“I can tell you’re eager for revenge against that one,” said Rin. “But there will be dire consequences if you let it jeopardize our quest, chala. Even once we’ve arrived in Cliffhaven.”
“I don’t want revenge,” said Ari.
“Then why did you attack him to begin with?” snapped Kerys. “Aristial, that was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done!”
Ari looked over at Eva. She had a distant expression on her face and didn’t seem to notice the attention he was paying her. He pulled away from Kerys and moved to stand beside Eva, taking her hand into his.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Eva gave a small nod, but she said nothing.
CHAPTER 36
Ari sat with Eva up by the prow of the ship long after the rest of the party had drifted off to bed below decks. She hadn’t said anything to him, or anyone else since the fight with Jarvis and Bloodrose. Ari suspected he knew what was on her mind, and he knew she’d need to talk about it eventually.
“Is it true?” whispered Eva. “Lord Mythril was my uncle? Or at least, the uncle of the woman who served as my imprint?”
Ari nodded. “He was your uncle. You weren’t that far from one another in age, a little more than ten years apart, I think.”
He had more to tell her than just that, but didn’t want to force it on her if she was unwilling to hear it. Instead, he waited, presenting himself as someone who was willing to listen rather than trying to reframe the situation.
“There are other ways to build the essence bond outside of passionate intimacy,” said Eva. “This does not necessarily mean anything.”
Ari nodded, sensing the conflict that must have been taking place within her.
“You haven’t remembered any other details about him?” asked Ari.
“Not really,” said Eva. “I remember the hate that I felt for him. But that, too, could be attributed to another source. I see no point in jumping to specific conclusions.”
Her words sounded a lot more confident than she currently looked. Ari put an arm around her shoulders, trying to shake the echo of Jarvis’ words from his thoughts. What had he been talking about? Was whatever Lord Mythril had done to make Eva harbor such hate for him eventually going to bubble to the surface, either in her recollection or in another of his visions?
If he discovered what it was first, should he tell her? Or would that just be inflicting the cruelty of it on her a second time over?
“It’s all in the past, Eva,” said Ari. “You’re here now. With me and Kerys. You shouldn’t have to be afraid of something that may or may not have happened to you hundreds of years in the past.”
“I suppose you are right,” she said. “Thank you.”
She kissed him on the cheek, and Ari ran a hand through her soft, silver hair.
***
The next few days went by quickly, each passing in an almost identical routine. They ate a breakfast of thick and surprisingly tasty gruel made from oats or another grain. Ari, Kerys, Eva and Leyehl spent much of their time training in hand to hand combat and swordsmanship on the upper deck, while Rin slept a lot and complained about how bored she was.
There was no midday meal, but dinner was always a hearty stew with extra helpings offered openly. Ari saw little of Jarvis, and when they did encounter each other, each of them did their best to avoid each other. He felt an unwanted, grudging respect for Jarvis at the fact that he’d taken the Sailmaster’s words with the same weight that Ari had.
The first change from the routine came on the fourth day, after the galleon transporting them had split off from the rest of the Fairweather Fleet. Ari was in the middle of practicing sword sweeps with Eva when a massive wave slammed into the ship from the port side, nearly knocking it off balance.
His gaze was immediately drawn outward in the direction where the wave had come from. A leviathan had surfaced on the edge of the horizon, and even at such a great distance, Ari found himself imbued with an instant appreciation for the immensity of its size.
The ship didn’t change course, continuing forward into what he would have assumed was dangerous territory. They came within a few hundred feet of the leviathan, which alternated between swimming under the water and surfacing with massive movements that couldn’t quite be called leaps, as half of the creature’s enormous body always remained underwater.
“It’s different seeing them up close,” muttered Ari. He and Eva had abandoned any attempt at training after the first few waves had made it clear that it would be impossible to trust their footing. Kerys stood with them against the railing, shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at the leviathan, which was easily a hundred times the size of the galleon.
“Different,” she muttered. “I think you mean terrifying.”
“They’re gentle giants.” The Sailmaster had either seen or sensed their unease and made his way over. “No need to fear them. The only time they ever damage ships is by accident. They are not maneaters, or even meat eaters, as far as we can tell.”
Kerys frowned, looking very much unconvinced.
“I would think that they’d be more dangerous than the Weatherblight, even if only because of their size,” she said.
“If they aren’t interested in attacking us, I don’t see how they could be,” said Ari.
“Just consider how impossible it would be to fight one, let alone kill one,” said Kerys.
“Oh, I’m sure if I had to I could—”
Ari’s half-serious boast was cut off as the leviathan surfaced, this time no more than fifty feet away from the ship. It was long, almost like an eel, but with huge, intelligent eyes and teeth that looked like overlapping wooden doors.
It sailed upward, arching over the ship and briefly casting a shadow down upon it. Ari pulled Kerys and Eva flat onto the deck, watching in terrified silence as the leviathan’s front half came down on the other side, reentering the water far beyond the galleon’s opposite edge.
It took half a minute for the rest of the creature to catch up, during which time it continued to sail far overhead like a trailing streamer. When the end of its tail finally made its way over to the ship’s other side and entered the water with a thunk and a splash, another immense wave shook the ship wildly.
“Totally harmless,” said the Sailmaster with a laugh. “See?”
Ari shook his head, unwilling to agree but unable to deny the fact that they were technically still alive and unharmed. He stood up and gazed over the ship’s railing, seeing the creature’s outline through the water below and wondering how such a thing could exist.
Rin and Leyehl had continued to serve as scouts for the Sailmaster, and they arrived back late that afternoon, flying next to one another in smooth symmetry. Ari always wondered how they were able to be so confident straying far out from the ship.
The ocean, as far as he could tell, was just miles of water in all directions. Even just standing on deck and considering how much of it surrounded him gave him an anxious feeling, though he put some of it on the fact that he’d grown up within the confines of Golias Hollow.
Rin usually greeted him first upon returning to the ship, a fact which always seemed to prickle Eva and Kerys a little. This time, however, she made straight for the Sailmaster. Ari headed over, too, overhearing their conversation as he approached.
“Thick clouds to both the north and east,” said Rin. “It’s a massive storm. Leyehl and I tried to look for a way around it, but it seemed to be growing in strength rather than slackening.”
The Sailmaster nodded slowly. “That does not bode well.”
“What about heading west?” asked Ari. “I know the coast is that way, but we might be able to hug close to it and sneak around the storm.”
“It is not to be,” said the Sailmaster. “Coast is rocky and dangerous here. As bad as facing a storm, and it is possible we’d be overtaken by the weather, regardless.”
Ari wanted to ask what that meant, but knew that he wouldn’t like the answer. To make
matters worse, the sun was already setting, meaning they’d be forced to endure whatever happened over the next few hours in effective darkness.
“We’ll turn around,” said the Sailmaster. “Try to take a wide route around.”
“Are storms as dangerous over the ocean as they are on land?” asked Ari.
The Sailmaster gave him a single, tired nod. There was something about the set of his shoulders in that moment that made him seem like the small, aged man that he was, though it only lasted for a couple seconds before he recomposed himself.
“The monsters of the sea storms are not to be taken lightly,” said the Sailmaster. “In our language, we call them…”
He let out a series of low and intense-sounding pops and whistles.
“Translates to ‘Those That Lurk,’ or ‘lurkers,’” he said. “They are the biggest threat to my people and are much of the reason why we make voyages like this so rarely.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Ari.
“Yes,” said the Sailmaster. “Take your friends below decks and do your best to stay out of the way.”
His tone emphasized the seriousness of the situation and left no room for discussion. Ari’s initial impulse was to insist that he help on deck, in case any of the monsters came aboard. To do that, however, he’d either have to leave Kerys somewhere else or spend much of his time focused on keeping her safe.
He nodded to the Sailmaster. Thunder boomed overhead, and the clouds in the distance were moving toward the ship at an uncomfortably fast pace.
CHAPTER 37
All of the sailors were on deck as the ship headed into the storm, leaving Ari with the odd sensation of finally feeling like he had enough room to move around on the lower level. He stood outside the guest cabins with Kerys, Eva, Rin, and Leyehl. None of them said much of anything as the gentle swaying of the ship intensified, eventually building to the point where they had to sit down to avoid slamming into the walls of the hallway.
Even down in the lower level, they could hear the sounds of the chaos and the storm. Thunder boomed, and the rain fell at a fast enough rate to sound more like a harsh, ambient hiss rather than individual droplets. Sailors shouted and then began to scream.
“I should be helping them,” said Ari, standing to his feet. “I can fight.”
“That’s not what they need right now, chala,” said Rin.
“She’s right,” said Eva. “They are not trying to make a stand against the Weatherblight. They’re trying to get us out of the storm.”
More screams came from above deck, this time laced with pain and desperation. Ari gritted his teeth and traced a finger along the edge of his Ring of Insight. He pushed his will into it, triggering the enchantment as he focused on a single question.
Was there a way to approach the current situation that he hadn’t considered?
The ring instantly gave him a glimpse of the small boat that had brought them aboard the galleon to begin with, reminding him both where it hung from the side of the larger ship and how he’d need to cut the ropes to make sure it fell into the water without capsizing. The ring also imbued him with a powerful certainty that his chances, if he did choose to run, would be far worse than sticking to his current plan of action and doing what the Sailmaster had said.
The ship suddenly bucked upward a few feet, as though it had just hit a wave that had tossed it into the air. Ari and the others were thrown into a sprawl across the floor, and they’d only just begun to regain their feet when something burst through the galleon’s hull at the end of the hallway.
Seawater began gushing in from the breach, though it would have filled the ship far faster if it hadn’t been for the monster wriggling toward them, partially clogging the hole. It was a hideous thing, with scaly, dark blue skin, stubby forelimbs, and a massive elongated jaw that looked like a split melon filled with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth.
Ari knew without being told that it was one of the lurkers that the Sailmaster had spoken of. He got a better look at it as it came loose from the breach and fell onto the floor in a splash of seawater. It reminded him a little of the cave gators that inhabited some of the underwater sections of Golias Hollow, but it was larger than a man, and it had a thick, axe-shaped tail and at least a dozen eyes.
The lurker let out a clicking hiss and surged forward. Ari barely had time to summon Azurelight to his hand and swing his greatsword at the monster. He managed to cut a glancing blow across its oversized mouth, but the lurker had barely fallen backward to the ground when it instantly righted itself and began moving toward him again.
Another one was slipping through the ship’s breach behind it. Rin and Leyehl had their spears in hand and moved to stand to either side of Ari. The first lurker snapped its jaws at him. Leyehl attempted to slam her spear through the roof of its mouth, only to have the tip of her spear bitten clean off.
Kerys screamed. The hull had been breached in another spot, a larger opening that three lurkers had already poured in through. Ari was at a loss for what to do, seeing as how the new arrivals blocked their path back to the stairs leading to the upper decks.
The door of the third guest cabin slammed open, and Jarvis stepped out with his curved greatsword in hand. It was the only time Ari could remember ever having been happy to have him arrive unexpectedly.
The lurker nearest to him hesitated, unsure of which of the sword bearers presented the greater threat. Ari cleaved Azurelight down through the monster’s neck, releasing a spray of sickly-sweet-smelling green blood.
“Come on!” he shouted. “Everyone together!”
He set himself in front as they hurried toward the stairs, knowing that his sword would do more effective damage than Rin’s spear or Leyehl’s broken shaft. The lurkers came at him as a group. He spun, pulling his blade into a horizontal slash that Eva had taught him as a way of incapacitating multiple targets at once.
The cut he struck across the blue, reptilian monsters was shallow, but it pushed them back for long enough for him to stab one through one of its overly numerous eyes. Another of the lurkers leapt at Kerys. Rin got the better of it, quickly skewering it through the side of her head with her spear.
Ari led the group forward at as fast of a pace as they were willing to risk. The ship was rocking constantly now, posing another threat to their safety on top of the monsters. They made it up to the first lower level, which was blessedly free of lurkers, and then Ari led them up the stairs and through the hatch leading to the deck.
Rain peppered his face as he pushed his head out, and water gushed over the edge of the hatch opening, soaking him to the bone. The galleon’s deck was in a state of complete chaos, with the crew split between feebly attempting to maintain control of the sails while also holding off the monsters.
Ari guarded the hatch, knocking a lurker back with his sword as he bought time for everyone to exit. Jarvis came through last, fighting the lurkers that had followed the group while walking up the stairs backward. He almost tripped as he stepped up to the deck, and Ari steadied his shoulder on reflex.
“We have to do something!” screamed Kerys.
Ari agreed with her, but couldn’t fathom what, if anything, she thought they could accomplish. They’d all seen the breaches in the hull. The ship was going down unless they could get out of the storm within the next few minutes.
“Leyehl and I are going to try to scout more!” shouted Rin. “If we can figure out where the edge of the storm is, there’s a chance we can aim the ship toward it.”
It seemed like a fool’s errand to him, but Rin and Leyehl took off before he could voice his concern. It was, at the very least, a plan that could be put into immediate action.
The Sailmaster was on the upper level, clutching the body of his son in both arms. Several members of his crew were circled around him, defending as well as they were able with their curved sailing hooks. The ship’s wheel was all but forgotten.
Ari tried to keep Kerys as close as he could, b
ut he needed both hands to keep hold of his sword. He was in the middle of knocking back two lurkers who’d tried to sneak up on him from the side when the ship bucked to the side, and he heard an all too familiar scream.
“Aristial!” screamed Kerys.
She’d landed on her side, and the jarring angle the swell had left the ship at sent her sliding across the slick deck. Ari tried to reach for her, but he wasn’t fast enough, and his arms weren’t nearly long enough. He saw Kerys clawing for purchase on the wood before slamming into the ship’s railing and sliding under it, into the water.
Ari didn’t think, and he didn’t hesitate. He knew where the small boat that the Ring of Insight had shown him was hanging from, and he hurled Eva, still in her sword form, in that direction. He could only hope that her naturally resourceful nature would allow her to figure out the rest.
He took four loping steps before hurling himself over the edge of the ship. His arms flailed once on the way down, and he did his best not to think of the time he’d seen a group of older boys toss a rat into a cave pool filled with half-starved gators.
By some miracle, he spotted Kerys immediately after crashing through the water’s surface. She was floundering, but uninjured. Ari looped an arm across her chest and pulled her up, kicking as hard as he could.
They both gasped in unison as they came up for air, but that was just the beginning. Between the waves and the swell, breathing was challenging even when they were kicking and managing to keep their heads above water. Ari had been worried about the lurkers, but as he and Kerys began to choke and gasp for air through the sea spray and thickening rain, he realized that they’d drown long before the monsters began to pose a threat.
A noise came from Ari’s left. The galleon had either pulled away from them, or the storm had cast them away from it. However, there was something else in the water, and as soon as he recognized its silhouette, he felt an overwhelming surge of appreciation for Eva’s capabilities.
Vision Voyage (The Weatherblight Saga Book 2) Page 22
