Chapter Two

Amaris found Mirage at the helm. When he saw her coming, his eyes softened. “How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” she brushed him off. “How long until we get to land?”

“A day and a half at the least,” he answered.

“That’s not soon enough.” Amaris did not know a lot about poisons, but she did know that Mecheye wasn’t looking well when she last saw him. And that was hours ago. And back then he still had two arms. Thoughts whirred in her head, and none of them were good. “Can’t we go any faster? Mecheye, he’s- he’s not-” she swallowed a frustrated outburst. Her lips trembled with words she did not want to pronounce.

“I know.” Mirage didn’t meet her eyes as he spoke, focusing instead on the dark line at the horizon. “This is all we can do now. We’re just going to have to pray that he’ll make it through.”

“Can’t we just find another port in Paradelia?” she suggested, but he shook his head.

“The dark emperor is there. He probably has surveillance all over the coast. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has his ships circling the island. He was pretty damned hell-bent on finding Ash.” he shook his head. “Our best bet is to try and make it to Miruina.”

The dark emperor. This was all his doing. She never even saw the man but he was what nightmares and tragedies were made of. Amaris didn’t want to think about him. Or the fact that he had been aboard this very ship only that morning. If she did, she’d have to acknowledge the fact that he took him. That he had stalked in there, had captured him, had set the sails on fire, had attacked her friends, and had walked off. That she had no idea where he had stalked off to, that she had no clue if her fath- Amaris shook her head. “But what if we-”

“It’s not a fool proof plan, Amaris. But it’s the best we can do.”

She didn’t like that. She didn’t like leaving things- and especially lives- to chance. It has never proved itself trustworthy and she wasn’t the kind to sit and hope.

“What about Wind? Can’t he weave the sails?”

“No, he used all what’s left of his power to get us out of there. Hawk had to drag him down to his cabin. He can’t even stand at this point.”

This wasn’t looking good at all. This could not be happening. She scanned the deck looking at the charred remains of the battle. More sailors were there now, most wrapped in a different number of bandages and moving with slow somber steps. She spotted one large figure she recognized from the other side of the port. Mirage was saying something but she couldn’t focus on his words as a new hope sparked. “I need to go now.” she muttered before she sprinted her way down the stairs and called out to the sailor. “Shark!” the man was mopping the ashes off the floorboards when he heard her. His shoulders stiffened as he turned to face her. “Hello, uh,” he didn’t answer. Amaris had never held a conversation with Shark before but he always struck her as the loud obnoxious type. The man in front of her was anything but. His eyes were almost vacant as he waited for her to continue. She noticed he had no visible injuries though. “You’re not hurt. I’m glad.”

“I was below deck when he came. Didn’t know what was happening until they were gone.”

Amaris nodded, not knowing how to proceed. “I uh, I came to ask you something.” he waited. She twisted her bracelet. “Can you still weave the waves?”

At her question, his eyes sparked with something dark and his face paled. “No,” he spat out. “I can’t weave them anymore.”

Amaris wasn’t ready for his answer. “Oh,” she looked down at his steel grip on the mop. “I’m sorry to hear that.” he didn’t reply. “I hope your weaving comes back soon.” he ignored her and continued mopping silently. She didn’t miss the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed and glared at the floorboards. It must’ve been hard on him, losing his weaving at this point. When weavers pushed too hard, their body ceased their weaving so they could heal correctly. But it would come back, when his energy was back. That’s how it always was. The white circle must’ve taken its toll on him more than Wind tuner, since he had to weave the water itself that was being used by the blessed beasts.

***

Amaris wasn’t sure she wanted to step into that room. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face him. And yet she had no choice. Hawk was exhausted. And the number of free crew members was very limited. So she had to be the one to stay with Mecheye for the next few hours.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to stay with him, exactly. Mecheye was her friend. Her mentor, even, in both sword fighting and fixing ship engines. She’d learned so much from him. He saved her life in Manticali, too. But she dreaded seeing him the way he was now, sick and weak and miserable. She couldn’t think of anything she could do to help him and that made her miserable too. The echoes of a dark thought haunted her as she neared his cabin, he might not survive to see land again. And she was not ready to accept that.

The door creaked open once she gathered the courage to push it, and Amaris took a shaky breath as she took in the small cabin. It was even sparser than her own. With only one double bunk bed on one side and a wooden chest on the other. She guessed Mecheye’s roommate must have been moved to another room or was still in Paradelia since the top bunk was neatly made and completely empty. She did not want to consider a third option. Beside the bed was a single wooden chair Hawk must’ve dragged from the mess hall and on the floor near it was the metal bowl she had brought in earlier, with a small towel floating inside.

Amaris finally trudged into the cabin and sat on the chair, facing the sleeping man. Sweat was dripping down his temples and dampening his long hair. His eyebrows were pinched together and his lips were parted, letting out heavy breaths. He must have pushed the covers off him because they lay almost fully on the ground.

Amaris didn’t have to touch his forehead to know he was burning up. She quickly pulled out the towel from the bowl and wrung the excess water. As she stood to place it on his forehead, she noticed his bandaged elbow on the other side of his body. Amaris swallowed the tears that threatened to come out. He didn’t deserve this. She shook her head quickly. She needed to focus. There were very few things she could help him with and her tears weren’t on that very short list.

So she got to work. She turned out the lights as to not disturb him then wiped the sweat off his face and neck.

Hours, or maybe long minutes passed before Mecheye stirred, groaning. Amaris jumped back to attention at that low noise. She was about to swap out the towel with a fresh one when he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times trying to adjust to the darkness.

“Hey,” Amaris said softy, “how are you feeling?”

“Bonnie…” he murmured between heavy breaths. “How did you…? Where am I?”

Amaris furrowed her brows. Who was bonnie? “Mech, I’m-“

“Never mind,” Mecheye stopped her before she could correct him, “I’m glad you’re here. I’m sorry, Bon.” He stopped, wincing as he slowly moved what remained of his right arm. Amaris tried to help him but he hissed as soon as she touched his arm.

“s-sorry.” She sputtered as he lifted it a few centimeters off the bed then let it fall again swallowing another hiss of pain.

“It’s not you, it’s these damned…” he sighed, “I promised you I’d be back in one piece,” he gave a short humorless laugh, “it looks like that’s one promise I couldn’t keep. But at least I got to see you before…” he turned away. “I’m sorry, Bon. I know I said I’ll be back to get you and we can start go back to Oddelerie but… you might have to fulfill mom and dad’s wishes on your own.”

“Don’t say that. Mecheye you can’t give up.”

“Since when do you call me that?” He mustered a weak smile. Amaris bit her tongue at her slip up. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t try to correct him again. She felt like she was intruding on a private conversation. But there was a light gleam in Mecheye’s eyes that wasn’t there earlier. Whoever Bonnie was, she gave him some kind of strength and Amaris wouldn’t take that away from him. “I’m not giving up, Bon. I’m just not sure how much longer I can fight.”

“Don’t stop,” Amaris blurted out, “whatever you do, don’t stop fighting.” After a moment’s hesitation she added, “For me, please.”

“You were always more stubborn than I am. You’re better at this than me.” He was getting more and more tired by the second. His eyes were slowly closing as he mumbled, “But for you, as long as I can, I will…” he drifted back to sleep before he finished his sentence. Amaris was torn to pieces. Whoever bonnie was, Mecheye deserved a chance to see her again. She had to do something.

***

For once, the engine room wasn’t the quietest part of the ship. The hum of the pipes and the grinding of the gears were relaxing compared to the deafening silence in the halls and corridors of the ship. Amaris was glad for the unwitting symphony the machines made around her. That didn’t mean her glare at the engine got any tamer. She pierced the combination of metals pieces with a withering glare and crossed her arms, the wrench she was holding, digging into the inside of her elbow. The engine was so slow. Amaris wanted to shout at it to do something, to hurry up. She felt as if the machine should’ve known how much of a hurry they were in and should go faster. But it didn’t. Instead, it stuck to the same steady rhythm it always stuck to.

Finally, Amaris huffed and stepped back. Pushing a few sweaty strands of hair away from her forehead and getting back to oiling the gears. It wouldn’t much of a difference, but they were in desperate need to save time, even if it was just a few seconds. And Amaris was determined to collect and gather as many stray seconds as she could find until they were enough to make a bigger difference.

She was doing exactly that, standing on her tiptoes and tightening a loose bolt when she felt a pair of hands around her waist. Just as her heels touched the ground, lips touched her shoulder. “Hey,” Ash murmured into her skin, “how are you feeling?”

Amaris almost laughed at that question. She was tired and sweaty and on the verge of tears but all she could say was “short. You think you can reach that pipe for me?” she pointed to a pipe directly over their heads.

Ash nodded and took the wrench from her hand. She shook her head. Not with that. She stepped aside and picked another one from the table filled with a mess of scattered tools. “This one.” She handed him another one.

He worked silently as she organized the wrenches and screwdrivers by size. “I’m sorry I couldn’t drop by earlier.” He said after a while. “I was fixing the hull. Some of the stray sparks from the sails got to it.”

It’s fine” Amaris answered, “any news on Miruina?”

Ash shook his head, “no, at this rate it might take us two whole days to get there.”

Amaris cursed, she picked up an oiling can and stepped to some creaking gears. “I was thinking maybe we could ask the water weavers to help us along. But most of them are still in Paradelia. And Hightide… well, you know. So all that’s left is shark. I don’t know if one weaver will be enough.” Ash had finished tightening the joint and was rolling his shoulder, making huge circles with his arm.

“No need to ask him, I already did. He lost his weaving from the white circle. I don’t think he’s going to be able to help.”

“What?” Ash paused mid-movement. “No he didn’t. He still has his weaving.”

Amaris turned to face him. “What do you mean? I asked him earlier and he said he lost them.”

“I saw him use it this morning. He was weaving the water in the buckets to help him clean the deck.”

“But he-” Amaris didn’t know how to answer. Why would shark tell her he couldn’t weave the waves when he could? Why would he lie to her? And about something so important too…