“What happened out there?” he asked. His owl was perched beside him on the table, watching the team with its own sharp gaze.
“The Conquerors attacked us when we … accidentally drew a crowd,” Conor replied. Sweat beaded on his brow. He looked suddenly guilty. The floor beneath their feet was already shifting – the Tellun’s Pride had just pulled away from the harbor.
“And what were you all doing, to attract such a crowd?”
Rollan’s jaw tightened. “We passed through a narrow alley with children orphaned from the storms. I stopped to give a girl a meat bun.”
Finn shook his head sympathetically. Beside him, Dorian gave them all a stern look.
“Good intentions,” Dorian said. “But now’s not the time for it.”
Rollan rolled his eyes. Already, he looked like he was bristling at Dorian’s presence. “Oh, come on. We’re all safe and well, aren’t we?”
Dorian pressed his lips into a line. “We must lie low, and you’re drawing too many eyes.” His voice lowered. He looked at Conor, who hung his head. “Remember, the fate of Erdas lies in our hands. We cannot afford to be distracted from our primary mission by small acts of kindness.”
Rollan couldn’t seem to hold in his irritation anymore. He scowled. “It was my idea, not Conor’s,” he snapped. “So don’t blame him,”
“Very well, then. I’ll hold you responsible for putting your companions’ and, indeed, all of our lives at stake.”
“If we can’t even bother to be kind to people in need, then what’s the point of saving Erdas?”
Dorian frowned back. “Your actions drew the Conquerors’ attention. Is that what you want?”
Rollan’s voice grew louder. “Tarik would have been proud of us, if he was still here! But he’s not. We just have you, trying to fill his shoes.”
Dorian winced visibly at that. It lasted only for an instant before it was replaced with his stern look, but even Rollan seemed to recognize he’d hit a sore spot. He crossed his arms and dropped his gaze.
An awkward silence hung heavily in the air. Abeke searched Dorian’s face for that vulnerability she’d seen before, but his eyes were every bit as fierce as his spirit animal’s.
Truly, she felt a bit sorry for him. How must it feel to have to step into Tarik’s shoes, to be the newest person in a group that had already bonded together over so much? She remembered that feeling well enough.
“Balanhara was our last dock,” Dorian said, his voice cold. Clearly their prior conversation was over. “We won’t stop again.”
He turned his back and headed up the ladder with Finn. But before he left them, he paused and looked over his shoulder.
“Tarik and I joined the Greencloaks at the same time,” he said. “We trained together. So don’t tell me things I already know.”
Abeke watched him go. They remained silent for a long moment afterward.
Rollan let out a slow breath. His shoulders hunched. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered.
Abeke walked over to Rollan and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m glad we helped those children,” she said. “Even though it caused a lot of trouble. At least they have full stomachs now.”
Maya and Conor nodded their agreement. Rollan still looked unhappy, but his posture relaxed a bit, and he gave his friends a faint smile.
As they headed up to the deck to watch Balanhara fade away on the horizon, Abeke’s thoughts wandered back to the seagull that had watched them before the attack.
Perhaps it was a coincidence.
WHEN ROLLAN WENT UP TO THE DECK OF THE TELLUN’S Pride the next morning, the ocean had turned choppy and black. Black.
Not a normal color for the ocean, he thought to himself. He winced at the wind and huddled under his cloak. Everyone else was still asleep belowdecks, except for the few crew members manning the sails. He took a deep breath.
His anger and guilt over what happened yesterday had faded away into a sullen understanding. Dorian was right, of course. Rollan just didn’t want to admit it. When he next saw Dorian, he would apologize for what he said.
Essix glided somewhere overhead. Rollan turned his face skyward, searching for her, but all he saw were churning clouds. It seemed like the entire world had been stripped of color. Even the whales pulling the Tellun’s Pride forward seemed uneasy, blowing enormous plumes of mist into the air. Rollan grimaced at the ominous water, then squinted out toward the horizon.
It took him a moment to realize that another Greencloak was up on the deck besides himself. Kalani. She saw Rollan approaching and looked away quickly, toward the ship’s bow.
“Good morning,” Rollan said as he joined her. He glanced at the sky again. “Or not. What are you doing up so early?”
Kalani leaned over the railing, the edges of her mouth turned down.
Rollan sighed. “Look, I know that I’m officially poisonous to your people now, but if we can’t even talk to each other on this mission, it’s going to get us into trouble.”
Kalani’s eyes remained focused on the sea’s surface, and Rollan realized she was searching for her dolphin in the waters. Maybe she was still weighing whether or not to acknowledge him. When she stayed quiet, he shook his head.
“Fine,” he said. “I get it. But, Kalani … this may be the last journey we ever make together. I don’t even know if we’ll all come back.” His voice lowered. “And if we don’t make it back … do you really want our last days together to be spent like this?”
At that, Kalani’s stare finally shifted from the ocean to Rollan. She studied his face. He could see the conflict in her eyes. For a moment, he thought she might keep pushing back.
But then her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a long breath. Her eyes went back to the sea. “The whales aren’t doing well,” she said. And despite the severity of her words, Rollan couldn’t help exhaling in relief. They were talking again. “I couldn’t sleep because I could sense the distress of their underwater calls. So I came up here. Look.” She pointed to the quivering ropes latched to the whales. “Their pace has slowed. They’re sick. I sent Katoa to check on them.”
So the whales were behaving oddly. Rollan didn’t like the sound of that at all. If their whales were sick, they wouldn’t be able to make it to Stetriol in time. They’d have to dock again somewhere. But they were so close! No other ports lay between here and Stetriol – nothing but open ocean. Where would they go?
“We’ve got to be getting close by now,” Rollan muttered. Then he raised his voice. “Hey, Essix!”
A piercing cry answered him, muffled by wind and distance. Now he saw her – she hovered in a wide circle several hundred yards away from the ship. Her relaxed glide calmed him somewhat.
Between the surprise attack at Balanhara, his argument with Dorian, and now the whales’ condition, Rollan could use a moment of calm.
When he looked back at Kalani, he could see tears welling in her eyes. Down in the water, her dolphin surfaced, whistling and clicking for her. She held out her arms and called it back into the dormant state before looking at Rollan.
“The whales,” she murmured. “They’re … dying. The waters here are slowly poisoning them.”
“Dying?” Rollan said. He hadn’t thought it would be as bad as that. The word seemed so final – the thought of their faithful rockback whales sacrificing themselves because of this journey hit him hard in the heart.
Kalani nodded. Her voice sounded flat and dead. “We need to cut them loose, if we want to save them. They need to get away from Stetriol to cleaner waters.”
Rollan pulled out his long dagger. “Well, if you need a hand in cutting them loose … I’m in.”
Kalani looked at the dagger with a pensive expression. Then she smiled weakly. “Thanks, Rollan. And … I’m sorry. I know you broke our customs for the good of Erdas, and that seeking Mulop cost you much. As a queen, I suppose I should be willing to do anything to save my people. Even become tapu myself.” She sighed. “Let
’s go tell the captain.”
The last word had barely left Kalani’s lips when Essix sent up a shrill shriek. The sound penetrated the air like a knife, making Rollan jump.
“Okay,” he said, “that didn’t sound good.” He searched the sky to see what made her give a warning cry. But the surface of the sea was covered with a layer of mist, hiding whatever else might be beyond.
“Hey.”
Rollan turned to see Conor emerge from the lower decks. The other boy stopped beside Kalani and squinted first at the ocean, then up to the Greencloak observing the sea from the crow’s nest. “What’s Essix calling about?”
Rollan shrugged. In the mist, he could hardly make out Essix at all. “No idea.”
“Think you can see through Essix’s eyes for us?” Kalani asked.
Rollan looked back out at the ocean and concentrated. He felt the familiar experience of the world rushing at him, and the curious sensation of being airborne, of soaring over the dark water and through the mist. The air smelled sharply of salt and fog, and tiny droplets of water dotted his face.
Essix swooped down, then expanded her wings to their full length and caught the air currents. Rollan could feel the wind ruffling through her feathers. Everything looked a hundred times sharper than what he could see through human eyes.
At first, Rollan didn’t notice anything unusual.
Then he saw the faint silhouette of a landmass looming behind the fog.
Essix shrieked again. Rollan rushed away from the sky and down toward the ship. He jolted back into his skin, right as he lifted his arm in the direction of the land and shouted, “Stetriol, straight ahead!”
A few seconds later, the lookout in the crow’s nest called out the same thing. As others began emerging from belowdecks, Conor and Kalani stood next to Rollan and leaned out to see better. No doubt about it.
Jagged gray rocks rose from the horizon. Even from here, and even shrouded in mist, the vision sent a chill down Rollan’s spine. He could feel something poisonous here, in the very air of the place. It didn’t seem like so long ago when they had first passed Stetriol by.
This time, we will actually set foot on forbidden land. Was Meilin here?
As they drew closer, the land began to take on more detail, until Rollan could make out some sort of bay straight ahead. The wind began to pick up, and white foam crashed against jagged rocks lining the mouth of the bay. Some of the rocks glowed red with lava, still fresh and hot from the mouths of underwater volcanoes. These were pieces of land just days old, with new lava still flowing over them. The red-hot liquid gave the rocks the look of a giant beast’s bloody jaws.
“There’s no way we can squeeze through that without wrecking ourselves,” Conor said grimly.
“I’m not sure we have much of a choice,” Rollan replied. Indeed, the Greencloaks were already busy lowering the ship’s masts, preparing to enter the strait. A harsh gust of wind nearly lifted Rollan clear off his feet. Overhead, Essix had returned to circling the ship. Her cry echoed again.
“Why is she still calling?” Conor shouted.
The ship lurched to one side as they drew closer to the stormy bay. Now they were near enough to hear the waves smashing themselves furiously against the rocks. The whales pulled hard as the Greencloaks urged them on. Kalani winced, and Rollan knew she could feel their agony.
Kalani looked worried. “The whales are exhausted,” she said, “but they’re going to try to get us through. It won’t be an easy passage.” She removed her cloak and stepped up onto the ship’s railing. “I’m going to guide them, and then cut them loose. Make sure to hang on!”
“Right!” Rollan called back.
Then she jumped overboard, falling in a graceful arc and splashing into the sea. A moment later, she emerged perched on the back of her dolphin, hanging on to its fin.
Rollan was about to call up to Essix when he felt the world rush around him again. This time, he saw through her eyes to the ocean behind them. There, in the wavering V that their ship had just carved through the ocean, came the shadow of another ship.
A Conqueror ship was hot on their trail.
Rollan felt his chest heave at the sight. Essix had been trying to warn them of something else all along, in addition to the jagged harbor they were about to enter. Now she turned her head forward, and Rollan saw why the other ship was here.
Right in front of Essix flew the seagull that had followed them in Balanhara. He could see it now through the mist, wind blowing through its tail feathers. The seagull, Rollan realized. The Conquerors were watching us.
Essix let out a sharp, angry cry and lunged for the bird.
Rollan gasped as his vision returned to him, and then grabbed Conor’s arm. “Conquerors!” he shouted.
Now the Greencloaks were pointing at the ghostly ship too. The Tellun’s Pride lurched again, sending sea mist spraying into their faces. No question about it – the Conquerors were frighteningly close, hidden from view the whole way by the thick mist. They would catch up in a matter of minutes.
“To the cannons!” the captain shouted.
They all leaped into action. Rollan and Conor ran to man a cannon. They were so close to the jagged rocks now. As the ship started to careen past the first rock, orange light burst from the Conqueror ship. Cannonballs! Rollan stumbled and fell to his knees as the first one made impact. The entire ship shuddered. Greencloaks ran by, some to douse the fire, others to the riggings. Still others were loading their own cannons. Rollan saw Dorian manning his own station while overseeing those closest to him.
“Fire!” Rollan heard Dorian’s order shouted over the chaos. A volley of cannonballs sailed toward the Conquerors’ ship, exploding in showers of splinters wherever they made contact.
Rollan gritted his teeth as he and Conor picked up a cannonball and staggered with it toward their cannon. Dorian’s earlier lesson with them rushed through Rollan’s head. He hated to admit it, but the instruction was about to come in handy. They shut the metal breech, then lit the fuse.
“Point it higher!” Conor urged as they turned it toward the enemy’s ship.
“I know, I know!” Rollan snapped. “This thing’s a lot harder to move than it looks!”
The fuse finished burning, and the cannon rocketed backward.
The recoil knocked Conor and Rollan off their feet. For a second, Rollan thought that the impact might have knocked all the teeth out of his mouth. He landed with a thud on his back. He struggled to catch his breath as he scrambled back up.
They were much too close for comfort. Rollan could make out the faces and expressions of the enemy crew, and even distinguish the details on the Conquerors’ clothing. He glanced wildly across the deck and noticed Abeke and Finn manning one of the other cannons. Maya leaned over the railing, Tini on her shoulder, and focused on the enemy’s ship. Fire burst from her hand, but they were still too far away for her to hit.
The ship shuddered again.
This time, they careened wildly. “Hang on!” Conor yelled, right before the side of the ship rammed into one of the bay’s sharp rocks.
Hanging on was useless – Rollan went flying. His back hit the ship’s railing, sending a shock of pain rippling through his body, robbing him of breath for an instant. The Tellun’s Pride groaned in protest. Seawater flooded the deck, soaking Rollan’s boots. The icy coldness of it made him cringe.
“I’m cutting the whales free!” Kalani’s voice rang clear and high over the sound of crossfire and crashing waves.
Rollan leaned over as far as he could without toppling right off the ship. “No, wait – !” he started to shout.
But Kalani hoisted a long, gleaming dagger, leaped onto one of the whales’ backs, and ran down its length on light feet. The sight sent a wave of flashbacks through Rollan, of when Meilin had done something similar.
Kalani sawed through one of the whale’s restraints, then another. The ship lurched heavily, and another wave of salt water flooded the deck. Behind them, the Co
nquerors increased their fire. Kalani hacked at a waterlogged rope. Finally she cut through one last restraint – and the first rockback whale broke loose with a tug. The creature immediately disappeared beneath the waves.
The ship’s stern surged up with the sudden freedom, causing the second whale’s harnesses to snap. The whale spouted a tall column of sea spray into the air before following its companion into the sea.
The Tellun’s Pride was floating alone now.
More cannon fire. The ship shuddered, her wounded boards groaning under her own weight. Rollan squinted through crashing water to see the Conquerors’ ship sailing past their stern, frighteningly close. Maya leaned over the railing of the Tellun’s Pride to aim once again.
This time, her fire hit true. A ball of flames exploded upon impact with the enemy’s deck, in a plume of gold, blue, and white. Wood, metal, and Conquerors went flying through the air and into the ocean.
Rollan’s eyes shot to the unmanned helm of the Tellun’s Pride. Where was the captain? As the thought flew through his head, he noticed the man lying unconscious on the deck. Oh, no. His eyes darted back to the helm. The ship shuddered again. They would never make it to shore.
An idea struck him.
He nudged Conor and made a sharp turning motion with his hands. Conor looked toward the helm too. His eyes suddenly lit with understanding, and his lips parted as if to repeat aloud what Rollan was thinking. They both hesitated, knowing how extreme their plan was – but only a few seconds. Conor nodded without a word, then started stumbling across the deck with Rollan in tow. The two boys reached the helm right as the ship shook again, bringing them once more to their knees.
From across the ship came a piercing whistle. Rollan glanced over to see Abeke swing her arms wide, as if to ask what they were doing. He made a wild gesture with his arms. “Abandon ship. Abandon ship!” he mouthed.
Abeke blinked, then immediately shouted to the people on either side of her.
Conor grabbed the helm and started to pull it toward him with all his strength. Rollan did the same, throwing his weight into it. But their combined strength wasn’t enough to turn the entire ship. They clenched their teeth, sweating and dripping with seawater.