Chapter 40- Bad Start

  Outside the Savage Lands, Southern Ocean- Inside RFS Iron Seeker- Late Autumn, Namor 1 (Afternoon)

  Princess Namorita

  The princess floated in much familiar salt water, as she thought back her grand failure.

  “Now that we are alone, why do you reject the kindness of my father?” Namorita asked King Altmorin.

  Instead of answering the king asked a question of his own. “Do you know that this time st year there were six kingdoms in the Savage Lands? And today there are only five.” hearing that made her blink and shake her head a little.

  “And?” the princess asked confused. “Isn’t that a good thing, you have less competition now.”

  “Not when they were completely wiped out in a day… While we are grateful for the insight into the ongoings outside of the Savage Lands, and what the 'surfacers' are achieving. You and your father are so fixated on the humans as our greatest threat, that you forget that our greatest threat is also our oldest." Altmorin stared her in the eye as he expined.

  It wasn’t the princess, but her handmaiden that mutters. “Some of the magi survived.”

  The blue and pink king nodded in agreement for a moment, before stating. “While I do not know for certain what the Iron Wolves did to deserve such a punishment like total annihition, but given their attitudes and power they expressed on a near daily basis, I can take a wild guess.’

  “Regardless, the day we finally get a clue as to who was behind their destruction, a lone intruder kills several of my personal guards, and while delivering her threat to leave the mages alone, she punched the soul of my brother out of his body. So no, Princess Namorita, no what you call kindness I call a colr that will get my people killed. And we will not be joining this alliance of yours.”

  A knock on the side of her tank brought the disturbed princess back to the present. So rotated and took a look outside the small window and saw Lythese wave at her. Namorita kicked the button to cause the tank to drain the water back into the balst since she was done with it, but still had to wait a few minutes for the water to transfer.

  She knew that she could have used her water-weaving magic to accelerate the process, but having an idea of what the handmaiden was about to try, she found herself in no hurry. So a couple of minutes pass as the water leaves the person-sized tank, before the princess climbs out to join the gorgon.

  “Yes?” Namorita asked the woman.

  "We are nearing the destination," Lythese told her calmly.

  The princess blinked at the news, and admitted. “Really? I half expected you to be here to try and comfort me.”

  “Do you need me to comfort you?” The handmaiden asked her, but didn’t let her answer instead she said. “It was honestly just bad timing on our part. How could we have known that they already had gotten wind that a mage had survived, or that said mage would be so bold as to wipe out an entire kingdom.”

  “Wait, you knew some of the mages survived? How?” Namorita asked her.

  Lythese blinked twice before simply stating. “Your father told me.” There was silence between them before the gorgon asked. “Did your father not warn you what you should do should we encounter the Brotherhood?”

  The princess frowned at that question, but eventually repeated what her father had told her. “He said, if I was to encounter Uncle Erik, I was to do everything he asked of me. But what does one have to do with the other? Uncle Erik is a mutant, not a mage."

  The handmaiden smiled at her calling him that, yet still policed her face when she answered. “It was your ‘uncle’ who located and revived the magi. I assume the woman that threatened King Altmorin was one of his mutants.’

  "It really is too bad. From our few spies in the Savage Lands, we knew that the Coral Singers have the most among their ranks that can still breathe in water. Your father had hoped that of any of the hybrid Atnteans they would agree to his proposal."

  Namorita ran a hand through her still-wet hair, before she sighed. Then she asked. "How did we get there so fast? And what do we know about these Fall People? After all, you're the one who mentioned that we have spies down here."

  Lythese knocked on the door, before answering. "The water is deep enough that the ship could move at full speed, and on top of that there is no dock, so you, I, and your escorts are going ashore on an assault boat.'

  “As you heard from their king the Fall people are the only one of them that does not practice the art of svery. Additionally, they are odd when compared to us, as their nobles and mystic arts users all seem to prefer to use fire magic rather than anything reted to the sea or water. Even the Golden people still practice weather magic, unlike the Fall people.”

  As she spoke the door was opened from the other side, as it was seen as rude for Atntis' envoy or her maid to need to open or use their magic to grant them access to other sections of the ship. The princess nodded to the soldiers standing guard outside of her room, as they passed but otherwise ignored them. After having spent the better part of a month aboard the ship she knew the way, so Namorita led her handmaiden to the unch room.

  In the semi-vacant halls, she asked Lythese. "Do we know how they survived?"

  “If your father did, he didn’t tell me.” The gorgon admitted.

  After a few corridors and as they neared their destination she asked. “Does he have a pn concerning them or Uncle Erik?”

  "Again, if your father does, he did not tell me. I am surprised that he didn't warn you on this matter." Lythese replies while they wait for a chamber to be air-filled for them to enter.

  "He could have and I just didn't catch it. I am more than willing to admit I was only half paying attention to him when he assigned me to this mission, after all great-grandfather had just passed, and my father had just ascended to the throne. So much had happened so fast." The princess hoped that her admission was even partially drowned out by the sound of the heavy metal door opening.

  To her luck, the noise from the other side of the doorway was just as loud. She and the handmaiden stepped in. Two dozen men surrounded the long but skinny boat. It was just wide enough for a person to sit. Their seats would mostly be the person's belongings, and it could only hold eight passengers. As the assault boat would be loaded into one of the ship's heavy tubes and unched like a torpedo towards the surface.

  An officer approached her as she watched them load and ready the small craft. He saluted her, fist to hearts, before speaking. "Your Highness, the other one will be prepped and ready soon. Yours will be the second one we unch as pnned."

  “Thank you. Do we have a visual on the Fall People’s men?” Namorita asked him.

  "We spotted a structure near the mouth of the river, Your Highness, but our scopes could only make out a couple of people inside." The officer reported.

  "It is possible that we beat the prince and his men here," Lythese muttered after hearing that report.

  The soldiers continued their work, but even the princess noticed that they slowed a bit in their loading and preparing of the boat. Many looked at her as she thought. 'Our ships have been built to counter the surfacers, and these sea-kings have stagnated. It is highly possible that they don't even have engines or motors. Despite them still having some of our lost technology.’

  Namorita cleared her throat before announcing. “We do not wish to insult our future hosts.” She then turned to the officer and requested. “Ask the captain to dey the unch until we are certain that the prince and his men have arrived to receive us.”

  The officer saluted her, before running off to rey her request.

  Preserve- Heart of the Stone Signers tribal territory- 6th day of the month of Niffle of the 6983 GR (Early Afternoon)

  Nath’aniel-

  "Wait my brother got both an upgrade to his powers, and a magic curse pced upon him." The tribeswoman in a skin-tight bck outfit and yellow mask asked him. Until she had learned that he and Bass were sleeping together she had been very open in her interest in him.

  While Nath’aniel answered the young woman, he watched his two Servants shift and dance about. “I do not know about this upgrade, since I have not appraised the young man, but yes, it is clear as day to me that a curse hangs over his him. And the technical term would be ‘id’ not ‘pced’.” ‘What are they doing?’ He wondered.

  “Why the difference in terms?” Storm asked him as she put away the pieces of hers and Magneto’s game. The mage noticed that the older tribesman could have beaten her five moves earlier and chose instead to stretch out the match.

  “Because curses are harder to remove than spells are. I keep forgetting how much you tribesmen have forgotten about magic over the years.” The mage states as he gets up. His Servants seemed to have settled on something, as he could feel the excitement from Psylocke, and disappointment from She-Devil.

  That comment makes both Basilisk and Magneto burst into ughter, while the X-men each make varying faces of either confusion or embarrassment.

  “Forgive their ck of understanding. But many of their cultures do not even believe in the existence of magic, let alone remember anything about it.” Thunderbird stated, before he too got to his feet.

  Then the pilot announces from the cockpit. “Ugh, guys, there are a lot of armed snake women surrounding the Bckbird out there. Do we have a pn, or are we just winging it?”

  Then as Psylocke floated through the hull of the craft, She-Devil drifted closer to him. 'Were they arguing which of them was going to go outside and which of them was going to stay to protect me?’ He pondered.

  “Then can you lift this curse or whatever it is I am under?” Alucard asked him his face actually hopeful once.

  “Lift no, only the people that id the curse can lift it. But I can dispel it. Just not here, as I said curses are harder to remove.” Nath’aniel nodded once, before answering.

  Then the pilot, Morph, emerged from the control room and pointed out the window before asking. “Ah, guys seriously there are a lot of half-dressed snake dies out there, with spears and bows. And I think I saw Psylocke out there. How is that even possible?”

  “It did seem as if she somehow gained the ability to teleport since st we met the Brotherhood.” Crimson Witch agreed with the man.

  “She spirit jumps, she doesn’t teleport, and she is expining who we are and why we are here to the tribal soldiers that were sent to greet us," Nath'aniel expined to them.

  Storm opened her mouth, probably about to ask what the difference between a spirit jump and a teleport is, but Magneto pced his hand on her shoulder and muttered. "Let's step outside and find out the temperature of the water is, before we start debating terminology, shall we?"

  The southern tribeswoman nodded, before turning and asking. “Thunderbird, would you lead us out?”

  The rge tanned eastern tribesman got up and moved to the side hatch, he pressed a button causing the door to open and a ramp to lower towards the ground before he started descending slowing to the jungle floor. Most of the other X-men followed the big man out, before Magneto joined them. Morph, however, stayed behind, the mage assumed to close up the aircraft or some other maintenance for the craft.

  Basilisk waited for him to start heading for the exit, before she moved to be ahead of him on the way down. She-Devil floated like a spirit beside him the entire way. Once they were outside Nath’aniel could see psychic energy flooding off of his first lover. This energy seemed to be linking her to a pair of the gorgon women, as well as to Strom.

  Both of the gorgons had serpents for hair, which moved and flicked about as the four women telepathically spoke to each other, but that is where the simirities ended. One had working legs and wore a somewhat primitive blue dress. While the other's lower half was a pure snake, and she only wore fur around her groin and breasts.

  The X-men parted when their leader gestured to them, and the one in the blue dress approached Nath'aniel. She bowed before speaking in magi to him. “Nich torroth inin, Uniwat. (I’m happy to see you, High One)”

  The mage was honestly surprised, but still returned the greeting. “Nich torra onin, Helin. (I see you as well, Healer.)” He had noticed how white and yellow auras mingled around her, so he felt it safe to guess that she was the tribe’s healer.

  He then wrote the runes to cast a wide area of effect Comprehension spell on everyone here. Nath’aniel waited a moment for everyone to settle down from the orbs of light flying into them before speaking again. “You’re magi is good. Who taught you?”

  When the gorgon spoke again, he heard a more fluent Magi from her. “(The Oracle teaches all of our mystic arts users, although we are not very good beyond our spell casting.)”

  The rger more snake-like woman then spoke up. “(Your Servant said that you are here to visit our Oracle. That you finally have time for her.)”

  Both Magneto and Basilisk tensed up at hearing that. Yet the mage got ahead of them and said. “I never fully agreed, and I told your representative as much. We all lead busy lives and your capital is very far from ours.”

  The one in a dress sps the rger gorgon in the elbow, before saying. "(What my sister meant to say, was thank you for coming. We are always pleased to make new friends… With that said, however, our Oracle is as important to our tribe as you are to yours, so for safety reasons only the mage and his Servants may be allowed inside the Oracle's Cave.)"

  Nath'aniel nodded, before sharing a look first with Magneto, who after a moment also nodded in agreement. As well as with Storm who shrugged and muttered. "(You can always ask our questions for us.)" Something felt right to the mage hearing the dark-skinned woman speak in Magi to him.

  Basilisk pulled him into her arms for a hug, before Nath’aniel could voice their agreement to their terms. She was a touch rough when grabbing him, but the rge woman held back her strength in the actual hug. The mage tapped one of her hands before muttering. “Everything will go fine.”

  “(Damn straight it will.)” Magneto muttered in magi, before a small metal disk floated off of his armor and over to Nath’aniel. The mage could see faint energy still coming off of the small pte. Before Nath’aniel could ask about the metal’s purpose the mutant leader said. “(There are a lot of dense metals in the mountain. Even so, I will be able to feel that depleted uranium while you in there. Just break it, and I will rip the top of the mountain to get you out of there should something happen.)"

  Nath’aniel smiled at the precaution before asking the gorgon. “Would one of you lead the way for me please?” Ironically it was the ruder rge serpent one that turned around and led the way. He and Psylocke followed her through the vilge surrounding the base of the mountain, and She-Devil of course, also followed in spirit form.

  Once through the vilge, it was up a short distance, perhaps two stories worth of climbing before she led them to a cave. Once there the woman stopped and gestured for them to press on. As they passed her she muttered. "(Ignore any of the side passages, just go to the end of the end of the main passage and take the stairs up to the top.)"

  It felt slightly tiring walking the fifty yards to the base of the stone stairwell and then there were the four yers of stairs till they came to a round wooden door. The door opened before they could knock, and a white-scaled red-eyed gorgon in a red dress easily swung the heavy wooden door on her own.

  “(You made it! Welcome Nath’aniel, welcome Assassin and welcome Lancer, wherever you currently are.)” The gorgon was rather small and very immature looking to be the leader of the vilge.

  “(You’re the Stone Singer’s Oracle?)” Psylocke asked in surprise. As she did She-Devil materialized deeper into the room, she seemed to be looking around for possible assaints.

  Nath'aniel stopped her from closing the door, and smiled at the young gorgon. She smiled back, and then left him with the partially closed door. He was not surprised when he realized that the door was as heavy as it should be, and required all his effort to close it.

  While he did the young gorgon rushed over to a small open fire, with a kettle hanging above it. “(What, oh yes, yes I serve as our tribes Oracle, but you don’t want to talk to me, you want to talk to him.)” As the young albino gorgon answered the lingering question, two things happened.

  First, the kettle started to whistle that it was boiling, and second, a box of strange mix of mystical and mundane energy started to emerge and form off in an alcove of the spacious quarters. The box rose to be bigger than most adult men, and just as it reached its maximum size it vanished.

  Neither Psylocke nor She-Devil noticed it, but they did notice the man who was left behind by it. Even in the darkened alcove, they could make out the heavy body armor he wore, but much more easily, they could see his glowing left eye.

  And then he took a step out as he said. “(If you doubt everything that I am about to tell, at least believe this. Everything I do, I do to make you stronger Nath’aniel, son of Path’aniel.)”

  He felt the confusion both of his Servants were feeling, while his own hand closed around the metal disk Magneto gave him. The mage growled before snapping out. “You have thirty seconds to justify your actions, Cable!”

  DLRhanna