Not daring to believe, yet knowing it was somehow true, Jherek placed his hand on the sea wyrm's broad head. The scales felt slippery' and solid and a buzzing filled his palm. After a moment, the sea wyrm wrapped its coils around Jherek and Sabyna. The young sailor moved quickly, aware of the sea zombie heads that broke the surface around them.
He pushed Sabyna onto the sea wyrm's neck behind its head where the dorsal fin was missing. He slid on behind her, wrapping his arms around her and his legs around the creature's thick torso.
The sea wyrm lifted its head clear of the ocean, gazing back at Jherek expectantly.
"The ship," the young sailor said, hoping he wasn't wrong.
The sea wyrm's body undulated and sent them speeding through the water. Jherek held Sabyna tightly. The creature easily avoided the bobbing zombie heads that gnashed their jaws in frustration and reached for them as they passed. The sea wyrm swam unerringly for Azure Dagger, overtaking it with ease.
As he got closer, Sabyna became dead weight in Jherek's arms. Spray from the sea wyrm staying so close to the surface blew back over them. It was cold and salty and stung his nose and eyes. The young sailor watched a vein throb slowly on the side of the ship's mage's neck and took heart in that. As long as she lived, there was hope.
Azure. Dagger's crew pointed at the sea wyrm as it swam along the port side. Two men hung from the prow, cutting away the net the drowned ones had used to set their trap and catch the fast-moving caravel. Once it had caught onto the prow, they'd climbed it to attempt boarding the ship.
Glawinn and Azla stood at the port side railing. The pirate queen ordered a longboat put over the side. It was a dangerous move. If it got too low and hit the water, it could be pushed back to smash a hole in the hull. Glawinn and two other sailors manned the boat as it swayed unsteadily down from the cargo arm.
The sea wyrm swam for the longboat, getting alongside it as if it was an everyday thing. It lifted its neck from the water and put Jherek and Sabyna closer to the longboat. Holding Sabyna in his arms, Jherek passed her up to the paladin.
"I've got her, young warrior," the paladin said. "Climb on up."
Glawinn sat cautiously, holding Sabyna tenderly. He inspected her wounds.
Jherek caught hold of the longboat and pulled himself inside. He gazed back down at the sea wyrm, still not believing what had happened. The creature looked back up at him and flared its head fins again.
Thank you," the young sailor said.
The sea wyrm gave a trumpeting call, then dived beneath the waves.
Jherek turned his attention to Sabyna.
Pacys swam across the Dukar Quarter in Myth Nantar as fast as he could. His heart still pounded from the dream that had awakened him. He'd slept in the Dukar Academy room Qos had offered him. The seaweed bed had proven surprisingly comfortable and, despite his excitement, when he'd lain down, he'd had no problem sleeping. Until this morning.
He stopped at the coral in the courtyard near Maalim's Walk where he and Qos usually met. The storm giant was already there, or perhaps the Green Dukar Paragon had never left.
Pacys tried to keep his voice calm. "Grand Savant Qos."
The storm giant looked up.
"I have to go," the old bard said.
"No-there are things not yet done."
Pacys felt frantic. "You've got to understand, this is about the boy, Jherek."
"The one you believe to be the hero of your song?" Qos nodded. "I know."
"The girl he loves-"
"— lies dying," Qos said. "Truly, Master Pacys, I do know these things. I keep watch over a lot of currents at this time. I also know a huge army of drowned ones marches on Eadraal."
"I must go to the boy. He's on the verge of giving up."
"Your place is here," the storm giant said, his voice holding a note of warning. "There are parts that have to be played yet, and you need to be ready to play yours. You could be called upon to open the Great Barrier. When that time comes, we'll have little time."
"You can open the Great Barrier."
Qos's emerald eyes blazed with angry impatience and he said, "If I could open the Great Barrier, you wouldn't be here."
The revelation stunned Pacys into silence for a moment.
"You can't open the Great Barrier?"
"No," the giant said.
"Why?"
"Because it was my decision to close it," Qos answered. "I can allow others in, but I can't return Myth Nan tar to Seros. The prophecies about the Taker creating a reunion of the peoples of Seros must come to pass first. That's the price I paid for salvaging what was left of the City of Destinies. If events don't go as I hope, if you aren't able to open the Great Barrier, Myth Nantar may never rise again."
Pacys stood mute, feeling the pressure of the depths above him for the first time since he'd descended into Seros.
"That's why the boy must wait," Qos said patiently. "Everything must come in its own time."
"He may break before I reach him," Pacys said. "He's that close to hopelessness."
"Master Pacys, we all are. We must each hold to our individual strengths just a little longer."
"Is she going to be all right?" Jherek asked.
He stared at Sabyna's limp form lying on the bed in her private quarters aboard Azure Dagger. She looked so small and pale.
Sabyna's wounds had been cleaned and tended, but they were inflamed and leaked pus. Glawinn had attempted to cure them with his paladin's ability, and Arthoris had tried a healing potion. In both instances some of Sabyna's strength and color had returned for a short time only to dwindle away again. She hadn't regained consciousness.
"I don't know, young warrior," Glawinn said. Kneeling by the bed, he took a compress from a small water pitcher, folded it, and tenderly laid it over her head. The bite of the undead can be toxic, carrying diseases even advanced healers know little of. Her fate is in stronger hands than we have aboard this ship."
"We'll find a priest when we put into Agenais," Jherek said. "Even-thing will be all right then, won't it?"
Glawinn hesitated, then said, "Mayhap." He took the compress from her head and wet it again. "The main thing is to keep her fever down, give her body a chance to heal itself. Even then, the battle she fights is a draining one."
Jherek felt so helpless and empty inside. "It's my fault," he said hoarsely "If I had not loved her, she would not have been cursed by my ill luck."
"No." Glawinn said gruffly. "I'll have none of that kind of talk in here. The girl may not be in her right mind now, but I've seen people like this come back and know every word that was spoken around them. If you're going to stay here with her, you're going to speak positively. Do you understand me?"
Jherek met the older man's gaze and said, "Help me. Glawinn, I can't be this strong."
Glawinn put the compress back on Sabyna's head. "Yes you can, young warrior," he said. "You'll be as strong as you need to be, whether to hang on or let go. You'll see it done because that's how you are. It's the only way you can be."
Jherek clenched his hands into fists, hating the helpless feeling that filled him. "What do I need to do? Tell me and I swear it will be done."
"Believe."
"In what?"
"I can't tell you."
Jherek looked at the small, pale form on the bed and begged, "Give me something to believe in."
"I can't. You'll have to find it within yourself."
Jherek knelt there beside the bed and searched his heart. He reached out to Ilmater the Crying God, the god he'd rejected months ago. He prayed the way he used to, but there was no comfort.
Sabyna's breathing remained ragged.
"Everyone's dead," Azla announced, looking through the spyglass she held.