Day 3 of Midwinter, Nightfall

At Sea, Straits of Segais

Annwn

The state of things on the ship appeared to have changed quite a bit since I went over the side. The changeling soldiers had shifted into their base forms. At the edge of the gangway, “Captain Cristo” now stood proudly in his true form of Tadg mac Nuadat. When Fern and I climbed up the ladder to the main deck, she did not seem shocked by the change in his appearance.

“Bren Callahan,” Tadg began in a flowery tone. He started what I believe would have likely been a grand oratory, but I interrupted him before he could really get going.

“Hang on. I need to get something off my chest.” I looked around the deck. Morias stood next to Tadg. Slightly behind them stood the rest of Tadg’s soldiers. Three of the men appeared to be standing around a fourth fat man whose hands were bound. “Apparently, my last name is NOT Callahan.”

Morias nodded. Fí sat on one of the ratlines attached to the mainmast. She nodded in agreement. Tadg looked to Morias with a confused look. “This is a new revelation?”

Morias ignored him and spoke directly to me. “I had assumed when I revealed the mysterious circumstance of your arrival to Annwn that you would abandon the notion of a human surname.”

“Well…” I found myself a little embarrassed that Morias’s words made so much sense. “When you put it like that…”

“So who spilled the beans?” Fí asked, cutting me off.

“Down there.” I pointed to the water behind me. “Two people. A man, Nechtan… and the woman’s name was Connla, I think.”

Everyone on the boat let out sounds that made me think they didn’t believe me. Several sailors and soldiers began talking amongst themselves.

“Enough!” Tadg interrupted the murmurs of the sailors and soldiers. He turned to me. “You expect us to believe that you encountered the cupbearers of Lir?”

I could see Fí’s body become rigid at Tadg’s words. “Why would he make that up? He doesn’t even know who they are.”

“Who are they?” I asked.

Tadg looked surprised by my question, and I had no idea why. “The guardian of the sea… Lir… has not come to court for many years. His cupbearers, Nechtan and Connla, serve as the caretakers of the great wells of Annwn.”

I looked over to Morias for some clarification. “What ‘wells’?”

“There are two great seas in Annwn,” Morias began. “The Well of Wisdom is the western sea, cared for by Connla. The Well of Secrets is the eastern sea, cared for by Nechtan.”

Fern spoke up at that. “The Straits of Segais are where the two seas converge. The confluence is what causes the dangerous currents here.”

I thought back to what Nechtan and Connla had said. “They called them the Crosswaters.”

“The Well of Drowning!” one of the sailors yelled.

“And the cupbearers were drawn by Lía Fáil, yes?” Tadg asked me.

I thought back. It was hard to recall exactly what had happened under the waves. “At first I thought so… But they sent me away, almost immediately. “

“Why?” Morias looked troubled.

“The woman said that someone was coming.”

There was a strange lull in the winds and I felt the temperature suddenly drop. I felt the ship slow and watched as the sails went limp. Fern’s eyes scanned from side to side, while the four other sailors began moving around the ship as if searching for something.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Who did they say was coming?” Tadg demanded.

Fern’s eyes widened in shock. “Away from the edges of the ship!”

There was a scream from the sailor closest to the bow, but it was cut short. I heard another scream to my right, and looked over to see a sailor’s body fall into the water.

“What is happening?” Tadg shouted.

Amid the panicked voices around me, I remembered Connla’s word. “The Bánánach.”

Fí sprang off the ratlines and came to my side. Her words came out in a rush. “Listen to me closely. Go find something, anything, made of iron. Go!”

I had never seen Fí look so serious. That alone made me spring into action. I began looking around the ship for something that was made of an iron-looking metal. The rest of the crew did the same. The bindings on the soldier that I guessed was Gassy were cut, and the five soldiers came together, back to back, at Tadg’s original position.

My first thought of iron on a sea vessel was a cannonball, but I had no idea where those things would be kept. I scanned the upper deck for anything I could grab. Nothing. Everything made of metal was secured to a mast or the deck.

I saw Fí fly off toward the spot where the sailor had fallen into the water and begin swinging both of her blades. Fern led the remaining two sailors deeper into the ship. Morias fumbled around in his robe before pulling out a huge, circular clasp full of tiny objects. Were those objects all rings for his fingers?

Conflicted, I stood midway between the door where Fern had entered the depths of the ship and where Morias stood. My head swiveled between the two.

“Go and see to the lass.” Morias appeared to have found the ring he was looking for. “I’ll be fine.”

I turned and bolted to follow Fern. “Don’t forget your magic!” I heard Morias say before the door closed behind me.

Then, I was alone in the dark corridors of the berth deck. At least I think it was called the berth deck? I couldn’t remember. Whatever it was called, it was eerily quiet. There were no torches or lanterns lit, so I felt like I was walking into a horror movie.

I could hear faint screams and shouts from the top deck. There were loud sounds of heavy objects hitting the ceiling above me. But where I was felt deadly still.

I heard a door open and close farther on down around a corner. It was the door leading to the hold. My blood felt cold and my goosebumps had goosebumps, but I remembered Morias’ last words. I had freaking magic!

“Okay hands.” I raised my hands and concentrated on them. “Activate boon!”

Nothing happened.

“Energy Surge!” I said in as much of a raised voice as I could muster.

Nothing.

“What the hell do I have to do to make it work?” I looked grumpily at my hands, just as I heard a commotion coming from the hold.

Dropping my hands, I sprinted to the door. The air grew colder and damper the deeper I went. Upon opening the door to the hold, I could make out torchlight from somewhere below. My breath floated before me in the musty air. The bottom of the ship had a small pool of water slowly rolling back and forth with the rocking of the ship.

I heard Fern’s voice next. “You can’t have them, devils!” I looked down the stairs in time to see a sailor scream, then collapse. Fern stood back to back with the remaining man. They both held curved blades in their hands. Fern trembled, tears streaming down her cheeks. The man was hysterical. Along the right side of his body I could see a painful-looking burn.

I quietly made my way down the remaining stairs. My foot splashed into the water as I stepped down off of the last stair and the two sailors turned their heads in my direction.

“The torch,” I said. It was lying next to the dead sailor’s body. Each time the vessel teetered from side to side, the water rolled across the edge of the flame. It was slowly getting darker in the room.

The sailor bent to grab the torch. As he knelt, I saw the glowing amber eyes of a crouched creature in the corner. “Behind you!” I yelled.

The panicked sailor fell over, and the torch rolled fully into the water. Darkness fell over the room and I heard the man scream as something was dragged across the floor.

I heard the sound of a blade slice through air and Fern scream. I ran toward where she had been, my hands beginning to glow a familiar blue. It was the same blue light that had illuminated Fí’s blades when I fought the Fomorian.

In the pale light, I could see Fern stretched out on the floor, holding the boot of the sailor in one hand and brandishing her sword in the other. The man’s skin was a sickly grey color, or at least it appeared to be in the blue light of my hands. The grey hue appeared to leech itself from the man’s flesh and into Fern’s hand. Despite the obvious pain, she held tight. The creature with the glowing eyes tugged on the man and fought with Fern for control of his body.

I ran past her and tackled the spirit with my hands extended. The creature wailed and fell back, seeming to phase in and out of the actual hull of the ship. I backed up and stood over Fern as she wrapped herself around the fallen sailor’s body.

The creature came for me then. It grabbed at me with incorporeal hands and claws. I felt an unearthly cold pierce through me and pull at the heat from my core. Blood dripped onto my arms from where the creature’s claws cut into my face.

But my hands were also around the neck of the creature and the blue light flowed into it. I willed the energy to encapsulate the creature’s entire body and then began to contract the light. The creature hissed and screamed. I could feel the pull on my body’s warmth diminish as the blue light dissipated.

Then, there was darkness again. No amber eyes, no frigid air, only the cries of Fern and the sound of water churning against the hull.