After the Kraken attack, Saan ordered his men to sail on. “We can make repairs while we’re under way. Iyomelka sent that monster, so she’s still after us.” He paced up and down the deck to make sure his crew felt the same urgency. “You, stitch up that mainsail! Use whatever spare cloth you need from the lockers.”
Grigovar and two other sailors took down the torn sail, spread the thick silk out on the deck, and sewed shut the gash that had cut across the Eye of Urec. Other men fashioned a replacement spar from spare wood in the hold, then lashed it tight. Carpenters repaired the smashed stern rail. Crewmembers holystoned the slime from the rotted Kraken off of the deckboards.
Clouds hovered on the horizon, a simmering storm that might have been a natural weather pattern, but Saan didn’t think so. The island witch knew where they were.
Ystya seemed ashamed of what she had done. “My father trapped Bouras with a curse, and I released him. What will the consequences be? And today, I destroyed the Kraken. Those things cannot be made right again! I can’t undo them.” She hung her head. “What if my mother was right to try to keep me on the island?”
Saan tried to soothe her. “She was not right. You saved us, Ystya. I owe you my life, and I’m grateful—however you did it.” He took her hands and looked into her strange eyes. “Can you tell me about your power? I want to understand.”
The ivory-haired girl seemed at a loss. “The power is what I have. It’s who I am—I…don’t know what is normal for other people.” She looked at Saan with both hope and reticence. “I want to protect you, Saan. You’ve shown me kindness, new experiences, the world itself. I love learning from you and Sen Sherufa. The way you care for me—it’s wonderful.”
Saan’s heart warmed to hear her words. She was so beautiful and charming…and so incredibly innocent.
He wondered just how strong Ystya’s powers were. After seeing the girl uncreate the Kraken, he could only imagine what would happen if she unleashed her magic against an enemy army. He pictured Tierran soldiers turning into corpses, the flesh falling from their bones until their skeletons dropped to the ground.…
Her pale skin flushed, as if she could sense his thoughts. “On the island, after the spring dried up and we began to age, my mother told me that I was born with magic, and when the time was right it would flow through me. I think she wished I would never grow up, and she would never grow old, but my powers were so strong that she couldn’t just ignore them. Mother is a great sorceress herself, but I think I could be stronger if I practice, because of who I am.”
Grigovar sat high on a mainmast spar, where he was hanging the repaired mainsail. His dark hair flew wild as he pointed toward the stern. “Captain, sea serpents are following the ship—dozens of small ones!”
Saan and Ystya looked over the side to see serpentine forms gliding along, flanking the Al-Orizin. He had never seen so many young serpents—silvers, blues, and leopard-spotted ones. They were the size of the giant pythons that Saan had once seen snake charmers use in a traveling circus from Lahjar.
Grigovar climbed down and took up a harpoon to spear a few of them, but Ystya stayed his hand. “They aren’t harming us. They are the children of Bouras. Now that the Father of All Serpents has been freed, we will see many more serpents in the seas. But if Bouras has learned his lesson, maybe they won’t pose a hazard to sailors.”
Yal Dolicar made a disbelieving sound. “I would doubt that.”
Sen Sherufa’s brow furrowed as the serpents fell upon a small school of fish in a feeding frenzy. “But why are they following us?”
Ystya sounded surprised that Sherufa would ask. “Because I am aboard.”
“Are they drawn to you in particular?”
Sikara Fyiri emerged to stand with them in her bright red robe. “Yes, explain it to us, young woman. We invoked your mother’s wrath in order to bring you with us. Now you must confess your dark secrets.”
“There are no dark secrets,” Ystya said evenly. “Merely the truth. I joined you to see the wide world that Captain Saan told me about. I always knew there was more than my mother’s island.” She looked around at the curious sailors. “Didn’t you all embark on a voyage to seek adventure?”
“Adventure, yes,” Saan said, “but we are also on a quest for the Key to Creation, and possibly even Terravitae. As soon as I find what we seek, then we will sail home to Uraba.”
“Why, I thought you knew.” Ystya blinked at him in surprise. “Ondun is my father. Aiden, Urec, and Joron are my brothers.” She looked at Sen Sherufa, but saw no understanding on the Saedran’s face either. “I am the Key to Creation.”