He threw his head back and laughed. “No. I’m suggesting that we go request a draught.” He sobered rather quickly, suddenly struck by some dreadful memory. “Just like last time.”
24
Imogen
The day was bright and clear when theEleuthiosfinally glided into Della’s pale green waters.
The main island was an expanse of green rolling hills. From the ship, I could make out the rare white dot of a caretaker’s cottage, wholly surrounded by land and roaming flocks. I clung to the rail, Agatha quiet at my side, and thought of the first time I’d seen Varya.
Compared to Varya’s lush, flowering landscape and dense clusters of white stone buildings, Della looked almost vacant, save for a grouping of large, colorful buildings at the edge of a port, where goods would come and go. But we were not docking on Della’s main island. We were headed for Kardinia, the smaller island to the north, where the majority of Dellens—and their Mage Seer—resided.
As the ship drew nearer to Kardinia and into Port Temis, slicing the flat water like a blade, I saw unobtrusive brick and wooden homes. A massive statue of their Great God, Milton, who’d had power over beasts, loomed at the port’s entrance.
I squinted up at his stone effigy. They couldn’t be seen from my vantage, but I knew that he held silkworms in his outstretchedhand and that the hare tucked under his arm was wrapped in a sling of their famous silk. I remembered that their island had been built with their animals in mind. The sweeping vistas has been left as undisturbed as possible, and most citizens were farmers, shepherds, or silkers.
I leaned closer to Agatha, who gazed out at the city as it drew nearer. This was the first time I’d managed to coax her out of her cabin during the day, as she’d spent most of them sleeping. “Will you not answer me?”
“Fine.” She huffed a breath and said, albeit begrudgingly, “The Mage Seer is in a tower in the very middle of the city. It’s the tallest building, and the oldest.”
I searched the skyline for it, but saw only an indistinguishable cluster of tiled roofs. “They built all those other buildings around her?”
“Yes.” She glared up at me from beneath the wide brim of her hat. “I don’t like this, Imogen. You lack any reasonable fear of magic. It’s an asinine idea.”
“It was Theo’s.”
Her dark brow rose in a gesture that looked so much like her old self, I smiled. “Oh,Theo.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Where is he? Let me tell him to his face that he’s an idiot.”
I looped my arm through hers and held tight. “Agatha, I don’t have the time—or the knowledge—to brew draughts. I don’t have any other option.”
She shook her head. “I know you have no other option, but once again, I must make it clear that Mage Seers are to be taken seriously. Do you think she won’t sense that something is amiss when you go in with a made-up story about needing a draught? Or won’t recognize your God’s blood when you give it to her?”
“I—We will be exceptionally cautious. I promise.” And I meantit. I gave her arm a thankful, placating tug. “And to that end, what else can you tell me about Della’s Mage?”
Her exhale was drawn out and woebegone. “She is the youngest of the Mage Seers, if I remember correctly.” She cut me a furious glance. “Yourself excluded. She’s of Dellen descent. She’s the most feared in the realm, so I’ve heard, due to her ‘unsteady’ mind.”
My stomach dipped. “I wonder if the magic has made her mad.” I wondered if it might do the same to me in time.
“Likely the isolation,” she said, sounding as if she were somewhere else. “The pain.”
The life of a Mage Seer would lead most to madness. The isolation and pain were one thing, but it was theneedthat I feared would unmake me. The remote yet insistent way it prodded and pulled, like a finger tapping at my shoulder, vying for my attention. I stared contemplatively at the glittering surface of the bay when it turned suddenly blinding.
I groaned as a white light flashed behind my eyes. My grip on the ship’s rail turned bruising as a cacophony of sensations fell over my body, like a veil strewn over a bride. I could hear Agatha’s voice beside me, calling my name, but she sounded garbled, like her mouth was full of water.
I let the vision take me.
Blood filmed my tongue. I was in warm, slick liquid, like the water in Eusia’s pool, but now the walls were tight. My elbows bumped into the hard sides. Fatigue pulled at me, making me sluggish, but my stomach felt full. I twisted and my knees thudded. Frustrated, I glanced down at my body, and to my shock, there were no knees there at all.
My lower half was scaled a blue-red, stretched unnaturally long, and webbed. Like the nekgya I had drawn up from the deep water. Before I could look closer, my gaze cut up toward a pewter sky and glowing white sails.
At the top of the main mast, a deep-blue Obelian flag snapped in a harsh wind.
As suddenly as I was thrown into the vision I was ripped out. Now all I felt was the balmy breeze rolling over the bay; all I saw was a clear, azure sky.
“Imogen, what happened?” Agatha gripped my arm.
“I saw…” I grimaced at the taste of bloody flesh. “It’s just what we thought. Eusia is on her way to Obelia. On the empress’s ship.”
Agatha went very still as she looked at my white eyes. “Oh Gods, Imogen.” Her face drained of the little color she’d recovered. “A vision?”
