Page 126 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

He closed his eyes again, and was almost dozing off, when the boat turned upside down. He hit the ceiling of his storage room hard, and heard screams above him, on the ship. No, below. The boat had been overturned, and soon water came in through the cracks. He tried to push the door open, but it didn’t move, as the water pressed on it. The only thing he had was the staff, which he used to hit the door. When he was already submerged, he opened a hole big enough for him to swim through, and left with the magical artifact. He was almost out of air when he reached the turbulent surface.

The sky was still clear, no clouds in view, and yet, something had turned the boat. Something like a huge wave. At least it wasn’t as bad as a sea serpent, and at least the water wasn’t cold. There were screams and shouts in the distance, and he hoped the crew had survived. He would need to wait for a boat to rescue him—unlikely—or maybe he’d have to swim to shore.

The problem was that he didn’t even know in which direction Aluria was. The ocean was a tangle of dark waves under an eerily calm, starry sky. He found a piece of floating wood and held onto it with one hand, while tying the staff to his belt, keeping his strength for the morning, when the sun would help him find his direction. Perhaps he should have studied the stars, like the sailors, then he would know where to go. Either way, the ocean had to become calmer for him to advance.

When the sky turned red, waiting for the sun to make its appearance, the ocean calmed down. Overcome by exhaustion, he was almost falling asleep when he saw it—the green sheen of scales. Great. He’d been admonishing his luck, as if things couldn’t possibly get worse. It turned out that they could.

Perhaps if he remained quiet, the monster wouldn’t see him—or sense or smell him. There were many debris floating on the surface and perhaps that would confuse the serpent.

Then something emerged from the water, and it was the size of a medium boat, but it was just a head. At first he saw the huge green eyes, then the gigantic mouth, which opened, showing double rows of sharp teeth, and uttered a roaring scream.

That was bizarre. He thought that creatures screamed when they were afraid or wanted to intimidate the enemy. There was no possible way River could be any more intimidated than he already was, he who was some twenty times smaller than the creature. Perhaps it wanted to let him know that it was angry. Other than fear, River felt regret. Regret for not asking more about this staff. If it could wield powerful magic, perhaps it could defeat that serpent, except that it was useless in his hand. And he had to bring it to the Ancient City. He couldn’t die here, after all he’d gone through. And yet he stared at that huge mouth, unsure what to do.

Huge mouth. He had one shot: jump in it, beyond the rows of teeth, then hurt the creature from the inside. But then a strong flash of light hit his eyes, and he was unable to see anything for a few seconds. When he looked again, the creature had receded, probably also affected by the light. Then there was another sea serpent, smaller, white.

“Don’t hurt it,” a woman’s voice said. Not any voice, the voice of the girl who had saved him. Now, he wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or to the serpent. Serpents. He was getting confused. The smaller serpent made an odd, hissing sound, and the bigger one replied, as if they were having a conversation. Perhaps they were debating who was going to eat him, except that he still thought the voice had come from the smaller serpent, which made no sense. Last he remembered, the girl who had saved him had no scales.

But whatever happened, the big serpent swam away, which meant River was safe, at least for now. After another bright light, he did see the dark-haired girl, but she was floating above the ocean, and sort of transparent.

“You saved me again?” he asked, too exhausted to try to pretend there had been no saving.

She tilted his head. “Again? Why? You’ve been needing more saving than this?”

“In the dragon lair.”

The pretty girl shook her head. “It wasn’t me.”

But she wasn’t a faerie, and she could probably lie. He just didn’t understand why. But what bothered him most was her eerie appearance. “Are you dead?”

“This is my spirit form, but there are more meanings than death to it.”

“If you tell me your name, next time I see you, I’ll be sure it’s you.”

“A name’s just a temporary word, given to our mortal form.”

“You’re dead, then.” He sighed. “Maybe you should have let the serpent eat me, then I’d meet you.”

She smiled. “Your time’s not over yet.”

“I’m not even sure I’ll make it to Formosa.”

“You won’t. But you’re near Aluria. Vastfield, see?” She pointed, and as he looked in that direction, he did see the outline of the shore. “Not a city, but I think you can find your way from there.”

It didn’t seem far. “You aren’t going to disappear again, are you? And leave me here?’

She had a beautiful smile. “You don’t expect me to stick around, do you? Just imagine the awkwardness of it.” Her face then turned somber. “But we’ll meet again. Be strong. Dark times are upon you. But you… You’re good, River. Never forget that.”

“I’m pretty good at so many things, you should try to—”

“Shush it.” She rolled her eyes. Could vision or spirit forms or whatever roll their eyes? “At least you’ll grow up.”

“Hey. Did you just call me a kid?”

“You are a kid.” She sighed. “But it won’t last long.” There was sadness in her eyes. “Stay strong. And never forget who you are.” With that, she disappeared—again, leaving him alone to swim to the shore.

He got to a beach after a couple hours swimming. Vastfield. This kingdom was far from Ironhold, and hadn’t been much affected by the war. While the Ancient dwellings had been emptied, some of the fae rings still remained, and River got to the Ancient City by evening. His clothes were tattered, his hair tangled, but he went straight to the grand hall, hoping to find his father.

What he found instead was a celebration. Not a big celebration, just the royal family and their most entrusted ones, but it was still at odds with the war and all the tragedy they’d gone through. There was wine, fruit, meat, musicians, and, strangest of all, there was a lightness and relief in the air, even some happiness, which he hadn’t seen in a long time. For a moment he hoped that they knew he was coming and what he was bringing, but since nobody seemed to notice him, he soon realized that was probably not the case.

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