Page 22 of Salt in the Seas
Now that she’d seen him this way, she could never see him any other way. She couldn’t go back to remembering him the way Mayvus had made him, even if that was all the others could see.
She sensed a wetness on her cheeks. It pulled her from her hold on the thread binding them, and she let it go willingly.
She sucked in a breath, taking in the familiar stone ceiling above her before rolling to her side. She wiped at the tears still staining her cheeks. She hadn’t gotten the answer she needed. In many ways, her effort to reach Durriken had been a failure.
Even so, she smiled.
CHAPTER 10
Gaeren debated runningacross the center of Bamboo Island. They’d have enough of a head start to lose the ship’s crew, but eventually they’d hit the other coastline, and without a ship of their own, they’d be trapped by the open water. Their best bet was to face the crew head-on and find some other way to get the upper hand.
“They still have to row in. Let’s find a better vantage point.” He led Riveran, Cyrus, and Rildan down the slope to the rocky beach, exchanging dark soil for brown sand and swapping moss and bamboo for seashells and seaweed. They crouched behind several large boulders to assess the possible enemy.
The black ship loomed over them from where it had dropped anchor a few hundred feet away, and a small boat rode inland. Voices drifted across the water with a confident carelessness that left Gaeren on edge. He made a mental note never to travel without his spyglass again.
“Can we get to the cave?” Cyrus asked.
“What cave?” Gaeren wracked his brain for all the times he’d stopped on Bamboo Island, but there had never been a cave.
“There’s a cave hidden down the shore.” Cyrus pointed north, but Riveran slapped his hand back down behind the boulders.
They all shrank back as laughter rose from the beach.
“Sorry,” Cyrus whispered, “but it’s where Sylmar took Aeliana and me. There’s an underground passage that leads to the mainland.”
“Impossible,” Riveran muttered.
“No, he’s right,” Rildan said. “It’s how I first crossed over from Lorvandas to Vendaras and met Emeris. Sylmar must have hidden the passage years ago, then waited in it for my return.”
“There were only four of them,” Gaeren said. “They probably assume we headed inland. We have the element of surprise.”
He peered around the boulders. Two of the boat’s passengers nocked arrows and pointed them in the men’s direction.
“Or not,” Gaeren muttered.
“Don’t make this difficult!” The familiar voice made Gaeren go still.
He squinted, scanning the men at the water’s edge until a bald head full of tattoos gleamed in the Sun’s light.
“Larkos? Sun’s fire, it’s Larkos!” Gaeren stepped out, hands raised.
The older man stood and waved, but the other sailors didn’t lower their weapons.
“Who’s that with you?” Larkos called out.
“All friends,” Gaeren said.
The sailors set down their weapons and hopped from the boat, dragging it in until the hull scraped against sand. Gaeren went to meet them, looking beyond the small boat to the ship bobbing in the sea. Familiar parts stood out to him: the curve of the bow, the height of the stern. The main mast was the right height, but the sail looked far too worn and weathered. The ominous black made his heart sink, but the practical side of him won out.
It had to be done. His ship could never beStarspeedagain.
“How do you like the look ofTo the Deep and Back?” Larkos asked.
A grin tugged at Gaeren’s lips at the name, but the sight of the changes was still too fresh, his pain too raw. “She’ll do.”
“She’ll do?” Larkos snorted as he approached. “You’d better have something nicer to say when you board, both for the sailors, who spent hours disguising her, and for her own pride. She’s been testy ever since we traded down her sails.”
“I can’t blame her,” Gaeren said. “It’s like giving a princess rags to wear. You could’ve chosen something a little less threadbare.”
