Chapter Fifty-Three Finlyr
chapter fifty-three
finlyr
To my naked eyes as I stand on the forecastle deck, it is a blot on the horizon.
We’ve been on this journey for weeks, and yet I almost didn’t believe the moment would come.
I hold up the spyglass and watch the sea spray from the Maelstrom, catching the sunlight and creating a rainbow of colours.
I shouldn’t be this close to the bowsprit, but I want to see it first. Above the pit, the spiralling tendrils and branches of a tree.
It seems impossible, a tree above a pit in the middle of the ocean.
It stretches out, yawning over the chasm, bark streaked with vivid colours, new branches shooting from the skin of the old.
The wood is gnarled and knotted at the base, livid growth of fungi and lichen splattering its surface.
I thought I was fungi-fevered the first time I saw it.
It comes upon you impossibly, the great mass churning, a white and clean foam disappearing into the endless void.
My heart lurches, and I try to keep my hands steady.
Even from this distance I can feel the standing waves forming from the upswelling surge.
Soon they will be crashing against the bow stem. The jib sail pulls taut in the wind.
‘What is that?’ Hanan asks.
‘What we came for,’ I say, grimly.
‘No, the tree,’ she says, mesmerised.
‘Impossible, isn’t it?’
‘It reminds me . . .’ She trails off, going into that frustrating dreamlike reverie again. ‘It’s like the Tree of Life at Aistra.’
I feel the shudder pass through each of us.
‘What do you mean?’ Ris asks, steadying the helm.
‘There must be a source of great power beneath the Maelstrom,’ Hanan says, her voice distant. She’s staring fiercely at the tree, wind whipping her streaked silver and black hair. ‘Take root where the sea meets the sky.’ Her eyes light up. ‘It’s here! Paranish, I think it’s really here!’
We don’t have time to question her riddles.
Everything is drawn to the Maelstrom, the water churning, to the dark glass heart of the vortex.
Not many sailors get to look at the Lahon Maelstrom and survive.
I’m the only one who’s dared to look twice.
And to make it to the other side? Unheard of.
I try to push away the memory of the previous voyage, of Larkin.
I reach for Ris, needing to feel her solidity.
She squeezes my hand as if she knows what I’m thinking.
‘We’re doing this together,’ she says.
‘I’ve got you,’ I reassure her.
The deep whirling pit is a blue hole, a deep chasm that looks like the end of the world.
I stare into the jaws of it, my entire being wanting to fall into it.
There’s an unearthliness about it, something unreal.
By turns it undulates and seethes, a drawing in and exhalation like breathing or sometimes screaming.
‘How is it possible?’ Isagani asks, leaning over the balustrade.
We are caught in the strange softness as we stand aloft. Everything on course, smooth sailing, wind at our backs, a peaceful bliss as birds pass through the skies overhead. Nothing to indicate we would be on the edge of our destiny. Currents gently but firmly wrap around the ship.
‘Do you think we can navigate past those roots?’ Ris asks, ever the pragmatist.
We had discussed the steps so many times, but now that we’re here, I think we’re fucked. I know a smuggler’s reputation doesn’t mean much, but I hope I can keep it together.
‘It’s an ancient strangler; those branches are thick beasts,’ Hanan observes.
‘We stick to the plan we discussed,’ I say, addressing them all.
‘Follow the Maelstrom, don’t try to fight it.
It will drag us in and we need to ride it round so we minimise damage to the ship.
We’ll keep using the bilge pump religiously to stop us taking on too much water.
Anyone not needed above gets to the living quarters in the berth deck. ’
‘Fine,’ Ris says, with a nod. The ship is creaking now, trying to stay on course while being seduced towards the centre of the Maelstrom.
Resistance is futile. We are being lulled on the gentle waves into that great pit.
I scramble up to meet Ris at the helm, and we try to keep her steady.
The others are frantically tying down loose necessaries and throwing everything else into the hold.
Even though this is what we came for, it feels as though we’ve been snapped from a reverie, and all is chaos.
‘Steady, crew!’ I shout over the sound of the rushing waters, growing ever louder.
‘We’re going to approach side on and try to meet the whirlpool of the Maelstrom and glide through.
We’re not trying to fight the current here.
It’s going to be rough going, but I trust this ship, and I trust all of you. ’
They’re all listening now, but their eyes stray to the Lahon Maelstrom. The waters foam and bubble, marine life shunted into the twists of the vortex. Fish flail and jump up, only to disappear in a helpless gulp. A creature swallowing everything from below.
The whirlpool pulls us closer to its dark heart, and we stare into the abyss.
‘We have nothing to lose now except our lives.’
Sinigang claws into the deck to steady himself. ‘Well, some of us have been blessed with more than one.’
We all brace on the starboard side as the Maelstrom sweeps us up, leaning into the curve of the swirl. The world tilts and spirals. Like being in bed after too much palm wine. Stomach in knots and arms numb with exhaustion at the helm. Ris’s strong hands over mine.
Screaming. Wait, not from us. Wild yawning.
Deep. Something long dormant finally awakening.
Hanan waves her arms at me. I turn and the tree is moving.
I blink away the salt spray. No, it really is moving.
The branches creak, and it shivers itself awake, vines snaking and looping around itself.
It rustles its leaves: forest greens, autumn golds, and blush reds.
Its colours dazzle and sparkle, stunning and warding us off.
The tree groans. The ship vibrates. Wood calling to wood.
Holy Aistra, it’s like rowing up to someone on a boat of bones.
No wonder the tree almost seems angry at our presence.
We can’t take our eyes off it. It rises up, engulfing the skies and blotting out the sun.
Stretching. She’s a beauty. Almost kraken-like with its tendrils that curl and dance endlessly.
It smashes against the water, brutal blows that ricochet and rock the ship.
The branches attack us with such ferocity, we’re deafened by it.
The ship pitches hard, and Ris is tossed from my side, landing with a sickening crunch against the mast. I yell for her, trying desperately to reach her, but the ship is still unstable.
I turn my attention to the helm, where the undead Askew and Pearl were bodying.
They’re nowhere to be found, and in their place a pile of bones and viscera rolls around the deck.
Their remains are joined by their fellow former crewmates and I recognise Big Red’s crimson britches, still hanging on to a pelvis.
The skeletons rattle around the deck, knocking everything loose and acting as perfect obstacles for us remaining crew as we try to stay steady on our feet.
Hanan grasps Raina close, back in her trusty sling. Sinigang peeks from the opening of Isagani’s top as the poor thing grips Biba’s hand.
Fuck. It’s time to fly or die.
I scream as we go down into the abyss. I’ll confess I also piss myself.
The water is a shock to the system. It clenches my heart and my throat and Paranish, I don’t even know if we can all swim.
Saltswept goes under slowly, like dropping a pebble in a lake.
It’s so smooth, a gentle caress after the noise and chaos.
Air. I have to have air. I don’t even see the others.
I’m flailing, swimming, treading water frantically.
I have to slow down. You know where’s the worst place to have a panic attack?
Underwater. At least the cold soothes my anxiety, cooling me down.
I kick and pump my arms. But which way is up?
I follow the light, which is usually a good shout.
Unless it’s a trick, false light reflected in a cave.
I’ll take my chances. Either I’ll find the surface, or I won’t. If there even is a surface down here.
It is a light, but not sunlight. It pulses, and I startle back.
Last thing I need is to get stung by a jelly.
My body itches and swells just thinking about it.
The light pulses again, radiant. Then I see Saltswept.
Oh, my love, you were a treasure. She’s dashed to bits, no good but for scuttling.
She’s already disappearing from view, silt and debris obscuring my last look at her.
Fool. Forget the ship, where in brine are your family?
The light fizzles out, just for a moment.
Then it sighs awake again, and I follow it, a man on his last lungful of air.
I’ve trained my lungs but they’re burning, involuntarily trying to choke down water.
I reach out and feel flesh. It’s Hanan, hair around her like a halo.
She pulls me closer and – kisses me. Wait, it’s more explosive.
She pushes air insistently into my mouth.
Paranish, is she helping me breathe? Now that I have something in the keg, I see she’s holding Biba and Raina, although the kids look passed out.
Are they breathing? Fuck, we have to get them breathing.
I try to prise them away, but Hanan shakes her head.
She is holding Biba’s hand, and their palms are glowing.
Raina’s face shines like bioluminescence.
It’s like they are clutching the sun between them.
My lungs are still burning, but it’s a dull ache.
As if the pain is distant, nothing to do with me.
Then I see Biba is asleep. There’s something happening here I don’t understand.
A powerful magic beyond anything I’ve seen.
I won’t question it. Just get us out of here.
I try to speak and get salt water for my trouble. But Hanan understands me. Where are the others?
She drags us, an awkward bundle of limbs floating together.
I see Isagani and Sinigang struggling with Ris’s unmoving body.
The otter-cat yowls fiercely at us. How can he do that underwater?
He swims quickly over, and we haul together.
Hanan isn’t using her eyes, but something else to guide us.
She moves us with purpose and Sinigang follows confidently.
I gasp monstrously into the air pocket. Breathing here for the first time feels like being reborn, like I’m being eaten from the inside out.
Everything hurts, and I think I’m dying.
We flop onto the hard surface. It could be rock, or the queen’s own bed for all I know.
All I care is that there is oxygen, and my limbs feel like the weight of Paranish is crushing them.
Eventually I crawl towards the other wet bodies, feeling and counting with my hands before my eyes.
Wet matted fur. Lean strong leg. Soft doughy arms. Slender bony wrist. Cold smooth face.
My crew. I scramble to my knees, dragging myself over to her.
‘Ris, can you hear me?’
Her lips are the colour of the ocean. She isn’t breathing. Her heart flutters, barely there. I pinch her nose and breathe air into her lungs.
‘You need to compress her chest, like this,’ Hanan says, moving to my side. She demonstrates, interweaving her fingers and miming pushing down on her chest. It’s deeper than I expected.
‘Continuous motions, like this.’
‘What if I break a rib?’
‘She’s already beat up from that fall,’ Isagani says quietly, voice so raspy I don’t recognise it for a moment.
‘What if you save her life?’ Hanan says, looking into my eyes.
We all sit panting, no one daring to move or look away. I push down hard on Ris’s chest. Three short sharp compressions and a silent hope, over and over again. Please don’t leave. Please don’t leave. Please don’t leave.