Diablo Del Mar: The Strange Tales of Christopher Columbus's Voyages by Artie Cabrera

Author:Artie Cabrera [Cabrera, Artie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: RiffRaff Publishing
Published: 2016-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

Another three kilometers, and the currents stirred and moved swiftly around the swaying boat. Birds circled and a pod of whales swam away from the ebb and flow of the eerie weather. Hesitantly, Columbus pocketed his pellets and pulled out his compass. It moved slowly counter-clockwise from true North, then swung back wildly. It would have been useless to try to change course now; a force Columbus could not explain took hold and propelled the ship toward the haze.

“It’s beautiful,” Magda swooned, using her brittle hands to climb onto the bow. She peered over the dragonhead sprit with a child-like curiosity.

“Careful, gypsy, you’re not paying me enough to follow you over if you go,” Columbus warned her. She was mistaken if she thought the outcome would be beautiful.

A confluence of crew and sixteen passengers shuffled onto the deck; black-robed participants took their places and joined hands, some holding candles in ritual. If Magda’s cabal sought the unknown, it was coming.

Two more kilometers and the ghostly fog engulfed the galleon. The world seemed smaller inside of it, as if nothing existed beyond its boundaries. They appeared to be sailing on a cloud, rather than the harsh seas.

“Light the torches!” Magda shouted back to the sentries. They went, sparking the flints, and lighting six torches lined along the deck.

The sounds of the sea fell abruptly silent. Columbus almost believed he’d lost his hearing for a moment.

“Eliberat, Eliberat, Eliberat…” the robed ones began to chant softly.

Magda summoned with her arms spread wide. “We are your children. I command you to receive us into your kingdom! Take us!”

“I don’t remember sacrifice being part of our bargain, gypsy. Best if you came down from there now. Let’s turn the ship around while we may still have a chance. Come on, come down. I’d rather take my chances with the king’s men.”

“Oh, Liberat! Are we there, missus? Have we crossed over yet?” Doru, draped in an overgrown robe cackled from behind the clan. Haralamb, standing shoulder to shoulder with Doru, gave him a hard nudge and told him to be quiet. Columbus overheard the two bickering and caught Doru’s eye first, then Haralamb’s. They must’ve stowed away on the ship without anyone noticing. He shot them a disapproving glare, though he was happy they'd survived the king’s raids. Doru smiled at Columbus with rot and gold in his teeth, but now was not the time for a happy reunion.

Magda ignored Columbus’ pleas. “We are your children. I command you to receive us into your kingdom! Receive us into your light!”

When all of Magda’s summoning appeared to have failed, and the chanting faded, silence filled the air again. There was a bittersweet disappointment in Magda’s eyes when she looked back down at Columbus.

Good, Columbus heard himself say to her with a sigh of relief. See? A fool’s fantasy. Nothing to see here.

The rear of the vessel shifted when something large passed beneath it.

“I pray that was a whale,” Doru whispered to Haralamb.

“Aye,” Haralamb concurred, backing away and grabbing hold of the post and brail rope behind him.

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