by K Hanson
Between the pain at the back of her head and the rope that bound her arms together, it became obvious that Erhan had knocked her out.
Nereyda heard a shuffling, scraping sound and turned her head to look down the beach. She saw Erhan leaning against the side of the raft, pressing his weight into it to move it across the sand and into the water. Her sword belt lay about halfway between them on the beach.
“What the hell is this?” she called to him.
Erhan stepped away from the raft and turned to look at her. “I couldn’t take any chances with you.”
Nereyda rolled her eyes. “After surviving on this island and finishing this raft together, you still don’t trust me?”
“After seeing what you did by that pond, of course, I can’t trust you. Magic like that is evil, even if you think you used it to protect yourself. Only a servant of the deep below could summon forces as you did.”
Bending her legs, Nereyda managed to launch herself into a sitting position. She crossed her legs as she sat on the sand. “Have you seen me do it since then? I’ve actually tried to repeat it, but I can’t. If I’m a witch, I’m the shittiest witch ever, because I can’t even use my magic when I want to.”
“I’m sure that’s exactly what you want me to think.”
“If I could call the forces of nature at will, do you really think I’d still be in this rope?” She looked over her shoulder and saw a small boulder that was about half the height of her torso.
“I can’t speak to what a witch would do.”
“Fine.” She used her legs to push herself toward the rock. “But you do know that I am the better sailor between the two of us. You need me to pilot that raft. Are you really going to navigate that thing all by yourself while you leave me tied to the mast?”
“I’ll do whatever I need to do to bring you back to the Empire to face judgment for your crimes.”
Another shove of her legs and she had almost made it to the rock. “You can’t even properly pilot a ship through a canyon or a storm. How are you going to get us home on a tiny ass raft? You need me to drive it, or we are both going to die out there.”
“We’re probably going to die no matter who is steering her.”
“True,” she responded as she reached the boulder, “but at least I’ll make it look good while we die.” She lifted the rope around her wrists over the rock and started to scrape it up and down against the rough surface.
Erhan had returned to pushing the raft to the sea, his back straining against the weight of the vessel. It had been built to be pushed by the two of them, not just him, so it was taking him a while to get to the water’s edge. Nereyda didn’t bother to remind him that it was currently low tide, so the water would actually rise high enough to carry the raft to sea in a few hours. Instead, she enjoyed watching him strain unnecessarily. Besides, it gave her a chance to work herself free.
The line around her wrists dug into her skin as she rubbed it against the rock. She looked over her shoulder to look at her restraints. It must have been a pretty terrible rope, as she had already worked her way through about half of the line. Still, her wrists had been worn raw from the rope digging into them.
With a grunt, Erhan gave the raft the final shove it needed to float into the water. He turned around and started to walk back toward her. “Time to leave,” he said.
She still had to work her way through the rest of the rope. She had to buy herself some time. “Are you sure we have all of the supplies we need?” she asked.
“Yes, I am sure. We already checked our stash of food and water, don’t you remember?”
“Ah, yes, I remember now. But perhaps you should just give it another look? Just in case we missed something.”
“We did not miss anything. And speaking of not missing anything, I know what you’re doing behind your back.”
“My back is just very itchy. I sat in some strange weeds, I think.”
“You think I haven’t dealt with people like you before?”
“Nobody is like me,” asserted Nereyda.
“We’ll see,” he replied as he had just about reached Nereyda.
“Aren’t you going to grab my sword? I’m sure you could find a use for it.”
“I’ll pick it up after I get you tied up on the boat. I don’t want you slipping away from me.”
“Why the rush? Excited to get eaten alive by the sea because you refused to let me help?”
“In case you’ve forgotten, we saw a village that was burned alive by someone or something from Stalsta. I need to go back to the capital and let them know that they’re up to something in the Shattered Sea.”
“If you don’t untie these ropes and let me pilot the raft, the only person you’ll be meeting will be your brother.”
Erhan reached out and slapped her across the face. The force knocked her to the side, and her weight on what remained of her rope caused it to snap. She tumbled into the sand. Nereyda brought her hands around to the front and rubbed her tender wrists, red from where the strands of rope had rubbed.
“What the hell, man? That wasn’t a dig at your family. I’m an orphan, remember? I’m just not in a hurry to get to know my parents just yet.”
“A pirate like you doesn’t get to talk about my brother.” He drew his sword and pointed it at her.
“Look, I’m sorry I brought him up. Though, he’d probably be pretty ashamed to see that you’ve become a domineering psychopath.”
That apparently struck another raw nerve with Erhan, because he raised his sword and brought it down toward Nereyda with a quick slash. With a reflex, her hand shot up to block the sword.
It never struck her.
Instead, her body jolted with energy and the storm in her belly awoke with a sudden vengeance. The nerves in her arm tingled then surged as a blast of lightning shot from her fingertips.
The electricity flew through the air and caught Erhan in the chest. When it struck him, he flew several feet back through the air and skidded through the sand when he landed, sending a cloud of white dust into the air. When he settled, he remained motionless.
For several moments, Nereyda sat on the ground in shock. That was the second time something like that had happened since she had touched that fountain in those ruins. Last time, she had sent a gust of wind at that fire demon, and it had sucked the breath from her lungs. This time, after sending a bolt of lightning from her hand, her nerves stung and tingled all over her body, as if the electricity had passed through every single one of her cells.
When the stinging had subsided, she shoved herself to her feet. Walking over to where Erhan lay, she examined him to see if she had actually killed him. While he lay unconscious in a heap in the sand, it looked like he was still breathing.
As she retrieved her sword belt, Nereyda considered what to do with him. If he had thought she was a witch before, shocking him with electricity wasn’t likely to improve his opinion of her. She couldn’t risk sailing with someone who wanted to kill her or deliver her to her execution. She also had no desire to just leave the man to die of exposure on this island. Nereyda was half tempted to kill him, but that would just make him right about her being a murderer.
Grabbing him under the arms, Nereyda dragged him up the beach and leaned his back against the boulder that she had used to wear down her restraints. Next, she jogged down to the raft at the water’s edge. She found their stash of supplies and grabbed some of the food and water that they had stowed away for their journey. She carried it up the beach and set it next to Erhan so that he would have something to eat and drink. She also took his dagger, to replace the one that she had thrown at the fire creature.
She splashed some water on his face, and he gave a start. Before he could really wake up, Nereyda ran down to the raft and shoved it into the shallows.
She looked back at him and saw him lift his head and open his eyes. When he saw her at the helm of the boat, he called, “Hey, wait a minute.”
“Nope, you missed your chance
to have me as your captain. Now, you get to wait for another ride. Don’t worry, I’ll let someone know where to find you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The tiny raft was never meant to be piloted by one person. Ideally, one person would work the tiller, and another would handle the sail. Unfortunately for Nereyda, she had been forced to leave her second person behind on that island. It wouldn’t have worked out very well to have a crew member who wanted to kill her or tie her up to turn her in as soon as they got to shore.
Despite being undermanned, she had managed to set up a line attached to the sail boom so that she could maneuver the sail with one hand while she operated the tiller with the other. It wasn’t the most responsive setup, but it would get the job done until she reached the shore, however far that might be. She faced mostly wide open water until the mainland, so she wouldn’t need to do too much maneuvering in tight spaces. Unless, of course, she ran into a storm.
That wasn’t an issue at the moment, though. A steady wind out of the northwest propelled her raft gently over the rolling waves. Her hair brushed against her face in the breeze and water from the waves splashed up to kiss her face. Her love welcomed her home. Nereyda gazed over her shoulder to look back. The island receded into the distance, the top of the hill still visible above the horizon.
She was glad to be leaving Erhan, the island, and everything that it held behind her. Whatever that fountain had done to her, she wanted no part of it. If she could control the wind and lightning that she had used, it would be a different story. But if she could only use it in bursts, it seemed useless. And now she had someone who wanted to kill her for being a witch. If she was lucky, he’d never make it off of that damn island. At least she’d have a decent head start to find a way to get her crew out of that mine before she had to deal with him again.
Nereyda turned to look to the front again. The sea ahead of her looked wide open. Just a vast blue plain of gently rolling hills. Even the sky was devoid of clouds. It looked like the first part of her trip would be uneventful.
As the island disappeared behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had truly escaped Erhan’s grasp, and the first measurable sign of progress was behind her. Now, as she searched the ocean, she saw no other signs of land or life. Neither hill nor mast broke the line of the horizon. Such an open space would be treacherous on a small craft like hers. She didn’t have the room for enough supplies for a sustained journey over the water, and strong wind and large waves would easily push around her small and light vessel. It didn’t matter anymore at this point. She was committed to her voyage back to the mainland, for good or bad.
When dusk fell, a chill crept into her bones from the cool wind off of the sea. Once it was completely dark, she tied off the sail and locked the rudder so that it would continue on its present course. She lay in the middle of the craft, next to the mast, and wrapped herself in a canvas tarp that they had stowed for the journey. When the sun rose, she resumed her position at the sail and tiller. The wind had shifted slightly in the night and now came out of the north. After adjusting the raft, she settled in for another long day of skimming over the water.
She continued this day after day for a week. She had no idea how much progress she had made. Without a map to chart her progress or landmarks to guide her, she had to rely on seeing the stars at night. Based on her estimation, she still had a long way to sail until she was close to the mainland.
Loneliness seeped into her mind. She had never sailed entirely alone before, at least never for this long. She had always had her crew at her side to keep her company. Even just having Brynja next to her to chat with would be a welcome change. Hell, maybe she should have taken Erhan along just to have someone to talk to. She could have tied him to the mast and listened to him complain and yell at her for being a witch for the whole trip.
After a few more days of sailing, her supplies were dwindling. She shifted to half rations, but if she didn’t find land or some sign of civilization soon, she’d die of starvation or thirst long before making shore.
One night, as she settled into her makeshift canvas bedroll, she felt a tingle crawl through her body. Nereyda shook off the sensation and lay down, but the feeling persisted. As she tried to figure out what caused that strange feeling, she looked out over the ocean and saw a blink of light on the horizon. Then another flash.
A storm approached.
Nereyda realized that she had felt a similar tingling feeling the day before a storm had hit the island. Again her body sent her signals about impending weather.
She shook her head. She had no time to think about that now. Untying the rope that held the sail in place, then unlocking the tiller, she turned the raft to a new heading away from the oncoming storm. For the next several hours, she sat sideways as she held the sail and tiller so she could keep an eye on the lightning on the horizon. Despite her new course that angled away from the storm, it stalked her and gradually closed the gap. Sooner or later, she would need to face it in her tiny boat.
As the distance between her and the storm evaporated, the wind became more erratic, and she had a more difficult time keeping the craft on course. Waves splashed up over the sides of the raft and knocked the crude hull back and forth. The rumble of thunder grew in a crescendo to roaring cracks as lightning tore through the sky.
Finally, the clouds moved overhead, and a torrent of rain poured onto her. A gust of wind caught the sail from a bad angle and nearly pushed the raft onto its side.
In such a small boat, she couldn’t sail the same way she would have in the Storm Raven. The violence of the storm threatened to tear the small vessel apart with the changing wind gusts and rising waves.
As she felt her control of the boat slip away from her, Nereyda decided that the best way to survive it might be just to ride it out. She furled the sail and let the rudder stay loose. Sliding to the center of the deck, she clung to the mast as the storm enveloped her.
Nereyda wasn’t used to being out of control, even in the worst of conditions. On the Storm Raven, she always knew how to handle bad weather. Here, she knew what she should do, but the tiny boat she had couldn’t handle it. She needed to be able to make snap maneuvers to take advantage of wind changes and dodge waves.
She didn’t know if it was the fact that she felt helpless or the size of her raft, but this seemed like the worst storm she had ever sailed through. Each wave that crashed into and over the side of the boat threatened to capsize her. As it rocked back and forth, her arms strained to hold onto the mast so that she didn’t slide off of the deck into the pounding waves.
Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed in a constant rolling roar. The rain that poured down drenched her and fell thick enough that she could hardly see more than a few yards from the raft. The black strands of her hair pressed against her face, heavy with water.
She didn’t believe in the gods, but she yelled a few choice words in their direction, just in case they were listening at all, if they existed.
In the raging maelstrom, she lost track of how long the storm had lasted. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep her balance as her arms became more and more exhausted, her muscles aching with the strain of holding onto her tiny craft.
Another flash of lightning revealed a mountain of water rolling toward her.
While she sat on the deck of her boat and struggled to keep her balance and avoid rolling off into the stormy sea, she tried to tie a rope to the mast of the ship. Between the water chilling her hands and the darkness that enveloped her between lightning flashes, it took several tries to secure the line.
Yet another bolt of lightning showed that the wave was almost upon her.
She wrapped the line around her waist and braced herself for the inevitable. Even if she got knocked from the boat, at least she could follow the rope back to the vessel.
The small craft began to tilt as the bottom of the wave reached her. Nereyda shut her eyes as the angle of the deck became steeper and steeper. W
hen she could no longer hold onto the mast, her fingers slipped, and she slid across the wood and tumbled into the water.
As she the undercurrent pulled her away from her raft, the rope yanked hard on her torso once it pulled taut.
The water tossed her in every direction.
With the chaotic motion, the rope began to wind around her and Nereyda became tangled. Each move wrapped it around an arm, a leg, her waist. The very thing that was supposed to keep her from drowning out here threatened to kill her.
Nereyda fumbled with the clasp of her sheath and pulled out her dagger. She sawed through the line and pushed the rope away and swam toward what she thought was the surface.
She was disoriented from being tossed around, so she hoped she picked the right direction. Her lungs burned from being trapped underwater, and her leg and arm muscles strained with the effort of pulling herself through the water.
Finally, she broke through the surface of the ocean.
Gasping to catch her breath, she whirled her head around to try to get her bearings. She saw the massive wave moving away from her. At least she had made it through that challenge, but now she had no boat or anything to float on.
As she tread water with her increasingly exhausted limbs, Nereyda surveyed the surface of the violent sea, trying to catch any glimpse of her raft, or whatever parts of it the wave had left behind. While she swiveled her head in her search, she managed to secure her knife in its sheath once again.
The flashes of lightning revealed nothing to help her. With no landmarks, she became disoriented in the rolling waves. Despite willing herself to find more energy, her body just couldn’t do it. After what felt like hours of keeping her head above water, her arms and legs gave out.
Slipping beneath the waves, Nereyda felt the tug of exhaustion, and she fell unconscious.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Commander Erhan sat on the hill at the center of the island, keeping his daily vigil to watch for sails, masts, or any other sign of passing ships. It had been a week since that pirate Nereyda had left him for dead and stolen the raft they had made together. Nereyda confused Erhan. She had saved his life on multiple occasions, yet she was still the same pirate who had left a ship full of sailors to drown after sinking their ship. Not only a pirate, but a witch, as well.
