Deep though the ocean might be , it couldn’t go on forever.

The changes were small, when they started. Another ship, passing in the dead of night, the only sign of their presence the seahunters calling a greeting. A chunk of rock sticking from the water, when only untold fathoms should lie beneath.

And then, the rocks weren’t so sporadic, and they weren’t rocks anymore, but islands, jutting from the waves in water-blackened peaks and thin, hardy patches of foliage. I watched them with bated breath. I’d thought I could handle a sea voyage. I’d thought, I’d been to Deldynne; the sea was uncomfortable, yes, but manageable. I wasn’t Avira.

Well, I could take comfort in the fact that she’d probably have up and died by now—but it didn’t make me happy to be over the open water for so long. My aethir-cursed bones ached, singing for good solid land beneath my feet. Needless to say, the promise of an end to this voyage was very, very welcome.

I’d taken to sitting in the prow, peering out through the haze for a glimpse of something more out there. Anything that would mean we were getting close. And this morning, as I’d trudged up the stairs from our quarters, a seahunter had clapped me on the back, roaring with laughter as he bustled on his way.

“You’re looking green, lad!” he’d called, giving me a wink. “Breathe easy. We’ll have you safe and sound on solid land afore the sun’s set, have no fear.”

“Really?” I’d said, my eyes brightening, but the hunter was clearly far too busy for the likes of me, and he’d vanished through another hatch without adding a word.

So I’d tromped on up to my usual place, sinking down to a crate I’d long since claimed as my own, and settled in for another morning of waiting. I’d have to get to work before long, keeping up with my training, but….just for a bit.

The morning was foggy, with thick white clouds obscuring most anything that might have been out there for me to see. I could just make out a dark shape, though. A landmass. We’d pulled up aside it just after dawn, and it was still there. That meant it was big. I smiled, leaning against the railing, and stroked Nella, who lay sprawled across my lap. Was this Talmarn?

Nella chirped. I jumped, looking down. She’d raised her head, peering back behind me—and there, with that final warning, I heard the footsteps approaching.

Aron raised a hand in a wave when I turned, smiling at me. “You’re up quite early, Hunter.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” I mumbled, looking back out across the waves. “I don’t think I like sailing very much. Can’t feel the land when we’re out in the deep ocean.” At Aron’s confused look, I sighed. “I’m part treant. Not sure if you have us in Talmarn, but-”

“Oh,” Aron said, recognition flashing across his face. “Not many, I’m afraid, and none where I’m from. Morlath is simply too desolate to support a grove.” He leaned against the railing alongside me, nodding. His lips were pursed. “But I believe Karnarthia has one. A grove, that is. I couldn’t tell you where, but I do remember hearing about it.”

“Morlath?” I said, my head starting to spin. “Kar…Karnar…I’m sorry. I’m really not familiar with-”

“It is of no worry,” Aron said, chuckling to himself. He wasn’t quite as frantic as he’d been back in Linead, but he’d never quite settled, either. The man might just be skittish. “I did not know anything about Aradhen, after all.”

He shrugged one shoulder, gesturing with a hand as though to illustrate landmasses. “Talmarn isn’t quite a country the same way Aradhen is, you’ll find. It’s not a particularly hospitable land, and the geography is even more divided than its people. There are a great many individual clans, each claiming their own grounds, but four main ruling peoples that govern the four primary regions.”

“But you’re Talmarn,” I said, my confusion growing. “Surely there’s-”

“Yes, yes,” Aron said, more briskly. “Wastes, sands, jungle, and coral. Karnarthia is the jungle, you’ll find. An archipelago on the southeastern coast, and our destination on this voyage. The islands were always more verdant than the rest of the country, and more prosperous. Centuries ago, Clan Karn decided to unify the rest of the lands, under their own banner.” He shrugged, a hint of a sardonic smile creeping onto his face. “They met…mixed success. The clans allowed for Karn to speak for all, on the international stage, and recognized its emperor as theirs, but remain independent otherwise.”

Before I could speak up again, Aron took a deep breath, turning his gaze on me. “I’m of Clan Morla, you know. Morlath is a great swath of not very much at all, just rock and cliff, but we get by. Sirastir falls to our south, nothing but sand and crag as far as the eye can see. Clan Rasta rules that region. They’re content enough to let others handle Talmarn’s affairs, and no one else particularly wants their sand, so it’s a good arrangement for all.”

“Okay,” I said, chewing on what he’d said thus far. “Desert and wasteland and jungle all make sense. But I think you’re going to have to explain-”

“Coral,” Aron said, smiling. “Yes. Quite.”

I paused. A low, breathless quality had entered his words, a reverence I couldn’t quite place.

Aron fidgeted a moment, looking out over the waves to the distant shadow of Talmarn, but nodded once more. “Iriondra falls right in the heartland of Talmarn, where the broken islands of Karnarthia come together against sand and rock,” he said at last. “It is…the religious heart of the country, you could say. Our legends all tie back there.”

“Okay, but-”

“It is difficult to explain it until you see it,” Aron said, his expression still filled with contentment. “But…the seers say that long ago Norastam, Lord of Storms, planted a pearl deep in the cove at Talmarn’s heart. Life sprang forth, filling the bay with life, and blessed the people who lived on its shores. It was there the first flowgems were born, and seers still travel to Iriondra to plead with the heavens for a flowgem of their own.”

“So Ysandre did it as well?” I said, blinking. The thought was just totally foreign to me. Hunters’ power came from within, after all. We didn’t need to travel somewhere else and receive a magic crystal ball before we could do our thing.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Of course…with what Kevin was discovering, it might just be that my own understanding of Hunter magic was…lacking.

Aron nodded again. “Indeed. She’s my own clansib, you know. We were all so proud when she returned, gem in hand.” His eyes misted for a moment, staring out across the waves. “Clan Iria only accepts a limited number of candidates a year, and if the supplicant fails their first attempt…” He looked back to me, shaking his head. “It is rare for a second attempt to be allowed by the home clan.”

“And this is the only place they can get that, uh, flowgem from?” I said, jerking a thumb over my shoulder toward the ship’s living quarters and Ysandre. “So this Iria group is totally in charge of your magic?”

Aron made a face. I flinched. Real diplomatic, Trellin. “I-I mean, I wasn’t trying to say-”

“In short,” Aron said heavily. “It was not always that way, but…yes.”

Oh. So he was just going to come out and say it, too. “Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean to bring up something sensitive.”

He chuckled sourly, hanging his head for a moment. “You’re fine, hunter,” he said, more quietly. “I know nothing was meant by it. Talmarn is a divided empire, and there are old rifts that still rear their heads. You will understand, once we reach Karnarthia.” He lifted his gaze, nodding out toward the distant shadow of what I could only assume was one of Talmarn’s islands. “If I was to cast a gamble, we’ll reach Maurana by nightfall.”

“And that’s-”

“Our capital,” Aron said, elbowing me. “Your mistress said as much, did she not?”

It was my turn to laugh, shaking my head. “I’m glad you think I’d remember the details like that.”

He let out something that sounded decidedly like a snort, then looked away as if to hide it.

I grinned, running my hand down Nella’s scales again. “Thank you, though. It’s good not to be going into this totally blind.”

“You are already doing us a tremendous favor,” Aron said, his voice soft. “Anything we can do to make your work easier, we will, hunter.” He bowed. “You need only ask.”

Raising himself he backed away, then turned, striding back toward the hatch.

Nella warbled, a note of disappointment ringing through my thoughts.

I patted her on the head, chuckling. “Oh, stop begging, girl. He’ll be around later.”

She flopped back down with a huff.

Soon, I’d need to get back to work—but I had a lot to chew on, now. So I leaned back against the railing, turning my eyes to the waves, and tried to picture what lay before us.

—------------------------

The canteen was packed with bodies when the cry went up from the deck. I stiffened, looking up, and saw Myles and Korinn echo the motion. Kevin was slower—he didn’t react at all until I heard a seahunter bellow a port-cry.

He looked up at that. “Is that-”

“I think we’re here,” I said, my eyes going round. I let my spoon fall back into my bowl, sending ripples through the mediocre-at-best plainsrunner stew the ship’s excuse for a cook had whipped up. Scooping Nella up into my arms—and grabbing her substantially-more-raw plainsrunner haunch when she protested, jamming it back into her jaws—I made for the stairs. I could already hear the footsteps of my companions behind me, joining the flood of hunters climbing from the hold.

Before I could reach it, a region alert swept across my vision, confirming what we’d just heard.

- Region Boundary -

Leaving: Blackwave Abyss

Entering: Shallows of Mauruana

Grinning, I clambered up the last few steps, thrusting my head out into open air.

The sight from the open hatch was enough to take my breath away. Verdant, Aron had called this region. That much was true. Not Deldynne levels of verdant, of course, but an entirely different atmosphere that left me open-mouthed and gaping.

Everything was green. That was my first impression. Not the deep, rich, mysterious green of the hunters’ isle, but the sort of yellow-green that promised rampant growth everywhere I looked. The trees were shorter, too, disappointingly normal compared to the tiered, terraced forests I’d so-recently climbed. Their branches were wide and flat rather than the bushy ones I was used to, the fronds thick enough to block our view inward.

But what Maurana had on Deldynne was civilization.

Black-stone structures rose from the jungle, perched atop the white-sand beaches and set back into the jungle. If anything, it was like the trees and vines adopted the buildings as their own, sinking their roots into the stacked-stone towers and covering them in white-and-yellow flowers.

And this city was very much alive, I realized. This wasn’t just a ruin. Streets sat below the myriad structures, narrow and weaving between buildings. Livestock were led down a seaside passage, with carts trundling after. Figures hurried this way and that, spots of muted red and blue against the black homes and towers. Not as many as Linead. Mersali was a closer comparison, but…it was hard for my mind to reconcile such signs of life with a town that looked like a long-forgotten castle.

I was standing at the railing like an idiot, I realized, and shut my mouth. Nella chomped away at her dinner, dribbling blood down my tunic and completely ignoring the moment she was ruining. What little gravitas the moment had left vanished as Korinn slammed against the rail.

“Myra’s mercy, would you just look at the place,” she gasped, a smile stretching from ear to ear.

“That’s quite a sight,” Myles whispered, nodding from my other side. “Didn’t expect this.”

“Maurana,” Aron said. We turned. He approached from behind, the corners of his lips faintly curled up. “Welcome to Karnarthia, hunters. And to Talmarn.”

“It looks really old,” I said, looking back to the city. I just couldn’t not. “I didn’t expect this. You made Talmarn sound like a rock.”

“A lot of it is, I’m afraid,” Aron said with a sad laugh. “And, it is old. These are the oldest parts of the city. It won’t all look like this.”

I pursed my lips, eyeing the town. I could see buildings farther back that weren’t so swallowed whole by the jungle, but even they had that same touch that sang I was a very, very long way from Aradhen. Linead had felt cold, at first. Strange. So I’d thought before—but now, face to face with a country entirely foreign to us, it was a whole other level.

“It’s beautiful,” I heard Kevin whisper, and glanced to the side. He slipped toward our group, reaching out mechanically to pat Nella’s snout. His eyes darted to mine, and I saw him lick his lips. “Well…time to get to work, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, pulling her a little closer. She squirmed, letting out a peal, but I didn’t let go. We’d find our answers. We had to.

When I looked up, though, I saw Ysandre coming to a stop alongside Aron. The two shared a look, long and unreadable, and he wrapped his hand around hers. Ysandre swallowed.

Both were pale, I realized. But why? Too many questions whirled in my mind. Something else was going on, here. Something we hadn’t been told about. Clasping my hands, I ran a finger down my bonding band.

I could always turn this ship around. If something was amiss, if there was more to this story…we didn’t owe Talmarn anything. We could sail straight back to Aradhen, and we’d have done our part by getting Myles out of the way long enough to get back on his feet.

But then we’d learn nothing about Nella. I pulled her close again, my eyes tightening. I’d only had her for a short time, but…she was beautiful, and she was unique, and I didn’t want this to end without giving it the best shot I could. We needed to make this work. Somehow.

I lifted my gaze to the approaching landmass, to the densely-packed port I could see us gusting toward. A pier stood open on the end, with a few sailors bustling along its length. Soon, we’d be landed. We’d be there.

And now, it was time to figure out what was really going on.