The Book of Terrus: Rising Tides, Falling Stars

Chapter 4 - A Lost People

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It had been nearly three days since The Fire, and still the wind blew heavy with ash and smoke. The sun hung redder than coral in the hazy southern sky, its light tainted across the entire Bay of Torbos. Without sunlight, the normally clear, jewel-like facets of the shallow sea could not be seen. Instead, the water lapped grey and sullen against the prow of Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu's dhow. Vinie considered for the second time already that morning how easy things might be now if she had simply allowed herself to drown beneath those waves. She had chosen to live, on the night of The Fire, and to that decision she held true. There hardly seemed much to live for anymore though.

Vinie, Kiiss, and Xolani waited at the railing, watching as a pair of small canoes paddled toward them from the direction of the shore. There was so much smoke in the air, they could not see whatever remained of Moaan, even from less than a league out in the bay.

"Well? How does the city look? Is anything salvageable?" Xolani called down as soon as the canoes were within earshot.

"No, Lord Xolani! There's nothing left, not even The Serpent's Tunnel! The jungle is barren embers as far as the eye can see."

Vinie turned away from the scouts' news in resignation. Moaan was gone. Worse than that, she had no way of knowing the fate of her father, Bakko, or her slain friend Sahar's two young boys. They had been left in what Vinie thought was the relative safety of Utunma, so far away on the southernmost tip of Goran. This had been no ordinary brush-fire, however. If Moaan – with its stone walls and soaring causeways – had been reduced to nothing by the unleashed power of the Obads, what chance would a little fishing village like Utunma have stood?

"Alright," Xolani was saying. "Return to your vessels and see what provisions your families have. Everyone will need to ration their supplies carefully, especially the food and fresh water."

"Yas lord."

Limping over to the far railing on blistered legs – the aftermath of rescuing Gideo from a death sentence in Amenthere – Vinie looked out sea and bit her lip. A makeshift city of boats, rafts, and bits and pieces of rubble floated on the tide. The people of Undor; only days before they had been the proud, rebellious beginnings of a country. Now they huddled together, over ninety-thousand refugees, with no land, no safe harbour, and no hope.

A tall silhouette moved between Vinie and the rusty, meager sun overhead, and her first instinct was to lean into Gideo's side. Some unconscious instinct stopped her short. Gideo was not the same since Amenthere. In fact, thinking back, Vinie realized that she had not truly seen her cheerful, reassuring husband since they parted in Danitesk. Although he may have looked the same – broad, handsome face, curly black hair, long limbs decorated with fanciful tattoos – the spark that had once made Gideo an endless wellspring of hope and optimism seemed to have been finally snuffed out. He stood staring out across the floating sanctuary-city, stiff and expressionless as a statue.

Vinie looked up at Gideo...opened her mouth...then closed it. Instead, she looked back to the sea. What was there to say? She had no words of reassurance that everything would or even could be alright again. All they could do was stand silently side-by-side at the railing, joined by shared pain and the little white marriage-knot tattoos inked into their palms.

"Lady Oesu, there wasn't any time to stock extra firewood onboard. If we run out, we won't be able to cook any of the fish that we might catch. Also, the nights adrift will get cold at this time of year."

One of the crew of the dhow was speaking to Lady Oesu on the quarterdeck, just above where Vinie and Gideo stood. The Lady of Undor was looking significantly less regal these days. Gone were her elaborate kente dresses and golden jewelry; Oesu wore just a simple smock, belted with leather, and a plain cloth hair-wrap. She still spoke with all the same authority as if currently she sat behind her desk in Moaan's State Hall.