Page 25 of Virelai's Hoard
To prove his words, Eryx angled their compass towards Calla.
It was spinning wildly.
Eryx wasn’t looking at the compass, though, but somewhere off in the distance, a frown wrinkling their eyebrows. “We should be careful here,” they said. “The sea is holding her breath, but not for long. A storm is coming.”
The confidence of their statement made Calla’s skin prickle.
Ignatius scoffed at Sable’s side. “What would you know about storms, greenhorn?” Then, muttering to himself, “Barely done sucking at your mother’s teat and warning us about storms on the clearest sky I’ve ever seen.Pah.”
Eryx frowned, but kept silent as some sailors gave them mocking smiles.
The more stars revealed themselves in the clear sky, the quieter everything became. Gentle waves turned to ripples, the wind quietened to a breeze, clouds slowly dissipated from the sky. Goosebumps erupted up Calla’s arms. Through her boots and the Moonshadow’s deck, she felt a change in the currents, slow and lazy and dangerous like a deep-sea creature stirring from its depths.
“What makes you think there’s going to be a storm?” Calla asked. She felt it in her bones that there was something about their words, but she needed more than that.
Eryx’s frown deepened. “The stars… they’re too sharp. They shouldn’t be this bright.”
That wasn’t anywhere good enough, but, despite that, Calla couldn’t shake her dread.
She turned to Gadrielle. “Instruct the deckhands to secure the deck,” Calla said, to the surprise of the others. “Lash down any barrels, crates, and tools. Check the rigging, but leave the sails.”
To her credit, Gadrielle didn’t hesitate to spring into action. “Aye, captain!”
This wouldn’t be enough to prepare for an upcoming storm, Calla knew as well as everyone else on deck, but it wassomething. Eryx gave her an acknowledging nod.
“We should be worried about the sea, not invisible storms,” Sable said, her knuckles going white as she gripped the helm. “If we’re at the center of the Vortex, the currents beneath the water could form a whirlpool large enough to swallow us, and no amount of preparation is gonna get us out ofthat.” The first mate set a challenging gaze on Calla. “Do we really have to test the sea’s patience for a legend? What can the skies tell usherethat they can’t tell us a few leagues away?”
If I knew that, we wouldn’t be here.
“The instructions were abundantly clear about the timeandplace,” Merrow said mercifully. “When the Crown glitters above Nereus’ brow, the sea will show you the way.”
Instead of being reassured, Sable and Ignatius only looked more puzzled.
“Riddles?” Sable’s face scrunched incredulously.
“How are we even sure this is the right place?” Maren asked, approaching the group. “Who isNereus?”
Calla threw him a side look. He should’ve been securing the deck with the other deckhands, but he must’ve slipped Gadrielle’s notice. She’d have to have a talk with her boatswain after this.
“The Drowning Vortex,” Merrow explained, distracted as he asked Eryx for a telescope and pointed it to the sky. A splatter of brightening stars decorated it by now. “Also known as the Eye of Nereus. The Crown is a seven-star constellation that only lines up with the Vortex roughly every two and a half years. We are right where we’re supposed to be.”
“Look!” Pip shouted, on the tips on his toes as he leaned against the railing. “The water!”
Most of the sailors, dubious and reluctant, joined Pip at the railing. A few soft gasps, followed by indistinct murmurs. Once Calla walked up to them, she understood.
Everything stilled around them until Calla’s own breath was too loud to her ears. The surface of the water was so clear it reflected the starlit sky above it like a mirror. Calla gripped the railing tightly. As she stared into its depths, her head swayed, as if she was going to fall in at any moment and float, endlessly, into space. She couldn’t tell anymore where the water ended, and the sky began.
From the corner of her vision, Ignatius stumbled away, gripping Nyxen’s shoulder to regain his balance. “This… this is notright,” Ignatius sputtered. “Captain! We need toleave. Forget this foolishness.”
“Quiet,” Merrow hissed, unlike himself, his telescope still aimed at the sky. “The Crown is revealing itself.”
Calla didn’t need to raise her eyes to the sky to see it, nor strain to recognize it. She could’ve skipped entire fortnights pouring over maps and navigational manuals in a study of the constellations, because as the seven stars revealed themselves one by one, they became so bright on the mirrored water that all the other stars faded away.
“Eryx! What do you see?” Merrow asked with urgency.
Eryx approached the railing at Calla’s elbow.
At first, Calla could only see the individual stars, bright on the water’s surface. And then… space itself seemed to warp and distort, joining the sky and sea close together. The shining lights weren’t seven anymore, but fourteen. As they shone, small lines connected each to the next.
