The Rise of the Sea Ghosts (from The Gelid Times Trilogy)

Chapter 22

The River Elin: to the South 

The gold of the sunrise bathed the Legend in a warm glow where the icicles sparkled in the morning light and refracted apricot rainbows across the planks of the deck. In the distance, the rocky beach at the base of the Anastase Mountain Range awaited the arrival of Celeste and Kaz. 

Celeste searched behind them. Nothing. Calm waters surrounded the Legend. Further out to sea, the waves tried to push themselves up through the surface of the water, but to no avail. The sea was calm as far as the eye could see in the clear dawn of the morning. However, Celeste still felt an invisible lurking presence someone watching them, but the Anastase Mountains were in touching distance and that felt safe enough for now.

Kaz brought the Legend to a halt at the nearest anchoring point to the beach.

"Lower the anchor!" Kaz called to Celeste.

As Celeste lowered the anchor, Kaz furled the sails and in no time, the anchor was rooted to the seabed and the Legend was secured. Celeste retreated below deck to retrieve her notebook and pen and put them in her rucksack. She grabbed Kaz's bag and paused at the tiny doorway to the deck, she surveyed the cabin. The Legend had protected them so far, like the shell of a tortoise, but now they were going to be exposed – across the beach, up the path to the mountains and through the mountains. They had little to defend themselves with; she put the rucksacks down and considered briefly their shift to an exposed state and decided to grab two fishing knives from the cupboard under the little sink and an adjustable wrench, flathead screwdriver and pliers from the toolbox. She wrapped up the items in a dish towel and put them in her rucksack. Hoisting the bag on her back, she picked up Kaz's bag and ascended the steps.

"Let's get the raft," Celeste said and threw Kaz his rucksack. She pushed her hood off and raised her head to the rising sun for a moment as if worshiping the gods of warmth and light before heading down the deck. Kaz caught the bag, loaded it on his back and followed but did not allow the sun to kiss his head, rather he pulled the draw strings on his hood tighter as if to defend the invisible enemy.

Together they lowered the orange raft down the side of the Legend and the giant salamanders gave way allowing the raft to undulate gently next to the hull. Celeste and Kaz climbed down the side of the Legend to the raft, and each took up an oar. Silently, they rowed away from the protection of the Legend towards the exposed beach. As they neared the rocky shore, Celeste whispered, "There – let's head towards that larger rock – we can drag the boat up the beach and hide the raft in the shrubbery by the base of the mountains." Kaz nodded and they rowed harder.

The beach was a large cove that was mostly rocky with white sand interspersed between the larger and smaller granite-coloured rocks like a sprinkling of powdered sugar. As soon as they reached the first larger rock, Celeste jumped out and held the raft steady as Kaz secured the oars. He climbed out and they heaved the raft above their heads to carry it over the irregular and rugged rocks.

"Hurry up," Kaz urged Celeste, "I'm going to break an ankle on these rocks. And then where would be? No where, that's where - I'd end up stranded and starved on this beach."

Celeste took a deep breath. "Kaz, you're not going to die on this beach. Just look at your feet and step carefully. We're nearly at the beginning of the shrubbery. Come on."

"I'm just saying. You'd either freeze to death, bleed to death or starve to death here – or all three."

"Come on - we're here. Just help me hide the raft," Celeste said as she moved some of throngs of green leaves.

Kaz pushed the raft under the leaves and stood up to survey their effort at hiding the raft. He took a step back.

"You can still see the orange from here," he stated and started to collect some of the branches and leaves from along the beach to cover the raft. Celeste pulled the raft further under the cover of the plants.

"That's it – we've done it," Celeste said. She pointed up the path, "now to find Great Grandma Agate. Come on Kaz – let's head towards that opening in the mountains."

Kaz adjusted his rucksack and followed Celeste up the path which was steep and uneven and lined with spiky plants.

"Ouch, ugh, ouch -" Kaz said far more regularly than Celeste would have wanted.

Ascending the path, they left the golden glow of the sun behind and entered the shadows of the Anastase Mountains. The air, fresh and clear on the beach, became heavy and damp. The path narrowed and the spiky plants grew denser pricking tiny holes in their legs, until Celeste pulled the fishing knives out of her rucksack and handed one to Kaz and they chopped and hacked their way to the mountain base.

"Celeste, are we close yet?" Kaz said out of breath sweating under his hood.

"Keep going – it's not far," Celeste said without stopping to rest. As she took another swipe at the plants, she saw the glimmer of an incandescent glow of blue and green coming from the base of the mountain. "Come on – look!" Celeste said moving aside and pointing towards the cave. The luminosity was mostly hidden by the overgrown plants, but as they proceed to the path's end, the richness of the florescent colours was both breathtaking and blinding.

"That's where we're going?" Kaz asked.

"Yup – Great Grandma Agate had always said that one should follow 'the glow'. And that right there has to be 'the glow'.

"Yeah – it's definitely a glow, but it's a blinding glow. We're never going to be able to see after going in there. It's going to burn our retinas!"

"Kaz – it's not going to burn our retinas – it's just very bright – are you coming or staying here?"

Kaz hesitated and looked behind him down the spiky trail to the beach.

"We're going," Kaz muttered through his hood and pushed past Celeste.

Celeste followed closely and as they approached the cave; it was clear that the luminescence was made up of perfectly formed of round or oval rocks of blue and green which lined the cave walls. Peering into the cave, the glowing mineral extended as far as the eye could see. Celeste and Kaz stood at the entrance which was just large enough for them to enter but seemed to narrowed in the distance.

"Are you ready Kaz? Celeste asked.

"Ready? No, I'm never ready, but there's no going back I suppose?"

"No, there's no going back now Kaz – the only way is through the cave. No going back," Celeste said firmly as she led the way from the base of the mountain into its mouth.