Chapter Seventeen #3
Ree lifted up a few branches, imitating her. “How will we know which way is home?”
Very good question. She had no idea which direction the kraken flung them, not to mention how far.
“Once we figure out where we are … and once we have our boat back … and once she’s seaworthy again…
” She remembered clearly the sound of the sails ripping as they were lifted out of the sea.
She didn’t know what other damage Silver had sustained, but if she had capsized …
She hoped the mast was intact. And the hull.
Oh my sweet Silver. “Once we have a seaworthy craft, I can navigate by the stars.”
“Ooh, that’s amazing!” Ree said, completely missing all of the conditionals that she’d just listed. “Will you teach me how? You said you would.”
“I’d be happy to.”
“Yay!”
Marin put her hands on her hips and stared out at the water and tried not to crumple from the weight of all the unknowns and what-ifs.
She was the captain; she had to appear strong.
Just take it one problem at a time. There was no reason to assume the worst. For all she knew, the boat was beached around the bend, they were just a few miles from Alyssium, and everything would be fine.
Simply because she didn’t recognize the flora or the fauna and the temperature was a bit too warm for this time of year in the central islands didn’t mean they were actually far away from anywhere she knew.
“Let’s see if this island is inhabited. Maybe there’s a village, and we won’t need to start our own fire. ”
The beach was empty, but it might not be a deserted island. For all she knew, there was a lovely inn with a tavern that had a roaring fire and lots of soup. And pie. Don’t forget pie. Also, there could be a friendly resident with a spare boat.
She still did have the ruby.
No, that’s for my parents.
She’d figure out an alternative. Offer to work. Make a delivery. Transport whomever or whatever wherever. At any rate, if there was a village, then there would be someone who knew where they were, which would be a start.
“Good idea,” Dax said.
Yes. Yes, it was. A sensible, non-panicky idea.
Marin looked out at the water, wishing she could tell Perri that they were going to search around the island a bit but would be back—he was already gone.
Hopefully he had an idea which way to swim.
He could have seen which direction the storm had flung her boat.
She could hope. “Ready?” she said to Dax and Ree.
“One minute,” Ree said. He waddled himself up to the tree line and sank his roots into the ground with a sigh. He then pulled himself out, bringing a nice wad of it with him to hold in his roots. “Okay, ready.”
Together, they ventured between the trees. The green leafy mice chittered above them. Marin thought about taking Dax’s hand. She wanted to. She eyed it, by his side, unheld. Focus on surviving, she told herself.
Every once in a while, she thought she caught him looking at her too.
The ground between the trees was soft as moss and covered in a blanket of pale green clover dotted with tiny white star-shaped flowers.
It smelled sweet and sharp, like fresh earth and oranges.
It didn’t help her narrow down where they were.
The scent wasn’t familiar, and she’d never seen ground cover like this. She tried not to let that worry her.
They came out from the line of trees into a wide clearing, and they halted.
In the center of the clearing was a creature.
It was … the word that popped into her head was round.
Very round. As blubbery as a seal. And covered in white feathery fur.
It reminded of her a chinchilla or a fat rabbit, except much, much larger, as tall as the trees and equally as wide, with antlers—massive elk-like antlers—on top of its head.
She’d heard of a creature like this; she just hadn’t thought they actually existed.
“Whoa,” Dax breathed.
“What is it?” Ree asked.
“It’s called a marmoose,” Marin said in a hushed voice. “Because it’s like a marmot but with moose antlers. A really, really large marmot.” She had no idea they were this large. She’d never seen one in person before.
“There’s a song about them, a children’s song,” Dax said. He hummed a little tune.
Marin recognized the melody. “I know that as the winged cat song.” She sang lightly, “Fly to me, dear kitty, for you are oh so pretty…”
“One of those tunes that’s been repurposed across different cultures.
It’s also an alphabet song. But the original version, at least as far back as the historical record goes on this particular piece, was a lullaby.
A sorcerer had to leave her daughter—the song doesn’t say why—but she didn’t want to leave her daughter alone, so she created a marmoose to comfort her and take care of her.
Honestly, I assumed they were mythical.”
The marmoose hadn’t noticed them yet. It lazily reached out a paw and scooped up a wad of grass and shoved it into its mouth. It chewed slowly, its wide cheeks puffed out with the grass, which only made it look more round and squishable.
“The song is said to have originated on an island called Picina,” Dax said.
She didn’t recognize the name, which wasn’t a great sign. “Which is where?”
“Northwest of Alyssium. Very far northwest.”
“The storm couldn’t have blown us ‘very far,’” Ree said stoutly.
It had been a magic storm. Marin wasn’t sure there were any rules about what it could and couldn’t do, especially since Dax had said the lightning kraken deliberately threw them.
Such a being could have tremendous strength.
She didn’t say any of that out loud, though.
Perhaps this marmoose had migrated from its home to someplace more conveniently located?
Dax walked forward into the clearing.