Mars Underneath The Sceptre of Eternity

The Magnetic Hill

Abjurenos would never forget that fateful night when their ship collided against a submerged hill and broke into pieces in the Dark Sea. He and Captain Alden tried to save the Queen and the royal heir first. Sailor Alden asked his crew to prepare boats; the first boat was for Deodara and Deoes. The Queen asked Abjurenos to stay in their boat and asked, "Do you know boating, Black Fire?"

Abjurenos replied, "Yes, Qeen Deodara; but this type of circular, disc shaped boat needs special types of skill."

"Worry not, Superior;" Sailor Alden said; "Elymonne Demos will be your boatman."

Chief Belicoseon ran towards them; "I'll be in the boat; it is my duty to save the Queen and the Prince."

"Please; Chief;" Deodara requested; "This boat is too little to accommodate four adults. Pease allow me to keep Abjurenos in the boat; little Deoes likes to play with him." Deodara's words disappointed Belicoseon; he glared at Abjurenos but said nothing.

The sea was calm and there was no problem on sailing the boats towards the shore. Blue sunrays were enough to see across the water and moreover Elymonne had no problem in seeing in the darkness, but closely spaced rocks and boulders near the shore were the real challenges.

Elymonne said, "Superior, this island is cursed; it is pulling the ship towards the shore and place is full of many submerged rocks."

Elymonne's words created a strange fear in their mind. Though Elymonne was trying to avoid those submerged hillocks, but they were placed so intricately that Elymonne too was having difficulty in rowing. The boat had already collided twice with rocks.

"Our boat has damaged and it will sink quickly. Boy, row quickly towards the shore." Abjurenos said impatiently.

"Worry not, Superior; nothing sinks here." Elymonne raised his skeleton like fingers towards the wrecked pieces of the ship. Wood and metal pieces were floating alike on the sea water.

"Highly saline water; nothing sink here." Abjurenos told Deoes; "We know very little about the Dark Sea; it has many mysteries. I'll not be surprised; if the island has magnetic hill."

Little prince Deoes started admiring the Old Martes boy; he was asking him end number of questions. However, Queen Deodara was not pleased to see that and she scolded her son mildly, "Let him do his job; don't distract him."

"Mother, I like to learn rowing, and then I can bring you to Grandfather's kingdom. Tell, Elymonne to teach me."

"We are here to help you, My Prince." Abjurenos said to Deoes.

"Abjurenos will teach you, he also knows how to row a boat. A Prince does not learn anything from thralls." The Queen said and thought, "Especially from an Old Martes boy."

Abjurenos read her thought and he could not blame her for such a biased attitude. Everything happened only because of two Old Martes palace thralls. Captain Alden's boat came near to their boat; it had Chief Belicoseon and another Old Martes boatman. Chief Belicoseon asked Abjurenos, "The Island is looking abandoned and haunted; is it good to go there?"

"Where can we go now? There is no other land near around. We have to anchor here first." Abjurenos said, "We still can rescue our ration and valuable belongings from the wrecked ship; nothing is going to sink here; all are floating."

"Water must be highly saline." Chief Belicoseon remarked and asked Alden about the location. He nodded his head on both sides; he had no idea. High salinity meant no fish or creature; though most of the Martian Seas still remained unknown to the Neo Martes people. Alden said only one thing, that they were in the Dark Sea, the vast unexplored water body of the northern hemisphere; but he had no idea about their exact location.