The Promise: Part II

The next day was largely uneventful. Tri`sta spent the day in her cabin battling the seasickness that seemed to run in her kin, while Selia and Najitha kept to themselves and far from each other, which was a bit of a relief for Ian. The fewer confrontations between the two the better. Meanwhile, Ian followed the advice Skye had given him and kept out of the way of Dragontamer's captain and crew, busying himself with checking his weapons and trading jibes with his men. Shortly before nightfall, Lady Tri`sta emerged from below decks looking the worse for wear, and nodded weakly to Ian. "Good eve, milady? Feeling any better?" "Flying is so much easier." Her voice was nearly a dry croak, and she still looked queasy. Ian hoped a little conversation might help distract the dragonkin. "I suppose for you it is, but the ocean's a wondrous place. Think of it as another sort of sky." Something about that seemed to touch a nerve and Tri`sta hastily leaned over the rail. She wiped her mouth with a cloth when she was through, then looked at Blackthorn. "Not if I sink in it." "Well, it's like falling, isn't it?" "If I can't stop the fall I will drown." Ian was about to speak when the feeling that something was wrong tugged gently on his consciousness. At first, he thought perhaps Skye or Corwin were trying to contact him, but there were dark clouds suddenly gathering where there'd been clear sky only minutes before. A glance at his men showed they too felt something out of the normal. "It's just as final if you drop out of the air." "I would land on the ground then, safe and alive. If the sea swallows me, I fall to the bottom like a rock." Tri`sta shivered. "I thought the sea was supposed to be calmer now?" By this time, the wind had grown chill, the sails straining against the suddenly more violent gusts. Ian grinned a bit. "Storm's coming!" He'd always been able to call the lightening, and in most cases, he'd found a certain exhilaration in wild weather. He called out orders for his men to secure their weapons and equipment, then spoke with the ship captain, who decided to run the ship before the wind towards a bay that was nearby and that would offer protection from the storm. But the clouds lowered rapidly, the sea began to build, and a chill seemed to touch Ian's neck. Tri`sta looked even more nauseous, and Selia sat up, roused to alert from wherever her thoughts had wandered. "There's nothing natural about this storm." She said something else, but Ian didn't hear it. An insect whined near his ear…

…a vast expanse of something that reminded Ian of the bogs of Ireland stretched off as far as he could see. Bugs buzzed about him, biting at his skin…

A wave crashed against the deck and the spray in his face brought Ian back to here and now. He braced himself against the ship's mast, closed his eyes and began trying to read the patterns of the winds.

Once more the strange image appeared around him, a feeling that he must go somewhere quickly, yet with no idea where that somewhere might be. He tried to move, but the ground was soft, spongy, and he stumbled as a cloud of insects swarmed around him.

The deck lurched, smashing his back into the mast. Ian cursed. "Damn if I'll tell Skye I sank her gift to me." His men had already secured themselves with ropes to the railings and Ian now looped one about himself and the mast. Once more he turned to the storm, sending a burst of light into the sky. As it rose, a bolt of lightning struck it in midair, illuminating the length of the ship. Ian snarled. In that burst of light, a pall of energy was revealed, a haze that seemed to coat the ship. Selia was right. There was nothing natural about all of this. He turned his attention to ridding the ship of this shroud.

Again that endless expanse appeared, as if someone was trying to ensnare him in this other place. He can smell the moss, feel the soggy ground beneath his feet, and the insects, hundreds, biting him, crawling over his skin, buzzing incessantly…

"Cowards! The waves would refuse to bear you!" he shouted into the wind, and blocking any more such distractions out of his mind, put his full strength into fighting that strange light. It was slow work, and the wind and rain kept on. Tri'sta and Selia held their places with grim determination, and once, in a flash of light, he glimpsed Najitha sitting in the bow, a strange half-smile on his lips. Grimly, Ian worked his will at the glow, and as it disappeared, bit by bit, the wind lessened, until the malignant energy just vanished as if retreating to where ever it had sprung from. The waves were still running high, however, and Ian gathered a last burst of his Gift to lessen them around Dragontamer until the ship had gained the safety of the bay. "Oh gods!" Selia was sitting with her head between her knees as Tri`sta lurched past her for the soothing calm of her cabin. "You didn't drown." Ian grinned tiredly as he untied himself and one of the crew tossed him a dry blanket. "No, but I did us no good either. I drew his attention to us. He's much more aware of us than I thought, and he sensed me when I went out with the gulls." Ian ran a hand through soaked hair and looked at her." And who is 'He'?" "The Elder. He knows I am here now, and he knows I am coming. We have no chance of getting in and out without out them seeing us. I am sorry for that. I'd hoped perhaps we could." Ian frowned, looking towards the bow. Najitha mentioned this Elder last night, and as if knowing what Ian was thinking, the boy suddenly turned to grin at them before once more staring out to the sea. "I think milady Selia, someone may already have let him know we were coming."

A lone insect buzzed in Ian's ear.