Page 24 of Frostforge, Passage Six
Though part of her chafed at passing up the opportunity to gather intelligence, Thalia nodded her agreement."Then let's get out of here.There's something wrong about this place."
Roran adjusted their course, giving the island a wide berth as they continued eastward into the heart of the archipelago.The mist closed behind them, swallowing the abandoned settlement as though it had never existed.
As the day progressed, they passed two more islands, each as eerily silent as the first.One appeared to have been a farming community, with terraced fields visible on its slopes, and irrigation channels cutting through the rich soil.The other boasted a natural harbor where fishing vessels should have been moored.Both stood empty, devoid of human presence.
The sense of wrongness grew with each passing hour, settling into Thalia's bones like the damp that had penetrated her clothing.This wasn't simply unusual; it was unnatural.The archipelago was the Wardens' homeland, their power base.These waters should have been bristling with activity, with patrol ships and trading vessels and the everyday traffic of island life.
As the third island disappeared into the mist behind them, Roran abruptly raised his hand, cutting off the wind that had been filling their sails.The schooner slowed, then drifted to a halt in water still as polished obsidian.The sudden silence was startling after hours of listening to the constant sounds of their passage—the creak of timber, the snap of canvas, the rush of water against the hull.
"What is it?"Thalia asked, moving to join him at the stern.
Roran's face had gone pale beneath his tan, his eyes fixed on a point ahead of them where nothing but empty ocean stretched to the edge of their visibility.
"There should be an island there," he said, his voice unnaturally tight."Right there, maybe half a mile ahead."
Ashe frowned, following his gaze."Are you sure we're at the right coordinates?"
Roran thrust the compass toward her, his movements sharp with tension."See for yourself.I've been tracking our course meticulously.We're exactly where the charts say we should be."He tapped a spot on the parchment spread before them."And this island—Skathi's Rock, they call it—I've seen it before.Two summers ago."
Thalia studied the featureless expanse of water ahead of them.Nothing broke its surface, not even the suggestion of land beneath the mist."Could your memory be wrong?It’s been two years."
"No."The certainty in Roran's voice brooked no argument."I remember it clearly.Steep cliffs on the northern face, a lighthouse built into the highest point.Fortifications along the western approach, a harbor carved into the southern shore.A beach on its eastern edge, with black sand.It was a significant Warden outpost, not the kind of place you forget."
Thalia believed him.Despite the impossibility of what he was claiming—an entire island simply gone—she trusted his memory, his navigational skills."Let's sail to the exact coordinates," she suggested."Just to be sure."
Roran nodded, extending his hand once more toward the mainsail.Wind gathered at his command, filling the canvas with a sharp snap.The schooner lurched forward, cutting through water that seemed to resist their passage, as though reluctant to reveal its secrets.
Minutes stretched like hours as they sailed toward the point where Roran insisted an island should stand.Thalia found herself holding her breath, half-expecting land to materialize suddenly from the mist.But as they reached the coordinates, nothing changed.Water stretched in all directions, unbroken by any hint of shore.
"We're here," Roran said, his voice hollow with disbelief."We should have run aground by now."
"Could it have been destroyed?"Ashe suggested, though her tone indicated she found the idea as unlikely as Thalia did."Some natural disaster, perhaps?"
"An island that size?"Roran shook his head."There would be debris, changes in the currents.Something would remain."He leaned over the railing, staring into the depths as though seeking answers in the opaque water."It's as though it was never here at all."
The silence that followed was profound, broken only by the gentle lapping of waves against the hull and the occasional creak of timber as the schooner shifted in the current.No birds circled overhead, no fish disturbed the surface.Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, the air unnaturally still despite Roran's earlier manipulation.
Thalia felt a chill that had nothing to do with the dampness of her clothing or the cool mist that surrounded them.Something was deeply, fundamentally wrong with this place.The abandoned settlements had been unsettling, but this—an entire island missing from where it should be—suggested a power at work beyond anything they had encountered before.
"We need to keep moving," Ashe said eventually, her practical nature reasserting itself."Whatever happened here, we can't solve it now.Night is falling, and we need to find shallower waters where we can anchor safely."
Roran didn't respond immediately, his gaze still fixed on the empty space where his memories insisted an island should be.When he finally turned away, his expression was troubled, his usual confidence replaced by a vulnerability Thalia had rarely seen in him.
"I know what I saw," he said quietly."I know what should be here."
"I believe you," Thalia assured him, placing a hand on his arm."But Ashe is right.We can't linger here.Not with night coming."
The quality of light had indeed changed, the diffuse brightness of day fading to a grayish twilight that made the mist seem more substantial, more threatening.Shadows lengthened across the deck, pooling in corners and beneath the raised stern where the chart table stood.The temperature dropped with the sun, bringing a biting chill that penetrated Thalia's damp clothing and settled into her skin.
As Roran reluctantly adjusted their course, seeking shallower waters where they might safely anchor for the night, Thalia remained at the railing, her gaze fixed on the spot where an island should have been.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As night spread, Thalia perched at the bow, her back against the foremast, knees pulled to her chest as her eyes swept the darkness for threats.The day's fog had retreated with the setting sun, unveiling a canopy of stars so dense and brilliant they seemed close enough to touch.In another life—a life where she'd followed orders and returned to Frostforge with her family—Thalia might have found beauty in their cold, distant light.But here, adrift in waters where islands vanished and settlements stood abandoned, the stars felt more like witnesses than guides.
They had dropped anchor in a sheltered cove, the water shallow enough that Thalia could make out the pale shadows of coral formations below the surface when she leaned over the railing.Small mercies.At least they wouldn't drift into unknown dangers while they slept if sleep came at all.
The lanterns had been extinguished hours ago, a precaution against any Warden patrols that might pass in the night.Darkness wrapped around the schooner like a shroud, broken only by the faint gleam of starlight on the water.
