Mother of Trees: An Epic Fantasy (Thaumatropic Roots Book 1) by Steven Morris

Author:Steven Morris [Morris, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SJ Morris
Published: 2024-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

Elliah ~ 20

The ship rocked about on the rushing river. Hughelas taught me that it technically pitched, rolled, yawed, heaved, swayed, and surged. All I could say for certain was that the boat moved unpredictably. Or rather, I could not predict it. The Salts had no trouble, and stood in place as though they had roots running into the ship.

Fifteen minutes into the trip, the Warder’s face turned green, and one of the crew promptly escorted him below deck, where he remained for much of the day. The rest of us did fine, and the captain let us stay above deck, out of the way near the captain’s cabin.

Soon after the Warder’s departure, one of the crew pointed to the cliffs on the southern shore above us, calling out, “Captain!” It didn’t sound like a worried yell, just loud enough to be heard over the wind and water. I followed where he pointed. Something ran along the edge high above. Several somethings.

Hughelas appeared by my side. “Drawgs,” he said, grimacing. There must have been at least five, maybe six or seven—from our angle, it was difficult to tell their number.

I watched and waited, my imagination allowing the creatures to jump from the cliffs and target the Knoll. But they weren’t dragons. They didn’t have wings. The cliffs were as tall as a silverleaf in that section of the river—jumping would be suicide.

I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding when we passed the intersection of the stream that created a waterfall into the Amyla. We left the drawgs trapped at the corner of the two cliffs. Hughelas exhaled and chuckled lightly. “That was close. But this should throw them off the scent.”

“Because it is so hard to tell which way the river goes?” I asked him with a nudge.

“Fair, and I don’t know how they track us. Do we leave some kind of magical residue? They won’t see where we will leave the river, so it at least buys us some time, and it’s possible we’ve lost them altogether.”

I grunted my acknowledgement. I was glad enough the drawgs couldn’t get to us, particularly with Beldroth sick in the hold of the ship. But if they’d tracked him from the mountains, it seemed unlikely they would give up. Dragons collect their dead.

Liandra, the young woman who’d prevented a fight among the crew the day before, stayed near us much of the day, explaining bits of what the captain and crew worked through. “The woman at the bow is reading the water.” Liandra pointed to the front of the ship, where a woman leaned over the rail, casting what I thought of as a continuous spell. Such a spell didn’t require repeated casting the way my mother had to do when Healing me. Rather, the spell would be cast once and last as long as the caster maintained mana for it. “Her spell lets her see into the water, warning us of any upcoming rocks.” Soon enough, I saw the woman hold her right hand out, and within moments, the ship veered right.

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