Sammy hid on a roof. She didn’t even bother watching the flow on the streets as dawn passed into morning. At the moment, her one and only goal was staying out of sight, and thus out of mind. She sighed to herself thinking that even out of sight might not be enough to keep her out of mind this time.

“What was I thinking,” she muttered and buried her face into her knees. She could not believe she had admitted to that dreadful title like that. “It’s the curse. I just know it.”

A strong wind blew around her, ruffling her hair, caressing her arms and cheeks. Sammy felt something, but could not discern it fully. She looked up and around, but nothing had really changed. The morning sky was clear as clear could be. Ocean flavored wind blew in her face from the left. Several seagulls called from that direction as well, but were hidden by buildings.

Sammy jumped down into a clear alley and headed over toward the seagulls. She wanted to look at the sea, and following those guys seemed the best option toward that goal. As she walked, it became apparent that the streets of this city were not as crowded as her home. Still, there was enough traffic that she felt comfortable with her anonymity.

The sun rose a couple notches closer to zenith before she came out of the city buildings, finding herself at the edge of a number of wooden streets running out into water. Some of those wooden streets split here and there, but all of them eventually just stopped. A number of boats floated next to them with ropes keeping them from floating away.

A bell rang from one of the ships, another joining it a moment later. Men and women moved here and there on the wooden streets and on the regular streets both. Some carried crates or boxes, others what appeared to be luggage, and still others not carrying anything at all. People shouted to each other. Some kids ran around playing tag. The whole seemed more lively than anything Sammy had seen in this city yet.

Sammy shook her head to clear it of the wooden street image. “Obviously those are wharves, but I’ve never seen them so huge.” In fact, she had only seen one back on the Damsy River that flowed under the Old Foghorn bridge, though the wharf itself was on the good side of the river and was only about fifteen feet long.

Beyond the furthest wharf was a lot of water. More water than Sammy had ever seen so close. On the far side of that water rose a tall cliff wall with what looked like stairs carved into its side. Right in the middle of the water, a small island with a really tall, thin tower of the whitest stone Sammy had ever seen. A number of weirdly spaced windows ran up the side of the tower circumference, but the top floor was covered with glass, much like the sanctuary tower in Count Iona’s castle where they had completed the purga composition.

Sammy spied an old man sitting beside a building close to one of the wharves. He was eating a sandwich and had a mug sitting on the ground next to him. Several other men passed him, pausing for a moment to exchange a greeting. The girl liked him for some reason and headed in that direction.

“Hello sir,” Sammy greeted the old man as she approached.

“Oh?” The man said, his voice crackling with age and a jovial nature. “A pretty little lass is coming over to talk to this ancient old man? My day has definitely tacked to a good wind.”

“Um,” Sammy said, taken aback a little. What the heck was he talking about? “I will take that as a good thing?”

“Of course, of course,” the old man said, amusement coloring his tone.

“Good.” Sammy took a deep breath. “I’m trying to find the sea. I only saw it once, but it was from a long way away. Do you know where I can get a good view?”

The old man’s eyes brightened. “You’re asking the right old sailor, lass.” He scooped up the mug next to him and stood, though that took a bit of effort. “The best place would be to climb the far cliff, of course, but that’s a fair walk. There’s a place right close that we can use.” He took off walking.

Sammy stood non-plused for a moment, but then ran to catch up with the fast-moving old man. How could someone struggling so much to get up walk that fast anyway? “Wait, you don’t have to actually take me there. Just tell me where it is.”

“Nonsense,” the man said, not even bothering to look back at her. “I will wonder to my dying day what kind of expression you made when you looked upon the glory of the waters for the first time, if I don’t go with you now that is. You have to take these kinds of one-of-a-kind things in stride and not lose the opportunities fate gives to you. That’s what I follow anyway.”

Sammy settled in to walk next to the old man, but his long strides began pulling away again. “Hey, slow down, you old coot,” she snapped. “I can’t walk that fast. My name’s Sammy.”

“Geoff,” the old man said, stopping to look at Sammy. “Sorry, I’ll walk slower. Just got a little excited is all.”

“Thank you,” Sammy said, letting out a big gust of air. “Anyway, what’s the big tower over there?” She pointed to the island.

“Never seen a lighthouse before?”

“Lighthouse?” Sammy frowned. The way he said it, she should know about it no matter what? “I saw a tower something similar once, but that looks different.”

“It’s used to guide ships into the harbor proper at night, or during storms. Of course, it hasn’t lit since the old Count died.” He pointed in the direction they were walking. “That’s the harbor entrance, between the cliff,” he pointed to the top of where the cliff side ended, “and that wall you can see over yonder,” and he shifted his finger to point at a wall on their side of the bay waters.

“There’s towers there too?” Sammy could see two more white towers where Geoff had pointed.

“Of course, but they don’t work either. They would show the way into the harbor. Back then, even the waters and winds calmed quite a bit when those were lit. Count Iona was an amazing man, what he did for his people. Too bad he turned bad at the end.”

“He didn’t go bad,” Sammy huffed. “It was General Fleming who murdered him and put a curse on his lands. You shouldn’t talk bad about the Count.”

“Whoa there,” the old man said, holding up his hands in self-defense. “No need to get all heated about it. No one knows what really happened, but.”

“I know. The Count made a hard decision that made Fleming hate him and Fleming plotted to kill his bloodline.” Sammy took a loud, deep breath. “Let’s not talk about this right now. I’m actually kind of interested in those lighthouse things. How do they work?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Geoff frowned for the first time since Sammy had met him, but then he shrugged and his smile returned. “Well, you can see the upper level is covered in glass, right?”

“Yep.”

“There’s a huge light in that room that spins around. The one in the center is white, the one on the cliff is blue and the one on the wall is orange. Using those, sailors could come into the safety of our harbor even in the worst of stormy nights. Now-a-days, they have to wait for fair weather and daylight.

“Of course,” and the old man pointed toward the cliff again, which was in the direction of the mountain range bordering the city, “beyond that cliff are the mountains and the only passage to the northern lands for an annoyingly long distance. The Count put up a myriad of lighthouses in that passage. Ah, it was an impressive thing, sailing through the Trough back in my youth. Now-a-days, the Trough is too perilous to pass through, though some risk it still.”

The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the wall. Stone stairs went up the side and the two traipsed up quickly enough. Sammy crested the stairs and found herself staring out over more water than she thought could even exist in the whole world. Massive waves rolled over the surface of that massive body of water in continuous motion. Seagulls soared over the water on majestic wings and a few clouds marred the double blue of water and sky.

Sammy ran to the far side of the causeway and leaned on the railing there. She pointed out over the water as several massive creatures burst out of the water at the same moment. “What are those, what are those?” she sang in an excited voice.

“Well, I’ll be,” the old man said, coming to stand beside the girl. “Those be whales. Haven’t seen those creatures this close to the harbor in decades. Ain’t you the lucky one, seeing five of ‘em breeching right on your first visit.”

Sammy nodded, a grin on her face. The whales breeched again, a swash of musical sound washing over the two humans this time. The arch duchess froze, her eyes wide for the sound carried meaning for her.

“Greetings Favored Beritha,” the song sang. “We welcome you whom the mother sea honors.”

Suddenly the water’s surface erupted as fish much smaller than the whales burst forth, a cacophony of musical sound greeting her in a multitude of voices. “Come play with us. Play, play.” More and more of the sea creatures cleared the water in a seemingly endless dance, some just arcing out and into the water, others shooting high in the air doing flips and other stunts.

“Whoa, I’ve never seen that before. Those be dolphins and porpoises. That be a unicorn whale. Dang, what the heck is that? Never seen one of those.” The old man leaned over the railing with the same kind of excitement as Sammy. He stared hard at the mayhem for a long time, but then cast an embarrassed glance at the girl.

Sammy jumped up on the railing and shook her hand at the sea. “Knock it off. I’ll drown if I come out there to play.”

“We will protect, protect, protect.”

Sammy sighed and hopped down to the causeway again. “Sheesh, I just wanted to see the sea. This is too much.” She glanced at the old man, who was staring at her with a shocked expression now. Sammy snerked before she could control herself. That expression was just too hilarious.

“My lady, just what are you?” He glanced at the sea, but the creatures had stopped going crazy for the moment.

“What am I?” Sammy near choked on her laughter, a lot of her tension melting away. “Anywho, how did the Count keep all of those lighthouses lit? You said there were a bunch out in that Trough thing of yours. Did he have to light them all, or did he have others do it?”

The old man rubbed his chin for a moment. “Hmm, well it was a long time ago and didn’t really have much to do with me, but I think the main one is that one in the harbor.” He pointed to the tall lighthouse in the middle of the harbor on its little island. “When that one brightened, all of the others would brighten, if I recall things aright. Don’t know about keeping ‘em lit though. Count might have had to light them himself one at a time. That was all noble stuff though, not for the likes of me sticking my nose in.”

“Oh?” Sammy grinned at Geoff. “Right, but you seem to know a little bit anyway. So, what kind of stuff did someone the likes of you do anyway?”

“Hah.” Geoff put his arms on the railing and leaned toward the sea. “I be a washed-up sailor. Went here and there, even passed the Trough a few times after the Count’s demise. Now I just sit on the wharves and tell tales.”

Sammy glanced at the far cliff. “The air seems grumpy in that direction. I wonder if a storm’s coming.”

Geoff gave the girl a sharp look. “Let’s hope not. Storms coming down the Trough are rare, but fiercer than any others. Probably don’t like being caged by those walls.” The old man gave Sammy a long, serious look. “If a storm’s coming from the Trough, we should call in the fishing fleets. You sure there’s a storm coming?”

“No,” Sammy said with a shrug. “I said it was grumpy. A storm just popped to mind. Anyway,” and the girl danced to the middle of the causeway, “let’s go get a closer look at that lighthouse. I want to go to the top.” She grinned at the old man.

Geoff pushed off the railing. “We can go to the base, but the doors are sealed. Only the old mayor could ever open it. No one’s been in there since all the contract flames went out.”

“Fleming was such a jerk,” Sammy muttered. She ran down the causeway to the wall’s lighthouse. As soon as she got close, the familiar tickle of glyph magic made her shiver. Upon inspecting the full base, she stood facing the door. Geoff had come to stand beside her by this time, his ever-amused smile once more in full force.

Sammy tapped one of the door glyphs and it lit up.

“Whoa,” Geoff said in a startled voice as he backed down the stairs. “Wh, what are you doing lass?”

“Just checking things out,” Sammy sang. A moment later, the door to the tower opened. Sammy turned to the half astonished, half horrified old man. “Come on Geoff.” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the tower, pulling him up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse.

The large upper room was completely walled by windows and had a single sphere sitting on a single pillar centered perfectly. A set of mirrors formed a seven-sided wall on one side of the orb and pillar. Glyphs tingled the back of Sammy’s head where her skull and spine connected. Little chills sparked excited tracks down her spine and arms, tingling her fingertips.

“I love this feeling,” Sammy said, shivering with arms wrapped tight over her midriff. She let Geoff go and danced over to the pillar and orb. Soon a host of glyph lines glowed in many colors and varying intensity.

“Miss Sammy, I don’t think you should be doing that,” Geoff said, glancing down the stairs nervously.

“It’s okay,” Sammy said absently. Suddenly she strode over to the old man. “I think your right about the main one being out on the island. Let’s go.” Sammy once more grabbed the old man by the wrist and dragged him after her. Leaving the wall’s lighthouse, she absently tapped one of the glyphs in passing and the door closed, the glyph magic growing a little brighter for a moment, but then fading away completely.

As Sammy pulled the old man behind her, she asked, “What’s the best way to get to that one?” She pointed to the towering lighthouse in the center of the bay. “I want to see the glyphs there. This is so freaking exciting.”

Up till then, Geoff hadn’t resisted the girl’s insistent grip, but now he put on the breaks, forcing them to stop at the bottom of the wall’s staircase. “Hold on a moment girl, Miss Sammy. I’m not helping you no more until you tell me what you are. No one should be able to access the lighthouses.”

Sammy turned to face the old man. She glanced at the cliff face on the other side of the bay, her mind going beyond what her eyes could see. Mischievous energy had mostly overtaken the grumpiness there. Other feelings and emotions were beginning to well up such as excitement, and an intense desire to escape, to run free without restraints. With each passing moment the whole seemed to become stronger, to become more defined, to become more purpose driven.

The young girl sighed and frowned fiercely at the old man. “I don’t have time to go into details, but I am Count Iona’s chosen successor.” She pointed in the direction of the cliffs once again, “ And I am fairly certain now that a storm is brewing over there. I, I haven’t actually felt anything like it before, but it definitely has a very stormyish kind of feeling. Now, are you going to help me, or do I have to swim out there. Those lighthouse things are what can call in the fishing fleets, right? We need to hurry.”

Geoff took a deep breath and then nodded his head once. “Got it. Wouldn’t have believed it except the strangeness of the sea and you getting past that sealed door so easily.” He reversed the grip on his arm, now he gripping her. “Let’s get over there then.” He grinned and his voice took on a kind of excited joy that could easily be called contagious.