The Wicked House of Caroline

She had to go back to Kadmium to find the late Great Oracle’s writings.

When the words left her mouth, Laurence frowned at once. “You can go back to Kadmium once I retake my throne. You are not to go galivanting there while the enemy has control of the capital.”

“Brother, I’m not going to galivant into the capital, announcing my presence to the entire city like a fool!” She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Laurence underestimated her. I’m going to sneak in, obviously.

“You can’t sneak in, either.”

She froze in her seat, the smugness in her eyes dimming. How did he know? Beks remained calm and didn’t change her expression. “There must be something important in the late Great Oracle’s writing that she wanted to keep from the Temple. All the writings and correspondence of oracles are supposed to be archived at the temple. It’s simply telling that the late Great Oracle didn’t give them her writing.”

“I know they must be important, but you can go and find the writings once we retake the kingdom,” Laurence told her in a stern voice. “As far as I know, no one else but me remains who knows of the writing. I also don’t believe anyone else suspects that they had been hidden before she left to die at the Great Temple. They are safe.”

“But she stayed at the Hall of Eloquence, which had been renovated after her death and where the new oracle stayed,” Beks told him.

Laurence shook his head. “The Hall of Eloquence had structural renovations to improve its infrastructure to modernize it, but Mother didn’t change much else. Many of the rooms haven’t changed. And if the writings were so easily found, the new oracle would’ve found them already. When she stayed there, she didn’t do much, let alone explore the numerous libraries and studies.”

Beks narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re the only one who knows that the writings are there? What about the late Great Oracle’s attendants or paladins?”

“If they knew about it, they would’ve brought them up to the Temple and the Temple would’ve sent someone to find them. It’s been over twenty-four years and it’s as if they’d forgotten she spent most of the end of her life in Kadmium.”

Beks took a deep breath. Since they didn’t know where the writings were, let alone if they really existed, finding them would be time consuming and draw a lot of attention. If she tried to sneak into the capital, she’d need to also sneak into the royal grounds, into the Hall of Eloquence, and avoid all the royal guards and staff while she searched. Not to mention that she couldn’t stay in the Hall of Eloquence indefinitely. She would need to sneak out, which would require avoiding the guards and staff a second time.

Who knew how many times she’d need to sneak into the guest manor before she even grazed the late Great Oracle’s writings.

It was too much work and she didn’t have such stealth to investigate without being caught. Beks frowned, feeling that familiar disappointment and irritation at herself for not being capable enough.

“You’re right.”

“I know.” Beks shot him an annoyed look, but Laurence wasn’t bothered. “Beks, I also want you to find the writing and discover what she didn’t want the Temple to find out, but when it is safer to do so.”

Beks furrowed her brows. “You really suspect that something is wrong with the Temple?”

“You were the one who reminded me that the clerics were only pretending to save him. In truth, they were just there to waste time and let me die,” he said, matter-of-fact. “Even if the new oracle had something to do with it, the Temple wouldn’t allow it to happen if it didn’t in some way benefit them.” He paused and pursed his lips as he narrowed his eyes. He looked out towards the calm sea before them. “To find the truth, you must first identify who has benefited the most. Not just as an immediate consequence, but in the long term. After perhaps generations. The Temple is an ancient institution, and one that has survived the rise and fall of empires all around them. Even Langshe, which controls half the continent, is not as old as the Temple.

“And despite my, or any ruler’s, best intentions for our people and land, I have to acknowledge that a country cannot endure for so long without having done terrible things to ensure its survival.” He looked at Beks with conjecture. “How can the Temple be any different?”

She took a deep breath and lowered her head. She gave him a solemn nod. The late Queen was a good example; she had killed her own brothers for power, but that was a price that the current kingdom’s peace and recovery paid. Then there was the Third Consort.

That didn’t count the families attached to the Temple.

“It is disconcerting that there are families like the Adjutors who wield influence and have rank in the kingdom, but in actuality, serve the Temple,” she said in a low voice.

“That can only mean that they are receiving a benefit only the Temple can give them.”

She nodded and lowered her eyes. “I will continue to read histories of the oracles and make a comprehensive list of the beneficiaries of their prophecies.”

“Scholars may spend their entire lives studying a single oracle, but I believe you will find even the most subtle connection,” Laurence told her.

Beks took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I hope that I will live up to your expectations.”

Beside her, the King gave her a thoughtful look and reached out to touch the top of her head in the same way she often touched the tops of Thad and Wrath’s head. Not as a monarch whom she served, but as an older sibling showing his affection, appreciation, and support.

“This brother of yours believes you already have.”

In truth, she didn’t feel that she had lived up to what was expected of her to the fullest, but she also felt that Laurence was sincere.

She nodded once more and lifted her head to look out towards the water with determination. “Then, I need to find a place to read in peace to focus.”

Laurence paused. He raised his brow and lowered his hand. “Is that why you came to the jetty? Not to comfort your brother?” She looked at him without a hint of shame and nodded. “Then, are you hoping I will leave and give you this spot?” She nodded once more. Laurence seemed to take a dramatic breath and turned his head towards the stone carved step that led into the water not too far away. “Eleanor! My sister is usurping me!”

Lady Eleanor was standing, one hand gripping a fish while the other twisted a hook from its mouth. It seemed that Wrath had caught a fish and was still holding the rod.

“Good!” Lady Eleanor yelled back without looking up from her work. “You’ve been sitting there for ages! You still need to exercise, lest your body revert!”

Laurence’s shoulders sank as he let out a helpless sigh. His eyes remained on Lady Eleanor, full of affection and warmth despite her light chastising. “Beks, do you think that Eleanor and I will be able to have a child?”

She didn’t answer immediately. His question wasn’t in regard to needing an heir to strengthen his position or to inherit the throne, but with the hope that he could have a happy product of his and his fiancée’s love.

Beks took a deep breath. “It is up to the gods. I can only intervene so much to give you as great a chance as possible,” she told him without promise. It wasn’t something she could control and she didn’t want to give him false reassurance. “I, too, would love to have a niece or nephew.”

She watched Laurence’s head nod before he pushed himself up. He rose to his feet, careful to balance himself on the jetty stones before gingerly making his way back.

Beks stood up as well, watching him carefully and ready to act in case he slipped and fell. He was recovering well and walking without the aid of a tool, but his near death was still fresh in her mind and she couldn’t help but be cautious. She waved her hand to motion for a Thirnir on duty nearby to assist Laurence.

The last thing they needed was for the king they were trying so hard to put back on the throne to slip on slippery rocks and crack his head open in a foreign land. Once the Thirnir was by his side and had taken his arm to help him down to flat ground, Beks returned to her seat on the rock and crossed her legs.

She closed her eyes, diving into reading the histories of the oracle while making note of who the beneficiaries were for not only their prophecies, but where they traveled and what they did.

Beks didn’t realize the sun had set or that her stomach had begun to protest her negligence.

“You can’t sit here overnight,” a man’s voice said behind her. Beks drew herself out of her thoughts and opened her eyes. The sound of the waves against the shore hadn’t ceased, but she didn’t expect to see the space in front of her now dark.

She looked over her shoulder and saw her brother standing there with a lantern and the illuminated Lyone Estate behind him. “How long have I been out here?”

“Several hours. We’re going to have dinner soon.”

She put her hand over her stomach. “I should’ve brought a snack.” She pushed herself up and brushed off her clothes before taking her brother’s arm and walking back to the stairs that led up to the cliffside mansion.

“His Majesty said you were reading and not to bother you.”

Beks hummed in confirmation. “I memorized the entire chest of documents, but hadn’t actually read them. That is, I haven’t reviewed the content line by line and properly comprehended it.”

“It’s good that the documents weren’t damaged by seawater during the attack,” Deo replied.

“The chest was sturdier than I thought. I think Great Aunt prepared it for the documents to make sure they wouldn’t get wet.”

“Have you had any breakthrough discoveries?”

“Nothing groundbreaking. I’ve started to make a list of oracle prophecies and the beneficiaries of them. Unfortunately, I’m only familiar with the histories of Kadmus and the fairly recent histories of Paraxes and Langshe. In their cases, nothing too in depth. I can only compare the results from the prophecies against what I know, which is limiting.” She frowned. “I don’t know if it will suffice.”

“The western half of the continent seems to have longer and deeper ties to the Temple. At most, you’ll likely need to look into the histories of the smaller kingdoms and principalities in the region.”

Beks let out a slow grumble of agreement and inhaled and exhaled deeply. “This work is never ending.”

The corners of her brother’s lips curled up as they climbed the stairs. “It is both fortunate and unfortunate that it and life only end when we die.”

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Aside from the slight discoloration that identified the new wood that replaced the broken pieces and the old, weatherbeaten wood of the rest of the ship, theLeviathan’s Throne looked as it did before the Kadmus navy’s attack. Even the figurehead was the same sea beast: a winged hippocampus that was typically found on Paraxes sea vessels.

Beks thought her mother would replace it with a leviathan like Inky now that she had the chance to do so, but there was already a warehouse filled with decorative spare parts that they were sourcing the figurehead from.

The ship was otherwise ready to continue its voyage to Gurani Island and would continue with two ships as escort.

However, they and the Kraken’s Whip would part ways.

Great Aunt Rebecca stood on the main deck, in front of her family and Laurence and Lady Eleanor. Her hat was pressed and her cane was at her side. Her free hand touched Wrath’s head and gently stroked her dark hair back as the child embraced her side.

“We will have to part here, little one. At this time, I can’t follow you to the island,” she said. “There is something I need to fetch from the southern coast of Aehamake and the journey is long and in the opposite direction as where you are going.”

Wrath scrunched her face. “Octavius just started talking to me....”

Beks raised her brow, mirroring her Great Aunt’s expression. “It seems the kraken outranks me in your heart.”

Wrath gasped and quickly shook her head. “He’s just more interesting than Inky!”

Great Aunt Rebecca chuckled. “All right, I understand. I will bring Octavius with me to find you when I’ve gotten what I’m looking for.”

Sybil raised a brow. “Will you be able to find the island?”

“I will follow Beks’ description of the location. There is only so much southern coast of Kadmus to search. If I run into fog and my ship begins to move without sails, I will know I’ve come to the right place,” the old woman told them. “I will keep returning to the fog, over and over, until you come and get me.”

Sybil smiled and closed the gap between her and her aunt. She wrapped her arms around the old woman and embraced her tight. “Thank you, Auntie.”

The pirate leader gave her a little grunt in acknowledgement before releasing her and hugging Wrath, Thad, and then Deo. She turned to face Robert, who wore an excitable expression on his face. The old woman let out a tired sigh.

“You....you are a good husband and father.”

Robert’s eyes reddened before he nodded, accepting the rare praise. “Auntie-”

The old woman turned her head away sharply and sneered. “Don’t get so happy. I’m just stating a fact.”

Both Robert and his wife chuckled as Great Aunt Rebecca passed them. She stopped in front of Laurence and looked him up and down. She lifted her chin and Laurence gave her a small bow of his head.

“Captain Lyone.”

She narrowed her eyes. “While Maritime Legacy has aided you this time, and will continue to do so until you have retaken your throne, you should not delude yourself into believing we will be allies forever. We only have loyalty to other brothers and sisters in the fleet.”

Laurence nodded his head once. “I have no animosity towards you or Maritime Legacy.”

Great Aunt Rebecca pursed her lips. “Know that Maritime Legacy has no animosity towards Kadmus so long as Kadmus remains fair to people on the water, does them no harm, and do not instigate an attack or harassment towards them.”

“I understand, Captain. As long as my people are safe, I will not pursue the matter,” Laurence replied. “I give you my sincerest thanks for your aid at this time.”

The old woman lifted her free hand and waved it dismissively as she turned away. “I only helped because of my family.” She stopped in front of Beks and reached forward, with one hand before lifting the cane in her other. She met Beks’ face with some amusement in hers. “To tell you the truth, my dear, my water biha is quite weak. My well is average, at best, so I require a tool to focus and control my power.” She weighed the cane in her hand and looked it over with a sigh. “It is not any easy task to learn to wield such a tool, as I’m sure you know now.”

Beks grimaced inwardly, being reminded of how she was flung out of the water and then thrown through the air by whatever force was being directed from the cane. “I believe it.” She nodded and her Great Aunt put her hand on her shoulder.

“I can’t give you this cane, my dear, but I want you to look into any history of tools wielded by biha users.” She raised her hand and gently tapped on the side of Bek’s head. “Somewhere inside, there is a library of knowledge that can better explain and provide more insight that I can.”

Beks nodded her head once. “I know I have more reading to do, Great Aunt.”

The old woman nodded. She embraced Beks, who returned her embrace with one of her own. “I will see you again once I find what I’m looking for.”

Beks stepped back and nodded, allowing the pirate commander to turn around and step on to the wooden gangway connecting Leviathan’s Throne to the Kraken’s Whipfloating beside it.

Once she was on her ship, the gangway was lifted. The sails were adjusted and in a matter of moments, the Kraken’s Whip, with her Great Aunt at the helm, sailed away.

Beks remained standing on deck, her eyes fixed on the vessel. Behind her, her mother’s crew adjusted their own sails and set off in the opposite direction. It happened without the orders of her mother, who remained beside her, also watching her aunt’s ship sail away.

“Mommy, why did you name me after Great Aunt Rebecca?”

Her mother lifted her chin and clasped her hands behind her back. “Because I know of no one more powerful, yet gentle as my aunt, and I wish for you to have the best qualities of hers.” Sybil looked over at her daughter. “Are you bothered that your Great Aunt is a pirate?”

Beks shook her head, her eyes still lingering on the horizon. “Not at all,” she replied. “In fact, I believe the unorthodox life of Great Aunt is what makes her so admirable. She created and commands the largest fleet in the world. She would not be where she is and accomplished what she has if she had not left.”

Her mother took a deep breath. “There is only so much one can learn in a controlled environment. The tempering of experiencing the unexpected is what can make you stronger.”

Beks nodded once and let out a tired sigh. She turned around. “Does the chief navigator have the route?”

Her mother turned to watch her as Beks began to walk away. “We will remain far from Kadmus territorial waters, so it may take a bit longer to reach the area where the island is, but we have marked where you say it is.”

“Good,” Beks replied. “Because I have a lot to read.”

The next few weeks were monotonous. They hadn’t seen land for days, but for a crew used to spending long periods of time at sea, it was nothing. Deo and their father discussed things with Laurence and Lady Eleanor. They practiced their fire biha. Thad would jump ship and use his wind biha to get to the ship where his master was on to practice every day. It was not in vain. With That’s biha well and his intense interest, he was advancing at a monstrous speed.

Master Zilar was now mostly focusing on Thad’s concentration and focus. Detailed use of one’s biha was more difficult to do than grand, sweeping attacks. Their father said that Thad’s rapid learning speed wasn’t out of the ordinary for a Caroline with a biha well.

Beks had stopped herself from making a face when he said that. She had a biha well and yet, she still couldn’t use it. After experiencing some sort of control using her Great Aunt’s cane, Beks began to try using other items. A random stick that washed up on the beach, a fork, a long, narrow stone.

She’d poured her biha into it, but nothing happened. No movement of wind, no movement of water. Thankfully, she did her little experiments in private, so no one could witness her embarrassment when her attempts failed. She resigned herself to read her disappointment away.

Their mother was busy with the crew and Beks spent almost all of her time with her eyes closed and reading everything she’d memorized, hopping from different topics so as not to get bored.

The one who seemed to be suffering the most due to sheer boredom was Wrath. She could only read her legendary beasts book so many times before she got tired. She then began to read the guidebook of sorts that Beks had received from the Quartz Lake Shrine. Beks had translated most of it, and when Wrath had devoured what she could read, Beks took a break from reading to translate and write the remaining portions.

Wrath wanted to practice using her spirit core to speak to animals. However, for a conversation to happen, the animal had to have a certain degree of consciousness. In the middle of the sea, Wrath was limited.

The messenger parrots avoided her. Inky was still insulted and refused to answer her. A few times, dolphins had swum alongside the ship, but Wrath said they were snobby and didn’t want to talk to them. Sharks and other sea creatures didn’t seem to answer Wrath’s calls, or rather, her random shouting if anyone was there over the ocean was met with nothing.

Beks wasn’t sure if the sea creatures around them couldn’t be communicated with, or if they were ignoring Wrath. This had been the cause for the youngest Caroline’s frustration as of late.

After returning to the captain’s chamber in the afternoon, complaining once more that Inky still refused to communicate with her because she called him boring in comparison to Octavius, Wrath had tried to take a nap to waste time.

It didn’t last long. An hour or so later, the child was sprawled across the bed, staring up at the wooden beams across the ceiling.

“I can’t live like this.”

From the table, where Beks was seated, her lips curled into a smirk as her little sister complain. “You don’t like naps? Trust me, you should take advantage of them while you can. When you’re an adult, you’ll want to take naps, but won’t be able to.”

Wrath rolled over onto her stomach and cocked her head to look at her sister. “Why not?”

“You’ll have too much work to do.”

“Then I won’t get a job. I will live at home forever.”

“You’ll want to get out and interact with people. Then people will depend on you, so you’ll have to do something, whether its work or social obligation.”

Beks looked at her sister’s scrunched face with one slightly opened eye. Wrath continued to reject the idea. “Then...I won’t interact with people!”

Oh, if only it were that easy. Beks held back a scoff.

“I like animals. I will surround myself with animals,” Wrath said, appearing determined.

“The animals will depend on you.”

“Not if they’re wild. They should be able to fend for themselves.”

“But don’t you want to spend time with them? Go explore with them? That’s a social obligation.”

Wrath’s brows shot up and panic filled her face. “But why would they do that to me? After all I’ve done for them!”

Beks restrained herself from asking her sister what she’d done for whom. “You don’t want to spend time with them? I like spending time with Snowflake. Sometimes, I’ll read on his back and we’ll just bask in the sun.”

Wrath’s lower lip trembled, obviously envious. “Then...then I can have one animal friend. Sister, what kind of animal is best?”

“That’s a personal preference. I love Snowflake, but if you ask Mommy, she will say Inky is superior.”

“Will I find a friend on the island?” Wrath’s voice became hopeful .

“I’m sure you will.” There were plenty of animals there, though for the most part with few exceptions, they seemed to purposely avoid the ruins. At first, Beks thought it was because Snowflake was a predator and perhaps the prey animals sensed him. However, when she had ridden Snowflake through the jungle, there were monkeys screaming and birds squawking all around them, unafraid.

Now that she thought about it, perhaps there was some sort of biha infused barrier that kept the larger animals away. She’d have to take Wrath into the jungle to see the more impressive animals. She doubted her sister would be moved by frogs in a pool.

The child rolled around on the bed. “Then, I hope we can get there soon! How much longer until we reach the island?”

Beks opened both eyes and rolled her shoulders back to loosen them. “That is a good question....” She’d been so focused on reading and making notes that she had lost track of time and didn’t know where they were or their proximity to anything. “Why don’t we go outside and ask Grandpa Ilo?”

Wrath seemed to mull it over before rolling off the bed and landing on her feet. “Let’s go!”

Beks pushed her chair back and straightened her clothes. She took a moment to stretch for a bit after being seated for so long. After cracking her back, she reached for Wrath’s hand and took her sister outside.

She turned her head to the side and squinted for a moment while the bright midday light hit her eyes after being in a dim room most of the day.

“Do you know where Grandpa Ilo is?” The old man was a navigator from Aehamake, but her mother insisted that he was the best navigator in the entire fleet. Even with his curly gray-white hair, he remained tall and upright, with a thick figure and a kind look on his face. He was one of the original crew members on the Kraken’s Whip.

Wrath looked around, still holding her sister’s hand. She perked up and began pulling becks towards the quarter deck. The two sisters walked up the steps and found at their mother and father were with the old man, who was pointing in a direction.

Beks followed his hand.

Past one of the two escort ships that remained with them, there was a tiny, uneven sliver in the horizon. It was land.

“Beks, we’ve arrived at the southern coast,” her father said as he stood up straight upon the sight of her.

She looked back towards land. “That’s the southern coast?” The air was about right; warm and humid. She looked up at the sky. It was as blue and clear as she remembered it the day she floated away from the coast on the bottom of an overturned carriage.

“Grandpa Ilo,” Wrath said as she pulled her sister towards a wooden ledge in front of the helm. “Are we close?”

The old man smiled and gave her a nod. “We should be. In the distance in that direction is Kadmus. I believe those are the cliffs your sister came from.”

Wrath turned to look where he was looking and nodded. “Then, how soon can we reach the island?”

The old man took a deep breath and exhaled. “That I can’t tell you, my lady. Gurani Island has long disappeared from any modern maps. It is only a place of legend. No one knows where exactly it is.”

Wrath tugged Beks forward and then pointed at her. “My sister does!” She sounded quiet proud and Beks was almost embarrassed to correct her.

“Actually, Wrath, I only know the general area. Since it has a protective barrier that keeps it hidden, I don’t know where exactly it is, either,” she admitted. She saw the disappointment in her sister’s face for just a moment before Wrath shook her head.

“It’s okay! As long as you can get us close!”

“We did get close last time,” Robert said. “We wandered into the fog.”

“Beks, how close do you think we are?” Sybil asked.

“Can I see the spyglass?” Beks asked in return. She released Wrath’s hand and held it out. Their mother put the long metal and glass tube in her hand and Beks brought it to her eye. She adjusted the little ring around it to focus on the land in the distance.

Despite herself, she let out a small hiss when she recognized the same jagged cliffside she’d been pushed off of. She didn’t think she’d forget them or the sharp, protruding rocks and whirlpools below them for the rest of her life. She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw.

“Does it look familiar?” her father asked.

Beks’ hand tightened on the spyglass. “Too familiar,” she replied. She lowered the spyglass. “Sail a bit closer, but continue in this direction. We should be near.”

Her mother nodded and brought her hand to her lips to whistle. Another colorful bird fluttered down from where it had been perched above.

“Thad come back. Prepare to anchor soon,” Sybil told the bird. It let out a squawk, repeated her words, and flew off.

Well before they arrived, a plan was put into place. Having been lost in the fog before, her father, brother, and Beks all knew that it was almost instantaneous. They blinked and they were shrouded in a dense fog.

When they entered, they didn’t know if they were still visible from outside the fog. On the island, the fog wasn’t seen, so Beks and the twins had been able to watch a ship be moved when it got too close. However, this posed a problem for their two escort ships. If they were seen, then the ships could anchor and wait.

If they suddenly disappeared, then the two ships would also get lost in the fog and they would all lose track of each other until they were moved out.

To prepare for this, instructions had been given. Leviathan’s Throne would lead the way. Deo would remain as far back on the stern as possible and as soon as the bow entered the fog, Deo would be ordered to send the flare; three short bursts and one long stream shaped like a snake, as high and large as he could make them.

This would signal the other two ships to anchor and wait. Inky was told to wait with one of the escort ships, as they didn’t know what effect a stele would have against a sea beast.

Leviathan’s Throne was slowed to allow Thad to close the distance from one ship to the other. The distance of his travel carried by wind was still limited. Master Zilar said Thad tended to use too much at once, wasting his biha and running through it too fast. Her younger brother was still learning to become more efficient.

When the escort ship was near, Thad seemed to take a running start before jumping into the air and then flying towards them, over the water. This caused him to lean his upper body forward, and half the time, his landings were slight crashes or someone had to catch him. This time, their Father caught him before he skidded face first onto the deck.

“Can’t you fly standing up so your feet can land first?” Wrath asked with an incredulous look.

“It’s easier for the wind to lift me when I’m horizontal. There is more space to push up and it’s easier to control,” Thad said in his defense as their father put him down.

“Deo,” Robert said. “Get to the stern and stand at ready. Beks, go to the bow. You said you sensed biha in the air. You may feel it before you see it.”

Beks nodded. She turned and ran around the ship, putting her hand on the shoulders of anyone who had a biha well in order to prepare them. When she was done, she took a few steps to the very front of the ship, filling the biha wells of her parents last. Wrath followed like her little tail, standing beside Beks, and pinching the side of her shirt as she peered over the edge.

“There isn’t anything but water,” Wrath said with some complaint.

“Just give it time,” Beks said as she narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know how long she’d have to stand there, bracing herself, but she was already anxious.

Part of her wanted to pace the bow to release her tension, but she didn’t want to get distracted.

“The sky is clear. There’s hardly a cloud,” Lady Eleanor said behind them. “Is there really going to be fog?”

“There will be,” Robert replied in a serious voice. “We’ve seen it. Keep your eyes open, as it’ll happen before you notice it.”

“Beks....” Thad stood to her other side. “Nothing bad will happen right?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s just fog. The currents will push us away from the island, so we won’t run aground.” She raised her hand and put it on her brother’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. If we aren’t able to find and move the stele before we’re pushed out, we can try again. As many times as necessary.”

Although, it would be a waste of time. If they were lucky, Deo’s flares would also attract the attention of someone on the island and someone would look for them.

The ship let out a low creak and Beks narrowed her eyes. Earlier, she’d heard wind rustling the sails and the usual lapping of the water against the hull. Aside from the creak, the air seemed oddly quiet.

Was it this quiet when she drifted for the first time?

Was it this quiet when they drifted a second time? She couldn’t remember any signs signaling that they were about to enter the fog other than the increase of biha in the air, as she’d been too distracted by being in the fog itself.

“I hope we’ll be able to signal the other ships,” she heard her mother say. “If we disappear from their line of sight, they will be worried.”

Beks began to chew on her lower lip. As if sensing her anxiety, Wrath squeezed in front of her, between the railing and Beks. She took her older sister’s hands and placed them on her small shoulders.

“Hug me,” Wrath said, tilting her head up to look at Beks. “It will make you feel better.”

Beks glanced down at her and smiled as she wrapped her arms around Wrath’s shoulders. “Ah...so warm and soft. Wrath is so comfortable.” Her sister flushed and looked away shyly.

“Aww...Daddy would like a hug, too,” Robert said with a gentle, teasing voice.

Wrath looked past Bek’s arm and shot her father a sneer. “Daddy is a grown up.”

Robert let out a hiss and clutched his chest. “My love,” he said, turning towards his wife. “Our daughters have rejected me.”

Sybil merely nodded, distracted. “That’s wonderful, Robert,” she replied in a perfunctory voice. Her eyes were still fixed on the horizon. “There is nothing but sea....” she muttered under her breath.

“I also don’t see anything,” Laurence said from their right. “Beks, are you sure this is the right direction?”

“And it’s warm and humid here,” Lady Eleanor added with a slight frown. “This isn’t the environment for fog.”

Beks kept her eyes narrowed and looking ahead of them. “The first time I came, I’d lost sight of the mainland and there was nothing else but water. The fog isn’t natural.”

“Then....” Lady Eleanor sounded confused. “Is it an illusion?”

Beks’ skin began to tingle without warning, like small chills coursed up her arms. She didn’t wait to make sense of the feeling. She whirled around and screamed as loud as she could. “Brother, now!”

Three balls of fire shot up from the stern, reaching well past their tallest mast. The large, burning balls could be seen from a good distance away. A long stream of fire curved like a snake seemed to slither into the sky.

Beks took a step towards the bow and saw her brother leaning forward over the stern’s railing to see if the other ships caught their signal.

“I can’t tell if they saw the signal and anchored....” Deo turned around and seemed to lose his voice in mid-sentence. He froze in place and stared ahead of him.

Beks blinked.

They were surrounded by a thick, gray fog. Beks could feel a cool moisture against her exposed skin as in front of her, Wrath leaned back, as if to find support. “Sister....”

“It’s fine,” Beks said. “It’s just fog. The most dangerous part of it is that we can’t see through it.”

She turned to her sides. She could see the top of Thad’s head, as he was right next to her, but past him, she couldn’t see her parents or Laurence and Lady Eleanor.

The ship creaked and Beks craned her head forward. She could hear water past the railings.

“This is unreal.... It happened so suddenly,” she heard Laurence say. “I can hardly make out my own hand in front of me.”

“And I can feel the moisture of the fog...it’s real,” Lady Eleanor said. “How can it happen so quickly? There was no transition at all. Normally, it would gradually get denser the further in.”

“Is this biha?” Laurence asked.

“It’s biha.” The voices of several Carolines spoke up at once to answer him.

On her other side, Beks heard someone stepping forward, likely her mother. She saw a vague, blurred dark shadow looking over where the railing was. “I can barely make out the water below,” Sybil said. “But I know it’s there.”

“And it’s overpowering the sails,” Beks said.

“But as long as there is water....” Sybil trailed off. “Should we try now?”

“The fog will push us out, so we should start as soon as possible to secure time,” Beks replied.

“Sir Calland!” Robert shouted.

“Your Grace!” A man’s voice boomed from the main deck.

“Prepare to disembark when we give you the word!’

“Yes, Your Grace!”

“Children, Your Majesty, Lady Eleanor, secure yourselves. When the current shifts, the ship could move suddenly,” Sybil told them.

Beks looped her arm around Thad’s arm closest to her and then used that hand to grasp Wrath’s arm. “Stay close,” she said as she used her free hand to feel along the railing. There were pieces of rope with loops hanging from the railing as a precaution, as Wrath’s hand was too small to properly grip the top of the railing. “Put one hand through the loop and hold on.”

“Brace yourselves against the railing,” their father said. “We don’t know where the ship will move, or if it’ll tilt.”

Beks leaned against the railing, using what little visibility she had to make sure her two younger siblings were properly secured and holding on. She then did the same while keeping an arm around Wrath.

She looked back towards the very front of the bow. She could see the vague blur moving through the fog was their mother. Their father was standing behind her to secure her. Sybil raised her arms.

Beks heard water and felt some droplets against her face.

Her mother let out a sharp gasp. “What’s wrong?” Robert asked at once.

“The water is dense with biha. Incredibly dense,” Sybil said. “I didn’t expect it to be this rich. It’s comparable to when Beks flooded the pool in the Mouth of the Valley with her biha.”

“The stele must be feeding the water in order to create the current,” Beks said. “Can you control it?”

There was some strain in her mother’s voice. “I’m still searching for the source of the biha or the stele.”

Her mother once told her that she could use water as an extension of her senses. What it touched; she could get a rough feeling of. “The biha is resisting my control. The stele is incredibly strong.”

Beks frowned. Her mother was the strongest water biha user she knew. If her mother couldn’t manipulate the water under the control of the stele, then who could?

“We just need to find the stele and separate it from the water. If the water isn’t touching it, how can it be controlled, right?” Robert asked.

In truth, that was just a theory. They didn’t know if the stele affected another element. Would the air start moving in the water’s stead?

“There’s something beneath us, to the right!” Sybil said. “It’s made of stone, smooth, and round. There is something embedded in it, but I’m not sure what. Still, a surface like that shouldn’t be left smooth this close to land and in these conditions. It should have something on it; coral, anemone, barnacles.... It hasn’t been corroded by the waves in any form at all.”

“That must be it,” Beks said. “Can you separate it from the water?”

The ship let out a low creak and suddenly jerked to the side. Thad and Wrath let out a cry as the ship tilted starboard. Wrath nearly slipped out of Bek’s arm. As soon as she found her sister’s arm around her, she clung on.

The ship let out a loud cracking and creaking sound, as if fighting against something.

Beks saw the familiar light of a fire being thrown down, allowing for some a visibility. The fog began to thin and Beks craned her neck.

On the starboard side, her mother had created a crack in the water and the ship was pushing against the edge, almost teetering into the parted space between the water. Below was sand and jutting pieces of coral, but there was dark stone in the center that looked to be at least half her size. Jutting out from its center was a shining, rounded lump.

“Sir Calland!” Robert shouted. “Go!”

Beks heard the sounds of thuds and saw a rope drop into the part between the water. The ground was soaking, and as soon as Sir Calland, a large Thirnir knight landed, his feet sank up to his bare ankles. A piece of rope was wrapped around one forearm and he faced the round stele.

Of the Thirnir they brought with them, Sir Calland was the best earth biha user they had. His well was large, so he had a lot of power, but he had his limitations. He needed to be connected to the earth to flood it with his biha.

“Beks, I need more biha!” her mother shouted for her and Beks released the rope. She felt her way closer to her mother and grabbed onto her hand, trying to quell her unease. Her mother had a massive biha well and they’d only just begun. How much biha was being used to hold back the water.

Sir Calland let out a groan. “Your Grace! It’s buried!”

“How deep?” Robert shouted.

Sir Calland raised his arms and the stone stele shook. The ground around it began to rise and crack as it rose, but it didn’t make it more than waist height before Sir Calland let out a wheeze. “There is more of it, Your Grace!”

Beks heard her father mutter a curse under his breath. She almost wanted to kick herself. She knew the stele were buried, but she didn’t know how deep and how long the stone was.

“How much biha do you have left?” Robert shouted back.

Sir Calland was breathing heavily. “I’m almost out, Your Grace! The stele absorbs whatever biha I use!”

Beks wanted to kick the ground in frustration.

“Sister, can’t you fill his well again?” Wrath asked.

Beks looked at her mother. Up close, she could see the older woman’s face twisted with concentration and tense with strain. Beks kept her hand on her mother’s arm. She could keep feeding her mother biha, but she couldn’t go down to Sir Calland.

“Come back up!” Robert shouted. “Let Beks fill your well!”

Beks followed the railing towards the side where Sir Calland had climbed and almost hung over the side, reaching her hand down so he could grab it, fill his well, and return to position.

The ship jostled once more, nearly throwing her overboard. Her father grabbed the back of her shirt to stop her.

“Duchess, what’s going on? Can you hold on?” Laurence asked.

“The ship is being pressed by the water I’m holding back and the current trying to move it!” Sybil replied. “I can hold the water, but I can’t hold the ship!”

If the ship were damaged, they couldn’t go any further. If it sank there, they had no chance against the current.

Robert swore once more. “Sir Calland, get back on the ship! Sybil, ease the water down. We can’t let the ship get damaged and sink!”

Sybil grit her teeth. As soon as Sir Calland was on the quarter deck, she tried to ease her control over the water. However, the force of the stele was too great and overwhelmed her withdrawing biha at once, causing the water to flood back into place.

The ship let out a cry as it tilted to one side, water splashing onto the deck before it bounced back and teetered to the other side. Shouting and yelling were heard as the crew braced themselves against the violent movement of the ship.

Beks grabbed on to the closest rope and pressed herself against the railing to stabilize her body.

The ship slowly returned to its upright position and continued to be pushed by the current. Sybil leaned forward, hunching her body over the railing as she let out shallow breaths.

“It’s so strong, Robert,” Sybil said, almost wheezing. “I’ve never encountered such resistance with water.”

“Is everyone all right? Your Grace? Beks? Sir Calland?” Laurence asked. There were several responses, confirming everyone was safe. No one seemed to report another being tossed off. Laurence looked back at the water. Beks could barely make out his figure. “Now what do we do? The stele wasn’t removed and we don’t know how deep it remains buried.”

“What else can we do?” Robert asked. “We’ll need to wait until we leave the fog and then try again.”

Everyone on the quarter deck seemed to let out a collective, exhausted sigh.

Beks frowned and stood up, racking her brain to produce another plan. Yes, they could try again. They can try over and over, but they’d need to find the same stele or try to uproot another one. They didn’t know where they were or which stele they’d moved so far. How many would they need to pass before they found the same one?

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the dense biha all around her.

A screech came from the distance.

Beks’ eyes flew open and she looked up on instinct. The fog was still thick and she couldn’t see the sails or the top of the masts.

Her eyes narrowed and she listened. The creaking wood of the ship...the sound of water.

Another screech and Beks took in a sharp breath.

“Do you hear that?” Wrath asked. “It’s saying I’m here!”

“What’s saying I’m here?” Thad asked.

The screech sounded once more and Beks took a step forward. Someone was nearby.

“There it is again!” Wrath said, also looking up at the sky. “It’s saying I’m coming!” Thad answered with impatience.

“What is saying it’s coming?”

“My lady!” This time, everyone seemed to understand. Thad stiffened.

“I heard it, too....” he said, breathless. His voice lowered. “Can I also speak to beasts?”

“No, you idiot, someone’s talking,” Deo snapped from the bottom of the stairs.

“I know that voice,” Beks said. She took a deep breath. “Make room! Clear the deck!” she yelled as she let go of the rope and rushed to the stairs. She grabbed onto the railing and ran down. “Clear the deck! Move to the side!”

“My lady? What’s wrong?” Someone asked, confused.

“Do as she orders!” Sybil shouted from the quarter deck. The crew on deck hastily pushed aside various things that had rolled on to the deck when the ship rocked. They then moved to the sides, leaving as much open space on the wooden floor as possible.

“My lady! My lady, we’re landing!” a man’s familiar voice shouted.

Beks’ face filled with a smile as she let out a laugh. “Careful where you land!”

A wooden, woven basket melted out of the thick, gray fog above. Beks could feel the air coming from steady flaps of wings as a rope was tossed down from the basket. Beks ran forward and grabbed it, pulling it back.

“Brother, help me secure this!” Beks yelled.

Deo rushed forward and took the rope from her hands, pulling it and feeling the heavy drag as he went to tie it against the mast.

The wooden basket looked far more professionally built than the one she’d ridden on when she left the island. Sturdy, braided rope and leather latches were fixed around the rounded basket.

“My lady!” The towering bald, blue-eyed man in the basket beamed as he bowed his head towards her. His eyes seemed to redden as he saw her standing there, safe. He took a deep breath and gave her the widest smile he could. “Welcome back, my lady!”

Her eyes watered as she saw the loyal, familiar face that had dutifully guarded her across a continent. If he was there, then everyone made it back. An unexpected knot in her heart eased.

“I’m back, Gerard.”