Chapter 41: Taming the Water

Illia thumped the blunt end of her steel lance to the smooth floor of the floating stone. Her Seahorse magic kept the stone floating like a raft on the seawater, and it teetered violently as the waves slapped each edge. Above her, a wicked storm raged. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked.

“If you can’t control the water,” Illia shouted as harsh waves whipped against the floating stone platform, drenching her boots in water, “then the water will kill you.”

A bolt of lightning struck the water far in the distance, and the thunder that followed it was louder than the pelting rain, and enough to make Ronan stand straight and focused. In the three months that they’d been training at the Temple of the Seahorse, he and Ike had really excelled.

The two of them planted their feet and held their hands outwards. From the hole in Ike’s buccaneering breeches and on Ronan’s forearm, their Mark of the Seahorses billowed smoke, and Ronan and Ike calmed the waves heading towards the stone platform they were standing on.

Illia crossed her arms, impressed.

“It won’t be enough!” she shouted. “All members of a crew must work equally as hard, or the whole ship will sink!”

Maritza breathed sharply, and smoke sputtered from her shin. She tried to hold her hands up as Ike and Ronan had done, but each time she attempted to calm the waves, her mind was filled with muddy images of her father hanging from a noose, and his damp pant leg after he had soiled himself while he dangled.

Maritza fell to her knees, and the waves rushed onto the platform, causing Ronan and Ike to fall over.

As Ike clung to Ronan and the two helped stabilize each other, Ike was thankful that Clove had found her joy among the Seahorse merchants, where she trained elsewhere in all sorts of different and safer combat, along with lessons in preparing to travel long distances by land or sea, and using her charisma to help close a sale. The training that Ike had endured had been brutal, but he had performed even better than Ronan, and felt completely at place amidst the ocean, forests, and nature that he and the Seahorses trained in.

But even he couldn’t stop the waves from smashing into Maritza and Ronan on the stone platform. Maritza toppled over, choking on swallowed water, and Ronan grabbed onto her before she fell into the water.

“Come on, Maritza!” Illia tried to say encouragingly. “I know that you can access your Seahorse magic!”

Though in truth, Illia had her doubts.

She had never seen a Trainee struggle so badly to maneuver water magic, and it frightened her. Worse over, Illia had no idea why Maritza was having such a hard time. Time and time again, Martiza had demonstrated an incredible competency over her Mark of the Butterfly, and even with her abilities using The Shroud. Yet when it came to water magic, Martiza couldn’t so much as summon a drop of water.

She coughed in Ronan’s arms and got to her feet. Her bangs were soaked and stuck to her eyes, but she still looked out at the incoming waves, and tried with all her might to make the water ease up and stop hammering towards them.

“Please,” Illia whispered under breath, “unlock your power now.”

Maritza’s hands and knees shook, and she shouted out against all the horrible images flooding her mind.

“You can do it!” Ronan exclaimed. He left his side of the platform to go help Maritza.

“Ronan!” Illai said, “stay in your corner, and focus on your side. If you abandon your post to help another crew member, then you’ve ruined whatever hard work you’ve done on your end.”

Ronan bit his lip in frustration, did a double-take, then ran back over to the crackling waves he had under control. Smoke left his marking, and the waves rearing towards him settled.

“Illia,” Ike yelled. “She needs help!”

Maritza broke out in a frigid sweat, and even the hot rain pounding down on her couldn’t warm her up. She fell to a knee panting, and a wave as tall as her engulfed her, then dragged her off the platform and into the water.

“No!” Ronan screamed. He went to abandon his post, but Illia shot him a look.

“She needs to do this on her own!” Illia yelled, almost frustrated with herself for Maritza’s inability to perform water magic. What was Illia doing wrong that this talented woman couldn’t learn the ways of the Seahorse?

More tall waves smashed down on the platform, rocking the stone so hard that Ronan nearly toppled over. Thankfully, Ike divided up his attention, and he expertly switched from side of the platform to the other, calming the waves just before they could make their mark. His beard had grown and matched the length of his muttonchops, but beyond anything else, that childish look he once held in his face was completely gone, and he resembled a grizzled man familiar with harsh elements.

It was a full minute that Ronan waited with his heart pounding for Maritza to surface from the water, but she never did.

Illia held her breath, hoping that Maritza would find the strength to swim up.

When there was still no sign of Maritza, Illia pointed at Ike and commanded, “Take over that side! I’ll calm the waves here!”

The rain in the storm picked up, knocking Illia down. She quickly sprang to her feet and tried to stop the waves from crashing into the stone platform, but it was taking a great deal of her magic just to have the stone float on the water.

Illia gulped, fearing that she might not be able to keep the entire stone afloat.

Ronan dove into the water, and he swam into the deep, dark abyss, unsure of where he was going except further into the ever-frigid water. Ronan waited for lightning to strike and light a path for him, but it never came. He wasn’t sure how far down he’d traveled, and his heart beat in his chest, begging for him to swim back up and take a much needed breath.

But he couldn’t leave Maritza.

Ronan continued to swim downwards, reaching his hands out, hoping he might feel her touch, and that they would race to the water’s surface and be alright.

Still, he felt nothing but his lips loosen as he fought to keep his jaw shut.

Ronan thought about how scared Maritza must be, floating down to the bottom of the sea in the complete pitch black. For a moment, her pale, sickly green face with her eyes rolled back in her head flashed before his eyes.

Ronan shook the thought, and despite the inflammation in his chest and lungs, pushed on.

He would save her no matter what.