Page 26 of Virelai's Hoard
“It’s…” Eryx whispered softly next to her, then darted away just as everyone else saw it too.
“It’s the island!” Pip shouted.
“Virelai’s island…” Riley murmured next to him, transfixed. “It’s real?”
Eryx came back, a blank parchment gripped in their hand as they started scribbling furiously.
“What is that?” Gadrielle asked, squinting at the reflection. “It looks like a tooth. A peak?”
“No, no!” Kittredge shook her head. “It’s a… a horn-like spire, clearly! See over there?”
“There’s a river running straight through it.”
“What’s the island shaped like? Seems like a crescent moon.”
“That bay. It’s the entrance. We aim for that once we find it.”
Everyone was chiming in now, voices and theories blending together in a cacophony of noise, the only sound disturbing the quiet of the Drowning Vortex.
Then, as suddenly as it started, everything shifted back into place, along with the reassuring presence of gravity holding Calla’s feet steadily planted on deck.
“Did you get it?” Calla asked Eryx, pulling them to the side.
“Captain,” Merrow called from somewhere further away.
Eryx looked down at the parchment in their hands, studying their surprisingly even lines through the faint light of the lamp near them. “Yes, I think so.”
“Captain!” Merrow gripped her shoulder, making Calla jump.
“What?!”
“Brace yourself!”
Just as the words left his lips, the first burst of wind tore through the rigging, making the sails groan. The lantern nearby swung wildly, its light flickering before being snuffed out. Calla’s heart raced as waves slapped against the hull, the once glassy surface now churning with fury. And the stars were gone. Angry black clouds gathered in their stead, throwing a blanket of darkness over the Moonshadow.
Somewhere on deck, someone screamed.
8. The Drowning Vortex
Riley
A second burst of wind tore through the ship, knocking Riley off balance. She gripped the wood as her stomach slammed against the edge of the railing, the air bursting from her lungs with a violent gasp. The water frothed beneath her, a visible current tearing at the hull of the ship and making Riley’s heart jump in her throat.
She was suddenly jerked back, a strong hand clenching the back of her shirt.
“Get a grip on yourself,” Sable barked as she turned Riley to face her, gripping both of her shoulders. “Help the others reef the sails before the storm rips them to shreds.Now! Move!”
The sharp command cut through Riley’s shock and sent her staggering towards the nearest mast. The first mate dashed past, lunging for the wildly spinning helm. She caught the wheel with a snarled curse, hauling against the storm’s pull. The ship’s sudden veer nearly sent Riley to her knees.
Gadrielle’s shouted orders barely pierced the howl of the wind, and she halted, watching the sailors hard at work as though through a haze. Nyxen and Maren heaved on the ropes connecting to one of the largest sails, while Kittredge climbed the ratlines to help them from up above, jumping and balancingherself on the rigging as if she’d done nothing else her entire life. Some distance ahead, Pip and Eryx skirted across the deck, pulling on ropes and re-doing knots and making sure everything was secure. The two brothers wrestled with the sails tied to the mainmast of the Moonshadow. It was too dark to peer beyond that.
Riley didn’t know where to go, or what to do. She stood paralyzed, her feet taking root on the swaying deck of the ship.
“Riley!”
A cold spray of water hit her right in the face, making her sputter. The sea water clung to her clothes and stung her eyes, shifting the sight of the scrambling crew into a blurry mess of shouts and bodies. The words were impossible to make out over the crashing waves, now jostling the ship with every hit. Everything–the wind, the waves, the shouts, the groan of the wood, and her own erratic heartbeat–built up and fed into the storm’s fury. She could feel it in her chest, the sheer magnitude of it taking her out of her own body and making her head spin, joined by a sharp, metallic taste on her tongue, as though the air itself was charged and waiting to pop.
“Riley!” Maren’s voice pierced through the haze. “The rope! Tie the rope!”
