The Destroyer Goddess (71 page)

Najdan felt the boat shudder violently, yet when he looked around, they were a safe distance from other vessels and the water was calm. The rain had ceased for the time being, and there had been no eruptions or earthquakes for several days. Even the smoke-filled sky was clearing rapidly, though the summit of Darshon itself still looked ominous.

"What was that?" he asked Linyan. "Did we hit something under the surface?"

The old man shook his head, his tattooed face frowning in perplexity. "The water is very deep here. And it's not coral or—"

"Dragonfish?"

"It would have to be an unusually big one to hit us
that
hard."

They were heading back into the bay, the Lascari having agreed to escort Najdan as close to shore as they themselves were willing to go. They had reluctantly given up the search for Zarien's body, and there was nothing left for Najdan to do now but find Tansen and tell him what had happened. He was ashamed he had failed to protect the boy, but it would only compound his failure now if he postponed informing Tansen of the boy's death.

Suddenly the boat rocked so hard that Linyan and Najdan both had to seize the railing to keep their balance. 

"
Whatever
that is," Linyan said, wide-eyed with alarm, "it's not a dragonfish. There's no—"

The boat rocked again, and now the sea started roaring.

"What's that noise?" Najdan demanded.

"I don't know!"

He looked around. "Where is it coming from?"

"I don't know!"

The women and children were screaming. People on nearby boats were shrieking. The roar turned to a threatening rumble, and the sea around them started churning. 

Nothing about this seemed familiar. Najdan asked the old man, "Is this an earthquake?"

They both looked landward at the same time, then looked at each other. Najdan looked back down at the water, even more confused... Then his blood froze. "It's...
glowing
."

Linyan stared open-mouthed, then shouted to the rest of his family. They all abandoned their posts on the boat and joined him at the railing to stare down at the water with him.

Bewildered and alarmed, Najdan looked out across the sea. The glow which had started near their boat was now spreading like fire, shimmering across the surface, engulfing other boats as far as the eye could see. Even through the liquid rumbling that was filling his head and shaking this boat, he could hear cries of wonder and alarm on other boats.

Had lava traveled from the mainland through underwater channels? Were they about to be engulfed in an eruption at sea?

He clung to the railing of the shuddering boat as he discarded this theory. The glow spreading across the sea was silvery-blue, not the rich orange he would expect of lava spilling into the sea. And if there was an eruption underneath them, wouldn't the water boil and send dead fish bobbing to the surface? 

Although the water was churning and the boat was shuddering, they held their position and seemed to be in no imminent danger of capsizing or sinking. And instead of boiling heat, a cool silvery mist was now rising off the water, glimmering gently in the hazy sunshine.

Linyan grasped Najdan's arm, his voice full of hope as he asked, "Could it be Zarien?"

"I have no idea what it could be," Najdan said.

"He came back to life once before. Perhaps... But when he told us about it, he never mentioned...
this
."

Hope awoke inside of Najdan. If there was even a faint possibility that Tansen's son might be alive...

There was a tremendous roaring sound, so loud it drowned out the screams of people within arm's reach. The boat suddenly dropped, making Najdan's stomach lurch, then it sprang back, as if tossed by a giant hand. He fell down, momentarily stunned. By the time he regained his feet, a vast, foaming pillar of water was rising out of the sea.

Najdan said, "What
is
th—"

"I don't know," Linyan said in awe.

The women starting wailing rhythmically, and he supposed they were praying. He watched as the pillar rose higher and higher, as if reaching for the sky, until it was so tall it must surely be visible from very far away. His heart quivered in response when the pillar stopped growing and just held itself there, towering over all of them, over the sea and the eastern coast, for long, tense moments. 

Was this the work of a waterlord? At
sea?
Najdan had never heard of such a thing, but... If it was, he had a feeling they'd all be dead within moments.

Then the pillar collapsed, as if a spell had been broken, and the immense tower of water fell back into the sea. The boats were thrown around, rocking wildly, as enormous waves drenched them and washed into their holds. Najdan wiped stinging saltwater out of his eyes and peered at the foaming whirlpool from which the pillar of water had risen.

"Look! There's something there!"

It seemed to shape itself out of the silvery-blue fire still shimmering through the water, emerging from the roiling foam of the tumultuous sea like an enormous bubble of glimmering air. As the glow started to melt away from it, like water pouring off a rock, Najdan realized there was something solid under there. Something shaped like...

"A
man
."

He nearly flinched when Linyan let out a piercing wail. The rest of the family joined in and, to Najdan's astonishment, the same wail—now turning to a shrill chant—started coming from all of the nearby boats, too. 

"What's happening?" Najdan shouted. 

They ignored him. Or, rather, didn't even notice him. They were all singing, swaying, shrieking. Tears streamed down Linyan's face. Women raised their arms as if in worship. Children screamed ecstatically and pointed to the man—now clearly just made of flesh—floating in the glowing sea. 

The churning of the water gradually subsided, and the boat stopped shuddering. The glow remained upon the sea, but Najdan looked into the distance and could see it slowly fading, retreating to the place from which it had begun. Soon, he guessed, it would be gone altogether.

The man in the water started swimming toward them. 

Since no one else seemed capable of rational thought or practical actions at the moment, Najdan threw him a line. The man waved, and Najdan suddenly recognized him. 

"
Ronall?
"

The
toren
hauled himself aboard, soaking wet, stark naked, and looking dazed.

Najdan stared at him in uncomprehending wonder. "We thought you were dead,"

Ronall shook his head, panting, and shivered a little. "No. I'm... It's me, Najdan! I'm the sea king!"

"Zarien brought him to us!" Linyan cried. "Zarien has delivered the sea king! It's why the sea-born from every coast felt compelled to come to this bay! We were brought here to await the sea king! To witness
Toren
Ronall's divine rebirth!"

The women were still singing, rocking rhythmically and waving their arms at Ronall, clearly sharing Linyan's view of events.

Najdan said to Linyan, "You, who would not even accept your own grandson any longer because he had walked on land...
You
accept this man, a drylander, as the sea king?"

Linyan was weeping, though he looked more ecstatic than sad. "Who could deny him? You saw what we saw! What we were brought here to see! Zarien promised him to us! And Zarien brought him here. He is the one!"

Najdan disliked inconsistency, but he had learned by now that there was no point in arguing with people in the grip of religious fervor. "Get the
toren
a blanket," he snapped.

Shuddering with cold now, Ronall murmured, "Thank you."

"What happened?" Najdan demanded.

"I'm afraid it's true." Ronall started laughing. "I'm..." He laughed again, and it was a surprisingly happy, wholesome sound. "I'm consort to a goddess."

"This is unexpected," Najdan commented, which made Ronall laugh harder.

The
toren
wrapped himself in a blanket, returned Linyan's enthusiastic embrace, and then asked, "Where's Zarien?"

Najdan went still. "You don't know?"

Ronall frowned. "No, I..." His expression changed. "He's not here?"

Najdan shook his head. "He never came out of the water."

Ronall sat down suddenly, looking shocked. "He can't be dead!"

"He must be, by now. He couldn't survive this long—"

"No," Ronall said. "She didn't say he was dead. I'm sure she wouldn't have let him die."

"Who?"

"Sharifar!"

"A goddess might not—"

"No!" Ronall insisted. "She wouldn't inflict that kind of guilt on me. Zarien brought me here. He was taken by that wave to test
me
. He was trying to save me the last time I saw him. She knows how I would suffer if he died looking for me."

"Nonetheless—"

"He's alive," Ronall told Najdan. "I know he is."

The
toren
didn't sound desperate or afraid. He sounded convinced. Completely sure. Even confident. More so, in fact, than he had ever sounded about anything before.

"She would have saved him," Ronall said. "She would have done that for me. I know."

"The sea is notoriously cruel," Najdan pointed out, wondering exactly what had happened to Ronall in the days and nights he had spent underwater.

"But Sharifar can't be cruel to
me
, and I need that boy to be alive."

Linyan had stopped singing, and now he chose to venture into the conversation. "Zarien said that when Sharifar spared him after the dragonfish attack..."

"Yes?" Ronall prodded.

"She sent him ashore. If she has saved him now, perhaps she has sent him ashore again. He is no longer, you know, one of us."

Najdan and Ronall looked at each other.

"We're going ashore," Ronall said decisively.

Linyan flinched. "What?"

"We're
all
going ashore," he added. 

"But we're sea-bound!"

"The time for living completely separate from the landfolk has passed," Ronall told him. "The sea-born must learn to care about what happens on land in this country. You can't contribute to Sileria's future if you continue to live as you have lived until now." He paused. "The world is changing, and you must change with it."

The Lascari looked shocked. Najdan was impressed by the air of conviction and command which the
toren
, previously so confused and ineffectual, now assumed with surprising ease. But Najdan had lived long enough in the Society to understand what best motivated a doubtful and recalcitrant people when faced with new challenges.

He took his
shir
in hand and held it to Linyan's throat. "We are going ashore as the sea king orders," he explained, "or else feeding your remains to a dragonfish. Which would you prefer?"

As Najdan expected, the old man made the choice with alacrity.

"What
is
that?" 

Tansen, who carried the baby on his back, looked to where Elelar was pointing. From their vantage point in the cliffs, as they descended to the bay, they had a magnificent view of the sea. When he saw what she saw—the sea on fire with a silvery-blue light, and an immense tower of water rising out of the bay—he felt his stomach give a sickening lurch.

"Mirabar," he said, hearing the fear in his voice.

"I don't know," she replied instantly.

"Could a waterlord do that?" Faradar asked.

Tansen wondered, "Could it be..."
Zarien... So soon?
"The work of a sea goddess?"

As they watched, the pillar collapsed. The sea was chaotic for a few long, awful moments, with boats rocking and bouncing on the water's surface. Then relative calm descended, and the silvery glow started to fade gradually from the sea.

"Whatever it was," Mirabar said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "it doesn't look like anyone died from it."

One of the many people traveling with them, though, pointed to the coastal beach directly below them. "People
have
died here, though. Look at that mess."

Tansen thought he would be sick. The shore was a wasteland of smashed and shattered boats, stranded people... and corpses.

"Let's hurry." His voice sounded far away and flat. "I want to find him before dark."

No one needed to ask whom he meant.