Chapter 5 #2
As soon as we arrived at the wharf, Reiven made quick work of finding a buyer for the horses and wagon, then had some dockworkers unload our belongings.
They hauled Ash’s worktable and hoards of books onto one ship that gracefully bobbed up and down where it was moored to the dock.
While the two of them were occupied, I stole a moment for myself, stepping carefully onto the worn wooden pier that jutted out over the water.
The ocean expanded before me in an endless blanket of inky blue, pure beauty echoing in the waves that lapped against the dock and the line of ships secured to it.
Whitecaps rolled towards me like messengers running to welcome a sister of the Deep back to her home.
If I just shut my eyes, I could hear them singing, Zephra, it has been too long!
The brine in the air was a soothing balm that urged me to let the cold water sink into my skin, to let it flow through my hair.
A desire for that very sensation sparked in my chest, and when I opened my eyes, I stared down into the water.
Everything I ever wanted, right there. Right in front of me.
All I had to do was jump. And the moment ocean water touched my lungs, I’d be back in my true form.
Just one breath, and I’d slice through the sea with one flick of my tail, never again to be dragged above the surface. Never.
Home. I’m going home.
I moved to dive into the water, but before I even caught air, Reiven snatched my wrist and yanked me backwards. When he touched me, the writhing pain buried inside him buzzed through my skin like the drone of a distant insect swarm without me having to reach for it.
“Don’t even think about it, Blue.”
“I just wanted to dip my hand in. That’s all,” I lied.
He scoffed, but a swell crashing against the dock sent him leaping away from it, and from me.
The salty spray rained down on us, a cool mist that smelled like home.
Reiven, meanwhile, curled his lip and hurried to wipe off some of the saltwater that landed on his face.
He glared at the water, as if it had personally offended him, and his eyes darted about the ocean surrounding us on either side of the dock.
Like he was looking for some kind of escape.
He inched back towards the safety of the wharf.
Is he…No, it can’t be…He can’t possibly be afraid of the ocean.
“Ashkade!” I called. There was no point in chatting with his bodyguard, anyway, and Ash honestly seemed to be a pushover as long as what I asked for seemed reasonable. “May I pretty please dip my hand in the water?”
He gave me a noncommittal nod, and I threw Reiven a victorious smirk as I got on my knees to reach into the gently rolling waves of the sea. The cold made me sigh.
“Reiven,” I said, plastering a smile on my face alongside the acidic honey in my voice. “The sea is nothing to be afraid of.”
“Who said I was afraid of the sea? There’s a difference between not liking something and being afraid.”
“It just takes some getting used to, but at some point, you’ll realize that while it may be dangerous, it’s also beautiful, wild, and soothing at the same time. Kind of like me,” I chuckled.
“I think ‘vicious’ describes both you and the ocean perfectly. And ‘not something I’d be caught dead in.’ Ha.”
While he snickered at his own poor choice of words, I wiggled my fingers about beneath the waves, testing to see if I still had the same sway over the current and the direction of the water as when I lived within it.
My people were one with the sea; we altered the undertow and created whirlpools or waves with nothing but a thought.
And now I manipulated the flow of water as soon as a heavy wave came rolling towards us.
At my silent urge, the rest of the surrounding water joined together until that one wave grew taller and completely overran the dock where Reiven stood, leaving him sputtering and coughing and cursing.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing at how ridiculous he looked, glaring at me like a half-drowned desert cat. Dark hair plastered itself to his head, and his shirt clung to his athletic body. The fake look of pity I attempted to give him fell apart within seconds.
“Reiven—I think this look—is quite the improvement for you.” I almost couldn’t talk through my breathless giggles.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
“Wasn’t me. That was just the ocean bidding—bidding you a hello!” I collapsed into more laughter, but Reiven silenced me by seizing my wrist and yanking me towards the ship. Ash joined us, the plunk of his crutch on the dock unmistakable.
I gazed up at the ship he had commissioned to take us to Ghrysim Isle.
I had been too distracted by the water to even look at it before.
Two huge masts stretched up to the sky, the white fabric of the sails still bound closed by ropes.
The ship herself appeared to my untrained eye to be some kind of merchant vessel, plenty of room for cargo, judging from her size.
Weathered, dark blue paint covered her exterior, broken only by the occasional chip in the wood and the crimson lettering that spelled out the ship’s name—the Maiden of Blue.
I quite liked that.
But my joints locked up as we stepped onto the deck.
Memories, awful memories, swirled around in my mind.
A pitch-black cell in the bowels of a pirate ship.
Echoing, abrasive laughter. Thick clouds of tobacco smoke laced with spirits that choked me until I’d vomit up bile, since I had nothing else in my stomach.
The gashes and burns all over my body, and the wretched metal chains that cut into my wrists.
Calm down. Just get through this journey and you’ll have both your revenge and freedom.
A hand landed heavily on my back, shoving me forward. “Move it.”