The Dreadwall.
The wind was strong, the waves high, and the captain waited until we were all assembled on the pitching deck. Even the ironmages were summoned, and none dared speak.
I don’t think any of us could even look at one another, faced as we were with this unimaginable next threat. Ships didn’t survive the Dreadwall. They were shattered, shredded, shorn to pieces, carried across the Silence, and scattered in the Sheets. So, we stood, waiting for him to take his place on the pup and tell us just how long we had to live.
But he didn’t take his place on the pup. Instead, he crossed the quarterdeck and stood beside Smoke at the helm. His sea-dark hair whipped in the wind, and behind him, the mizzen sailsdrummed like a mirror. Damn if that didn’t make my heart race, both terrified and exhilarated at the same time. He was as much a part of this ship as the canvas or the masts, as powerful as the ocean and just as deep.
Forge, I wanted him.
There were three wheels at the helm now. TheTouchstone’s two, and stacked next to her, perfectly aligned, theAndomiehr’s. Sunswheels were becoming the rule in the Navy, but I’d never seen three wheels fashioned together like this.
Thanavar placed a hand on the wheels and swept his eyes across us all.
“You are the finest crew a captain could hope for,” he began. “Strong, skilled, noble, and sure. There is no more I could have wanted. There is no more I could ever need. You have served your captain with loyalty, your king with integrity, and your helm with pride. But more than that…”
The rush of the waves, the rumble of the sail.
“More than that, you have served this ship with honor. And theTouchstoneis a remarkable ship.”
We all stood a little taller under his words.
“The Ship of Spells is no ordinary commission,” he said. “We are not out to guard some fishing fleet, protect an Emperial port, or even beat the enemy back to the Dreadwall. No, our commission was to prevent a war, and while there have been raids and battles, we have for the most part succeeded. Over the years, we have sacrificed everything in that regard.”
Beside me, Buck nodded. He had lost a leg, and still he nodded.
“We are heading toward the Dreadwall, the single most devastating force in our world. She spins sunshine and casts storms; she breathes the wind and rains chimeric. And she destroys ships the way you or I would swat a fly. The last time we faced her, we were in a gap, but we saw what happened to theMeradah Thenn.This time, we have no protection of a gap,channel, or breach. The Dreadwall herself is our destination, our final obstacle before the Cloudgate, and we must overcome her, else we perish. Is that understood?”
Nods all around, none of them eager.
“And so, these next few hours will be very strange, for I will ask of you things that are impossible to achieve. But you must achieve them, when and as I ask. For what we are about to do is, at best, impossible, and at worst, suicide.”
I tried not to look at the horizon.
“For we are about to harness the Dreadcurrent.”
There was silence.
“We will need the highest measure of seamanship and the deepest plumb of magik. All your skills will be essential, and a slip or misstep from any one of you could mean the difference between life and death, between shattering our bird against a wall of iron and soaring, because, it is my aim, myaim, to make theTouchstonefly.”
I felt my breath catch in my throat. Fly? Could he? Would we?
“Once we hit, we will be cutting at right angles to the sea, transecting the Dreadwall and sailing beneath her breadth. We will make our very own channel to the Cloudgate, so I will need all hands ready as follows. Mr. Broom, all guns are to be securely positioned on the port side for ballast. Mr. Oakum, we will be at sharp sails and close-hauled at first, but once we hit the Dreadwall, full sail and broad reach, yet trimmed so that the updraft will cause no drag. Mr. Kobe, thank you for the addition of the moonswheel. No ship in Oversea has a helm this fine.”
Kobe beamed with pride.
“However, we will also need keels and rudders reinforced, for they shall take sound beatings, and we need them to perform in ways they were never meant. Mr. Buck, all hands at the capstans and hawseholes, for we shall loose anchor while making the leap to keep us as close to the waterline as possible.”
I understood all of what he said, and yet none of it. It was madness.
“The ironmages will surround this ship in magik as they did in the storm, for even if we survive, we will be flung higher into the skies with every breath. On board, our crew will walk perpendicular to the sea, and therefore, we will slide. They will prevent that, making it so that we walk on even footing without question, creating not only the illusion of level but the magik to make it so. Doctor, you will forgo any patients, injuries, or remediations that might demand your attention and remain at my side to spin my thoughts, as the roar of the Dreadwall is exceeding loud.”
His eyes fell upon me. I gave myself to them willingly.
“And finally, Ensign Renn, you will give all of your chimeric to theTouchstoneby way of the mainmast. We have three chests in the hold and one in my cabin. She will need every ounce of the raw chimeric, and your own, to survive this course. If needed, you will let her bleed you dry.”
Bleed me dry.
Bleed me dry.
