Dahlia’s eyes narrowed at me, but she did not speak up against my decision. Meridan threw her a glance as if expecting her to protest. When she didn’t, Meri began to strip out of her clothes, eager to get busy, despite what might be lurking in the water beneath us. Her clothes in a heap on the floor, she stepped toward the railing.
“Meri,” Dahlia said, taking her arm and spinning her to face her. She cupped her cheeks in her hands. “I know you’re fast. It’s one of your greatest strengths. If anything happens, you swim. Don’t fight. You swim back here if you can. If you can’t, swim anywhere. I don’t care where, but you don’t get caught.”
Meridan nodded, pulling her shoulders back before she faced the railing again. I let her take my hand as she stepped up onto the ledge and, without looking back, dove down into the flat water. I could hardly see the water’s surface, but the splash drew eyes from everyone on deck. Mullins jogged up to us, peering into the foggy sea.
“Oy! Where’s she going?” he said.
“She’s going to be our eyes from beneath since there is little to nothing to see up here,” I said.
“And you let her? Who knows what’s down there. What if—”
“She’ll be alright,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Deephome is dark and treacherous,” Dahlia added. “She understands dangerous waters.”
Even as she defended the idea of Meridan being in the water, I could hear the apprehension in her voice. She carefully gathered her clothes and draped them over one arm, her jaw pulsing as she glanced once more into the hazy waters below.
“Dahlia,” I said as she was about to turn and walk away. “She will be alright.”
I only half-believed myself…
I swore under my breath as I followed Dahlia into my cabin where she was placing Meridan’s clothes on top of my trunk.
“We knew this could happen,” I said as I closed the door behind me.
“I know. It does not make it easier.” She turned to me, resting her hands on her hips. “Theloch will bring us in. I have to keep believing that.”
“We all need to believe that. And I do. There are forces I do not understand here and I can admit that they want you. It will test us and then, when it thinks we are weak, it will reel us in for the kill. So, we must stay strong.”
“I know. And I will. For all of us if I must.”
I strolled toward her, angered that the haze had made it into every room and crevasse of my ship. I longed to see her clearly again. I slid my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward me, gently kissing her lips.
“You’re not alone, love,” I whispered.
The next day, things continued as they had been. I found myself at the helm again while Nikolai took a rest. Fatigue became a regular affliction. The air was too thick to get a proper breath, and it seemed that every time the sun rose, it left a bit of its warmth behind the horizon. It was getting colder and still we did not know where to put ourselves on a map.
The next day was the same…
Still, no Meridan. No signs of land. No wind. Some of my men sat on the deck, eating stale meat and bean soup, while others slept, likely dreading the moment they had to open their eyes again and find we had not emerged from that foggy hell.
I stared at Dahlia standing at the bow of the ship and slowly made my way toward her.
“If this is even a taste of what he put you through while you slept, then I have no regrets about hunting the bastard down, even if we have to cross this strange wasteland to get to him,” I said.
“That story,” she replied. “The one about the men who got lost in the fog and followed what they thought was the moon. I have no doubt that they came here, to the Myre.”
“Aye, I’ve thought of that, too. Leofwine, if he was real, was looking for Theloch. He just didn’t know it.”
“It was apparent to me when you first told the tale. We both knew our path would lead here from the beginning. We just didn’t understand what that meant. Here, at the edge of dreams and reality, on the thin parapet of sanity where one misstep will send us falling into places we cannot climb out of.” She pivoted her body to face me fully. “You feel it now. You feel what I have been feeling my whole life. It’s suffocating. It’s nothingness and somehow nothingness seems alive. This fog has eyes and it is laughing at us.” She stepped toward me, lowering her voice to a whisper. “You understand now what it feels like for Akareth to notice you.”
“I understand,” I said, my hand flexing at the mere mention of the coward’s name. “I understand that this,” I gestured at the fog, “Only strengthens my resolve. Now, we can have this back and forth as much as you like. If today I must be the strong one, I will, because tomorrow I know you will be. We will—”
A scream lifted from the water, distant but clear. A scream that made my entire crew freeze, some with spoonfuls of soup halfway to their mouths. I peered out into the white haze, almost doubting I’d heard it until it skimmed the water again.
“Help!” it said.
“Meridan,” Dahlia whispered.
