Page 23 of Frostforge, Passage Six
After what might have been hours, Ashe climbed to the stern deck where Roran maintained his vigil, bending to examine the charts spread before him.Her brow furrowed as she traced their plotted course with one finger.
"These maps," she said, loud enough for Thalia to hear from her position at the bow."How reliable are they, really?Frostforge's cartographers have never ventured this far into Warden waters."
Roran's lips quirked in a half-smile that didn't reach his eyes."To be honest, I stopped following Frostforge's charts about an hour ago."He tapped his temple with one finger."I'm navigating by what's up here now."
Ashe's eyebrows rose."Your memory of waters you haven't seen since you were four years old?That's not particularly reassuring."
“I was also out here two summers ago,” Roran said.“Tracking Warden movements.Greenspire, I told you about that, remember?”
Thalia nodded; she did remember."But it's still just a memory you're relying on."
"Not just memory," Roran corrected, his voice taking on the edge it always did when discussing his connection to his Warden heritage."Instinct.The currents, the way the wind wants to move, the salt content in the water—it all speaks to me.It's hard to explain."
"Try," Ashe said flatly.
Roran sighed, running a hand through his hair and dislodging the leather tie completely.His long curls sprang free, framing his face like a storm cloud."It's like...there's a map etched into my blood.I can feel when we're approaching land before I see it.I can sense the channels between islands, the places where currents run deep."He looked away, his expression troubled as if the admission had cost him."It's getting stronger the farther we sail."
Thalia watched the exchange with a curious mixture of concern and fascination.She had always known Roran's connection to his Warden heritage went beyond the storm magic that flowed through his veins, but she had never heard him articulate it so clearly before.The admission seemed to cost him, as though speaking the connection aloud made it more real, more threatening to the identity he had constructed for himself.
Ashe, for her part, narrowed her eyes but didn’t comment further.She had known about Roran’s ability for storm magic for a long time; she’d kept the secret out of loyalty to Thalia, but she had long been more suspicious of Roran, less able to accept this side of him that mirrored the enemy.Her distrust had once been more overt, manifesting in outward hostility.Now, it simmered beneath the surface, contained.Ashe had seen Roran fight on behalf of Frostforge enough times to logically know that he was an ally, but Thalia knew that Ashe’s hesitation wasn’t about logic—it was instinct.Bloodlines weren’t easily ignored, and Roran’s heritage carried the weight of the enemy’s legacy.
The schooner slid through water that had changed again, becoming darker, deeper.No longer the vibrant blue-green of the continental shelf, this was the true deep sea, a profound midnight color that suggested unfathomable depths below their keel.The surface was glassy, unnaturally still except for the ripples created by their passage.No fish broke the surface, no seabirds called overhead.The absence of life created a silence that pressed against Thalia's ears like physical pressure.
"Where are the patrol ships?"she asked, breaking the strange quiet."The Wardens control these waters.There should be...something."
Roran nodded, his gaze troubled as he scanned the empty sea."There should be.Unless..."He trailed off, his expression distant, as though listening to something beyond Thalia's perception.
"Unless what?"Ashe prompted.
"Unless they've all been called somewhere else," Roran finished, his voice low."Gathered for some purpose important enough to leave these waters unguarded."
The implication hung in the air between them, unspoken but understood.What could be significant enough to draw away the Wardens' naval forces, to leave their territorial waters vulnerable to intrusion?Nothing good, certainly.
A shadow loomed ahead, resolving slowly from the mist into a more substantial form.Land—the first island they had encountered since leaving the mainland behind.It grew more distinct as they approached, revealing steep cliffs rising from the water on its western face, tapering to a gentler slope on the eastern side where a small bay curved inward.The mist clung to its peaks like reluctant ghosts, unwilling to relinquish their hold on the rocky terrain.
"I'm going up," Thalia announced, already moving toward the mainmast.The wood was slick with moisture beneath her hands and feet as she climbed, but the familiar motions came easily after countless drills at Frostforge.The crow's nest swayed gently as she settled into it, the movement more pronounced at this height than it had been on deck.
She raised her spyglass, adjusting the brass rings until the shoreline came into sharp focus.What she saw made her breath catch in her throat.Docks extended from the eastern bay, but no vessels were moored there, no figures moved along what was left of the walkways.
Beyond the empty docks, a small settlement spread up the gentle slope of the island.Palm trees swayed in a breeze Thalia couldn't feel from the ship, their fronds casting shifting shadows over abandoned huts and communal buildings.Fishing nets lay tangled on the shore, some half-submerged in the gentle surf that lapped at the beach.
"What do you see?"Roran called from below, his voice carrying strangely in the mist-dampened air.
"A settlement," Thalia called back, lowering the spyglass."Abandoned, by the look of it.Docks are empty.Buildings, empty.No boats.No people."
She watched as Roran and Ashe exchanged a look, some unspoken communication passing between them.
"That's not right," Roran said, his voice pitched low but still audible to Thalia's heightened senses."The islands closest to the mainland are usually hubs of activity.Launch points for raids."
"Could they have spotted us coming?"Ashe suggested, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword.
Roran shook his head."And what?Evacuated an entire settlement on our account?That makes no sense."
"We should investigate," Thalia said, beginning her descent from the crow's nest.
"Too risky," Ashe countered as Thalia's boots hit the deck."It could be an ambush.The Wardens might be using the settlement as bait, waiting for curious continentals to come ashore."
Roran's gaze remained fixed on the island, his expression troubled."Ashe is right.We can't afford to be captured before we even locate the fortress whale.We should keep moving."
