Born of Water

Born of Water Chapter 4

Chapter 4

UNWILLING COMPANIONS

The boat Ty found was tiny compared to other ships in the harbor, barely forty feet. Narrow, with the mast near the bow, it looked to Ria’s eye completely unlike the wide, double-masted merchant ships. But it did look fast. 

Despite the darkness, Ty sure-footedly unfastened the ropes and raised the massive mainsail. Niri stayed on deck, her anxious gaze skyward. It was her presence more than anything that unnerved Ria. She just didn't want to look at the Priestess.

“Can we go below?” Ria whispered to Lavinia, who led her to the cabin door amidship as Ty caustically turned to Niri.

“Can’t you do something to help fill the sails? Or we will sit here and flounder until the tide turns in four hours.”

“I have no power over wind. I am a naiad. I only control water.” Niri’s crisp retort cut through the night.

But the exchange must have given Niri an idea. By the time Ria reached the stairs to head below, the boat began to move forward as if on an outgoing tide. Niri walked past Ria to the bow, the strange aqua and lavender light filling Niri’s eyes. Ria’s stomach clenched before she reached the cabin's depths and breathed in her first lungful of stale rot. The piled clutter of the cabin slowed their steps, but it didn't seem so bad until the small ship started riding swells. The sharp rocking motion coupled with the intense smells overwhelmed Ria.

“We must be out of the harbor,” Lavinia said, trying to gaze out a grimy porthole.

The bow of the boat heaved up with another wave. Ria gasped. Mildew and heavy spices assaulted her nose and throat, combining sickly with the rolling motion of the ship. Gagging, Ria leaned over and retched. Hurriedly, Lavinia made space on a bench for them by dumping the unknown contents onto the floor. She pulled Ria down next to her as the ship plunged down a wave.

As Ria came up for breath with a moan, a soft rag brushed her skin. Taking it from Lavinia’s hands, Ria pulled the cloth against her face. The rag smelled like dust but it was better than the unknown and fragrant clutter filling the cabin of the boat. Lavinia sitting next to her on the hard bench gave Ria a small comfort. At least she wasn't alone with the Priestess on the way to the Temple of Solaire.

“Thanks.”

“Are you feeling any better?”

Ria wasn't sure. So much had gone wrong, her mind hadn't caught up with where her body sat in the cabin of the small sailboat.

“You think that is what happened to your cousin, Anna? And your uncle as well?” Lavinia asked when Ria didn't answer.

“And my grandmother’s sister, and their cousins... so many in my family. The Church took them but not to become Priests or Priestesses. That is why we never heard from them again. The Church took them to kill them.”

The woeful truth of it made Ria stumble on the word kill. She twisted the rag around her hands, the fabric twining tight against her skin.

“Grandma Sanoo said it was something in our blood, a curse of our family. She was more right than she knew.”

“Ty will find a way to get us home. We’ll warn your family and tell them. You’ll see. You’ll only be away a few days.”

Ria nodded but like the cat’s cradle of cloth loops binding her hands, she doubted it was so simple. Her family already feared the Church, an uncommon belief they kept mostly to themselves. Her entire family couldn't hide.

Ty’s presence created its own knot of anxiety. Against her will, Ria remembered him holding her while they waited for Lavinia. In all her years, Ria had never thought she would ever need a thing from Lavinia’s brother, no matter the lingering glances he gave her. But as her mother had often said, she could choose worse than Ty.