by K Hanson
Someone could only get those abilities through some dark ritual.
She claimed not to know where they came from or how to use them on command. He found that hard to believe after she had shot him with lightning as she escaped. And he had seen how she had blown that fiery creature into the pond.
No, she knew what she was doing. She could command the elements at will.
He had no idea what tricks she could be hiding, but he had a feeling that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg of her abilities. And now she was on her way back to the mainland. Erhan just had to get back home and find a way to stop her from freeing her crew from the mines. He didn’t think it was very likely that she would be able to sneak into the mining complex and get back out with her people, but she was also more capable than most people. If he was lucky, she had drowned in a storm between the island and the main continent.
Unfortunately, he had no real way off of the island. Nereyda had sailed off with the tools he needed to build another raft, so that wasn’t an option. He did, however, still have his fire starting gear. Over the past week, he had assembled piles of wood along the beaches of the island, in addition to the ones he and Nereyda had built. If he spotted a ship during one of his watches, he could run down to the beach to light a signal fire. It was a long shot, but it was the best option he had for finding a way off of this island.
Of all the possible times to be stranded at sea, this had to be the worst in his career. A rogue magical pirate sailing to the mainland and Stalsta up to something in the Shattered Sea. Even if that Stalstan ship didn’t burn that village and slaughter its people, they had been involved somehow.
As Erhan looked up at the horizon, he scanned across it for the millionth time. This time, though, he thought he saw something. A white sail drifted at the edge of his vision, still several miles away. At first, the commander couldn’t quite believe someone had come out this far into the ocean. He set that aside as he realized that this was his best, and maybe only, shot at getting the hell off of this rock.
Erhan charged down the hill toward the beach so that he could light his signal fires. As he ran down the slope, branches from trees slapped his face and scratched his arms. Several times, he nearly tripped over roots as he rushed through the forest. He ignored all of the pain from those developing bruises and plunged ahead. He was determined to leave.
When he broke through the tree line on the beach, he ran toward the nearest pile of wood. As he got closer to the pile, he saw that it was soaking wet and had been knocked over, as if a wave had come up the beach and struck it. The next closest had also been destroyed by a wave.
He glanced out to sea and saw that the sail was still visible a few miles out to sea, passing directly by the island. Soon, it would be heading away from his position, so he needed to get a fire lit immediately. He was absolutely resolved that he wouldn’t miss this chance to leave, so he sprinted up the beach to the next dry pile of wood that remained intact. When he approached the signal fire, he bent his legs and slid through the sand to a stop right next to the wood. His knees stung as the beach sand scraped his skin.
Erhan frantically grabbed his flint and steel from his pocket. He repeatedly struck the tools together as he attempted to light the leaves, grass, and small twigs he had assembled as tinder for the fire. Once, twice, he kept trying to strike a spark that would catch, but to no avail.
Looking up, he saw that the path of the ship started to angle away from the island. It was now or never.
He turned back and kept striking the flint and steel. Finally, a spark caught the grass and flame spread through the pile of wood. Erhan dashed to the forest to find a bunch of green leaves and vegetation. When he ran back to the growing fire, he threw the green matter onto the blaze. As the fire grew, smoke billowed into the sky. Erhan looked out to the sea to watch the ship. It remained in view, but it hadn’t yet moved to turn around.
Another one of his piles of flammable material lay a couple of hundred yards up the beach. He dashed the distance to that signal fire location and repeated the process of trying to light the tinder with his flint and steel. This time, it only took a couple of strikes to get a spark to catch light. After again adding a pile of wet and fresh leaves to the fire, he stood to watch the ship.
He did not have any other possible signal fires on this side of the island. If they did not see the smoke from these flames, he had no other way of getting their attention.
It was not, it seemed, Erhan’s lucky day.
The white sail of the vessel continued to pass by the island, slipping further into the distance. Whoever manned her either had not noticed the smoke coming from the island or did not think it worth investigating. He sank to his knees in the sand and continued to watch as the ship faded into the distance and the sun dipped below the horizon. His chance at going home had passed. His signal fires had all been wasted. Perhaps he would spend the rest of his life on this island. He could call it the Empire of Erhan, population one.
Defeated, he stood up and shuffled away from the beach and back to his makeshift tent. He didn’t feel like trying to find another solution yet that night, so he just lay down and fell asleep.
When he woke, he thought that he heard a clanging from the beach. Erhan stood up and stumbled out of his shelter. Strapping on his sword belt, he hiked through the forest to the edge. When he emerged, he saw a fishing ship in the shallows. Men moved about the deck while a bell clanged.
Is this the same vessel that I saw on the horizon? The sails look similar. Did they see my smoke signals and decide to turn around?
“Hail,” he shouted over the water.
One of the sailors looked up from the line that he was gathering. He started when he saw Erhan emerging from the woods near the beach. “Hello there, friend. Where did you come from?”
“I’ve been stranded on this island for some time. I’m looking for a way back to the mainland.”
“Did you light the fires we saw?” the man asked.
“Yes, that was me. Can I come aboard, sailor?”
“I’ll check with the captain, but I expect him to agree.”
The man walked away from the railing of the fishing ship and disappeared into the cabin that sat in the middle of the boat. Erhan stood for a minute watching the waves rock the boat back and forth. The men on the deck seemed to be untangling fishing nets, inspecting them, and setting aside any broken ones that needed mending.
The sailor that Erhan had first spoken to reemerged. “Just a minute, sir, and I’ll come get you with the shore raft,” the man called.
The raft was just a rowboat that could only hold two people, maybe three if they squeezed in tight. His sailor friend rowed it to the beach near Erhan. “Come on, then, let’s get back aboard.”
“What made you decide to turn back? I saw you sail by the island. I thought you hadn’t seen my signals, or that you were ignoring them.”
“At first, we did ignore them. This part of the sea doesn’t normally have anyone in it. We thought that fires on the beach were suspicious or a trap. The captain, though, he struggled with the thought of leaving behind someone who truly needed help. So we turned around and came back in the middle of the night. We figured we might avoid getting seen that way if someone unfriendly waited for us. Where are you from, sir?”
“I am Commander Erhan with the Imperial Marine Command. I’m trying to get back to the capital.”
The sailor’s eyes widened. “An Imperial commander stranded all the way up here? I’m glad we turned around when we did. How did you get stuck here?”
“First, a storm shipwrecked me here. Only one other member of the crew survived, but she stole the raft we built and abandoned me here.”
“Who would leave behind a member of the Marines? Anyway, you’ll be welcome aboard with us. You’ll have to talk to the captain about the details, but I’m sure we’ll get you back to your duties as soon as we can.”
The rowboat arrived at the side of the fishing vessel, an
d the sailor helped Erhan step out onto the deck before fixing the ropes that attached the raft to the main ship. Once he had finished securing the boat, he led Erhan to the cabin.
They passed through an open doorway that did not have an actual door attached. A man that Erhan assumed to be the captain stood with his back to the door, bending over a table of charts. “Who the hell are you?” asked the man in a gruff voice. “And how did you get yourself stuck all the way out here?”
“Captain, this is Commander Erhan. He’s an Imperial officer.”
The captain pushed himself up and turned around. He pulled a pipe out of his mouth. “A Commander, eh? You here to draft my ship? Seems like a strange place for a conscription officer to be.”
Erhan did not have time to chastise the captain for his lack of courtesy. “No, I’m not here to commandeer your vessel. I just need to get back to the capital with all haste. I hate to ask you to interrupt your fishing operations, but I have news that I need to take to the Empire.”
“So you just think you can walk onto my ship and tell me where to go?”
Erhan sighed and forced himself to remain diplomatic. “If it helps, the Empire will certainly compensate you for the safe return of an officer. I will personally make sure that you and your crew are properly rewarded.”
The captain chewed on the end of his pipe as he thought for a moment. “Well, if we get something out of it and I can keep my ship afterward, I suppose we can make arrangements to head to the capital shortly.”
“Your… patriotism is appreciated,” Erhan forced a smile. “You’re giving up potential profits and pay for your crew, and deserve to have those expenses covered.”
The captain grunted and nodded
“Is there anything I can do to help your crew get underway?”
“No, we should be good. Just stay out of the way and let us do our jobs. I suppose I should offer you my quarters,” the captain added as an afterthought.
“Thank you for the gesture, but I will be happy with a normal bed with the crew quarters.”
The captain shrugged. “Very well. Suit yourself.”
Erhan left the cabin to settle into his quarters and soon the fishing vessel was on its way back to the mainland. The journey itself was quite uneventful. Commander Erhan kept offering to help man the ship and the captain stubbornly refused the offers. After a week, the ship pulled into the harbor at the capital.
Upon disembarking from the vessel, Erhan found the harbormaster and instructed him to reward the captain and crew of the ship that rescued him with twice the value that its cargo capacity would normally earn. He knew the captain did not want an excess of compensation, but Erhan wanted everyone to know that patriotism can also be profitable.
The commander caught a carriage from the docks to the main palace and strode into the main office of the high command. He would ask for a reassignment to the mines so that he could intercept Nereyda before she tried anything. Even if they didn’t grant him his request, his duty would compel him to go anyway. Only he knew the real threat she represented, and he needed to stop her from doing any harm.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Sun cascaded from the sky in a brilliant blaze as Nereyda opened her eyes, squinting against the brightness. Her whole body ached as if every part of her had been beaten. Salt and sand lingered in her mouth as she sat up and coughed, aggravating her parched throat. Looking around, she saw that she had washed up on a beach of white sand, with a sparse forest along the upper edge.
Nothing about where Nereyda was looked familiar to her. When she had last been on her raft, she had not yet sighted land. The last thing she remembered was passing out in the ocean during the storm, her raft either destroyed or scattered. There was no way she should have survived or somehow made it to shore. Yet, there she was, sitting up and coughing up salt water.
Searching herself, she found that she had made it to shore with both her sword and her dagger in her belt, but had no other tools or supplies at her disposal. Between her long journey and her experience wrestling with the storm the night before, thirst burned in her throat and hunger roared like a kraken in her belly.
Pushing herself to her feet, she glanced up and down the beach to look for any signs of civilization. Somehow, she had gotten lucky. A few hundred yards away, she spotted a small dock sticking out into the water. She hiked toward the dock and, as she approached, saw that a small cottage stood not far from the beach. Without any better options, Nereyda walked up to the door of the house and knocked.
Just after doing so, she realized that she probably looked like hell. She bent her head down to sniff herself and wrinkled her nose. She’d have to catch a bath the next chance she got.
A rustle sounded from within the cottage, and the latch clicked as it opened inward. Not enough to let her in, only a gap to fit a face. A man with a crooked, pointy hat peered out at her. He had a tanned and wrinkled face as if he had lived his life in the sun.
“Who are you?” he said. “What do you want?”
“I —” Nereyda was startled by the croak in her voice. She cleared her dry throat and tried again. “I had an accident with my boat and just washed up on your beach. Can you tell me where I am?”
“You’re on the northern shore. What’s your name girl?”
“Nereyda,” she said. “The Northern shore, so I made it to the continent?”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Of course this is the continent. Where else would it be? How did you say you got here?”
“The storm last night wrecked my boat, and I washed up just down the beach.”
“What storm? I saw a storm on the horizon last night, but it was just some flickers of lightning. If your boat sank there, there’s no way you should have made it.”
“I guess I’m just lucky.”
“I’ll say. The sea must love you if it ate you and spat you back out on dry land.”
“Is there a town or anything like that nearby?”
“There’s a trail out back of my home. You follow that, you’ll hit a village at the bottom of those hills.”
“Great, thanks. I’ll just be on my way now.” Nereyda turned to leave.
“Wait.” He leaned out of his doorway. “Did you really come from that storm?”
Nereyda turned back to him. “That’s right. I can hardly believe it myself.”
He paused to study her. “You can’t just head out like that,” he said as he opened the door. “Come in and rest.”
“I really shouldn’t. I need to get going as soon as I can.”
“It won’t do anybody any good if you collapse on your way. At least sit for a few minutes.”
“I suppose I could deal with a bit of water.”
“From how your voice sounds, I think you could use more than just a bit.”
Nereyda walked in, and he shut the door behind her. Although, at this point, her walk was more of a shuffle. It wasn’t until she stepped into the warm home that she realized her legs were shaking with exhaustion. Her host guided her into a tiny living room, and she collapsed into a well-worn yet comfortable rocking chair. He scurried into the kitchen, which was just another part of the same room, and poured a large tumbler of water. When he handed it to her, Nereyda gulped the whole thing down in one go.
“After living as many years as I have on the sea, I know that feeling well,” he said. “Nearly drowning gives you a hell of a thirst.”
He took the glass from her and went to refill it. Before he returned, Nereyda laid back in the chair and passed out into a deep sleep.
---
When Nereyda opened her eyes, light still glowed through the windows of the cottage. She saw that a blanket had been draped over her while she had been asleep in the chair. Next, she noticed the smell of something cooking. Fish, from the scent that hung in the air. Turning her head, she saw the old man standing in front of the stove, working a frying pan over a fire.
“Dinner time already?” she said with a rough voice, though it sounded
better than before. “How long was I out?”
“This is breakfast, actually. You stayed right there in that chair all night. Didn’t so much as move a muscle. I checked on you a few times to make sure you were still alive.”
“It’s morning?” Nereyda pushed herself from the chair, despite the protests of her sore muscles. “I didn’t mean to stay this long. I really need to get going.”
“Are you sure? You can at least use my washroom to freshen up.”
“No. Thank you, though. I need to get on the road.”
“Fine, but at least take some of this to go.” The man scooped a slab of fish onto a piece of cloth, then wrapped it and handed it to Nereyda. “And, here, take this as well.” He grabbed a canteen and filled it with water before passing it to her.
“I can’t accept this.”
He waved his hand and shook his head. “You can and you will. That’s an extra, anyway. It’s just taking up space.”
“Well, thank you for everything. If I ever make it back this way, I’ll be sure to pay you back.”
“Please do come back. It’s not very often that I get visitors.”
Nereyda started out the door but stopped. “Did you say you were a sailor?”
“I’ve spent more years on the sea than most people. But that’s a long story for another time. Perhaps when you return, we’ll have time for it.”
Nereyda smiled and walked out onto the beach, then around to the back of the cottage. As the man had said, a narrow trail wound its way through the trees and toward some hills that rose above the forest. Munching on the freshly cooked fish that the old man had given to her, she started up the path. The trees that lined the trail were not densely packed, yet each of them had grown large and full of lush green leaves. Soon, the path met a river that coursed through the woods and followed it uphill.