by Garry Spoor
As Daniel got closer to where Heaney and Elmac were having their rather animated discussion, Kile closed her eyes and fell into her Edge. Reaching out with her consciousness, she easily connected with the yarrow, and suddenly, she was riding on Daniel’s shoulder.
“… should never have been allowed,” Elmac said.
Heaney shook his head and sighed. “What would you have me do?” Whatever it was ya were trying to do, wasn’t working.”
“It wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Neither was losing the compass.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
“Look, I’m not blaming ya, but what happened, happened. We can’t change that. If nothing else, we should be grateful we made it this far. Besides, it worked exactly the way you theorized.”
“That’s not the point. Don’t you realize it may now know we’re coming?”
“That is a gamble I was willing to take.”
“He explicitly told us she was not to—”
Heaney held up his hand to silence the mystic as Daniel walked past, but it wasn’t Daniel the Hunter was worried about. He was carefully watching the yarrow on the young man’s shoulder just as the yarrow was carefully watching him. Heaney slowly looked up at the crow’s nest, and Kile broke the connection with Vesper. When their eyes met, she knew he figured out what she was doing, not that she was doing anything wrong. It was only a bit of eavesdropping. The fact Heaney figured it out so quickly made her wonder how much he knew about her and her Edge. It was clear by how fast he caught on to Custard’s bizarre behavior during the storm, he had some knowledge of what she could do, but if that was true, who told him?
She had hoped to catch more of the conversation, but what she caught was enough, or at least enough to fuel her paranoia. There was no longer any doubt in her mind they were talking about her. “He explicitly told us she was not to…,” that’s what Elmac was saying right before Heaney cut him off. Who was he, and what did he tell them about her? The first person she thought of was Morgan. Did the old mystic warn them about her? Maybe he wasn’t so sure she could handle herself outside the Tower. Maybe there was more to her little problem than he was letting on. It made sense—they wouldn’t want her using her Edge in case she went loopy again. However, if that were the case, why was she even on this expedition? Something was definitely going on, something involving her. All the warning signs were there, the ones that told her to run, to get as far away from these men and their schemes as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she had a bad habit of never heeding those signs. There was one other small detail. She was stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Not too many places to run to.
Kile was so preoccupied with the small snippet of conversation, she almost didn’t see the bird. At first, she wasn’t sure she had even seen it as it skipped through the clouds. One moment it was there; the next it was gone. Closing her eyes and falling back into her Edge, she reached out to it. It was the furthest she had stretched her consciousness since leaving the Tower. When she felt the connection, she asked the bird to visit her on the ship and quickly pulled back to wait. She wasn’t waiting for the bird to reply, she was waiting for the laughter, but she heard nothing. Was it possible she was finally free of it? It was almost too much to hope for.
The bird gracefully turned and headed toward her. Its motions were effortless, and it appeared to float in the sky. It only reminded her of how much she wanted to fly. As it got closer, she could make out more detail. It was grayish white with black tips on the ends of its wings. At first, she thought it was a seagull like the ones she saw around the docks of Salthaven until she realized how far away the bird actually was. The closer it got, the bigger it got.
The bird was massive. It was even larger than Lindear, the old vulture from the wastelands.
There was no way it could get any closer to her, not while she was still in the crow’s nest. There was no place for it to land. Kile quickly climbed over the edge of the basket and down the shrouds while the bird made one more trip around the ship. When she reached the deck, the rest of the crew had noticed. They watched in awe as the overgrown seagull lined itself up with the Charlotte and came in for a landing. At first, Kile wasn’t sure it could land, but it hovered for a moment, before dropping down onto the aft deck. Two short hops and it came to a stop. With the mizzen mast gone, it had plenty of room to walk around.
As Kile climbed the ladder up to the aft deck, she noticed Dotol with his back pressed against the rail. The otherwise unflappable captain seemed almost scared of the large bird. The bird, on the other hand, wasn’t taking much notice of the vir and instead was poking around the deck, picking up anything it thought might be edible.
“Is something wrong?” she asked when she finally reached the captain.
The man looked at her with a frightened expression. “That… that’s a bloody albatross,” he whispered.
Well, it always helps to know what you’re talking to.
Kile looked out over the deck and saw many of the sailors wore the same expression as their captain. Were albatrosses all that dangerous? There was only one way to find out.
She carefully approached the bird who looked her over curiously. Although it was as large as Lindear, she felt no ill will from it, not that Lindear was evil. Vultures regard vir as a food source that wasn’t lying on the ground yet.
“Hello, my name is Kile,” she said.
-Ki kee.-
His voice was high-pitched and sharp as he tried to repeat her name. The more an animal is around the vir, the easier they were to communicate with. With Grim, it was like talking to another person. His experience around the vir, for better or for worse, was extensive. With Vesper, not so much. Her conversations with the yarrow relied mostly on feelings. It was clear the albatross had even less contact with the vir if any at all.
“Yes, Kile. My name is Kile. What’s yours?” she asked, putting as much feeling and thought into each word as she could. He seemed, at least, to understand what she meant.
-Norir,- he answered.
“Norir. What an unusual name.”
-Norir.-
“Well, Norir, I could use your help. We’re kind of lost and we’re looking for an island. Do you know of any land around here?”
-Land. Ground. Land. Island. Rest. Nest. Home. Land.- Norir shot through a string of words, each one carrying a different picture and a different feeling. Some of the words, mostly those associated with resting or nesting, were filled with tranquility, while others actually made her hungry. There was also one island that carried with it a feeling of dread. It was a sure bet, it was the one they were looking for.
“Could you show me?”
-Land. Yes,- the albatross said, and through his memories, Kile was taken on a trip across the ocean. If only she could do this for real, she thought as the world stretched out before her. She could fly to Shenataesi and be back home in less than a day instead of bobbing around on the top of the waves in a rickety boat.
Norir showed her several places of interest. Some were so close, if they changed course now they could reach them before nightfall. Others were so far away it would take weeks, if not months to reach. How far could an albatross fly?
When they broke their connection, Kile felt energized or overly excited. She knew where they had to go now—she was certain of it.
“Thank you, Norir.” She hugged the albatross, much to the audible gasp of the captain. The bird didn’t seem to mind.
-Ki kee,- Norir said, stretching out his massive wings. Kile fell back as the bird awkwardly turned around on the deck. He took three long strides before leaping into the air and disappeared over the side of the rail. Skimming along the surface of the water, he quickly gained altitude and circled the ship once before heading back to wherever it was he was heading before he was invited to rest.
Kile quickly stood and turned to the stunned captain.
“I know where we’re going,” she said.
~~~***~~~
“This is the edge of the stormwall,” he said, drawing a line along the top of the map with his finger. “We passed it four days ago, heading in a southwesterly direction, which puts us just about here.”
The place he finally pointed to was in the middle of nowhere. In Kile’s opinion, the map was completely useless. No matter how much she tried to overlay the albatross’s memories, it was no use. Without roads, rivers, hills, mountains, or some other kind of landmark, how could one determine where to go?
“Take your time, Kile. There’s no rush,” Heaney said.
“I don’t know,” she admitted in defeat.
“But you said…”
“I know what I said, and I can find it… but not on this map.”
“Oh, wonderful.” Boraro threw his hands up. “And what are we supposed to do now, follow the albatross?”
“Aye, if that’s what it takes,” Dotol said. “The albatross have never steered a sailor wrong.”
“Save it, old man. My grandfather tried to fill my head with all those old superstitions. I’m not buying it.”
Kile ignored Boraro and circled a section of the map with her finger.
“They’re… kinda like over here somewhere,” she said.
“Are ya sure, lass?” Dotol asked.
“Well, it’s not that far from where the Alva believe the island was found, and it’s roughly in the same direction the compass was pointing in,” Heaney said. “We could change course, head in that direction…”
“And what? Hope we get lucky?” Boraro laughed. “You’re talking miles of water out there. We could sail right past an island without even knowing it. We could be traveling days, weeks out of our way.”
“And you have a better idea?” Heaney asked.
Boraro was surprisingly silent.
“You said ‘they,’ lass. How many islands are we talking?”
“Well, Norir could…”
“Norir?”
“Yeah, the albatross. His name was Norir.”
“Of course it was.” Boraro shook his head.
Kile shot him a look before turning her attention back to the map. “Norir showed me about two dozen islands in the general area.”
“Two dozen! It will take a hundred years to search them all,” Jasa exclaimed from where he sat on the far side of the room. “By then, the war will be over and this will be all for nothing.”
“It will not be for nothing if we can reclaim the Heart of Nilak,” Galan added.
Jasa looked sideways at the Alva and grinned. “You may want to spend a century out here searching islands, but I’m afraid I don’t have that much time.”
“Maybe there is a way to remove some of the islands from the equations,” Elmac suggested.
“How do you figure we do that?” Heaney asked.
“Simple. There are certain traits we can ascertain from the legends and the stories. For instance, the island is said to have a sheer cliff along the northwest side and an inlet, or a bay, on the eastern side. Maybe if we eliminate some of the smaller islands, we can cut down on the number we have to search.”
“Oh, so we just search all the islands with cliffs and bays,” Boraro interjected. “That should only take us what, fifty, sixty years?”
“Garret, if you are not going to add anything useful to the conversation, maybe you should sit this one out.”
“Oh, come on, Heaney. This is ridiculous. You’re relying on a girl who’s two sandwiches short of a picnic. It’s bad enough we’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
Heaney stepped out from behind the desk. “You knew what you were getting into when you agreed.”
Boraro quickly got to his feet. “That’s when I thought we knew where we were going.”
“We never knew the exact location of the island.”
“Which is what the compass was supposed to show us until butterfingers there dropped it in the ocean.”
“Is that so?” Elmac said, now joining in the uncivilized discussion. “If your skill in the water arts was even half as great as your ego claimed they are, you could have calmed the oceans from here to Baxter’s Bay.”
“What? You’re saying this is my fault?”
“I can’t very well do my job when I’m being battered around by the waves now, can I?”
By now the room erupted in name-calling and finger-pointing. It got to the point that Kile was afraid she’d completely lose it.
“Will you all shut up?” she growled, slamming her hands down on the table.
The room went eerily silent. Kile closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It wouldn’t do to go feral at a time like this, although it might feel good.
“I know which island is Shenataesi,” she said through clenched teeth.
Elmac suddenly looked at her. “Who told you the name of the island?” he asked nervously.
Kile shrugged. “I don’t know,” she answered. “Wasn’t it mentioned during the briefing?”
“No, it wasn’t”
“What difference does it make what the island is called?” Heaney asked. “Are you sure you know which island it is?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Oh, well, that’s easy,” she said. “It’s the one all the birds avoid.”
“What? You mean they don’t land on it?” Heaney asked.
“They won’t even fly over it,” Kile said.
Jasa finally stood and joined the others around the map. “So, how do you plan to lead us to this island, if you can’t even find it on a map?”
“That’s a little more complicated,” she said. “From the crow’s nest, I should be able to see… or, well… sense, the paths the birds take.”
“No, no, absolutely not.” Elmac shook his head vigorously. “We’ll find it another way.”
“There is no other way,” Heaney said. “Jasa is right. It will take far too long to search every island. If Kile says she can lead us to it, I say we follow her.”
“Heaney, you know what can happen.”
“I only know what you’ve been telling me, and so far, I haven’t seen it.”
“Mystic Elmac, if this wasn’t what I was supposed to do, why was I chosen for it?” Kile asked.
“I don’t like it,” the mystic said. “But if the rest of the company wants to take the chance, so be it. I hope you’re right Heaney.”
“And I hope you’re wrong Elmac, for both of our sakes.”
~~~***~~~
Kile stood in the crow’s nest as the Charlotte headed west. She had no sextant, no maps, no charts, but for the first time since setting foot on the ship, she knew where she was going. It was like the first time she headed out into the wild around the little town of Coopervill. There were no vir-made roads or even well-trodden paths through the forest, but she could always find her way. She looked for signs. Not the signs every Level Five Hunter should know, a tuft of fur, a broken twig, a scratch mark on a tree. The signs she looked for were hidden from the eyes of the vir. When she let her feral side come out to play, when she was truly in tune with the world around her, she could almost see the paths each animal took through the forest. A scent, a vibration, a sound, it wasn’t something she could explain, only something she knew. Tracking the albatross’s path through the sky was no different.
She surrendered herself to her feral side, giving herself completely to her Edge. Morgan once told her the Maligar was more than a means of controlling animals, it was a merging of mind, body, and soul. It was the highest level of consciousness the Orceen could achieve with the natural world. Was this what the Maligar was supposed to feel like? Complete and total freedom from the constraints of the mortal realm? If it was, what happened to it? What corrupted it? What poisoned it? What was the shadow that hid inside it, and what was hiding inside the sh
adow? Who was the man with the haunting yellow eyes who sneaked into her nightmares and laughed at her?
~~~***~~~
Kile spent the next three days guiding the ship across the ocean on a trail only she could see. She never doubted where she was going despite the crew’s opinion. Even Daniel started questioning her sense of direction, but it all ended on the morning of the fourth day. She had just climbed into the crow’s nest and was settling in for what she thought would be another day of staring out at the ocean when she picked up the stray scent. At first, it didn’t register. It had been a long time since she had smelled anything but the salt air.
“Land,” she called out, pointing to the horizon.
That single word brought the crew to its feet. The men ran to the bow of the ship to get their first look at the elusive island, except there wasn’t any. Even Creech, with the keen sight his Edge provided, could see nothing.
Heaney exited the captain’s quarters and quickly climbed up to the aft deck to stand beside Dotol. Borrowing the old man’s monocular, he held it up to his eye and scanned the horizon.
“Creech, anything?” he called across the ship.
“Nothing, sir,” the Hunter answered. He leaned farther out over the rail as if the short amount of distance would make a different. “There’s nothing out… wait a moment. Yes, I think I see it now.”
Kile didn’t have to see the island to know it was there. She could smell it: land. How wonderful it would be to set foot on solid ground again. She gripped the edge of the nest, straining her eyes and willing the ship to move faster.
“It’s land,” Creech finally shouted.
By now, most of the crew was on the bow of the ship, watching and waiting. It was a good hour before even a faint outline could be seen on the horizon. Now that they had a destination, one they could see, the ship seemed to move slower. No matter how fast they were moving, it almost seemed as if the island was moving away from the Charlotte.