Tides (Time of Myths: Shapeshifter Sagas Book 3)

by Natasha Brown

  The only thing she could put her faith in was her fate. She would someday die, but not because she had given up or crumbled in fear. Eilish would meet her maker on her own terms, and that time had not yet come. The man named Leif had not taken any action against her. In fact, prior to the moment on the beach, she’d begun to feel a small amount of trust. Not that you could ever truly trust a foreigner.

  Morning turned to midday. The clouds and fog parted to reveal the sun high in the sky. For a time the waves and rocking gave way while the winds disappeared, and for a reason that was soon revealed to her, the Finn-Galls got agitated. A slight smile played at her lips as she enjoyed the reduced motion, but it fell away when she saw the fury in the Allmaster’s eyes. He turned his fist to the place the wind once blew from and hollered so loudly, she missed the hissing gale. This carried on until the sail billowed like a stuffed sack filled with grain.

  The Allmaster hooted and spoke his mysterious words to the heavens while their vessel moved across the sea. It was around this time that she lifted her head above the rim of the ship to see a gray form in the distance. She had never seen anything like it before and worried it was some kind of large monster, but the Finn-Gall seemed happy at the sight of it.

  As the waves grew choppier, more water seeped or splashed inside the boat, settling at her feet in the cargo hold. This provided her with a never-ending job, a simple one she was happy for. When a rope that held the sail in place came loose, the Allmaster took up Ronan by his neck ring, threatening to cast him overboard. Eilish was relieved she hadn’t been fitted with iron around her neck as she watched from under her curtain of hair, understanding why all of his crewmen and kin were so quick to react to Ragna. No one wanted to put him in a bad state.

  She observed that there was always something for the Allmaster to yell about, sending Leif in a new direction, always busy at his father’s command. Although he wasn’t hung over the edge of the choppy sea like the slave, he appeared to have a rougher job than the rest.

  Eilish wondered how long the voyage would be. She had heard tell of people traveling to distant lands over the course of many months and hoped her new master had no intention of taking her so far. She held out hope that she would, one day, return to her homeland and the place she was born.

  The sun moved above their heads and traced over the path they’d taken. Gray clouds loomed ahead of them, over what she now realized was land. Rocky cliffs and grassy ledges could be seen through the impending gloom. A fine mist touched Eilish’s skin, a spray that turned to droplets.

  With the rain the winds began to whip in different directions, tearing at the square sail. The Allmaster yelled loudly at the men on deck, and they hurried with the ropes to take down the sail. Cormacc and Agnar were ordered into the cargo hold with Eilish to help bail water. While she worked beside them, her heart grew cold with fear from the waves that splashed into the boat. This day could be her last.

  The Allmaster called out again, but this time to the sea itself, a frightening sight. His words were lost in the storm, not that she could understand them anyway. His eyes blinked against the rain, his wet hair pressed against his head. The slaves that had been in service longer than a few days seemed frightened of going near the bow and avoided the Allmaster the best they could. She understood why when he grabbed hold of a man by his neck ring and held his abdomen over the dark waters.

  She forgot about bailing while she watched the Allmaster holler to the ocean and thrust the slave over the edge of the boat. The man yelped and shouted before the waves silenced his cries. The taste of bitter bile rose up in her throat. Eilish blinked through the rain at the men who stood with her in the cargo hold. Fear reflected back in Cormacc’s expression, the same emotion she felt in that moment.

  Agnar put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Best keep working.”

  She nodded absentmindedly and bent down to collect more water in her bailer. She muttered aloud, “Why?”

  Agnar glanced up at the Allmaster, who’d continued to shout at the sea. He leaned closer to her and answered, “He calls to Ægir, his kin and the lord of the ocean, to carry our boat safely ashore. Ragna offers sacrifice to him and his wife, Ran, who pulls souls down to the bottom of the sea.”

  Eilish had never heard of such a lord. She did not know if there truly was a lord of the ocean, but she feared the Allmaster now as much as the dark waters that thrashed about the boat. Clearly no man was safe from her new master or the sea he spoke to.

  A deep voice cut through her distress. She couldn’t understand the words Leif sang into the storm. A rhythm sounded from the rowers’ movement, and the song was lost in the gale. It was what she focused on as she tossed water over the edge of the hull and back into the sea. She could only think of her cold body floating down to the sea floor, and she hoped the music was an enchantment that would carry them safely to shore.

  She could barely see through the rain and mist and prayed the cliffs were just beyond sight. Yet the men rowed for what seemed like forever until the winds died down and the sea’s turmoil calmed, allaying her fears. Laughter poured from Ragna’s lips, casting an eerie noise off the cliffs. The sun had set. She knew this, for she saw stars in the sky where the clouds had parted and moonlight shone off the rocky bluff nearby.

  “Detta akkeri,” the Allmaster called. He pointed at Cormacc pressed against the hull and Ronan whose wild eyes stared hungrily overboard at the landmass. Ragna shouted again and waved to the anchor sitting on the deck, “Akkeri!”

  Cormacc didn’t appear to be able to move. Eilish couldn’t actually remember when she’d last seen him bend over to bail water. He didn’t look very well, although he hadn’t all day. They hadn’t been provided food, let alone water. It was a strange thing feeling thirst when there wasn’t a dry spot on your body.

  Ronan stumbled to the anchor, and when it appeared Cormacc wouldn’t be able to move, Eilish dropped her wooden bailer and climbed above deck to help. She didn’t want to see another man cast overboard. Her arms might not have been as muscular as the men’s, but she’d spent all her life grinding grain at the quern stone. Eilish bent over to take hold of one of the pointed sides as Ronan had done. If stood on end it might have reached her breast. Because of the amount of metal, it was extremely heavy. Together they lifted it up and over the edge of the ship.

  The moment they released it, its rope wrapped around her leg and pulled her overboard. She barely let out a scream before she submerged into the cold dark waters. Everything was strangely quiet, except for the swishing in her ears. The pinching of her skin released the moment she disentangled herself from the rope, but she still couldn’t swim.

  Frantic to reach air, she flailed her arms wildly. Her chest burned while she fought the instinct to breathe in seawater. She thought of the merrow and the woman Agnar spoke of, Ran, who would come to take her soul down to the bottom of the ocean with all of the other lost sailors. The song that accompanied the rowers skirted through her mind. Maybe it had called the angels to take her to heaven. She grew dizzy without air, and numbness overtook her limbs.

  Something wrapped around her arms and waist, rousing her from her darkening consciousness. She nearly sucked in a mouthful of water from the shock, confident Ran had come to get her. Eilish wriggled but was unable to break free from the tight confines of the arms that held her close.

  Suddenly, her head broke the surface of the ocean, and she gasped for fresh air. Salt water washed her mouth as voices called nearby. Eilish tried to see through the salty drops that streamed into her eyes while she sputtered for breath. Her arms continued to flail while she feared sinking below the waves again.

  “Hold still unless you want to drown,” a deep voice muttered in her ear.

  She turned to find Leif’s wet face behind her. She realized it had been his arms that had wrapped around her body, pulling her to safety. A hand reached down to grasp the front of her tunic and began to lift her from the sea. Eilish found herself getting tugged over t
he rail of the ship by Agnar. She landed solidly on deck, the length of her body stretched the width of the planks. Water funneled from her clothing and hair as she lay gasping like a limp fish dredged up from the bottom of the ocean.

  Over her shoulder she saw Leif pull himself over the rim of the hull. His hair fell into his eyes, and his bare chest flexed and tightened from the cool wind. She watched him move, feeling as though she were in a dream. Everything seemed very distant and unclear.

  Eilish curled into a tight ball on the deck. Her body was numb. She could barely feel her fingers or toes. Agnar reached down to pull at the cuff of her tunic, muttering, “Best get you out of your wet clothes so you do not freeze.”

  “N-n-no,” she answered, tugging her arm away from him. She might have been befuddled, but she still knew that getting undressed before a crew of men was ill-advised and would end badly for her.

  “Very well.” He dropped her hudfat beside her and said, “Better get inside to warm up. It will be a long, cold night for you.”

  At the opposite end of the boat, the Allmaster called out to the crew. When he was done speaking, Leif, who’d since slipped on his tunic, spoke so the slaves could understand. “We stay here for the night. In the morning we will go ashore. Find a place on deck to lie in your hudfat.”

  The men had begun to pull out their leather sleep sacks and line them across the decks. Eilish tried to unroll hers, which was a challenge with numb fingers. She slipped her feet and legs into the damp hudfat and covered the rest of her body. It helped protect against the wind, but she was still cold and very wet.

  Men piled in on either side of her. Leif rolled out his bag to her right with his feet pointed at her head. Once he was in, he thrust a leather bladder toward her face. “Drink.”

  She shook her head ever so slightly, but he didn’t seem to notice. He leaned over farther so it touched her lips and said between pursed lips, “If you do not drink, you will not keep up your strength.”

  Eilish was used to being the one who told others how to take care of themselves. Her stubbornness reared up. She didn’t like being told what was good for her by a Finn-Gall man who knew nothing about her and likely only cared to keep his slave in working condition. Although, when she thought about the Allmaster threatening Ronan’s life and casting over one of the other slaves, she conceded that it was best to continue being a valuable possession and took the drinking bladder from Leif’s hands. The first swallow washed through her, reminding her body what it needed. She grew thirsty and drank until her belly was bloated.

  She handed the bladder back to Leif, ignoring his stares. She rolled onto her side, trying to pretend she was sleeping on her bedstraw back home on the farm, that in the morning she would get up to make her father some hot cereal by the fire before grinding barley with the quern. But Eilish had never been good at fooling herself or others. The rocking motion might have soothed a baby, but she was no infant. She lay on the hard boards, listening to nearby snores and water lapping on the hull of the ship, imagining the sea leaking in until the trading vessel sank into the black depths of the ocean.

  She must have found sleep at some point in the night, for she woke when she felt a hand on her hip. Her eyes snapped open and found Oddmund’s arm resting over her body. It was too close for comfort. She didn’t want to know what would happen if his hands drifted too far in the wrong direction and discovered her secret. She lifted his pinky, carefully setting his hand on the deck, and sighed in relief.

  Eilish disentangled herself from her sleep sack and rolled it up again. Her calf was extremely sore and painful, causing her to limp. She was damp and cold and smelled like a rag that had been left too long in stagnant water, but she was relieved she’d survived the night. Cormacc was drinking some water nearby, and no sooner had he swallowed it down than it came back up. If she was eager to touch foot to land, then he must have been doubly anxious.

  She looked up at the sky, which was beginning to glow blue with sunlight. All trace of clouds was gone. The rocky cliffs that she’d seen through last night’s storm no longer appeared as ominous. Green grass waved in the breeze at the hillcrest, and down the coast she caught sight of shallow beaches.

  “Suthri,” the Allmaster shouted from the opposite end of the boat and pointed down the coast.

  The rest of the crew roused anyone who was still sleeping. Salted meat was passed around by one of the servants before the men went to their posts. Eilish sniffed the food, unsure it would sit well on her stomach, but knowing it had been a day since she’d eaten, she devoured it anyway.

  Through the night, water had indeed seeped into the boat. With her belly full of salted meat and fresh water, she got to work bailing water from the cargo hold. It was uncomfortable putting pressure on her leg, but she didn’t want to draw attention to her injury when it was clear Ragna was eager to get moving. She watched the oars get pulled out and placed in their holes. The rowers sat on the wooden chests and waited for the anchor to get pulled on board.

  A song started to pour from Leif’s lips as he maneuvered his oar back and forth. She felt his eyes on her as she bent to collect water and toss it overboard. The other slaves rowed with him, and she felt their momentum across the waves. Their rhythm helped her ignore the pain in her leg while she worked.

  The Allmaster steered them into an open bay. A few columns of smoke rose up in the distance, although not so close as to cause worry. The water no longer appeared dark and threatening, but clear and bright. However, with memories of drowning so fresh, she could not be lulled into believing the sea was safe.

  The small cove was protected by grassy knolls, and the rowers brought the ship directly onto the mossy beach. The bow of the boat pointed the way. As it touched the earth, it rumbled in protest. The oars were withdrawn, and Leif leapt onto shore and out of sight.

  Eilish didn’t know what came next, or why they were even there, but she hoped to get the chance to tend to her leg. With the commotion of men gathering their things to go on shore, she dropped the bailer into the standing water of the hold and lifted the trim of her trousers to expose her calf. A few of her hairs stuck to the crusty welt that wrapped her leg. The wound was red and swollen and in need of a poultice.

  She covered her wound hastily before climbing above deck and following everyone onto land. Once they were off, they pulled the bow of the ship farther onto the beach so it wouldn’t drift. Cormacc simply sat on the gravel with his eyes closed, facing the sun.

  “Stay near the beach while Sten and Rúni scout the area,” Leif called to the slaves.

  Eilish limped to the shore to pick up some seaweed. Even though it wasn’t a normal staple in her diet, she knew it was eaten by many who lived by the sea. She ripped a piece off with her mouth. It was chewier than she’d expected, and it took her a while to swallow, although it had a pleasing salty flavor. She took some to Cormacc, who frowned at her in response.

  “You should eat,” she told him with a lowered voice.

  She wanted to search the hillside for herbs she could put on her wound. There was also the chance she’d find wild onions or cabbages, or a multitude of other edible plants, if she scouted around. Plus, she knew the binding around her chest had dropped around her waist again, and she’d been forced to slouch so her breasts went unnoticed. Eilish was unsure if she’d be allowed out of sight.

  Confident no one was looking, she placed her hands at her low back and stretched, enjoying the breeze on her face. On the bluff to her right, she noticed shrubs and flowers twisting in the wind. Eilish turned to Cormacc, who was hunched over the salty sea vegetable, eating his fill. She muttered, “I see some more food up there. I will be back with something to share.”

  His eyes widened, and he looked over his shoulder at the Finn-Galls talking in a circle. Cormacc’s lazy gaze returned to her, and he nodded. He cleared his throat and swallowed. “Best eat while I can. Once I step foot on that boat, it will come up again.”

  Eilish didn’t want to draw attent
ion to herself as she wandered up the slope. She hurried over the knoll, noting the two silhouettes of Sten and Rúni walking inland. Shrubbery grew along a dell that sloped down and away from the grassy field overlooking the ocean. She thought she saw spots of yellow flowers, a promising sight, so she hurried across the landscape to the lush basin.

  Before she walked down the slope, she looked over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t been seen. In the gully, yellow flowering bushes lined the landscape. She lowered herself behind them and began to peel off her damp brat and tunic. Eilish felt the sun’s warmth in the air even though the coastal chill was ever present. She unwrapped the long bandage from her waist and wrung it of any excess liquid. The last few times she’d used it, it hadn’t stayed up, so she decided to put it on differently.

  After she’d bound her breasts quite a few times, she looped the linen fabric over her shoulder and wrapped it around her chest once more before tucking the end under. She brushed her hair out of her eyes for the first time in days, happy to see a clear view of this unknown place. A familiar smell reached her nostrils, and she looked down. At her leather-clad feet was a carpet of long green stalks. Eilish bent over to study the plants more closely. Deep red shoots grew up from the earth. She dug her fingers into the soil, exposing an elongated white bulb.

  A smile touched her lips as she pulled it free and brought it up to her nose. She breathed in the leek’s fragrant aroma. It hadn’t been so very long since she’d eaten a meal that consisted of grains, vegetables or fruit, but she missed it. Dried meat would keep them alive, but not healthy for long. Eilish pulled at more stalks, unearthing an array of wild leeks and spreading their smell in the basin.

  Remembering she was still uncovered, she hastily pulled on her linen tunic and looped her brat over one shoulder, pinning its end there so it wouldn’t move. In the fold that crossed her torso, she filled it with the wild vegetable, its long green leaves hanging down. She had always been taught not to take more than half so that it could grow back and be found again. With thoughts of her father ever present in her mind, she left the lush dell in search of herbs she could use for her injured leg.