Chapter 4
UNWILLING COMPANIONS
The boat Ty found was tiny compared to other ships in the harbor, barely forty feet. Narrow, with the mast near the bow, it looked to Ria’s eye completely unlike the wide, double-masted merchant ships. But it did look fast.
Despite the darkness, Ty sure-footedly unfastened the ropes and raised the massive mainsail. Niri stayed on deck, her anxious gaze skyward. It was her presence more than anything that unnerved Ria. She just didn't want to look at the Priestess.
“Can we go below?” Ria whispered to Lavinia, who led her to the cabin door amidship as Ty caustically turned to Niri.
“Can’t you do something to help fill the sails? Or we will sit here and flounder until the tide turns in four hours.”
“I have no power over wind. I am a naiad. I only control water.” Niri’s crisp retort cut through the night.
But the exchange must have given Niri an idea. By the time Ria reached the stairs to head below, the boat began to move forward as if on an outgoing tide. Niri walked past Ria to the bow, the strange aqua and lavender light filling Niri’s eyes. Ria’s stomach clenched before she reached the cabin's depths and breathed in her first lungful of stale rot. The piled clutter of the cabin slowed their steps, but it didn't seem so bad until the small ship started riding swells. The sharp rocking motion coupled with the intense smells overwhelmed Ria.
“We must be out of the harbor,” Lavinia said, trying to gaze out a grimy porthole.
The bow of the boat heaved up with another wave. Ria gasped. Mildew and heavy spices assaulted her nose and throat, combining sickly with the rolling motion of the ship. Gagging, Ria leaned over and retched. Hurriedly, Lavinia made space on a bench for them by dumping the unknown contents onto the floor. She pulled Ria down next to her as the ship plunged down a wave.
As Ria came up for breath with a moan, a soft rag brushed her skin. Taking it from Lavinia’s hands, Ria pulled the cloth against her face. The rag smelled like dust, but it was better than the unknown and fragrant clutter filling the cabin of the boat. Lavinia sitting next to her on the hard bench gave Ria a small comfort. At least she wasn't alone with the Priestess on the way to the Temple of Solaire.
“Thanks.”
“Are you feeling any better?”
Ria wasn't sure. So much had gone wrong, her mind hadn't caught up with where her body sat in the cabin of the small sailboat.
“You think that is what happened to your cousin, Anna, and your uncle as well?” Lavinia asked when Ria didn't answer.
“And my grandmother’s sister, and their cousins ... so many in my family. The Church took them but not to become Priests or Priestesses. That is why we never heard from them again. The Church took them to kill them.”
The woeful truth of it made Ria stumble on the word kill. She twisted the rag around her hands, the fabric twining tight against her skin.
“Grandma Sanoo said it was something in our blood, a curse of our family. She was more right than she knew.”
“Ty will find a way to get us home. We’ll warn your family and tell them. You’ll see. You’ll only be away a few days.”
Ria nodded, but like the cat’s cradle of cloth loops binding her hands, she doubted it was so simple. Her family already feared the Church, an uncommon belief they kept mostly to themselves. Her entire family couldn't hide.
Ty’s presence created its own knot of anxiety. Against her will, Ria remembered him holding her while they waited for Lavinia. In all her years, Ria had never thought she would ever need a thing from Lavinia’s brother, no matter the lingering glances he gave her. But as her mother had often said, she could choose worse than Ty.
“You are taking us back to the Temple of Solaire! I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”
The vehemence of Ty’s voice carried his words into the cabin and cut through Ria’s thoughts. Both girls leapt to their feet. Ria kept a hand on Lavinia’s back as she made her way to the stairs, her footing unsure on the surging ship.
As they emerged into the salt-laden air, the boat slowed. Ty glanced once toward his sister, then reached for the ropes to turn the boom. The sail filled with the strong wind off the sea. Ty stood by the tiller post, adjusting the horizontal beam to move the rudder. The boat rode the waves, angling along the now distant dark shore.
“I didn’t mean to ... it is habit, nothing more.” Niri said, staring at the timbers of the deck.
Ty ignored her and turned toward his sister and Ria. “The Priestess has been guiding the boat by controlling the water it sits in. She was taking us back toward the Temple, directly toward the creature she says is coming for us.”
“I am not a Priestess any longer! Did you not hear?” Niri glared at Ty, hand balled into a fist. Moonlight caught a faint glint of dampness under her eye.
“Nirine?” Lavinia said hesitantly under the glare of her brother.
“Niri. Only the Church officials ever called me by my full name,” she said, pulling the cloak to her sides and sitting down on a bench along the side of the ship.
“Where are we heading now?” Ria asked, choosing the bench opposite Niri. Lavinia joined Ria, sitting closer to where her brother stood at the rear.
For a moment the only sounds were the creaking of wooden timbers as the ship plowed into the waves and the thrumming of the rigging holding the full triangle of sail. Around them, the moon in its lesser circuit tinted the wave caps a dull rose.
“Karakastad is south, across the Sea of Sarketh,” Ty finally offered.
Lavinia leapt to her feet, pivoting to face Ty. “You can’t be serious! We need to go home! We have to return this ship to whoever we took it from. We have to warn Ria’s family. We can’t sail this ... this mess across the Sea of Sarketh!”
“The boat belonged to the men who attacked us. All this stuff was already stolen."
Ty’s words registered on Lavinia’s face like a flower bud unfolding. Her eyes opened wider, tight muscles of her jaw loosening to part her lips, and finally shoulders dropping. With a blink, she looked away from her brother and sat down next to Ria. Ria took her hand.
“Where have you been, Ty?” The wind carried Lavinia's question away into the open sea.
“That isn’t something she needs to know.” Ty jabbed a thumb in Niri’s direction. “Look, I will tell you later, Vin. I promise.”
“It doesn’t matter, about telling my family, I mean,” Ria said into the tense silence. Everyone looked at Ria in surprise. “I mean, they already know most of it. It won’t change anything if there is a creature who will hunt us down no matter where we go.”
“The Curse is real,” Niri said.
“Do you really think we could find some way of stopping it in the Temple of Dust?” Ria asked, youthful frame tense as she sat on the edge of the bench and looked across at the woman who had been her worst fear until a few hours ago.
“I trust Sinika ... and it is the only place we know that may hold some answers.”
No one denied the statement. Ty moved first, shaking his head from side to side.
“No, I’m not taking her. We are not taking a Priestess with us!” His anger was back.
“Are you so against the Church?” Niri asked as she stood swiftly.
“It hasn’t done me any favors. Are you so for it, former Priestess?” Ty drew out the title, the lines of Niri’s mouth tightening with every syllable. They squared off, facing each other across the back of the boat. Ria and Lavinia glanced at each other.
“No, yes ... they haven’t done me any favors either,” Niri said, sitting down. Ty blinked at her sudden retraction and watched her warily. Niri’s eyes were closed as she spoke again. “But it is all I’ve known since I was nine.” A tear slipped down her cheek.
Without anyone at which to direct his anger, Ty tried reasoning with his sister. “The Church is looking for her, knows who she is. They don’t know who Ria is or that she isn’t alone. We have a better chance of getting away without her.”
“She
saved Ria’s life,” Lavinia retorted.
Ty gave his sister an annoyed glance.
“What happens if Ria uses her power again? The Curse will come.”
Ty answered Niri without turning to face her. “She never used it before. She may not need to ever again.”
“But you won’t know. She could be using it now for all you can tell.” Now Ty swiveled to face Niri. She met the look he threw at her, tilting her chin up and firming her back. “I can protect Ria from the Church and herself. The Church might not know who she is now, but her potential is recognizable. There is no hiding her from a member of the Church. Is she is seen, she will be known.”
Ty had no argument to deny Niri’s words. He simmered for a moment. “We are to trust you then?”
“Yes.”
Ty glared at her.
“So, we’ll go to the Temple of Dust?” Ria asked, wanting the decision to be made, the answer reached.
“Yes, but Lavinia is right. We can’t go in this boat. Not as it is now. There isn’t fresh water or food enough to make the crossing,” Ty grudgingly admitted.
“Then what will we do?” Ria felt lost with the technicalities of sailing across the sea. Ty’s ease with the idea was the first reassurance she had felt all night.
“It is a merchant vessel, even if a small one. We can go to Dion and sell anything we can find of value. It should be enough to get us across to Rah Hahsessah.”
Lavinia tensed next to Ria, but said nothing.
“Dion is a far sail for one night,” Niri said to Ty.
"If you pushed us with the tide while I man the sail, we could make it," Ty said, hesitantly. "If you swear you'll guide us to Dion!"
"I swear," Niri replied, amused by Ty's lack of trust. Her eyes filled with lavender as she added the strength of the sea to the full sail Ty controlled. The ship sped forward far faster than it ever could have under sail alone.