Chapter 27 Caspia
Twenty-Seven
Caspia
The ship carrying us from Ozarth to Quentis had no name.
Kos and I were calling it Snail because of the crawling pace at which it crossed the sea.
“I’m bored.” The boy threw a chunk of orange peel over the back of the ship and into the turquoise water. He groaned, popping a piece of peeled fruit into his mouth. “There’s nothing to do.”
“I thought you were learning how to sail from the captain so that when we got to Quentis you could steal your own boat and never see Andreas again.”
The two had gotten into an argument after Andreas had caught Kos rifling through the first mate’s cabin, attempting to steal a brass spotting scope.
Andreas had reprimanded Kos, forcing him to swab the deck with the crew.
As Kos had furiously scrubbed at a stained board, he’d told me about his plan to steal a boat and leave.
Maybe he would run away. But for now, he was trapped on this ship with the rest of us.
We’d been traveling for suns, winding our way along the coastline of Calandra.
It would have been much faster if we had gone straight through the Krisenth Crossing, but the skies had been angry since we left Skanshon, and Andreas hadn’t wanted to risk a storm that might capsize our ship.
Better to take our time than drown.
Last evening, the captain had steered us into a bay to drop anchor as we’d weathered a storm. As lightning had split the sky and thunder boomed, Andreas and I had spent our time in bed, naked bodies entwined while the rain disguised our moans.
Since the moon I asked Andreas to take me to Quentis, I hadn’t seen the vision of his death again.
I hoped that meant I’d made the right choice. That I’d changed his future like I’d changed Kos’s.
I hoped that Emery would forgive me from her place beside the Divine in Gloree.
Vengeance would have to wait. By some luck, my path would eventually cross with the silver-eyed warrior’s. And then, I could have my revenge.
As Kos finished eating his orange, I began peeling my own, breathing in the sweet scent and savoring how it mingled with the salt in the air.
Divine, I’d missed the smell of the sea. It was as close to the scents of home as I’d found since coming to Calandra.
“Are you gonna eat all that?” Kos asked as I kept peeling.
“I might. Or I might find Andreas and share it with him.”
The boy’s lip curled, making me laugh.
“You knew the rules when we boarded the ship. No more stealing.”
“I got a blister from all that scrubbing.” He held up his small hand, showing me his tiny wound. “I was just looking at that spotting scope anyway. I wasn’t gonna take it.”
“Better not let Andreas hear you lie, or he’ll stuff a bar of soap in your mouth again.”
Kos harrumphed and kicked the ship’s wall. He waited until he thought I wasn’t looking before he checked over his shoulder, making sure Andreas wasn’t anywhere close enough to hear.
No stealing. No lying. No leaving.
Andreas had given Kos three simple rules. And like most children, Kos was testing the boundaries of those limits.
He reminded me more and more of Graciella with every passing sun. Together, they’d be terrors. I almost wished she were here so I could see the trouble they’d make.
I ate four slices of the orange, then handed the rest to Kos to finish.
He inhaled it like he did most of his meals. This boy had flourished with decent meals and sleep. His body was beginning to fit his clothes, and his cheeks were no longer hollow.
“What?” he asked, wiping at a dribble of orange juice on his chin.
“Nothing.”
“You stare at me a lot,” he muttered.
“I could say the same for you.” I tapped his nose. “Brave enough to ask me about my eyes yet?”
Kos blushed and looked away.
I’d caught him staring at my eyes countless times since we set sail, but he had yet to ask why they were different. At least he’d stopped giving me wary glances.
Kos stayed quiet, and after a few long moments, I was certain he’d run off to another corner of the ship. But then he spoke, so quietly I barely heard his voice over the noise of the waves. “Why don’t you have starbursts?”
“Because I was not born in Calandra.”
“Then where were you born?”
“On the continent of Kenn. In the country of Nelfinex. In a city named Showe.”
He scrunched up his nose. “There is no Kenn and Nelf…”
“Nelfinex,” I finished.
“There’s no such place.” He scowled. “You’re the one who needs a bar of soap in her mouth for lying.”
I laughed as he stomped away, probably to go find another snack.
Maybe it was better that people didn’t know of Kenn. Maybe life would be simpler if I forgot all about Nelfinex.
Not a single vision I’d had since coming to Calandra had been of home.
I wasn’t returning to Showe, was I? And neither was Xandra.
It hurt, but for her sake, not mine. I was oddly at peace with never returning home. With not becoming Starling.
My ritus had failed, but that didn’t mean I had to stop living.
A yawn tugged at my mouth as I stared over the sea to the shore. In the distance, I spotted mountains of blue and green.
Andreas had told me at breakfast that we were sailing past Genesis. Somewhere beyond those peaks, I hoped my cousin was still alive.
“There you are.” Andreas came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Kos just informed me that you are a liar and I should be getting out a bar of soap.”
I smiled. “I told him I was from Nelfinex. He didn’t believe me.”
Andreas chuckled. “He is a stubborn one, that child. But curious, too. I bet after he ponders it for a day or two, he’ll have a string of questions for you about Kenn. Considering I’ve never heard of your continent, it’s no surprise he hasn’t, either.”
“How is that possible?” I looked up, finding his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m the first to ever voyage to Calandra.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But in all my travels, I’ve never encountered anyone from beyond Calandra. I’ve never read about it or learned about other continents.”
“What about in history books?”
Andreas shook his head. “None. I’ve read my fair share. Not to say something doesn’t exist, but it’s certainly not common knowledge.”
That seemed impossible.
There had to have been other voyagers in the past. Other pirates like Cap willing to test the limits of his ship and crew in the spirit of discovery.
Andreas let me go, moving to stand at my side. He bent at the waist, dropping his elbows to lean on the ship’s wall. His expression turned serious, a look I’d seen countless times.
“All the elfalter in the world for your thoughts.”
“When I was a boy, my mother gave me a children’s book full of myths and legends.
There was one story about a woman. I can’t remember her name now.
But the story goes this woman sailed across the realm, leaving Calandra for a hundred years.
When she finally returned, she brought with her animals unlike any we’d ever seen.
She said they were gifts from a god more powerful than the Eight. ”
The Divine.
“She set these animals free from their cages, and they turned on her, devouring her until nothing remained, not even her bones.”
I shuddered. “Monsters.”
“Vengeance from the Six. The story served as a lesson to young boys and girls to be devout to the gods who rule over Calandra. For they are the true creators of monsters. Of power. We are nothing compared to our gods, and our duty is to bow to their will.”
These gods of his, the Six, sounded like monsters themselves.
Andreas waved it off, shaking his head. “It’s just a children’s tale.”
“What if it isn’t? Either no other person from Kenn has ever set foot in Calandra, or the truth has been hidden away from the people here, history hidden in children’s tales.”
“Except I don’t know why it would be hidden. There’s no reason for it.”
Fear. Fear was a reason.
What if other Quiescents had felt the ritus call them to Calandra? What if they’d shifted like Xandra and slaughtered everything in their wake?
What if they’d become monsters?
Like Emery.
If there was even a chance I might shift if the ritus returned, then Andreas should know the truth. The whole truth, this time.
“There’s something I need to tell you about being Starling. It means more than being royalty.” I took a deep breath. “The Starling are gifted by the Divine. Those of our bloodline go through the rite I told you about.”
“To become the person you’re meant to be.”
“Yes, but it’s more than a mindset or temperament or perspective. We literally change. To be Starling means you can shift.”
He turned to face me, forehead furrowing. “Shift?”
“Shapeshift.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Once we go through our ritus, a Starling can take on the body of any beast.”
Andreas rocked back on his heels.
“My cousin and I left Nelfinex not only to avenge my sister. I felt the call of the ritus. So did Xandra. It called us here, to Calandra, to go through the shift. To become Starling.”
“So you can…” He swept his hand up and down, staring at me in disbelief.
“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t shift. My ritus failed.”
He stared at me, eyes wide.
Was this the limit of what he’d believe about me? First Nelfinex, then the visions. If he could just believe me now, in this one last secret, then there’d be nothing else between us.
Andreas glanced over my head, making sure we were still alone. Then he shifted closer, dropping his voice. “What you are talking about is magic.”
“Magic,” I repeated. “I don’t know that word.”
“It means impossible.”
I gave him a sad smile. “Not for the Starling.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Anyone in your family can become an animal?”
“The Starling only have daughters. The gift is for the blood of women. And once a daughter of the Starling goes through her rite, then yes, she can shift.”
“And coming to Calandra was your rite?”
“Yes. And Xandra’s. But hers didn’t fail. She shifted into a bariwolf and attacked me. The only reason I escaped was because I jumped off a cliff.”
“And into the river,” he murmured. “That’s how I found you.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you wanted to find your cousin. But she could be out there, as a bariwolf.”
My heart ached as I looked toward Genesis. “Or human. She should be able to shift back. If she survived the ritus. Some don’t. There’s also a chance she’s trapped in the monster’s body.”
It was a theory I’d been contemplating ever since I woke up in his cabin. Saying it out loud made it too real. Too devastating.
Andreas leaned on the ship’s wall again, hanging his head as he sighed. “So you can’t shift.”
“No.”
“And if you did?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He pounded a fist on the top rail, standing tall. “If there’s even a slim chance that you might get trapped in a monster’s form, then you can’t shift, Caspia.”
It wasn’t a statement or observation.
It was an order.
“Promise me, Caspia.” He took my face in his hands. “Promise me you won’t shift.”
“You believe me,” I whispered.
He traced a thumb across my cheek. “When have I not?”
I collapsed into his chest, snaking my arms around his waist. “Thank you.”
“Promise me you won’t shift, Caspia. Make your vow.”
“I will not shift.” I leaned away and pressed two fingers to my forehead. “I vow it.”
He closed his eyes, dropping his forehead to mine.
“We’ll be sailing to Roslo. It’s the capital city of Quentis.
The castle there has a library with more books than a person could read in two lifetimes.
Maybe we’ll find something about Kenn in there.
Maybe someone has encountered a Starling before. ”
“I hope so.” For my sake. And Xandra’s. “Maybe I could find something to help Xandra so she can fly home.”
Andreas stood tall, eyes narrowing. “Fly home? You mean become a bird?”
“Yes. Most Starling prefer to shift into the swift. They’re beloved in Nelfinex.”
“A swift?”
I nodded. “They can grow to be half the size of this ship. The females have the most beautiful black feathers. The males are just as striking but are a shade of rich red.”
His face went white. “What you call a swift, we call a crux.”
Crux. I’d heard that word murmured in our travels. First, in Coraness. Then again in Skanshon. But I hadn’t thought enough of it to ask. I’d simply assumed they were another type of monster we didn’t have in Nelfinex, like the bariwolf.
“You have swift in Calandra?” Why hadn’t I seen one yet? Did they live in other kingdoms?
Andreas swallowed hard, rubbing both hands over his face. “Fuck.”
“What?”
“They migrate here once every generation,” Andreas said.
Well, at least that was one mystery explained. The swift did come here to breed.
“And when they come, they kill every living being in their path.”