Over the Night Horizon

by Kacey Ezell

  “Bigger?” Lucia whispered, confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “I took the name of Memory’s son for a reason. Because I remember! I remember history. I remember the Library, the scrolls, the flames. I remember the glories of Eastern courts under the light of the stars. Men forget, but with all the time in the world, I remember. And now, with the Night Ships, we’ve come into the light. Not of full noon, perhaps, but maybe a…crepuscular dawn, perhaps,” he said, his mouth turning up in a winsome smile. “But we’re known now. We have a place in the world. No more hiding, changing my name every thirty years. I can collect my memories, give them a home, and keep them safe. If you could…if you would stay with me, we could build it together.”

  Lucia’s head spun. “Build it…?” she echoed, her voice barely more than a breath.

  The Buyer nodded and reached out to take her hand gently in his own. “Build a world in which we will create a system, a culture, wherein Immortals and mortals may live in cooperation. Where Sources are honored and protected as the priceless gifts they are. Where NightShips trade freely, bringing goods and services all around the world. I’ve begun already…but with you by my side, imagine the paradise we could build. And imagine the memories we could save, the stories we could record, the artifacts we could preserve!”

  His voice built, words tumbling one over the other as he spoke, his eyes lighting up with an almost manic enthusiasm. It made him look both younger and older, like a teenager who had seen far too much of the world already. It made a tiny shiver of fear trickle down Lucia’s spine. She gently pulled her hand back.

  “Elder One,” she said softly. “I…you honor me, but I cannot stay here. My family will expect me back soon. My city is in turmoil right now, and it’s known that I left with Captain de Graaf. If I don’t also return with him, I fear what consequences might result for my family.”

  The Buyer looked at her for a long moment, and once again Lucia saw something that might have been dark and violent flicker in his eyes. But then he took a deep breath and smiled slowly. “I see,” he said softly. “And of course, there’s the matter of your heart.”

  “My heart?” she asked, trying not to squeak.

  He nodded. “It belongs to de Graaf, I see that. I’d hoped to tempt you away before you had given it fully, but I see that I’m too late. He’s in your skin, in your blood.”

  “Elder One…” Lucia protested, but he held up a hand and shook his head. Though his eyes were sad, his smile remained steady.

  “No,” he said. “Don’t fear for me. I should have known when you walked in together. I think I did know, but I didn’t want to admit it might be true. You were so breathtakingly fascinating from the moment I felt you arrive. But no matter, my dear. It’s my own fault. But know this, if de Graaf ever hurts you or treats you with less than you deserve, if you wish to set down and no longer sail…I’ll be here. You’ll always be welcome.”

  With that, he reached out quick as thought and captured her fingers again. He lifted them and brushed a kiss across her knuckles, then released her hand, turned, and disappeared into the darkness of the library.

  Lucia let out an explosive breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. Then, repressing another shiver, she got to her feet and headed back to her room.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 20

  They left the next dusk, after a slightly strained (but mostly cordial) farewell with the Buyer. He was coolly polite to de Graaf, but effusive in inviting Lucia back to visit and prowl through his library. Mindful of the undercurrents, Lucia thanked him with as much grace as she could muster and left the question of her return vague.

  After a brief stop in Paris for supplies, during which time Lucia and Marit explored the fabled city, the Leeuwin sailed back toward Lucia’s home city. She found her anxiety level climbing as the miles flowed beneath them. Would she be trapped on the docks again? Not for the first time, she wished she could talk to Amelia and find out how things stood within the city.

  And then there was the small matter of her conversations with Marit, and the prospect of sailing with de Graaf. He hadn’t come right out and said it, but he’d made it abundantly clear that he’d welcome her presence as long as she cared to remain. Lucia found herself alternately thrilled and terrified by the prospect. Terrified of hurting her family, who wanted only her happiness and a good marriage for her. Thrilled because…what an adventure! Oh, if only Amelia were there to receive her confidences! Or if only Lucia could get a message to her…

  Well, why couldn’t she?

  * * *

  The days on the ship passed in strange isolation for Lucia as de Graaf and the Immortal crew slept the daylight hours away. Marit and Florian made for genial company, and the day navigators didn’t mind Lucia as she sat on the navigation deck in one of the chairs, watching the horizon and the view from the top of the ship.

  “You could rest, and then partake of Johannes’ company a little longer. He was asking after you the other night after you’d retired to your room. I think he misses you,” Marit suggested, a wry smile on her face.

  “I haven’t been avoiding him,” Lucia replied, a little defensive.

  “Didn’t say you were. Just, it’s clearly no secret now that you two are, in some manner, courting. Seems to me you may want to make use of the time you two have aboard the ship before we make landfall and your mortal society puts the damper on such alliances.” Marit reached for another tart on the plate before them, one of many delights stocked aboard the Leeuwin by the Buyer’s own staff.

  “We aren’t lovers,” Lucia replied. “Not off this ship.”

  “But you are. Go.”

  “We all assumed you and he would be at some point, so carry on. You’ve avoided him since we left the Buyer. Take that pot of coffee and some food and go up there. He’ll happily talk all night if you let him. And if you get tired of talking, well—” Marit gestured to de Graaf’s door.

  Lucia gathered up the coffee and a few pastries and summoned her nerves. She rapped on de Graaf’s suite door a few times and waited.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Lucia. I—I’d like your company.” Lucia went for straightforward after a moment’s hesitation.

  “Come in.” The door swung open, and Johannes stood there in plain work shirt and trousers, and bare feet. He’d just woken as the sun dropped in the sky.

  Lucia set the tray down before she sat on the settee. De Graaf had opened the windows and let the cool evening air in. He breathed in deeply as the salt breeze wafted through the room.

  “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me. I let you be. I suspect you needed to do some contemplation, after all that’s gone on. Let me guess; on arrival, you’re joining the Eventides. You met the Merovingian, and you’ve decided the life of an adventurer is not for you?”

  “Oh. No. Not at all. Not even close. The life of the Order is absolutely not for me. The Buyer whispered his own promises, but I’m not sure that’s the life I want right now, either.”

  “I have to go speak with the evening navigator, but I’ll be right back. I just woke, and I wasn’t quite expecting company. One moment, my dear.” De Graaf held up a hand and scurried from the room before Lucia could object.

  She resisted the urge to tidy the room. It was neither her place nor task to do so. The silken curtains at the window flapped in the breeze and drew Lucia toward the window, where the dregs of the setting day’s sun were mere blood red and gold splashes across a darkened sea. There was no sign of land or city. Just the ship alone with the ink-black seas, and the moonless night speckled all over with stars.

  Lucia’s mind wandered from the vista before her to thoughts of de Graaf. All the little comments, the tenderness, all the hints from Marit and the Buyer. Lucia leaned on the sill and contemplated everything she’d seen and heard.

  A soft tapping brought her wandering mind back. “I don’t mean to disrupt your meditations,” de Graaf said. “It’s a remarkable view. Th
e window, that is. We’re due to arrive in Marinport by tomorrow night. This is where we were beset by pirates, though Gabriel and Marit are standing watch and report smooth sailing and quiet skies.”

  Lucia walked back to the settee. “Ever consider going to land?”

  “No. I mean, maybe a small flat in London or Paris someday. I spend some time at the Buyer’s Chateau and on ports of call, so I feel no urge to establish a permanent base. I could be motivated. Is the Leeuwin too small for your liking?” Johannes sat down next to Lucia and leaned back.

  “Oh. No, not at all. I love sailing. I don’t know if I could confine myself to land now.”

  “This is the second Leeuwin ship I’ve commanded. In time, I may upgrade her to a larger vessel and crew. You’d be welcome here.”

  Lucia relaxed into the cushions of the chair with her cup of tea in hand. She smiled contentedly.

  “I’ve been giving it considerable thought. I’m not sure my family will allow me to run off. Though, in light of how I already left town, scandal is already in play. I’ve spent hours on the deck while you slept, because I don’t want to forget any of this, and I keep thinking if I just bask in it, that’ll be enough.” Lucia mused.

  Johannes rose from the chair and pulled a weather-beaten journal down from the bookshelf. He handed it to Lucia.

  “My sailing log for the last few years. I have them going back to the time I was mortal, in safekeeping at the Chateau. Take your time. Read it at your leisure.”

  Lucia looked over the book in her hands—glossy worn leather, yellowed onionskin pages, and a slight creaking of the spine as she opened it up. “This is a historian’s treasure,” she breathed.

  “Indeed. Why would your parents grant you leave to study such things if they only intended you to confine yourself to a life that has no need of such education? They were amenable to this relationship, it seems. They did, after all, send you off on the voyage.” Johannes leaned forward on his arms.

  “Perhaps. I confided in my mother about the events after the fire. I trust her counsel. How many Consorts have traveled with you? What happened to them?” Lucia closed the journal and set it on the table.

  Johannes sucked in a deep breath. “I was expecting this question. Three before you. My first Consort, what you mortals would consider a wife or husband, was Lotje, shortly after I took to ship life as an Immortal second navigator on an ocean ship. She sailed with me for two decades, and we had three children. She opted for land life, and my children from that union are long gone now. Then there was Claire fifty years on, from France, and we had two children aboard. Claire didn’t want immortality. She left after ten years and sailed to the New World. Then another three decades passed. There was Nasia, and we had one child, but a fever took them both after five years aboard my first airship. We had no means to save them. Another fifty years led me here, and the closest I’ve come lately is Matthias. We sail freely and openly now, and I find I’ve missed companionship more than I anticipated. But Matthias dislikes sailing, and we are only Source and Immortal. I do need them in port, but a Consort is not quite like a Source.”

  Lucia watched Johannes’ face as he recalled his former Consorts. Sadness and joy flitted over his face as he recited their names.

  “You’re tired of sailing alone.” Lucia smiled as she spoke. “What of the other crew?”

  “Their companions sail now and then with us and wait patiently in ports for their return.”

  Lucia drew in a breath and stifled a yawn. “It’s not you. It’s the late nights. I spent all day with Marit and Florian cleaning the brass, double checking stores, folding linens. They worked me like I was crew. I asked them to; I needed some diversion.”

  “Oh! I can tell them to give you a break. Let’s go up to the quarter-deck, the view from there is every bit as glorious, and there’s a bit of privacy.” Johannes rose to his feet and held out a hand to Lucia. “Milady. We should discuss our future further under the stars. Maybe it’s time to decide what you truly want.” He swept up a woolen blanket where it lay draped haphazardly over a chair and led the way through the quiet ship.

  “De Graaf, why such a small crew on such a large ship? I mean, clearly there’s room,” Lucia asked as they walked down the corridor.

  “Johannes, you and I, I am Johannes and you’re Lucia. First names will do, my lady.”

  “Habit.”

  “I meant to pick up new crew, but the fever struck. I’ve been sailing short-handed for some time. If I hadn’t taken a loss with the repairs, I might have hired some extra mortals and Immortals for the longer sailings. I expect I shall find available crew waiting on our return. People will be eager to flee a city where the port has closed in favor of a mild winter, a bunk, and a wage,” Johannes replied.

  Lucia stepped onto the aft deck and gripped one of the rails. “I think I might like to be one of the new hires, however I’m still wary of being out here at night. I fear I’d fall overboard, and no one would find me in the darkness.” She peered down at the water.

  “You get used to it. Marit won’t venture out on the decks without a safety rope. She knows how to swim; she can teach you.” Johannes gestured to the neatly coiled thin rope on the deck.

  “Well, if running off with you wasn’t scandalous enough, that would do it.” Lucia leaned against Johannes as they sat, the ship humming in flight. Minutes passed in silence.

  “You’re lost in thought. Is something amiss?”

  “I’m going to be called terrible things when I return, but I don’t want to be just a plaything for you on travels. If I join, I want assurances. My parents and Amelia will want your word and honor,” Lucia replied.

  “I can do that. I have no need for more amusements. I saw the look on your face when you saw the Buyer’s library of wonders, and the way you gaze out at the world from the window. You want not for trinkets and ruffles. You want the world. There are cultures out there you can only dream of, antiquities to bring to the Buyer, and he’ll always be pleased to see you again. I don’t want a plaything. I want more, like you,” Johannes answered with the forthright candor that Lucia had come to expect.

  * * *

  Lucia woke in Johannes’ suite close to daybreak amidst pillows and silk covers as he climbed into the bed next to her. She vaguely remembered nodding off on the aft deck as they laid on the blanket and talked of inconsequential things. At some point de Graaf had lifted her into his arms and carried her against his chest to his cabin, where she’d slept until now.

  Lucia rolled over to face Johannes. “I should let you sleep; I’ll go back to my quarters. “

  “Stay. Just for now. We arrive at Marinport this evening. I just wish we knew what we were arriving to.”

  “I’ll stay awhile.” Lucia felt Johannes slip his arm around her waist, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep before saying another word.

  * * *

  They were hours from Marinport when a thunderbolt of inspiration hit Lucia. They might be stopped at the docks of the city itself, but no one ever said they had to sail all the way to the docks. They could just as easily sail to a Delsarte estate in the hills outside the city proper, send a message to Amelia to get the lay of the land, and then ride in through the gates! With this idea in her head, Lucia ran to find de Graaf.

  “I have it!” she said breathless as she approached him in his cabin.

  “Have what, my love?” he asked somewhat absently as he made notations in his log.

  Lucia nearly lost her footing at his casual endearment. She came to a dead stop and stared at him; the sequence of her thoughts having been completely disrupted. After a moment he looked up to see her staring at him. She shook her head and forced herself back to what was relevant at the moment.

  “I…ah…I have a solution to our quarantine problem.”

  De Graaf put down his stylus and leaned back in his chair, his eyes interested. “Do you, now?”

  “Yes. My family has an estate not far out of the city, but far enough the gu
ards wouldn’t notice the ship. We can fly there and send a message to Amelia at the Eventides. They can help us find a way in past the quarantine.”

  A slow smile worked its way across de Graaf’s face. “My dear,” he said, “that is a good idea. Where is this estate located? We must speak with the navigator and helmsman at once.” He got to his feet and extended his arm for her to take. As she rested her fingers on the fine linen of his shirt, her mind circled back to his endearment.

  Did he love her? It seemed so. More importantly, did she love him?

  “You’re a treasure,” de Graaf said before she could answer either question. “I must say I haven’t enjoyed a cruise as much as I’ve enjoyed this one in a very long time. Stolen jewels notwithstanding. If you should ever need to escape from your glamourous life as one of the city’s elite ladies, I hope you’ll come sail with me again.”

  He smiled down at her and then led her out of his cabin in search of the navigator. Lucia wanted to reply, but she found all of her words had deserted her.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 21

  The Delsarte estate was busier than Lucia had expected. It seemed Remy had managed to quarantine the land gates to the city as well, and several of her father’s couriers and factors had taken up residence until such time as the gates were reopened.

  “But does my father know you’re here?” Lucia asked one of the men, a lanky fellow named Timothe. Timothe gave her a grin and a nod as he continued to shovel large mouthfuls of the Delsartes’ cook’s best stew into his face.

  “Course ‘e does, miss,” the rough-and-tumble gentlemen answered. “Wouldn’a dared stay in the house, else. But the ol’ duke, e’s a good man. Says to make me’self at home until the gates’re opened.”