Page 61 of Night's Reckoning
Do you remember me?
The wind and the moon were silent.
I have not changed in many years.
Tenzin whispered an old song, one she hadn’t thought of in centuries. A lilting chant she’d sung when her babies cried.
Do you remember me, Mother? My children have all left me. They are so long dead, they are the earth that fed the roots of ancient trees. My belly does not swell with life. My body is frozen as it was, and my eyes have seen centuries the way mortals see years.
The moon’s soft light bathed her in the darkness, but the wind said nothing.
Do you remember my voice?
Finally she heard an answer on the wind, but it wasn’t the holy song of a celestial god. It was the song of a girl carrying a baby on her hip, bouncing him by the cooking fire. It was the song of the wind through the grass and a stream trickling over rocks. It was the song of goats bleating, ponies stomping in the snow, and women and men laughing together.
Tenzin opened her eyes and held her breath, willing away the pain that speared through her shoulder.Don’t curse me with memories; I’ve given them to another.
But the moon and the wind had gone silent again.
She turned back to the blinking, manmade lights of the ship and descended. It was getting late, and she was starting to see sunlight growing on the horizon. When she landed on the deck, she pulled her tunic over her body and retreated to the dark hold she’d claimed.
She didn’t look for the moon again. Those searching for buried treasure in the daylight would have to find their own luck.
* * *
Ben woke with a heavy heart,and he didn’t know why. His body wasn’t aching. His face felt better than it had in days, and he felt well rested. He glanced at the clock. Just past noon.
That meant he’d gotten over eight hours of sleep, which was hardly the norm.
So why did he feel soheavy?
He swung his legs over the side and sat up, stretching his body and rubbing his eyes. The boat’s movement wasn’t overly noticeable; it had been just enough to lull him into deep sleep the night before. When he looked out the window, he saw nothing but deep blue sea. He glanced down and checked the wake. They were moving, but slowly.
Ben smiled. “They’re scanning for the wreck.”
He rushed through his morning shower and headed up to the bridge. Kadek’s day captain pointed toward the stern, so he followed the railing back until he heard Fabia talking to someone with a heavy Chinese accent.
“Do you see?”
“Yes.” It was Fabia. “This is great. I can’t believe how good this sonar is.”
“The very best,” the other voice said. “Most modern.”
“I can see that.”
Ben turned the corner and saw an open door and a room surrounded by windows. Laptop computers filled a table in the center of the room, but a dozen people were huddled around one screen, buzzing excitedly in Mandarin.
“Hey.” He grinned when he saw Fabia’s face. “Good news?”
“Ben, you won’t believe how good this equipment is.” Fabia motioned him closer. “We’ve already narrowed in on a reef where we think the ship probably is based on the fisherman’s reports.”
“Oh yeah?” He popped his head over the crowd and looked at the screen, which was various shades of gold, yellow, and black. “A reef?”
The scientist who’d been speaking with Fabia said, “If we are certain this is a ninth-century vessel, it is very likely that any exposed parts of the wreck would be covered in coral at this point. This is good.”
Fabia said, “Coral will preserve the overall shape, though it might keep us from documenting some of the artifacts. So it’s a mixed blessing.”
There was more chattering about archaeological details he didn’t try to understand, but Ben was encouraged. It sounded like locating the wreck might take closer to days than the weeks he’d been fearing.
