In deeper waters, p.1
In Deeper Waters, page 1
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To those who feel lost at sea, may you find a safe harbor
1
Tal closed his eyes as he bent over the bow and willed himself not to vomit. Deck bobbing beneath his boots, his belly flipped as he gripped the glossy wood of the ship’s railing with white knuckles.
Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.
Tal hated the sea. He hated this trip. He hated that his older brother would tease him endlessly if he found him retching over the side.
He sucked in a breath through his nose, then gagged. The acrid stench of smoke from the burning derelict floating next to their warship singed his nostrils, and Tal’s grasp tightened as bile bubbled in his gullet.
This was a disaster already. He’d warned his family about the dangers of him leaving the castle and gallivanting around the kingdom. They hadn’t listened.
Opening his eyes, he wiped the ocean spray from his pale face with his sleeve, the fabric soft against his cheeks. He hooked a finger in his collar and tugged, hoping to relieve the pressure at his throat from the gathered fabric. It didn’t work.
He should go below to his bunk in the crew’s quarters and hide until they reached the port. Maybe he could write the queen a letter detailing everything that had gone wrong thus far. Maybe she’d let him come home. He had seen her vacillate when they left the docks the previous day, her usual steely resolve slipping a fraction when he waved from the stern.
“Tally!”
Tal snapped his head up and swayed away from the railing. The high sun threw sparkles on the water, and Tal squinted and lifted his hand to block the piercing light as he searched for the source of the call. His dark hair tangled and fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away only for the wind to push it back.
“I’ve asked you not to call me that.”
His brother Garrett swaggered toward him, the laces of his own shirt unknotted, the collar flung wide open. He moved with the natural pulse of the ship, as at home on the deck as he was in their family castle. He slapped Tal heartily on the back. “Old habits.”
Tal straightened his posture, and though Garrett was seven years older, they almost matched in height.
“Fine,” Garrett said, draping his arm over Tal’s shoulders. “Don’t look so sour. I understand. You’re sixteen and don’t want to be babied by your older siblings.”
The fourth child of five, Tal was accustomed to being teased, but now at sixteen he had a sinking feeling he’d always be coddled by his three older siblings. The trio were all set in their royal roles, while Tal’s remained uncertain. His sister, Isa, was the eldest and next in line to be queen. Garrett was the head of their kingdom’s navy. His other brother, Kest, was a renowned scholar.
Having been sequestered in the castle since he was a boy, Tal lived in their shadows. His coming-of-age tour would be his best chance to grow into his own, but it would be especially difficult if he never managed to arrive at the starting port. He was both anxious and eager to start. Anxious because everything could go wrong, and eager to get it over with. Of course, Garrett had had to stop to investigate a burning boat.
Tal craned his neck to peer toward the smoldering vessel they’d come upon. Attached to their ship by a plank of wood and several ropes, it drifted along their port side. The fires were mostly out. Sails hung limply from the masts, torn and singed—a lonely ghost unmoored and unmanned, haunting the inlet until a storm dashed it on the rocky shores or until it took on water and slowly sank to the depths. He didn’t know why his brother had approached the ship when the crewman spotted it from the crow’s nest. Duty, he guessed. For all of Garrett’s gregariousness, he was staunchly loyal and followed their mother’s edicts to a fault.
The derelict listed dangerously, and shouts erupted from Garrett’s crew. His second-in-command strode over to them, her boot heels clicking, brown hair swinging from a high ponytail.
“Commander,” she said, addressing Garrett, “we’ve found something interesting.” Shay held up a coin between her fingers. Her dark eyes drifted to Tal. “Your Highness.” She bowed her head.
Garrett raised an eyebrow as he plucked the coin from her hand. He flipped it into the air and caught it in his palm, before studying it intently. He grunted, then passed it to Tal. “What do you see?”
“It’s not ours,” Tal said, turning the coin in his fingers. “The stamp is from Ossetia. It’s not uncommon to find currency from bordering countries this close to home.” Tal squinted, running his fingers over the raised edges of the face. “It’s not worn, but the seal isn’t current, either. This shows the previous king’s stamp.”
“Good eye. You’ve been studying.”
Not by choice. Isa was to be married to Ossetia’s prince once Tal and Garrett returned. To prevent an incident, Tal’s tutor had been shoving Ossetia’s history and culture at him constantly. He didn’t appreciate it, since there were other things more pertinent and certainly more interesting to study.
Magic, for one.
“Not newly minted, but not circulated.” Garrett tossed it back to Shay.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“There’s a chest of them.”
Garrett’s eyebrows shot up. “A whole chest of gold? Abandoned? Well, then, this is interesting.”
“There’s more,” Shay said, shifting slightly. Shay was the royal house’s most stalwart soldier. She’d followed Garrett into skirmishes and squalls, protected Tal as a child, and earned a seat at the royal table with her unerring bravery. To see her unsettled twisted Tal’s stomach even more. “There is something you should come see.” Her gaze cut to Tal and she stopped short, her eyes narrowing. “You should come as well, Your Highness.”
Garrett laughed. “Tally was just puking over the side. You think he should board a pitching ship? I don’t think so.”
Shay straightened and gripped the sword at her side. “Of course, Commander. In hindsight, he may be too sensitive for what we’ve found.”
That spiked Tal’s interest more than a piece of pristine gold. He shrugged off Garrett’s heavy arm and stepped forward. “I’m not sensitive. I’m a prince of Harth, same as Garrett, and I will decide what I see and what I don’t.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Shay said, bowing shortly again, her pink lips twisting up into a smile. “You know your limits. I apologize for questioning them.”
Garrett laughed. “Shay, such formality. It’s just Tally. You’ve known him since he was a squalling baby.”
“I believe he’s asked you not to call him that. Several times. Since we left port… yesterday.” Shay’s smile broke forth, wide and playful.
Tal frowned and brushed past them toward the plank between the ships. Other crewmen bustled around the deck and gave Tal a wide berth. They respected Garrett, as he’d been their commander for years, after having trained with most of them when he was a teenager. They didn’t know Tal and didn’t know the boundaries of familiarity. They looked at him, gauging his worth both aboard their ship and as a potential ruler. More than likely they’d heard the rumors, and though Tal was used to others being cautious around him, it still rubbed him the wrong way.
Sickly and spoiled. Young, untested, seasick, naïve, arrogant, magic. He’d heard it all since he stepped on the deck a day ago with Garrett at his side and Isa waving from the dock as they pulled away. Well, they could think those things. Tal would prove them wrong on the negatives. He’d prove them all wrong, even his siblings. And the last word on that list, the forbidden one, was for him and his family to know, no one else.
He stepped onto the plank and grabbed the rope that stretched from their main mast to the derelict’s. As he was about to step across, Shay grabbed his arm and halted him.
“I’ll cross first,” she said, voice low. “I promised the queen I’d protect you, and I can’t do that if you hurry off without me.” She stepped around him on the small plank, all lithe grace and swinging hips. “Follow, young prince.”
Tal scowled at the moniker but bit back a retort. They started to cross, and he squeezed his eyes shut when he glanced down and saw pieces of the wreckage pitching beneath them in the rough seas. Garrett’s hand on his shoulder wasn’t unwelcome then.
“Keep walking,” Garrett said, voice low in his ear. “Don’t look down. That’s it.”
Tal inched across and gladly dropped to the deck of the other ship, even though it lurched beneath his feet far more violently than Garrett’s warship. His earlier queasiness returned. Clenching his jaw, he resisted the urge to clap a hand over his mouth and instead swallowed several times to keep the nausea at bay. He didn’t want to give Garrett any more opportunities for teasing or any reason to send him back across.
With Garrett at his side, he followed Shay to the captain’s quarters, set at the stern beneath the quarterdeck. The glass of the windows had blown out, and bits crunched beneath Tal’s boots.
“Finally! Someone with authority.” Stepping into the captain’s quarters, Tal came face-to-face with a young man. “Well, not you,” he said, addressing Tal. “You.” He nodded to Garrett, standing over Tal’s shoulder. “You’re the commander? I demand you release me.”
Garrett stroked his ginger beard. “You were not wrong, Shay,” he said. “Definitely interesting.”
The boy tapped his foot and crossed his arms over his bare chest. He stood tall and broad shouldered, with reddish-brown hair that flopped over his forehead. Light coming in the broken window cast a kaleidoscope of colors on his pale face, illuminating the honey brown of his eyes and the strange patterned markings that ran the length of his torso. His trousers were too short on his long legs, stopping at his shins. He had thinly boned ankles and pale bare feet with knobby toes. An iron fetter, wrapped snugly around one ankle, was attached to a chain, which was secured to the floor.
“Are you done?” the young man asked, holding his arms out to the sides. Brazen in the face of Tal’s inspection. “As you can see, I’m not a threat.”
“We’ll be the judge of that,” Shay said, moving to block Tal from the young man’s sight. “What happened here?”
He flinched from her and hunched his shoulders near his ears. “What will you believe?”
“That’s not a promising start,” Garrett said. He nodded toward his sailors, who were gathered in the room. “Everyone out. Find him a shirt and boots.” Then he asked the boy, “Do you know where the key is?”
The prisoner shook his head. “The last I saw, it was with the captain.”
“And he’s where?” Garrett asked. The boy pressed his lips shut into a thin line, and Garrett nodded. “That’s what I thought. Well, you heard me,” he addressed the sailors milling about. “A shirt, boots, and an ax. We can at least cut him from the floor before this wreck goes under. Shay, you too. Tally, stay.”
Tal shuffled out of the way as the sailors left to follow Garrett’s commands. He leaned against a large desk in the corner, swallowing a comment about being addressed like a pet. He gripped the furniture as the ship continued to move unsteadily beneath them, taking on water and beginning a slow descent to the depths.
The young man’s gaze darted between Tal and Garrett, his brow furrowed.
Garrett sighed and scrubbed a hand over his short hair. “What’s your name, boy?” He said it in the way he talked to their younger sister when she was upset, the way he used to talk to Tal when he was frightened.
The boy tilted his head to the side. “Athlen.”
“Athlen,” Garrett said, testing out the unusual name on his tongue. “Do you need anything?”
Athlen looked to Tal again and back to Garrett, face scrunched in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Water? Food? Bandages? Obviously, a shirt—”
“Are you being nice to me?”
That was an odd question. “Were they,” Garrett said, gesturing to the cabin, “nice to you?”
Athlen tugged on the chain. “Not particularly, no.”
“We won’t hurt you,” Tal blurted. He prickled at the unfairness of it all. The fetter looked painful; bruises dotted the top of Athlen’s foot, and the chain wasn’t long, trapping him inside the cabin. Eyeing him like he was a danger, Garrett remained silent, pensive, studying the situation with a military eye, but Tal persisted. “We won’t! I promise.”
“And can you make that promise?” Athlen asked. “Or”—he pointed to Garrett—“are those his decisions to make?”
Tal blushed, embarrassed and indignant, and the tightly bound control he held over himself snapped. “I promise.” A gust of hot wind swept across the small cabin, swirling debris and thickening the air like the pressure change before the rumble of an incoming storm, giving weight to Tal’s words. Sparks flitted between Tal’s fingertips, and he hurriedly balled his hands into fists. But the damage had been done.
Athlen whipped his head to stare at Tal, mouth stretching into a small, pleased grin. His cheeks dimpled. “Magic,” he said softly.
Horrified at his slip, Tal froze.
In wonder, Athlen lifted his arm and studied the fine hairs that stood on end, a product of the crackle of Tal’s magic. He took a step toward Tal, awed and unafraid, the chain slithering along the floor behind him. “You’re magic.” He said it with such certainty there was little use in denying it, though Tal tried.
“No.” Tal licked his lips. “I’m not—”
“You’re not?” Athlen squinted. “Are you sure?” Head cocked to the side, he took another step, undeterred.
At a loss, Tal looked to Garrett for assistance.
“That’s close enough.” Garrett’s commanding voice stopped Athlen’s advance but didn’t release Tal from his scrutiny. In fact, Athlen stared, eyebrows drawn, more curious than scared.
Garrett pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“My brother is correct. We will not hurt you, but we’re not releasing you until we know what happened to this ship and where,” Garrett said, holding up the coin and refocusing the conversation, “this came from.”
Athlen turned away from Tal and strode toward Garrett, stopping when the chain jerked tight. “Hey! That’s mine. I found it.”
Garrett raised his eyebrows, his blue eyes glittering. “You found it?”
“I did, and you have no right to take it. It’s shiny and it’s mine.”
“Shiny?” Garrett mouthed, brow furrowed. “Where? A shipwreck? Or was it the captain’s, and you tossed him overboard and claimed it for your own?”
Athlen scoffed. “I didn’t hurt anyone. And I found that chest in the bay, and that makes it mine.”
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that when it comes to chests of royally marked gold. Why are you bound?”
“Of course,” he muttered. He crossed his arms and turned away, refusing to respond.
Despite Garrett’s continued questions, they didn’t learn anything else from Athlen. Minutes dragged by until Shay returned with a shirt and an ax. She tossed the shirt to Athlen, and he stared at it before pulling it over his head.
“Get him free, Shay. Then bring him aboard the War Bird. Tally, come along.”
Tal didn’t have the heart to argue. He’d sealed a promise with magic in front of a prisoner. He’d given himself away. He’d made the mistake his mother had warned him about within the first day of his journey.
Shay hefted the ax, and Tal scurried after Garrett, his head down, and tripped out the door. Garrett put his hand on Tal’s shoulder again as they navigated back to the plank. The ship deck rolled ominously.
Garrett pointed at a skinny sailor with long hair. “Make sure that chest gets over to our ship before this one goes under. Once everyone is back on board, we’ll cut her loose.”
“Aye, Commander.”
“He’ll be your charge,” Garrett said, once back on the War Bird. Tal opened his mouth to protest, but Garrett cut him off. “He’s scared. He needs to be around someone he will see as a peer and not a threat. There’s something off about him. Maybe you can figure that out as well.”
“Wouldn’t Shay be a better choice?”
“No, I trust you can do it.”
Tal swallowed. He dropped his voice. “Sorry, about the magic.”
“It’s all right, Tally. Mother warned me it might be unpredictable, but”—he lifted his gaze and looked around the deck—“keep it a secret. You know what could happen if you don’t.”
Tal nodded. “I know.” He ran a hand through his hair and tugged on the ends. “There are already rumors among the crew. They look at me.”
“There are rumors all over the kingdoms. That doesn’t mean truth, especially if you don’t give them any proof. Understand?”
Cowed, Tal nodded and looked down at his feet. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry your coming-of-age tour has started out unexpectedly. We’ll make up for it once we reach port. And when we get back to the castle for Isa’s wedding, we’ll have a plethora of bawdy stories to share with Kest.”
Tal mustered a smile, which earned him a hearty clap to the back. His stomach churned as he walked to the railing and watched Shay lead the young man across the plank and into the hold, carrying the length of chain still attached to his ankle fetter in her hands. They cut the derelict free and pushed it away from their side, guiding it out of the channel. Garrett’s crew unfurled their ship’s sails, and the War Bird lurched forward, leaving the smoldering ship behind to roam the shoals until it sank.
