Before the Sky Fell

[ 5 ] Coliasus

On the fourth day, Whik didn't want to play dice with Jasper. He stared at the waves for what felt like hours. He would pick at the railing, dislodging splinters and throwing them into the sea. Sometimes a splinter would prick Whik's finger, but he didn't mind. It hurt, but it was better than feeling sad.Now all he had was the splintered rail and rolling waves.

A hand touched his shoulder. The silhouette of a bearded man hovered over him. The individual hairs on the man's head were almost translucent against the washed out halo of the sun. He held a mug in his hand, dark liquid dripped down his chin.

"How you doin', lad?"

Whik hadn't spoken to Geoffrey Marg for the four days they had been sailing. His mother would have told him that was impolite, but his mother wasn't here.Whik shrugged his shoulders and even that motion sent pain down his back. "I'm fine." Flashes of the images he's seen days before filled his eyelids when he closed them, so he tried not to blink.

"Care for some coffee? It's imported from the southern lands. It's strong, but it'll help with the weariness."

Whik grabbed the mug from his hands, took a sip, swirled the thick drink in his mouth, and spat the contents onto the deck. "That's poison," Whik said as he ran his teeth over his tongue, purging his mouth of the nasty taste, of burnt syrup and almonds.

Marg took the mug in his hands. "The taste isn't suited for everyone. It's a new start for you, lad. Pain can be good for ya. Life is cruel." Marg coughed and took a slugged from his drink. "Once you accept that, then you can appreciate the better moments."

Had this man ever talked to a child before? Surely his own mother would have said the right things. Whik wished he hadn't fought so hard when she tried to hug him. "I'm not a little kid anymore," he would tell her, slamming his fist on the table like he had seen his father do so many times. She would laugh and run after him with her arms wide open. He fell into another daze, watched the waves hit the vessel.

"It will get better," Marg told him. "You know what you're standing on right now? You're on the Daelus Mae, the king's royal ship. You think he lets just anyone aboard his ship?"

Whik stared at the man. "The king is dead."

Marg shrugged. "A lot of people have died. Throughout the centuries. Kings and crones alike. But few have had the chance to sail this ship. Do you know who Daelus Mae was?"

Whik kicked the foot rail of the vessel. "No."

Marg tossed the dregs of his coffee over the rail and knelt down beside the boy. "She's was a mythical siren. On full moons she would rise up through the sea and dance for the sailors. They'd be so enticed that they'd beg their captain to sail towards her. They said she'd swallowed a hundred ships, or led them into a whirling pool, or into the tentacles of a kraken."

Whik tapped his thumb on the railing. "Why would you name a ship after a monster?"

Marg laughed and knelt down beside him. "The world is full of monsters. We could have named her after anything, but nothing instills fear in your foes like the name of a monster. A beautiful monster at that."

"What about the other ships?"

"They have names as well." Marg pointed to the fleet surrounding them. "There's Centos following our stern, Harpy's Hollow on our aft, and Hydra to our portside. There are a dozen others that follow them and even more behind those. That one there is Royal Wrath, named after the Sentinels."

"Will the Larks follow us? Will they have ships like this one?"

"The Keeping books say the Larks fear water, so it's doubtful, for now at least. You're safe here. You're a part of the most feared fleet in all the oceans."