OCEAN E YES An exclusive Compass and Blade story
SETH DREAMED IN BLACK, WHITE and grey. In his creaking
hammock aboard ship, or on land in a room stacked over an inn in Port Graine, Seth sank into troubled slumber and glimpsed only one thing. A ship. He chased it through every dream, hidden in the wilds of storm-tousled waves, always under a cloak of night, the elusive ship that might one day be his. He had coin. He’d been stashing it for years, divided between five places. His room above Fallow’s Inn, in two bank accounts under false names at Godrich and Sons in Port Trenn, in a trunk buried beneath the roots of his favourite tree and in a pouch, sewn into his belt. Seth knew how to keep a secret. And the one thing he was sure of, the one constant in the swell of his ink-soaked dreams was the ship he wanted, no, needed. His escape route and his salvation. On the night of the storm, he was dreaming as they
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approached the seas surrounding the Fortunate Isles. Shoved roughly awake, he blinked blearily up at the man he thought was called Hugh, all rough beard and deep-set eyes, smelling of boot polish and spirits. ‘It’s my turn to sleep,’ Seth said as he fell from the hammock to his feet. ‘Six hours I get.’ ‘Not tonight, boy,’ Hugh barked, whistling to rouse the others. ‘There’s a squall.’ Seth’s stomach swooped as he stumbled from the cabin, boots thudding against the boards as the ship dipped and swayed. He checked for his belt, still secure at his waist and the other thing, the folded parchment, his bargaining chip in these isles. A trump card he would play at just the right moment. ‘Cap’s trying to navigate the rocks on the western side . . .’ he heard one man mutter to another as he climbed up to the deck. ‘She’s sound, twill be fine,’ another said. ‘If we can only get past the isles . . .’ ‘Death in these waters,’ a woman hissed, eyeing the frothing night. ‘Not good to approach this place in a storm. Not good at all.’ Seth sighed, pushing his curls back from his eyes, just as the skies burst open and the deck tilted. He scrambled to keep his footing, plunging face forward, and groaned as the boards bit into his palms. ‘Get back below, boy!’ the captain roared, pulling him up by his collar. ‘You’re a hindrance.’
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Lightning forked from the clouds, lighting the sea and the jaws of rocks in flashes and Seth turned to find the outline of an isle. Was that a . . . beacon? A lighthouse? He shook the rain from his eyes, stumbling back for the ladder stairs, remembering his training. His purpose. He would not die tonight. He could not die tonight. But the man at the helm was spinning the wheel, aiming for that beacon, aiming for the light . . . ‘Don’t!’ Seth yelled, fear gripping him as his voice was ripped away in the howling wind. ‘Don’t follow the light!’ Too late. A sickening crunch rocked the ship. Seth lurched, careening for the ladder stairs, arms wheeling uselessly as he fell and fell. He rolled over at the bottom, managing a groan as men and women dashed past, a panicked crowd of stomping boots and cries . . . Seth tried to move, tried to get out of the way but a boot connected with his head, stars splayed behind his eyelids, then all he knew was darkness. A dream tumbled around him, black, white and grey. Men, women, monsters, a girl with a blade at her side. Then suddenly, as he blinked at the gaping maw in the ship’s side, a pair of eyes swam into focus . . . Blue. The deep blue of the ocean. He stared up at her, at this face, wet hair snaking down her pale throat . . . and all he could think was how
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beautiful she was. The first colour he’d ever dreamed of, and it was an endless ocean blue. He reached for her, this girl, knowing that somehow, it was her. It was her. And in this dream he was still alive, still breathing as the girl hauled him up, lurching for that jagged hole. Rope, lashed at his middle, then he was in the sea, the raging sea. He tried to reach for her, this stranger with ocean eyes. But the sea clutched him tight, snaring him in her grip and whispered softly in his ear, you’re mine. Seth fell through layers of sea and night until he woke on soft sand with those eyes blazing above him. ‘It’s you,’ he choked out, staring at the girl, this stranger, salt burning like fire on his tongue. ‘It’s you.’ Copyright © Rachel Greenlaw 2024 Compass and Blade by Rachel Greenlaw is published by Harper Fire, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books