The Awakened: Book One (8 page)

Adair’s attention perked up at this news.  “Why is that?”

“Well, if he was comin’ from
Nucotu
, he should’ve stopped early before passin’ by the
reef
.  But if he was in a hurry, he coulda tried to go right ahead through the night.”

Adair smiled as Gursha said these words and pulled a bag of coins out of his cloak, setting it on the table.  Gursha was visibly relieved to hear the sound of coins clinking together.  Obviously, he was worried that his information wasn’t valuable to Adair.

“Do you have a map that I can look at?” asked Adair.

Gursha’s chair creaked as he leaned back and grabbed a piece of parchment from the shelf, disturbing a layer of dust that seemed to have been accumulating for years.  Everything was at arm’s length in the tiny room.  “Here you go,” he said and laid the old map in front of Adair.

Adair unrolled it and set his glass in one corner to keep it from rolling back.  After inspecting the portion of the map that showed the western shoreline of
Bastul
, he stood up and lifted his glass, emptying it in one last gulp.  He set the glass down and slid the map back across the table.

“Thank you Gursha.  It’s always a pleasure.”  Adair took the bag of coins off the table and tossed them to the fat man who was still sitting.  Gursha snatched the bag from the air with an unexpected quickness.

Adair looked at the tavern owner and waited until he had full eye contact.  “As always, I was never here, and we never talked about any of this.”

“Talked about what?” said Gursha, his sense of humor the only thing about him that was finely tuned.

“Precisely,” Adair said and couldn’t help smiling.

Gursha grunted as he rose from his chair and showed Adair to the door.  When Adair stepped outside, Gursha glanced nervously up and down the street before shutting and locking the door.

The early morning air was cool on Adair’s face.  The lurching of the ocean was mesmerizing and he realized how easy it would have been for Bahari to fall asleep trying to make it back to
Bastul
to meet his deadline.  But the normal shipping routes between the coast and the
reef
were used regularly and situations like Bahari’s didn’t occur often.  Bahari was attacked by someone, but it probably didn’t happen on the eastern side of the
reef
.  Remembering Gursha’s map, Adair wondered if Bahari might have fallen asleep, like Gursha suggested, and missed an important turn just before the northern tip of the
reef
began, causing him to sail down its western side.  There were many strange stories about that part of the sea, folklore mostly, told by drunken fishermen who didn’t have much credibility to begin with.  However entertaining the stories of sea serpents might be, it was common knowledge to stay away from that side of the
reef
.  It was also dangerous to sail in that water for no other reason than the sharp coral that could sink a boat in a matter of minutes.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.  And that was where he was headed.  He knew it was hopeless, but he had to follow through with checking out the area.  After all, it was all he had to go on.  Who knew how long it would take Saba to find out anything useful with the arrowhead, or if he ever would?  By then the trail might be cold.

As soon as he left Gursha’s house, Adair went straight to the docks and boarded a small but fast patrol boat, taking a few soldiers with him.  If he did manage to run across the people that attacked Bahari, he would need to be able to maneuver quickly and it would help to have experienced soldiers with him. 
I should be at home, in bed next to Maeryn!
  But he knew that on nights like these, his mind would race and he would lie awake for hours only to watch the sun rise.  This way, at least he was doing something about the situation.

After a few hours of heading north along the shore, the sun began to rise.  It peeked over the mountains to the east, only a bright orange sliver at first.  The ripples on the water picked up the color and suddenly the whole ocean seemed to glow around them.  Within a few minutes, the sun had risen enough to be seen in its entirety above the mountains.  The light quickly changed to a pale yellow which illuminated the whole sky and the orange glow disappeared.

As the morning drew on, Adair wondered about the consequences of leaving so suddenly.  He had left a message for Thaddius to watch over things for a few days until he could return.  But Thaddius wasn’t a soldier, just an official elected to deal with the social issues that the governor didn’t want to deal with, or else, wasn’t able to because of a military absence.  Adair held the position of Colonel in Orudan Military, but, as with all colonels, he also ruled over a city and was charged with its protection.  Adair found the dual responsibilities taxing and leaned heavily on Thaddius to handle most of the decisions that were not specifically military in nature.  He knew that the city would be in great hands for the duration of his short trip, but he was now starting to consider how dangerous this excursion might really be. 
What if something happens out here and I’m unable to return to Maeryn and Kael?
  It was too much to think about and he shook his head to make the thoughts go away.

“Colonel,” one of the soldiers called to him from the main deck, breaking the silence.  He walked quickly across the deck and climbed the short ladder to the navigational deck where Adair sat under a canopy.  “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what are we doing out here?”

The soldier was close to Adair’s own average height with dark brown hair.  He had a fierce look in his eyes and it was obvious that he was asking not out of a sense of fear for himself, only curiosity, but didn’t want to offend his superior by questioning his reasons.

“I am investigating the death of an acquaintance.  He was attacked out near the
reef
where we are headed.”

After a moment of silence, one of the other soldiers spoke up.  “What do you hope to find?  If it was pirates, there won’t be any sign of them by the time we get there.”

Adair smiled.  “This acquaintance had an arrow embedded in his leg.  Our patrols haven’t seen any signs of pirates in years, but more importantly, pirates don’t use arrows.  They are not trained in the military arts.  Usually, they are commoners who rely on surprise to overtake their victims.  These men were soldiers.  And if they were not our own men, I would like to know what rogue soldiers are sailing through the waters of the Empire.”

The sun was directly overhead, beating down on the small crew when they reached the northern end of the
reef
.  They were making excellent time and, as the swift boat made its way around the tip and began heading southwest, Adair’s senses began to tingle with anticipation.  He wasn’t sure what he would find out here on the ocean, if anything.  Part of him expected to sail around for hours, not seeing anything that would give him a clue as to what might have happened.  Another part of him, the part that got excited in dangerous situations, expected to meet confrontation.  He was prepared if that was to be the case.

Much to his disappointment, the minutes turned into hours, and still there was no sign of what he was looking for, whatever that might be.  He watched clouds roll in from the north, covering the sky in a thin veil of gray.  The sun slowly crept west and eventually slipped behind the horizon, turning the sky from pale gray to a brilliant purple.  Adair had just come to the decision that this trip was a failure and was about to give the order to turn the boat around when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  He scanned the southern horizon, trying to find what had grabbed his attention, but now there was nothing except for a smooth ocean surface.

“Keep your eyes open for anything unusual,” he called to the men at the bow.

A few seconds later, he saw it again, but it was only visible when he didn’t look straight at it.  It was a disturbance on the surface of the water; an area where the reflected light from the sunset danced a little differently than it did in the surrounding water.  Being a
reef
area, there were shallow spots everywhere around them, but something was different about this.  It wasn’t just a sandbar or a coral shelf.

“What is that?” one of the soldiers asked.

“I’m not sure, but head straight for it,” Adair answered, hoping that he’d gotten lucky.

Are my eyes deceiving me?
  It seemed as if something was there on the water, but he couldn’t make out any distinct shape.  The men on his boat busied themselves with adjusting the sails to make the change in direction, trying to take full advantage of the wind coming from the west.  As their sails bulged once again with air, something inside Adair told him that this was what he was looking for and with every second, he was getting closer.

He was just starting to detect a shape in the shimmering water when it began to change.  A dark area began to grow on the eastern side of the shimmer.  The darkness seemed to emerge from nowhere and finally detached itself, moving to the left.

A ship!
  Then another appeared on the right side of the shimmer.  Suddenly, his eyes found their focus and it all made sense to him.  The ships were emerging from behind a structure on the surface of the water.  The pale light in the western sky was growing darker with every second, but now that Adair was able to make sense of what he was seeing, more and more details were becoming visible.  It was a circular structure with polished metal walls that reflected the surrounding water, giving the illusion that nothing was there.  The camouflaging effect was stunning and it wasn’t until the second ship emerged from behind the wall that Adair was able to understand what he was seeing.

The two black ships which had been moving in opposite directions away from the structure, turned north simultaneously, heading straight for Adair’s small vessel.  It only took a few seconds for everyone to realize that they were not equipped to handle this fight.

“Colonel?” one of his men asked, sensing danger.

“Head for the
reef
.  They won’t follow us in there.” 
We’re small enough to maneuver around obstacles and this boat doesn’t run deep.  If they try to follow us, they won’t make it out alive.

One of the men pushed on the rudder and the small boat carved a sharp turn to the port side and headed for the
reef
.  The others jumped into action, trimming the mainsail to keep the westerly wind.  The larger boats moved from their intended flanking positions to a direct chase and they were closing in fast, but Adair already saw what he had come to find.  These people were doing something out here that they wished to keep a secret.  Judging by what they did to Bahari, they were willing to kill for it.  But now Adair knew of their presence.  He couldn’t hide the smile on his face and soon, the other men were grinning as well, with admiration for their superior.

As soon as I get back to
Bastul
, I’ll bring the fleet back and find out what they’re hiding.

As their small vessel entered the shallow water of the
reef
area, they slowed just enough to maneuver through the sharp coral, while still maintaining their lead.  The pursuing boats, which dwarfed Adair’s boat, came to a stop as they neared the
reef
.  Adair exhaled a deep breath, relieved to be a safe distance away and protected by the coral.  Turning his attention back to the difficult task of navigation, he heard a sharp cracking noise from behind.

All the men turned to look back at the large black boats that had positioned themselves with their starboard sides facing the
reef
.  Their silhouettes were barely visible against the sky in the east.  Halfway between them and their pursuers, something landed on the surface of the water.  Adair squinted just as it skimmed past the prow, leaving a wake on the mottled ocean surface that quickly faded from view.

An unsettled feeling began to grow in his stomach and his heart began to race as he realized his pursuers had projectile capability.  The sunset was almost gone now and within a few minutes, there would not be enough light to navigate the dangerous
reef
.  Just as the thought came to him, he noticed the water in front of the boat getting lighter.