PROLOGUE
Curdling, straining, painful.
The screams blasted my ears with ferocity and intensity. I thought for sure that they would start bleeding even through my hands as they pressed firmly against my head. But my hands could not block out their screams any more than they could block out the scarring images racing through my mind.
Images of burned bodies—men, women, children—flickered through my mind with the pain of hanging my head off the side of a boat and letting it hit every single wave. The worst part of all were the smells. No one should have to smell burning flesh and hair. It infested itself into the corners of my mind and heart and made roots so every thought and feeling were tainted with that smell.
I heaved.
My vision went black for a moment then filled with dizzying bursts of light. And fire. And burning bodies. I heaved again before the cycle started all over.
Another scream, louder than all of them, tore through my hands covering my ears. It was my scream. And it continued as I fell down an abyss with burning bodies all around.
"Brim! Brim wake up!"
My mind recognized a female voice, but the taste of my own bile and the sickness of the images kept me from holding onto any other thought. My eyes would not open out of fear of seeing anything, but the clear blue skies above The Shaws.
I heaved.
The voice urged again, "Brim! We need you!"
Whomever needed my attention was not permanently done in. I could help. Possibly.
"Cassius!"
The voice penetrated through my ears, echoing throughout my mind. My eyes snapped opened.
Annie's face consumed nearly all my vision. She was soaking wet; that adorable curl of hair had flattened against her forehead and started spreading like fingers. The wind whipped her hair to the left then she breathed and the wind whipped it the other direction. Her deep green eyes strained with worry as the deep purple clouds above fought with the blue waters below.
"I'm okay," I said and brushed away her arm. I sat up and tried to get my bearings. I barely had time to look away from the angry skies before I was violently thrown in the air. I reached out to grab something and found nothing.
It only took a few moments of free fall before I slammed into something as hard as The Sairs, the mountains that overlooked my distant home. For a moment I thought I was home. Then I started sinking under the waves.
CHAPTER 1
The ocean water was warmer than I ever imagined. The only warm waters back home were in the occasional hot springs scattered across The Marshes. Given my recent vision, a surprising peace filled me up as I sank in the ocean. Except for that not breathing part.
I kicked and propelled myself to the surface only to have a giant wave knock me under. In these waters, nearly all the gifts I'd recently developed were almost worthless. Invisibility wouldn't save me - only make me harder to rescue. With the size of these waves, surrounding myself in ice would only result in more pain or more sinking or both. Only the stamina that came with being a Tree Maker would keep me alive longer than anyone else in my situation.
Again, I kicked and propelled myself back toward the surface. Before breaking the surface, however, I opened my eyes and looked through the blue waters to see the waves. I surfaced in between waves and positioned myself to catch the next one. Maybe then I'd stay afloat.
You okay? Annie asked, her voice reaching my mind. Telepathy does have its perks in these situations.
Yes, I replied bitterly. This is better than my dream.
A crack of lightning, a roll of thunder, and another gust of wind pulled my attention away from saying anymore to Annie. I was not in danger of dying at the moment. Getting stranded in the middle of the ocean with unforeseen monsters below, however, was not an ideal survival situation.
The purple skies moved southwest and away from me, but not fast enough. I turned my head every direction until I could make out the basic shape of the ship. Even in this squall, it's hard to miss a ship that looks like a giant, black frying pan.
I kicked as hard as possible and leapt out of the water, above the five-foot waves, inhaled deeply then dove back in the ocean. One of the perks of being a Tree Maker is our innate sense of direction. I couldn't swim aimlessly and find home, but I could pick a target and more or less find it without looking up again. Unless the storm took it far off course.
I swam against the waves for only a minute before something massive shook the water mere feet in front of me. Upon looking up, my heart lurched for a moment. The immensely long, black cylindrical mass looked like Chawpki in his travel form. Fear swelled my chest. Did something happen to my new friend? The fear dissipated as the mass rolled and as it sank, I could clearly see metal hooks and the torn rope of the mast. Snakes don't have hooks and rope so it couldn't have been Chawpki.
Another crack, almost as loud as the lightning, pierced my ears. I looked up in time to see another mast, just as massive, break away from the ship. I had time to register that it was going to hit me, but not enough time to safely escape from being smashed.
"This is a bad idea," I muttered and braced for impact by expanding my ice aura.
Maybe a giant log hitting a block of ice with me inside wouldn't hurt too bad. I'm sure I've had worse ideas.
An iceberg-blue hue slowly swarmed my vision as the shadow of the mast expanded quickly. It swayed a bit under a gust of wind, but it was at least ten feet wide and I was maybe two. I willed the ice to grow quicker yet it could only do so much in these warm waters.
A voice boomed above the squall. "Stop your ice, fool!"
Suddenly, a disembodied hand grasped the back of my neck. The next moment I was thrown in the air and far out of range of the falling danger. Magic had thrown me. Not the kind of casting magic like Teega's fireball or Annie's aura. This magic felt different. There wasn't the manipulation or transformation of energy from one form to another. Instead it was using nature against itself like wind pushing against wind.
I was familiar with this energy because I'd been feeling it occasionally over the last two months. A feeling of ease warmed my heart. As much ease as a person can feel as they are being flung, end-over-end, in the middle of a summer storm.
As sudden as I was thrown in the air, a hand with an oddly dry, firm grip, grabbed my ankle and spun me around before releasing me in a different direction. I managed to get my bearing, thanking the gods that I was heading toward the ship. Somewhere to my left and behind me, I heard the loud slap of another mast as it hit the water between waves.
Unlike the first throw, this one was more coordinated. Instead of spinning end-over-end, I was more or less flying. At least that's the story I told myself. Later, Annie would inform me I was actually flailing not flying.
As I flew closer to the ship, mere feet above the waves, I saw the bare-chested, red-bearded Zurn standing at the bow of the black wooden ship. Unlike Annie and Teega who were clinging to the main mast in the center of the boat, this Zurn stood as still and unwavering as The Owls. If The Owls weren't mountains reaching the clouds and were four feet tall instead.
The Zurns were an ocean people. They didn't breathe underwater (at least not for very long) and they didn't live underwater (at least most of them didn't). However, they grew up on the water in all sorts of boats on all oceans of this planet. Short, broad-shouldered, with webbed feet and an iron-strong, dry grip despite the weather, Zurns were the hardiest of those who sailed the seas. Also, they carried a reputation of being the most trusted escorts on the ocean as they were fiercely loyal to whomever paid them first.
The Zurn who grabbed me out of the air with the grace of a bird landing on a branch was the captain, Arcus. Arcus snagged me by the wrist and flung me over his shoulder without so much as a second thought. He didn't even pull his other hand away from stroking his two-foot long, braided beard.
As he flung me, I also noticed his eyes didn't look up. They remained intense as they scanned the ocean. We may have paid him well, and he did ensure our safety first, but I also knew he would not do anything to ensure the safety of the ship until his brethren were also safe.
Thankfully, Zurns had the coordination and timing of Tree Makers (and sometimes better, if I'm honest). Arcus threw me at just the right speed and in the exact direction that allowed me to grab one of the remaining ropes still attached to the main mast. That same rope intertwined down before wrapping around Teega and Annie at the base.
My hands burned as I grabbed the rope, but I hid the grimace. Using the momentum and the rope, I slackened my grip just enough to spin my body down the mast to land between the two.
The moment my feet touched the planks, another Zurn walked up—steady and calm unlike the swaying ship—and wrapped the rope around me. His bushy red eyebrows and beard were soaked, but his bald head gleamed dry just like the others of his kind.
The Zurn grumbled, "Stay this time."
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled back at him.
I watched him walk off toward Arcus. I looked to Teega then Annie. Both were soaked, both had various scratches on their arms and necks that bled for a moment before the storm washed them away. I cracked a smile and asked, "Where have you two been this whole time?"