by Allan Joyal
"The next one will have the bow facing the current. Will we have trouble?" I asked.
"We sailed up the river just fine," Jessop said. "That had me worried. There are no rivers in the islands that a ship could sail. Most are barely more than trickles of water."
"Hang on and mind the sails," Ushcail called out. "Jessop make sure we adjust for the current when we head for the pier."
"Got it," the old man replied. "Turning now!"
The ship began turning to starboard. The wind shifted until it was blowing from almost directly astern of the ship. Lucis and I had to scramble to shift the foresail.
"Captain, we have sharks in the water," Jessop called out. The old man was calm as we continued to turn.
"Keep the turn gentle," Ushcail replied. "We don't need to drop anyone into the water. Everyone, take care as we finish the turn, we are going to be cutting hard against the current and the breeze at the same time. We’ve never tried this before and I’m not sure how the ship will react."
The ship began to come about. Jessop kept adjusting the tiller as the bow began facing the shoreline. The ship leaned slightly, but everyone kept their footing as the ship was finally turned to head towards the ruined pier and tower.
Lucis and I collapsed against the starboard railing when we finally tied off the ropes. The force of the current was pushing the bow around. We had to adjust the foresail a couple of times before Lucis felt that it was safe to rest and watch the ship’s journey.
"Captain?" Panalope called out. "Why are the sharks circling our ship?"
I looked over the railing. Large fish were moving to the stern. I could see them pushing through the water with powerful sweeps of their tails. "I've never seen one that big," Lucis said.
"What are they?" I asked.
"Killers," Culax muttered. "They seem to show up any time a galley sinks. Any man who doesn't get out of the water fast enough dies to their bites. They don't even eat the men, just bite them."
"I'm sure they eat them," Ushcail said. "But they do seem to go wild if there is blood in the water. But I've never seen one try to jump into a boat, so we shouldn't worry. Prepare to dock at the pier."
Lucis led me to the port side. I was going to get the anchor, but he grabbed my shoulder. "There are rings in the pier. We can just tie a rope. It will be easier to leave once we are done."
I took the rope Lucis had pointed to and put a foot on the railing. "That I can do," I said.
Jessop was calling for the sails to be brought down. I turned to help, but Ushcail waved me off. "We'll need to tie off," he shouted. "I'll help with the sails."
"Kaven!" Panalope shouted. "Be careful. These sharks don't seem natural."
"I don't think a shark can swim through rock," I replied.
Panalope just shook her head. She was holding a boat hook and using it to probe the pier as we approached. The metal tip of the tool rang out as it struck the stone.
I waited until the mast was passing the end of the pier and then leapt from the boat. The stone I landed on was hard and I stumbled, but I was still gripping the rope. A quick dash to the next metal ring was all it took before I was mooring the ship.
As I was finishing securing the bow line, Culax jumped from the stern with another line. He tied it to another ring and then smiled at me. "That tower looks like it will contain treasure."
"It might," I replied. I looked around at where we were. The pier proved to be sitting at the conflux of the two causeways that separated the ponds from the ocean. A causeway running between them led to the base of the tower. I looked at the ponds and realized that I could see triangular fins circling.
"Are those sharks?" I asked as I pointed to a couple of the closer fins.
"In a pond?" Culax asked as he looked at the water. "They need an ocean. How could they survive in a pond?"
As if in answer one of the fins turned and headed for the causeway that separated the pond from the ocean. It was about a boat length away when it suddenly disappeared. A moment later the fin reappeared in the ocean on the other side of the causeway.
"There must be a tunnel they can navigate," I said. "Panalope, when you join us bring a boat hook. I don't want to find the causeway collapsing and sending us into the water. I get a feeling it won't be safe."
"I agree," Panalope said carefully. "Something feels wrong about this place."
Culax and I walked to the intersection of the causeways. From this point we could see the ponds more clearly. Each one was shaped like a cut out section of a circle. The far side of this strangely shaped pond was a sandy beach. In both ponds there was a strange pier that appeared to be made of sand.
"That is impossible," Culax said as he pointed to the sand pier in the right pond. "The sand would never hold its shape in water."
"My question is why is it shaped like that?" I said as I walked towards the pond. I gazed over the side of the causeway. From what I could see the wall of the causeway ran vertically into the water. "Something tells me that it is not natural."
"But even if it was made by someone, they'd have to maintain it. And with the sharks, how could they?" Culax asked.
"The answers to that question are in the tower," Ushcail said. "Hadlor, Lucis, Jessop stay with the ship. The rest of you come with me. Let's take the center causeway. And Kaven, take the boat hook and check the path."
I held out my hand to Panalope. She handed the boat hook to me and then grabbed me around my waist. "I'm scared," she said.
"You have a right to be," Ushcail said softly. "Nothing about this place looks right or natural. The pier of sand is impossible, but its right there. And I see no reason for sharks to be this close to the shore in any numbers."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Sharks tend to need lots of food. How could they find that, this close to shore?" Ushcail asked.
Culax was looking at the water to the right of the causeway. "There is only one shark I can see, but it doesn't look right."
"What do you mean?" Ushcail asked.
"The fins almost look like they have a sharp edge built into them. And the shark almost looks like its pregnant," Culax said.
Panalope and I looked at each other. I looked over at the tower. "I wish I'd asked a bit more about magic when we were talking to Shaylin," I said.
"Why?" Culax asked. "What could magic have to do with this shark I'm looking at?"
I looked forward at the tower. The building was built almost right against the water. There was a small gap between the end of the causeway and the entrance. The door stood open. I watched more closely and noticed that the sand rippled occasionally.
"Pan? Look at the sand ahead of us," I said carefully as we continued to walk.
"The sand? Why?" Panalope said. She moved to walk alongside me as we approached the sand.
"Why would the sand matter?" Culax said just as what looked like a shark fin emerged from the sands. It passed between the tower and the causeway before disappearing again. "What was that?"
"The reason I wondered," I said. "I think we now know why the sand pier is there. It looks like these things live in the sand, but give birth in the water."
"But how?" Culax asked.
I pointed to the tower. "I'd guess the answer lies within the tower, if it exists at all."
"That's not going to be easy," Culax said. "I only see a couple of ripples, but if one of them catches you."
I nodded and looked around. The causeway we were on was fairly clean, but I found a few loose stones. "We would have to distract them," I said as I picked up some stones.
"How?" Panalope asked as another fin sliced through the area between the causeway and the tower. "They seem to be protecting the tower."
"I get a feeling that protecting the tower is what they are here for," Ushcail said. "Kaven, this might be something we should abandon."
"That tower just might have answers," I said. "What happened to the Empire? Where exactly are we? How can we return to the Islands? We need to know."
"But if you die crossing the sand," Panalope said with a wail. We had reached the edge of the causeway and were gazing across the expanse of sand.
The tower dominated the view, but I looked past it. I expected to see trees, but the desert extended to the edge of my vision. I slowly looked to the left and right.
"What?" Culax asked.
"Look at the sand. The expanse is massive. I'm guessing its so that the monsters had space to roam," I said.
"That doesn't help if they are near the tower," Culax said.
I nodded and then held the boat hook out to Panalope. She frowned as she took it from my hands. "You might need this," she said.
"Not for what I'm going to do first," I said. I took a stone from my left hand and then took a couple of steps backwards. I took a brief glance at the sand and then stepped forward and threw the stone as far as I could.
The stone impacted the sand. It made a small divot as it landed. As it sank out of sight I watched the sand.
"Nothing," Culax said. "Not a ripple."
"Either they knew it was a stone, or they are elsewhere," I said quietly. "One more."
I transferred another stone to my right hand and then threw this one out over the sand. It landed near the pier. The fin we could see in the water showed that the shark turned towards the stone, but then immediately turned away.
"Wait for me," I said as I held the remaining stones out to Panalope. "Throw stones if those things appear. I'm going to run."
"But," Panalope said.
I pointed to the tower door.
"We can't risk not finding what's behind the door. But only one of us should go. We don't know how fast these things are."
"We'll watch and shout a warning," Ushcail said.
I nodded and backed up a couple of steps. Ushcail led the others to the left side of the causeway giving me space for my race out into the sand.
Chapter 22: Tower and Magic
"I don't see anything," Culax whispered as I took one last deep breath. I closed my eyes and took a moment to picture in my mind the race to the tower door.
"Kaven?" Panalope asked tentatively as I opened my eyes. I took off running, trying to sprint across the sand.
The sand burned my bare feet as I stepped off the causeway. The grains of sand shifted under my feet as I ran. Each step I took my feet sank into the soft surface, but I was able to keep the tops of my feet clean as I sprinted for the tower door.
"Kaven!" I heard Panalope cry. "There's a fin to your left! It's headed right for you!"
I had only made it about a third of the way to the door. Part of me wanted to try to turn back, but the soft sand was already making moving difficult. I doubled my efforts to run forward.
"Kaven, jump!" Ushcail shouted.
I dove forward, putting my hands before me and using them to throw my body further forward. I ended up rolling in the sand and vaulting back to my feet. Behind me I could hear a vast quantity of sand moving. The reminder that there were monsters seeking my life got me running again.
Once I was about two-thirds of the way to the tower door the sand started to get firmer. I was able to run faster. I was still gasping for air though and worried about how long I could maintain the pace.
"Run!" Panalope shouted. "Another one is headed your way."
I strained to run faster. The firmer sand helped as I dashed for the doorway. I dove at it just as Panalope screamed far behind me.
The door was not barred. I fell through the dry and brittle wood. My shoulder hit stone as I fell back to the ground. A cloud of sand and dust erupted from the ground as I landed.
"Kaven!" I heard Panalope shout.
I managed to rise up on my knees. I shook my head as I tried to clear my vision. The tower was dark; the only light was what came through the now shattered door and that emitted by a small glowing crystal embedded in a pillar near the door.
"Kaven!" Ushcail shouted. "What are you seeing?"
I managed to stand up and walk back towards the door. The sand in front of it was being torn up by something. As I approached I slowed down so I could get a clearer view.
One of the sharks had apparently tried to follow me, but had run into the stone foundation of the tower. I could see blood and other matter splashed onto the floor of the tower right at the doorway. The creature was thrashing wildly on the surface of the sand. It looked much like a shark, but the head was wider than I expected.
I waved back to the others. "The floor is stone, so I appear to be safe," I shouted back. "Let me check to see if there is a way to make it safe to cross."
"What do you see so far?" Ushcail asked.
I stepped back from the doorway and looked around. The first thing I noticed was the layer of sand that covered the floor and the thick coating of dust on all of the wooden bookcases and chests. In the center of the room stood an old bookstand. A single scroll was stretched over the surface.
"It looks like part of a library," I said. "I see bookcases mostly. Lots of dust though. I doubt anyone has set foot in here for a long time."
"There might be a reason for that!" Culax shouted.
"Kaven, we can't remain here for too long. If you don't find something useful and can't escape we'll have to leave you," Ushcail shouted.
I rushed over to the bookstand. The scroll on it was faded and the writing used flourishes that I had only seen in the oldest of the preserved records at Bishops Point. The first thing I was able to read was the top line which read, "To turn on the barrier press on the glowing crystal."
The only glowing crystal was the one by the door. I ran over to it and pressed it. The crystal shifted into the pillar. There was a flash from outside the tower.
"Kaven?" Panalope screamed out. She seemed distressed.
I ran to the entrance of the tower and looked out. A bright glowing path now stretched from the doorway to the causeway where my friends stood. "I found a way to turn on some kind of barrier. It should allow you to run here safely."
Panalope and Ushcail started running toward me. Culax looked at the walls of the glowing barrier and grunted. "If one of those monsters kills me I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life."
The glow of the crystal in the tower began to dim. I turned to look at it. The light it was giving out was about half what it had been. I realized that Culax was entering the tower so I dashed over and pressed the crystal again.
The light held. I looked more closely at the crystal and realized that it appeared to be only half as bright.
"What is that?" Ushcail asked. "And why are you staring at it?"
"Pressing it was how I got that barrier to appear," I said. "But it was almost as if the light in the crystal was being used to keep the magic working. I doubt it will work many more times."
"We'll examine the tower and then use it to leave," Ushcail said firmly. "What have you found so far?"
"I didn't get a chance," I started to say.
"Hey! Look at this!" Panalope shouted from the far side of the tower. "It's a map of the coastline."
"Is this tower marked? How about that harbor we saw earlier?" Ushcail asked.
I turned to head toward Panalope when Culax reached out and grabbed me. "Hey, what does this say?" he asked as he held out a battered and faded sheet. It looked like paper but when I took it from him; I realized it was much thicker than any paper I had seen before.
The faded writing was a bit hard to read. The first line was impossible to read, but after a moment I could piece together the words making up the second line of text. "My shark guardians won't enter forests and can't go through hard stone, but they will prevent the Emperor's troops from reaching my tower."
"Wait!" Panalope said. "Does that mean that the shark things were created by magic?"
The rest of the sheet appeared to have gotten wet. The ink was smeared and impossible to read. I looked it over carefully and then shrugged.
"I can't say," I said softly. "The papers are falling apart and the ink is too faded to read."
"What about the map?" Culax asked.
"I've already looked at it," Ushcail said. "It does have this tower marked down. If the distances are believable, we would only need to sail north for part of a day before we could turn and sail to the east. And there might be a tower indicating where we need to turn."
"Might?" I asked.
"It is shown on the map, but the river where we met Ron and his friends is shown as having a large town where the stone slab is now," Ushcail said.
"There was a town there?" I asked. "I have a hard time believing that."
Panalope put an arm around me. "We were told that there was a great battle of wizards. I guess that the slab is the result of a battle."
I walked over to look at the shelves. Many of the books showed the effects of time and weather. I did find one that looked more like a box than a book. The volume was also larger than any other on the shelf. I reached up and started to pull it out.
"What is that?" Panalope asked.
"All I know is that it's practically untouched by time," I said. "Everything else seems to be covered with dust and decay. This is almost intact."
"How?" Culax asked as he rushed over to watch me pull the book from the shelf.
I glanced over at the glowing crystal. Culax's eyes followed my gesture. "Considering what we have already seen," I began. "I get a feeling that magic was involved."
"I've never seen magic that can do this," Culax said.
"Magic is strange," Ushcail said. "And there is little of it in the Islands now. I'm not entirely surprised to discover that it can do some things we never thought about."
"But why preserve a book?" Culax asked as I pulled the book from the shelf. The book shifted in my hand. It was too light to be a book and I pulled it down to my chest for a closer look.
"Its not a book," I said. "Its almost like it is some kind of box."
"Disguised as a book?" Culax asked.
"You would have ignored it," I pointed out as I carried the false book over to one of the tables in the chamber.
"What's in it?" Panalope asked.
I looked at what would have been the spine of a real book. There was no visible hinge, but when I pulled up on the cover the wooden panel separated from the rest of the box. There was a moment of silence and then a glowing white mist emerged.
