34. Chapter Thirty-Four #2
We stand there in silence and watch the curtain-like opening in front of us grow taller.
Grim shouts commands at the crew, navigating them towards it.
The wall opens up like a giant mouth, its jaw widening like a hungry beast in anticipation of its next meal.
We’re about to pass through, and still can’t see what lies beyond.
I cannot find any certainty in the emptiness that awaits on the other side of the wall.
“Sable?”
I hold my breath.
“Yes?”
Only a few more seconds. The Noctis glides through the water, aiming at the opening and groaning under the strong current that seems to work against us now.
“When all of this is over, and the sea finally claims me.” I begin, my voice watering as the light cast by the moon begins to fade. “Will you stay?”
Sable takes one hand off the wheel. My heart skips a beat as he threads his fingers through mine, skin against skin.
“I told you already,” he says, squeezing my hand gently. “The moon and the tide.”
At that moment, the figurehead at the bowsprit passes the opening. The sound changes instantly, the open air replaced by a deeper echo as the wall begins to swallow us. The roar of the waves is replaced by vast, hollow quiet that makes every sound carry further than it should.
The formation opens around us, so large that the ceiling is lost to darkness, the surface arching overhead in a curve I cannot see the end of.
Along the walls, corals cling to the rock in patterns that make them look like they’ve been carefully placed there instead of naturally growing.
Their colors are muted, pale greens, deep violets, and pink.
Plants grow in them too, their leaves and vines swaying where the water brushes them and the wind breathes into them.
The crew falls silent. Even the ship falls into silence, her timbers creaking less as she glides through the calmer waters.
The recognition I felt earlier now settles in my bones, wraps around my spine, and finally, hums beneath my ribs. Whatever lies beyond this passage was never meant for ships like the Noctis, never meant for pirates, but it lets us pass through.
Because it was meant for me.
“Easy,” Sable says, quieter now, though his voice still carries far and echoes against the walls. “Keep her centered.”
“Risa?” He asks, his voice nothing more than a whisper.
“Yes?” I ask, in complete awe of the scenery that unfolds around us.
“You’re squeezing my hand.” He says, his mouth curving into an almost smile. “I would like to take over the wheel again, if you will allow me.”
“Oh.” I let go of his hand, and only now realize how terribly tight I squeezed it. I rub my forehead with the back of my hand, wiping away the sweat that has gathered there.
Grim steps closer to the helm, lowering his voice. There’s still tension between the two, though I know that he’d follow Sable into the abyss if he asked him to. Perhaps that is precisely what he just did.
“Nightglass reports no end in sight, Cap.”
“The glim?”
“Pushing forward.”
The Noctis moves deeper into the cave, the corals around us wet and glistening as we pass. One by one, lanterns are being lit. Lark hurries across the deck with a candle in his hand, and slowly, the Noctis lights up like a sky full of golden stars. We are prepared.
As Sable grips the wheel with his other hand again, his shoulders tense and then loosen. His shadow is there, not completely, but almost. From what his shadow told me, I know what it costs him, the pain he must be in, and the fact that I cannot help him yet makes me feel sick.
“Captain, sir.” Lark appears in front of the helm, his chest heaving from running across the ship. Alongside his candle, he has an additional lantern in his hand opposite.
“Yes, sailor?”
“The crew insists that you have this lantern at the helm.”
“I told you already, I’d rather have you—“
“If you don’t take it,” he interrupts him and widens his stance, “we’ll raise mutiny.”
Sable raises one brow, a smile tugging at his lips. Lark is brave for speaking up against his captain like that.
“Well, in that case,” Pride flashes across his face. “You’d better place it here, Lark. Don’t want to risk a mutiny at the end of the fucking world.”
He nods and hurries up the stairs, then places the glowing lantern at his feet. He glances at the captain’s shadow, only for a moment, before he straightens and waits for Sable to speak.
“Rest now, Lark. We’re out of the Sea of Dreams. You can sleep.”
Now that he mentions it, my limbs feel heavy, my muscles sore. I yawn. I haven’t properly slept for weeks.
“You too, Risa,” Sable adds, as if reading my thoughts.
His hand slides around my wrist before I can step back.
“Not in the orlop. Take my cabin.”
“But—”
His jaw tightens, his top lip twitching once as his eyes lock on mine.
“This is an order.”
My mouth opens. For a heartbeat, I am certain that I will fight him on this.
But one look at his face makes the protest stall somewhere between my lungs and my throat.
His eyes swirl like smoke in a glass sphere, an inner storm, glistening on the surface like the faint flashes of lightning amongst the clouds. His turn to compel me.
I close my mouth again.
“Okay,” I whisper instead and give a single nod.
His eyes linger on me as I make my way to his cabin. The last thing I see before closing the corridor door is the cave widening around us instead of closing in, and the water carrying us deeper into something ancient and unknown.