Sleeping Beauty's Daughters by Diane Zahler

Author:Diane Zahler [Zahler, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-06-13T12:00:00+00:00

Like an eagle caged, I pine,

On this dull, unchanging shore:

Oh! give me the flashing brine,

The spray and the tempest’s roar!

A life on the ocean wave,

A home on the rolling deep,

Where the scattered waters rave,

And the winds their revels keep!

We sang as loudly as we could, and all at once, I saw pale shapes leaping through the gentle swells. Drawn by our voices, dolphins arced through the air, one after another. Luna cried out in delight as they came almost close enough to touch. I reached out my hand, and one swam right to me and raised its long nose to my palm. I stroked its warm, smooth skin, and its bright eye winked at me before it dove deep again.

“So beautiful!” I said to Symon.

“Aye, they always look to me as if they’re smiling,” he replied.

The water was clear enough and the moonlight bright enough that I could see them as they plunged, and it seemed to me that another figure swam with them for a time, not dolphin but not quite human, either. It reminded me of the shape we’d seen in the air when we’d first met Symon. I recalled what he’d said about lutins: They can fly through the air without wings and swim through the water without gills. The figure wove among the sleek white dolphins in a graceful sea dance. I was about to call the others’ attention to it, but suddenly the swimmers all veered off and were gone, and I decided to keep it to myself.

After that the hours seemed to blend together. The only sign of time passing was the changing position of the stars as they wheeled through the heavens, and the sinking of the moon. We were silent, and I began once more my struggle with Sleep as the boat sped rhythmically over the waves. I pinched my arms, counted stars, and bit my lips so hard it hurt. I splashed cold water on my cheeks, but it didn’t rouse me as when Luna had done it.

Suddenly Luna called out, “Land ho!”

I peered through the ocean darkness and made out a shape that was darker still. “Is it truly land?” I asked.

“Aye, it is!” Symon replied. He used the tiller to aim the Cateline toward the low-lying mass. I ducked as the boom swung around.

Symon’s plan was to approach the island between the points of the sickle’s curve, where there might be a natural bay. “We should wait for daylight,” I advised nervously. If there were treacherous rocks, they would be hidden by the night.

“I have no anchor line long enough to hold us here,” Symon replied. “This water is far deeper than the places where I fish, and I didn’t think to bring extra rope. We’ll have to try to land.”

He set Luna to watch off the port side and me off the starboard side, ready to call out if we saw rocks or any other danger. But there was nothing to fear. Tacking against the wind now, we

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