Stonemaster

by C. E. Murphy

  A thought brushed him as lightly as the sky-witchery had done, and he turned a slow blink toward the storm-lashed Seamasters in the water.

  "No," he said, mostly to himself. "No, you're doing this wrong, you're doing it—Hassin!"

  The call was entirely swallowed by the sound of the storm. Rasim straightened, wishing he could command the lightness of the skywitchery's touch. It would be easy to get Hassin's attention if he could only convince the air itself to reverberate with his

  shout. He sent a desperate glance toward the Skymasters, and thought for an instant that he caught the youngest journeyman's eye. Rash and hopeful, Rasim filled his lungs and bellowed again:

  " Hassin! "

  To his astonishment, his voice lifted and carried, booming across the water.

  Chapter Twelve

  Even with Seamasters and Skymasters working the storm, it wasn't possible for the tempest to just stop. But it seemed like it did, under the weight and size of Rasim's voice. Raindrops hesitated in the air, waves caught and held a moment before crashing back into the sea. The wind itself was silenced with surprise, and every head whipped around, a whole ship's worth of witches gaping at Rasim.

  "You need Stonemaster Lusa's help!" Rasim shouted into the quiet.

  Hassin's expression cleared as the storm roared back to life. It couldn't have really gone quiet, Rasim thought, but his Skymaster-assisted voice had been so enormous that it certainly seemed like it had, and now the storm was all the louder. Hassin signaled to the swimming sailors, and they began returning to the Waifia as Captain Nasira turned a resigned gaze toward Rasim.

  He hunched his shoulders and came forward. "The seas are too bad, Captain. Somebody will get killed, going through that narrow cave mouth. But the Stonemasters could widen it, couldn't they? Make it safer?"

  Nasira muttered, "Why do you have to be clever," but nodded to a nearby sailor, who ran to fetch the stone witches. Rasim studied his toes, caught between guilt and pleasure at the captain's grumpy compliment. Nasira, still between her teeth, said, "How did you do that?"

  Rasim blinked up. "I felt the Skymasters start to do their witchery, and it made me think of the Stonemasters, that's all. I thought since they're here, we should use them—"

  "No. How did you make your voice carry?"

  "Oh." Rasim shook his head. "I didn't. One of the journeymen saw me trying to shout."

  Something indecipherable washed across Nasira's rain-lashed face.

  Relief, maybe, but also surprise or maybe disappointment. Rasim frowned. "Captain?"

  "You need me, Captain Nasira?" Stonemaster Lusa came on deck with her eyebrows tied in knots, they were so tight. She took each step carefully, attention fixed on the deck, and threw off the offers of help.

  Nasira waited until the Stonemaster had joined her at the rail, then nodded to the raging sea and the barely-visible cavern mouth. "We need that cave mouth widened. Can you do it?"

  "From here? No."

  Nasira flicked an eyebrow upward and made a small gesture toward the sailors in the water. "We can get you to the stone, if you can shape it."

  Lusa, very evenly, said, "You want me to get in that."

  Rasim bit his lip to hold in a laugh. The Stonemaster hadn't complained once during the journey, but it was suddenly clear she didn't like sea travel any more than poor sick Milu did. And the seas were awful right now. Rasim couldn't blame her for not wanting to risk them.

  "In a rowboat," Nasira offered, but Lusa gave her a flat look that made the captain's lips twitch with amusement, too. Her humor disappeared quickly too, though. "We can survive the night without your assistance, Stonemaster, but it would be far easier for all of us if you can help."

  "If it will get us out of this storm more quickly, I will do it.

  Journeyman, will you fetch Telun? His assistance would be appreciated." Lusa returned her regard to the pitching seas as Nasira signaled for a rowboat to be taken down and Rasim ran to summon the big Stonemaster lad.

  The Stonemasters' cabin door swung just before Rasim rapped on it. His knuckles brushed air, and he remembered too late that knocking would exacerbate his injuries. "Thanks." He curled his fingers against his chest again, then blinked at Telun, whose oilcloth-wrapped shoulders filled the door. "You're ready to go?"

  "It wasn't hard to figure out what the captain needed a stonemaster for, once she was summoned. And Milu's no use right now, so it has to be me." Telun tilted a few inches to the side, allowing Rasim to see into the room. Milu's gangly form stretched across the floor, with his fingers dug into the wood like he might be able to hold himself still despite the ship's motions.

  Rasim grinned a little and Telun gave Milu a fond, sympathetic look before leaving the cabin. "I've never seen anyone so miserable in my life. Do sea witches ever get ship-sick?"

  Rasim shook his head. "Master Usia says it happens because there's water in our ears that gets sloshed around and makes us dizzy, but even I can keep that from happening. I know Master Usia has tried to do it for Milu, but it doesn't take. He thinks the stone god's power is too strong in him. But it's like breathing, for a Seamaster. You don't even think about it. "

  "Lucky." Telun stomped up to deck. Rasim followed, knowing that once again, having had the clever idea, he wouldn't be of much use to anybody until it had been implemented. Still, he hadn't often seen Stonemasters at work, and Usia was still above deck, tending to sailors injured in the pounding storm.

  Master Lusa already stood in one of the rowboats when Rasim and Telun returned to deck. She might have been stone herself, her spine rigid and her chin lifted high. Hassin, though bedraggled and weary-looking himself, was with her. Rasim had no doubt it was the first mate's magic that would steady the boat and drive them toward the bleak island. Desimi, finished with the anchor rope, jumped into the skiff as well. Hassin didn't even try to put up an argument. Desimi's talent for witchery would be of great help in the waves.

  "Rasim!" His name was barely audible above the storm, but Hassin waved him down. Startled, Rasim skittered across the deck and stopped by crashing his ribs into the railing.

  His ribs shrieked protest. He'd done it thousands of times before, but never just after bouncing down a stony crevasse.

  Cross-eyed and wheezing with pain, he doubled over, keeping his hands on the rail so he wouldn't fall. He glanced up and saw Desimi's familiar smirk, which gave him the strength to stand and grit, "Yes, Hassin?" to the first mate.

  "You're the only one who's been in there while it was at all light. Come on."

  Rasim looked over his shoulder at the storm-whipped ship. "Should we get a Sunmaster for light? Master Endat is already keeping the torches alight so we can see what we're doing, but I can get one of the others."

  "Sunmasters in a storm." Lusa sounded as though she found the idea appealing. "Do. At least I won't be the only one out of my element, then. Telun, come aboard."

  The stone witch journeyman did as he was told while Rasim ran below a second time. None of the Sunmasters were prepared to go out in the storm, but to Rasim's surprise, Daka, the tiny Sunmaster journeyman, threw an oilcloth cloak on and followed Rasim eagerly. "I thought Sunmasters didn't like rain," he said as they scrambled into Hassin's skiff.

  "I like everything." Indeed, Daka's face was alight, just as it had been when the ropes had burned. Desimi lifted a hand to guide rain away from her, but Daka shook him off and extended her arms upward, then laughed in glee as Hassin carried the boat away from the Waifia 's side.

  The sea was much darker, away from the Waifia 's shuddering torchlight. Rasim took Telun and Master Lusa's hands, closing his

  eyes to concentrate on extending his own rain barrier around them. It would do no good for the stone witches to be so sodden and shivering they couldn't work. Nearby, Daka muttered a protest. Rasim squinted one eye open to see that Desimi was keeping the rain off her, as well. They said Sunmasters were hot-blooded, and got sick easily when cold came on, so it was smart of Desimi, no matter wha
t Daka wanted. Besides, Usia and Captain Nasira would never forgive them if they returned with a boat full of sniveling, sick witches.

  "What's the tunnel's shape, Rasim?"

  "Almost straight. Downward slope." It was easier to remember when his eyes were closed, though he'd swum it with them open. "The cave isn't big. Desimi had to have seen it, to get that rope...?"

  Rasim opened his eyes again, but Desimi shook his head.

  "Too dark. I was using echoes and witchery to tell stone from wood and wood from rope. It sounded big."

  "Big compared to us, but not to a ship."

  "And you need room to salvage the ship, or just to move freely through the passageway?" Master Lusa sounded dreamy, though Rasim didn't yet feel the heavy weight of stonewitchery at work.

  "We don't have the tools to salvage," Hassin replied. "We just need to get the ropes without tangling up so much we drown ourselves. Even if the cursed walls were just smooth —!"

  Lusa nodded. She had never sat down; now she lifted her hands as the little rowboat approached the half-drowned cave's mouth.

  Telun, moving unsteadily, joined her. "Can you hold the boat close enough for us to touch the rock?"

  Hassin and Desimi glanced at one another, then nodded. "Rasim, you'll be our scout. Dive and keep an eye on the walls. Surface when it's clear enough for us to pass through. It doesn't have to be perfect," he emphasized. "Just good enough."

  Rasim's jaw dropped before he collected it into a brilliant smile. "Aye, Hassin!" He stood, not caring that the water was cold or that he'd likely be drenched by the time his adventure was over. He hadn't expected to be of any use at all, and even a small task was an exciting balm.

  "Wait, Rasim. Daka, are you bold enough to go beneath the surface with him? He'll need light."

  If the girl was a sky witch, she might have flown straight into the sky at the offer. "I can burn bright enough that the Waifia will be able to see what we're doing!"

  Rasim's excitement fell away. "That much fire will use up all my air in no time. Maybe..." He cast a miserable glance at the other

  Seamaster journeyman in the boat. "Maybe Desimi should go instead of me."

  "No, I need Desimi's strength to hold this wretched tub at the island's side. Daka..."

  "I don't have to burn that bright." Her eyes glittered and she shook her hands. Gentle flame licked to life around them, dancing and hissing in the downfall of rain.

  Even the Stonemasters, reaching for the oncoming island, were distracted by her show of power. Telun, still wobbling and gaining his balance, breathed, "I thought you needed fuel for the flames. A spark to start it and something for it to burn besides naked air."

  "Most of us do." The corner of Daka's mouth curled up. "You didn't think Master Endat brought just anybody along on this mission, did you? Pynda and I are two of his most promising students, but even Pynda needs the spark. Come on, sea witch,"

  she said to Rasim. "Can you get us in the water without dousing my flame?"

  Stung, Rasim pushed raindrops further away, creating a wider barrier of air between himself and the downpour. Daka stepped closer to him. Rasim, uncertain, put his arm around her waist to draw her closer still, and felt his face go hot when her smile grew even brighter. She put her arms around his neck, careful to keep her blazing hands well away from his hair, and put her lips by his ear. "Into the water went Sunchild and Sea, bringing to life Ilyara's new queen."

  Rasim's vision turned red with embarrassment. It was a children's rhyme, a way of recounting Ilyara's history. The Sunchild and Seachild were lovers whose children became the queens of Ilyara, graced by Siliaria the sea goddess and Riorda the sun goddess. He made Daka laugh by stuttering, instead of sing-songing, the next lines. "Across the earth came Stonechild and Sky, fathers to all of the kings, by and by."

  "Siliaria save us all." Desimi, rolling his eyes, pushed them into the water.

  Daka shrieked, but they sank beneath the surface without getting drenched. Rasim shot a triumphant glance upward, but Desimi had already forgotten them. The rowboat moved closer to the cave mouth, and Rasim kicked deeper, avoiding the water-working magics that Hassin and Desimi held in place.

  The tunnel looked far more dangerous by Daka's light than it had seemed swimming out earlier that day. Rasim breathed dismay and Daka huddled closer to him, some of her bravado gone now that she was under water. "We won't drown?"

  "No. If we run low on air we'll surface in the cave, where it's sure to be calmer. Oh." Rasim gazed upward again as stonewitchery's weight began pressing against the walls. He pushed back against the current with his own magic, holding Daka and himself in place as Lusa and Telun did their work from above.

  The walls rippled heavily, like water somehow lived just beneath the black rock. With each ripple, they smoothed a little. "Like shaking a blanket out," Daka whispered, wide-eyed. "I've hardly ever seen stone witches at work."

  "Me either. Just repair work around the city, fixing crumbling corners and things." That, though done by stone witches, was rarely a job done with magic. Only the palace was grown up from the sand and stone itself. Otherwise Ilyaran homes, streets and even the enormous sea walls that defined the boundaries of Rasim's world, were brick and mortar, chiseled into shape and laid into place. "It's like it's alive. It's beautiful."

  "It is." Daka put her hand out, trying to touch the shifting stone, then squeaked in dismay as she broke the air barrier surrounding them. Her fire guttered and she yanked her hand back.

  Rasim inhaled sharply, sealing the damage up. "Don't do that!"

  "I didn't know it would break!"

  "I didn't either! Nobody ever pokes it! There's a whole ocean out there! If you let it, it'll drown you!"

  Daka swallowed, her thrill visibly fading. "The walls are creaking. Can you hear them?"

  "They sound like they don't like being changed. Come on." Rasim pushed them forward with his witchery, going deeper inside the cave. "We'll see how far the changes have gone, and go report."

  "Should we get some rope, so they don't have to make as many trips?"

  And so Rasim could personally fix some of the damage Master Endat thought he'd done. He peered at Daka, who was so close he could hardly see her. "Daka, was it—who set the ropes on fire?"

  Rapture flooded her face again. "I don't know. It came out of nowhere. I don't think it was Pynda, because she needs the spark.

  It could have been me or Master Endat, but it wasn't. You're sure it wasn't you? Kisia is sure it wasn't her. "

  "Kisia thinks a lot of strange things," Rasim mumbled. "I don't think it was me. Does that ever just...happen? Things catching on fire for no reason?"

  "There's usually a reason we can't easily see. Maybe a bright light shining through glass, or an ember buried in a haystack."

  "Well, neither of those happened on the Waifia. " Rasim brought them to the surface near the Sinaz and let out a slow breath as Daka's fire lit and warmed the cave. There were dry ledges nearby. He lifted Daka onto one, then climbed up after her, staring in dismay at the ruin of Nasira's old command.

  The ship was nearly broken in half, its ribs and deck showing the marks of battle against the sea serpent. A hole punched through the prow caught Rasim's attention. It looked nothing like the other war wounds the fleet ships had taken from the serpent, and he found footing to crawl up and investigate.

  A chunk of metal had fallen through to the ship's wrecked hull.

  Arrow-headed and clawed at its base so it would catch rather than fall backward into the sea, it was stamped with a pair of interlocked rings. Rasim felt his face drain of blood. "Daka, this ship was lost during the sea serpent attack. We thought the crew were all dead."

  "What? Is there somebody alive in here?" Daka scrambled after him, only stopping when Rasim held up the claw.

  "No. No one is alive here," he whispered. "But this is a slaver's mark, Daka. Someone has taken Seamasters as slaves."

  Chapter Thirteen

  "We can't go in s
earch of them." Hollows marked Captain Nasira's eyes, but her raw voice harbored no doubts.

  It had not been a restful night. The discovery of the slavers'

  mark had fired urgency in the whole crew, as if their old friends and shipmates had been lost for mere hours, not months. They had worked the night through, alternating between holding the Waifia in place and scavenging ropes until the rowboats could at last be bound against the hull and the anchor itself dropped.

  Even then they hadn't stopped, despite the storm, despite their exhaustion. There was little else on the Sinaz that could be salvaged, but what could be, was: figures of Siliaria that no sea witch sailed without, scraps of metal caught between broken boards, and a sea-tarnished silver necklace that everyone recognized as belonging to a broad-shouldered witch named Sirion.

  And then they had mourned, all hands on deck to sing the Sinaz into Siliaria's grace, and to speak of the friends who had sailed beneath Nasira's command that day.

  Now dawn broke red and dangerous on the horizon, but the worst of the storm had passed. Captain Nasira stood on the captain's deck, Sirion's necklace clenched in her left fist. Someone had polished it during the dark hours of the night; now it gleamed crimson in the rising sun's light. It looked like a call to arms, a banner to be held up against impossible odds.

  "We can't go in search of them," Nasira repeated. "I want to as much as you do. But they are months gone, and we have a mission from our king." Her eyes glittered but didn't linger on the Sunmasters, the Stonemasters, or Rasim. Others did look at them with accusation, but Nasira continued to speak, drawing their attention again. "I promise you this, though. When our duty is done in the North, I will scour the seas in search of our guildmates. I will pull down stone and sky and shine Riorda's own light into the dark cracks of the world. I will find those who have survived, and I will bring them home. "

  A cheer cracked the morning sky. Rasim added to it as he looked at the captain with new, astonished eyes. She'd been so antagonistic toward him that he'd never imagined she could speak with such passion and conviction, but she suddenly seemed to be everything a Seamaster and ship's captain should be. Pride filled him until his chest hurt, and he let go an-other cheer to help release the ache. Kisia squirmed up beside him and hugged his ribs hard, obviously as moved by Nasira's speech as he was.