“It wasn’t pirates,” said Miri. “I told you before. It was something terrible that came out of the Breath. There were marks on the walls-like giant claws. The bodies had been ripped apart. And the magic was gone.”
“What do you mean, the magic was gone?” Rodrigo asked.
“The magic on the boat. It was just gone,” said Miri.
Rodrigo shook his head. “But that’s not-”
Stephano elbowed him in the ribs. “Let it go.”
Her story had unnerved them. They looked into the thick mists and then back at Gythe, shivering under the table. They thought about the protection constructs she had laid down, layer upon layer upon layer.
“You swore you wouldn’t tell,” Miri reminded them.
“I won’t,” Stephano said. “But someone should. The navy could help
…”
Miri snorted her disbelief. “Help Trundlers?”
“There have been rumors,” said Dag. “I’ve heard them. The sailors talk about ghosts in the Breath.”
“We now know why Gythe worked her magic,” said Rodrigo. “She can’t help me while she is still under the table.”
“I think Dag should talk to her,” said Miri.
“Me?” Dag looked astonished.
“Gythe loves you. She trusts you,” said Miri simply.
Dag’s face went red. He shook his head, embarrassed, and mumbled, “Don’t leave it up to me.”
“We’re starting to sink,” Rodrigo warned, looking up at the balloon. “We don’t have much time.”
“Dag,” said Stephano. “Miri’s right.”
“But what do I say?” Dag asked helplessly.
“Whatever is in that big heart of yours,” said Miri softly.
Dag’s face went redder than ever. He stood for a moment, looking uncomfortably at Gythe. Her head was buried in Doctor Ellington’s fur. She was shivering with fear. Dag’s expression softened. He managed, with considerable effort, to sit down awkwardly on the deck and, by means of scooting and scrunching, squeezed his way beneath the table.
The Breath dampened sound. All was eerily silent.
“Girl dear, I want you to look at me.”
Gythe very slightly raised her head to peep at him over the Doctor. Her fair hair straggled wetly around her face.
“I was born ugly,” Dag said cheerfully. “Came by it naturally. Neither my pa nor ma were anything to look at. But God made up for my ugly face by making me big and strong. I’ve been shot at by every conceivable type of gun. I’ve had cannonballs thrown at me. I’ve been stabbed with swords and cut with knives and struck with fists. I’ve even been attacked by our captain and his dragon.” Dag glanced at Stephano, who smiled at the memory of their first encounter.
“And I’m still here, Girl dear,” Dag said simply. “Nothing’s been found that can kill me yet.”
He rested his hand on her hand and said quietly, “Anything out there that wants to do you harm will have to go through me first. You know that, don’t you?”
Gythe nodded and lifted her head to smile at him. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Miri, turning away, wiped her eyes. Stephano looked at her. He looked at Dag, and something seemed to strike him.
“Miri loves him! I’ll be damned,” he said to himself, and he didn’t know if he liked that or not.
“It seems that Master Rigo is having trouble sorting out what you’ve done with the magic. He needs your help to fix it, or the boat won’t sail. Let me take the Doctor.” Dag reached for the cat, who was loath to leave and, with much yowling, had to be pried loose. “While you go help Master Rigo. He’s not very bright, you know.”
Gythe smiled tremulously at that. She hesitated only a moment, then slid out from beneath the table and stood up, smoothing her skirt. She indicated with a little nod that she was ready to assist. Miri went to her sister and hugged her.
“I am in awe of your work, Gythe.” said Rodrigo. “Truly in awe. What you’ve done is quite marvelous. But your magic is causing a bit of a problem. If you could just show me what you did, we might be able to fix it.”
He steered Gythe to the helm. The two bent over it, Rodrigo explaining and Gythe listening with grave attention. Miri hurried over to assist Dag, who was floundering about on the deck, unable to stand up.
“Damn leg went to sleep on me,” he grumbled.
“Let me help,” said Miri.
She managed to hoist Dag, grimacing, onto his feet. She stood a moment with her arm around his broad back. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Dag.”
He blushed and lowered his eyes and mumbled something, then he hobbled off, trying to get the feeling back into his leg. Doctor Ellington flounced across the deck, tail flicking angrily. He turned up his nose at a piece of smoked fish Stephano held out as a peace-offering, and ran down the stairs into the hold, determined to punish them by depriving them of his company.
Stephano ate the smoked fish himself. Miri was gazing after Dag with a fond, exasperated look.
“So it’s that way with you, is it?” said Stephano.
“What way?” she asked, startled.
“You’re in love with Dag.”
“I suppose I should blush, but I’m too old. Yes, I love the big lummox.” She paused, then faltered, “Do you mind?”
“A little,” Stephano admitted.
“You know we always said we would just be friends.”
“I know what we said,” Stephano replied. “But saying and feeling are two different things. Face it,” he added in teasing tones, “you’d be mad if I wasn’t jealous.”
Miri laughed. “I guess I would.” She sighed and cast a rueful glance at Dag, who was pacing the deck as though he was walking guard duty on the top of a redoubt. “Though there’s no need for you to be jealous. He won’t give me the time of day.”
“He’s been wounded, Miri,” said Stephano quietly. “And unlike a bullet wound or a sword slash, this wound is deep in his soul. It won’t be easy to heal.”
“Something happened to him. Tell me what,” said Miri.
Stephano gazed out into the swirling mists. “Dag will tell you himself when he’s ready.” He turned to smile at her. “And when he does, you’ll know he loves you.”
“And if he doesn’t…”
Stephano shook his head. “Dag hates himself for something that happened long ago, Miri. Right now, that hatred is so big it’s squeezing out every other feeling. You have to be patient. Loving and patient.”
“If that’s what I have to do, then I guess I’ll do it,” said Miri.
She looked over at the helm. Gythe was making rapid gestures with one hand and jabbing her finger at the helm with the other. Rodrigo was staring at her in helpless bewilderment.
“I guess I had better go translate,” Miri said. She started to leave, then looked back at Stephano. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For being jealous.”
She gave him a pert smile, then went to the helm, where she was immediately confronted by Gythe and Rodrigo, both talking at once; Gythe with hands flying and Rodrigo saying plaintively, “I think I upset her…”
Miri explained to Rodrigo what Gythe meant with her gestures and tried at the same time, to explain to Gythe that Rodrigo didn’t mean what he’d said with his mouth. The three of them began to laboriously try to untangle the overlapping strands of magic.
They had a difficult time of it. Gythe was at first adamantly opposed to removing any of the magical constructs she’d laid down to protect the Cloud Hopper. Rodrigo tried to tell her that one of her magical constructs was so powerful she did not need twenty more on top of it.
“In fact, the others have weakened the entire construct. Think of your first construct as a mighty river, with the water all flowing in a one direction. When you added additional constructs, you essentially siphoned off the water, sending it flowing into ditches and creeks and streams, with the result that your river is down to a trickle. If
