like the western legend of the Grim Reaper, oddly enough.
The reaper nodded. "You are looking for a man, one who has forgotten his face and his name."
Interesting analogy for one called Nothing, the ancient had to concede...one might construe his actions and reactions as such, but it was worth a hunch. Besides...it seemed more than coincidence that this boatman arrived. "INDEED, I AM."
"I can tell you where he is, and where he will be, if fate favours him."
The navigator looked curiously from Mem to the figure, trying not to seem disrespectful. It was obvious that he was excluded from this discussion.
"HOW WOULD YOU DETERMINE THAT?" the Egyptian persisted with growing worry.
"I have carried him to a location, where he most likely still is at. The choice is his where to go from there."
"SHALL WE FOLLOW YOU THEN?"
"You may... I could take you elsewhere also. But both for a price."
"WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?" Amemshehu inquired.
"KNOWLEDGE...INSIGHT..." she replied, offering the commodities she had at hand at the time. The figure remained silent. "FAVORS FOR A LATER TIME...YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT REQUIRE SOMETHING SPECIFIC", she called out. If he was indeed an explorer, he should have little trouble finding Amenti and asking around the city for audience with her.
The figure seemed to agree as he nodded. "That sounds acceptable. Where are you from? You are not poor, from the sight of your vessel here."
"IT'S NOT MINE. WE RESIDE IN AMENTI."
"I see... very well - shall I lead you to the islet where I delivered my passenger?"
"PLEASE," she confirmed as the figure took a firm hold around the shaft of the scythe and used it to pole the small boat along, rather quickly. Amemshehu turned to the Navigator and nodded simply. "FOLLOW THE BOAT, NOW!" the navigator ordered his men, the larger boat turning slowly with a lurch and picking up speed as it reached the Ferryman's boat and kept the pace. As the twin boats travelled, Amemshehu looked over the reaper-looking being. The figure looked back at her, though its face was still hidden.
"So is it true Osiris reigns in your land?"
"IT IS TRUE," the ancient called back, suddenly feeling foolish for having to scream at the top of her lungs. The cowled figure nodded, making no note of it or anything else for that matter. As the navigator approached behind her, Amemshehu glanced to him in acknowledgement. She had seen enough discreet approaches to know when someone wished to speak. He leaned forward, whispering just loud enough for only the pair to hear, "Do you trust this person?" Whispering back at the same volume, she replied, "I trust him to complete a bargain... that is the extent of it." "Alright," nodded the navigator with relief at still remaining in the information loop.
Whispering once more, she added, "Remain on alert though." She did not believe that the being would attack, but felt it would keep the crew in better mindset to remain alert. Besides, it never hurt to remain on one's toes. "Yes, as you say," he complied.
The minutes passed, and the storm seemed much less fierce following the small boat. Ahead, though, crags and rocks poked through the waves of the black sea. Amemshehu looked over the less choppy winds and waters as the ferryman's boat lead the way to an open patch of beach along the shore that gradually came into view.
Amemshehu glanced over at the Navigator once more, searching his face for signs of recognition. "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS PLACE CHARTED ON A MAP?" The navigator looked slightly worried back at Mem, but kept the course after the boat as he answered, "NEVER. BUT WE HAVE NEVER EXPLORED MUCH." Amemshehu nodded once...he likely followed established trade routes...exploration was often fatal and unprofitable. Not to mention, such trips ofttimes lowered the morale of the crew to such an extent that mutiny was common. "I'M GOING TO GO ASHORE."
"YES, I WILL STAY HERE AND WAIT THEN, LADY" the navigator quickly replied. Both ships neared the lands to reach the shore then. Amemshehu nodded to him and stepped off the bow to the shallow waters, and then onto the sand as the figure stepped off its own craft, walking up to Amemshehu imposingly. She watched the figure loom over her silently. The lantern swung slowly from the tall scythe as they exchanged nothing but silence.
Once again, to break the obvious tension, Amemshehu initiated communication. "After you then?" she asked loudly, but not needing to shout with the died down winds.
"I will leave you here, this is where I left the man you seek." The mummy nodded slowly as the figure looked further up the shore, the place seeming uninhabited. As an afterthought, it added, "What is your name, Amentian?"
"Amemshehu. And yours?"
"I am Silver, of the Boatman's society."
"Pleased to meet you," she added cordially.
"Fare thee well, Amemshehu..." were the parting words of the ferryman, as it turned its back to the traveller and walked back down to its boat.
Amemshehu spent a second pondering Silver acquiring a larger boat, as she watched the figure walk away... the one it used currently seemed a danger to itself really. "Likewise," she called, watching Silver climb into the tiny boat. The mysterious figure poled the boat away quickly, leaving the Egyptians and their skiff in the strange place as Amemshehu turned and walked along the beach in the direction indicated.