Chapter 34 Hakara
Hakara
The Sanguine Sea – the anchor point between Langzu and Pizgonia
Tell your council that the clans of Langzu send the following message: The current trade treaties between Pizgonia and Langzu state that only the finest-quality tea from Pizgonia will be shipped across the anchor to Langzu.
You put tea that was not good into the double oilskin.
The tea contained older, broken leaves and even some particles of dust. What do you take us for?
Why do you treat us with such disrespect when we have paid for the best, sending our hard-earned money through that terrible barrier?
You will restore the money we paid for the tea in full, and we reserve the right to strike medicinal herbs from our agreements if the next shipment is not of fine quality.
Alifra let out a little breathless laugh as she watched Thassir disappear beneath the waves. I pulled, the breath tight in my chest, and she and Dashu scrambled to the chain, putting their filters into place before taking it up behind me.
It was harder without Thassir at my back, his strength seemingly limitless.
But the boat lurched toward the far barrier, the chain drawing taut.
I tried to keep my gaze on that barrier, but I couldn’t help looking at the spot where my arbor had dived into the ocean.
I could feel his presence in my mind, moving farther away and into the depths.
Something flashed in the water, a bright white light that hurt to look at.
I counted in my head as I pulled. We were nearly to the other side.
All I had to do was hold my breath until we could make it into the aether.
Most people tried to avoid aether, and here I was, in desperate need of it.
I could feel each pull seeping away my air, pulling it to my muscles.
My throat spasmed and I clamped down, pressing my tongue to the roof of my mouth.
Not now. Not yet. Not until we were through.
A crashing sound came from the starboard side.
The leviathan broke the surface, Thassir on its back, his wings slick black and dripping, Dashu’s sword half embedded in its flesh.
The beast’s shadow stole what little light we had on deck.
I found my gaze focusing on the extra fins at its sides, the barnacles clinging to its skin.
It was going to fall on the stern.
I yanked on the chain as hard as I could, as fast as I could. Dashu and Alifra must have seen it too, because I heard them grunting from behind me as they put the full force of their weight and effort into getting us out of the leviathan’s path.
It splashed down just behind us, one fin slapping against the stern and tilting the boat dangerously into the air. A stray thought wandered into my mind as I clung to the chain, nearly hanging from it. What was Falin going through below decks?
And then the ship fell back toward the water and I pulled again, my arms burning, my lungs aching. Spots swam in front of my eyes. We landed with a splash, the bow dipping before leveling out again, water sloshing onto the deck.
I focused on the wall of mist before us.
I had to hold my breath until we reached it.
If I let the aether out of me now, we’d be just three mortals trying to haul an entire ship.
We’d never make it. One hand over the next.
I told myself just to get to ten pulls, and then when I’d finished those, coaxed myself into ten more.
What if we made it to the wall without Thassir?
Would he still be able to follow? I felt his presence in my mind, still there, still alive.
Everything in me screamed to take a breath, to suck the sweet air into my lungs, to calm my clenching belly, my tightened throat.
A sense of calm washed over me, my hearing dimming.
My mouth felt stuffed with cloth. I was going to pass out and we were still half a boat-length away from the barrier.
“Hakara!” Dashu called my name as I fell, my fingers still wrapped around the chain. I tried to pull again and found my arms useless. I wouldn’t give in. I couldn’t give in.
My cheek met the wood and still I tried to pull.
A face rose from behind the rail, black hair dripping, wings sodden.
He grasped the side of the boat, grimacing, and then hauled himself back onto the ship.
Without even thinking about it, I took in a sharp breath.
My vision cleared as Thassir strode toward us, Dashu’s sword in his hand, the blade streaked red.
I thought I saw the flicker of a silver flame before I blinked and it was gone.
Suddenly, being on the deck felt like the silliest thing in the world.
I struggled to my feet before he could get to me, taking the chain firmly in my grasp, like I hadn’t been about to pass out at all.
Behind us, the beast let out a long, low sound.
I could barely draw enough breath to speak, but I managed, “It’s still alive?”
Swiftly, Thassir handed the sword back to Dashu and seized the chain. “Take a moment to breathe. I’ll get us to the barrier.”
I lifted my hands from the chain and set them on my knees, trying to balance as Thassir, Alifra, and Dashu yanked at it.
The misty wall rose before us. I plunged a hand into my pouch of red gems, swallowing one more.
A quick glance at the water showed me three eyes, blinking in the surrounding darkness.
Aether took the bow and then it took us. I breathed it in and found my strength again. I stopped counting handholds. Each time Thassir and I worked together, I felt unstoppable, invincible. A by-product of the bond between us, or just of working with an elder god?
Before I could settle into the question, we burst into the light. I heard Dashu and Alifra collapsing to the deck behind me, their breaths rasping. I squinted against the sun, a warm breeze licking at my salt-drenched skin.
Alifra tore the filter from her face, sucking in the fresh ocean air. “Didn’t think I’d ever get to do that again.” She eyed Thassir. “It really is you, isn’t it?”
He let go of the chain and it rattled against the floorboards. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not that elder god.” His black wings shook, water raining onto the deck.
Alifra gave him an odd look. “But you are,” she said slowly.
He glowered at her, and when that didn’t seem to work, he stalked off to the prow. The shoreline of Pizgonia appeared in the distance, a line of gold and green above the darkened ocean.
Falin burst from the hatch. “We made it?” When Dashu nodded, he rushed toward the ship’s wheel. “Unfurl the sails, you idiots, or we’ll crash into the anchor on Pizgonia’s side!”
We all jumped to obey. The ship lurched to the side once the sails were loose, the anchor knocking twice against the hull before we skated past.
Talie emerged next, stretching on the deck and then rolling onto her side in a patch of sunlight, a breeze ruffling the white fur of her belly. I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between her and a regular cat if I’d not already known.
“Yes, yes,” I said, knowing that if I knelt to pet her, she’d bite, “I’m glad you made it through too. Now go make yourself useful and make sure there are no mice aboard.”
She merely yawned.
The shoreline of Pizgonia approached more quickly than I expected, the wind brisk and warm.
The golden line I’d seen from a distance turned out to be a broad sandy beach, strangely shaped trees dotting the land beyond.
Their trunks were wide and squat; the leaves gathered at the top of branches formed almost a geometric pattern.
A city of buildings in red and gold rose above the beach, the architecture oddly square, devoid of the curving tile rooftops I was accustomed to.
It was just as grand as Xiazen, maybe even more so, and I didn’t know anything about it.
This was the first time I actually missed the presence of Sheuan’s cousin, Mull. I would have bet he knew some of the language, even though the continents had been separate for hundreds of years. My gaze slid over my comrades and stopped on Thassir.
Wait.
The gods always knew before I opened my mouth that I spoke Kashani; I’d never run into a god who hadn’t spoken my mother tongue as though born to it. It was one of the gifts the gods were granted – the knowledge and ability to speak any language. I crept toward his position at the prow.
Black feathers rustled as soon as I came within five paces. “You are… staring at me.”
“You can feel that?”
He ignored the question. “What is it you want, Hakara?” He said it lightly, without rancor, but without curiosity either.
“We’re not going to be able to dock without questions, and we can’t answer those questions. Have you been to this city before?” I waved over Dashu, who came at a trot from the other side of the ship. “Gathering information,” I called to him.
“The last time I was here, it was called Gorina,” Thassir said. “City of a Hundred Moons.”
I beckoned Dashu closer. “Is that what your stories say?”
He rubbed his goatee and squinted at Thassir. “My uncle told me Go-reen-a.”
“Well, your uncle was mistaken. It’s Gorina. Something was lost along the line.”
Dashu frowned. Gods below, we didn’t have time for this to devolve into a disagreement about oral histories. “We’ll find out soon enough which of you is correct. Why the epithet?”
Dashu shrugged, letting it go. “The wells and fountains. It’s said there are a hundred of them, and at night, they each reflect the moon.”
“So now we sort of know the city’s name and we know it’s got a lot of fresh water. Helpful.” We had no idea what requirements the place had for foreigners docking at their port, or how they would treat visitors from across the barrier. “Thassir? Do you sense her?”
He scanned the shoreline. “No. She’s stopped shifting. She’s in hiding.”