halyards and sheets and waited. And Celeste caused the
As Celeste learned what she might need to know about helming a ship through the Iles de Chanson, a knight and a former thief studied drawings in the captain’s cabin in the event the
Chevell shook his head and said, “This outer fortress wall is sheer; my men are good at climbing ratlines, but not vertical stone.”
Roel looked at the sketch. “Yet the walls are scalable, oui?”
“Oui, to one skilled at free-climbing.”
“I am so skilled,” said Roel.
“As am I,” said Chevell. “Valeray taught me back in our thieving days.”
Roel sighed and said, “As he taught his daughter.”
“The princess can free-climb stone?”
“Oui,” said Roel, harking back to the day he had asked Celeste if she would have him as a husband, when they had in fact free-climbed a sheer stone column named the Sentinel.
Chevell made a swift gesture of negation. “Ah, we can’t let her go on such a perilous venture.”
“Captain, do you imagine you can stop her? I know I can’t.”
“No, Chevalier, I can’t stop her either.After all, she outranks me. Do you suppose we can slip away unnoticed?” Roel simply shook his head.
“She is quite a handful, eh?”
“I would not say she’s a handful, Sieur, for that somehow implies I should be her master. Non, a handful she is not, yet headstrong she most certainly is. Even so, she has the skills we need, and I would not try to gainsay her. I love her, Captain, headstrong and all. We are betrothed, and plan to marry when we get back from our quest.”
“
Roel raised an eyebrow, a slight grin on his face.
“My boy, you are speaking of venturing into the realm of the Lord of the Changelings, a place from which few, if any, ever return.”
The next morning the sky began to darken. “We’ve a storm approaching,” said Lieutenant Florien. “I ween it’ll be upon us by midafternoon.”
“Good!” exclaimed Chevell.
“Good, My Lord Captain?”
“Oui, Lieutenant. It means we’ll be running through the Iles de Chanson in foul weather. I think the Sirenes will not be singing this afternoon and eve.”
They sailed onward, the skies ever darkening, and finally Chevell shouted, “Hewitt!” Cabin Boy Hewitt came running aft. “My Lord Captain?”
“Hewitt, ask Princess Celeste and Sieur Roel to join me in my quarters.”
“Aye, aye, My Lord Captain.”
Hewitt dashed away toward the bow, where Celeste and Roel stood and watched dolphins racing the
neither dolphins nor fish, but small finny folk instead, mayhap half human in size. Pale green they were, and some bore tridents, yet they used them not.
“What are they?” asked Roel.
“They are the
“Ah, but they are swift.”
Hewitt came breathlessly to the bow. “Princess, Sieur Roel, My Lord Captain sends me to fetch you.” Shortly, both Celeste and Roel reached the captain’s cabin. Chevell stood at the map table with a chart spread before him. He looked up. “Ah, Princess, Chevalier, good, you are here.” As Roel looked down at the map, Celeste said, “Yes, Captain?”
“My lady, the Iles de Chanson lie dead ahead,” said Chevell. “I will need you standing by the helm.” Celeste grinned and said, “Aye, aye, My Lord Captain.”
“These islands,” said Roel, “what are they like?”
“Ah, formidable: tall, rocky crags, little vegetation, no potable water, but for rain collecting in hollows. Not a place for man or beast.”
“But fit for Sirenes,” said Celeste.
“Oui, though only sometimes are they there.”
“Then let us hope this is not one of the times,” said Roel.
“Indeed,” said Chevell. “Yet if any are nigh this day, I deem the oncoming storm will drive them into the depths.”
“Is that likely to happen?” asked Celeste.
Chevell shrugged, and then tapped the chart. “I would show you our intended route.”
Celeste glanced at Roel and then looked at the map.
“These are the islands: a long chain stretching some hundred sea leagues or so.”
“Hmm. .,” muttered Roel, “there must be a thousand here.”
“More like twenty-three hundred,” said Chevell. “A veritable warren with rocks to hole a hull and tricky winds channeled by the crags. Yet the Sirenes are the greatest danger.”
“Are they that deadly?” asked Celeste.
“Perhaps not, though the tales say they lure men to a watery grave.”
“I thought your onetime mentor said none of his crew leapt overboard.”
“Aye, he did. Yet the king’s ship foundered, and those men probably drowned. . or died of exposure.”
“I see.”
Chevell pointed at the depicted islands. “Here the archipelago is narrowest; see how it necks down? It is the quickest way through, and a fairly straight run at that, though there is a larboard turn needed”-he jabbed a finger to the vellum-“right here, a total of three points to port.”
Celeste nodded but said, “Oui. I see. But only if the wind is favorable-astern or abeam-yet if head-on. .?”
“Then we’ll come through here,” said Chevell, “and the turn will be a single point larboard.” He traced the alternate route. “But at the moment, the wind is off our larboard stern, and not likely to shift greatly through the narrow part of the chain.”
“Captain, did you not say the winds therein are tricky? Are they not likely to shift?”
“Oui. But we will run mainly on the topsails, for they are up where the air is less affected by the isles themselves.”
“Ah. I see.”
“And though I don’t think we’ll need you at the helm, Princess, before we enter the chain, we’ll set all the sails for you to get us through in the event we do get entranced. With the sails fixed-no men to hale them about and take advantage of the shifts in the air-it won’t be the swiftest run, but it will get us through.” Celeste nodded and said, “Captain, what if the wind comes about such that it’s head-on out of the turn?”
“Then you’ll need sail this way,” said Chevell, tracing a third route. “Three points to starboard, and then bring her back on course right here. But heed: you’ll need to make that decision before reaching the larboard turn; else we’ll founder on these shoals.”
“I see. The blue lines indicate shoals?”
“Oui.”
“Oh, my, but there are so many through this. . what did you call it? An archipelago?”
“Oui.”
“Captain,” said Roel, “who made this map?”
“Women sailors in small crafts, Roel.”
“Ah.”
