Page 28 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

Before he could reply, the ship lurched as if it struck a solid wall. Both of them jolted forward. The inkwell on his desk toppled over, and a few of his field books dropped thunderously onto the floor. A cursory glance out the window revealed no obstacles in their path, and the lack of screaming meant nothing horrible had dredged itself from the bottom of the Vereist. There was no other sensible explanation than incompetence.

“What was that?” Ludwig asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, “but I intend to find out.”

Ludwig looked vaguely alarmed at her dark tone. “Why don’t I join you?”

With nothing better to redirect her frustration onto, she snapped, “You’re barely dressed.”

He shrugged.

Together, they made their way to the navigation room, dodging through the deckhands as they shouted at one another. She all but kicked in the door to the captain’s office. “Why have we stopped?”

The captain of thePrinzessin, Emma, stood beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, haloed in a mantle of dreary sunlight. She had a cloud of gray hair and a certain air of mystery that made everything she said sound vaguely like a portent of doom. “Lady Heike and Lady Adelheid blew in like a storm a few minutes ago.”

Of course. She should have expected as much. “Why?”

“Can’t agree on our course.” She took a drag of her pipe. “The river branches off just ahead. We could go straight through to Albe, or take a tributary through Herzin.”

As far as Lorelei was concerned, Herzin was best avoided.

All Herzisch Ursprung legends began with a man who ventures into the woods in search of power. Inevitably, he finds himself beset by monsters: a wolf whose voice echoes in his mind. Three men who promise gifts (almost always, these turn out to be curses) in exchange for a scrap of bread. A maiden who transforms into a serpent when he stops to aid her. Naturally, he slaughters them all. Most folktale heroes tended to outwit their foes, but the Herzisch ones had never met an enemy or a problem a solid punch couldn’t solve. Bloodshed and valor, of course, proved them a worthy vessel for the Ursprung’s power. The undeserving who waded into its depths simply perished.

“I will speak to them. Where are they now?”

Emma pointed one gnarled finger out the window. Heike and Adelheid stood nearly nose-to-nose at the stern of the ship, clearly in the midst of some argument. Adelheid’s face was frozen with the kind of calm that came from unshakable certainty. Heike had what Lorelei assumed was a map crumpled in one hand and a sextant clutched like a weapon in the other. A feeble attempt at intimidation, considering Adelheid had at least ten kilos of muscle on Heike and shoulders twice as wide.

Lorelei already felt exhausted.

Ludwig followed her out onto the deck. As they drew closer, Lorelei snapped, “Would you care to explain why my ship is stopped?”

“Oh, Lorelei! Just who I hoped to see.” Heike somehow managed to purr the entire sentence. She batted her eyelashes for good measure. “Be a dear and help me settle something, will you?”

“She will not,” Adelheid said, “because, unlike you, she has an ounce of sound judgment.”

Ludwig perched himself atop one of Adelheid’s mysterious dowsing instruments, as if settling in for a show.

Lorelei had half a mind to turn around and go back the way she came. “I will not be party to this nonsense. Fix this.”

“Oh, no you don’t.” Heike seized Lorelei by the elbow. “I’m certain that once you hearme—”

Adelheid cut in. “I have data to support my argument.”

“Data,” said Ludwig. “Now, that sounds compelling.”

Heike glared at the machine like she might kick it over with Ludwig still on it.

“I imagine I will regret asking,” said Lorelei, “but what is the problem?” When they both opened their mouths to speak, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “One at a time, if you please.”

Adelheid pursed her lips, clearly put out by having to appeal to Lorelei. “The concentration of aether along this stretch of the river is increasing at a rate that is, frankly, alarming. It would be wise to rechart our course.”

Heike threw her hands up exasperatedly. “Follow the aether, find the Ursprung. Isn’t that what Ziegler said? Honestly, I fail to see the issue here.”

“I’d expect the increase to be more gradual if we were heading toward the Ursprung. Spikes of magical activity like this typically correlatewith”—here,her expression turnedgrim—“anomalies.”

“And what,” said Lorelei, “doesthatmean?”

Ludwig perked up, which never boded well. “There already have been anomalies. Last night, Johann said he saw a deer that had a woman’s face.”