Chapter

26

It was dusk and they were all starving by the time they got on board the Ship. Celie collapsed to the deck, falling off Rufus’s back and lying on her face on the still-warm boards. She thought she was being a bit dramatic, but then she looked over and saw Lilah and Lulath sitting nearby, their hands pressed to the deck, and she didn’t feel overly emotional. It felt wonderful to be back on the Ship, and she liked to think the Ship had cheered up, too.

Kalys wasted no time in positioning herself at the helm with Orlath, to guide him to the Well. Lilah and Lulath sat on the deck near Celie to fuss over the baby unicorns, and Celie was about to close her eyes when a platter arrayed with slices of apples and cheese was laid in front of her.

“We did it, Cel,” Rolf said, sitting down and helping himself to the food. “We survived another adventure.”

“No, we haven’t,” she corrected him. “Not yet.” Still lying down, she swiped a slice of cheese and sandwiched it between two pieces of apple. No sense dying on an empty stomach. “We still have to make it back through the Well.”

“We will,” Rolf said easily. “Look how happy the Ship is about it.”

It was true. The Ship had come about with impressive speed. The sails and ropes snapped in the breeze in a merry way, and the men of the crew were whistling as they went about their business, catching the mood of the Ship.

“Oh, Celie,” Lilah said, scuttling closer on her rear with the smaller unicorn still on her lap. “I can’t believe it! We did it! Two unicorns!”

Lulath was holding the other unicorn, which was indeed male. It was slightly larger and had a peach-tinted coat. Its horn was twice as long as the tiny female’s, but like hers it was rounded on the top, not the deadly weapon the adults sported. Celie wondered when it would get sharp, and how hard it was going to be to teach the unicorns not to hurt people with their horns.

She supposed they would just have to apply the same teaching methods they had used to train the griffins not to eat small dogs, and the small dogs not to chew on the furniture. As she thought this, JouJou came to her to be petted, and she noticed Arrow standing at attention just behind Pogue. Celie relaxed slightly. It could be done. If dogs and griffins could be trained, unicorns could be trained, she decided.

“But, Lulath,” Celie said, finally sitting up. “Poor Lulath!”

He looked over at her and smiled. “Could I deny my Lilah a unicorn, when she had come so far for one?” he said softly in Grathian. His smile widened. “And now, along with still having many fine dogs—and griffins—we are the only people with pet unicorns in the world.” He ruffled the little beast’s soft mane. “My mother will die of envy!”

Celie had to laugh at that.

Hearing her, Queen Celina came bustling over. “Have you all eaten? Because we need to get ready,” she said.

“Get ready for what?” Rolf said around a mouthful of food.

Celie hurried to get her share. Rolf was very competitive in his eating, and if you wanted anything, you had to grab it quick. One of the cook’s boys had also brought some meat for Rufus, and she thanked him. He gave her a worried look, and Celie couldn’t muster any reassuring words for him.

“You take this,” Queen Celina said to Celie, handing her the end of a piece of string with a blob of blue wax on it, “and walk around the mast sun-wise.” She handed the other end to Rolf. “You take this and go the other way.

“My protection spell did very nicely coming through the Well,” the queen went on, speaking loudly so that all the crew nearby could hear. “But I thought we could be better prepared for next time, with a more specific spell.”

The crew visibly relaxed, and the boy who had brought the griffins food gave a weak cheer. Celie and Rolf took their string and walked around the mast, crossing past each other three times, as though they were dancing around a maypole. Lilah and Lulath, their hands full with what to feed their new pets, went below to secure the unicorns and the remaining dogs in Lulath’s cabin, and to figure out what to feed the unicorns.

Once Rolf and Celie were done, Queen Celina wrote some things with chalk on the base of the mast. Then she went to the bow and the helm to do the same. Celie followed her, out of curiosity, but none of the things her mother was doing made any sense to her. She stayed at the helm with Orlath and Pogue, because from the after deck and the helm she could get a better view of the ring of black rocks that they were approaching.

“That’s where the Well is here,” Kalys told her. “Inside the stones.”

“How do we get the Ship past the stones?” Celie said.

“There’s an opening to the south,” Kalys said. “And this clever ship seems to know exactly where!” She stroked the rail near the wheel fondly.

“If you think the Ship is clever, you just wait until you get to the Castle,” Rolf said, joining them.

“I can’t wait,” Kalys said, turning away from Rolf as though suddenly shy.

And that’s when Celie knew. The Ship hadn’t brought them through the Well to get unicorns. It had brought them through the Well to get Kalys.

The last of her people. The last of the griffin riders of Hatheland. And now they would take her back to the Castle—the Castle where her ancestors had lived long before Celie’s. Celie wondered how long the Castle would wait before locking Kalys and Rolf in the throne room together. She turned to study the ring of black rocks rising out of the sea, not sure how she felt about that.

There wasn’t much time to worry about Rolf and Kalys and what the Castle would think of her, though. The rocks were coming up fast. Orlath guided the wheel with just one hand, as the Ship did indeed seem to know what to do.

But as they got closer to the narrow break in the rocks, Celie began to feel less and less sure about the cleverness of the Ship. The water within the ring wasn’t just swirling the way it had in their world, but churning greenish-white with geysers erupting along the edge, shooting water as high as the jagged rocks, which were themselves as sharp as spears and easily as tall as the Ship.

“Orlath,” Celie said. “Do you think we—”

She was interrupted by a small dog hurling itself at her legs. Which was fine, because she really didn’t know what she was going to say. And because it was JouJou, who was Celie’s favorite. Also, because JouJou was very upset.

Celie decided not to finish her question. Instead she picked up the little dog and held her close, letting JouJou lick her chin and wriggle.

“O our Celie! You have got her, the naughty!” Lulath said, coming above deck. “She is not liking the new tiny unicorn companions,” he said, and patted JouJou’s head. “Will you be holding her for this, the new adventure?”

“Oh, yes,” Celie said. “I can do that. But are you staying below? Will you take Rufus down?” She peered over the edge of the rail, but there was no sign of any of the griffins. “Oh, no!”

“Not to be worrying, my our Celie,” Lulath said. “That magnificent Lady Griffin, she is taking all the griffins below. I am thinking if you will be going below deck, you will not be finding room for you. They are, every golden darling, in the cabin of yours.”

“Oh, good!” Celie said. “Perfect, actually.”

“And you and JouJou will come here with me,” Queen Celina said. “Lulath, you’re going below?”

Lulath said he was, and the queen told him to take Kalys and Rolf with him. They both protested, but she ordered them to go and they went, grumbling. Celie braced herself to argue to stay on deck herself, but her mother just shook her head.

“I have a terrible feeling that if I try to make you go below, you’ll sneak out again, which is probably more dangerous,” she said.

Celie sheepishly kissed the silky top of JouJou’s little round head.

“Just as I thought,” her mother said. “And, Pogue, I don’t have any right to order you to do anything, unless I draw upon my queenly rank. But I hate to do that. And I think Orlath could probably use another pair of hands anyway.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Pogue said, and bowed before he went to the helm.

“So, you,” Queen Celina said to Celie, “come with me!”

They made their way to the bow, where her mother made her sit on the deck so that the rail protected her. Then she sat beside Celie and gathered her in her arms. They were soon soaked as the spray from the rocks showered down on the Ship. Looking through the rail, Celie could see the black rocks on either side of them. They were close enough to touch, and a quick glance aft showed her that Pogue and Orlath were both involved in guiding the ship, to make sure they didn’t put a hole in the hull as they passed through.

Then they were through the rocks and into the bubbling cauldron of the Well.

The Ship began to spin, and nothing the crew or Pogue or Orlath could do would stop it. It dipped and spun, and the water frothed and spouted. Celie wished with all her heart that she’d gone below, but there was nothing she could do now. She was afraid to move. Celie clutched JouJou tight, and Queen Celina clutched Celie, and then . . .

The blackness swallowed them.

The force of the water and the sound was so intense that it became nothingness. Celie’s ears simply couldn’t hear it anymore, and her mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening. She wasn’t sure if she was breathing air or water or nothing at all. She wasn’t sure if she was floating or still sitting firmly on the deck. There was just . . . nothing.

And then it was over.