The Dawning of Power

Chapter 16

Evil often hides beneath a veil of righteousness. -Fetter Bains, agnostic

"Come," Nat said, and he led them to a narrow but well-worn trail that wove through the rotting mass and into the forest. "It's not far."

"Why are you dressed like that?" Chase asked.

"I have joined the Gunata, a tribe native to the islands. I married the daughter of a chieftain, and I have become a leader within the tribe."

"You're married?" Catrin asked, and Nat smiled. Despite the paint he wore, it was the warmest smile she'd ever seen from him. There was a light in his eyes, and the fear fled from her; all that remained was the desire to meet the one who made Nat so cheerful. "That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you!" Charging forward, she hugged him, getting his paint all over her clothing.

"Come. I must bring you to the elders. They've been waiting for you."

"Waiting? How did you know we were coming," Chase asked, suspicious.

"I had a vision," Nat said without hesitation. Chase rolled his eyes but said no more. Beyond a turn, they came to a place where the trail emptied into a lush meadow. The land rolled gently and was blanketed in thick grasses. In the middle was a large fire surrounded by the silhouettes of people, most of which stopped and turned to watch them approach.

Speaking in a tongue Catrin did not understand, Nat announced them. None of the Gunata spoke or approached; they simply watched as Catrin and Chase followed Nat to a massive log. Here he sat and gestured for everyone else to be seated. Catrin sat next to Nat and Chase beside her. From the crowd of Gunata, one woman approached. Dressed in a wrap of woven palm adorned with flowers of every description, she came straight to Catrin. Going to one knee, she kissed Catrin's hand. "Thank you," she said in a thick accent, but the look in her eyes effectively conveyed her message.

"Catrin, Chase, this is my wife, Neenya," Nat said. Neenya wore a warm smile, but her eyes were timid. Catrin returned her smile. Neenya sat on the other side of Nat, and now the entire group was seated in a circle around the fire. "When I arrived here, the Gunata seemed to be waiting for me, just as they have waited for you. I tried to communicate with them, but they only pointed to the mountain. Neenya took me there. The way was difficult, but what I found there was worth it. Atop the mountain is a sacred place, a place where the visions are much stronger and clearer. I must take you there. That is what they are waiting for."

"You and your visions," Chase said, clearly disgusted. "We're finally ready to go home, and you want to drag Catrin into the jungle because of a daydream."

"The visions are far from daydreams," Nat said in a level voice. The Gunata seemed unsettled by the tone of Chase's words. "I don't know how to convince you, but I will try. Things are seldom specific in my visions, but as I said, they are stronger atop the mount. In a vision, I saw Catrin riding a wave."

"That's it?" Chase asked.

"Let him finish," Catrin said.

"Catrin rode atop a white cat-a panther, I believe," Nat said.

Chase's eyes went wide and he choked, which set him into a fit of coughing. Catrin simply reached into her pocket and pulled out Koe. When the Gunata saw the shining cat, they all began to talk at once. Nat just nodded. "Will you come?" he asked, looking Catrin in the eye.

"I will."

"I don't like it," Benjin said.

"I agree," Chase added.

"I'm going," Catrin said. "You can choose to believe whatever you wish, but I believe Nat's visions deserve credence. After all, he's been right before. Kenward said he'd wait for us, and Prios can contact me if there is trouble, so let's just go and get it done. Then we can go home."

Benjin and Chase seemed to realize that arguing would get them nowhere. After grabbing their packs, they followed Catrin down the gangplank. Waiting below, dressed for hiking, Nat seemed annoyed that Benjin chose to come along, but he said nothing; instead he just led them back onto the trail. As they walked past where the Gunata were gathered, Neenya joined them and took the lead. She, too, was dressed in leathers.

Nat dropped back to walk beside Catrin. "There was something else puzzling about my vision," he said in a low voice meant for only Catrin's ears. "I see the stones you have mounted in the staff, and I suppose that explains the dragon with gleaming eyes, but the dragon in my vision flew."

"Then it was another dragon you saw. His name is Kyrien."

Nat stopped and stared at Catrin a moment but said nothing as Chase and Benjin stood waiting. It was a while before he spoke again. "You've seen a real dragon?"

"Yes. More than one."

Shaking his head and muttering under his breath, Nat walked in what seemed a daze. "I had hoped you would prove my visions false, but you have not. There have been other visions since, each more terrifying than the last. There are troubled times ahead for our world, Catrin. We must prepare."

"What did you see?" she asked.

"I cannot even describe the horrors I've seen, but I can tell you this: There will be a time of great prosperity that will lull most into complacency, but you must be vigilant. You must remind them of the danger that lurks just beyond the horizon. You must learn to live beneath the soil, and you must learn to grow food there, or you and yours will perish."

"What dangers do you foresee? What foe do we face?"

"It's impossible for me to say. I've seen death flow from the skies and the seas. I've seen the land itself coil up and strike you. In my dreams, though, you have stood before the coming fury. You, alone, have the power to save us all; you have but to find it, and find it you must, for you do not yet possess the strength you'll need."

"Strength she'll need for what?" Chase asked, and Nat made an annoyed sound.

"Nat's visions bring dire warnings of a peril we have yet to face," Catrin said. "For that, I will need strength."

Chase seemed to want to say something more, but he bit his lip and remained silent. The forest grew thick around the trail until the trail itself disappeared. Following Neenya, they meandered through lush greenery and vicious needle-vines. Neenya did her best to choose a clear path, but still they had to remain always watchful for danger. Nat explained that Neenya's sharp hiss was a warning when danger was near, and Catrin jumped every time she heard it. Sometimes she failed to even see what danger Neenya warned of, but other times she saw snakes, dangerous plants, and once, a bright red scorpion.

"The blood scorpion is said to have a sting like fire," Benjin said as he avoided the small but deadly creature.

Neenya seldom stopped, but when she did, she generally collected edible fruits, berries, nuts, and roots. On one occasion, though, she stopped in a thicket of tall, stalklike plants with green stems as thick as a man's fist. Using her long knife, Neenya cut down one of the stalks, carefully cutting along one of the many brown rings that divided the stalks into sections. After handing each member of the party a section, she showed them how to cut the top open and drink from the strange plant. The milky juice was sticky and sweet with a tangy aftertaste, but it left Catrin feeling refreshed.

As darkness began to fall, Neenya immediately chose a place to make camp and set about building a fire. The place she chose to camp looked as if it had been used recently; Neenya built her fire on the remains of another.

"It is not safe in the jungle at night," Nat said. "Only fire will keep the predators at a distance, and even then you must be cautious. There are snakes here that can swallow a person whole."

"Was this your camp?"

"Yes. Neenya and I have camped here before. There are several campsites along the way that we may be able to find. Others have already been reclaimed by the jungle."

Catrin pulled a fallen log closer to the fire, and after checking it thoroughly for scorpions, she sat.

While everyone was busy setting up camp, Nat pulled Catrin to the side. "The visions I had were of challenges that await, but I know there are more immediate dangers you need to be aware of. I'm as certain as the sun."

"And you think I will learn something from seeing this place?"

"I can only say what I feel," Nat said. "All my instincts say you must go there."

Catrin said no more, and when Benjin approached, Nat seemed to suddenly realize he had some task waiting for him.

"What did he have to say?" Benjin asked.

"He thinks it's important that I go to the mountain," Catrin said. "I think he believes I will have a vision."

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure. I should be excited about a place that might give me some insight, but I have a sour feeling in my stomach. Either way, I have to do this for Nat. I hope you can understand that."

"I suppose I do, li'l miss," Benjin said, and he patted Catrin on the shoulder as he rose to look for food. "The world always looks brighter on a full stomach."

With one arm holding a cloth over her face, Catrin climbed, trying to keep the sand out of her eyes, nose, and mouth, but it was impossible. The wind played tricks, growing calm only to suddenly return full force, driving sand and dirt before it.

"We should wait until the wind dies down," Benjin yelled through the cloth he held over his face. Catrin barely heard him as the wind screamed and growled around them.

"It will not get better any time soon," Nat said. "And then it will rain."

Careful not to lean too heavily into the wind, Catrin tried to be ready for when it died down without warning. Already she had stumbled twice and nearly fallen, only Benjin's firm grip on her jacket had kept her upright. Choosing her steps with greater care, she tried not to look down, for every step took them higher.

When they finally reached the chamber atop the mountain, Nat led Catrin in. Within, the wind still howled at her, but it no longer touched her, and Catrin instantly felt safer. Much of the floor was covered in a layer of dirt, but what was exposed was a marvel. Intricate patterns and circular drawings coexisted in orderly chaos, and rods of colorful metal were inset in the floor, bisecting it at regular angles. In the ceiling of the chamber were three precisely sized and spaced holes that let in sunlight. To her right stood a large opening that looked out over the world below. Amazed by how far she could see, Catrin was overwhelmed by the sense of height the view gave her, and her guts constricted.

"Come here and look out to the seas," Nat said.

"I can't," Catrin said, suddenly terrified.

"It'll be fine, li'l miss. I'll be right here holding on to ya."

Slowly, deliberately, Catrin moved toward the opening. Then she stuck her head outside until she could no longer see the chamber walls in her periphery, her face exposed to raging currents. For a moment she simply stared out across the landscape, but then her vision began to swim. Only the feeling of Benjin's grip kept her from screaming. Slowly he began to pull her back, but something was happening. "No," she said. "Just hold me."

Benjin did as she asked, and she watched as the landscape morphed.

A crowd gathered outside the Masterhouse. With their arms in the air, they chanted. Above, on a raised dais, stood her father, his hands tied behind his back.

"Treason," said a thundering voice, and Catrin shuddered as its deep vibrations assaulted her being. "The penalty is death!" His words hammered Catrin's chest like a physical blow. Howling, she ran forward as the headsman raised his axe. The crowd parted before her, but a single figure rose up to dominate her sight. The glowing face of Istra stood between Catrin and her father, and she screamed, howling in frustration.

Gasping for breath, Catrin fell back into Benjin's arms, but only a moment did she allow herself to recover. A tickling around her nostrils and a warm sensation brought her hand to her nose, and it came away covered in blood.

"We've got to get her down from here," Benjin said with a scathing glance at Nat.

"We have to hurry," Catrin said. "Have to get home."

"Is she hurt," a voice called, and Catrin stirred.

"She just needs rest," Benjin said, his deep voice close to her ear.

Only then did Catrin realize she was being carried, and she pulled her head away from Benjin's neck. "How did you get me down?"

"Chase and I took turns carrying you."

Unable to imagine how difficult it must have been to carry her down the mountain, Catrin just closed her eyes and let Benjin carry her to her cabin.

"We have to get back to the Godfist, or they're going to kill my father," she managed to say before sleep claimed her again, and she saw the shock in Benjin's eyes, though she never heard his response.

"How close is the Eel to being fully repaired?" Benjin asked.

"There are one or two places where we may need to reinforce a cracked beam or the like," Kenward said, "but she's seaworthy."

"Is there any way we can make extra speed for this trip? We have good reason to believe that Wendel is in mortal danger."

"There's not much we can do but run light," Kenward said. "Problem with that is you can get awfully hungry before the fish start biting."

"Is it a chance you'd be willing to take?" Benjin asked, locking eyes with Kenward. Both knew the stakes.

"I'd be willing to take that chance, and perhaps one more," Kenward said with a sly wink. "I had some new sails made and some extra rigging hung. Mother thinks I've lost my senses, but I know the Eel can take the speed, and more speed means less time spent hungry."

"That's your problem, fool boy," Nora said. "Always thinking with your stomach."

"Aye," Kenward said. "Keeps me well fed. We've no more time to waste, I suppose. I'll just make sure the crew is done loading, and then we'll be under sail."

Standing at the prow, Catrin held onto the railing as the Slippery Eel knifed through the water, her extra sails filled with wind and driving her forward with tremendous force. Even so, no amount of sail could make the journey from the Falcon Isles to the Godfist short, and Catrin was made to wait. Most of her time was spent pacing the decks like an angry cat, her hand caressing the carving in her pocket. At those times she thought she might be more comfortable in the form of a panther than anything else, and she wondered about something Barabas had once said. She wondered if she had ever truly lived as a panther, or a butterfly, or even a whale. It seemed too strange to be true, yet she felt an affinity to each of those creatures, and she was left to wonder.

The others tried to keep her company, but they, too, were anxious, and their anxiety poured over Catrin like a wave. Eventually she found herself alone, driven to near madness by the waiting. Unwilling to do nothing, she began to experiment with ways to make ship move faster. At first, she tried pushing more air into the sails, but her efforts were both ineffective and extremely draining, thus she abandoned that approach.

In a moment of sudden clarity, Catrin wondered of she'd ever lived as a bird. The thought gave her an idea. After a lot of thought and experimentation-moving her hand up and down in the wind and feeling the way the air currents changed-Catrin decided to try using a narrow band of energy, like a wing, to slice the air. Her first attempts had no noticeable effect, but as she formed her wing of energy into different shapes, holding it at varying angles, she suddenly felt tremendous drag applied to the ship. It was not the desired effect, but it was a significant effect with relatively little effort. Reversing the curve of her energy wing produced an equally significant increase in the ship's speed; it was as if she were lifting the ship, causing it to ride higher in the water.

Before she went any further, she searched for Kenward, who was arguing with Bryn over the ship's suddenly erratic performance.

"… can't find anything wrong, sir," Bryn was saying as she approached.

"Then look again," Kenward snapped.

"Bryn, wait," Catrin said, and though he turned his head, he kept moving.

Kenward met Catrin's eyes and called Bryn back. "What's this about?"

"I wanted to see if I could make the ship go faster," Catrin said, and Kenward's eyes bulged. Of all the things he'd seen her do with the power, the thought of her propelling his ship seemed to disturb him greatly. "At first I only managed to slow us down, but I reversed my technique and the ship seemed to speed up."

"By the gods," Bryn said. "That's what that was?"

"I've never felt anything like it before," Kenward said, and Nora, who had been inspecting the ship for problems, now stood at his side. "It was as if we'd emptied the hold and lightened the ship. Can you do it again?"

"We have no idea how this will affect the ship," Nora said. "It would a dangerous thing to try, and knowing you, that's all the incentive you'll need to try it, but you've been warned." After wagging her finger in Kenward's face, she walked away.

"Do you think it's safe for me to try?" Catrin asked, now unsure of herself.

"I'll put the men in the hold on guard, and they can tell us if there are any problems developing. I'm anxious to reach the Godfist on your father's behalf and yours. Nothing would make me happier than a way to shorten this particular voyage."

"Then I'll try," Catrin said. "I'll use only a small wing at first."

"A wing?" Kenward asked, but then he shook his head. "Forget I asked. I'm not certain I want to know yet. Maybe you can tell me afterward."

The conversation had drawn attention, and most of the crew stopped what they were doing long enough to at least steal a glance at Catrin. She stood at the prow, her arms cast wide, her staff in one hand and Koe in the other. It took her a moment to find the correct angle and curvature again, but when she did, she felt the ship surge ahead.

"You're doing it!" Kenward shouted, his face a mixture of horror and fascination, which turned more and more to excitement. "Damage report!"

"The hull is showing no signs of stress, sir," Bryn said. "If anything, I'd say there seems to be less stress."

"Catrin, you may use a larger wing," Kenward said with a firm nod.

Bending her will to the task, Catrin opened herself to more power, and she expanded the size of her wing. As she applied her will, she could almost see her diaphanous formation of energy take shape. The ship rose higher in the water, and the crew stood in shock as the ship moved faster than ever before, but there was a sudden lurch when Catrin lost her concentration.

I'm sorry I surprised you.

Prios's voice in her mind and the energy he lent her gave Catrin the power to test larger wing formations and even multiple wings on each side. When she used two large wings, level with the deck, and a pair of wings from the top of every mast, everything changed. The ship moved at unbelievable speed.

"May the gods have mercy!" Nora said. "We're flying!"