“Dad never saw the barrier until our ship hit it. How can we avoid the same fate?”
“My father knows I can sense it.”
“I’m sorry he didn’t come with us.”
I push away thoughts about the father I leave behind. A father I barely know and will never see again. “The island needs a strong leader who can bring Ice Lord and Kepyr together.”
I twist the wooden ring on my finger. Before my birth, my mother carved the three blending hearts as a present for him. His three-star crystal joins the band, a parting gift to remember the parents who could not raise me. It is the only jewelry I own.
I sway, scared of the ship’s movement on the surging sea; so different from sixteen seasons in underground caverns where native drums of death haunted my memories. The motion is unceasing, like riding on fluid, breathing muscle.
I join my uncle, Kydaka, at the bow. He stands tall and strong, his wide scarred back and dark skin bare in the warm sun. I try not to stare at his missing finger, for it is my fault he lost it.
He turns and grins at me, his dark eyes dancing. “A new beginning is not without fear, Elandra. Yet excitement rushes through my blood.”
The vastness of the ocean spreads before me. A shiver slides down my back. I have chosen my destiny. Unbridled. Uncharted. Unknown.
“We are so small, Uncle.”
He smiles. “Our hearts are not.”
“Nothing will ever be the same.”
“Without change, there is no growth. A life on the island would have been impossible for you. Your life is with Daniel although he will never be content until he returns home to his mother and sister.”
I sigh. “What if he cannot find the place called Florida?”
“We must trust him. Without his knowledge, we would not be on this voyage. Leave your fear. Enjoy your freedom.”
“In this confined space?”
Uncle laughs. “Freedom is not a place you can see.”
He leaves me with confused thoughts and strides toward Bryntar. She blushes when he greets her, their attraction growing.
A sudden gust tips the sails. I fall and bang into the rail, staring into an ocean only a few feet from my face. My stomach lurches.
“Wahoo!” Daniel laughs as he steadies the ship.
Uncle yells in glee.
Bryntar’s face is a mask of fierce control.
Rougher wind skims across the water, licking the white tips of the waves. The ocean heaves great breaths, rising and dropping in huge swells. I swallow hard against the sudden queasiness and look up. Sudden storm clouds fight to win an unending race and cover the once-peaceful sky.
I weave back toward Daniel clutching everything I can to stay upright.
Large drops of rain pound the deck.
“Better help your uncle reef the sails,” Daniel says. “We’re in for a storm.”
I try to ignore a creeping dread.
Soon the rain freezes, battering the deck and stinging like icy knives. I slip and bang my knees, hanging onto the nearest rigging. Bryntar drags me up and together with Uncle we slip, slide and fight against the raging wind to secure the jib and then the mainsail.
Lightning bolts crack through the clouds and stab the ocean in deafening explosions. The wind screeches at the thunder.
My whole body lights up with sizzling energy.
Daniel shouts. “She’s attracting the lightning!”
Uncle sweeps me off my feet and rushes me below deck. Bryntar hurries behind. We sit on the floor to avoid being thrown off the bunks. It is almost more frightening being hidden from the storm when the wood creaks and groans around us like a wounded monster.
I glow and Bryntar throws a blanket over me.
Comforted by the darkness, I cannot help but touch Daniel’s feelings. His confidence conflicts with his anxiety over the burden of keeping us afloat.
The ship leaps and twists like the ferocious jaguarats on the island, throwing us against each other.
I peer from the blanket. “Daniel cannot fight the storm alone. What if he is washed overboard?”
Uncle pulls on a shirt and lurches up the steps. “I will secure his safety.”
Bryntar cautions, “Hope we do not crash into the barrier.”
The ship rises, falls, slams us to the floor. It tips dangerously one way and immediately the other.
Do not let me die this night unless it is in Daniel’s arms.
The storm continues on and on and on. My frustration increases at my inability to do anything except protect myself from the bumps and bruises of being tossed like a feather.
Then as suddenly as the storm appeared, it dissolves and the sea is content once again.
Daniel and Uncle stumble down the stairs, shivering and soaking wet.
Bryntar jumps up and rummages around for dry clothes.
I want to throw myself into Daniel’s arms, but his exhaustion stops me. Instead I hand a blanket to him and Uncle.
Daniel sinks to a bunk. “It’s a miracle we survived.”
Uncle says, “Your skills are the miracle.”
“Couldn’t have done it without your help.”
I sit beside Daniel and warm his strong hands in mine. Abruptly, great pain streaks through me. I immediately control feelings that are not my own. “Someone else is on this ship.”
Bryntar bristles. “Impossible.”
Uncle shakes his head. “I checked everything before we sailed.”
Daniel jumps up. “There is no place to hide.” His eyes take in the bunks, the many crates of water, fresh fruit, and dried meat that fill most of the space. He scowls and crawls over the top of the supplies to the bow. Yanks open the door to the anchor locker.
“YOU!”
Daniel’s anger strikes through me, overpowering and terrifying. He drags a squirming body out of the space.
Jyrr. I cannot believe our hated enemy stowed away.
The Ice Lord tumbles to the floor and grabs his stomach, his icy purple face drawn in agony. He tries for stubborn dignity, but cannot keep the contents of his stomach.
Daniel grabs Jyrr by the front of his vest and raises his fist. “I should kill you right now for what you’ve done.”
Uncle takes Daniel’s arm gently. “His sickness is enough punishment.”
Daniel pushes Jyrr away. “No it isn’t. We survived this storm. I don’t know what our chances are now. He threw away the anchor to hide like the scum that he is.”
“Can we sail without an anchor?” Uncle asks.
Daniel glares at Jyrr and pulls rope from a drawer. “Sure, if we don’t worry about colliding with another ship. Or grounding on a hidden reef. Or mooring to add to our food supply.” He roughly ties Jyrr’s hands behind his back.
Though pale, Jyrr’s black eyes shine with hatred.
Bryntar frowns at Jyrr. “Why did you come?”
The Ice Lord glares at us. “You destroyed my life on the island.”
Daniel resists the urge to throw himself at Jyrr. “You’re responsible for every bad choice you made. This is your last one. The first land I see, you’re off this ship.”
Jyrr lifts his chin in defiance. “It cannot be too soon.”
Daniel laughs. “Think you can survive stranded and alone?”
Jyrr’s eyes meet mine. Superiority, disdain and bitterness ooze from his face. He does not know I can feel his fear.
I squirm when more of his sensations flood into me and immediately lock them out. My own emotions are enough to handle: the sick remembrance of how he tried to force himself on me, how he almost succeeded in executing us in front of the people of the island.
I do not try to tune out the jagged sensations of my family: Bryntar’s hatred of Jyrr, Uncle’s sympathy for what it means to be outcast, Daniel’s fury at the danger Jyrr has put us all in.
Daniel throws off the blanket and stomps up the steps. “Guard the jerk, Bryntar.”
Uncle and I hurry up after him.
Daniel heaves debris in
to the sea to relieve some of his anger.
Uncle grabs a bucket to remove the water running across the deck. “You built a worthy ship, Captain,” Uncle says.
Daniel takes a deep breath. “I’ve never been on the water in a storm like that. I’m glad The Taroc held together.”
Taroc. I push away the heartbreaking memories of the man who mentored and raised me.
“I don’t trust Jyrr,” Daniel says. “I’m not waiting for wind. We have to row.”
A tingle tickles my neck. “I feel a great surge of energy from that direction.”
Daniel checks the compass on the leather bracelet his sister gave him. “You sure?”
I slowly turn in a circle. “It is unlike anything I have ever felt. Like a pulsing of enormous light.”
Daniel unhooks the four oars and secures them to the rowlocks. “West, it is.”
Bryntar drags Jyrr on deck, eyes like blue fire. “He is untrustworthy. Throw him overboard.”
“Let me go!” Jyrr yanks away from her and falls.
Bryntar leaps to haul him up, but Uncle restrains her.
“We can be rid of him without his death,” Uncle says.
She pulls away and hisses through her teeth.
Jyrr glares in silent hatred.
“You are just in time, Bryntar,” Daniel says. He drags Jyrr up and sits him roughly on a small seat on the starboard side of the ship. “Time to earn your keep.”
Uncle grasps an oar across from Jyrr on the left.
I sit behind Jyrr and take another oar, facing the stern of the boat.
Jyrr glares. “You expect help when my hands are tied?”
Daniel unties the rope and starts to retie Jyrr’s wrists in front of him.
“The ropes will rub,” I say.
Daniel clenches his jaw and ties Jyrr’s ankles together instead. “Try anything and I will throw you overboard. Slack off and you won’t eat. Got it?”
Jyrr sneers. “Of course, Captain.”
Daniel stamps off and sits by the rudder facing us. “Let’s go.”
Bryntar takes an oar. A few uneven tries later and we manage to get the ship gliding across the ocean.
No one speaks with the effort of rowing over the force of the currents. Daniel strains to stay awake. Time stretches between rest, food, and more rowing. My muscles scream for an end.
When the ocean changes to black and the sun sinks in a blinding red orb, my body responds to a throbbing power of invisible light. My hair expands in every direction, shining silver. I lurch to my feet, prying my stiff and blistered hands from the oar. “Stop rowing or we will crash into the barrier!”
Daniel rushes to my side. “Can you see it?”
“I can feel it. Everyone needs to get to the front of the ship. Now.” I rush forward.
Uncle unties Jyrr’s feet and propels him after the others.
The strength of the invisible barrier almost knocks me off my feet. I have not called upon the light since saving the island and brace myself against the magnitude of energy. I scream at the white-hot searing pain that burns through me at my resistance.
The song that lives in my heart begins its enthralling melody. It is joined by the words of Enchanters and Enchantresses who did not survive the beast. Surrender. Surrender. Remember who you are and that your gift is the most precious of all.
I relax and let go, loving the heat that transforms to sparkling bubbles of tingling warmth. I close my eyes and concentrate on the energy within. Light shoots from my body and slowly expands to enclose my companions and the ship, matching the intensity of the invisible barrier. My focus is so deep that I do not sense the immense whirlpool until it swamps my light and sucks the ship into twisting, shrieking darkness.
Acknowledgements
My gratitude is unending for the inspiration and love I’ve received in bringing this story into manifestation.
Thank you first to my husband, Bill, for his unfailing belief in my writing and for working while I played with words. And thanks also to my daughter, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters for their enthusiasm. I want to especially thank my son-in-law, Peter Chadwell--cover designer extraordinaire--for his unfailing grace in providing me with fantastic covers for all of my books.
This story might never have been written but for the push by my best friend, exceptional writer and artist Suzan Noyes. Her insistence that I join her at a writer’s conference sparked the idea of the story. I needed something to read and wrote the first few chapters. It was so well received that I was encouraged to finish it.
Many, many thanks go to my editor, Linda Sterling, for her invaluable help and excitement. She was the first person outside of family and friends to read the story and inspire me make that leap of faith in myself.
Thank you to other members of various critique groups for their valuable input: Suzan, Tom, Skip, Nicole, Mike, Patricia, Cricket, Maralyn, Nickole, Tammy, Wendy, Tim, Robert, Kara, and Roxy. The book is better because of you.
Thank you readers, for without you, stories would only be in the minds of their writers. You make the hard work so worthwhile.
About the Author
Denice Hughes Lewis has loved books since she was a child. It wasn’t until she had children of her own that she decided to take a writing course from the Institute of Children’s Literature. She never looked back.
She is an award-winning author for her eBook, Dragon Cloud. You can find it at http://www.smashwords.com/ with her other chapter books. My Fairy Godmonster is an eBook at Amazon. She is also a published author and one of the winners of the Writers Guild Harvest Contest in 2013 for her children’s fable, The Kite Builder.
She and her writing partners won the Catalina Film Festival in 2012 for their screenplay, Boarders, and subsequently placed second in the Oregon Film Awards. Mission Implausible: The Undead Identity won second two years later at the Oregon Film Awards.
Denice loves animals, nature, music, art, movies, and kids. She published a series of non-fiction journals this year. The first title is A Dog’s Journal Thoughts of a Labrador Retriever. These journals are for writers to express what they think their dog thinks from the dog’s point of view. They are breed specific. There’s even one for a Lovable Mix and A Cat’s Journal. You can find these at Amazon.
She would love to hear from you. Visit her on Facebook or contact her at http://www.denicehugheslewis.com/contact/.
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