The Book of Terrus: The Ghosts of Goran

Chapter 11 - Cracks

OoOoO

The trip from Utunma to Moaan was three days by sea, if one followed the main shipping routes. In order to avoid attracting attention, Vinie, Bakko, and Gideo sailed their little dhow closer to the shoreline. Here there were many reefs and unseen sand bars that slowed their progress. More than once only quick maneuvering by Bakko had kept the dhow from running aground. The coast was steep, rocky, and thick with jungle along the southern edge of Goran, and that was a blessing to the three fugitives. Even hampered as they were so close to land, they could at least rest easy knowing that the odds of someone spotting them from shore were slim at the most.

After more than a decade in the cool, damp, dark of prison, Vinie had almost forgotten what it felt like to be out on the water. The white-hot sunlight danced on the waves where it was caught and shone back like a hundred thousand tiny mirrors. The brightness was often too much for Vinie's sensitive eyes, and she took to wearing a thin scarf over her face as a protective veil. It was stifling under even that little amount of material, and her arms ached from sudden activity after so much unuse. They hadn't had much time to pack provisions, and so the food and clean water had to be carefully portioned out. They spent hours either hard at work at the oars or with nothing to do at all when the winds were favorable. Vinie loved every minute of it.

Sitting at the tiller at high noon on the second day, Vinie drank in the blueness of the sky and sea. A few cottony clouds floated far away over the horizon, teasing at shade. Water lapped at the sides of the dhow as it cut through the water. A few droplets splashed up here and there, wetting Vinie's lean, dark arms and sparkling there before drying moments later. The scent of salt was everywhere. That was the one thing about the sea that Vinie had not become a stranger to over the years; every corner of Utunma smelled of the brine.

In the center of the narrow deck, Gideo and Bakko lay in their lone pocket of shade. Gideo had rigged a blanket between the mast and the deck, resulting in a tiny lean-to. They took it in turns to nap in the heat of the day. By nightfall everyone would be awake, but for now, Vinie's only companions were the occasional hippocamps basking on the rocks and the gulls. The graceful seahorses stretched their long necks to the sun, water glistening on their scaly flanks. Vinie had only once seen a hippocampus before. The shy creatures usually kept well clear of Utunma. She strained to watch the pod long after the dhow had left them in its wake.

Sweat trickled down the side of Vinie's brow. The humidity from her breath was making the cloth veil intolerable. Holding onto the tiller with one hand, she reached back and undid the damp knot. Some of her tangled black hair caught in the knot as it came undone, making her wince. The glare of sun off the water was painful, but less so than yesterday. It also felt unspeakably good to breathe the free ocean air. With a deep, contented sigh, Vinie leaned to one side for a look at the waters ahead.

A spray of water off the prow flashed up suddenly, and Vinie smiled in anticipation of a cooling douse. She closed her eyes and prepared to be refreshed. When the expected misting never touched her face, Vinie was puzzled. Cracking open her eyes, she froze on the bench.

The white spray hung in midair, sunlight glinting off each of the thousands of tiny droplets like jewels. Rather than fall back into the sea they stayed level with Vinie beside the boat. The ocean mist formed a face, a face that Vinie had never again thought to see so long as she lived.

"Zaneo..." Vinie breathed.

It couldn't be. It was impossible. As sure as she saw the blue of the sky and the green of the coast, Vinie saw Zaneo's likeness floating in the sea spray off the dhow's hull. That endearingly broad nose, those ever-smiling lips, they were just as Vinie remembered in her dreams every night. Even the eyes were the same, or was that the blue-green of the sea reflecting through the water droplets?