“Ahthala will be disappointed,” Tomka said. “She went into the hills to light incense for you. We’ve sent a runner. She should be back soon.”
Dane paused, looking at the sand. Then he started walking towards Mirela, but said over his shoulder to the Tiran chieftain, “I think she’ll understand.”
Dane took Mirela by the hand and helped her to her feet. “I have something for you.”
He led her back down the beach, to where a little skiff lay just above the water line. “I think I got ripped off,” he said. “But I just had to have her.”
“You bought this?”
“Traded for it. Gave Tomka our ship in exchange for food and housing for all of us and passage back to the mainland. And this. Told him I wanted something that could be manned by a single person but strong enough to take on the open sea.”
“That’s not such a bad break.”
Dane shrugged. “Well, I didn’t actually get him to agree to all of us. Just all of us minus two.”
Mirela looked at him.
“Look,” he said. “We’ve got a fair wind now, and she’s ready to go. So why don’t you get on board?”
“And where are we going, Captain?”
“Why are you asking me? I’m just first mate. You’ll find your things and enough food for a month on deck.”
She stood for a moment, studying his face. Then she turned and walked back up the beach to the circle of fires. Dane waited for her.
A short time later she returned, wiping her eyes. “I couldn’t leave like that. Not without saying goodbye to Josie and the others.”
Mirela slipped deftly over the gunwale. Dane set his shoulder against the stern and pushed the skiff into the waves. Before he pulled himself aboard, he shifted the boat in the water, pointing her prow towards the sunset blazing in the west.
***
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, love and thanks to my beautiful wife, Sarah, for making me get back on the horse and finish the fight after I lost some 20,000 words of my original manuscript. To Megan, my twin – please know I am just as much a fan of the stories you are writing with your life as you are of mine. To all my pre-readers (you know who you are) for your friendship, feedback, and encouragement (a priceless and all-too-rare resource). To Robert Thiessen, for editing my work and being nice about it. To Chris Leake, for his advice on how to get this thing into people’s hands. To my dad, whose constructive criticism freed me up to write more like me and less like them (whoever they are). To my mom, for giving me her blessing in pursuing this dream, all the while praying under her breath that it wouldn’t leave me a heartbroken and starving artist. (Thanks, Mom, for the prayers as well, as I have yet to see heartbreak or starvation). And finally, to you, for getting this far. This is the end of the book and the beginning of whatever you’re going to do next. So do it well. For, as that flaming messenger told Bailus Conley: This is now, and you are it.
About the Author
Nicholas Anderson lives in the sun-bathed mountains of southern Mexico, where he helps people find wholeness and healing in their relationships with God, others, and creation. He has one wife, two children, and five chickens. He hopes to eventually increase the numbers of the latter two. He writes for pleasure and to support his LEGO habit. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, thesilentisle.com, or wrapped around the little finger of one of his sons.
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Table of Contents
Prologue:
The Watcher
I
The Gray Apostle
II
Marked to Die
III
Last Night on Earth
IV
Stowaway
V
The Raid
VI
Inside Information
VII
The Rangers
VIII
Dead Reckoning
IX
Valley of the Shadows
X
Of Monsters and Miracles
XI
Ugly Business
XII
Hollow Men
XIII
Eddie
XIV
The Hall of the Pale Princes
XV
Deathdreams
XVI
Fools’ Errand
XVII
Where Night Never Sleeps
XVIII
The Darkness at the End of the Tunnel
XIX
Drowning Man
XX
A Pyre for Hope
XXI
The Runaway
XXII
An Honest Day’s Work
XXIII
Ambush
XXIV
The Man Who Turned
XXV
Black Sails
XXVI
Pillars of Smoke, Pillars of Fire
XXVII
The Crooked Mile
XXVIII
Warren
XXIX
Sleeper Cell
Epilogue:
The Sea of Possibility
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Silent Isle Page 36