Just as the old men had whispered of in my father’s court. I was so stupid for even bringing it up.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the evening.”
“It’s fine. We’ll be at Whiterok by daybreak, so you should get some rest anyway.”
I wasn’t ready for the little dream to end. All that waited on the other side of the night was the thing of nightmares. Marriage to a monster. An unknown city on the sea miles away from everything I loved. The end of my life.
“Have you been there before?” I asked. Stalling.
After a long pause the captain finally answered, “Yes.”
Too short. I wanted a sentence in that soothing voice.
My face twisted as tears stabbed behind my eyelids.
“What have you heard of the man who created it?” I focused on my trembling hands. Able to feel the captain’s gaze lingering on me, while fearing if I looked up at his handsome face and met the stare of those comforting eyes, my own would rain with tears.
“I know … that he is a good man. Now, goodnight, Lady.” Then he left.
It was a silent walk back to my room with the drucia, the black night so clear that the sky dazzled with silver stars. But the beauty of the clear night disappeared the moment she locked the door behind me, leaving only a glimmer visible from the small window of my room as I laid my head down to sleep.
Chapter 7
Aflash of light illuminated the small cabin. Thunder split the air, followed by a crescendo of rainfall.
Hollering from the crew, muffled by the downpour, made it to my ears in indistinguishable mumbles. On my toes, I craned my neck to witness the angry storm outside through the small window. Then I heard it, in the distance past the drumming of the rain and crashing of the waves. It was faint and distant but there. A small lilt on the sea. A harp? A lute? Who brought an instrument on a ship? Let alone played it amid a storm.
The ethereal sound ebbed in and out of my ears, rising and falling like the tide. My breath slowed to its sound. It was a voice, no, a chorus of voices both haunting and enchanting singing with the music.
Men no longer yelled orders to one another. Only that music, the storm, and the waves were audible.
Suddenly, the ship pitched fast and hard. My feet gave way at the large shift that sent me slamming against the wall. My back panged from striking the unforgiving wooden panels that lined the room.
Something wasn’t right.
I gathered myself to my feet and ran for the door, twisting and pulling at the knob desperately, but it did not relent.
“Let me out!” My fists pounded against the only exit. The rain fell fast and my heart raced to its tempo. “Please! Let me out!” But therewas no response. The music was loud now, drowning out all thought. It surrounded me. Was I going mad?
Finally, the knob convulsed and the door opened. It was the drucia, her sacred clothing drenched, plastered to her face around her wild, bulging eyes. She pulled down her mask, eyes darting side to side in panic, trying to will the words into my mind, but finally she spat, “The sailors are in some sort of trance!”
“Do you hear that singing?” I asked. Her mask sagged below her chin as she nodded yes. She fell to her knees and traced the prayer beads on her wrist, rocking back and forth.“Allfather, Terragos save us!”
Stepping around her, I went through the doorway and up the steps to the deck. Cold rain crashed all around, blurring my vision as I made my way across the deck, trying to keep upright as the waves rolled beneath the ship.
I saw him, the captain, thank the Guardians. He stood working at something, surely redirecting us.
“Captain,” I yelled. But he did not turn around, and only kept working away. “Captain!” I shouted louder through the rain and that ghostly song, but nothing.
Finally, grabbing his broad shoulders, I swung him around and demanded, “Captain, what is happening?” But he didn’t reply. His face held only a groggy grin.
Shaking his large body as hard as possible, I screamed in his face, “Answer me!”
But he said nothing and returned to his work.
The other sailors did the same, like they were drunk or dreaming, silently working at ropes and sails manning the ship like there was no storm pounding at their backs, nor a ghostly song shrieking in their ears.
Through the wind and rain I made it to the edge of the deck. Through the haze of the storm, in the distance I spotted a rocky fixture jutting out of the sea.
