The Carnelian Way

8.1

The Crystal Queen left the pier with a lurch. It was a monster of a thing—three-decks high with a deep draft that lurked like an enormous coffin beneath the water, and a trio of red-sailed masts thrusting to the azure sky.

The sounds of the vessel loading had been heard through the keep's walls all night long as carts jolted along the stone jetty and hoists moved up and down the cliffs. Rina had exited Amadore at dawn, red-eyed as she walked through a gate in the sea-facing wall and descended the zig-zag path that cut through the craggy rockface. From where she now stood atop the poop deck, she could just make out Uma, white hair glinting in the sun, amid a small group of Denese in their homespun. Beside them, a cluster of red-robed magisters and about them a semi-circle of guards in their maroon uniform. The figures grew smaller and smaller with each passing moment as the ship sailed away.

A painful lump settled in Rina's throat. Her body was heavy and numb. So she stood with limp arms, motionless in a group of ten other Denese who waved and called final farewells that were lost to the cry of the seagulls and the music of the waves. Each of her companions was young, healthy and beautiful. They radiated hope for a better future that seemed to outweigh any grief for the families they would never see again.

There had been more Denese who boarded with them. Perhaps two dozen. In contrast, they'd not been allowed to say any farewell or permitted to remain in the open. No, they had been marched, a hunch-shouldered procession, into the bowels of the ship. Two of them, including a pock-faced male, had been among those arrested at Rina's home.

Other rebels had fared far worse. Isaac's body now hung from a gibbet, with five other traitors, while Iskra and Pietro lay restrained and sedated deep in the citadel.

Rina closed her eyes in slow blinks. Again and again. Each time she did, the coast shrunk. Now a city she'd never see again. Now a jagged streak. Now a dark line on the skyline, but always dwindling like an unwinding spool of wool until her cheeks were burned and her eyes sea-wary.

At some point there came a curt voice ordering them below. Rina ignored it and was left alone to the briny kiss of the air, and the taste of salt and seaweed. Then, after a time, she felt it. A tug at her chest, and then a thick flow of yellow light. The ship began to vibrate and sails snapped as they suddenly filled, then they shot through the water at double the pace, with nothing but the depths and wind and sky about them.

A wave of exhaustion crashed over her. Reflexively, Rina slammed down the dam gates inside her. Today she'd lost her home and her family—she didn't want to let go of any other part of her.

Once again, the words of a young girl echoed through her mind—If it's so bad, and he takes it, what does that make him?— and she gripped the balustrade tighter.

Her instincts sensed the familiar black eyes before she saw his shadow. Rina had suspected Olav was the reason she'd been allowed to stay. Part of her was grateful because the idea of being confined so far from land in a wooden shell made her insides feel like jelly. She just couldn't go down there. But this mercy wasn't enough for her to forgive him. Perhaps, in another time or place, things could have been different between them and he might have done far more than pepper her with kisses. Goosebumps prickled her skin as her mind chased the thought to a hypothetical conclusion, only to be incinerated by the memory of thrashing limbs, bulging eyes, fingers that clawed at necks until they bled, and rope-choked pleas.

She peered over, pretending to be oblivious to Olav's presence. The water was far, far down, and she wondered if she would survive such a fall—or last long after the landing in that icy, depthless pool. She looked behind her, beyond the foremast, where distant steel clouds reached out to them. They might just find out.

"I'm sorry, Ri, it's time," Olav eventually said.

The words made her stomach clench. After everything that had happened, he'd still let her go down there. Deciding to continue ignoring him, she returned her attention to the water. A sleek grey creature streaked through it, trailing the boat. She leaned further. It looked happy, carefree as it twisted and turned in the ship's wake.

Olav stopped beside her. "It's not the way to go."

"What do you mean?" Rina couldn't keep the venom from her voice. Olav's lips were pressed firmly together, his face stern. Did he really think she would take her life that way? Or the lives of Pietro, Iskra, and an unborn child on such a selfish act?

Before she could say anything scathing, Olav spoke. "The karkhar," he said, and indicated the thing. "They stalk the ships, you know—waiting. If you're lucky, the buggers will swallow you whole."

Rina's mouth dropped. He ignored it and continued.

"The first time I went to Nebia, a group of sailors got drunk. One of them decided to show off and walk along the railing like a bloody acrobat." He scoffed and shook his head. "Didn't take long for him to fall. Luckily—or perhaps not so luckily—Mani and Hecata were full that night. One of the crew was clever enough to throw a rope to him, and somehow the sailor grabbed it. We pulled him up, and..."

Olav paused. A visible quiver ran through him, and he swallowed. "I never heard a scream like that." His eyes were hot coals boring into her as he said, "The demon leapt out of the water." He exhaled shakily, contemplating the ocean. "I don't know how he held on to that rope, but he did. He held on until the end—even after that beast had bitten him in half."

Rina found herself backing away from the edge, an unclean kind of shiver slipping down her spine.

"Are you okay, Ri?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm fine—and don't call me that."

He lifted his hands in supplication. "Whatever you say, but it's time. You need to go below deck."

Her eyes stung from the reflection of the sun, and the wind had whipped the moisture from her skin, leaving it red and raw in the late morning light.

Olav took a step toward her. "We have our orders to care for you, not let you burn to a crisp."

The words caused something to shatter inside her. "Hah! Look after us?" she spat. "Are you going to knee me in the guts too before you march me downstairs?"

Olav coloured. "That's a command, Rina, not a request," he said, pinky and ring fingers twitching just above the pommel of his sword.

Involuntarily, she backstepped as he drew closer. "Please, Ol, no."

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A/N: Thank you again for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and will enjoy the following two parts to the chapter that will be coming soon. 

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Dedicated to ScarlettBlackDaisy. You were one of my first Wattpad friends and such a supportive reader and writer. It has made me smile to learn of the success you have had both on Wattpad and in your career.