Mr. Salmalin's account of the ninth session, "Strange Tale of the Island Astray"

I do sometimes wonder

Excerpts from the diary of Mr Ravvi Salmalin

4 May, 1875

She wrote a letter to Shiva. I wonder if we will receive a response?

The League awoke rested after an undistrurbed night. The prisoners all seemed to be in their places when Sir Cosmo and Sir Spencer conferred with the various ship captains to plan the next move. We believe the sword may be hidden beneath the large statue on the west shore of the island. Since both Sir Cosmo and Sir Spencer have a number of diving suits, the wish to go explore.

We have, unfortunately, too many prisoners to carry in our present ships. It has been decided to leave a detachment of marines guarding the shore camp, with Arabis remaining anchored nearby to provide cover and a means of escape if necessary.

The rest of the ships prepared to sale. This included Mr. O'Flaherty's new ship, which he has named the K.O. Which has been crewed entirely by Oompahs. And also Captain Sparrow's new ship, the Yao Ying, with his new First Mate, Mrs Frazer, and a crew consisting of Albert and more Oompahs.

While the ships (Selene, Foxglove, Skylark, Slice, Yao Ying, and K.O.) were underway, Sir Cosmo and Wilhelmina prepared the diving suits. Once we had arrived at the statue and positioned Selene and Foxglove, Sir Spencer, Lady Cowperthwaite, Wilhelmina, and Lt Wooster prepared to dive. Mr Wonka offered each of the divers a paper-wrapped candy ball, which he said they should use only if they lost air.

The four went down and we awaited their news.

They had not been gone very long before something happened. Our first sign was rather violent movements of the retreival ropes and air hoses. Then, Wooster fired one of the underwater rockets. It propelled him up out of the water, and the explosion illuminated the lagoon enough for us to see that the others were engaged in a fight with a large octopus.

I asked Mr Wonka for one of the candy balls, and jumped in. George was right behind me. The candy tasted very strongly of fish and filled my mouth with breathable air.

The water had become so heavily clouded with blood and octopus ink that I could barely see. Lady Cowperthwaite was being squeezed by at least two of the arms, which were strong enough that they had dented the armor of her suit. She seemed to have forgotten that the right arm of was equipped with a long spring-loaded dagger, so I swam to her first and released it. Then got out of the way. She began chopping at the creature while I peeled one of its tentacles off from her suit's legs.

Sir Spencer had hacked all the way through one of the tentacles when I checked on him. Wilhelmina and George were destroying another tentacle. Lt Wooster and Lady Cowperthwaite fired two more of the underwater rockets and close range.

Mr. O'Flaherty joined the fight, but did not stay long, not having one of Mr Wonka's magic candies.

The octopus had enough, and with a final burst of ink, fled the lagoon.

By the time the water was clear enough to see, a portion of the rocky shore was glowing more brightly than all the arclamps on HMS Griffin combined. There was a circular carving of symbols in the rock, and large glittering circle of water within the symbols. It pulsed with magic, but not the magic of sorcerers, nor faeries. It was something else, not unlike the power of some of the gods and demons we have encountered in our travels. I had never seen such a thing.

Lady Cowperthwaite and Wilhelmina were walking very determinedly toward the circle. Sir Spencer and Lt Wooster were right with them. I swam up to investigate. I gestured toward Lady Cowperthwaite to let me see what it was, but she apparently didn't see or understand, because she just stepped through the curtain. I followed, and fell onto a mostly dry rocky floor.

It was a mystical portal, holding the water back like and invisible wall. Except it wasn't solid. From inside the cave, the glittering circle looked like the surface of a very aggitated pond.

Wilhelmina, George, and Sir Spencer came through right behind us.

The cavern was large, with at least two passages visible at the far end. Between us and those passages three young women were gathered around a large caldron filled with a strange-smelling, bubbling substance.

Lady Cowperthwaite, Wilhelmina, and Sir Spencer removed their helmets and began talking with the three women. They admitted they were guardians of the sword, and that other people had been looking for it recently. Under questioning they revealed the names of two: Captain Nemo, and a Sir Ephraim.

Lt. Wooster came through the portal during this and explained he had sent a message back to the ship using the suit's telegraph.

The three young women offered to take one person back to talk with the guardian, but only one person. Wilhelmina had volunteered first, and Lady Cowperthwaite said we should let her go. George, of course, wouldn't let her go alone. When it became clear George wouldn't be separated from Wilhelmina, the woman transformed into a giant snake, and wrapped around George more quickly than he could move.

The other two women underwent a similar transformation, though not before the one holding the ladle hit the side of the cauldron three times and called out, in Hini, "Come, our children!" Smaller snakes began coming out of the cauldron.

As the giant serpent's reared their heads, I recognized them from old stories: yaksini - nature spirits charged with guarding treasures beneath the earth. There was no time to explain what they were. Besides, I could not remember from the stories any special way to drive them off. I leapt in to fight them.

Sir Spencer yelled for everyone to take cover and he threw an explosive charge into the cauldron. The explosion was extremely loud. But most of the blast was absorbed by the cauldron and the smaller snakes, most of which seemed to be dead. Lady Cowperthwaite had taken shelter behind her suit, but now leapt out, grabbed up a large, jagged piece of the pot, and began hacking at one of the giant serpents.

Wooster managed to fire his suit's grapple hook and line into one of the beasts, though he became entangled with his suit in the beast's mouth. Never one to quit, he hacked and shot his way back out again.

I was busy with the third sperpent's head. Lady Cowperthwaite was stabbing its lower body. Sir Spencer was putting his shark knife to good use against the second. Wilhelmina and George were keeping the first one busy.

Right about the time we had killed the three giant serpents, Mr. O'Flaherty and Victoria arrived along with Mrs Frazer. Mrs Frazer had commandeered a wooden version of Wilhelmina's sinkable boat which the Oompahs had built on Mr. O'Flaherty's ship. Only Mrs Frazer and one of the Oompahs would fit in the small boat. They others had come along outside. I learned later that Victoria had taken one of the candies from Mr Wonka, grabbed a couple of small cannon balls, and jumped into the water. Then tried to walk across the bottom of the lagoon to come help us.

Wooster's messages had been more alarming than helpful.

Lady Cowperthwaite suggested that Wilhelmina should send a more detailed message to Sir Cosmo using the telegraph on her suit. Except that Wilhelmina and George had proceeded down the passageway as soon as the monsters were defeated.

We followed, to find them conversing amiably with an elderly Chinese man. His aura was not human, but also not overtly demonic. His shadow was shaped like a large rabbit. The man said his name was Tsukino (Mr Frazer later said that this is a Japanese name meaning simply, "of the moon"--at which point Lobsang said that he heard the old man introduce himself as "Xiutu" which is the name in Chinese folklore for the rabbit who lives on the moon, creating food and elixirs for the gods), and that he was not so much the guardian of the sword as the guardian of the means of getting the sword, which was hidden on the moon.

He claimed that the sword was hidden on the moon, and that we must go to the moon to retrieve it. Getting to the moon, he said, required only that we eat one of the sacred cassia seed pods when the moon was directly overhead. We would float right up to the moon, he said. Then he gave Wilhelmina a branch from a cassia tree, which was covered in dozens of the seed pods.

Wilhelmina was certain the moon would be overhead soon, so she wanted to leave right away. Victoria wanted to ask the old man more questions, but Lady Cowperthwaite agreed with Wilhelmina.

Pellew and Lobsang had arrived by this point, having also obtained the magic candies from Mr Wonka, but not having the advantage of being towed by Mrs Frazer's new boat.

Wooster's suit (which was actually Sir Cosmo's diving armor) was too damaged to use for the return trip. Fortunately, Mr Wonka had given Mrs Frazer a small bag of the candies, so those of us without suits could breathe for the return swim. Wilhelmina and George towed the damaged suit back to the Selene.

Upon our return, we had to tell the tale of what had happened several times. There was some discussion about who should attempt the journey to the moon. Mrs McGregor wished to go. Inspector McGregor felt he should stay to look after the children. Mrs Wooster felt she should stay as well, though Lt Wooster felt otherwise, and tricked her into swallowing a seedpod. Mrs Cuthbert wished to go, but Sir Spencer decided to stay with the ships. Major Powell felt one of the mystics should remain behind to keep an eye on the captured sorcerers. These discussions went on right up until the moon was precisely overhead.

Sir Cosmo, Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Frazer, Mrs Salmalin, Mr O'Flaherty, Mrs Cuthbert, Wilhelmina, Mrs Voach, Mr Voach, Mrs McGregor, Lt Wooser, Mrs Wooster, Lt Pellew, Lobsang, Albert, George, and myself all swallowed seed pods. Moments later we were flying. We fell slowly into the sky.

During the transit, which took a remarkable short time, several members experimented with swimming through the air and otherwise learning how to steer, slow themselves down, and speed up as we moved.

As we approached the moon we could see a landscape not unlike the countryside on earth, except that cherry trees seemed to be everywhere, and white cherry blossoms covered everything, giving the ground the moon's silvery color from above. We landed in the woods, not far from the shore of the Sea of Tranquility.

We had not explored much before we met a woodman walking through the forest with an axe. After greeting us, he introduced himself as Shuparka, and said he had to go cut down a tree. When some members of the League offered to help, he said that he was not allowed to have help. He did say that he had met a number of mortals who had come to the moon, and all of them have gone to the home of Lady Anumati.

The latter name I recognized, being a hindi word for a day when the full moon is visible in the sky. Lady Cowperthwaite said it is also the name of a goddess who lives on the moon in some hindi stories she has heard. Lobsang said the Shuparka is a from another legend--a man who was cursed by the Jade Emperor to remain on the moon, seperated from the love of his life until he chops down the tree of humanity. Which keeps growing back as long as people live on the earth.

We started down the path toward the home of Lady Anumati, which looked like a large country estate.

We met a large rabbit, dressed like a man and walking the other way on the path. He greeted us, and we could recognize him as the old man from the cavern. He congratulated us on arriving at the moon. Wilhelmina asked him many questions. Tsukino pointed the way to the Sea, to the cursed woodsman at the undying tree, and the Lady Anumati's home.

While they were engaged in conversation with the rabbit, a very large otter dressed like a fisherman, walked by and nodded in greeting to everyone.

We thanked Tsukino for his information and went on.

As we climbed the ridge and neared the gate to the estate of Lady Anumati, a weasel also dressed like a person whispered to Wilhelmina from the shadows to warn her it was a trap. An argument developed concerning whether it was proper for Wilhelmina to talk to a strange man, and whether a talking mythical weasel in a fairyland version of the moon constituted a man.

I do sometimes wonder how we accomplish anything.

The weasel said that a number of mortals had already entered Lady Anumati's home and were waiting to ambush any other mortals who came along looking for the sword. The weasel was quite certain they did not yet have the sword, because it was hidden elsewhere. When asked if he could tell us where, he indicated that a mirror was needed.

Mr O'Flaherty pulled the magic mirror he had won from the Sun. It shone with a blinding light, forcing all of us to cover our eyes. As the golden glow faded, the weasel pointed toward the seashore. A silver flash of light twinkled on the shore. The weasel said the sword was hidden there.

Mr O'Flaherty, meanwhile, was gazing into his mirror with a deep frown. When asked what was wrong, he said that instead of seeing his face in the mirror, he could see the seashore, and all of us were standing on the shore, speaking to a group of strange men.

Lady Cowperthwaite interrupted to point out that two long boats were rowing to shore.

Mr. O'Flaherty said that there were two long boats in his mirror. And the strange men were led by a man wearing a turban, with some sort of seashell on it.

Lady Cowperthwaite hurried over to gaze into the mirror herself, and proclaimed that the man in the image was Captain Nemo. And that must be him in the boats.

We all went to the shore.

The otter was there, his net spread on the shore. He was carefully examining the net for breaks. He said he had not seen a sword.

A man dressed in some sort of uniform walked up and tried to strike up a conversation with Mrs Wooster. Mrs Cuthbert whispered that the man is dead, and further that he is a ghost she has met before. Both Lady Cowperthwaite and Wilhelmina recognized him, and suggested to Emily that he has mistaken her for her mother. He was introduced as Freidrich von Reckenburg.

Victoria then whispered to some of us a further explanation: von Reckenburg was the German nobleman who led an expedition to the island twenty years ago. Working with Sir Ephraim, he had hired Commander Turner (Lt. Turner's father) to find the island. But both von Reckenburg and Turner were killed by Major Mercer -- who still works for Sir Ephraim.

Another man, dressed in very fancy but out of fashion clothes, walked up to us and addressed Lady Cowperthwaite as a priestess of Kali, and then asked several strange questions. Mrs. Cuthbert identified him as another ghost. She pointed out that there were spirits of many dead people walking the shores, which makes sense because the moon is considered one of the lands of the dead in both Chinese and Hindu legends.

Before many more dead people could ask us questions, the two long boats reached shore, and a tall, distinguished looking man wearing a turban in the Sikh style was leading them. Lady Cowperthwaite, convinced it was Nemo, ran up and introduced herself, creating a bit of confusion, until Captain Sparrow intrevened to perform formal introductions. The man apparently was Captain Nemo, though he did also introduce himself more formally as Prince Dakkar formerly of Bundelkund.

Once introduced to everyone, he bowed rather elaborately to Mrs Voach, and asked in very formal language if he might please take possession of the Chandrahas, the Moon Sword.

Mrs Voach was confused. She didn't know where the sword was, and had never heard of it before Sir Philip tricked her into leaving Australia to come to the island.

Nemo was very confused. He consulted one of his men, who was dressed less formally than the others. The man sat down on the beach, pulled out a pouch, and tossed divining bones on the ground several times. He insisted that the bones said Mrs Voach possessed the sword.

And then we were surrounded. It should not have been possible, but there was Sir Ephraim and a large number of armed men, including Mercer, Mr Munro, and the Fist of Shiva. Plus a rather large number of more ordinary men armed with guns.

Sir Ephraim identified himself as an Agent of the Crown. He said he intended to take custody of Mrs Voach. During the argument that followed, he refered to her as the Celestial Maiden.

Sir Ephraim discounted Sir Cosmo's commission, insisting that his authority outranked Sir Cosmo's. When it was suggested that weapons weren't necessary, he sidestepped the issue. When it became clear that he intended to take Mrs Voach by force, Wilhelmina yelled out for everyone to get down, and she broke one of her potion bottles on the ground.

Darkness enveloped us all.

I leapt for the First of Shiva. Mr O'Flaherty and George had had the same idea. Everyone else on our side, including Nemo and his men, took Wilhelmina's advice and dropped to the ground.

Lt Wooster fired his gatling pistol toward Sir Ephraim's men.

Sir Ephraim's men fired, but missed everyone since they had dropped to the ground.

Lady Cowperthwaite and Captain Sparrow leapt from the darkness and went after Sir Ephraim. Mrs Wooster crawled out of the darkness and became involved in a sword fight with Mr Mercer. Pellew joined us pummelling the Fist of Shiva. Wilhemina, Albert, and Nemo engage Mr Munro. Lt. Wooster, Sir Cosmo, and Nemo's men were kept busy with the rest of Sir Ephraim's men.

Mrs Cuthbert and Victoria were chanting to raise power.

Mercer severely wounded Emily, sending her to the ground with what appeared a fatal wound, just has Mrs Cuthbert hit him with a Forgetting spell.

Lt Wooster, Wilhelmina, and Albert all converged on Mercer.

George had gotten a grip on the center of the back of the Fist of Shiva's armor, and then poured all of his concentration into the Heart of the Mountain mantra, which lifted him from the moon and sent him flying toward the earth. He kept a grip on the Fist and dragged him away. The Fist could not reach George, and flayed helplessly.

This freed me to run to Lady Cowperthwaite's aid. Sir Cosmo had been knocked unconscious. Sir Ephraim had an etheric pulse gun, and the way Lady Cowperthwaite was attacking him, it was clear that he had shot Sir Cosmo.

Captain Sparrow had become involved in the swordfight with Monro. He had also somehow taken a face full of gunpowder. I heard later it had something to to with Lady Cowperthwaite's rocket parasol.

O'Flaherty and Nemo were taking out most of the rest of Sir Ephraim's men. Though I couldn't help but notice that both Mrs Voach and Lobsang accounted for a couple of them who made the mistake of running toward Wilhelmina and Mrs Cuthbert, who were busy trying to revive Emily.

We heard the distant sound of cannon and rocket fire. We learned later that George had dragged the Fist of Shiva nearly all the way to the waters before he let go. Sir Spencer and Inspector MacGregor had seen and recognized them on approach, and fired rockets and cannons at the First once George was out of the way.

By that time we had subdued nearly everyone. Mrs Frazer convinced Lady Cowperthwaite that we should not kill Sir Ephraim until after Sir Cosmo had a chance to question him.

Mr Munro, meanwhile, had disarmed Captain Sparrow and seemed about to finish him with a final sword thrust when the Fist of Shiva crashed onto them both. Munro was completely buried under the Fist. Captain Sparrow was merely knocked unconcious by a stray limb.

The Fist of Shiva was not conscious. He was covered in all manner of bruises, which were healing as we watched, but all the cannon balls and rocket explosions seemed to have actually harmed him.

Lady Cowperthwaite was afraid he would awaken, and so stood over him with Sir Ephraim's etheric pulse pistol, firing again and again.

Mrs Cuthbert revived Emily. Mr Voach's wagon and horses appeared from somewhere, and he was moving among us, making the wounded drink some of the magic milk. He even convinced Lady Cowperthwaite to stop shooting the Fist long enough to have some. It seemed to calm her.

Galen and Major Powell arrived. It seems that while Wilhelmina had been passing out the seedpods back on the ships, Galen had gotten hold of one. When he heard Lady Cowperthwaite used The Voice, he had tried to bring her his gun. Daru and Violet tried to hold him, but Inspector McGregor said to let him go.

Major Powell had also taken a pod, just in case, and he came along to look after Galen. Which is the only thing that convince Daru to let go and fall back to the ship. George also arrived with them.

The strange white fox, the one with an aura not unlike a faery, had appeared from somewhere and was trying to dig under the Fist of Shiva. Lady Cowperthwaite and Wilhelmina believe the fox is a spirit that has attached itself to Mr Munro.

Lady Cowperthwaite found a small jeweled hair stick on the beach, and recognized it as one that Mrs Voach had been wearing. When she tried to give it back, Mrs Voach thanked her, and explained that it had been a gift from one of Mr Voach's friends. "That old friend of yours who had the large red horse. What was his name again?" Mr Voach answered "War...Warren."

Mrs Voach then turned back to Lady Cowperthwaite and said, "I think you should keep it. It suits you."

As soon as she said that, the hair pin transformed into a gleaming curved sword: the Chandrahas. Mrs Voach had it the entire time. And now Lady Cowperthwaite has it.

Victoria, meanwhile, had searched Mercer's body and located a leather bag containing Captain Forester's heart. Even though the captain cut it from his own chest many months ago as part of his transformation into the Fist, the heart appeared as fresh as if it had just been removed. Victoria and Mrs Cuthbert wanted to try to use the heart to remove the power of Shiva from Captain Forester.

After some consultation, it was decided that Major Powell's Charm Home spell was the best bet. So the mystics raised a lot of power, and cast the spell on both the heart and the Fist of Shiva. There was a blinding light, and the heart move into Captain Forester's chest. The gem (the Star of Victory), jumped out of his chest.

Mrs Frazer ran to intercept it, but Nemo caught it in midair.

As soon as he did so, he, his men, and their boats, rose into the air, falling back toward earth.

And we all began to do the same.

The Fist of Shiva had vanished. Mr Munro's body was not underneath him. There was a deep depression in the sand that might have contained his crushed body, but it was gone. Perhaps it was transported back to whereever Captain Forester's body went to. I wonder, does this mean that his corpse has materialized in that valley where he cut out his heart? Or has he gone to Naraka, to suffer punishment for failing Shiva? I suspect we will find out eventually.

As we were being drawn back to earth, Lady Cowperthwaite and I grabbed Sir Ephraim's unconcious body. Mrs Frazer tried to take Mercer's corpse back with us, but was thwarted by the ghost of von Reckenberg. Given that Mercer murdered von Reckenberg, perhaps it is fitting that they remain together for now.

As we fell back toward our ships, we lost sight of Nemo and his men falling toward another part of the island. However, we also saw a fleet of Chinese junks flying green flags. If I counted correctly, there are 21 ships.

And they appeared to be sailing straight toward where our ships are anchored.

As we grew close enough to call warnings to Sir Spencer, the Inspector, and the others, we lost sight of the ships over the horizon. We had time, therefore, to prepare for battle...

Proceed to Scoundrels and schemers

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