Page 184 of Keldori By Daybreak

I sat on my knees, inhaling the salt air through my nose and feeling it rush through my hair.

We’d survived the night, and I was almost home.

38. Commercial Fishing

It was easy to pretend the ocean air was the same air that rolled over Keel Watch Harbor every morning. If I closed my eyes to the towering mast overhead and ignored the rocking of the ship deck beneath me, I could pretend I was on the back deck of Gams’s house, listening to gulls and the slap of surf against wood.

Una’s flank rising and falling beneath me made pretending I was home a little more difficult, as there were no onchús to use as pillows in Keldori, but Ciarán’s body pressed against my side and Jonquil purring between us felt familiar enough to make up for it.

A harsh whistling split the illusion, and I sat up to glare at the armada where it gathered along the shores of the harbor behind us. Red steam rose from the smokestacks of Tamora’s ships, hissing as they prepared to sail north.

My new fishing ship was only half the size of the warships, and the rounded hull was designed for stability in waves rather than speed. However, the fisherman crew that came with the boat at least seemed friendlier than the Barony soldiers that manned Tamora’s fleet.

“You’d be more comfortable sleeping belowdeck, miss.” The captain stood with his broad back towards me as he tended to the ship’s helm. A tattered green bandana held his brown-and-gray-flecked hair back from his weathered face as he watched his fifteen or so men scurry around the deck.

Captain Davyn had taken the change in employer well enough, though his eyebrows had risen when he realized the new owner of his ship and crew was a teenaged girl. He had muttered something about me being no older than his youngest daughter, but led us to the ship without too many questions.

And he was right. I probably would be more comfortable sleeping in the dark of the lower cabins, but here I could watch Orla and Fana lean over the wooden railing, pointing at shapes in the sea foam while Tiernan kept a tight grip on the back of Fana’s cloak. Iseult consulted with a fiery-haired fisherwoman in a bandana similar to Davyn’s, the two of them looking between Mom’s journal transcription and the horizon.

And then there was Ciarán, his even breaths stirring a lock of dark hair that had fallen in his face. He’d fallen asleep again shortly after I’d finished healing most of his remaining wounds.

I’d be too far from my friends belowdeck. Besides, I only had so many hours left to spend under the Skalterran sky. This strange world had tried to kill me over and over, but I would miss it once the danger was behind us.

“I’m okay up here,” I assured the captain. “Thank you, Davyn.”

“It must’ve cost you a pretty sum of coin to buy us off the Baron,” Davyn chuckled, his eyes on the wind filling the sails. “She doesn’t usually like losing her things, especially when seafarers like us are a rare commodity.”

“I didn’t have to pay. Tamora owed me.”

“On first name basis with the Baron, are we?” Davyn laughed again.

“Sorry.” I pushed wind-whipped hair from my face, watching the fog on the horizon. “I didn’t mean to disrespect your baron.”

“I’m from Breachriver, miss. She’s not my baron, especially not now that the ship and crew are yours. I used to be a river fisher, but money is better on the sea because most Magicians avoid the ocean. Unfortunately, that means working for the Baron.”

“Or buying your own ship.”

Davyn guffawed. “Not many people can afford their own ship, miss. I don’t know what you had on the Baron that convinced her to hand us over to a kid, but I’m impressed and just a little bit jealous.”

A knot in my chest loosened at his laugh. I still wasn’t sure how much I could trust Davyn and his crew, but knowing he was from Breachriver rather than the Grand Barony set me at ease.

The fiery-haired woman left Iseult to approach the helm with Mom’s notebook in hand. I trusted her slightly less because of her resemblance to the Baron, but she bowed her head in respect as she passed me.

“What did you find out, Vinia?” Davyn asked.

“Father.” She pointed southwest with the notebook. “They’re looking for the Tortoise.”

Davyn hummed in discontent. “The tides around the Tortoise are tricky.”

“What’s the Tortoise?” I asked.

“Your book here describes one of the islands to the southwest. It’s shaped like a tortoise rearing out of the water, so that’s what we call it,” Vinia explained.

“And we won’t be able to get too close without getting bashed against its cliffs,” Davyn warned. “The ocean there is unforgiving and there’s a reason Magicians don’t bother with these islands.”

“Do you have a rowboat?” I asked. “You can get us as close as you can, and we’ll take the rowboat to shore.”

“Sure, but you’ll have a hell of a time getting back out past the surf,” Vinia said.