breath and nodded. “Yes, I don’t know what came over me. I just had the strangest feeling…”
His gaze was questioning, and she realized he was still waiting for his transformation. She shoved the incident from her mind to puzzle over later. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the appearance of the man in the sketch, visualizing him clearly as she had seen him in her dream. She felt the magic rippling from her fingers and opened her eyes to see Fenric’s ordinary features distort into the rougher, wilder features of another. The transformation was complete.
“You’d best go now,” Fenric told her. It was bizarre hearing his voice coming from a stranger’s face. “You’ll want to reach the isle while you’ve still got the daylight.”
She hesitated, feeling she should say something to warn him. What if the glimpse she’d had of his suffering was a portent of the future?
“Fenric, I’m afraid you may be in danger,” she said.
He smiled slightly. “I’m always in danger.”
“Maybe, but this is different.”
Either he didn’t hear that or he chose to pretend he did not, as he loosed the little dory from its moorings and shoved it out from the pier.
There was nothing Eydis could do but take up the oars as she drifted out to sea. She rowed until Fenric and the pier became indistinct smudges in the distance. She had a sinking feeling something bad was going to happen to the Shoretown headsman and she had just missed her chance to stop it.
* * *
As the sun dipped beyond the horizon, a thick fog rolled over the water. Her backward view of the shoreline obscured by the mist, Eydis could only look ahead now, toward the looming shape of the island. It was strangely eerie being out in this little boat alone. In the gathering darkness, the slapping of the waves against the hull and the whistling of the wind seemed magnified. She had never felt such isolation. The dip and splash of the oars, the rhythmic rocking of the vessel on the waves—these were unfamiliar sounds and sensations, and she had the disconcerting sense of being at the mercy of the ocean.
For the first time in her life, she regretted having never learned to swim very well. For that matter, she regretted having never rowed a boat before. Her palms were already blistered with the last hour’s efforts at steering the little craft over the choppy waves. It was the pull of the tide more than her clumsy endeavors that drew her closer and closer to the nameless island.
When her hull scraped noisily against the shallows, she clambered over the side, into water up to her thighs, to tow the vessel in to shore. The beach, a slippery mixture of shale and sand, worked against her, but she eventually managed to haul the craft safely above the level of the tide.
Only then, shivering in the chill night air, was she free to take in her surroundings. The island she stood on gave every appearance of being deserted. Where was this mysterious person Fenric had told her to meet? If he hadn’t arrived yet, just how long was she expected to wait?
Beneath the silvery glow of the moon she made out a rocky rise at the edge of the beach, and thinking to get a better view of her surroundings, she picked her way up the slope. At its crest, she looked down on a sunken expanse of marshland, dotted with boulders and low scrub brush. Here and there rocky ridges divided the marshland, and overgrown paths snaked between the dips and mounds of the uneven terrain.
Straining her eyes, she tried to make out more details. And that was when she saw it—a tall, dark form flittering silently across the landscape. Its movements were stealthy as it ducked behind boulders and clung to the shadows, reminding Eydis of a wild animal stalking its prey. Only this animal walked upright like a man. Could this be him then? The one she had come to find?
She opened her mouth to call out to him but immediately thought better of it. One didn’t survive a childhood on the city streets
His gaze was questioning, and she realized he was still waiting for his transformation. She shoved the incident from her mind to puzzle over later. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the appearance of the man in the sketch, visualizing him clearly as she had seen him in her dream. She felt the magic rippling from her fingers and opened her eyes to see Fenric’s ordinary features distort into the rougher, wilder features of another. The transformation was complete.
“You’d best go now,” Fenric told her. It was bizarre hearing his voice coming from a stranger’s face. “You’ll want to reach the isle while you’ve still got the daylight.”
She hesitated, feeling she should say something to warn him. What if the glimpse she’d had of his suffering was a portent of the future?
“Fenric, I’m afraid you may be in danger,” she said.
He smiled slightly. “I’m always in danger.”
“Maybe, but this is different.”
Either he didn’t hear that or he chose to pretend he did not, as he loosed the little dory from its moorings and shoved it out from the pier.
There was nothing Eydis could do but take up the oars as she drifted out to sea. She rowed until Fenric and the pier became indistinct smudges in the distance. She had a sinking feeling something bad was going to happen to the Shoretown headsman and she had just missed her chance to stop it.
* * *
As the sun dipped beyond the horizon, a thick fog rolled over the water. Her backward view of the shoreline obscured by the mist, Eydis could only look ahead now, toward the looming shape of the island. It was strangely eerie being out in this little boat alone. In the gathering darkness, the slapping of the waves against the hull and the whistling of the wind seemed magnified. She had never felt such isolation. The dip and splash of the oars, the rhythmic rocking of the vessel on the waves—these were unfamiliar sounds and sensations, and she had the disconcerting sense of being at the mercy of the ocean.
For the first time in her life, she regretted having never learned to swim very well. For that matter, she regretted having never rowed a boat before. Her palms were already blistered with the last hour’s efforts at steering the little craft over the choppy waves. It was the pull of the tide more than her clumsy endeavors that drew her closer and closer to the nameless island.
When her hull scraped noisily against the shallows, she clambered over the side, into water up to her thighs, to tow the vessel in to shore. The beach, a slippery mixture of shale and sand, worked against her, but she eventually managed to haul the craft safely above the level of the tide.
Only then, shivering in the chill night air, was she free to take in her surroundings. The island she stood on gave every appearance of being deserted. Where was this mysterious person Fenric had told her to meet? If he hadn’t arrived yet, just how long was she expected to wait?
Beneath the silvery glow of the moon she made out a rocky rise at the edge of the beach, and thinking to get a better view of her surroundings, she picked her way up the slope. At its crest, she looked down on a sunken expanse of marshland, dotted with boulders and low scrub brush. Here and there rocky ridges divided the marshland, and overgrown paths snaked between the dips and mounds of the uneven terrain.
Straining her eyes, she tried to make out more details. And that was when she saw it—a tall, dark form flittering silently across the landscape. Its movements were stealthy as it ducked behind boulders and clung to the shadows, reminding Eydis of a wild animal stalking its prey. Only this animal walked upright like a man. Could this be him then? The one she had come to find?
She opened her mouth to call out to him but immediately thought better of it. One didn’t survive a childhood on the city streets
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