web novels and illustrations
Djaren and the prince began their detention by scraping barnacles in the boat house while the rest of their class practiced calisthenics and archery. The boat house, sadly, was not even down by the water, and the work was sweaty and smelly.
“Your face says you are planning something. Stop,” the prince said.
Continue reading “Chapter Seventeen — Detention and Other Adventures”
It was just growing light, and the cave was already abuzz with girls preparing for another day of school when the Professor rose and cleared his throat. “I believe,” he said, wrapping his blanket about himself and addressing Temanava carefully, “that I may need to borrow some sort of shirt. I should like to go into town, I think.”
Continue reading “Chapter Fifteen — The Dark Port of Tairoru”
Kara hit the ground hard and lost her breath but not her wits. She rolled, avoiding the next hit. She was recognizing her opponent’s tells better, now. Bulo hadn’t been this hard to fight. He’d been strong and slow, and Kara had knocked him down in a swift and insulting defeat that the Red Ropes judged unfair. She hadn’t even crippled him. They were being babies about this. Perhaps it had been unwise, though, to go on and challenge the lot of them to combat in turns.
Continue reading “Chapter Fourteen — Kara and the Red Ropes”
Djaren’s first real qualms began at the heavy, iron-bound school gates. The walls, reasonably tall and fortifiable, were guarded by a single gatekeeper, who closed and locked the doors behind them. The world inside the walls wasn’t terrible. Across a broad lawn, neat paths led uphill to a coral-colored stucco building with two wings, and east and west to stables, vegetable gardens, a banana grove, chicken coops, and low barns. Everything looked orderly, boring, and very neatly kept up. At the distant end of the main building, two boys stood guard under a tree, while a third one climbed lightly up into a school window. Once he’d ascended, the other two took the door in the normal way. Djaren frowned, collecting the memory. Kara should be able to get in here without any trouble. What else did?
Continue reading “Chapter Thirteen — The Mission School and Its Inhabitants”
For a long while it was hard for Jon to tell waking from dreaming, clinging to cold hands and rough plank, terrified of losing the Professor or Tam. The first time he opened his stinging eyes it was dark, and the second blink brought him a world of colorless gray. The ocean spoke, or it didn’t. He was in his bed at home with a fever, then buried in wet snow in the mountains, then fallen into a well. He reached out to find the sides and was on the plank in the sea again, grabbing frantically for the hands of his companions. He found them. The Professor, still lying lifeless, was looking at him with sad, empty eyes.
Continue reading “Chapter Ten — All Are Washed to New Shores”
Kara had gotten past her falling-out with the ocean. It made up for the giant waves and cold, thunderous vastness by being wonderfully warm now, and by letting its bright shallows be ruthlessly plundered for Kara’s gain. She loved diving. She found places no one else was able to access and deftly stole everything worth having in them. She was always in danger, a stranger in this world, unable even to breathe, but surrounded by amazing things. When her eyes began to dim, she could spin at the last minute and kick her way back up. Equally rewarding was finding Djaren near, impressed, envious, and frightened at how long she’d been under.
Morning surprised Jon, coming as sudden as night had, flooding his tent with amazing light that transformed everything it touched into something alive and miraculous. Also, it was hot. The tree cover had sheltered their tents from afternoon sun, but not from dawn.
Kara watched as people hurried to get supplies ready for landfall—several barrels of the precious fresh water, a lot of tools, and three tents. Professor Sheridan put tins of food in crates, and Djaren hefted a hatchet. “We could probably get our own food, really, hunting,” he said.
Continue reading “Chapter Seven — The Forbidden Isle of Tuwa”
“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”
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.