Manorborn: The Battles Between

Chapter 14

There is darkness, the place where the eye cannot see due to lack of light. Humankind has often determined that there is little to be seen in those places where the light does not seem to touch. In their minds, if they cannot see it, what could possibly be there?

Yet, in some places, what is dark to some is brilliantly lit to others.

So it was with the Morska.

Far below the surface of the waters, beyond where the light of sun or moon can reach, where darkness seems to sit like a hungry, hunched old man coveting what he can hold and grasping for more, where no human eye can see, lay the villages, homes, farms, fields, and estates of the sea-people surface dwellers conisdier myth and legend.

Homes fashioned from liiving coral and sea-rock, varied in colour and hue as all coral is, set themselves amidst fields of kelp, seaweed and other aquatic vegetation the Morska consumed in their diet. Further out were the sprawling lands where herder folk tended to their flocks of various fish and the gentle, dolphin-like yunus; that which provided milk and meat for their table.

Patrolling the lands, either swimming, or floating in place, or even riding domesticated and trained yunus, the soldiers of the Morska kept a watchful eye on the borders and boundaries of the kingdom. Though most were peaceful, they were still wary of zralok jegulja who might seek to attack a herd, or the almost invisible dazdevnjak who may try to do the same.

And, there were the Lignja, the Squid-People.

From the waist up, they were much like the Morska; lean and slim of form, yet well-muscled, and often went about armed with long spears and blades while clad in armour whose colours tended to be in shades of black and red, with their dark helmest upon thier heads. However, from the waist down, their bodies were all long, powerful, writhing, grasping, squeezing tentacles that grew to twice the length of a person, and were edged and lined with claw tipped suckers underneath. These were the sworn enemy of the Morska, and invasions or raids by the Lignja were something to be feared.

So, the guards were watchful and wary, silver head fronds flaring out from helmets forged of Sea-steel; light yet very strong and durable, as were the breastplates upon their chests, the pauldrons on their shoulders, and the greaves on their lower legs. They bore long bladed spears, slim swords, and bows made of whal bone from which they could fire their slender yet deadly arrows with deadly accuracy.

The Morska were not a people easily taken.

But, did all this exist in darkness and shadow?

No. Not by any means.

For the people who dwelt in the dark depths, their world was alight with beautiful glows and phosphorecence of the likes no human could imagine. From the coral that grew wild throughout their lands, or made their homes, to the sea anemones, and other creatures that adhered themselves to the coral, came light of all the colours of the rainbow; red, blue, violet, green, yellow, orange, all glowed and shimmered with such light that the world of the Morska was bathed in a glow akin to the sun at dawn or sunset;a twilight world of beauty and wonder no human had ever seen. As well, through cunning use of reflective surfaces, sunlight was directed down through tunnels and tubes of coral to shine down on the lands as well during the waking period; that time when the people were up and about, working and playing, laughing, learning and creating, celebrating the life they lived due to the blessings of the Maker. At night, the light of the sun would fade, and the twilight of the coral night would come. Then, would the people go to their beds and sleep, while guards kept watchful eyes overall,

This was Silent Killers world, the world she loved and served and, as she swam back into it, she smiled happily as the sense of coming home came over her.