Voice of Thunder

In the weeks since they’d left port, Vel’s squadron had experienced some bouts of foul weather. Nothing had come close to this though. For hours now, the whole world had been shaking, or at least that was what it felt like for Vel. Dina, devoted and loyal Dina, had done her best to put a brave face on and stay by his side, but she’d had to admit defeat and was currently in her quarters. Last Vel had seen her, she’d been puking her guts out. In the same vein he would have loved to stay with her and be there for her, but he found he grew far sicker indoors under these conditions. Something about being able to see the sky and sea protected him from the seasickness.

Sailors were running to-and-fro, or doing their best to, as the deck bucked and lurched under them. Before his mermaid escapades, Vel doubted he’d have been allowed to stay on deck in these conditions, but no one seemed worried about his ability to survive beneath the waves anymore.

He couldn’t really see the other ships in the squadron, which he was pretty sure was a good thing. The storm had swooped in on them with precious little warning, but every captain and crew had made a valiant effort to scatter and separate the ships, lest the wind and waves smash them to kindling against each other.

Clinging onto one of the masts, the sails of which were of course furled, he couldn’t help but reflect on how much this sucked. Vel felt powerless in a way he hadn’t for a long time. There was no worry for his own survival, the sea could not harm him, and he was confident he’d be able to keep his sister safe too, should the worst come to pass. But what about everyone else? Fal, his aunt, the dutiful crews? What of the ships entrusted to him by his uncle? Was his first mission to end in abject failure?

Fury bubbled up inside him, hot boiling rage at his own inability to fight this incorporeal foe that threatened everything they’d worked so hard for. They were finally on the trail of their quarry, and now it might all end.

His rage became too much to contain and Vel roared up at the dark clouds, yelling fury and defiance into the storm. The words were lost in the wind, waves, and thunder. At least he thought they were at first. Certainly, the rest of the crew hadn’t heard him, he’d not even been able to hear himself. But he got the sense something had. And that something responded. The storm responded.

There was a voice in the storm, the next roll of thunder sounding like words. It was as if the storm was daring him, the thunder taunting him. You want to be in control? Come and seize it then, impose your will, if you dare. The Heir dared.

Vel reached out as he so often had, but not towards a mind or minds. He reached up and into the roiling clouds above. And there he found… something. It wasn’t a mind, not in any way, but there was power there. Raw and wild, but it was something he could grasp.

As soon as he made contact, a shock jolted through him. It was as if he had been struck by an invisible bolt of lightning. Was this the natural phenomenon he was trying to subdue fighting back? He wrestled it, forcing it to comply with his indomitable will, imposing it upon the storm. As soon as he felt an opening Vel mentally shouted a single word. Calm.

Immediately the storm abated, but only around his own ship. Outside that small bubble of tranquility, it raged on. That wouldn’t do. As shocked sailors looked around them in bewilderment Vel summoned as much power as he could muster and reached deeper into the tempest, forcing his dominion over it out further. Dimly aware that he was floating above the deck now, The Heir pushed the bubble of calm out to include every ship in the squadron.

When he spoke, it was as if the thunder had become his voice.

“Ready the sails and hold the rudders steady. I will guide us through and out of this.”

With his awareness stretched out as it was, Vel could vaguely pick up on the overwhelming awe coming from every vessel’s crew. As they hurried to obey him, a gentle breeze picked up, guiding the ships and the bubble around them onward through the natural disaster still raging all around.