The Silent Shield (Kingfountain #5)(95)

Sinia leaned back in her chair, staring at the map but not seeing it. The urge to turn the ship around was nearly overpowering. There was a war in her heart. She was determined to exercise faith in the Fountain and where it was leading her, but her instincts as a mother were powerful and omnipresent. She would do anything to safeguard her children and protect her people. She had trained Trynne in what to do, how to reset the wards and preserve Brythonica. She thought back again on the vision she had seen of Trynne’s marriage. She had never met the man before. Judging by his clothes, he appeared to be from the East. King Andrew had been there. So had Genevieve and Lady Kathryn. She herself had not been there, so she had taken the vision as a blessing from the Fountain. It allowed her to be there even though she could not be.

Go back, the thoughts tormented her. Abandon this silly quest. You are no longer of the Deep Fathoms. You are mortal now. You do not belong among them.

She forced the thoughts away. Leaning forward again, she retraced the series of islands they had encountered amidst the vast ocean. Each carved boulder was a link to a ley line, and each was close to a small natural fountain. They’d used the fountains to replenish their supply of water aboard the boat. Fruits from the native lands had been harvested to restock their supplies.

They were getting closer.

Sinia heard the footsteps coming toward her chamber before the knock sounded. It was a firm, commanding sound. She recognized it as Captain Pyne’s knock.

“Come in.” She watched as the captain opened the door.

“My lady,” he said, his eyes wide with wonder. “I know not how to describe it. I didn’t believe the sailor in the crow’s nest until I saw it for myself, so I climbed up the rigging just to be sure.” He had a scraggly beard from their months at sea. The dome of his head was covered in stubble as well as a healing gash from an injury he’d suffered during a storm.

“To be sure of what, Captain?” she asked in confusion.

“My lady, we’re approaching the island you directed us to. It’s a beauty, I tell you. Green as the spring and full of vegetation. There’s a hump of mountain on the southeastern side, showing a cliff and such. It’s an odd-shaped crook of land, to be sure. But my man in the crow’s nest saw something. There’s an undersea waterfall.”

Sinia knit her brows in confusion. “I don’t understand, Captain.”

“That’s the only way to describe it, my lady. There’s some sort of underwater breach. You can see it from high above. The current is pulling us toward it. Do we go around the other side? I’d like you to come and look at it, my lady.”

“Of course,” Sinia said, pushing away from the table and hurrying after him down the cramped corridor. The crew members, still dressed in their Raven tunics, were hard at work, but many of them were pointing at the island with enthusiasm. It had been two weeks since their last stop. She could smell the difference in the air. Being aboard a vessel for so long had awakened new senses she’d not realized she had.

“Up the rigging this way, my lady,” Captain Pyne said. He let her go first and followed behind. She had climbed up the rigging more than once and loved the feeling of being up in the crow’s nest at the apex of the mast. Gripping the ropes one by one as she climbed, she felt exhilarated as the wind streamed through her hair. When she reached the top, the sailor in the nest gripped her wrist and helped her climb up.

“Over yonder, my lady,” the sailor said in a rough but respectful manner. “I don’t quite know what to make of it. I’ve seen naught like it in all my years at sea.”

Sinia waited for Captain Pyne and swept the hair from her face as she gazed at the horizon. The island was a verdant paradise, and she could hear the noise of birds even from the distance. To her amazement, though, much of the island was partially submerged. She could see the rocks and reefs below the clear blue water. There was a whitish outline in the water, marking the boundaries of the island.

That was when she saw it.

There was a deep gulf off the western sprit of land, and what appeared to be a massive underwater waterfall, as if the entire ocean were draining into that singular point. The waters in the chasm were an astounding shade of blue and green with white-capped foam. It was like staring off a cliff at a waterfall, except it was all beneath the surface of the sea. If she had not seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have understood that such a thing was even possible.

“Do you see it, my lady? Do you see it?” the sailor said.

“It’s the entrance to the Deep Fathoms,” Sinia whispered, feeling her heart sear with the truth of the words. The underwater trench was wide enough to sink a ship much larger than theirs.

“What do we do, my lady?” Captain Pyne asked her. He wiped his mouth on his forearm, looking down at the scene they were drawing toward.

She closed her eyes and listened to the quiet deep inside her. The current was dragging the ship toward the gulf.

“That is our destination, Captain,” she said, opening her eyes and fixing him with her gaze. “We take the ship into it.”

“Going in is the easy part,” he said nervously. “But my lady—how . . . how do we get out? Isn’t the Deep Fathoms the land of the dead?”

She stared at the surging surf and the gaping breach. She felt drawn to it, pulled inexorably to the land of her prebirth.