“Me too,” Marcus said. “There must be something in common, but who knows?”
“Any ideas?” Prin asked.
“Well, that missing princess from Wren had been on everyone’s minds. But I can’t see how that could be part of it. A mad murderer doesn’t fit in my mind. So, perhaps rival gangs of outlaws?”
His eyes slipped away before she could determine if he had tried to warn her by mentioning Wren, or perhaps he slipped and said something he shouldn’t have. Prin turned her attention to the other passengers in the room. Less than a third of them ate this morning, and her appraisal brought several glares in return, instead of the usual smiles.
A steward walked silently up behind a man dressed in the long loose robes of desert dwellers. When the steward spoke, the man leaped to his feet and spun, ready to fight. After an obvious apology from the passenger, the steward poured more wine.
But even the sailors moving about their duties outside the dining room seemed jumpy. A ship of fear. Sitting in her empty cabin was preferable to the dining room. If the trip took eight or ten more days, all would be on edge, and there might be fighting or worse. A passenger might startle another and when one drew a knife, the other certainly would. Innocent people might die before reaching port. Something needed to be done.
Prin turned to Sara. “I’ve heard that in Indore they serve a dish called gnosis.” At Sara’s startled expression, she continued, “It’s supposed to be soothing and calms people. I was thinking of trying some.”
Sara folded her hands in her lap and said in a pleasant tone, “That’s an excellent idea. Of course, like with any new food, you don’t want to overdo it the first time.”
Prin enjoyed the double-talk that only the two of them understood. She turned away from the table to concentrate and inhaled deeply as if drawing inside her all the calm and goodness on the ship. She forced it to one small section of her mind and held it there firmly while reaching out for more.
She was not really drawing such a thing into her mind, she was using that as a vehicle to focus her magic, and to concentrate the feelings of the calmness she might encounter while sitting on the banks of a small mountain lake in spring, just after the snow melted. The early yellow flowers bloomed, the leaves on trees opened so quickly in the warm sun she could almost see them.
When a soft breeze brushed against her cheek, she could hold no more peace and calm without forgetting some of what was there. She gently cast it into the mental ether, not all at once, but a little with each exhale. She looked around.
It didn’t work. She expected results, however, people were the same. She glanced at Sara, who grinned and then closed her eyes, a slight smile still on her lips as if she understood something Prin didn’t. At a table several steps away, a passenger chuckled. She hadn’t heard that all morning. One of the other women placed a gentle hand on that of her mate. So, it worked gently, but the mood had improved.
Sara said, “I may try some gnosis too. If you like it, I probably will.”
Marcus saw an approaching steward and motioned that he needed service. When the steward arrived, Marcus asked for more wine, and said, “Listen, if you can find something made of meat, not fish, but red meat, I’d be grateful.”
Prin watched him slip a small coin into the pocket of the apron the steward wore. The steward was not supposed to accept tips because his job was to serve all passengers with good service, but if he found the coin in his pocket, what was he to do?
More people, four in all, arrived and found their seats, two at one table, and one at each of others. Soon three more men entered and filled another table. Suddenly the dining room didn’t seem so empty. A card game started at one, now and then a small laugh or chuckle sounded. Not like the first night or the second morning, but better than earlier.
The improved mood of the ship seemed to be catching, with neither Prin nor Sara helping it along with additional gnosis, although when they had the chance to talk in private, both wanted to experiment with the process more. The mood of the ship had gone from that of a dirge to one of pleasantness in the course of a meal. Prin sat in the cabin and expanded her gnosis to cheerful, describing each facet she encountered in her mind and what she did to enhance it.
Words often failed, as they do when talking about magic, but in using examples and comparisons, both Sara and Prin learned and practiced. When they returned to the table where Marcus and Brice were still talking, the mood was so cheerful that a man and woman at another table stood and danced while a short, stocky man sang an upbeat song.
Sara mouthed, “Too much.”
But after all the problems and deaths on the ship, they decided to let the mood continue. The Captain entered the dining room and circulated from table to table, speaking to each. He made his way to their table and said, “I make it a point to speak with my passengers on each voyage, but this has been more than a little unusual. Is there anything me or one of my crew can do to help make your trip better?”
When he was gone, Marcus said, “Cleverly worded. No mention of death or murdered people. Still, that must be a hard job to please people like myself.”
“You?” Prin asked, poking him in the ribs. “You’re easy if they serve enough wine and good food.”
“Wrong. It must be good wine, and food,” he laughed.
Much later, Prin watched the sun sink until it touched the sea and the orb seemed to flatten at the bottom for just a few seconds. Then it fell lower, but her spirit rose. Four of the people hunting her were no longer among the fifty passengers, and that included the most dangerous one of all—the Young Mage.
There were more of them on the ship, she felt sure. The woman the first day who had asked the questions until she thought she eliminated Prin as a possibility was still aboard. Prin avoided her. But there were certainly others. However, as the fourth day arrived, they had observed, hunted, snooped, and questioned everyone, and had found no evidence Hannah was with them, so they relaxed their intensity.
Prin did have one humorous experience as she watched the other passengers. She saw the woman from the first day questioning a male passenger who was probably also hunting Hannah. Each of them was verbally dancing around the other, trying to gain information while giving none about themselves.
By the eighth day, even gnosis magic didn’t seem to lift the mood of the ship. Passengers wanted off the ship. They speculated on the amount of time they would lose in an investigation. Even Prin found herself outside straining her eyes to see land.
The voyage was scheduled to last ten days, so not seeing land on day eight was normal, but frustrating. On day nine, Prin found herself watching the horizon with other passengers, but again there was no land in sight.
The morning of day ten was different. They passed two ships that were probably outbound from Indore, and then a purple smudge appeared on the horizon. By the time they ate breakfast, the smudge had turned into the Blue Mountains standing behind Indore. Somewhere in those mountains was the pass from Wren to Indore that she and Sara had used to flee. In the early afternoon, the harbor came into sight.
Prin said to Sara and Brice, “They can’t keep us passengers aboard.”
Marcus had already told him the crew expected them to release the passengers after the authorities had a record of where to reach them in Indore. Each would expect interviews in the coming days. Later, the stewards went to each table and recorded the location where the authorities of Indore could find them, a task that made the passengers almost giddy.