The sea serpent was calm in the waters as the ship bobbed through the waves. It was midday, and the voyage was largely quiet, except for the occasional wash of the waves against the side of the ship. Elena handled Captain Arrolg’s duties better than her late grandfather did himself, and she kept them going at a steady pace towards Sanctuary Island. Everyone had agreed to help Rusk rebuild, if only to get away from the kingdom while King Ehrryn had his hands full quelling the rebellion that arose the moment the necromancer was destroyed. A rebellion they’d directly caused, or Rusk had anyway, but one that was meant to be. He didn’t have any regrets. Not for what they’d done. They put a corrupt necromancer out of commission and started the kingdom on a path to recovery. That was enough for Rusk.

Besides, he wasn’t in a hurry to lose anyone else along the way. He had to figure out what to do with himself in the interim. Elena had exhausted her skill with conversation a long time ago now, now that they were out at sea with no land in sight and a journey ahead of them that hopefully wouldn’t be compromised by anything this time around. No sky serpents or sea serpents. Come to think of it, Rusk didn’t actually know how that fight ended, only that it raged on and on for days and was able to be seen from Porttegat. There was still gossip when they’d reached that port city after defeating the necromancer. Legends had formed about what really happened out there, all of them wrong. But Rusk liked it that way. He found some mirth and amusement in which details the Porttegat inhabitants thought up to fill the gaps. Some were completely and entirely absurd.

Anyway they had a long way to go before reaching the island and Rusk felt his eyelids getting heavier with every lazy waft of the ship along the waves. He’d gotten over being seasick. Weird. He wondered when that happened. The first time he’d crossed these waters he’d been a nervous wreck. But he guessed it was different when there was so much accomplishment behind him. He no longer had the Dragons Knock, but he could still pull from the Elva. Just not here. Elena had lost her connection to it after she passed through the dead portal and became the ghost she always was. In the back of his mind Rusk wondered how she died. The first time. The first time she died. But it wasn’t the kind of thing you asked someone, and anyway he wanted to get some shut eye.

He lounged on top deck atop his pack as he’d always done in the woods during his journey, and found the swaying of the ship a comfort enough that his dreamless sleep was uninterrupted. At least until Elena hollered Land Ho!

They arrived at Sanctuary Island, and the stronghold for Heroes was in shambles as they’d left it. But Floumeré greeted them at the port, unlike before when there hadn’t been anyone, and Rusk took her into the tightest hug he’d ever given anyone, and they kissed to reestablish their interest in each other.

“Aw,” said Iraiah. “Isn’t that the sweetest thing you ever saw?”

“Shut up,” said Mandy, and they were holding hands.

Gedresial flew in circles overhead, and Flow didn’t seem to like his presence much, but didn’t have any outwardly voiced complaints.

Felix and Loretta clung on each other, hobbling around in the red sand, and the purple leaves of the trees sent them into hysterics of awe. They poked around shore, thankfully not falling over, as Rusk lingered around them in case they ran into trouble. For this island had been nothing but trouble the last time he was here. No chances. Not anymore. He’d protect them. If nothing else, he’d prove himself as a Hero by protecting this little band he’d accumulated over his journey. If he couldn’t even do that, then not only was he not a Hero, he wasn’t a man. He’d turned twenty-one in the year it took to gain the upper hand on the necromancer and usurp the kingdom, which made Floumeré nineteen, and both of them were considered adults in the larger world.

But the funny thing was Rusk didn’t really feel like an adult. He still had that craving for adventure. He wanted to do more. He wanted to help more. Free more people from dungeons and defeat more unnatural forces and gain more and more allies along the way. He could never be satisfied settling down anywhere. He knew that. When he looked upon this island with its threatening volcano and beaten down Sanctuary Stronghold and all the corpses sinking into the red sand, he knew. He knew his purpose was bigger.

And hey, the bad luck hadn’t been so bad after all.

Speaking of that.

“Anyone have word on the Bad Luck Heroes?” asked Rusk.

“The what?” Felix raised an eyebrow at him. Amused, but still curious. In the way that Felix was. There was a cleverness in his expression that the harsh journey and all the hardships hadn’t succeeded in thwarting, for which Rusk was appreciative. “Do you mean the stigma against the Heroes? That was a rumor set forth by King Ehrryn after Iya Tarfell’s death, wasn’t it?”

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“Yes. That.”

“Well I haven’t heard anything and it’s my job to hear stuff people don’t want heard,” said Iraiah.

“We have been a little busy,” said Mandy.

“Does it even matter what they think of us? They are over there, across the sea, and we are here,” said Flow.

“I suppose not,” said Rusk. “But it would be nice, wouldn’t it? To make sure aspiring Heroes don’t have to deal with that crap like I did. Like I guess other potential Heroes did. I actually don’t know how many kids aspired to anything since I was so busy figuring out my own way.”

“Long journeys will do that,” said Loretta softly. She’d gotten tame over the course of their voyage. Weak, almost. And Rusk hated to see her like that, but she was leaning on Felix and they both would be okay. Together they’d be fine. He had to remember that. “Tend to be distracting. But I am curious too. I wonder what happened to my home town. We kind of left there without assigning a leader.”

“Then they can fight for crumbs,” said Iraiah as she plopped down by a root that stuck out of the red sand and lounged. “Never hurts to let someone fend for themselves for a while.”

“Says the slum lord,” said Mandy.

“I am in fact not a slum lord. I am a slum child. Big difference.”

Mandy didn’t hide her grim smirk.

Someday Rusk would have to ask them what they’d been through together, in the time when he wasn’t around.

“I will go back to the kingdom,” said Gedresial. “I will spread a new rumor. I’ll give the kingdom and everyone there the news of a reopened Sanctuary. A refuge for anyone who needs solace from the conflict in the kingdom during the restoration. Provided of course they’re willing to train. To learn the ways of the Hero.”

“Yeah?” Rusk let Gedresial land on his arm. “You’d do that? But weren’t you a monster before? Heroes kill monsters you know.”

“Only the ones causing trouble,” said Gedresial.

“Or the ones calling attention to themselves,” said Iraiah.

“No one asked you.”

“Well people should ask me. I know everything. Comes with the territory of being a Sneak.”

Rusk laughed. “We’ve got a ragtag team here, don’t we? Think we’ll be able to pull it off?”

“I think so,” said Elena the ghost from the deck of the ship. They’d discovered that since Sanctuary was now sacred ground (thanks to Flow and some ritual she’d done in the interim), nothing dead could set foot on the island. “And like Rusk said, I’ll be your ferryman. Can’t leave the ship as I am now anyway. And it seems I don’t actually require a crew. It’s like the ship is a part of me.”

“Got to know it pretty well sneaking around,” said Iraiah with a wink. “Maybe it’s your artifact.”

“My what?”

“You know. The weaponry instilled with spirits? They’re called artifacts. Or that’s what I call them anyway.”

“Artifacts.”

“Yeah. I mean it makes sense, right?” She got up and used her hands when she spoke, explaining with both her body and her words. “An artifact is a remnant of a different time. An item of history. What’s more historic than ghosts?”

They all thought on this. It made sense, even if it was a bit unorthodox of an explanation. But then Rusk remembered.

The sea serpent. The sky serpent. What if they decided to have another fight? What if they compromised the island. They couldn’t very well begin rebuilding if they had forces of nature doing battle right above them or next to them or even underneath them.

“Flow,” said Rusk. “Do you know how to contact the sea serpent?”

“I do not. But I imagine all one must do is ask the universe. Cast out your voice. I am sure it will answer you. If you are sincere.”

“Then while you’re doing that, I’ll leave with Elena.” Gedresial flew over and landed on the deck of the ship, then flew again to perch on the outlook. He let out a caw. “I do believe it would be wise to return after this sea serpent conversation, but for now we shall take our leave. I will spread the word. And Elena will be our ferryman. This ship will turn sacred with its purpose of bringing new aspiring Heroes to Sanctuary, but I must insist the stronghold be ready for the new recruits.”

“Wait,” said Loretta. “I can come with. I might be more useful as a recruiter than a rebuilder. No offense, Rusk.”

“None taken.”

“Where Loretta goes, I go,” said Felix.

“Go then,” said Rusk with a smile. He didn’t really want them in the line of fire if the sea and sky serpents decided to have another fight anyway.

“About that.” Mandy came up to him as Loretta and Felix boarded the ship. “Iraiah and I can help for now, but we can’t stay here forever. We have business back in the kingdom.”

Rusk knew by her tone not to ask what that business was. But he did suspect it had something to do with Mandy’s love of making things out of leather and her impeccable craftsmanship. Besides, she did have a cottage near the capital. Somewhere. Someday Rusk thought to himself he’d like to visit her in her actual home instead of the makeshift hut they’d been stuck in during the necromancer’s raid.

“But we can help out until this place is tip top shape regardless,” said Iraiah.

“I’m surprised you’re the one vouching for that.” Rusk gave her a raised eyebrow.

“What? I’m all for forward progress. Why you think otherwise? It’s part of the reason I became a Sneak.”

“You became a Sneak because you couldn’t handle honest work,” said Mandy.

“True. But the statement still stands. I’ll help you guys out. I’m helpful to a fault.”

Mandy clapped Rusk on the shoulder, and in that moment he hadn’t known he needed it until it was there. His anchor. Friend and not lover, but nonetheless just as important. “So we’ll help. But you have to promise me you’ll do something useful with our labor. Not that I’m all that worried. We forest folk are resourceful. Right?”

A smile twitched on Rusk’s lips. “Right.”

“Then,” said Flow, gesturing toward the Sanctuary Stronghold with its white stone pillars and all those corpse stains and blood marks on the walls. “Shall we get to work?”

“After you,” said Rusk.

They waved off Elena’s ship, wished their friends a safe journey, and then Rusk and Flow got to work figuring out how to summon the sea serpent.

And both of them hoped it would be on their side.