Tress of the Emerald Sea (The Cosmere)(111)

Regardless, he had a moment of peace. And could cock his head, frowning as the back of his board—which used to display words for him—now showed Tress and the rat, huddled up close to the camera on their side.

“Fort?” Tress asked. “Can you see us?”

The words scrolled across the screen, obscuring the view a little.

I can! he typed, the words appearing underneath theirs but from the other side. He waved to the others, and in a moment Ann and Salay had joined him. Even I huddled up with them, curious.

“Captain?” Salay asked. “Captain! Are you well?”

“We’re in the tower,” Tress whispered. “How did you survive the spores? No, never mind that now. Explain later. Salay, you need to watch out. The sea here is full of rocks under the spores. They’re extremely treacherous!”

“I’ll watch for those,” Salay said. “Thank you.”

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Tress said. “If you try to sail through those rocks, you’ll sink.”

The three of them frowned. Then Salay asked simply, “Do you order us to turn around?”

Did she?

Could she?

Dared she?

In that moment, the decision was made. The rock tipped and the avalanche of change that had been building in Tress started tumbling down.

“No,” Tress whispered. “Please help me.”

The three of them grinned. I scratched my head. Because something about the place where Tress was standing, visible behind her, was familiar to me.

“We’ll do it,” Salay said. “We’re coming.”

“Don’t get yourselves hurt!” Tress said.

“Captain,” Ann said, “we’re going to save you. Because you deserve it. You remember, you once told me somethin’ that made me see the world in an entirely new way.”

“And that was?” Tress asked.

“‘Here, try on these spectacles.’”

Ann, Fort wrote, that was almost as bad as one of Hoid’s jokes.

“It isn’t just a joke though,” Ann said, tapping her spectacles. “It’s true. I see a new world. A world where we aren’t condemned people any longer. A world where we’ve got ourselves a future.”

“You know I’m not a King’s Mask,” Tress said. “I can’t get him to pardon us.”

“We’ll find another way,” Ann said, looking to the others, who nodded. “Because once we saunter up to the Sorceress herself and get away…well, I figure after we do that, we’ll be able to do anything.”

The three of them nodded to her, and she felt overwhelmed. By their loyalty, by her own (at long last) willingness to accept help. By…

Wait.

Within Tress’s avalanche of emotions, something stood out. Prompted by how I, standing there with the other three, was trying to use my tongue to pick my nose.

Her thoughts were a curiosity, you might say.

A revelation, I’d say.

“Hoid,” Tress said. “Hoid couldn’t point out the way to the Sorceress. We had to guess the location by pointing to places other than this one. He could talk about all of those…”

And? Fort said.

“And I assumed the reason was because he couldn’t talk about his curse,” Tress said. “But the solution to Charlie’s curse involved him returning to her. If Hoid couldn’t show us the way here, at least not intentionally, then maybe the solution to his curse involves him coming here too.”

She looked down at the floor.

A map of the world.

You must bring me to your planet, Tress.

“Yes…” Charlie whispered. “Hoid could talk about being cursed, once you knew about what had happened to him. He should have been able to easily mention the Sorceress and her island. But if he couldn’t? That implies that doing so would help break the curse. His solution must involve getting back into the Sorceress’s tower. Passing her tests…Tress, it makes sense!”

She looked up toward the others again, her eyes widening. “You need to bring him here. Into this room.”

“The cabin boy?” Ann asked, frowning.

“Captain?” Salay said. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Tress said. “Please. Bring him to me. I know it’s hard, but please.”

“Well, if you order it...” Salay said.

“Don’t do it because I order it,” Tress said. “Do it because you trust me.”

The others nodded. They did trust her. Which was good, since the Sorceress had noticed what Tress was doing. Eyes wide with fury, the woman barked an order, shutting off their communication. She thrust her hands into the air, her fingers leaving trails of light as she constructed powerful runes. As she finished them with a flourish, a blast of light erupted from them and crossed the room, slamming Tress back against the wall and holding her there.

A crash and a clank sounded as two cups tumbled free of their perches. The one with the butterfly shattered. The other bounced, gaining a new dent.

The Sorceress turned back to mobilizing her armies. Charlie—who had been dropped as Tress slammed into the wall—picked himself up and scampered over to her, climbing her clothing. He tried to nibble at the lines of light to free her. It worked about as poorly as you might imagine.