A Land of Fire

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Gwen stood at the rail, looking down into the waters, and she raised her hands to her eyes to shield them as a sudden light filled the sky. The haze hanging over the sea was infused with gold, and as she squinted into the light, she suddenly spotted something sailing toward her. She narrowed her eyes and wondered if she were seeing things: there, before her, bobbing in the waters, floated a small, shining golden boat, reflecting the sun. Gwen looked closely as it came closer, and her heart soared to see who was inside. She could not believe it.

There, inside, was Thor, standing, smiling triumphantly. And in his arms he held their baby.

Gwen’s heart soared, as she burst into tears at the sight. There they were, just feet away, returned to her, both alive and safe and well.

Gwen turned for a moment to summon the others on her ship, to share the good news—yet as she did, she was confused to find her ship empty. She could not understand where everyone had gone.

Gwen stepped into the small lifeboat on deck and quickly lowered the ropes until she reached the water. As she touched down, her boat bobbed wildly in the waves, and the thick rope connecting her to the ship snapped.

Gwen craned her neck and looked up, and was horrified to see her ship floating away on the strong ocean tide.

Gwen turned back to Thor and Guwayne, and she was horrified to see that her boat was suddenly getting sucked away, faster and faster on the tides, bringing her farther from them.

“NO!” she called out.

Gwen reached out a hand for Thorgrin, who still stood there, smiling, holding Guwayne. But the ocean tide carried her faster and farther away from him, away from her ship, away from everything she knew, deep into the limitless ocean.

Gwen awoke with a start. She looked all around, breathing hard, sweating, wondering what had happened. She saw that she was still in her ship; that she lay on deck; that it was filled with people. It had all been a nightmare. Just an awful, cruel nightmare.

Gwen’s relief quickly morphed to disappointment as she saw the state of her people. A thick fog settled in over everything, carried on the wind, and Gwen could only see her people piecemeal. But she saw them slumped over their oars, lying curled up on the deck, leaning against the side rail, all of them languid, no one moving. She could tell right away that they had all been devastated by hunger. They all lay there, motionless, looking more dead than alive.

Gwen did not know how many days they had been floating here; she could no longer remember. She knew it was long enough, though. Too long. Land had never come, and here her people lay, all on the steps of death.

Gwendolyn felt hunger pains tear through her body, and it took all her might just to pull herself up to a sitting position. She sat there, holding the baby, who cried as Gwen gave her a bottle empty of milk. Gwen felt like weeping, but she was too exhausted for that. After all they been through, after having come so far, it killed her to think that now her people were all going to die here, in the middle of nowhere, from hunger. It was too much to take. For herself, she could suffer; but she hated to see her people suffer like this.

Gwen could sense the stale odor of death in the air, feel that this ship had become a floating tomb, and that, soon, they would all be dead. She could not help but feel as if it were all her fault.

“Do not blame yourself, my lady,” came the voice.

Gwen turned to see her brother, Kendrick, sitting not far away, smiling weakly back. He must have read her thoughts, as he often did growing up, as he sat there, so noble, with such a strength of spirit, even at a time of such hardship.

“You have been a remarkable Queen,” he said. “Our father would be proud. You’ve taken us further than anyone else could have dared hope. It is a miracle we lived this long.”

Gwen appreciated his kind words, yet still, she could not help but feel responsible.

“If we all die, what have I done?” she asked.

“We will all die one day,” he replied. “You have achieved honor. That is far more than we could have asked of ourselves.”

Kendrick reached out a reassuring hand, and Gwen took it, grateful for his always being there.

“I should think you would have been a better King than I a Queen,” she said. “Father should have chosen you.”

Kendrick shook his head.

“Father knew what he was doing,” he said. “He chose perfectly. It was the one great choice of his life. He chose you not for the good times—but for a time like this. He knew you would lead us out.”

Before she could ponder his words, Gwen heard a shuffling of feet, and she turned and looked over to see Steffen looking down at her, dark circles under his eyes, looking weak, Arliss at his side, holding his hand.

Steffen cleared his throat.

“My lady, I have never made a request of you,” he said, his voice weak, “but I have one now.”

She looked at him, surprised, wondering what it could be.

“Whatever it is that I can grant, you shall have it,” she replied.

“Would you stand as witness between us?” he asked. “We wish to marry.”

Gwen stared back at them both, eyes wide in surprise.

“Marry?” she repeated, stunned. “Here, now?”

Steffen and Arliss nodded back, and Gwen could see the seriousness in their eyes.

“If not now, when?” Arliss asked. “None of us expect to make land. And before we die, we wish to be together, forever.”

Gwen looked back at them both, overwhelmed by their devotion to each other. It made her think of Thorgrin, of her unfulfilled desire to wed him.

Her eyes filled with tears.

“Of course I shall,” she replied.

Kendrick, Godfrey and the others close by who had overheard, all managed to muster to their feet and to join Gwen as she accompanied Steffen and Arliss to the bow of the ship.

Steffen and Arliss stood beside the rail, held hands, and turned and smiled to each other. Gwen stood before them, looking out at the fog, which rolled in and out on the silent ship, and she admired their courage, their affirmation of life in the midst of these dying moments.

“Do you have vows you wish to exchange?” Gwen asked.

Steffen nodded. He cleared his throat as he looked into Arliss’s eyes.

“I, Steffen, vow to love you always,” he said, “to be a faithful husband, and to remain at your side, whether in this life or the next, whatever the fates may bring.”

Arliss smiled back at him.

“And I, Arliss, vow to love you always, to be a devoted wife, and to remain at your side, whether in this life or the next, whatever the fates may bring.”

They leaned in and kissed, and as they did, Gwen noticed tears running down Arliss’s cheek. It was a sacred moment, and a somber one; it was a moment when they all looked death in the face, and tried to beat it with their love.

It was an eerie affair, at once both the gloomiest wedding Gwendolyn had ever attended, and the most beautiful, all of them, Gwen realized, floating into nowhere, and as fleeting as the fog that rolled in and out with each passing wave. More than ever, Gwen felt death coming—and she felt lucky she had been alive long enough to witness, at least, one wedding of those she loved.