Chapter 49 - Devouring Tide

  Seven days on open waters. No storm yet found the galley —a fine and short maiden named Dillon. The recording in Eksa's logbook would be short and quick for the seventh time in a row.

  She did not try reading the winds or waves. Speed was not her purpose on this venture. She found herself mostly at ease, standing at the helm and letting air brush past her face.

  Some from her motley crew still boasted their feats during the battle with Xenaria to each other. They fought over who'd done more, hurling slurs and edgeless threats that Eksa came to embrace as part of her journey's ambience. And Jackrin was there collecting every lie in a notebook of his own to spin into a grand tale. They were like children trying to impress their peers —as if doing so would further their social standing on the crew or earn them more respect. Or perhaps they seek to impress me and avoid disciplinary actions at the hands of Jackrin.

  Eksa shaded her eyes from a glaring sun and glanced the jester's way. He still dressed as a spotless canvas, tight fitted white shirt and loose white trousers —beneath which he hid many knives. He'd been quiet for the last several days. Quiet and reserved, taking more time locked in his cabin and coming out only to collect more notes, as he called it. It was unbecoming.

  Eksa was never fond of his shenanigans, but she had to admit to missing the strange illustrious atmosphere he could bring with a mere dark joke or a crudely whistled tune. Every now and then, when the waters were quietest, she heard fragmented thrumming of harp strings from below deck playing a somber tune that threw shards of discord into her growing excitement.

  Only two days till we reach the spot.

  “Can you see Eurale?” Viper asked from within Eksa's shadow.

  He'd become her sole conversation partner during this trip. Aaron seldom showed himself in her presence, staying true to his word of keeping distance. She'd tried many times a night to stand before his door, fist closed and arm raised to knock, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. “I see the Eye,” she told Viper. “The tower used as a lighthouse.”

  “What of the port?”

  Eksa couldn't make out the port. Not without using her spyglass. Over a month had passed since the scouring of the city's port. She didn’t want to see the wreckage she'd been partially responsible for. “Do you really want to know?” she asked. She steered the helm further right to keep a lengthy distance of seawater between her ship and the land.

  “Is it still in ruins like Kovar?”

  “I don't know,” Eksa said, squinting as the Eye's white light prodded at her face. Kovar didn’t have many builders. Those that existed had been monopolized by her, leaving the burnt section of town to more or less remain as black mounds of rubble. Eurale should have still been a functioning city. Eksa unhooked her monocular and raised it to her eye. She exhaled through her mouth. “The pier has been rebuilt. I see fishermen hauling a loaded net onto land. Some small buildings with rooftops. Others still in construction.”

  “Then all is well for now,” Viper said.

  “Yes. I hope it is.” It was much better than she expected anyway. “Someday I will return to apologize to King Agram.” Someday.

  ***

  Another two days passed.

  A canopy of deep grey clouds shrouded the sun, strengthened winds bolstered the caravel's travel speed by several knots, and rage began building beneath the sea, each passing wave a fraction higher than the last. A storm was nigh.

  Just the situation Eksa had wanted to avoid, but also not. For what fun was an adventure without a little danger? The ends of her coat billowed. She breathed in the cooling air —a welcome change from late summer's unrelenting heat.

  First came rain, a light drizzle pelting the Dillon's surface and turning its wood dark. Then came lightning, flashing here and there. Last to arrive was thunder, rumbling in disappointment, and ever chasing a light it would never catch. Eksa put herself on high alert. Her fingers twitched with anticipation. Far to her left rose an insurmountable wall of jagged rocks —the southernmost coastline of the Illeyan Alliance. Herein, if the words of drunk fisherman were to be believed, was a monstrous creature's territory, where whirlpools formed in even the blandest of ocean conditions.

  “All hands on deck!” Eksa ordered. Aaron was there, standing far back and observing her. His eyes snapped away when she saw him. “Keep our weapons loaded. Everyone else hold to the ropes. Raise half the sails!”

  The ship triumphed over a massive wave and crashed back down, sending a spray of water raining down on all sides. She was not an easy thing, this ship. Eksa was finding Dillon weaker than the Reaver. She steadied herself against the helm, feeling its handles prod into her sides. Half her crew groaned as they picked themselves off the deck. She steered to the left toward land, searching the shores with narrowed eyes. She clicked her tongue. No safe landing spots…

  Goosebumps formed on her arms. Disappointment only heightened the thrill coursing through her. These were uncharted waters. She had no bearing on its depth or climate patterns. No insight into where she might lower anchor and weather this storm. This was adventure. This, Eksa thought, was excitement.

  Another brilliant flash was followed by a deafening crash of thunder. A greater wave approached Dillon. It climbed in height like a cavalry charge cresting a hill and readying to descend like a devouring tide. “All sails unfurled!” Eksa screamed, her voice stolen and thrown to the peaks by howling winds. “All sails unfurled!” she said again. They would need to climb that wave and fast, or be turned upside down by it.

  Of all people, Aaron was the one reiterating her words to the crew. Viper must have told him. The sails were unleashed. The ship charged full speed ahead. Eksa held on to the helm for dear life. Her crew held ropes or whatever else they could get their hands on. The ship rose as the wave came upon them, tipping from the top. Eksa's arms strained as she felt them bearing more and more of her weight. Please be enough. Her breath caught as her entire vessel was engulfed by the shadow of the tide. She hugged the helm and squeezed the handles with her hands. The wheel began turning from her imbalanced position and Eksa felt herself slip the wrong direction as the ship became near perpendicular to the sky.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  And then it was over. The ship crested the wave and was suspended in air for a single endless second. Eksa yelped in pain with how the wheel had twisted her arms. She let go out of instinct before realizing that there was nothing behind her to fall back on. The ship crashed back down upon the sea and she fell on the deck hard, chin hitting the wood first. The impact led to a massive splash rising to half the height of the tidal wave. It fell and doused the surface of the ship.

  Eksa gasped for air as a layer of cold water struck her entire backside. She hardly had time to register the pain from her hard fall. It hit her many seconds after when making the effort to pick herself up. A stiff groan escaped her lips. She massaged the back of her neck which was most impacted from landing on her chin.

  “Eksa!” someone said. The voice was wrought with anxiety. A pair of dark boots stood before her and a hand outstretched for her to take. She grasped it and let the crewmate pull her up. She clutched his black coat by the collar to steady herself with one hand while continuing to press her fingers on her throbbing neck. His large hands were on her hips, holding her firmly in place.

  Eksa blinked away the stinging seawater on her eyes. She steadied her breath and looked up, flinching. “Aaron.”

  He let her go and stepped away. “Sorry I-I mean you fell and—”

  “No, um, it's okay,” she said, hugging herself unconsciously. “Thank you. Can you take the helm? I'm going to get a reading of the winds.” He did as told, steering the wheel to the right. Her blunder had brought them dangerously close to the wall of rocks on their left. Eksa could see more large waves coming, but none as great as the one they'd overcome. She closed her eyes and breathed in, feeling the wind against her damp skin and clothes. Rain continued to pelt her. The sounds of thunder disturbed the rhythm she sought.

  Aaron's hands on my waist…

  Eksa violently shook her head, wet hair striking her cheeks like whiplashes. She hugged herself again, feeling afraid. He didn't mean it. He didn't mean to hurt me. But he had, and his expression while doing it, the pain and ice she'd felt deep inside, it was too hard to forget. She still didn't know what led him to losing himself. She realized she knew nothing of him, of who he was and where he'd come from. He seemed Xenarian, but she couldn't be certain. Eksa wanted to turn around and study him, but he was for certain staring at her and she just wasn't ready to meet his eyes at that moment.

  She imagined the rain as washing away her sorrows. She closed her eyes and again tried for a reading. She ignored the thunder and steadied her breath. All that was left was the wind, the waves, and her beating heart. She inhaled sharply through her nose, then exhaled from her mouth. Eksa frowned. There was a strangeness in the rhythm that there should not have been. A mellowing of the waves the further the ship went. Yet the winds gave no indication of the storm subsiding. Eksa opened her eyes. Is there a landmass up ahead?

  She raised her monocular and examined the horizon. Shivers ran down her spine, and her damp clothes had nothing to do with it. She was well beyond Illusterra's map and knew now why none had dared to venture farther. Ahead was a formation of stalagmites stretching west as far as her sight went. A formation no captain would ever be fool enough to enter. They'd be caught and trapped for good, or would run into a rock pillar and risk fatal damage to their ship. Eksa bit her lip. A decision awaited. Curiosity gnawed at her insides. What lies beyond that perilous formation?

  An insatiable need for the answer gripped her every fibre. That was why she'd come. To indulge the explorer's blood running in her veins. But the crew… Eksa glanced back —still avoiding eye contact with Aaron. If this were Mikael's crew, they'd urge her on, for they were explorers just as Eksa's father had been. This was a band of rogue sailors who followed the actions of a captain acting on her whims. Any action on her part was a play with their lives on the line.

  Just a little closer, Eksa thought. A little closer to see the jagged pillar formation with her naked eye and judge if they could be navigated through. Perhaps to judge if it would be suitable to return here with canoes to press further ahead.

  The ship suddenly rose and fell as if hiking over a wave. Except, no hill of water rolled on behind it. Eksa grew stiff. I imagined that, right? But then it happened again. And then a third time, no sign of Dillon ever having ridden over a large wave. Eksa's deckhands began muttering to their nearest peers. By now, most had realized where she'd led them. Some rushed to the edge of the ship and gazed into the water. Eksa chewed on her inner cheek, fists clenched and shaking as she awaited a report to confirm her suspicions.

  “Captain!” someone called. Was it one of the Foura twins? He was shirtless and had the scar of a number one carved into his back. “There's something in the water. Something big. I don't think it wants us here.”

  I need to see it. I have to.

  Every sailor backed away from the edge. They got their hands on the ropes, keeping their eyes on their captain, eagerly awaiting her orders for a hasty retreat. They'd all heard the legends and, if their faces were any indication, feared it as well. Whatever lurked in the depths, it did not want Eksa and her crew there with the way it was prodding the ship.

  She faced the bow again, seeing the protruding rocks up close. She put the monocular to her eye to examine its entirety. The stalagmite formation grew dense farther in. But it did end eventually, beyond it an endless stretch of open water. Still impossible to make it through with a ship.

  However, on the left toward the massive wall of land, Eksa saw a cave opening —and oh how a mysterious cave piqued her curiosity. She pined for answers to questions unasked. She stared long and hard at the sharp peaks barring her path to the cave mouth, memorizing their placement to draw later and create an effective map. And at the end of it all, she let out a sigh, resigning herself to retreat for the safety of her crew. Two things had been confirmed today; the existence of the creature below, and the lay of the lands and waters beyond all existing maps. Though Eksa did not see the creature today with her own eyes, certainty of a future opportunity kept her spirits high. I will return more prepared.

  “Eksa!” Aaron cried not soon after another bolt flashed through the sky. “Someone's followed us, and I don't think they're allies.”

  Eksa cursed as she turned to face the rear. She put her monocular to her eye, and even more curses streamed out. “Flames. Flames and Ashes. Flames burn that bastard.”

  By now, everyone could see that speck on the horizon quickly gaining on Dillon. They all turned to Eksa for orders. She closed her fists. Her curiosity had plunged her entire crew into peril. Crow, that bastard. As if sentencing her to death by Xenarian warship hadn't been enough. But why would it be? He's been trying to get rid of me since the beginning. Who else would send a Breaker after her? He had to know she'd barely taken any from her crew, and with slave rowers on that ship, Dillon would be more than outmatched.

  Flames. I'd heard whispers of him being wounded. I thought he might leave me be for a while.

  Eksa racked her brain for possible maneuvers that might get her crew out of this predicament, but all thought went out the window when Dillon was suddenly robbed of her mobility. Beyond the bow, a giant whirlpool was beginning to form. The caravel was pulled into its current without mercy. It wasn't a natural whirlpool. Had it been one, Eksa would have sensed it earlier. Her crew's fears became her own. She hesitantly approached the edge of her ship.

  Therein, the Red Serpent could make out the silhouette of something immense swimming in a circle with violent fervor. The whirlpool was of its making. And if Eksa had any guess, it meant to trap her ship in a spiralling torrent before coming to a sudden halt and dashing her ship against the stalagmites.