Bound for the North
Lumi waits anxiously at the harbor, a small sack of clothing for the cold weather and a rucksack full of dried meats, preserves, and hardened breads. The spear Rashid had gifted him is wrapped with a light linen, protecting the sharpened tip from damage. Ennui and Khimi make their final arrangements, and Jiya along with others from the Cerulean Star unload the cargo from Hugo’s Vessel. Lumi is told that they would not be allowed to board until all the arrangements are finalized.
Even from Tarse, Lumi could see the outline of Sidi in the distance. He wonders if he can see the Zeybek Estate along the cityscape. There is a sense of sorrow within him, he could tell after the feast that Khimi carried a heavy heart. Despite his best efforts to broach the subject or discuss what happened, Khimi insisted it was not any cause for his concern.
By the end of the day, the five board Hugo’s vessel and say their final farewells to those from the Cerulean Star who watched from the docks. Jiya, Maza, Mamir, Aleyna, and the mercenaries all bid their goodbyes. Surama runs along the docks and shouts, ‘May the winds of the west bring you rain!’ The sails unfurl and Lumi grips his stomach, the sudden lurching of the vessel moving reminds him of his first experience on a boat. Khimi places a reassuring hand on his shoulder and that is all that he needs to ease his mind. He closes his eyes, the warmth of Khimi’s form against him is comforting, and he prays that whatever challenges are ahead of them would pass easily.
Nearly a week passes before the ship makes its way around the Golden Isles. The plan to port in the Golden Isles is quickly abandoned. Ennui notices the rising number of Cerulean Star banners flying over the vessels. Together, she and Khimi encourage Hugo to press onwards around the isles and towards the Lorian Coast. Hugo seems uneasy but heeds their request, bypassing the Golden Isles altogether and sailing along the Lorian Sea. Though Lumi does not understand Ennui’s fears, he could see it plain on her face, and as someone who never showed fear, Lumi grew increasingly concerned.
The small vessel steadily grows increasingly uncomfortable by the day. The close quarters left little time for privacy or sleep. During the twilight hours, the deck is packed with the sailors who had agreed to sleep on deck while they were given the hull for their wares and privacy. Largely empty, the area is spacious but lacks comfort. There are no beds or cushions, and the planks are horrendously uncomfortable. Lumi tries his best to sleep on the bedroll, but often finds himself traipsing the deck, waiting until his exhaustion forces his eyes shut.
***
Days before their imminent arrival at the Lorian city of Valero, the weather takes a turn for the worse, forcing the vessel further away from the coast. Day by day, the situation grows more dire, the sweeping winds aggressively tear at the sails.
Lumi hides below deck, the growing waves and wetness from the rain creating an even more uncomfortable environment. The vessel continues northward, unable to fight with the winds or the violent currents of the Lorian Sea.
“We should’ve stopped in the Golden Isles!” Hugo shouts at Ennui and Khimi on the deck.
The vessel sways and shakes, the waves lapping against the timbers. Ole Lucky struggles to continue on, the strength of the ship is tested by the violence of the surging sea. The sky overhead is dark, lightning streaks through the cloud form, illuminating the surface of the sea.
Ennui laughs uncontrollably. “Bloody fearless old man! Thought you said you didn’t fear the gods! Storms don’t scare you, do they?”
“Is there anything you could do to get us closer to land?” Khimi inquires calmly, glancing around the deck.
“Get back into the hull and shut yer yaps!” Hugo shouts, then begins to bark orders to his crew.
Khimi grabs Lumi’s upper arm and guides him back to the hull, “Don’t leave here, got it?” He says before ushering him down the stairs. “You’ll be fine…just sit.”
Lightning cracks overhead, a dazzling display shoots through the black sky. “Stay down here with me?” Lumi pleads.
“I’m going to help out here,” Khimi says, managing a hopeful smile. “Mido will be down there with you,” he adds and looks up to the sky, rain licking his face.
A sense of hopelessness takes him while Khimi vanishes onto the deck. The hull creeks angrily beneath the weight of the water ramming against its side. There is nothing he can do, not even the gods offer him wisdom at this moment. And so he finds himself doing the one thing he knows how to do when all else fails – pray.
After a moment of silent prayer, Lumi is interrupted. “The gods won’t help us,” Mido whispers. “At least not our gods,” says while he descends the stairs and closes the hatch behind him. “We’re under Zephyr’s domain.”
“W-what are we going to do?”
“More than pray,” Mido murmurs, his soaked boots squeaking over the planks. “Augustus and Ennui are doing everything they can do to get the sails down, but…I doubt they will be able to do much. I don’t know if you heard…but one of the sailors vanished a while ago.”
“A-And no one heard? He didn’t shout?!” Lumi asks, an exasperated look on his face. His ears droop, “Can we call them all back down here?”
“S-Someone needs to steer the shi–”
A wave crashes against the side of the boat, the timbers squeal beneath the pressure, and Mido smashes into the wall. Lumi slides across the planks, his nails scratch against the wood.
“Mido!” Lumi shouts as Mido falls to his knees. “Should I get Augustus?!”
“What? Why?” Mido asks, looking up, blood rushing down his cheek. “It’s fine. They’re needed above deck. He begins to rise and brushes his hair from his face, then touches the wound along his scalp. “Lumi, what kind of magick can yo–”
Another crash and the vessel shifts violently, the few crates in the hull shift and slide, small bags of grain bust open and spill onto the wet floor.
“Nothing,” Lumi shouts in response. “I don’t know any magick…it’s just stuff that pops into my head! I can make a ball of light! You were supposed to hel–”
Thunder rumbles overhead, and light through the cracks of the hatch fills the room in a flash before returning to darkness.
“Fucking hells,” Ennui’s voice shouts overhead. “The fuck was that?”
“I don’t have any magick! I don’t know anything…”
Mido’s jaw clenches in concentration, a soft blue light appears in his hand as he strokes it across the wound in his scalp. “It doesn’t matter…Lumi, we need to get whatever we can carry!”
“We’re so far from the shore,” Lumi replies in surprise. “We wo–”
“We don’t have time,” Mido grumbles hesitantly. He begins to walk to the back of the hull. “We don’t have time to worry about what ifs. Neither of us can change the weather, but we can prepare for what comes nex–”
“You made it rain in Rhaz, they told me so! Can you do the same here? Or like…the other way around. Make it unrain?” Lumi asks, tilting his head quizzically, the rounded ears twitch.
“Saint Nina made it rain,” Mido scoffs. “Besides…i-it doesn’t work like that, grab your stuff.”
“The ship will be fine, right? Ships run into bad weather all the time here, right?” Lumi asks with a hopefulness on his pained face.
“Fuck the gods of chaos! Fuck yer ill winds too!” Hugo shouts overhead.
“Yer making it worse,” one of the crew responds with an angry growl.
“Can you just…offer something? Maybe you can appease them?” Khimi asks the captain, with anger in his voice.
Mido, grabs handfuls of pouches and satchels, then turns back to Lumi. “Listen, we’ll be fine. Just grab everything that you can. I don’t think that the ship is going to hold. The waves are wild out there, the storm is just too much.”
“We can’t survive this far out,” Lumi mutters in shock. “I can’t swim that well.”
“You’d be surprised what you can live through,” Mido replies softly, trying to smile while he collects Augustus’s sword and clothing. “Just gather your things and try not to think so much.”
Lumi rushes to their bedroll and begins to pack the remaining bits of supplies. “I…think I should pray,” he says almost to himself.
“Stop it!” Mido repeats. “If the gods were going to intercede, they would have already! I want to pray as badly as you, but we need to be realistic, Lumi!”
The hatch opens, Augustus and then Ennui rush down the stairs and look about the room. Ennui holds onto the rope along the ceiling, bracing herself. She draws near to the supplies, while Augustus crosses the ship unsteadily and begins to whisper to Mido with a calm but hurried manner.
“What is it?” Lumi asks Ennui. “What’s happening?”
“Lumi, the ship won’t hold for long. Khimi thinks that we’d best prepare for what comes next,” Ennui whispers, the worry clear in her eyes. “Don’t mean to sound like a cunt, but Khimi has urged Hugo to steer the ship closer to land.”
“Why?”
“To increase our chances of survival, that’s why. Grab your spear,” Ennui adds quickly, then tucks her gladius into the back of her belt. “Grab anything that you think is important. Grab the bloody fucking coin.”
“What about the crew?” Lumi wonders aloud, shoving everything he can within the small rucksacks.
Ennui growls and kneels beside him. “Don’t fucking worry about them. Worry about surviving first!” She turns and stares into Lumi’s eyes. “You’re important, Lumi. You have to survive this.”
The ship shifts violently, lurching nearly onto its side. Ennui struggles to hold onto the rope overhead. Augustus and Mido toss about the room. Lumi’s belongings scatter across the floor.
“Just grab your clothes. We can replace everything else. Just grab the most important things,” Ennui instructs again, rushing up to the deck.
The hatch opens in time to witness the spectacular sight of the mast being struck by the explosive force of a lightning strike. The wooden structure cracks with the power of the bolt, wooden splinters spray down the hatch.
“KHIMI!” Lumi howls, grabbing his rucksack and spear.
Lumi rushes onto the deck and stands beside Ennui, the mast before them crumples, the massive wooden pole creaking. It splits and falls across the deck, the furled sails along with it. From the moments since Lumi had last been above deck and now, the situation had grown much more dire. The waves in the distance appear as tall as their vessel, the crew cling onto the rails. Where’s Khimi? The captain stands behind them, staring off into the distance of the violent storm.
“Where’s Khimi?!” Lumi shouts at Hugo, his voice heated with anger. “WHERE’S KHIMI?!”
Hugo remains silent and shakes his head. “What’d I ever do to YOU?!” He shouts across the sea.
Lumi slams his rucksack into the back of the captain, trying to gain his attention. “Where’s Khimi!?”
“Hells if I know,” Hugo replies without looking back.
Ennui moves across the slippery deck, crouching to keep her balance. “Lumi!”
Without needing to hear anything else, Lumi rushes across the deck, his feet slipping across the wet surface. Falling onto his knees, he scuttles to Ennui and quickly finds Khimi on the other side of the shattered mast. Sprawled across the floor, Khimi looks dazed and confused, his eyes wide and blinking.
“Did you get hit?” Ennui asks, and Lumi quickly pushes himself to embrace Khimi. “Khimi?” She adds, snapping her fingers in his face.
“Khimi?” Lumi says, tapping Khimi’s cheek. “Get up. Please, get up.”
Khimi rises from the planks, the sound of the creaking timbers grows louder. “The isles would have been safer,” he mutters under his breath.
Ennui places her arm beneath his and helps him stand. She uses her strength to get him to rise from the planks.
“What about Mido and Augustus?” Ennui asks, glancing back at the hatch. “Mido seems like he accepted his fate.”
“I have a feeling that they will be fine,” Khimi mutters to himself. He grabs onto Lumi, “I’m sorry, Lumi.”
Ennui scoffs and hangs her head. “Khimi, don’t blame yourself…I pushed you to sail past the isles.”
Lumi’s tail rattles behind him. “At least we’re together,” He says with quiet confidence. “We’ll be okay. I know we will.”
From the open hatch, Mido and Augustus appear above deck. A dire yet determined look on Mido’s face. Augustus shakes the captain’s shoulder before turning back to the others and making his way to them, with Mido close behind.
“I’m no expert on surviving shipwrecks,” Augustus says, shouting over the crashing waves. “But perhaps we should hold onto something?”
“What about the little boat?” Lumi asks, his ears perking up at his suggestion.
“We’re just as fucked in that,” Ennui snorts and looks about. “We could tie ourselves together with ropes.”
“But we can hold on,” Lumi offers, scanning the deck for the smaller vessel.
Mido looks around the ship at the crew, “We could probably last a while longer on this ship, but…I don’t think we’ll make it long in the water. It’s freezing.”
Augustus sighs but musters a smile. “The captain’s gone mental,” he says, placing his arm over Mido’s shoulder. “I guess if we die…we all get the pleasure of dying together.”
Khimi’s head perks up, “Coastline!” He shouts excitedly with a shine in his eyes.
Men from the crew lift their heads at Khimi’s word. Many of them let out a low cheer and stand, moving to the rails facing the coast. Hugo briefly regains his composure and moves along the rails with the crew, a smile forms on his lips, his nearly toothless mouth opens wide. He turns to Khimi, a smirk on his lips.
The hair stands on the back of Lumi’s neck, an eerie and uncomfortable feeling lurches through him, his wet tail stands up on end. In the back of his mind, it is as if he can hear distant whispers, angry whispers. An ear shattering explosion rings out across the surface of the sea. Lumi can only see the lightning through the reflection in Khimi’s eyes, but he knows the gods of chaos had claimed another life.
“Fuck!” Ennui shouts, closing her eyes and looking away. “Maybe we should go back below deck,” she suggests in a panic. “At least until we’re sorted!”
Augustus shakes his head and stares out at the coastline. “We can make it. The coastline is only…well very far away.”
Together they wait on the deck, the waves continue to break against the side of the ship with an untold malevolence. Waiting for what comes next, Khimi holds onto Lumi, his lips pressed into his blond hair, their bodies drenched from the continuous downpour. The waves only grow in size by the moment, and they do everything within their power to outlast the weather. A curious sound surrounds them beyond the waves lashing against the ship. The sound grows, like wind through a pipe, a susurration. The swell which appears on the starboard side of Ole Lucky is taller than the tallest building Lumi had ever seen. Never did he think the sea could be such a fearsome place, but at this moment, the sea rears back and shows Lumi just how much he should be afraid.
Y’sol…help us! Silenced by his fear, Lumi clings onto Khimi, desperate to hold on. Khimi’s arms grow tight around him as Ennui joins in on their embrace. Mido latches onto Lumi and closes his eyes while Augustus wraps his arms around him.
The wave engulfs the vessel and Lumi’s senses are overcome by the chill of the northern waters. His breath holds until it can no longer, it escapes his lips as water fills his lungs.
Only the sea would dare swallow the sun.