On the Deep Waters

Chapter Four

Solomon felt sick.

It was difficult to pin down an exact reason why; it was more like a vast collection of reasons. Kit had gone into the hold; he hadn't come up on their side of the side; there was a boy (about the same age Solomon had been when eh'd been taken) lying bleeding at his feet while the other two people screamed and cried. The mage they'd found—a woman with bronze skin, dark hair, grey eyes, and burns on her forearms—was silent and still. There was blood coming out of her nose and ears, and her hands were covered in blisters and blackened skins. It made Solomon wince just to look at her, so he tried not to. Instead he scanned the makeshift caravan of boats as they made their way back to the harbor.

It took him some time, but he finally found Kit. The man was on another boat, still staring back where the ship had been. Solomon would have tried to get his attention, but he felt disconnected. Out of place. He hadn't felt that way in a long time, but he still remembered the feeling. He tried to breathe. It was harder than he'd expected.

Suspicion clawed at his mind. He tried to push it down. That was harder than he'd expected, too.

It was pandemonium when they arrived on-shore. A large crowd had gathered, including city guards and other officials. Nyoto was there, too, though she didn't seem to notice Solomon's arrival. She was staring at where the ship had been. "Transportation vessel, right?" she asked as he approached. "I thought I recognized it from port. How many survivors?"

"Five. Do you know..." Something touched Solomon's arm; he jumped away from the contact, realizing too late that it was Kit. "Damn it...are you okay?"

Kit nodded. He was still dripping wet, though his hair was starting to dry. "Nimah?" he asked.

"I don't..." Solomon looked around. It looked like she was comforting one of the three people they'd found in the captain's office. "Over there. She's okay. That was really stupid of you."

Kit just shrugged. Solomon almost wanted to hit him for being so nonchalant. "Do you know what happened?" he asked. When Solomon shook his head, he said, "I'm going to see if she knows what happened. That was really bad."

It was really bad.

Solomon wasn't sure he wanted to know. His heart was still trying to push its way out of his chest. He wanted to walk away from the situation, pretend it didn't happen, and just move on with his life. But he knew it wasn't going to be that simple. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about things if he didn't know what had really happened.

Especially since Kasib had boarded a transportation vessel not too long ago.

Solomon trailed after Kit. He caught sight of the burned mage as they walked over. It didn't look like she was conscious; he couldn't tell if she was still breathing. He forced himself to look away and to instead focus on the woman Nimah was speaking to. She was the only one who didn't seem injured; there was blood splattered on her face and clothes, but he didn't think it was hers. Someone probably would have been seeing to her if it was. "...she told us to stay there and stay down," the woman said. Her voice was shaking; so was her body. "That they would get us somewhere safe...I didn't think they could do it. Are they okay?"

"I don't know." Nimah glanced up at Solomon with a questioning look. Solomon thought back to the female mage lying silent and still, her blisters cracking and bleeding, and shrugged. It was a lie, but he thought it would be best if the other passenger didn't know for now. "What else can you tell me about the attackers?"

"They had a flag. It was...green, I think, with some kind of silver design..."

Solomon's heart felt like it had stopped beating.