SteamPunk Nell Deep-Sea

Down, down, where the light is green and blue, deep down in the under-sea;
Through tangled forests where no birds sing, but fish swim silently;
Past coral castles that arch and spire, where the blue-haired sea-folk dwell;
Past old sea-gardens, dim as a dream, o'ergrown with weed and shell;

Down, down, to the wide wet pasture-lands, where the mild sea-cows graze
(Faintly their bells ring up through the sea, as they wander the sandy ways);
And on to the lonesome, weedy wastes that border the deeps unknown,
Where, silent and slow and ceaselessly, the tides march up and down.



Through that unknown world, 'neath the blue sea-roof, dove Girle Treane and Nell,
Steampunk Nell, who for nine full suns in the watery world could dwell;
And whatever she carried for light or warmth in her casemate hand,
For a hand-breadth about her was as dry as if borne on land.

Armored from head to foot was Nell, like a great fish silver-scaled.
On many a quest had she set forth, and never a quest had failed.
But never a quest like this before! The earth was filled with despair,
For the old sea-dragon, so long asleep, had sprung from his secret lair.

From the gem-lit caverns of Abbingwake, he forced them all to flee,
And strewn in glittering, wave-swept heaps lay the cities of the sea.
From coast to coast had the dragon raged, still proof against mortal might;
Till quick to the cry of Girle Treane came the shrilling steam-hoplite.

Now a sea-horse passed them, wild with fear, his white mane streaming back;
And now a bevy of little fish, with their eyes agog, in his track;
Then a murmurous music drifted by, like the song of a shore-bound shell,
And a group of little sea-maids fled past, waving a white farewell.



On the verge of the lower seas they stood; and before they plunged below,
Nell kindled the brass lamp she bore, which burned with actinic glow.
Far up through the watery dark they gazed, then dived through the deep once more,
Till they came to a long gray shape of dread that lay on the ocean floor.

"Now challenge him fair!" cried Steampunk Nell, "as a warrior bold must do.
No harpy may creep up on her foe by stealth who would keep her honor true."
"Come out!" cried Girle Treane. "We are thy doom!" They stood as a shining mark.
The answer came with a hissing sound -- a bolt, shot out of the dark.

"My fay!" cried Nell, in sudden wrath. "Now hold up the lantern high.
Since this is the only tongue he speaks, we will make him a like reply."
Swiftly she armed her steam harpoon, and leapt to the monster's side;
While Girle Treane held the arc lamp high, and the light spread fair and wide.

The bolts shot out, and the bright steel flashed, and ever its aim was true;
But harmless it glanced from the dragon's side, ere back to Nell it flew.
"Is he proof against steam-driven steel?" as her strokes did fall awry.
The carbon arc gave a sudden flare and flashed on the dragon's eye --



And glinting too, was a sunstone orb that grew on the monster's brow.
Straight to its mark the lance went true, and the dragon was vanquished now:
A dumb and sightless, coward thing, he rolled on the ocean bed,
Through inky gore her dirk cut true, as she sliced the gem from his head.

The sea-folk builded their walls again to the music of singing strings;
While, thronging along the ocean paths, danced jubilant, finny things.
The mer-children played by the dragon's skull, and wove it a seaweed crown,
As his sinews and bones swayed a gruesome dance, where the tides march up and down.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Please attribute to:
Phoebecca Bowers
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/phoebecca

Please only use noncommercially.
Please share alike by using the same license.

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This work is a pastiche of the author's writing, photography and art mashed up with Victorian (1837-1901), Edwardian (1901-1910) era sources. Notably C.P.Meadowcroft, M.L.Bower, and R.Browning.

Nell's character and name are an homage to Neal Stephenson's masterpiece "The Diamond Age: or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer".