While Ethan was keeping it distracted, I came up behind thealkonost, and severed its head. The body collapsed to the side, spewing blood as the head rolled this way and that with the roll of the sea.
“You okay?” I asked. I looked at his shoulder— thealkonosthad cut him deeply with its talons.
“I’ll be fine. Your brother needs us,” Ethan said.
Arthur had backed away against the front of the ship. Twoalkonostshad him trapped. Onealkonostdug its talons into Arthur’s chest, and he gave a painful cry as blood gushed from his torso.
“Arthur!” I ran forward. With a yell, I jumped into the air, and cut my sword into the thigh of thealkonostthat had hurt him. The bird screeched, turning its attention to me. I swung my sword in an arc and backed away, beckoning it to come closer.
Thealkonostdove. I stabbed upward at just the right moment, and jerked my sword back. I cringed as organs fell out of thealkonost’sbody from above and slopped onto the deck of the ship. Thealkonostwent spiraling into the sea, its wings beating helplessly against the spray of the ocean as it sank under the waves and died.
I tried to catch my breath as I turned toward Ethan and Arthur. They’d killed the otheralkonosttogether, and were throwing the hacked remains of the bird back into the ocean. The lastalkonosthad given up. It was fleeing east, in the direction of land. Tygrys watched it fly away with a satisfied huff.
The boys busied themselves with tossing over the corpses of thealkonoststhat hadn’t landed in the water, though the deck had been permanently stained. The whole ship stank of organs and blood. Made me want to heave.
“We got rid of them,” Ethan said. He breathed heavily as he hung his head over the side of the ship, watching the pieces of thealkonostflock sink to the bottom of the sea.
“But will they be the last?” Arthur asked. He walked to the other side of the ship to help Vara to her feet.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“I’m fine,” Vara said with a wince. “Usually, my magic would’ve been of more help. But my babies are… restless. They have been since we started this trip. Their arrival in Edinmyre is making them jump in my womb and press on my organs.”
“I knew you shouldn’t have come,” Arthur said worryingly.
“I am here now,” Vara replied. “We have to make the most of it.”
I took a rag out of my pocket to clean my sword of blood before I added, “We must be getting close. Or at least, close tosomesort of island. Thealkonostswouldn’t have attacked if we were in the middle of the sea. I doubt they can fly far from shore.”
“This is a positive sign. Perhaps the Spring Princess isn’t as far away as we thought,” Arthur offered.
I was beginning to think so, but time soon changed my mind.
Hours passed, until I was sure it was close to sunrise. We’d been sailing in silence for what felt like forever. We hadn’t run into another living thing, or another sign of the island, since we had battled thealkonostshours ago. Both Arthur and Ethan had healed by now, and were looking just as concerned as I felt.
“We’re going in circles!” I couldn’t help the despair that plagued my voice. I paced from one end of the longship to the other, feeling like there was nowhere to go.
Vara was the only one who had any confidence left. She sat at the helm and said, “Patience. We’ll get there.”
“Will we? It doesn’t feel like it.” This sea was wide and lonely, and I just wanted to go home. I was cold, wet, tired, and covered in blood. Yet we were no closer to the Seelie stone than we’d been when we’d started.
“You can’t rely on your feelings right now. You can only rely on what you know to be true, which is the magic in your blood,” Vara insisted. “We are close to the island. Can’t you feel it?”
“No.” I crossed my arms. I was starting to think the well spirit had lied to us.
“You’re ignoring what’s right in front of you. Can’t you see the truth?” Vara asked.
“The sun is starting to come up! There’s only a short time left until dawn!” I pointed to the horizon. There, a thin red line was beginning to bloom, casting a tiny ray of light over Edinmyre. “The well spirit said we had to reach the island before sunrise, otherwise, it’ll move again. Then what are we going to do?”
“You have to have faith in your destiny,” Vara responded calmly.
I snorted. “Have faith. I have faith that we’re going to be endlessly sailing on this ocean forev—”
My words were cut off as the ship abruptly rocked to the side. I fell to the floor and hit my head. I cried out, and Ethan scampered to help me.
“Are you all right,onawilke?” Ethan asked. He dragged me upright. I blinked a few times as the boat rocked violently underneath me.
“I… think so.” I shook myself out of it. Tygrys was hovering before my face, mewling in worry.
