Chapter 30
A Dread Tide Rising by Walt Shuler
Well, another Monday has rolled around, but at least there’s a new chapter of ADTR to take your mind off it!
Previously: Molly helped Mac get some insight and everyone agreed on a course of action. Hax and Pax were kicked out of the Talon.
Currently: Kye and Molly take ship for the Fingers.
A Dread Tide Rising is a serialized, pulp-flavored, epic fantasy novel that follows the Talon, a group of mercenaries, thieves, and smugglers, as they come face-to-face with an ancient enemy intent on the destruction of the Rakkian Empire.
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Chapter 30
The ship rocked gently on the swells.
Kye immediately disliked The Ocean’s Daughter. Standing on the dock watching the ship rise and fall with the swells, she couldn’t help comparing it to Sparrowhawk’s lean lines. She was a little longer than the Talon’s ship and wider abeam, but she bore only a single sail. Rather than double hulls, she had a single, deep hull that curved upward toward her aft end. The Ocean’s Daughter was a cargo ship with room for some passengers. That meant she was built to haul as much as her merchant masters could cram into her hold, not for speed.
Kye sighed behind her veil and shifted her weight. At least the constant breeze at the waterfront kept her from stifling. She glanced at Molly, who stood by her side. Both wore the traditional shapeless, gray mourning dresses and long veils that hid their faces. As they approached the gangplank, a gust of wind brought relief, and Kye relaxed into her role.
They were posing as an aunt and her niece, bound for the Fingers after the death of Molly’s husband. It was not uncommon for widows and dependent children to find more affordable living accommodations when bereft of their support and income. While many islands in the empire followed the old tradition that said a woman was the equal owner of her husband’s property, Rakka officially did not recognize women as having the right to own property or businesses. When a woman’s husband (or father, if she was dependent on him) passed away, those unable to make other arrangements often left for islands more friendly to their sex, where they could start a new, albeit more spartan, life.
Molly reached out and gripped her hand as they stepped onto the gangplank, assisted by a sailor in salt-stained clothing. Ahead, a man stood at the rail, hand outstretched to help them onto the deck. The captain, Kye assumed. She took a moment to study his dark, sun-seamed face, thinning white hair, and broad nose. A confident smile told her he had done this countless times.
“Welcome aboard, ladies,” he said as Molly and Kye stepped onto the deck. “My condolences for your loss,” he said, gesturing to their veils. “Your cabin has been prepared for the journey, and you’ll find all your needs accounted for. We should reach the Fingers in three days, weather permitting.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Molly said with a sniffle. “It’s been such a trying time. We only want to put this behind us.”
“Of course, my lady,” the captain said, bowing over Molly’s outstretched hand. With no clear indicator of her previous status - although any widow not of royal blood and not remarried was not of any real legal status - he deferred to her as if she were a member of a noble house. Better safe than sorry, Kye supposed. The man could find himself in very hot water for misstepping with someone with connections, so he would treat them with kid gloves and hold his breath until they were off the ship and safely ashore in the Fingers. No doubt the cabin would be stocked well enough that any excursions above decks would be unlikely.
“Rory, front and center!” the captain shouted. Almost immediately, a young man materialized beside the captain. Probably a few years older than Kye, he bore the nut-brown skin and golden eyes common to those from the Andades and Fillon far to the east.
“Yes, Captain?” he asked, although from the grin he turned on Kye and Molly, he was already well aware of his duties.
“Please escort these ladies to their cabin and help them learn the ship.”
“Aye, sir?” Rory saluted the older man. “Ladies, you follow me?” he asked before moving aft. After spending so much time aboard Sparrowhawk, adjusting to The Ocean’s Daughter was daunting. Not only was she larger overall, but where Sparrowhawk’s steering oar was located, she sported a stack of cabins that looked like an afterthought.
Rory led them up a set of stairs and then into a narrow companionway. Only three doors opened off it. One led to an empty cabin spartanly furnished, while the door at the rear opened onto what could only be the captain’s quarters, judging by the slew of maps, charts, and navigational gear strewn everywhere. Another narrow set of stairs led below. The third door opened onto a small but well-appointed cabin.
“These your quarters?” their guide announced with the same grin on his face. “You comfortable here while sail? You come down to deck for meals?”
It took Kye a moment to realize that Rory was not asking questions. Instead, he ended his sentences with an upward inflection that must be something peculiar to his homeland.
“Dinner is served on the deck?” Molly asked, tone skeptical.
“No, no. Is from, how you say? Galley? But galley is very small? We all line for it on deck?”
“Of course, I understand,” Molly said, laying a hand lightly on his shoulder. “Thank you for your guidance. Please, inform the captain that we’ll be very comfortable here, I’m sure.”
Rory’s grin broadened to a genuine smile. “Of course? I hope for you a pleasant journey?”
“Will we have fair weather?” Molly asked.
Rory waved a negligent hand. “Winter storms in west always mild? It will be a boring voyage?” With that, he bowed and withdrew. Molly closed the cabin door as he departed.
Kye immediately ripped the veil off her face and flung herself into one of the hammocks. “I’ll never get used to wearing these. It’s so hot!” she complained.
Molly removed her veil and adjusted her hair. “That they are. Still, it’s better than being recognized. And with our guise, we won’t be expected to socialize during mealtimes or when we’re on deck. The crew should respect our privacy,” she finished with a small smile.
Kye laughed, but then her expression turned serious. “What’s it like?” she asked.
“What? The Fingers?”
Kye nodded. “I’ve heard of them most of my life, but I’ve never been there.”
Molly paused and thought for a moment. “Many people don’t like them. There are no towering mountains and no tropical forests. No massive cities, either. The islands have their own peculiar beauty, though. They’re low-lying enough that from Hardeshan’s height, you can see all of them laid out below you, like a scattering of gray-green gems against the blue waters.”
“What’s Hardeshan?” Kye wanted to know, eyes distant as she pictured the islands.
“What passes for a mountain in the Fingers,” Molly said with a chuckle. “It’s really nothing more than a hill when you compare it to places like Rom or Rakka’s Sun Mount, but it’s a great view. It’s also home to their largest temple.”
“To the One God?” Kye asked, her lips twisted in distaste.
“Oh, no,” Molly assured her. “They hold to the old ways in the Fingers. They worship Kukai, but pressure is mounting for them to take up the emperor’s god. For now, they try to do both, but their hearts remain with Kukai and Mali.”
The boat lurched under them as sailors unmoored her from the docks. They slowly watched the city fall away as The Ocean’s Daughter moved into the harbor proper. It was strange, Kye thought, to watch the Sun Mount dwindle and yet know the reach of the person who commanded the city extended thousands of miles across land and water beyond. It was a strangely lonely idea.
“How do you stand it?” Kye asked suddenly, breaking the silence.
“What’s that?” Molly replied, stowing her luggage beneath her hammock.
“Leaving him behind. Never being in the same place for long. All the distance between you and Mac all the time.”
Molly’s smile was sad. “It’s never easy, but we have time here and there. And Mac has plans to settle down eventually, find someplace where he can forget about Great Houses and old grudges alike.” She moved to the window and gazed back at the city, now darkened with distance, the Sun Mount towering over everything below like a predator guarding its kill. “We had last night and it was enough.”
Kye lapsed back into silence. What kind of strength did it take for two people to love each other despite only seeing one another in brief moments, months apart? It was beautiful but sad. She wished for a world where lovers did not have to part.
Seeing Kye’s face, Molly laughed. It was a musical sound that somehow brightened up the entire cabin. “Don’t fret, Kye,” she said, stepping toward the girl and putting one hand on her arm. “Mac and I have had more time together than many couples have in their entire relationship, and we’ll have more to come. I know it. And if both lovers hold a joyful image of each other in their hearts, then is it truly sad? Are they even apart?”
Kye nodded but did not reply. Beyond the window, Rakka’s harbor walls were falling away as the ship made for open water and the west.
“When we get to the Fingers, we’ll need transportation. Can you ride?”
Kye blushed. “Not well, but I can at least sit the saddle without falling off.”
Molly chuckled. “That will be good enough. We’ll buy a couple of mules and then head northwest. It will take a few days to reach the village of Pau, and then another half-day to reach your new teacher. My friend values her privacy.”
Kye cocked an eyebrow. “A woman alone so far from the village? Isn’t she worried about raiders or…wolves…or anything?” Kye asked, unsure what threats a lone woman might face in these strange lands, but sure they must exist.
Molly’s chuckle turned into a full-throated laugh. “Astra? Worried about wolves or raiders? They worry about her, more like. Or they should be.” Molly sat in one of the two chairs in the cabin, carefully arranging her skirts around her. “Astra’s not one to be trifled with, I can promise you that. She established wards around her home long ago, and anyone who breaches them receives a rather chilly welcome.”
“She sounds so accomplished,” Kye said, suddenly nervous. This was a world of difference from meeting a weather witch who might be able to offer some guidance. Astra sounded like some spell-caster straight out of the legends.
“You could say that. She spent decades training aspiring weather witches and others with the talent. Once upon a time, she was sought out specifically for her abilities. The odd request still makes its way to her today, even in retirement,” Molly explained.
“What will she teach me?” Kye wondered aloud. It was strange for her to think of herself as someone with power, but she could not deny what she’d done to Holua’s warships. For a moment, she saw shattered wood floating on dark water, before pushing the memory away. She had never asked for this. She had never wanted anything like it.
Sensing the track of her thoughts, Molly tried to reassure her. “She’ll teach you what every magic user must know: how to control yourself. How to use your power without inadvertently hurting others or yourself.” She thought for a moment. “She’ll show you how to tap into that part of yourself when you need it and do wondrous things. And never forget, that power is as much a part of you as your hair or fingernails. It’s natural.”
“But dangerous,” Kye muttered.
“Yes, it can be dangerous,” Molly said with a sad smile. “But so can a hammer or a knife. Even a pretty face can be.”
In the distance, the Sun Mount slowly sank into the waters. A strange sense of loss washed over Kye then. She had left Rakka before, but something about this time was different. She wondered if she would ever return, and if she did, who would she be?
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We get to know Molly more! I see why Mac likes her so much. They make a great team.