Page 38 of Pregnant With Their Babes

Dagr shook his head. “It’s Oz’s. But I’ve spent the last eight years aboard her decks. She’s as much a home as any other. That makes her mine in some small way, I suppose.”

“Her?You speak as if the ship has a soul.”

“I guess she does, in some way. We put our trust in her strength. We do not doubt she will help us reach the end of our journey.”

“Doesshehave a name?”

“She’s theReliance.”

“Reliance. Named so because you and your crew put your faith into her dependable nature?” Llyr asked. “Is that it?”

“Yes,” Dagr murmured. “I suppose so.”

“Does she not have the same weaknesses of any other ship that sails these oceans?”

Dagr nodded. “Of course. But she was well built. We spend a lot of time maintaining her—keeping her in good working order.”

“I’ve seen ships at the bottom of the ocean, pulled down by ill weather or violence. I wonder if those crews put the time and care into those vessels? It would be sad if they did only to find such a tragic end.”

Dagr stared at Llyr, unsure the point the man was trying to make. “We take some risk each time we stride on deck. There’s always a chance we won’t arrive at the next port.”

“If you can have faith in the Reliance and her crew, perhaps there’s hope you can find some in me, too. I’ve proven you have the capacity.”

Dagr was struck silent a moment. “Unlike you, our ship does not claim to do the impossible.”

“What you think is impossible can change with the wind.”

Fortunately, cries from down below on the docks caught his attention and ended their conversation before it could devolve more. “I’m afraid I need to go investigate what’s going on.”

“Of course,” Llyr said with a soft smile. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. As you said, we’re a well-oiled machine and have everything in hand,” Dagr said before bowing and then heading toward the gangway. Once he arrived on the dock, he saw a group of his sailors staring down into the water. “Did we lose some cargo?”

Their quartermaster lifted his stare, a ghostly look to his pale face. “Barney— swears he saw a dead thing in tha water. I told him thars no such thing. But when I walked over ta tha edge meself, I saw a wisp o’somethin’. Don’t bode well fer tha voyage ahead.”

“Nay,” another of the sailors muttered. “Bad omen, that is.”

Dagr lifted a brow. “And how much drink did the lot of you have last night?”

“It ain’t that!” the man in question, Barney, answered. “I barely drank four pints an’ I keen what I saw. ‘Twas a dead man. Pale an’ ghastly. Only his eyes were open an’… hesawme. Live an’ dead, all the same.”

Dagr shook his head. “You saw nothing but an old piece of canvas or a sea creature tossed about on the waves. If it was a dead body, it would be floating for all to see.”

Mr. Tyler ambled over to Dagr. “Have ye ever known me ta speak tall tales or other foolishness?” he asked lowly.

Dagr sized the man up. “No.”

“I ain’t doin’ it now, either. I saw somethin’. I don’ know what, but I did.”

Dagr eyed the men a moment longer as the group around them grew. A shiver raced up his spine, his skin tingling with awareness. Magic. He could sense it all around them.

He watched as Barney told the others his tale. “The whole ship will be whispering ghost tales for weeks now.”

“Perhaps we set out on the morrow, ta help calm tha men about tha journey ahead.”

“We have no time to dawdle,” Dagr said, knowing Oz believed the witch’s tales. He refused to be swayed—and if there was a small ounce of truth in it, if Oz’s father was in need—they had to go. Sooner than later. And if there was magic around them, they needed distance from it. “Wemustleave today.”

Mr. Tyler sighed and crossed a finger over his heart. “May tha gods have mercy on us.” He concentrated on the crewmen. “Leave all tha’ nonsense. We have a ship ta ready.”

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