Tag: color illustration

Chapter Six — The Mysteries of the Night Crew

Chapter Six — The Mysteries of the Night Crew

“They say some of the fastest tea clippers make fourteen knots,” Djaren observed, sitting on the deck with Kara, watching Tam and the off-duty crew trying to drop nets. Djaren didn’t see Kara much these days, since he was busy with research. He tried, when they were together, to make up for being dull the rest of the time.

Continue reading “Chapter Six — The Mysteries of the Night Crew”

Chapter Five — Across the Western Ocean

Chapter Five — Across the Western Ocean

Jon was learning so much this voyage, and not just the things he’d expected to learn on a ship—sails and ropes, and the winds, and the funny ways that boats moved. Every day a little group gathered to compare notes on the books they had brought along and work on maps of Professor Hallowfield’s previous expeditions, in order to help the rescue party narrow their search. Professor Sheridan led the research, and Djaren and Jon helped, along with Scholar Bellcaster, a member of one of those previous expeditions.

Continue reading “Chapter Five — Across the Western Ocean”

Chapter Four — On the Land’s Wings

Chapter Four — On the Land’s Wings

As much as Kara disliked boats, being out in the ocean without one was worse. Clothes wet with salt water were heavy, and itched, and she was very thirsty. Everything in the world except water and sky was gone, and it stayed like that for a long while. It got light, and then it got dark again, and then again, and Kara found herself without the strength to hold on any longer. She cursed weakly as she sank back down into the ocean. She wasn’t quite out of air when she felt a different rush of water around her, diving past, then around. Arms wrapped her, pulling her up and up through water, and into air, and still she was rising. Kara coughed, spitting water back into the ocean, which now lay under her feet. The sky was full of tatters of cloud lit by thousands of stars, and pulling her up into that sky were a powerful pair of black wings.

Continue reading “Chapter Four — On the Land’s Wings”

Chapter Three — Orders from the Queen

Chapter Three — Orders from the Queen

Djaren got up from the table without asking, leaving his model wave to melt down onto his toast while the others ate in subdued curiosity. Djaren had never found his curiosity very subdue-able, and since he hadn’t been expressly forbidden to follow his mother and father into the next room, he did. Ellea shook her head at him. It was all very well for her; she could listen to whatever she wanted in nearby minds. Djaren had only his eyes, ears, and guesses.

Continue reading “Chapter Three — Orders from the Queen”

Chapter Two — The Wave and its Consequences

Chapter Two — The Wave and its Consequences

Kara discovered that, as expected, she didn’t like ships. This was one of the worst ships that had ever been hammered together. No wonder it had been sent as far from its cursed builders as possible, to live in this pitching exile on waves only fish were supposed to navigate. When she saw the coast again, for just two days, it was rocky and mountainous, a wall of cold and desolation rising from the sea. She wondered if it was Shandor. It was probably somewhere worse. Then the ship gulped down a cargo of cold water and big silver fish and turned away from the coast. Now, weeks from anything Kara recognized, with a new taste for stolen fish roasted over engine-room coals, she clung to her perch just above the half-full tanks of fish. The tanks sloshed dangerously as the vessel pitched and dipped on waves the size of hills.

Continue reading “Chapter Two — The Wave and its Consequences”

Chapter One — How the Sea Sent Warning

Chapter One — How the Sea Sent Warning

Jon Gardner tried not to fidget with excitement. All the windows in the lecture hall were open, and warm spring air blew in, carrying the sounds of the river rapids below, and the smells of orchards and farmland to the east. He had his own seat in the special section of “Artifacts and Applications” at the Shandorian University, and on this perfect day he didn’t want to be anywhere but right here in class. The special section courses were restricted to only a select few students, and one either had to be recommended by a professor or an Elder.

Continue reading “Chapter One — How the Sea Sent Warning”