The Navigator, page 36
"I don't know!" Quill's whole body was trembling. She leaned against the cross bar inside of the closet and closed her eyes.
"We aren't going to sail through the fog, are we? We're going to give up and sail back to Syracuse."
"I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I don't decide those things."
Petal sat down on her bed. She could feel the cold, polar air creeping through the wall, and could hear the dull rumbles of waves crashing against it.
"I have to go through the fog."
"No. We don't even know what it is. Even Giovanni doesn't know what it is. You saw what it did to our ship and to that tow line. It's-"
"I know what it is." Petal said softly. "I saw it in a dream."
"You had another vision?"
"No. I had a real dream. The fog in my dream was different - but I saw the fog - and I saw my father."
"Rho?"
"No. My real father."
Quill tried to swallow but couldn't; her throat was too dry. She coughed.
"You said you don't know who your real father is. Now, you remember him?"
"No. But I saw him in my dream last night – in the fog – well, in the sea, actually. At first I thought he was trying to kill me; but now I think he was trying to show me something."
"What?"
"I don't know. But I have to go through the fog. I can't be afraid of it. He was telling me to go through it; even if I think I'll die. As long as I'm not afraid of it, I'll be fine. There's something on the other side - Junk - I think she's there, waiting for me."
"You're not going." Quill pointed at the bed. "You're going to go to sleep. Got it? You're pale, you're tired, and you have a fever. Lie down."
"I feel a lot better. I'm not tired. I've been lying down here for weeks. I'm sick of it."
"Lie down!" Quill seethed. She put her hand on Petal's chest and eased her onto the bed.
Petal fell back helplessly. She curled up and then turned onto her side.
Quill flicked the lamp off. She then stared at Petal through the darkness, until her eyes adjusted enough for her to see her baggy profile.
"I'll talk to Giovanni about the fog tomorrow. Maybe he knows a way around it or something. Until then you're going to stay in bed, in this cabin. You aren't going to move from this place. Understand?"
"Uh-huh."
Quill snuggled up against her pillow and let her body go limp. She lay motionless, listening only to Petal's soft breaths, and the dull noise of waves crashing against the cabin. She tried to forget about the fog and the missing boat. Slowly, her mind cleared and she was able to calm herself. She and Petal drifted off to sleep.
The two of them lay still, sleeping side by side, until Atalai crept into the room and quietly woke Petal.
***
Giovanni lazily opened and closed his eyes as he strolled down the long companionway on the Polar Wanderer. He was exhausted. He hadn't slept in days. Instead, he'd spent most of his time on watch in the bridge. Now, even though his shift was over, he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the fog and the missing dinghy. The mystery as to what happened to the little boat was intoxicating.
Giovanni had always been enthralled by the unknown. He'd become a navigator to shed light on Ea's many mysteries. Now, at the twilight of his life and his career, he was at the cusp of unraveling the greatest mystery Ea had ever known – what lay on the shores of the hidden continent.
Knowing that that hidden land was once again merely a few miles away, yet unreachable, was maddening. It was as if God himself was dangling Giovanni's final prize right in front of him - but just out of his grasp - taunting him with inevitable failure.
Giovanni smiled at the thought. He liked the image of God toying with him. It made him feel important - like King Saitiles or some other mythical, antediluvian hero. He'd always felt that God was watching over him and guiding his path. That feeling had only grown since he left his regimented life in Hesperia to freely drift across Ea's oceans.
While the thrill of solving Ea's greatest mystery intrigued Giovanni for decades, deep in his heart, he secretly wished that he'd never get to look upon the hidden land. He thought it would be nice to die with a few places left unexplored. The unknown was what made life so fascinating. The unknown was what made the world seem special and sacred.
Giovanni looked up from the floor and out at a row of oil lamps that hung down from the ceiling. He was a few doors down from the captain's cabin. Before he reached the cabin door, it swung open.
Atalai walked out of the captain's cabin and pulled the door shut. He took a step forward and almost walked into him.
"Ah, the nomad. How have you been, my friend?"
"Very well." Atalai extended his arm for a handshake. "I want to thank you for getting us here. You've truly lived up to your reputation as Ea's greatest navigator."
"Thanks." Giovanni took Atalai's cold hand with a grin. "But my work isn't finished. Still have that pesky matter of making landfall."
"I believe your work is finished." Atalai pulled away and edged past him. He walked down the hallway toward the darkness at the other end.
Giovanni furrowed his brow.
"Have you spoken to the captain? What did he tell you?"
Atalai ignored him. When he reached the end of the companionway he glanced back.
"Sleep well tonight, Giovanni. We shall all breathe easier come morning."
Giovanni watched Atalai disappear. He shrugged to himself and pushed open the door to the captain's cabin.
Derrik had refurnished the captain's quarters just after Kodzick's death. He hated the Prime Minister's ostentatious taste. He took down all the nice silken curtains, removed all of the golden ornaments that adorned the captain's desk, and had put all of Kodzick's fine china down in the galley so it could be used by the regular crewmen.
In their place, Derrik refitted the cabin to look like a crewman's quarters. The few photographs and other possessions he had were now strewn across the room. The dusty pictures, sloppy plaid clothes, miscellaneous deck gear, and tacky wire figurines he brought along for the voyage clashed horribly with what was left of Kodzick's furnishings.
When Giovanni entered, Derrik was seated at his desk. In front of him, splayed across the desktop, were two lines of a bleach-white substance - kolocyx crystals - which had been ground into a fine powder.
Giovanni glanced down at the powder and up into Derrik's eyes. He looked stoned.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Yes - obviously. But why don't you come in anyway?" Derrik leaned back in his chair and then motioned to the kolocyx. "Just did a line of crystal with that nomad. Want one? I've got some to spare now that Moz is gone."
"No." Giovanni closed the door. "At my age it would probably kill me."
Derrik snorted a line. Afterwards, he clutched the bridge of his nose, as if it'd given him a headache.
"Suit yourself."
"I hope you're not on watch later tonight. We need someone who's level headed."
"Fuck you, old man," Derrik spat. "I lost my best friend this afternoon. My only friend on this ship. Pardon me for taking some personal time to try and forget about that and our hopeless situation."
"This is your version of mourning?"
"It's just like a wake. . .you're really beginning to wear on me."
Giovanni debated walking out of the cabin and waiting for Derrik to sober up. He decided against it, figuring that Derrik would be less guarded while high on the narcotic.
"What are we going to do now?"
"What are you talking about?" Derrik's hands trembled. He shook it off like it was a chill and then clawed at his facial stubble.
"I understand that you are in a rather untenable situation-"
"Do you? You understand now?"
"Yes. Your King has assigned you a seemingly impossible task. You cannot complete it; but you also cannot return home empty-handed."
"So? Tell me something I don't know. You have a suggestion for me, Giovanni? Or do you still want to sail into the fog, so we can all join Moz for a big jamboree on the sea bottom?"
"If it were just me, I would sail into the fog. At my age, the risk of death matters little when compared to the possible rewards of going forward. However, I understand there are many other lives you must consider."
"You figured that out?" Derrik said seriously. He then giggled. "Wow, you're a really sharp one. It's no surprise your advice is so sought after."
Giovanni let his breath out slowly, un-amused by Derrik's mood swings.
"I came here because I'm curious as to what lies ahead. What are you going to do? Are you abandoning the mission? Are you sailing home? Or are you going to go rogue?"
Derrik squinted at the old man and sniffed exaggeratedly.
"I sure as fuck am not going through that fog, and I sure as fuck am not going back to King Hanno's little hellhole. So take a guess what I'm doing."
"We're going rogue then – becoming pirates. That doesn't matter to me. I have no loyalty to Hanno. But what do you plan on doing with me? Are you going to kill me or are you going to abandon me somewhere?"
"You?" Derrik hiccupped. "I'm holding on to you. You could fetch me a good ransom; from King Hanno, from Mann, from Kudu, from. . . anyone, eh? You're a legend. And you'll be an asset to this ship. Still need a good navigator to get where we're going."
"Where's that?"
"You'll see. Don't you like surprises?"
"What about our other navigator – Quill? What do you plan on doing with her?"
"I'll hold on to her too. I always wanted a pet. I hated that little bitch with a passion for so long, but I could never figure out why. Now I have. All the girls back on Syracuse were either snooty royalty or submissive, doe-eyed peasants. That Quill is the first girl I've met who's smarter and ballsier than I am. A bit of a ditz too. That used to piss me off to no end; but now – I kind of like that."
Giovanni gravely nodded. "And what about Petal?"
"What about her?" Derrik leaned over his desk and snorted the last line of powder. His body and face twitched as the jagged, microscopic crystals made their way up his sinuses.
"If you don't return Petal to her father you'll be hunted down by the Sand Tiger Horde. They will pursue you to wherever it is that we're going. It would be wiser to let her go. I know a safe place where we could leave her."
Derrik giggled through his high.
"Rho doesn't give a fuck about that girl. He just wanted to get rid of her. He thinks she's cursed like this sea. That's why he sent her here – so she'd disappear. Now I get to make her disappear for him."
"What? What are you going to do?"
"I'm not going to do anything to her." Derrik looked around the cabin, suspiciously. "I may be an asshole, but I wouldn't kill a kid. That nomad said he'd take care of her."
"Atalai? He's going to kill Petal?"
"Nah." Derrik picked his nose for a moment and then gawked at a drop of blood that dripped onto his fingernail. He smiled at it like a guilty child. "He said he had to take her into the fog. . .those nomads are a bunch of ignorant rubes – though they can really hold their crystal. He thinks if he takes the girl into the fog, she'll turn into sea foam. He - he thinks she's a nymph or something."
Giovanni whipped around and wrenched the door open.
- 60 -
Quill lay fast asleep. She moaned softly. It felt like someone was tickling her neck. She turned over and mumbled nonsense.
"Wha – what?" She tried to push away whoever was shaking her and rolled onto her back, wrapping herself up in her blanket.
"Quill! Quill! You must wake up! Get up! Now! Hurry!"
Quill sat up, still half asleep. Like Petal, she'd fallen asleep fully dressed to insulate herself from the chilly cabin. She rubbed her face. Whoever was in the room with her had turned the lamp on. Its soft light was blinding.
"Who are you?" Quill yawned. "Giovanni?"
"Yes! Come on! Now! Before we're too late! We must go!"
"Huh? What?" Quill stood up. She looked over at Petal's bed and saw that it was empty. "Where's Petal?"
Giovanni scooped Quill's boots off the floor and tossed them to her.
"The nomad took her! He will throw her into the sea if we don't stop him! Put those on! Hurry!"
"Petal!"
Quill pulled on her boots and charged out of the cabin without bothering to tie them.
"Quickly, to the main deck!" Giovanni took off after her. He was too frail to match her speed but did his best to keep up. "They must be outside already! You must hurry!"
"Where's Derrik? Does he know?"
Quill reached the stairwell. She began to run up the stairs at full speed, almost tripping when she reached the first landing.
"Yes – but he doesn't care!" Giovanni panted. He looked up the stairs and saw Quill's shadow dart away. "He and the rest of the crew are leaving this place. They're going rogue. They're going to become pirates!"
Quill reached the port hatch and went to open it.
"Wait!" Giovanni hollered from the landing. He feebly made his way up the steps. Once he was halfway up to Quill, he pulled something out of his pocket. "Take this!"
Quill hopped down the stairs, two-at-a-time, and snatched the object from Giovanni. She almost cut her palm on it.
Giovanni had given her a long, hunting knife with a serrated edge. She clutched its whale bone grip tightly.
"It's the only weapon I could find! You must stop him! Quickly!"
Quill bounded up the stairs and shoved the hatch open.
Outside it was a bone chillingly cold, polar night. The sky was overcast. The wind howled. Someone had turned on the deck lights. They bathed the main deck and the surrounding sea in a dull white hue.
Quill scanned the half-illuminated deck for any sign of Petal. She didn't see her but noticed someone standing at the ship's hydraulic controls, manipulating the crane. She charged over to him.
"Atalai!" Quill waved the knife wildly as she approached.
Atalai raised his hands into the air and stepped away from the hydraulics, toward the side railing.
"Where's Petal!"
Atalai didn't say anything. Instead, he gazed over the ship side.
Quill rushed over to the railing and scanned the dark water. Next to the Polar Wanderer was a little dinghy. It was floating in the sea, still tethered to the ship by two lengths of thick naval rope.
The little dinghy was enclosed. Someone had covered it with canvas and tarp. It rocked back and forth, barely illuminated by the deck lights.
"Petal! Are you down there!"
Atalai crept around Quill while she was distracted. He slipped past her and inched up to the hydraulics.
Quill saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Get away from that! NOW!"
Atalai backed off the hydraulics, hands still in the air. "You don't understand what I'm doing."
"Step back!" Quill cackled. "Go inside. I will stab you if you come any closer."
"This is what needs to be done. This is what Petal wants. This is her fate."
"No! It's not! Shut up! Shut the fuck up and go back inside!"
Quill heard a hatch pop open. She looked to her right and saw Giovanni scurry onto the deck.
"Giovanni, watch Atalai while I work the crane! I have to haul that dinghy back up here!"
Giovanni slowly approached Atalai. The old man was frail and unarmed. He knew he'd be no match against the nomad, but tried to intimidate him anyway with his mere presence.
"Derrik is going rogue! Did you know that?" Atalai switched his gaze between Quill and Giovanni, talking to both of them at once. "He'll take Petal and you away from this place and then who knows what he'll do to her."
"Better than what you've done to her!" Quill tried to figure out the hydraulic controls, and got the winch to work, but there was no tension on the line. "Giovanni! What's going on? It's not picking up anything!"
Giovanni leaned over the ship side and peered down into the water.
"The girl – she disconnected the lines. She's drifting away!"
Quill ran up to the railing.
"Petal, are you down there? Say something!"
The little dinghy rocked back and forth in the dark. After a moment, Quill saw a little red bob poke its way through the canvas ceiling.
