Saturdays at Sea

by Jessica Day George

  Rufus started to climb up the rigging, trying to see what the excitement was about. Celie pulled him back down and hopped onto his back, letting him carry her up around the crow’s nest to watch. The boy doing the signaling called out the other ship’s message to her, and she took it down to Orlath while the boy kept on passing news to the other ship.

  “It’s true,” Celie said, landing next to Orlath at the wheel. “They’ve just come from Larien. They’re warning us that we need to change course to avoid the Well.”

  “I wonder what they were doing in Larien,” Lulath said in Grathian. “We don’t do a great deal of trade with them.”

  “And more important: Did they see any unicorns?” Lilah put in. She was perched atop a barrel, sewing some of the blue fabric they’d bought in NeiMai.

  “I don’t know that there’s a signal for unicorn,” Orlath told her. He sighed and tugged at the wheel. “And I don’t think we’ll get close enough to talk more comfortably.”

  “What will we do?” Celie asked anxiously.

  “Celie,” Rolf said, “you do realize you’re sitting on an animal that can fly, right?”

  “Oh,” Celie said. “Right.”

  “I am feeling the veriest fool,” Lulath said. “Lorcan! Lorcan!” he shouted from the rail.

  Lorcan was in the bow with Juliet, where they were allowing Jocko to run his tiny fingers through their feathers. The griffin looked up when his master called, though, and soon came flapping over to the rear deck. Juliet followed, and Celie came to the realization that Lorcan and Juliet, like their riders, were also in love.

  So they decided on a delegation of Lulath, Lilah, Celie, and Queen Celina, who would ride double with Celie. Pogue would stay with Rolf and Orlath on the ship, which made Rolf grumble that he never got to go anywhere or do anything.

  “My darling,” Queen Celina said. “Do you realize how frantic with worry your father must be? Do you realize what a risk this is for Sleyne, to have all three heirs on one ship?”

  “It is being true that there are being the pirates who fly the flag of my Grath,” Lulath admitted. He was strapping on a sword.

  “Then I should go, with a sword, and not Celie,” Rolf protested.

  “I’m sure they wouldn’t attack women,” Queen Celina said.

  “You’d have to ride someone else’s griffin,” Pogue reminded him. “And, to be honest, Rolf, Celie speaks Grathian better than you.”

  Rolf huffed, but he had to admit that was true. He tried one last time, though.

  “But I speak Grathian better than Lilah,” he pointed out. “Lilah should stay, and I’ll ride Juliet.”

  “Juliet hates that,” Lilah said.

  “Then I’ll ride Arrow,” Rolf retorted.

  “I don’t think Arrow would like that,” Pogue said.

  Rolf scowled, but he slumped down on the barrel that Lilah had vacated. They got on their griffins and took off for the other ship. Above them in the crow’s nest, the boy was signaling that they were sending over a party.

  This must have been highly confusing to the other ship, Celie thought as they swiftly crossed the ocean between them. They were probably expecting The Golden Griffin to turn and move toward them, and then a few people would row over in one of the smaller boats that hung alongside. But instead a trio of winged beasts was headed straight for their ship, and the Griffin wasn’t changing course at all.

  “Oh, my,” Queen Celina said in Celie’s ear as they flew over the water. She was holding tight around Celie’s waist.

  “Are you all right?” Celie asked her.

  “Never better,” her mother said. “Look at the fish!”

  Looking down over Rufus’s shoulder, Celie could see the silver fish just beneath the surface of the dark-blue water. They were darting about as though they were one body. She had to smile, too. And then they were there, with the pale-yellow sails of the other ship looming above them.

  The deck of the Grathian ship, which was called the Kraken, was in turmoil when they arrived. The sailors were divided into two groups: those standing at the rail and gaping at the approaching griffins, and those running about the deck in a panic. The man whom Celie judged to be the captain was standing on the upper deck with his hands on his hips.

  Celie decided he was the captain because of the amount of gold braid on his tunic. He was simply dripping with it. Also, lace. And his hair had been teased up into a silvery-gray cloud atop his head, which was very striking in contrast to his dark skin.

  Lulath led them over to hover just over the rail beside the upper deck so that he could address the man. Celie was right. He was the captain.

  “Most noble captain of the mighty ship Kraken,” Lulath called in Grathian. “We come to you from the noble ship The Golden Griffin, newly launched, and beg you to let us alight on your deck to speak with you.”

  “What are these creatures?” the captain thundered. “Are they the griffins of fable and legend?”

  “Indeed, noble captain!”

  “But we were told that only the royal families of Grath and Sleyne to the north had such beasts!” His eyes widened as realization dawned. “Please land, Your Noble Highnesses,” he cried, bowing low.

  They landed on the deck in a row in front of him. He bowed very low again. They all nodded politely, and Lulath introduced them, using very formal language that Celie could barely follow, and listing all their titles, much as he had with his parents when they’d arrived at the Sanctuary.

  The captain bowed again and introduced himself as Captain Horvath-Atta, of the good ship Kraken, which was in fact returning from Larien. He frowned and then bowed again after saying this.

  “I am sure that you, noble prince, and the good captain of your ship, are great sailors and know these waters well,” he said uneasily. “But I must say that I, too, have sailed these seas for many years. And I must warn you, in good conscience, that you are steering straight for that dangerous whirlpool known as the Well.” He said the name in a hushed tone, looking around as though making certain his men didn’t hear him.

  “Yes, we know,” Lulath said airily. “We will turn when the time is right for us.”

  The crew were gathered at the edge of the upper deck, gaping. And now their master was standing there on the upper deck, mouth also hanging open.

  “Do you not understand?” the captain whispered. “There is nothing more dangerous on this earth than the Well! You cannot even know if you are close to it, until you fall in!”

  “We will not fall in,” Lulath said. He spread his hands. “Truly, all will be well.”

  Celie hoped she looked as confident as Lulath. She hoped they all did, but didn’t dare to check.

  “I suppose, noble prince, that you know what is best for your ship,” Captain Horvath-Atta said. But he didn’t sound at all convinced.

  “But we have a question for you,” Lulath said, “which is why we flew across.”

  “Of course, my prince,” the captain said. “Will you dismount and join me in a light refreshment?”

  “We truly should not, though it is so generous of you to offer,” Lulath said.

  Celie looked over her shoulder. Their Ship had not stopped, and was rapidly moving away from the Kraken. When she turned back she saw that Captain Horvath-Atta was also looking at The Golden Griffin, and seemed almost as stunned by it as he was by the griffins.

  “What question do you have?” he asked, appearing truly nervous for the first time. “We have had some small success in Larien, but I do not know that we have anything that would be of any use to you.”

  “Oh, we shouldn’t think to ask you to give us anything,” Lulath said, appearing genuinely distressed.

  “That was just right,” Lilah said, urging Juliet a little to the front. “We really only very need to know one thing: Are there being unicorns in Land of Waterfalls?”

  Captain Horvath-Atta blinked several times. Celie wasn’t sure if it was Lilah’s rather rocky Grathian or surprise at the question i
tself.

  “Unicorns?”

  “Yes,” Celie said. “Creatures like horses, but with a horn.” She put one finger to her forehead and mimed a horn jutting out.

  The captain smiled at that. “I do know what unicorns are,” he assured her. “But I simply didn’t think to be asked such a question.” He pursed his lips and thought. “I, of course, know of the unicorns, because it was a many-times great-grandfather of mine who was lost with the second ship.”

  “Second ship?” Lilah asked. “What is this meaning?”

  “Are you sure you will not have refreshments?”

  A tall man in a spotless white apron had come to the upper deck. He was carrying a tray covered with tiny seed cakes, and behind him was a boy in a white apron with a pewter pitcher and a stack of cups.

  “Oh, how nice,” Queen Celina said.

  She climbed off Rufus’s back. As if it had been a prearranged signal, more of the crew swarmed the upper deck, bringing small stools, and they all dismounted and sat down. The ship’s cook served them tiny cakes and cups of fruit juice, which were both delicious.

  Except that Celie couldn’t concentrate on them. She was too busy keeping one eye on the Ship, and the other on Horvath-Atta, who nibbled a cake and then took a large drink before settling in to tell the story.

  “You know, I suppose, that the ships left Grath many centuries ago, to take the unicorns from our lands to a place of safety?”

  “Ships?” Lilah asked. “We have been hearing of the only one ship.”

  The captain was already shaking his head. He held up two long, brown fingers, decorated with gold rings. “Two, fair princess. Unicorns are large; they could not take them all on one vessel, though many of the beasts had been lost along the way. They were not tame, but wild animals, hunted and chased—getting them onto the ships was not easy, from what I have been told.

  “Two ships set out for Larien, but only one reached it.” Captain Horvath-Atta looked past them at The Golden Griffin and grimaced. “The other ship, the one captained by my ancestor, veered too close to the Well and was drawn in.”

  They all froze, and then Lilah tossed her hair back. “So it has truth? That there have been unicorns at Larien?” she asked.

  “One ship reached Larien. But the unicorns did not thrive there,” Captain Horvath-Atta told them. “I saw one on my first journey there. I was only a boy. It was beautiful, but so fragile. They have all died now.”

  “All?” Lilah asked in a small voice.

  “I am afraid so, Your Highness,” the captain said.

  “So ridiculous that they didn’t bring them back to Sleyne, once the griffins were gone,” Queen Celina said.

  “The griffins, Your Majesty?” He gave the creatures a puzzled look.

  “The griffins in Sleyne all died out as well,” Queen Celina said. “Not long after the ships sailed. I don’t understand why someone didn’t bring the unicorns back then.”

  “There were griffins in Sleyne then?” Captain Horvath-Atta looked completely mystified. “Are you certain, Your Majesty? I have never heard such a thing!”

  “Then why did they load them onto ships and take them to Larien?” Celie asked. “If they weren’t being hunted by the griffins?”

  “Hunted? No,” he said, shaking his head. “The one I saw was too delicate to do any harm, but in the old days they were powerful hunters, and very dangerous. They were herded to the docks and sent away because people feared them so much.”

  Now it was their turn to blink at him, confused.

  “Oh,” Celie said.

  “Yes,” the captain said, nodding. “The Magistrate of Larien said he would take them, because many of the isles have no people on them, and there the monsters could do no harm.” He shook his head sadly. “They had killed so many of your people, you see.”

  “Oh,” Celie said again.

  “Thank you so for these many cakes,” Lilah said, rising. “We are to be going.”

  Chapter

  19

  It took two weeks to reach the Well.

  Celie didn’t know why everyone had panicked and told them to steer east or west when the Ship first aimed its course toward the Well. Two weeks was more than enough time to go either way. But they’d passed three more ships whose crews had thought themselves very daring indeed for going so close to the whirlpool, and all of whom had warned The Golden Griffin crew to alter their course. They had brushed these warnings aside, while secretly their terror had mounted. There seemed to be no room for doubt: the Ship was headed for the Well.

  “Which we’ve taken two weeks to catch sight of,” Celie grumbled to Rolf. “Two weeks moving at our fastest speed. It would have taken any other ship three weeks at least, but everyone warned us away. Why is everyone so afraid of this Well?”

  Rolf shrugged. There was still nothing to see. They only knew they were near the Well because of the direction of the tides and the position of the stars overhead. As far as any of the Glowers could tell, they were surrounded by nothing more sinister than water, though the crew all looked at that water with great suspicion.

  “I’m sure it will all be nothing,” Rolf said. “Maybe it’s just a myth that the Well even exists. We’ll probably just sail right through completely calm waters and come out on the other side.”

  They were both slumped on barrels, leaning on the bow rail. Rufus and Dagger were diving into the water alongside the bow, trying to snatch up fish. When they did find them, they would throw them onto the deck, and Rolf would smack the fish on the head and throw them into a basket. Lorcan, Arrow, and Juliet had a net they liked to drag through the water to catch larger fish, but Rufus and Dagger preferred to do it with their bare talons.

  “I just think someone told a wild story about there being an enormous whirlpool here,” Celie said idly. One of her arms was dangling over the rail so she could snap her fingers at Rufus if he dove too close to the prow of the ship. They were going so fast that the sailors had warned Celie about how easy it would be for the griffins to get caught in the wake and dragged under. “You know, the way sailors do, and then everyone took them seriously and started marking it on maps, and—”

  Celie sat bolt upright.

  “Rufus! Get out of the water!” she screamed.

  Rolf lurched to his feet. He looked over the side and let out a yell that turned into his own griffin’s name. “Dagger! Dagger!”

  “What is it?” Pogue was at the bow immediately.

  Celie’s eyes were still on Rufus, who was circling nearby in confusion. Celie pointed to the water, silently urging Pogue to look, as she gave Rufus a sharp command to come. She didn’t take her eyes off her griffin until he’d landed beside her, and then she turned to see if Pogue had seen it, too.

  It was clear from his white face that Pogue had seen the sudden change in the water, and it had terrified him as well. When Dagger teased Rolf by flying past him, just above the rail, and then back out over the sea, Pogue gave his own sharp whistle and command. When Dagger flew close again, Rolf snatched a handful of his tail, and Pogue managed to grab the young griffin’s harness and bring him down to the deck.

  “What’s going on up here?” Lilah said, coming forward to see what they were all shouting about. “Did you see one of those fish with a sword nose?”

  They didn’t even have to answer her. As soon as the word “nose” left her mouth she fell silent. Her hands clutched at the rail.

  “The water is black,” Lilah whispered.

  “Yes,” Celie said, her stomach churning. “And green.”

  But not a normal, healthy green. No, the water was slick and black and strange-looking, and the crests of the waves, where the foam was usually white, were a poisonous shade of green. It reminded Celie of the deadly lake in Hatheland, and she could see that Rolf and Lilah were having the same reaction.

  The crew, too, though none of them had ever been to Hatheland, were panicking. They ran about the deck without their usual purpose, and several of them cli
mbed the rigging with frantic movements—trying to get farther from the water, Celie suspected.

  Queen Celina came rushing toward them now. She was blinking owlishly at the water, and her hair was pinned up with a couple of pencils. She had been in her cabin, studying Orlath’s maps, and she had to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun.

  “It’s black,” the queen said. “When did this happen?”

  “We are in the pull of the Well,” Orlath told them when he arrived at the bow with Lulath at his heels. “The boy in the crow’s nest spotted the change in color earlier.” He was pale, and his voice was low with studied calm.

  “And we still cannot turn?” Queen Celina asked.

  “We’ve been trying all morning,” Pogue said grimly. “Harder than before. And we’ve added magic, and prayers, to our physical strength.”

  “Magic?” Queen Celina’s voice was sharp. “What magic? I certainly haven’t done anything!”

  “Just the usual spells and charms that sailors carry,” Orlath assured her. “And Lilah and Lulath and Pogue have spent the morning entreating the Ship.” He rubbed a hand over his face, and Celie wondered when he’d last slept. “But the Ship will not turn. And now it cannot turn.”

  “Not just this morning,” Lilah said shrilly. “We’ve spent days begging the Ship to change course!”

  “Lilah,” her mother said, stroking back her daughter’s dark curls from her flushed face, “we’ve been over this time and again: the Ship must know what it’s doing.”

  “I don’t think it does,” Lilah said, pulling away from her mother. “I think it’s trying to kill us all!”

  “No, my Lilah!” Lulath protested. “Surely that is not being its purpose!”

  “But what if it is?”

  “We’re moving,” Rolf shouted.

  “Yes, Rolf, we know,” Lilah snapped.

  “I mean we’re moving sideways,” Rolf snapped back.

  Rolf was right: the Ship was moving sideways, slowly. They were caught in the Well, and now there truly was no turning back. Even if the Ship had wanted to, Celie didn’t think it could change course now.