The Wand & the Sea

by Claire M. Caterer

  “These two objects act in concert, Everett, and only we know how they work. We can learn more about them together, but only if we keep them secret. Are we in accord?”

  Everett considered the black ship. He only saw it, he reasoned; he didn’t create it. Besides, all sorts of ships must be roaming these seas. And the smoke was just some odd feature of the compass. Holly didn’t own rights to all the magic in this world, and anyway, it wasn’t like before, when an evil fairy creature was brainwashing him. “Right then, here’s the deal,” he said at last. “I’ll stay mum about the wand, but we’ll learn how it works together. And Holly doesn’t get hurt, clear?”

  “I have no quarrel with Lady Holly. I only wish to know her better, to learn from her as well—in time.” Avery shifted his feet and looked down at them as if there was something to learn from the dank floor. “She does not favor me, I gather.”

  Everett snorted. “I’d say that’s a fair guess. If you want to be friends with her, with any of us, you can’t be allied with the king.”

  Avery looked up. “Then consider me a friend. For I swear the king to be my greatest enemy.”

  Chapter 29

  * * *

  Captain’s Orders

  A few mornings after they’d set sail, Holly stood on the deck of the Sea Witch, proud of her calm stomach and steady sea legs. She stood beneath the main staysail and gazed up at Kailani, who stood in the crow’s nest with a spyglass to one eye. Holly thought she’d love to be like Kai, as she was called, at home on the sea, inspecting the sails and hull, giving orders to the crew. More than one of them stopped to watch her when she scrambled up the ratlines in her bare feet, her long black hair swinging down her back, but if she caught them staring, they busied themselves with swabbing or pulling on the braces. Holly leaned on the ratlines and nearly stumbled over Ben, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the ship’s waist.

  “Oggler taught me this trick,” said Ben. “Keep a low center of gravity. And keep an eye on the horizon. It’s helping with the—you know. My stomach.”

  “Which one’s Oggler?”

  “The guy with the eye patch. He’s helping Pike at the steering wheel—I mean, the helm.” Ben pointed astern. Holly remembered Oggler. Pike was no more than seventeen, with short, curly brown hair. She double-checked his face for stubble to make sure she’d judged his gender right.

  Kai waved at Holly from the crow’s nest. “Come up, if ye’ve a mind to,” she called down.

  “Do you think it wise?” asked Jade, who shadowed Holly’s every move.

  “I’ll be okay.” Holly put her foot into the ropes.

  She was used to climbing. At home she had topped every rock wall in town, even the forty-foot one at the giant sporting-goods store. Still, it was dizzying to see the deck shrinking the higher she went. Jade became a small black dot amidships as the wind puffed out the flapping spanker sail to her left. And even when Holly reached the crow’s nest, she wasn’t at the very top, where she spied another crew member hanging above the topsail.

  “Too high for ye?” Kailani asked, grinning.

  “I’m fine. It’s beautiful up here.” Holly steadied herself against the ratlines. The stiff breeze blew back her hair, and tiny salt crystals peppered her glasses. “I can’t believe how far we’ve come.”

  “It’s the sea portal. Only the captain knows where to open one. They’re connected, one t’other, like tunnels. One portal will seek out another. Here, have a look.” Kai handed Holly her spyglass.

  The sea stretched on forever. The masts creaked in the stiff breeze, the deck below looking not quite big enough to land on if she were blown off into the air. Holly wrapped one arm around the mast, feeling foolish as Kai stood holding on to nothing, and she scanned the horizon. It wasn’t much to look at; only a straight line of unending blue, topped with whitecaps and leaping fish and—

  “There!” she cried. On the southwestern horizon she spied a bump with little sticks poking out of it. They looked like trees. “I see land!”

  Kailani’s eyes widened and she took the spyglass from Holly. Her face went white beneath her tan. “That ain’t land. That’s a ship. Get below, Lady Holly. At once.” She cupped her hands and hollered down to the deck. “A sail, Captain! A sail!”

  “But who is it?” Holly asked.

  “Now, milady,” said Kai, and there was no disobeying her.

  Holly backed down the ratlines, wondering who it was Kai could’ve seen. Below, the sailors ran to the rails, hollering about a ship. She kept her eyes fixed on her hands and the spanker sail until she felt the sun-warmed deck beneath her feet.

  Ben stood peering out to sea. “Everybody’s yelling about a ship. Could you see it? What’d it look like?”

  “I could hardly see a thing,” Holly said. The ship pitched suddenly, and Holly lost her footing, bowling into the captain, who was striding across the deck.

  Morgan nudged her aside. “Pike!” she hollered to the bridge. “Helm quarter to port! Hands aloft to loosen topsails. To the north, Kailani!” She jerked her head at Holly. “And you lot—down below. Now.”

  Holly, Jade, and Ben followed the captain down the hatch and to the ship’s mess, which was like the dining room. The rest of the new passengers had gathered around the small table.

  “Is this about the ship we saw?” Holly asked. “Who is it?”

  “Let’s just say it’s a party best avoided,” said Morgan grimly. “So we’re stepping up our itinerary. That’s where you come in, Lady Adept.”

  “You propose to use Her Ladyship as a tool for navigation?” Ranulf asked.

  Morgan glanced up sharply. “I’ve been sailin’ for months lookin’ for this island, to no avail. But I’ve since learnt of a legend: The Adepts can be found only by one o’ their own.”

  “It still seems strange,” said Holly, “that the king—or the Sorcerer—wants to find one of the Adepts that he sent away in the first place. They must have some kind of plan. What if we end up helping them?”

  “Setting a horde of spell casters free won’t give ’em any help, that’s sure,” the pirate said, swigging a stein of rum. “And if he ever wants to see his own flesh and blood again, he’ll pay handsome, as well.”

  “You’re gonna ransom the prince?” Ben asked, his eyes wide.

  “What did you think?” Holly asked, trying to look like she knew exactly how a pirate’s mind worked. “He’s not here to join the crew.”

  “True enough.” Morgan stared straight into Holly’s eyes. “And he’s takin’ up rations as it is.”

  Holly didn’t quite know what to say to this.

  “Have you contacted His Majesty?” Almaric asked.

  “Aye, Crews was sent just afore we set sail.”

  “Who’s that?” Everett asked. “A page or something?”

  Morgan snorted. “Ye’ll meet him when he returns.”

  Holly wondered how anyone could find them, especially if they were changing course, but at the captain’s dark look she closed her mouth.

  “Now then,” Morgan went on. “Adept navigation’s got to be done at the right time. Kailani will wake ye tonight, at the end of first watch.” The captain pushed back from the table.

  “But—” Holly started. She had no idea what Morgan meant.

  Jade spoke up. “Captain, is Her Ladyship to steer the ship?”

  “By the sea demon, she’ll not be at my helm.” Morgan scowled. “Ye’re there for the navigation, as I say. Lady.”

  “But . . .” Holly looked at Almaric, who shook his head. “How am I supposed to navigate?”

  “Ye’ll do what the crew tells ye,” the captain said. “And see that ye steer us true. If ye don’t fancy feeding the fishes, that be.” She left the mess hall, slamming the hatch behind her.

  “Well!” Almaric said. “I never! The cheek!”

  Jade pressed a warm paw to Holly’s face, which had gone suddenly cold. “Are you quite well, Lady Holly?”

  She tried to smile. “I gues
s so.” The truth was that a chill fingered down her back and through her toes, despite the stuffy mess hall, and her stomach heaved a little with the gentle pitch of the brigantine. The hull groaned.

  “I’m not well,” Ben said. “It sounds like they’re just going to point Holly out at the horizon, and if they don’t find this island, they’ll dump her overboard. In fact, it doesn’t look good for any of us.” He paused. “Am I the only one who thinks we’re more like prisoners than passengers on this boat?”

  “But we conjured the ship, not the other way round,” Everett said. “Doesn’t that put us in control?”

  “No one controls the captain of the Sea Witch,” said Almaric. “We may have netted ourselves a bigger fish than we can stomach.”

  Jade raised his whiskered eyebrows.

  “Yes, all right. I realize I pushed the idea.” Almaric looked so upset that Holly patted his shoulder. “But we’re here now. All we can hope is that our own desires will marry happily with the captain’s.”

  Chapter 30

  * * *

  Midnight Watch

  Holly went to bed long after dark, but she couldn’t sleep.

  She sat in her bunk, swaying with the waves, a tiny lantern just above her head. She finally put it out after Kailani suggested it with a silent kick from the lower bunk. She counted the ship’s bells as they rang every half hour through the night. A bleak loneliness wove its way around her like mist.

  She was only dozing when Kai nudged her awake. Her black hair gleamed in the light from the lantern she carried. “Come on then,” she urged. “Yer up for middle watch, and Pike don’t like laggards.”

  Holly groaned. Her movement roused Jade, who stretched and followed her up out of the hatch into the damp midnight air.

  “And there she be, before two bells yet,” said Pike as she made her way to the bridge. “Hope ye had a good lie-in, yer Ladyship.”

  “I got here as quick as I could,” Holly snapped, rubbing her eyes. “It’s not like I’m used to getting up at midnight.”

  “More like slumbering all the day long.” Pike sniffed and adjusted his cap. His long, ropy arms were darkened by the sun, and his curly hair ruffled in the breeze. As he grasped the wheel, Holly noticed his fingers weren’t webbed like some of the other crew members’. She wanted to ask about it, but it hardly seemed polite.

  “So,” Holly said to him, “what exactly am I supposed to do, if I can’t take the helm?”

  “Stand here.” Pike backed up to allow Holly between him and the wheel. He glanced down at the cat. “That beast blows an ill will, I’ll be bound. ’Tis bad luck on a ship.”

  “Then you know naught of an Adept’s familiar,” Jade observed. He leaped onto a nearby barrel and folded his paws beneath his chest.

  “He stays with me,” Holly said, trying to muster a voice that couldn’t be argued with.

  Pike muttered under his breath. He pulled a bit of charcoal and paper from a satchel, and set a large brass compass on top of the wheelhouse.

  “What are you doing?” Holly asked.

  “Takin’ a reading, what d’ye think? Now hold still. The captain said to put yer right hand on the top spoke of the helm. Just the top, mind.” Pike’s eyes were wide and tense as he stood poised with his charcoal.

  Holly wrapped her palm around the wooden spoke. “Like this?”

  “How should I know? I haven’t done this afore, have I? Bleedin’ Adepts on a ship . . .” He continued to mutter as he watched the compass. “Now, don’t try to hold ’er steady. She’ll turn on ye, that’s as what’s wanted.”

  Sure enough, after a moment, the wood warmed in her hand, not unlike the wand. Gradually the sensation grew that the ship was changing, as if it were a whale awakening from a long sleep. Holly felt it stretch its rigging; it took deep breaths from its hold, blubbering a sigh through the bilgewater.

  Jade’s fur bristled along his spine. “What is that?”

  “Fiend’s name,” whispered Pike. “What’re ye doin’ to the Sea Witch?”

  Holly should have been frightened, but in fact she felt warm and right, as if she were wrapped up in her quilt with a good book. The boat creaked and dipped, as if nodding to her. Her braids whipped back from her face, and the chill breeze turned warm, enfolding her. The helm pulled to the south. The spanker sail luffed, sounding like applause.

  “Lady Holly,” Jade said above the wind. “What manner of magic is this?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just following it.” She let the helm pull as it would, gently turning through her fingers. “It’s—it’s just the wind changing, right?”

  “Nay, it’s our course changing,” Pike said hoarsely. He looked like he was going to be sick. Finally he remembered the charcoal and scribbled down numbers as he read them off the compass. “The captain said this’d happen—but I never saw the like . . .”

  “Do you see the Adepts?” Jade said.

  She didn’t ask what he meant. She just closed her eyes and gripped her wand in its scabbard. In her mind she saw a rocky beach, where waves rolled and crashed at the foot of a cliff. A young woman sat on a boulder that jutted out to sea. She held something thin—a wand!—in her hand. She pointed it vaguely at the surf. Holly felt a jolt, as if something had punched her in the chest, and at the same moment, the lonely woman raised her chin with a jerk. She turned her gaze directly at Holly—or where Holly would be standing, if she’d been hiding in the copse beyond the beach. Their eyes locked. A lump rose in Holly’s throat, as if she were coming home after a very long time away.

  Suddenly a wave surged over the Sea Witch’s starboard side, drenching Holly head to foot. Her eyes sprang open, and the ship’s wheel turned hard starboard. The sea, as if obeying some force, rocked and tossed the ship. A moment later, all was becalmed.

  “Wet from Samhain to Yule. One might stay indoors the entire season.” Jade shook his thick black fur.

  “Rip me jib, that’s seven points south,” Pike mumbled. “We’ve turned a full seven points. D’ye think I should rouse the captain?”

  Holly shook her head.

  “And look who I’m askin’! Go on, then. Ye still have the watch till two bells, but ye won’t go near the helm again.”

  “I was just doing what you told me,” Holly shot back, her face growing hot.

  “Her Ladyship,” came a voice from a dark corner of the deck, “is a full Adept and worthy of your respect, seaman.”

  “As if I—” Pike broke off as Ranulf walked into the moonlight. “That is, sure enough. Apologies, milady.”

  Before Holly could respond, another massive wave broke over the gunwale, this time from the port side.

  Pike gripped the helm. “What in blazes is it now?”

  “What is happening?” Ranulf asked sharply.

  “You lot and yer magic! I can’t hold ’er steady!” Pike staggered, and the helm spun out of his grasp.

  Áedán’s sticky feet clung to Holly’s damp neck as another wave swelled beneath the ship. A glint of light caught her eye. “Ranulf, look at the compass!”

  The brass compass sitting on the wheelhouse was spinning madly, and a white-blue glow issued from it, as if the moon were shining on its face.

  “Take the helm,” said Ranulf. He pulled Pike’s fingers from the wheel. “There is other magic afoot. Something is interfering with your navigation.”

  Jade leaped on top of the wheelhouse, placing one paw on the helm. “Together,” he said, and Holly placed a tentative hand on the spokes.

  “Leave it go, ye unholy witch!” Pike lunged for her, but Ranulf’s strong arms held him back.

  Holly ignored him. Something was pulling the Sea Witch in another direction. She grasped the helm lightly, as before, and closed her eyes, calling to mind the lonely girl on the rocks.

  Again the wheel spun through her fingers, and the sea suddenly calmed.

  Heavy footsteps came running down the deck, and Holly’s eyes flew open. Kai’s black hair shone in the lamplight. “Leave
her be, Pike! You, there”—this to Ranulf—“loose him.”

  “Only if it be safe for Her Ladyship,” said the centaur.

  “Is anyone takin’ the readings, then?” Kai picked up the charcoal Pike had dropped, and made notations off the compass. “Pike, go pump the bilge for the rest of the watch.”

  Ranulf let him go, and Pike broke away with a curse. He gave Holly a black look before retreating down the hatch.

  Holly and Jade followed Ranulf to the main deck. She took a small seat set against the gunwale. “Thanks,” she said. Her knees were shaking now.

  “It went well, Lady Holly,” said Ranulf.

  “I hope I really did point us to the Adepts’ island. I saw someone. She looked lost. She had a wand; she must have been one of them.” Now that it was over, Holly couldn’t quite believe she’d changed the ship’s course.

  “It is one soul calling to another,” Ranulf said. “The closer you ally with this land, Lady Holly, the more you feel them, even across many leagues.”

  “But what happened after that? You said some other magic was interfering.”

  “I cannot say.”

  “At first, when I saw the Adept, the ship kind of fell into alignment. Like it was meant to go there. But then something else was pulling it away. Like a magnet.” Holly shuddered, and Áedán trembled too.

  “I felt it as well,” said Jade. “Mayhap Pike is not eager to find the Adepts and has magic of his own.”

  “I don’t think so. He seems pretty scared of all magic.”

  “He is mortalfolk, not a Seafarer Elemental,” said Ranulf. “It is rare to see him on a ship like this one.”

  “He means us no good,” Jade said. “Elemental or no. The magic, whatever it was, felt misused, uncontrolled, to me.”

  They fell silent. Another thought occurred to Holly, one that made her chest feel hollow. She took out her wand, comforted by its warmth. “Ranulf, when they come back—the Adepts, I mean—I won’t . . .” She paused, not liking the way she was voicing the thought.