Aldric Vane's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The wreck sat heavy in the shallows, and Aldric could not lift it alone. He had spent three days trying. He braced beams that fell. He hauled rope until his scarred arms shook. One man could patch a hole, but no man could raise a hull by himself. The voices past his wards laughed on, careless, close. He had built those wards to keep the sea creature out. Now he wondered what else lived behind them. He needed hands. The only hands on the island belonged to whoever made that noise. So he walked inland with his driftwood staff. The wards hummed as he crossed them. Beyond the tree line he found a black frigate beached on dry stone, far from any water that could have carried it. Its sails hung like folded shadow. A calm woman's face rose from the bow. The name along the hull read Veilsong. A man stood on the deck, talking to empty air. "Bring the line about," the man said to no one. "Steady now." No one answered. His red eyes glowed faint in the shade. A cutlass hung at his hip. When he saw Aldric, his hand went to it. "You're the sorcerer," the man said. Not a question. "Aldric. I saw your ship. I need help with mine." Aldric kept the staff low. "You have a crew?" The man laughed once, hard. "Had one. Silas Kade. Captain of nothing now." He stepped down onto the stone. "You did this. Your island took them from me." "I took nothing." "They talked. They drank. They worked this deck." Silas spread his hands at the empty rigging. "I made landfall here and they went quiet. One morning the helm stood empty." His voice stayed flat, but his jaw worked. "That's on you." Aldric understood too slowly. Ghosts. This man had sailed with dead men. And the wards Aldric raised years ago, the wards that fed on stray spirits and cold magic, had smothered them. "My wards," Aldric said. "They keep spirits out. That's why the voices stopped." Silas went still. "Then drop them." "If I drop them, the sea takes me. I only just beat the thing that lives in this water." "I don't care what it takes." Silas drew the cutlass. "Bring my crew back, or I burn your ship to splinters. You'll never leave either." Aldric had come for hands to raise his hull. He had found a man who would sink it instead. He gripped the staff and stepped back over the ward line. Silas could not cross it. But Silas had made a promise, and Aldric believed him. He returned to the shore at dusk. His ship still waited, still too heavy for one man. Now a captain waited too, ready to torch it the moment Aldric turned his back. He could not sail without help. He could not lower the wards without dying. And the only ally on the island wanted him dead.