by Kara Timmins
The forest looked endless, rippling just like the sea at its side, the Siobhan sitting in the water like a toy in the distance. The tops of the trees were so similar to the surface of the sea he had spent months staring at, the layer between the world above and the wild home of the many things living underneath. A bird as large as a man circled in the distance, its tail whipping like a ribbon behind it as it moved, hunting. A group of something screeched and rustled the treetops with their frivolity farther south. But Neasa had her sights set north.
“There,” she said.
But she didn’t need to point out what she wanted him to see.
The billow of the black rain cloud was out of place. Even in all the strangeness of the new terrain, it was different. The darkness of the storm hovered over a jutting pillar of something dark deep inland, sticking out of the forest. Together, the storm cloud and the black monolith were like a smudge on the bright and colorful scene. Eloy couldn’t tell how big the pillar was because of the distance.
“The storm doesn’t move,” Neasa said. “I sat here watching, waiting to see if it would come closer, but it never did. It never leaves that spot, centered on whatever that black mountain is.”
Eloy sat staring, transfixed, thoughtless.
She touched his shoulder. “Do you think that could be it? Eloy?”
“Huh?” Eloy said, dazed.
“Do you think that could be where your treasure is?”
Eloy wrapped an arm securely around the branch at his side and pulled out the stone from under his shirt with the other. The stone was hot. Hotter than his body heat could ever make it.
“I think that’s it,” Eloy said, barely above a whisper.
“There’s a lot of world between us and there.”
“We’re close enough to see it. That’s what matters. How long do you think it will take for us to get there?”
“It’s hard to say,” Neasa said.
“Now that we know where to go, we can keep to the general direction. We’ll figure the rest out as we move.”
Eloy scanned the view again. It all looked so simple in its beauty. His task, the journey he had been on for so long that he couldn’t remember who he was before it, finally looked simple too. The end was there, so close. He just had to reach a little more.
11
Everyone was up and ready to move by the time Neasa and Eloy made it back to the beach.
“Where have you two been?” Malatic asked, his mouth half full of white fish meat.
“Looking around,” Neasa said, her smile wide, insinuating.
“And?” Malatic sat up straighter.
“And things looked interesting from up high,” Eloy said. “Very interesting.”
Malatic looked around at the crew members milling about the camp. “And you’re sure it’s the right kind of interesting?”
“I’m sure.” Eloy sat down in the sand next to Malatic.
Neasa sat down on the other side and grabbed a piece of fish from Malatic’s hand.
“So what’s next?” Malatic asked.
“We’ll need to walk inland soon,” Neasa said. “Probably not for a few days.”
“What are we going to tell them?” Malatic looked toward Captain Kern.
“I’m not sure yet,” Eloy said. “I’ll come up with something. It’ll work out.”
Eloy was still thinking about what he could say to the captain to get the party to turn inland when the group started to pick up the pace at midday. Eloy had been staring at his feet in contemplation, but looked up when he sensed the change.
The stretch of white sand had been mostly without note or change during the past few days, but when he looked ahead, he saw something wavering in the heat in the distance.
“What is that?” Eloy asked.
Neasa squinted. “I’m not sure.”
None of the others responded. The crew members didn’t even speak to one another, a first for the group.
Eloy, Neasa, and Malatic fell to the back of their now stone-faced and silent companions.
It didn’t take much longer before the object on the beach ahead of them became clear. Eloy had spent months looking at wooden planks and masts not so different from the ones ahead, but this wood was shattered, scattered, and broken. The staff that stuck out of the sand was sun bleached and spattered with white bird droppings. The debris was the remains of a ship that looked not so unlike the Siobhan.
Captain Kern pulled the remnants of a piece of the bow out of the sand. “This is it.” He sighed and tossed it aside. “Start looking around.”
Eloy cut through the now-searching crew and walked up to Captain Kern. “What’s going on?’
“We found what we are here to find,” Captain Kern said.
Eloy looked down at the piece of weathered wood. “What is it?”
“And here I thought we were doing each other the courtesy of not getting into each other’s reasons for this expedition.”
Eloy crossed his arms over his chest. “If that’s the way you want it.”
Captain Kern shook his head and sighed. “The Merrow was a ship that set sail right before Nicanor restricted the seas. Oppo wants to know where her people have been for the past eighteen years.”
“How did you know it would be here?” Eloy asked.
“I didn’t. I thought they were lost to the sea, but if they had landed anywhere, it would be here.”
“How did you know?” Eloy asked.
Captain Kern pursed his lips and gave a soft, growling sigh. “You think we were just floating wildly out there?” He tipped his head toward the ocean. “There are systems to the sea. I got us here with intent.”
Gaius called out from twenty steps away. “Found one!” He was closer to the trees than the beach.
Eloy followed Captain Kern to Gaius. There was a mound of worn, harsh-looking fabric that Gaius had pulled out of the sand. The roughly woven shirt still had the shape of a man’s chest, the ribcage propping it up like a tent.
Gaius dropped to his knees and brushed sand aside.
“There it is.” Gaius pulled a skull up from the ground. Soft sand spilled out of the sockets and the large hole at the base of the head.
The skull was cracked, violently damaged, and punctured above the girth of the brow. Gaius spun the skull around to reveal the back to those standing above him. There were two more punctures and more lightning-like cracks at the back, above the thick knobs at the base of the skull.
“Doesn’t look like natural death to me,” Gaius said.
“No,” Captain Kern said, “it doesn’t.” He scratched at his face and stared at the remains. “Everyone keep looking for others. Find as much and as many as you can. We’ll give it until the end of today and half of tomorrow before we head back to the Siobhan and push off.”
Eloy jerked his attention away from the skull and looked at Captain Kern.
“Tomorrow?” Eloy said. “You can’t leave tomorrow.”
Captain Kern rolled his shoulders back and cocked his head to one side. “I can’t?”
“You can’t leave tomorrow.” Eloy softened his tone.
Captain Kern stared at Eloy, as if amazed.
“I’m here to find something.” Eloy looked over his shoulder at Malatic and Neasa, who were now scouring the sand. “We’re here to find something. We need more than a day.”
“Tell you what,” Captain Kern lifted his upper lip in an attempt at a smile, but it looked like more of a sneer. “You go off and look for whatever it is that you’re here to find. I’m not even going to ask you what it is. You go off in that wilderness and you find your thing. How long do you think you’re going to need?”
“I’m not sure,” Eloy said, “Maybe a couple of days.”
“Sure, why not?” Captain Kern said. “You take three days, and we’ll be right
here waiting for you when you come back. Okay? You better get moving now so you can cover as much ground as you need. We’ll take care of our reason, you go take care of yours.”
“We’ll try our best to make it back,” Eloy said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t try. Be back here in three days or we’re taking off.”
12
The image of the punctures in the sun-bleached skull played in Eloy’s head as he walked toward Neasa and Malatic. The remains gave him a new sense of unease at having the forest at his back.
“We’re going in now,” Eloy said as he reached Neasa and Malatic.
“What’s going on?” Neasa asked.
Eloy relayed what Captain Kern had said about the Merrow.
“So now we know what they’re here for,” Neasa said. “Did you tell the captain why we’re here?”
“I told him that we’re looking for something. He didn’t push it. But we have to hurry. He said he’ll give us three days. Do you have everything ready?”
“Always,” Neasa said.
“With room to spare, I imagine,” Malatic said.
Neasa patted the bag on her hip. “With room to spare for whatever things of interest I happen to find.”
“We need to be cautious,” Eloy said.
“That goes without saying,” Malatic said.
Eloy looked over his shoulder. “There were teeth marks in that skull.”
Malatic straightened. “Okay, so that kind of cautious.”
“There are definitely predators in this forest,” Neasa said. “Most of the creatures here try to stay out of sight, which is telling. But I haven’t seen any sign of anything big enough to crush a man’s head. Hopefully that means whatever killed that person is long gone or moved on to deeper in the forest.”
“Which is where we’re going, and going quickly,” Eloy said.
“True. These men are meant for the sea.” Neasa motioned to the searching crew. “And I imagine the crew of the Merrow were much the same. Maybe they weren’t prepared to fight.”
“Maybe,” Eloy said, “but they’re far from weak. I wouldn’t rest on the idea that we have an advantage just from battle experience.”
“No,” Neasa agreed, “you’re right. But we can’t prepare for the possibility of endless, unknown dangers. We can only react to a problem we’re actually facing. And the biggest issue we have right now is a lack of time. The place we saw from the tree isn’t close. So far, I would say, that we can only hope that it’s close enough to reach in two days. We have to go now.”
“Then let’s be off,” Malatic said, his bags and weapons already strapped to his body.
The three walked toward the forest shoulder to shoulder, and to Eloy it already felt as if they were traveling on their own again, as it had been . . . almost. Most of the crew of the Siobhan didn’t look up from the ground as Eloy, Neasa, and Malatic passed, with the exception of two. Oisin and Niall looked up from the sand and moved to watch them pass like onlookers of a procession.
“You three be safe now,” Niall said.
“Have a safe poke around in there,” Oisin said.
“Will do,” Eloy said. “We’ll be seeing you back here soon.”
“Sure will,” Niall said.
Oisin winked. “See you soon.”
13
Cutting through the foliage of the forest wasn’t as arduous as it had been when they’d first landed on strange new land, but the work was still difficult. Malatic and Eloy let out whoops of victory when the density broke up and they could move without a fight. Eloy was beginning to worry that most of their trip would be made with sword hacks and slow steps.
He looked back at the path they’d forged and could barely see where they had been. The greenery seemed to mold back into itself like a healing wound. He couldn’t hear the crew members on the beach anymore; the forest cut them off like a heavy tent flap.
This trip was different from the other times he had ventured into the forest. This was more than putting a toe in the water—they were jumping in.
Eloy wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. He didn’t know if it was his nerves or the stifling heat that made every part of his body feel basted in salty brine.
“Is it too late to say I want to stay on the beach?” Malatic asked.
“Nope,” Neasa said. “The way back is that way.” She pointed over her shoulder. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind your help.”
“Nah,” Malatic said. “The view is better in here.”
Eloy walked ahead. “Neasa,” he called over his shoulder. “Which way?”
She quickened her pace to reach his side, dodging reeds and trees as she moved. “If I have my directions right, we should head that way.” She pointed forward and slightly to their right. “But let me double check.”
Eloy and Malatic scanned the leaves and shadows as Neasa ran, crouched and armed with a dagger, to the nearest tree that was thick and tall enough for her to climb.
“Careful,” Malatic called after her, which earned him an aerial glare from Neasa.
She was almost at the top when she cried out. Eloy looked at Malatic, ready to work together to catch her, and saw something in Malatic’s face. There was a desperation-readied ferocity. Eloy looked back up just in time to see a ball of something falling toward them, something that wasn’t Neasa. Both men stepped backward in time for the lump to land with a thud between them. The brown mass writhed, its eight legs, each the size of a man’s thumb, contracted inward around the dagger buried in its center. Eloy had never seen a bigger spider, which was easily larger than his head. Its pincers extended one last time in a brilliant red, its meaty mouth bloomed out like the petals of a flower, the clear dribble of fluid a very different substance than the nectar it feigned to be.
Eloy looked around at his surroundings with a new appreciation.
Neasa thudded back down next to Eloy and made him jump.
“It’s a shame,” she said, looking down at the contracted dead spider. “I didn’t want to have to do that. I should have watched where I put my hand.” She crouched down over the creature and pulled her dagger out. “Best not to waste, though.” Neasa dipped a shoulder out from under one of the straps on her pack and swung it around to her side.
“Were you right about the direction?” Eloy asked.
“Yeah, but there’s something I didn’t see.” Neasa removed a small tool and started plucking the thick hairs out of the legs of the spider.
Malatic watched Neasa and her work with a slight grimace. “What didn’t you see before?”
“There’s a gap in the growth, but I couldn’t see much more than that.” She piled the hairs in the center of a swatch of leather, tied it off, and put it in her bag.
“What do you mean by ‘gap’?” Eloy asked.
“There’s a gap in the trees between us and the storm.” Her arm was in her bag well past her elbow, clanking around as she felt around for another tool. She pulled out a box almost exactly like the one Gwyn had used to keep the strand of thyrethan silk.
Eloy didn’t like what the box implied.
“How far away is it?” Eloy asked.
“Not far.” Neasa secured her pinching tool between her first finger and her thumb and pulled at a silvery string from the back end of the spider.
“And that’s enough for me,” Malatic turned around.
Neasa looked at Malatic’s back and then gave Eloy a sly smile.
“It could be a stream,” Neasa said. “But I couldn’t tell. I just know that there’s a strip up ahead where the trees don’t grow.” She piled a strand of spider silk as long as her crouched body was tall at the center of the special box, closed it, and stood up. “I doubt it’s as useful as thyrethan, but who knows, right? Are we ready to go?”
“Oh, I’m ready,” Malatic said. “That thing is attra
cting flies.” He waved the tiny bobbing insects away from his face.
Eloy swiped in front of his face. “Have you noticed these, Neasa?”
“No,” Neasa said. “I haven’t seen these before now, but they look harmless enough. Standard gnats.”
Eloy looked back down at the curled behemoth of a spider and its wilted mouth. His idea of standard, even Neasa’s idea of standard, no longer applied.
14
Neasa led the way, Malatic close at her back, and Eloy kept an eye on the forest behind them. They walked until the sunlight turned a creamy muted hue, signs of a waning day. They hadn’t made it very far; they hadn’t even reached the clearing Neasa had seen from the top of the tree. Eloy tried to keep any signs of worry out of his face, but time pushed in from behind him, crushing him against the possibility of having to leave without reaching his destination. He couldn’t let himself think about what he would do if they had to get back on the Siobhan without reaching the monolith. He was so close. He wanted to push on faster, keep moving through the night, but there were too many possibilities of danger. He placed his steps in the imprints Neasa left in her wake, trusting her and her pace.
“We should stop here,” Neasa said. “I doubt we’ll find a better place before nightfall.”
She stamped her feet in a space between a few moss-covered trees until the foliage was flattened into something that almost looked inviting.
“You don’t think we can get a little more travel out of the day?” Eloy asked.
“We can if you want to,” Neasa said, “but I hear a stream close by, and we can set up a camp.”
Eloy could barely hear the gurgle of water in the distance, and he hadn’t noticed it until she mentioned it. “You’re right,” he said.
They collected water and wood together, scanning their surroundings and giving extra attention to everything within their range. By the time they were sitting at their campsite, Eloy was more exhausted for less progress than in all of his years of traveling. He watched the light slip away, hoping some of the thick heat would trail after it, but it didn’t.
