Sea Of Sparks And Shadows

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!

“How long does it take to get to Paradelia?” Amaris scrubbed at the plate, bunching her eyebrows in concentration.

Hawk shrugged and filled a bucket from the barrel at the corner of the galley. “About two weeks. Give or take a couple of days depending on the weather.”

She placed the plate down and scowled reaching for another. “What about the next stop?”

“After Paradelia? We’ll head to south Linorva.”

“No the next stop from here. How long to get to land again?”

“In about five days. Four if Mecheye can fix the engine. Why? Sick of us already?” He teased

“No reason. Just wanted to know how long I’ll be stuck with a mop and dishtowel for friends.” She shot back. She didn’t want to show it, but she was glad to hear that. Though Hawk hadn’t exactly been mean to here, her conversation with Mirage just a few hours ago left her more than willing to accept Ash’s suggestion to send her off in a lifeboat, not that she’d ever tell him that.

“Har har laugh it off, you little stowaway. You’re lucky I don’t have you scrapping the side of the ship from barnacles with Slygrin.”

“What is it with these names? Mirage, Mech-eye and now Sly-grin? Can’t you just call them with their given names?”

“A nickname is an honor, girl. You have to earn it. It shows your worth to this… to this ship and to this crew. You wear it like a badge. You don’t hide it or feel ashamed of it.”

“Do you have a nickname?”

“What do you think Hawk is?”

“That’s not your real name?”

“Naw, they call me that because I can see a ship a mile away.”

“But aren’t we at sea? Shouldn’t they be calling you a seagull or such?”

“Very funny. He glared at her. Get back to your dishes.”

She tried to hide her smile as she moved to rinsing the spoons.

“What about him?” she asked reluctantly. “Is … Is Ash a nickname too?”

“Yeah. We gave it to him a week after he boarded.”

“Why?”

Hawk smiled. “I’ll let you figure it out on your own.”

She huffed. She was so frustrated. With herself for asking and with hawk for not answering.

“What about the rest of them? How did they gain their names?”

“Mirage is a mind weaver,” he sat down with a groan. “He can make you see whatever he wants you to see. Mecheye is our fixer. He has this special thing he made that he puts over his eye when he’s working. It helps him see better, he said. His original name was McCoy so it wasn’t much of a stretch. And Slygrin is just trouble all over. His father, Oldsalt, used to call him that when he was little. Then it just stuck with the rest of us.”

“His father works here too?”

“Not anymore.” Hawk’s voice dropped, a solemn note in his tone told her not to push further.

“He used to be our cook.” He continued after a while. “He used to make the best turtle meat stew in all the seas.” He let out a dry chuckle. “When he joined us Slygrin was five. The boy knows nothing but the waves and the clouds now.”

“How did he… I mean is he still…”

“He died on the last moon. He was… sick. And we were far from land. We don’t have any healers with us or any medicine. By the time we got to the port, all we could do is pray to the heavens to take good care of his soul.”

“I’m sorry.” Was all Amaris could say to Hawk. He didn’t respond. His eyes held a faraway look and his lips were shaped in a frown.

****

As Amaris walked down the corridor on the upper level, she wondered what was going on back home. If she can even call the mansion that. Had Lydia brought her a nice dress to wear only to find the room empty and Amaris’ things missing? She didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye. To her or to her grandmother. She wondered if she even got out of bed today or spent it lying down like the day before. Had the Count from Swiftborn arrived expecting a bride and left with nothing? She would die to see the look on her aunt’s face when she finds out that she ran away. She just hoped Vanya wouldn’t get in trouble because of her. Amaris winced just from remembering her. All the gold she risked for her and in the end it was all for nothing. It sat at the bottom of the ocean and she was just as broke as she was the day before, if not even more so.

She let out a frustrated breath and clutched her backpack closer to her chest. She didn’t want to think about that. Not yet. She was now wearing an oversized men’s shirt and slacks, the latter had to be rolled up three times for her to simply walk without tripping on the fabric. After admitting to Hawk, rather reluctantly that she lost her bag of clothing, he somehow got her a pair of shirts and slacks she could use while she’s on the ship. He then gave her directions to the cabin she’ll be staying at and told her to come to the mess hall one hour before dawn.

“And please don’t kill each other tonight. I don’t want any more blood stains on the floor.” Before Amaris could ask him what did that mean exactly, he yawned and headed to his own cabin. So she just shook it off and turned to leave.

The first thing she did when she opened the door is pause and look up muttering, “heavens, who did I kill to have to suffer through this?”

“That’s what I keep asking myself every time I see you.” Ash shot back. He sat on the bottom bunk of one of two beds. Tossing a small rectangular box into the air and catching it over and over.

She glared back at him but he ignored her. She didn’t know what to do. She was sure it wouldn’t end well if she stayed there with him, but at the same time she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking he could get to her. So she prayed once more to the heavens for patience and walked in.

She headed to the bed across from him and put her bag down on the bottom bunk.

“That bed is taken.” He said, still focusing on the box.

She silently lifted her bag and made to climb up the ladder to the top bunk.

“That one too.”

She bit her tongue and glared at him.

“Then where am I supposed to sleep?”

He pointed to the bed above him.

She walked to the ladder beside him when he spoke again. “It must be hard on you, sharing a room with three other people.”

This time Amaris didn’t bite her tongue. She threw the bag on her new bed with a loud thud then took a step back and glared at him.

“You know what? This is getting a bit old. If you have something to say, go ahead and say it clearly and loudly to my face and stop with the damned comments and the offensive bull’s crap. We’re both stuck here for a while and as I much as I’d love to not ever see your face again, I do not seem to have that luxury at the moment. So grow the hell up and get over it.”

Ash was about to respond when the door opened again. and he seemed to forget their argument as soon as his eyes slid behind her to the entrance.

“Finally! What took you so long?”

“You try getting stuck on a damned swing scrapping barnacles all evening.” A familiar voice answered. “my arms are about to fall off. I could barely make it back here so shut your mouth.”

Amaris gasped as she saw who was at the door. “You?”

“You’re the new girl?!” The boy snorted and shook his head. His blond hair swung at the movement, now tied as opposed to it loose from the night before. He also wore a white bandana at the moment. “See what happens when you don’t listen to us?”

“You’re… but you…I thought…”

“Hang on a minute.” Ash stood up. “You know her?”

“I met her last night when she was boarding.” He drawled. “for some reason she started running all of a sudden and she didn’t reply when Wind and I called her. We saw her get on the ship and we tried to tell her to get down but she disappeared. We searched around the ship for a while and then figured she got off.” He shrugged. “Turns out she didn’t.”

“But you were walking behind me and whispering and laughing and I thought-”

“Wait. You were running from us?” he exclaimed. He sat on the bed opposite Ash and tried not to look offended. “And here we thought some dark weaver took hold of you or saw some dark spirit or something worse. We were just talking. And you happened to walk in front of us.”

“But… I thought…” Amaris was speechless.

“Not everything is about you princess.” Ash threw the small rectangle at the boy and he caught it effortlessly. Ash lied down and pulled his arms behind his head, resting it on the small flat pillow.

She didn’t want to look at him because she could hear the pleased smirk in his voice. So instead, she focused on the boy, who now, forgot completely about her and focused on opening the small paper box. He took out a pack of cards and started shuffling them.

“But you were with that-”

“Hey, I hope you didn’t start without me.” A low raspy voice reached her ear before a new shadow covered the hallway.

She looked up and felt her blood freeze in her veins. The winged man walked into the room then halted when he saw her.

“You’re…” she couldn’t finish her sentence. Not because of the fear that clawed at her throat but at the loud laugh that erupted from the 12 year old.

“Wait, you thought we were stalking you because of Wind Tuner?”

“Well…” Her cheeks reddened and she didn’t know what to say. “I saw a Skydancer and I always heard that Skydancers are…” she didn’t want to complete that sentence.

“Dangerous.” Wind Tuner finished it for her. “Savage beasts that don’t know the feeling of being civil and only know how to fight and-”

“Yes.” She nodded.

Wind tuner’s expression was grim and he didn’t look her in the eye. “I apologize if I scared y-”

Suddenly Ash and the boy burst out laughing. She snapped her head in their direction and found him leaning on his knees, wheezing for air, the pack of cards long forgotten on the ground. Ash wasn’t much better. Amaris was sure by the amount of laughter and lost breath that if he wasn’t already lying down he would have fallen to the ground by then.

“Hang on, hang on.” The boy said when he finally sobered up. “You were afraid of Wind?”

She blushed even more, embarrassment and confusion battling in her brain. She blinked. “Y-yes.” She wasn’t sure about her answer anymore. She was even less sure of it when it incited a new round of laughter.

On the bright side, she wasn’t the only one feeling mortified. Wind Tuner was just as red, his ruffled wings tucked closely to his body.

The boy walked up to Wind Tuner, tears still in his eyes, and put a hand on his shoulder leaning on him. “Believe, me when I say, that mister grey feathers over here is the most docile man on this ship.”

Wind pushed him away, face still red and muttered; “Slygrin would you be quiet.”

“I apologize for misjudging you.” She said when the two boys sobered up, her face decided not to cool down.

“It’s … It’s alright. I got used to it.” He winced and rubbed the back of his neck, pulling at his short cropped hair.

“Still…”

“Are we going to play or what?” Ash interrupted her apology and for once she was thankful for it. It was getting awkward and this was a conversation neither her nor Wind Tuner wanted to have.

“You’d think you’d be tired of losing by now.” The boy smirked and picked up the cards. “Oh well, I can’t refuse to beat your ass once more.”

“Sly shut up and serve the cards,” Ash waved him off with one hand as he sat up again, though there was no annoyance in his voice, only slight amusement.

Wind Tuner shook his head and moved to sit next to Slygrin when he saw Amaris start climbing to her bed. “Do you… uh, want to play?” he asked.

She smiled back and shook her head. “Thank you but no.”

“Awh come on. The more the merrier.” Whined Slygrin.

Before she could respond, Ash shot back. “Serve the damned cards already.” And with that everyone’s attention was back on the cards. She lied on her new cot staring at the ceiling and hearing their banter trying to let it lull her to sleep.

***

Amaris tossed and turned once again in her bed. The lights have been out for at least two hours and despite her exhaustion, Amaris couldn’t get herself to fall asleep. She looked at the bunk opposite hers. Wind Tuner was lying on his stomach, breathing evenly. Sound asleep. And judging by the snores coming from the lower bunks, so were her other companions.

She sighed and sat up, giving up on getting any sleep. She quietly climbed down the ladder and closed the door carefully behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief when it shut into place.

She didn’t know where she was heading until she found herself on the starboard, watching the dark endless sea. The gleaming waves reflected the starry skies. The stars were countless and so bright.

So much brighter than back in Oddelerie. Oddelerie. She sighed and her fingers moved instinctively to her right wrist, turning the silver bracelet around and around. Coincidentally, the bracelet had one single charm that was missing from tonight’s sky; A shining crescent moon. What is she going to do? She lost the gold, the letter… everything. How is she going to make it to Paradelia, let alone into this Zinnette’s house? She’ll have to-

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A voice said from behind her. She turned to see a new face. A man in his late twenties or early thirties, leaning on the rails and watching the waves. His chin length black hair danced with the breeze and stuck to his cheek. But he didn’t bother pulling it away.

“Yeah.” She cleared her dry throat, retrieving her unused voice. “I’ve never been on a ship before.”

“You’ll get used to it. The motion of the waves I mean. On days like this when the water spirits gift us a calm sea, it’s practically none existent when you’re moving. You only feel it if you’re standing still or lying down.”

The waves? That’s what’s been keeping her up all night? “How long did it take you to get used to it?”

The stranger smiled. “When I first boarded this ship I had so much on my mind that the sea sickness only settled in a week after boarding.”

She stared at the man silently, not knowing how to respond. She could see faint scars on his face, gleaming in the moonlight. A golden chain hung around his neck. A small circular object attached to its end.

“Whatever it is that brought you here,” he said, “I can bet you at least ten of us have it worse than you.”

She smiled. “I don’t doubt it. That doesn’t mean I can’t look for a way out.”

Amaris couldn’t see much of his face but she could see the stretching of his lips. Not exactly a smile but close. “If you ever do find it, please show me.”

She couldn’t decipher the meanings behind his words and for a minute she wasn’t so sure they were even talking about the same thing.

The stranger pulled away from the rail. “Enjoy your stay. And I recommend visiting the barn before leaving the deck.” He waved in the general direction of what she had assumed were all higher level cabins.

She nodded but he was already out of sight when she turned around.

She watched the lapping waves a while longer before turning to leave. Then she remembered what the stranger said and headed in the opposite direction.

The barn wasn’t hard to find. It’s short swinging doors were quite different from the rest of the entrances. She took a look in and saw two sleeping goats on a bed of hay and a couple of chickens in the opposite direction. She pushed the door open and the noise made one of the goats stir. She closed it as silently as possible and stared at the sleeping animals. She’d never see real chickens and goats before. One of the disadvantages of living in a big city. She sat down on the hay near the sleeping goat and examined it. The animal didn’t seem to notice the intrusion, her breaths were still even, blowing at her soft white fur.

Amaris leaned her head back on the wall and looked at the star filled sky through the doors. Five more days. She thought. She still had five more days to figure out what she’s going to do. How she will get to Paradelia. Then how to explain to this lady that she’s Vanya’s cousin and that she needed to stay with her for a while. Then how to- she sighed. Running away is much more difficult than she first thought.

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!