George's version of the fourth session, "Strange Tale of the Island Astray"

Awkward meetings

From the diary of George Moriarty, a.k.a. Cousin George.

1 May, 1875

All was quiet, the sounds of the engine below, the crew in the steering house above, and most of the party deep asleep.

Something was not right. There was just the faintest hint of magic in the air. I followed it, right to Wilhelmina's cabin. She was asleep and seemed to be alone, other than Owen, who barely stirred when I entered the room. I matched breathing patterns with her, and began aligning our Chakras. I could almost feel her dream, but then I found the intruder.

The insane dragon was in her dream.

I closed my eyes began reciting the Mantra of the Seed of Energy. The dragon slowly became visible in my imagination. He was in his human form, dressed as if for a wedding or similar occasion. I could dimly perceive Wilhelmina next to him. I could also sense Mrs Salmalin and Mrs Cuthbert somewhere nearby.

I took hold of the dragon by the neck with both hands began squeezing. He struggled, of course. His big dragon claws sprang out of his hands and he started scratching at me. He tried to transform into full dragon form, but I just kept my hands tight around his very human-feeling neck and squeezed the life out of him. I know he can't be killed forever, at least not easily, but it is clear that he needs to breathe. I figured eventually his present body would die, and we'd have a bit of peace while his essence regenerated itself somewhere in the rhealms of faerie.

And if Mr O'Flaherty or Mr Salmalin first beat him to a bloody pulp while I held him down--it would have been a thrashing he heartily deserved.

Wilhelmina joined the fight--she had her katars out and was cutting the dragon up proper. Owen's teeth seemed to have found a good purchase on one of his calves. The dragon was definitely beginning to weaken. I could feel Mrs Salmalin and Mrs Cuthbert's magic doing something. And Mr O'Flaherty seemed to be there, except that he wasn't.

And then the dragon was just gone. Vanished in a sort of explosion. There seemed to be little coloured bits of paper left behind. I was checking those, and trying to make certain the wretched creature wasn't just hiding somewhere in the room when Mrs Salmalin, Mrs Frazer, Mr Salmalin, Lady Cowperthwaite, and many others arrived at the door.

Wilhelmina was insisting on bandaging my arms. While I was quite perturbed at the damage the dragon had down to my sleeves, the wounds were just scratches. Mrs Salmalin had to check wards. There were questions, of course. Apparently everyone who had been asleep had dreamed of attending a wedding--Mr and Mrs Wooster's sons were the grooms, and the dragon was attending without an invitation. In the dream, at least, Mr O'Flaherty thrashed the dragon.

Mrs Salmalin collected the physical remains of the dragon left behind while explaining what they had seen.

Meanwhile the crew and everyone were quite busy, because we had arrived at the special spot where Captain Sparrow said we could find the island. By the time I got up on deck, the sun was just above the horizon and, other than Foxglove resting a short distance off the port, all I could see for miles in every direction was the ocean. I could sense something odd nearby, but it felt no different than one of the circles of standing stones that Mrs Salmalin says are potential gateways to faerie.

Sir Spencer and Lt Wooster came over on a boat. They joined Sir Cosmo, Lt Turner, Wilhelmina, and several others in the wheelhouse to discuss how to get through the portal. Captain Sparrow had his strange map spread on the table beside one of Sir Cosmo's charts and was going on a bit about positions and straight lines that don't look straight. It was during this meeting that Captain Sparrow admitted that he knew how to get one ship through, but had never tried to take two through the portal. But then Wooster began talking about folds and cutting shapes out of paper. It sounded like utter nonesense to me. Captain Sparrow acted as if it was the most astonishingly clever riddle anyone had ever told, and insisted that the Lieutenant understood how to get through.

So Wooster and Sir Spencer were to return to Foxglove and would follow us through.

Wilhelmina wanted to watch from the bow of the ship. There she was, wearing her crazy goggles. As Captain Sparrow took the wheel and turned the ship about, I could see the seam in the air. It was just a thin line, not visible in the normal sense, but I could perceive it the way I can sometimes see mystical forces. As we moved toward it the world seemed to move, as if it wasn't the real sky and sea before us, but a very well-done taspestry, with a slight breeze disturbing it.

We were moving in a straight line, but the world seemed to be sliding sideways away from us. The seam glittered. And the glittering light became a standing line of lightning, then it split. It broke into all the colours of the rainbow. It opened as if that tapestry I had perveived earlier were a pair of curtains being drawn aside. The lightening became a rainbow, and through the arch we could see a similar, but different horizon. The ocean was there, but the light glittered differently, and miles away, on the edge of the horizon, was now clearly visible, an island.

Wilhelmina was going "Oooo!" and started talking very, very rapidly (as she does when she is excited). She was flipping the lenses of her goggles on and off, and trying to describe what she saw.

As the prow of the ship crossed under the arch of the rainbow, sparks started flying off it. Wilhelmina said it was etheric discharge of very high frequencies. The sailors later referred to is as 'Saint Elmo's Fire." The lightning danced along the length of the ship as we moved forward.

It was at this moment that I realized something rather urgent. The ocean on the other side of the archway was lower than the ocean surface on our side. It appeared we were about to go over a waterfall and drop at least forty or fifty feet. As Wilhelmina was leaning forward at this point, I felt it prudent to take hold of her shoulder and anchor myself.

Mohindar, standing on the other side, had done the same.

And we went down. As it was happening, I remembered that just a couple days earlier Captain Sparrow had remarked that going through the portal was as easily as going over a waterfall inside a wine barrel. Since he proceeded to tell a very unlikely tale of an escape from a British fort somewhere in Burma by going over an 80-foot waterfall in such a barrel, I hadn't quite believed him. Now, I was rather wishing I had paid more attention

It wasn't as abrupt a drop as I had expected, but it was a rapid descent, all the more disconcerting because I couldn't see any waterfall at all. When I looked back, I could see nothing but flat ocean.

Foxglove wasn't there.

I started to say something, but then I saw the prow of Foxglove seem to just... push through the sky. Like a hand thrust through a curtain? Nothing was there, then suddenly the prow was in the air, behind us, and considerably higher over the surface of the water than it should have been. As more of the ship became visible it fell downward. Then, suddenly, the whole ship was there. No splash, because it seemed to just melt out of the sea and sky.

Wilhelmina had turned around when I had, and was running along the rail to get a better view of Foxglove's passage behind us. She was still talking faster than I could follow. Something about folds and paradromic windings and helices and... well, I didn't understand any of it, though Mohindar seemed to be following along just fine, as he answered back by talking about a listing formula and something about an oiler. Which made even less sense to me.

We were through. The island was ahead of us.

The children insisted on coming back up on deck. They had enjoyed the trip immensely. Galen, in particular, kept pleading for another ride. One of the times he did so, I heard Captain Sparrow mutter, "You'll be singing a different tune on the way back."

Which reminded me that Captain Sparrow had also said that getting out of the portal was a very different proposition altogether.

We sailed toward the island. Sir Cosmo planned to circle the island, once we were close enough to see the shore clearly, to look for signs of Lt Pellew and his ship. As we approached the crater of the volcano at the south end of the island became visible, as well as the dense forest covering much of the rest of the island. A ridge rose from the island and continued north from the crater. As we sailed north along the coast, we could make out what appeared to be a tall spire ahead. Wilhemina, who was scanning everything with her goggles, said it wasn't a spire, but a statue.

She had her copies of Pellew's maps out, and noted that there was a Colossus marked on the shore at that point. Soon we could make out the statue more clearly. It was over 200 feet tall, made of stone, that had been carved and fitted together as enormous blocks. One foot was on a rock outcropping some distance from the shore. The other foot rested on the rocky shore itself.

The statue depicted a warrior. The style of dress seemed archaic chinese. The statue held a sword in it's right hand, which it held above it's head. A shield with a solar disc was on it's right arm. I don't recall who it was who first noticed that the toes of each foot (for the warrior was depicted wearing sandals) had only four toes. Once it had been noted, Mrs Frazer turned her spyglass up, and soon pronounced that the fist gripping the sword hilt had only three fingers and a thumb.

As we drew closer to the statue, we could see the opening of the a shelter harbour. Again, as as the map predicted. And soon we could see a ship anchored in the harbour, flying the British flag. Sir Cosmo said it appeared to be HMS Skylark, the ship that Sir Philip Bond had used to take Wilhelmina's mother away from Australia. Sir Cosmo ask Wilhemina to change into clothes suitable for a meeting. He asked myself and Mrs Frazer to prepare to come along. He asked Mohindar to fire up the boiler on one of the launches and to act as pilot. He said he had orders from Admiral Naismith to deliver to the captain of Skylark, and that he wished us to come along as he intended to ask to speak with Wilhelmina's mother.

Lady Cowperthwaite asked if such a small party going over was wise. Sir Cosmo said, "I'm a British Royal Commissioner boarding a ship of the Royal Navy, of course we will be safe." A moment later, he added. "However, I would like you to stay here, responsible for the safety of all hands. If it becomes necessary to rescue us, I am sure that Mr and Mrs Salmalin will be ready to assist you."

We got ready. When we returned to the deck, Selene had sailed into the harbour. Foxglove lingered a bit behind, ready to block the harbour entrance if necessary. We could now see an encampment on shore. A rather large number of tents were set up between the beach and some stone ruins. The map indicated that one of two ruined cities was to be found here.

One of the people on the shore was identified, through the spy glass, as Major Powell--a wizard once connected with the Lord High Warlock's office, but more recently assigned as a Military Counsel to Her Majesty's Mission to Perak. Mrs Salmalin said that he was not raising power, though he did send her an odd message. We could also see Sir Philip on shore, talking to Major Powell.

I boarded the launch with Sir Cosmo, Wilhelmina, and the others, and we crossed over. Once aboard Skylark, we were taken to the Captain's cabin. He was surprised to receive orders from Admiral Naismith, but he recognized the seal, and the handwriting. Sir Cosmo asked if there had been any sign of HMS Arabis, Lt Pellew's ship, or the lieutenant and his crew. He also asked to speak with Mrs Voach. The captain had not seen Arabis or her crew, and said that Mrs Voach had gone ashore with Sir Philip's expedition

The captain was much more surprised when Sir Cosmo ordered him to cease all communication with the shore party. He was to prepare to sail at once, to circumnavigate the island to search for Arabis. When the captain began to protest, Sir Cosmo explained that he had communications to Sir Philip from the Colonial Office, and strict instructions to deliver them in person. He repeated that the captain was not to report anything to Sir Philip at this time, and that the captain was being placed under the command of Sir Spencer.

It was during this conversation we learned that the Admiral, who was currently a Commissioner General with responsibility over all British Naval and Military forces in the all the Far East, had appointed Sir Cosmo and Sir Spencer as Deputy Commissioners, and charged them with bringing Pellew back to the Admiral.

We returned to Selene, then prepared to go ashore. We took three steam launches from Selene and a long boat from Foxglove to get us all ashore. Major Powell met us, and seemed oddly pleased with our arrival. He did not seem at all surprised when, upon reaching the shore, the ghosts of Inspector MacGregor's father and the ghost of Mr Frazer's father bother became not just visible, but apparently quite solid, as well. Major Powell took us to the encampment, and a large tent where Sir Philip had a desk and was pretending to be engrossed in work and surprised at our arrival. He was very condescending until Sir Cosmo handed him the letter from Admiral Naismith.

Sir Cosmo asked to see Mrs Voach. Sir Philip sent the Major to bring her, while he read over the letter again, and began to argue with Sir Cosmo. He needed Skylark, he said, because he was engaged in a search for something vital to the safety of the Empire. He repeated much of what we had already learned about prophecies, the Moon Blade, the god Shiva, and demon Ravanna, and so forth. He sent someone to bring the Orientalist who was leading the historical and scientific aspect of the expedition.

When Wilhelmina's mother was brought in, she and Wilhelmina exchanged an awkward, but warm greeting. Sir Philip noticed Wilhelmina for the first time, and gave her such a look, I wanted to slit his throat on the spot and be done with it.

Mrs Voach had seen the look, too, and moved in front of Wilhelmina. She gave Sir Philip such a glare, I am surprised he didn't drop dead on the spot. Mrs Wooster, Mrs, Frazer, and even Mrs Cuthbert were all glaring at the man as well.

Wilhelmina and her mother moved outside, and several of us followed. Mrs Voach was very surprised to see us. She urged Wilhelmina to stay away from Sir Philip, and said we should all go away as we were in grave danger as long as we were near her.

I was sticking close to Wilhelmina, but it had not escaped my notice that both Mr Salmalin and Sgt Frazer (the ghost), had slipped away from the tent to patrol around the encampment.

Conversations continued between Sir Cosmo and Sir Philip inside. The Orientalist arrived during this time, the Reverend Parslo-Parslo, who went to school with Lt. Wooster, as it happens.

Wilhelmina was explaining to her mother that Pellew was missing, and also probably somewhere on the island. We hadn't quite convinced her that she did not have to stay with Sir Philip when we heard a strange voice, some distance away, arguing with Sgt Frazer. We heard a gunshot. Then we heard some kinds of explosion. Wilhelmina began running toward the sounds. I sprinted ahead.

There was a rather loud sound of a fist striking something impossibly hard, and then I saw Mr Salmalin tumbling through the air, as if he were a doll that had be flung by a giant. He shouted down to his wife to raise power.

I hurried.

Mr O'Flaherty beat me, somehow.

There was a creature, vaguely man-shaped, though he was taller even than Mr O'Flaherty. His arms were thicking that Mr O'Flaherty's legs, and his legs were like barrels. He wore a strange kind of armor and helmet. His aura was not human. Or not entirely human. The idea the aura evoked was that of a god's fist. There was a human soul there, still, but it was like the thinnest of gloves barely covering the angry, divine, fist.

Sgt Frazer's body was laying near the giant's feet. Mr Salmalin had already been thrown far away. Mr O'Flaherty and I jumped in, regardless. What else could we have done.

The creature was shouting in an unearthly voice, demanding that we surrender the Celestial Maiden to him.

Nowhere I punched him seemed to do any harm. I nearly broke my fist. I don't think Mr O'Flaherty did much better before he was sent flying, just like Mr Salmalin. Wilhelmina jumped in, of course. She threw sand and glue to block the eye holes of the armor. She shot him with the etheric pulse pistol. Mrs Wooster charged in, smashing a bowl on his face. She had also found some sticky substance somewhere, along with a length of pink and purple lace that I later realized was Wilhelmina's skirt.

Soon everyone was there, shooting, punching, stabbing, and slashing. We tried many things, none of which seemed to harm him in any way. I felt a rather powerful spell from the ladies strike him, with no better effect.

I managed to position myself in the path of his fist while I was using my modified version of the Mantra of Imperishable Letters. I was able to redirect the force of the blow through my feet to pulverize the ground underneath him. As I hoped, he sank into the dust. Unfortunately, so did I. And even more surprisingly, water seemed to come from nowhere and changed the dust into a slurry of mud. The mystics had cast another spell.

Wilhelmina helped me out of the mud before I became entrapped. I caught my breath while we watched the big man try to climb out.

Mr Salmalin had returned. He was carrying Sir Cosmo, who had been slapped aside earlier in the fight. Unfortunately, Sir Cosmo did not appear to be breathing. Mrs Cuthbert went to work on him.

Lady Cowperthwaite went to work on the big man. When the spirit of Kali comes over her, she is quite frightening. I mentioned that the big man had been trying to climb out of the deep mud pit. He would come to the surface, grab hold of the edge of the pit, and pull. So far he had only succeeded in collapsing the wall of the pit. Lady Cowperthwaite grasped one of his hands, and started shouting at him in that terrible voice.

All of us had attacked him with everything we could muster, and hadn't hurt him in the least. Lady Cowperthwaite pulled one of his fingers back and broke it. She did this while he was flailing about, trying to shake her off. Eventually he did this, but I'm not sure if it was really his doing, because Sir Cosmo had just started breathing again, and Mrs Cuthbert said she thought he would recover. So perhaps her ladyship simple let go so she could rush to her husband's side.

Mrs Cuthbert was still healing the wounded. Mrs Salmalin and Major Powell were chanting again. Mr O'Flaherty and Lt Wooster returned. Wilhelmina and Mohindar were adding various ingredients to the mud trying to turn it into concrete or something similar and thus trap the giant more thoroughly.

He stopped trying to climb out and dove downward. A moment later he leaped out of the pit and landed on the far side of it. He shook the mud off himself as a doog might, then turned and began using the most ungentlemanly language. He demanded that we surrender the Celestial Maiden. He insisted he would not harm her, he simply needed her to retrieve the sword. Members of the league argued with him, and I believe they even learned useful information from him. I was rather busy reciting the Mantra of the Manifest Circle, as I assumed we would be fighting the creature again, soon.

But during the argument, Major Powell had an idea, and he asked Mrs Salmalin for the power they had gathered, and he threw it into a single spell. The creature lunged for him, but it was too late. The magic broke through his defenses and struck a large jewel that was in his chest, where his heart ought to have been. It glowed brighter than the sun when the magic struck it. A moment later he was hurled upward, falling into the sky.

The human portion of the creature is Mrs Salmalin's dead first husband, Captain Forrestor. Or, at least, he was supposed to be dead. The jewel, according to the mystics, is the Star of Victory mentioned in some of the holy writings that have led us to the place. Those writings say that the Star would fall from the heavens or the stars to land in the Valley of Tears. Apparently the place where Captain Forrestor's regiment was destroyed is a place in the mountains between Afghanistan and North-West India called the Valley of Tears. So, Mrs Salmalin believes that Captain Forrestor was the soldier without honour who traded his eternal soul for power that is mentioned in the prophecies.

The spell Major Powell cast causes objects to return to their homes. As he hoped, it caused the Star to return to the heavens, taking Captain Forrestor with it. Unfortunately, he is still the Fist of Shiva (for that is the god the mystics all say he is now an avatar of), so if Shiva sent him here, it is likely he will be back, somehow.

Master Galen and the other children escaped the ship during the fight, intending to bring Lady Cowperthwaite's gun and ammunition to her. I'm not sure how Inspector MacGregor ended up actually carrying the rifle. Both to them beat Lt. Lochsley and his marines to the fight.

We had a lot of wounded to attend to. Lt Wooster, Mrs Frazer, and the MacGregor's had already gotten most of the expeditions evacuated from the island. Some were taken to Selene and Foxglove. The rest of us gathered up the injured and returned to the ships.

Sir Cosmo, Mr O'Flaherty, Mr Salmalin were the most severely wounded, though a lot of the rest of us were at least bruised. It was decided that we would rest and recuperate overnight, then a small party would go ashore. Sir Spencer and Mr Frazer intend to follow Captain Forrestor's path through the woods back to where he was elsewhere on the island, as that is probably the location of the Sword. Everyone seems agreed that the Sword shouldn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands--such as Sir Philip of the Pirate Lord Wu Chang.

There has been a bit of an argument, as the less-wounded members of the party believe that Sir Cosmo, Mr O'Flaherty, and Mr Salmalin should remain behind on the ship tomorrow to continue recuperating. The gentlemen in question conspired with Sir Spencer and Lt Wooster to slip ashore late last night to check out some things in the encampment. They were caught, however, and the plan was pre-empted. We had to carry Mr O'Flaherty back to the ship.

We have placed the wounded gentlemen in bed. Mr Salmalin is sleeping, rather than meditating--a clear indication of just how badly he was injured.

Everyone is settling down once more. We've got Sir Philip stashed in one of the guest cabins. Wilhelmina and her mother have had time for a more in-depth talk over tea. Lt Wooster and Sir Spencer have returned to Foxglove. I can tell things are safe over there, because I just heard Mrs Wooster say something without saying anything to Wooster, and he missed it, again. I'm beginning to wish I had managed to place my bet on the square that read "Never."

2 May, 1875

I didn't realize what was happening in time to use the Mantra of the Swan of Knowledge. But I had detected no magic. As Wilhelmina reminded me, potions don't work that way. Mrs Domokos is a sorceress, but she is also some sort of alchemist. All of us on duty in the night were put fast asleep by the vapours of a potion.

Sir Philip and Mrs Domokos escaped in the night. And they took Mrs Voach with them. There are tracks in the jungle which match the shoes of Mrs Voach, Mrs Domokos, and Sir Philip... and they clearly are backtracking Captain Forrestor, just as we intended to do.

We are going after them. Sir Cosmo has agreed to stay behind to recuperate and plan. He intends to send Skylark around the island to search for Arabis. Mr Salmalin is remaining behind to recuperate and look after everyone on board. Mrs MacGregor will stay to keep an eye on the wounded. Violet and Daru and the ghosts will stay to try to keep an eye on the children. And the rest of us are going after the escapees.

Major Powell is with us, and seems quite put out at Sir Philip. He, Mr Frazer, and Insp. MacGregor all looked through the cabins of the three missing persons together, and were all talking about evidence and signs. I recall, now, that Major Powell was a sort of policeman for the Lord High Warlock's Office. Both the Major and the Inspector have begun to refer to Sir Philip as "the suspect."

I hope that means I can clap the pig in irons when we catch him.

Curator's note: The dates recorded by the various witnesses to the strange events of this chronicle do not agree. This discrepancy occurred to other parties spending time on the so-called Island of Souls (cf. "The Wreck of the Cumberland" by Matthew Flinders). It has been theorized that the passage of time in the vicinity of the island varies from that in the rest of the world. Observers in the Bond party put the events chronicled above on the eleventh and twelfth days of March, for instance.

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