A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(60)

My heart, on the other hand, was gradually constricting as I looked down at the foamy water and the high tides coming at us.

“Serena!” I heard him shout.

I looked over my shoulder to find him wearing a confident smile, as Turaya took the wheel for a moment, while he stretched his arms out to the sides.

“Let me show you something I learned the other night!” he said, loud enough for me to hear him on the other side of the ship.

I used my True Sight to get a better look at his face and saw him close his eyes, his lips moving as he said something. His fingers moved as if playing an invisible piano.

A bright white light beamed out of his body before scattering outward in trillions of sparks that vanished into the ocean. Slowly, but surely, the water smoothed over and the waves died down, leaving the strong wind to fill our sails and shorten the distance to Marton. Instead of the ocean resisting, we felt it pushing from behind against the rudder and increasing the ship’s speed.

We were racing across the water now, gobbling up at least a hundred miles per hour, from what I could tell. The ship creaked from all angles, and the succubi gathered half the sails back, as the water was doing most of the work now, rather than the wind, thanks to Draven’s Druid abilities.

I looked around, amazed by his craft, his ability to influence the ocean, and wondered what else he’d learned from the Druid archives. He gave me a confident wink, as if promising that I would soon get to see more of the newly acquired spells. I smiled at him, beaming with pride.

The rest of our trip was clear and uneventful. The ship cut through the dark blue water as various creatures, resembling small whales and dolphins, swam along on both sides.

Several hours later, as the sky turned pink and purple in the sunset, we saw Marton rising slowly over the horizon—a rugged line of red desert spanning hundreds of miles. I noticed some of the succubi were getting seasick, bent over the edge and hurling, cursing and asking Draven to decrease the speed before he crashed us into the shore.

Draven laughed lightly and put his arms out again as Marton grew larger in the distance. His fingers moved vivaciously, and the ship began to slow. The wood howled from every joint, sending shivers down my spine. I couldn’t help but worry it would fall apart before we reached waters low enough to drop the anchor.

He left Turaya in charge of the wheel and came toward me, crossing the main deck in several broad steps.

“Don’t worry, my darling,” he said cheerfully, in an infectiously good mood. “Turaya comes from a long line of sailors. She ran away from the Green Tribe to reunite with her father when she was little. He often took her sailing on a ship like this. She knows how to steer us in the right direction.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I replied. “I’m more worried about the creaking. This ship sounds like it’s about to fall apart at any moment…”

“It’s an old vessel, but it’ll hold,” he said, looking out for a moment before turning back to me. He ran his fingers through my hair, his gaze softening on my face before it focused on Marton again. “We’re nearly there.” He moved across the main deck again to instruct the succubi on turning the sails in order to slow the ship before dropping the anchor.

We settled a couple of miles offshore, a red sand beach stretching out to welcome us with a string of tall palm trees. Blue waters lapped gently at the shore as large black rocks with sharp edges poked out here and there.

“So what now? We take the boats?” I asked curiously.

“I’ve got a better idea, since I have a hard time seeing us getting the horses safely to the shore on boats,” Draven replied with a raised eyebrow.

He walked over to the edge of the main deck facing the shore, and closed his eyes, muttering under his breath. Once again, a bright white light emanated from his body before breaking into a multitude of white sparks that shot into the water. I watched as the incandescent particles vanished below.

“What are you—” I wanted to ask what he was doing, but the ship started to shake, and the waters below rumbled.

I nearly lost my balance, but Draven caught me in his arms, steady on his feet. We both looked over the balustrade as hundreds of large slabs of black stone emerged from the water, forming a clear, wide path from the ship all the way to the shore.

“I’m guessing you found a lot of useful material in the Druid archives?” I gasped, amazed once more by his skills.

“You could say that, yes.” He grinned.

The succubi started carrying their supplies from below, while Turaya and two others pulled out several large planks and pushed them overboard, creating a platform for us to use in order to reach the black stone path across the water.

“I have the power in me,” Draven said. “I just never had the chance to learn these higher-level spells. The last few days we’ve spent in Stonewall have been… let’s say, highly educational.”

“Color me impressed,” I quipped.

He’d made some incredible progress since the discovery of the Druid archives. From what Draven had told me before, he’d lost his father before he could advance past the twentieth circle of magic. The worst part had been the fact that Almus had intended to bring some of the Druid spell books back from Stonewall, but had died before he could do so, leaving Draven with only his novice formulas and invocations to work with.

The upside was that Draven was a fast learner, and had mastered a large number of spells during our visit to Stonewall. He’d also brought more advanced scrolls with him—not just for the young Druids, but himself, as well.