Alexis Glaciermage's Arc

Chapter 10 of 13

By dusk the ship was three days out, and the chest sat open on the captain's table. Alexis had not seen it cracked, only heard the hinge give while she was aloft. Now Rikki called her down. Inside the lid, blue scales caught the lamp. Inside the box, a single folded map. Rikki spread it flat. An island. A forest marked in green ink that seemed to shift when she looked away. "You read the wind," he said. "Tell me if this is one we sail toward." Alexis put her finger on the green and felt the paper warm under her pad. She did not pull her hand back. "We sail toward it," she said. The captain rolled the map and tucked it into his coat. The course was set before either of them spoke again. Four days more and Alexis sighted it from the crow's nest. A low island ringed in golden sand. Above the beach, a wall of trees stood thick and bright, their leaves a green that did not match the sea light. She felt the wind die two seconds before it died on the canvas. She called the drop and the helmsman answered. The ship slid into the shallows on momentum alone. Rikki met her on deck with the map in his fist. They rowed in together. Where the sand ended, two trees leaned toward each other and made an arch over a worn path. The air past the arch was cooler. Alexis stepped through first and the map went warm against the captain's chest. Behind them, the longboat sat empty on the shore. The chest was done. The island had them now.