The Amber Crown by C. J. Busby

Author:C. J. Busby [C. J. Busby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783701988
Publisher: Templar Publishing
Published: 2015-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

The crew of the Merryweather Mermaid certainly knew how to have a celebration. Darkness had fallen swiftly once the sun went down, but the ship was lit up by a multitude of lanterns swinging from the rigging, and the smell of stew and rum was wafting across the decks. There had been a clamouring for music, and Darien had pulled out an old cracked fiddle and was playing wild, strange gypsy music that made the crew stamp their feet and roar.

Cat was sitting on an old salt barrel with Jem, watching the spectacle. She was sending her magic out yet again, trying to feel for the amber. It was here, she was sure of it. She could feel the power of it, nearby. It sang inside her, but the tingle of it in her blood kept getting mixed up with the way Darien’s fiddle music was weaving in and out of the rigging, teasing the drunken, stamping sailors and whirling up into the air.

She studied his lean, dark face, the swift movements of his fingertips along the neck of the violin, his arm an extension of the bow dancing across the strings. He knew, she was sure of it. He knew she wasn’t from Belhaven. But he’d covered for her. Why?

As she watched him, he glanced across, and his mouth turned up ever so slightly at the corners. His whole body was moving with the music, feet tapping, arms and fingers flying, head bent in concentration over the fiddle – but his dark eyes held hers steadily as the tempo started to speed up, and the crew’s shouts and stamps grew louder. Cat held her breath as the music grew fiercer and wilder, and the feeling of magic in the air thickened. All at once, she knew where the amber was. She could feel its power, pulling at her. She could almost see it.

She leaned over, and put her mouth close to Jem’s ear.

“It’s in the prow. The amber. It’s somewhere right at the front of the ship.”

Jem nodded and together they slipped between the sailors and up to the foredeck. Cat could feel the magic of the amber increasing as she got closer, and as she reached the prow she realised. It was part of the figurehead. It was part of the mermaid herself. She held on to the rail and leaned over the front of the ship.

The mermaid stared out over the Adamantine Sea, her long curly tresses streaming out behind her, her shapely carved arms merging with the timbers of the ship. The bright sparkle of her eyes reflected the moonlight. On one side, her eye was blue – just ordinary painted wood. But on the other, it was a glowing translucent green. Cat knew at once that she was looking at a piece of deep amber, embedded in the wood of the figurehead.

The amber stone was the green of the sea depths and on the surface glints of bright gold swirled and danced like the reflections of sunlight on water.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.