Salt Storm
The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35
Aaron Galvin
Aames & Abernathy Publishing
Contents
I. The Salt Prophets
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
II. The Salt Alliance
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
III. The Mermaid Trials
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
IV. The Merrow Lords
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
V. The Salt Tempest
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
A Note From The Author
Appendix
- Humans -
- Merrows -
- Nomads -
- Orcinians -
- Sancul -
- Selkies -
About the Author
Book Discounts & Savings
Part I
The Salt Prophets
1
CHIDI
Chidi followed the lead of Marisa Bourgeois up the lonely beach, the wind whipping across the sand and Salt. Sheltered somewhat by Bryant’s presence at her side, Chidi donned her hood to quiet the whistling howl in her ears and to keep out the swirled bits of sand from her eyes.
Bryant nudged her with his elbow to gain Chidi’s attention. He too had donned his Selkie hood - the tanned hide of a California Sea Lion, a speedster that Bryant could become when morphing his Salted form.
Not for the first time since escaping the destruction of Orphan Knoll, Chidi thanked whatever higher power might exist for sending Bryant into the depths with her. I’d be dead if not for you, Silkstealer, she thought, studying the face of the man she had once feared and ran from.
His dark eyes studied her in return, his gaze nearly cloaked in full by the cowl of his Selkie hood. His whiskered cheeks were salted with white streaks among the otherwise dark, the offsetting colors like the pattern of an Orcinian.
“You sure about all this, partner?” Bryant asked, motioning with his head up the beach to where Marisa Bourgeois traipsed onward without looking back to ensure they continued after. “Following her, well, anywhere?”
His doubting tone rekindled the same in Chidi. She called upon the memory of another to extinguish the embers before they could flame. “She said it was the only way to save my family,” said Chidi.
“Yeah, well, a person can say all the things they want,” Bryant replied. “Don’t mean that makes any of it true.”
It does if it comes from her, Chidi thought to herself as they continued slogging across the sand. Though Bryant’s continued question of Marisa threatened to further swell the nagging itch in Chidi’s mind also, she again put such notions to rest with all the prophetic words and times Marisa had predicted such outcomes long in advance of their coming true. “I believe her,” said Chidi quietly, her voice barely audible above the wind. She startled when a rumble of thunder threatened across the horizon.
Bryant scoffed. “Well, hell, I believe her too. That’s half the problem.”
“Why?” Chidi asked. “Because you don’t believe people?”
Bryant shrugged. “Think I get a pretty good read on most,” he replied. “Can’t say as I can figure this little filly out though. Her choices don’t make sense to me. If she sees half of what she claims to see, then why would she put yourself through all of the trouble we keep finding her in?”
Maybe because Marisa sees what comes after, Chidi guessed, thinking back to the vision of Sancul destruction that Marisa had shared with her when they escaped Orphan Knoll and then swam to land upon the beach.
“Anyway,” Bryant continued on, heedless of Chidi’s inner debate. “Not believing Marisa is only half the problem. It’s the other bit that’s got me thinking more. That being what else has she seen and not told us?”
Chidi nodded at that, the same question having been on her mind also since finding Marisa in the dungeons of Orphan Knoll. She glanced away from Bryant then, watchful of their elusive, Silkie leader out in front.
Again, Marisa Bourgeois showed no signs of doubt that they continued following her lead, nor that she overheard their conversation at all. Had anyone else seen the three of them upon the beach, Chidi estimated they would not believe the trio traveled together with Marisa being some fifty yards out in front of them. Like Chidi and Bryant, the mystic Silkie had donned her hood also, that of a Cape Fur Seal, the make shaggy and well-worn, the colors a motley palette of shaded browns.
Chidi had the thought Marisa’s suit appeared almost thread-bare, and she wondered if the Cape Fur staved off the cold as well as her own did. If not, Marisa showed no signs of enduring the same frigid wind and the damp inflicted by salt-spray.
They continued on for near another half a mile before Marisa Bourgeois finally turned back to wait for them, and only then because they had reached the end of the sandy shore, replaced instead by a rocky seawall.
Squinting, Chidi could see the outline of a small fishing town in the distance. The docks were closer still, with several boats sheltered and anchored inside the port. Among them, Chidi glimpsed the only ship she recognized. The Lady Cat was emblazoned across the side, the boat belonging to a Selkie fisherman named Girard, the same coyote guide who had led Chidi and Bryant into Orphan Knoll to find and free her father. She could not say what had happened to Girard in the panic and destruction that came after they rescued Marisa from her cell, but Chidi had not seen Girard since.
As they approached, Chidi thought that Marisa had stopped because the sea wall was too high. Yet when they closed in on her position, Marisa paced away from the wall, then wheeled around to run back at it. With lightning-like speed and agility, Marisa seemed to run up the side of the wall, kicking off at the end, and reaching for the top. Achieving her hand hold, Marisa then promptly pulled herself atop the wall.
“Show-off,” Bryant groused as they walked up.
Chidi could not fend off her smile at his none-too-hidden displeasure that he could not perform the same act. Even upon their arrival, Chidi gazed up at the height of the wall and could not fathom how Marisa had accomplished the task.
Bryant called out to Marisa. “Hope you got a rope tucked away up there, sweetheart.”
Marisa smiled down on him. “I believe in bonds far stronger than rope alone, David Bryant,” she replied. “Help Chidi to rise, and I will aid her the rest of the way. Then, we shall both help you in turn.”
Bryant frowned. “Think I’d rather have the rope.” He tapped Chidi on the shoulder, then cupped his hands together to offer her a foot hold to step into. When Chidi did, Bryant waited for her to steady herself by palming the top of his head for balance.
Her abdominal muscles tightened at the tickle in her belly when Bryant lifted her upward. Chidi used her other hand to brace against the slick and stony wall. For a moment, vertigo overtook her and she feared that she might fall. In the same moment that gravity beckoned to
her, the firm grasp of Marisa Bourgeois clamped down upon her forearm with an unrelenting grip.
As Marisa pulled Chidi to rise, so too did she feel Bryant pushing her from below. He gave her a final heave at the end, near tossing her up and into Marisa’s lap.
Chidi clawed for the elusive runner’s other free hand as her knees and the side of her body smacked against the wall. Before she could steady her feet against the side, Marisa had pulled her up the rest of the way with an uncommon strength for someone of her size.
Panting, Chidi gave Marisa a nod in thanks before both were turning back to help Bryant up the wall also.
Unlike when helping Chidi, Marisa lay on her belly with her arms draped over the side to welcome Bryant up to join them. “Come, my friend,” she taunted him. “Give the wall a fair run, as I did, and we’ll pull you up the rest of the way.”
Chidi snorted at the mumbled, cursed reply as Bryant prepared himself to mimic Marisa’s earlier example. While he did not succeed half so well as she did, Bryant impressed Chidi for his effort. Though he did not reach the top of the wall as Marisa had, Bryant did not miss grabbing hold of their waiting and outstretched arms.
Despite readying herself for his arrival, Chidi yelped when she and Bryant latched hold of each another. The sudden, added weight tore at her shoulder sockets. Chidi’s body slid forward as Bryant swung against the side of the wall, and she kicking at the ground in a failed attempt to anchor herself. The weight of her heavier counterpart lessened when Marisa grunted beside her, then swung her body around sideways. In simultaneous motion, Marisa planted her left foot, then rolled away from the edge, heaving Bryant up alongside them upon the sea wall.
While Bryant and Chidi caught their breath, Marisa stood and brushed herself off to the tune of another rumble of thunder in the distance. She then reached down to help Chidi stand also.
“Thank you,” Chidi muttered.
Marisa nodded in reply before offering to help Bryant also.
He waved off her attempt. “I got it,” Bryant huffed, grunting as he stood. “I’m good.”
“Very well then,” said Marisa, off and leaving them again.
Bryant moved to a seated position, watching her go. “How’d she do that, partner?”
“Do what?” Chidi asked.
“Run up the wall like that,” said Bryant, leering at Marisa as she neared the docks. “Pull me up too?” He shook his head. “Not right for someone of her size to be able to do things like that.”
There are a lot of things Marisa does that shouldn’t be possible, Chidi thought, but did not say. Sighing, she extended the same offer to help Bryant as Marisa had. She received the same result too.
“Not right,” Bryant huffed, standing of his own accord. “Can’t put my finger on it just yet, but there’s just something not right about her, partner.”
“Then why are you still following her?” Chidi asked as they headed out once more.
“Well, reason number one is I figured it’d be wrong to just leave our young friend behind without knowing what happened to us in the Knoll.”
Allambee, Chidi thought his name, then. Her brow wrinkled with the thought of him waiting and watching for them to return with her father and Girard too. He’s going to want to know what happened in the Knoll. She looked ahead toward the boat awaiting them. But what answer do I give him? Do I tell the truth? That my father wasn’t there and the Knoll is no more? That the Sancul came to claim that wretched place and drowned all the people down there too? She wondered, imagining Allambee’s innocent gaze staring back into hers. Or do I lie to protect him from the truth?
Chidi could not make up her mind as to which she would do.
Bryant seemed not to care either way, nor notice Chidi’s silence on the matter as he gave continued voice to his own thoughts. “And reason number two, partner, I told you before I don’t quit on nothing. Not even when I know better.”
“Is this one of those times?” Chidi asked.
“I’m getting that feeling, sure,” said Bryant. “Thinking maybe the best thing for us and Allambee too would be to hitch a ride back inland, take Mr. Zymon’s plane and fly it on outta here. Head on for home. Tell him what we found out about your daddy in the Knoll and regroup from there before we go out looking again.”
Chidi wished she could agree. “Marisa said—”
“I know what she said,” Bryant interrupted. “And I reckon that mumbo jumbo of hers about helping you find your folks is near the same as her telling me that she’ll lead me to Henry, so I can finally put an end to him for you and me both.”
Chidi shuddered at Bryant’s naming her former owner. The realization that to go with Bryant and Marisa would mean eventually facing Henry again too. She looked off in the direction of the woods further inland, off to the place where they had left Zymon Gorksi’s plane on the private airstrip. I can’t go there, she told herself, calling upon the faces of both her mother and father for the reason to ignore the woods and thoughts of safety. I can’t go back to Zymon now.
She turned instead to look on Bryant again and the backdrop of Salt behind him. The waves whipped with chop, crashing over and again upon the shore, each new rolling front as powerful as the next. I’m not running anymore, she buoyed herself with the mantra, looking beyond the waves to the place where the abandoned oil platform had once existed before the Sancul ripped all asunder. And I’ve already faced monsters as frightening as Henry.
The mere thought of her former owner threatened to topple the argument she had built in her mind. Henry Boucher’s voice remained with her always. I will find you, Chidi . . .
No, Henry. Chidi’s jaw clenched in fending off all memories of him. This time, I’ll find you.
She strengthened the notion and her position when looking to Bryant again, knowing he shared the same resolve to never again look over his shoulder with the thought of phantom footsteps hunting him from behind. Bryant and I will both find you, Henry. Chidi told herself, her shoulders squaring at the idea. Then, I won’t have to hear your voice ever again.
Bryant’s head cocked to the side. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” Chidi asked.
“You,” he said. “You’re thinking on something. Can tell just by the way you’re walking.”
“Oh.” Chidi’s cheeks warmed at his mention. “No . . . I was just . . . well, I was thinking on what you were saying.”
“And?”
“And what?” Chidi asked.
“What did you figure?” Bryant replied.
Chidi shrugged. “I-I don’t know. Just thinking is all.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what I think, partner. I think Miss Bourgeois up there has a gift, all right. And that’s for figuring out what matters most to a person and selling them on the idea of it.”
Chidi looked up at him with questions in her eyes.
Bryant continued. “I seen the same sorts of acts from two-bit hustlers and swindlers before. You can find them lurking around on street corners in any of them major cities we left behind. The kind of person that gets you to pause for a second, for any number of reasons. Curiosity. Pity. Don’t really matter, so long as they get you to stop. When you do, they pick up on something to tell you about yourself that a stranger oughta have no way of knowing, but they see it in you all the same. A lot of folks look at those street performing types like beggars or worse.” He snorted. “Thing is, I’ve found most of them are smarter than the ones walking on by and the ones what stop to drop a bit of pity coin in whatever cup, hat, or otherwise that the performer laid out.”
Chidi judged the tone of his voice. “You don’t approve . . .”
“Didn’t say that,” Bryant replied. “God knows there’s all kinds of ways to earn money in this hard ol’ world. I reckon being smart enough to pick out the suckers in a crowd and getting them to pay you for something they already know about themselves, or else wanna believe anyway, well, that’s just about the same as any other kinda job I ever come across. Lea
st the performers tell their customers some kind a story and make them stop to think for a second. And they are working, make no mistake. Not just begging.”
“I’ve begged before,” said Chidi quietly, quickening her gait as if she could outrun the memories of such times with Henry.
Bryant scoffed. “Well, so have I, Chidi. Maybe not out on the streets, but we’ve all begged for something in this life, whether we wanna admit to it or not. The trouble I have is that Miss Bourgeois up there reminds me of some of those other swindling types. The ones who have such a gift for reading people that they take it to a whole other level. Make it personal. They pick up on all them hopes and dreams, then use all that against their marks to get what they want instead.”
Chidi’s skin tingled at his words. “What do you think Marisa wants? How does she benefit from us going with her?”
“I don’t know,” said Bryant. “And that’s the part bugging me most. ‘Cause everyone wants something, Chidi, and nothing in this world comes for free. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise, you need to start asking what they’re really selling.” He looked away from her, back up toward Marisa again. “She’s got something in mind for us though, sure enough. Might just be she makes good on all that she promised us too. Mark my words though, partner, I got an awful itch that I can’t scratch right now. And it’s telling me that finding Miss Marisa Bourgeois waiting on us to show up down in the Knoll is like getting that late bill in the mail you’re afraid to open . . . and all ‘cause you know that you can’t afford to pay up what’s owed.”
Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Page 1