The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater

Author:A.J. Fitzwater [Fitzwater, A. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-73258-337-5
Publisher: Queen of Swords Press

Cinrak didn’t know where the wind’s scream ended and the crew’s cries and the ship’s tortured creaks began.

The first tetherings and tentative excursion into the outer rim of the storm had gone well. Both anchors were linked to merhair, which was linked to Agnes, who held fast to underwater rocky pillars and swung them further inwards. But now the crew and mer scouts were tiring. There wasn’t any rain, but the crashing waves kept everyone soaked.

Strapped to the figurehead, Benj yelled instructions as Agnes inched along the submerged rocks. Having an enormous eye upon the precariously close ocean floor made things a little easier, though every channel was a close call.

A jerk, a groan of anchors, and a sudden flash-clamber of iridescent scales as the merfolk tumbled on board.

“What gives!” yelled Cinrak through her boomer from her place in the crow’s nest.

“Current is too much!” Colombia yelled back. “It’s all Agnes from here on in!”

“She be all right?” Cinrak called to Benj.

Benj lifted his own boomer. “She’s hating it! And loving it! This is the furthest she’s ever made it into the drain!”

“Tell her she can stop at any point. Her safety comes first!”

Benj saluted understanding.

The Impolite Fortune shuddered forward through another narrow channel.

A hundred nights fell all at once over the ship, and thunder pressed its invisible paws against Cinrak’s ears. But this thunder kept going and going and going. The dark sound laughing them into the storm’s maw was no beast; here was the gigantic drain, an intertwining of magic and nature writ large.

The world seemed to simply end. The spinning water fell into a darkness so complete the night sky would die from envy. It swallowed everything: sucking the soul out of what remained of light, flinging the shrieks of the crew down and stomping on them, tearing breath from chest leaving only iron-salt fear on the back of the throat.

This was it. The Edge of the World, leading to the Void. A nothing. A thoroughfare to death.

But there. A flicker. A tiny sliver of silver promise. A throb. Another. A flutter of light to hold hope close.

Way down below. The Heart of the Ocean. Beating.

The crew lashed the mers to themselves and tied all to the inner cargo rings. Cinrak had never known rodents and mer to work in such harmony before. It was a beautiful sight amongst chaos.

“That’s it,” Benj boomed. “That’s as far as Agnes can go! It’s all down from here!”

“Deepest Depths, deliver us safely to your soft shores,” Cinrak invoked through gritted teeth.

The timbers of the Impolite Fortune creaked such a protest, tears sprang to Cinrak’s eyes. Was this it for her dearest ship? Was the best beavercraft in the business falling apart?

And what of poor Agnes? Was she tearing apart down there too?

Aaaaaghhhrooooohhhhhhhh.

A great groan rose, diamond hard pressure against Cinrak’s senses.

The Depths...were answering her plea?

Aaaaarrrrrroooooooohnnnnggggh.

No, there was Agnes, her great eye gleaming as bright as a constellation of starfish on summer solstice.

“Strap yourself down!” Benj shouted. “She’s gonna let go the tether!”

Aaooooooggggahhhh.

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