Meredith hadn't always been a drinker, not until the trip when he returned to find his wife in bed with his cousin, an underwriter whose work allowed him to stay in port while Meredith was gone for weeks or months at a time.
The underwriter was better connected than the ship's captain, and Meredith's wife divorced him, marrying his cousin and taking a large portion of Meredith's wealth. Captain Meredith now had debts he couldn't manage and premature grey hair. To keep up with his repayments to the moneylenders he'd had to take on this foolish quest, a voyage no sane captain would have agreed to. But the interest on his debts was crippling, and here he was. Meredith hated moneylenders, nearly as much as he despised underwriters.
Meredith sighed and looked at the chart as he refilled his glass. By the stars, they'd travelled an incredible distance. Once, this journey would have ignited excitement within his breast — an infinite horizon and an epic voyage to uncharted lands. Who knew what lay out there? But now, Meredith just wanted to drink.
Captain Meredith's eyes started to droop, and he heard the watchman strike the first bell of the middle watch.
~
THINKING of Tomas, Amber again couldn't sleep. She hadn't told Miro about her difficulties sleeping, not wanting to add to his worries, but it had gone on for too long now and she wondered if she should speak with the ship's surgeon. She'd stopped by the infirmary once before, which doubled as the surgeon's sleeping quarters, and the surgeon seemed like a man who could keep confidence.
The ship creaked and groaned, lifted up on one wave before smashing into the next, always in the same up and down, rolling motion. Amber couldn't get the image of a cork being tossed around in a bathtub out of her mind. What made it worse was that she knew her model was all out of proportion. If the cork stayed the same size, the bathtub needed to be scaled up by several orders of magnitude. The thought made Amber giddy.
Amber rolled again and turned onto her side. Would it be better if she tried sleeping on her back? She tried it, but wasn't sure if it was an improvement. Her cabin was stuffy, but the seas were too strong for her to be able to open the tiny glass porthole.
Her thoughts turned to a time soon after the war, when she and Miro had returned home to Sarostar. Amber hadn't been home since she'd led the Dunfolk to the great battle at the Bridge of Sutanesta. So much had happened since.
Her long-awaited homecoming could have been tinged with sadness, but Amber had been surprised to find she was so excited about the future that the past held no power over her, it was simply the past.
Miro had taken her straight to the Crystal Palace as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He'd carried Tomas, still a tiny babe, in his arms, and whispered to the child. If Amber hadn't stepped closer she wouldn't have heard.
"Welcome home," Miro had whispered in the babe's little ear.
He'd then shuffled Tomas to the crook of his arm and taken Amber by the hand, before leading her up the wide marble steps to her incredible new home.
Amber had been speechless, and Miro hadn't even noticed.
She ran the events of her wedding day through her mind. Lord of the Sky, it had been a perfect day to end with such horror. She'd never had a chance to find out what words Ella had written, or have her first dance with her new husband. She never heard her father make a kind speech, or her mother make a well-intentioned yet scathing comment about one of the guests. There was going to be music, and dancing, and incredible food. Tomas would eat too many sweets and then fall asleep. For once, Amber would have all the people she loved in one place, and it wouldn't be because of some great danger.
A tear formed at the corner of Amber's eye, spilling out to run down her cheek. What was she doing here? Shouldn't she be with her son? Had she made the right decision?
A vivid image came to her of Rorelan's back, burned red and raw by the explosion. As always, the next image was the mottled pink and purple of Tomas's legs, perfect from the front, yet touched by evil on their backs.
Who would send a device of such malevolence to a wedding? What dark and warped mind would do such a thing?
Amber's heart began to race as her pain turned to rage, and breathing evenly, she tried to calm herself and slow the beating down. She realised her fists were clenched and her legs tensed, and gradually she let herself relax.
But the release of sleep still wouldn't come.
Amber heard the watchman strike the second bell of the middle watch.
~
MIRO was woken by a sound as the watchman struck the third bell of the middle watch. What time did that make it? About four hours before dawn.