“How long have you been watching them?”I added.
“Since I saw the first group leave town with the ghisting.I have counted over one hundred devotees coming and going, and have heard them speak of others joining them in the next weeks.”
“Why are you watching them?”Mary pressed.
“The Ess Noti naturally have a particular interest in the Black Tide Cult,” Alamay explained.“Surely you understand why.”
Mary and I exchanged a glance.
“What of their ghisting?”I asked.I was still disinclined to trust Alamay with anything beyond the necessities, and the connections between the cult and the Ess Noti did little to settle me.“Do the Ess Noti know of him?”
Alamay stood straighter in the shelter of our tree, her eyes lingering on the cultists.“Yes, though I know nothing myself.Acultist tried to recruit me in Renown and it seemed prudent to investigate.You recognized someone?I saw you pointing.”
Mary identified Adler, though the night was growing closer and the figures harder to distinguish.The water too continued to rise and the forest to flood, inching towards its full depth.Waves crept up around the carved robes of the Midden Ghist.
We fell silent as several torchbearers began to leave, wading out of the ever-deepening water.Firelight flickered on rivulets behind them, and the trunks of the trees cast long, eerie shadows through the drowning wood.
Mary shifted back, Alamay retreated into the shelter of another tree and I crouched as they came closer.
Voices came, soft and conspiratorial, but amplified by the water.
“…such honors,” a young male voice insisted, his tone one of admiration.“I shall of course play my part.”
A woman replied, her voice deep, mature and calm.Her words did not carry as the young man’s did, but his response came to us again.
“If it must be so,” he said, sounding less enthusiastic now.“A matter of course.”
A vision swam towards me from the shadows, tapping against my defenses like sea snakes against a hull.I inched onto the divide between the human world and the Other.
The vision rushed forward, filling my senses.I saw the young man full of shards, bleeding to death in the shattered gun deck of a ship.I saw him spend a night of awkward but sincere passion with a young woman, and the pride in her eyes as he left her on the docks.I saw him mere moments ago, trailing his fingers through the waters of the rising tide in the Midden Ghist’s glow.
I also foresaw the rest of the cult dispersing and passing this very tree moments from now.They would bring the ghisting with them, and he would certainly sense Tane.
“We need to go.”I beckoned, and, in wordless agreement, we departed.
We did not stop until we reached drier, more elevated regions of the forest.The little wold was quiet around us, once again full of the simple, constant sounds of washing water and wind through bent pines.
I found the forest night distinctly unsettling, surrounded by such layers of shadow.Alamay seemed to share my sentiment, keeping close watch on the trees, but Mary was at ease.
“What did you see?”Alamay asked me.“In the Other?”
“That young man is going to die.”I delivered the truth with solemnity.“Aboard ship, in the coming battle.Little else of consequence.”
Alamay shrugged.“He is a sailor.Many will die.”
“Unfortunately so.In any case, I must speak with my uncle.Even if the Midden Ghist’s connection to the Ess Noti is irrelevant, the cult should not be allowed to gather in such numbers.”
“What are they harming?”Alamay asked, her question sounding genuine.
“It is a matter of principle,” I replied and shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat.Despite its warmth, the water had chilled me to the bone.“Now, let us retire.Perhaps there will be clarity with the new day.”
FORTY-EIGHT
Preparations
SAMUEL
Spring rains began to fall on the Aeadine Anchorage.For ten days they continued unabated, dispelling the last vestiges of snow from the alleyways and raising a stifling fog.The temperature rose but remained rather cool, the kind of damp chill that made bones ache and the wood of the ship creak all the louder, even in the quiet waters of the harbor.
