Page 57 of The Shadowed Oracle (The Bonded Worlds #1)

“Then what’s on your mind?”

Tyla forced the corners of her mouth to stay put, feigning ignorance. “Oh… nothing. Just wanted to pop in.” She glanced about the room, pinching at a book cover behind her. “Tell you there’s something you might want to see. If you don’t mind coming up for a minute?”

Ingrid slouched. “I told you. I don’t want to be on the deck unless—” The subtle hints finally dawned on her. “Really?” She hopped up on her feet. “Already?”

“Captain says we’ll be able to see it any minute now.”

“This isn’t another ploy to get me outside, is it?”

Tyla put her hand over her heart. “I swear.”

Among the many extracurricular studies Ingrid had in Maradenn, there was one in particular that stuck in her mind.

The book spoke of an unnamed, unclaimed island in the Jemii Sea, lying just south of the Occi Isles.

It was so small that many sailors often missed it in between their long nights and early mornings of work, but Ingrid had been adamant—she wouldn’t miss it.

Together, she and Tyla ran down the thin halls of the crew’s quarters.

The moonlight shone down on the staircase as they climbed up to the main deck.

Veston, with his wide frame, fierce eyes, and lush long hair was waiting for them, a small smile stretched over his usually very hard and unreadable face.

“No rush,” he said, holding out his hands to Ingrid as she barreled toward him. “You made it in plenty of time.” He turned and pointed out over the stern, just beyond the captain at the wheel. “Dead ahead. Just came into view.”

As if summoned by the gesture, Ingrid jogged to the tip of the bow and took out the telescope she’d borrowed for this very occasion.

Just below her was the wood-carved siren figurehead, outstretched arm holding a lantern.

To her right was a white rope used for docking, piled perfectly like an enormous snake.

And to her left now was Tyla and Veston standing shoulder to shoulder, staring out with naked eyes.

“What can you see?” Tyla asked.

Without removing her eye from the optical tube, she replied, “Only trees.” No sight of those unusual creatures she’d read about, though the glow of the riverbed plants illuminating the forest at night was a sight in itself.

Along with the great Moon of Ealis, it allowed Ingrid to see nearly as much detail as she would in the early morning.

“Have you heard of these island critters, Veston?” Tyla asked.

“I’ve done more than hear about them, my lady.”

Tyla hummed. “Really?”

“Indeed. The Lina bats, in particular. We have quite a sordid history.” He held up his hand and closed it in a fist. “Mouths this size. Wings like a serpent’s skin, all green and scaly. And the noise they make… horrid.”

“Lina bats?” Tyla’s voice went up an octave. “Ingrid, do you mean to tell me this was all to see some bloody bats?”

Ingrid barely registered the question, but grunted, “No.”

Tyla waited a moment, surmised that was all she’d be getting in response, then turned back to Veston. “Sordid history, you said?”

“Very scandalous. On my first trip out to Iberium, some of the crew wanted to land on the island. Something about an ancient treasure supposedly buried there. Utter nonsense, in the end. Three hours on that blasted little rock, and do you know what we found? Nothing. Nothing but a pack of hungry Lina bats mistaking us for dinner.”

Tyla gasped, genuine and girlish. It was so jarring and so out of character that Ingrid snapped her head to see if she’d slipped and nearly gone overboard.

She hadn’t.

She was perfectly fine—better than fine, by the looks of her.

“Was anyone hurt?’ Tyla asked.

“No, no. They may be big, but in the end, they’re all recreant vermin. More suited to hiding than hunting. Teeth barely the size of a misma coin. Blessed, the worst anyone got was a bloody lip.”

“It bit someone on the mouth ?”

“Not just anyone. It bit me.”

Tyla made a cooing show of empathy.

“I told you. Very scandalous. For weeks, the crew called me names I can’t repeat. Said I’d been asking for it.”

Tyla laughed softly. “Maybe you were.”

“I can assure you, my lady, I was not.”

Even with how occupied Ingrid was, she could discern flirting from friendly conversation.

It seemed in the time they’d spent on deck together, Tyla and Veston had developed more of a rapport than she’d thought.

She had noticed the way Tyla looked at the general when she first met him, but she never thought she would be the kind to mix business with pleasure.

It made Ingrid’s situation seem all the more tangled.

“Anything?” Tyla asked sweetly. “Ingrid?”

She’d been stuck staring at the same spot for a minute. A small hill that grew larger and larger as they neared. She quickly adjusted the length of the spyglass and landed on a peculiar rustling in a large grove of trees.

“Maybe,” Ingrid said finally. “Let me…” She trailed off as three figures came into view, demanding her attention. They were about the right size, leaping from branch to branch just like their Earth-born cousins.

“Symia,” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

“You mean monkeys?” Tyla asked. “Are there monkeys here?” Her tone made it obvious she wasn’t fond of the creatures.

“They’re monkey-like,” Ingrid corrected. “But in the book, it said they can speak to each other. An actual language.”

“I don’t remember any symia,” Veston chimed in. “And I certainly don’t know of any… what was it?”

“Monkeys,” Tyla said sharply, shivering a little. “They’re like little hairy humans. Except they are impossibly strong and unpredictable. Some can rip your arm right off.”

Veston instinctively gripped his elbow. “And these monkeys, they hunt humans?”

“Only in the movies,” Ingrid laughed, turning to Veston and finding even more confusion contorting his face.

“Never mind. Monkeys are very different than symia. But how different, that’s the question.

The book spoke of them like they were still unknowns.

They’re masters of disguise, so not many Viator have gotten close enough to study them. ”

“How do they know they can speak, then?” Tyla acted as if she’d caught Ingrid in a lie, but she got no response.

Ingrid was totally focused on what was ahead of her now. She’d only been able to catch glimpses of the symia as they rested between jumps from tree to tree, but now, as the ship drew closer, she could make out a full silhouette in the starlit night.

The larger symia, who looked to be a few inches shorter than Ingrid, was grooming the smaller one, maybe a child.

Ingrid wasn’t able to discern mindless mouth movements from speaking from that distance, so she watched closely, reveling in the possibility that she was the first Earth-born to see this in a long, long time.

“What is that?” Tyla’s voice held concern, but was low.

“Ingrid,” Veston quickly added. “I’d advise you to step away from the ledge.”

“They’re harmless,” Ingrid argued. “Really. They want nothing to do with us. Unlike the Lina bats you were—” She expected to see smiling faces when she turned to them, but only beheld raw, pure terror in the expressions of her companions.

“Please,” Tyla hissed. “Get back here. Now.”

Ingrid fixed her attention back on the island, half-heartedly trying to glimpse what it was the two of them were referencing.

Maybe it was one of those sea-lizards she had read about, sliding itself into the water from the shores of the island.

Or maybe it was one of the gargantuan wild birds of prey called Occanthus, native to the Occi Isles, with its black and blue scales and feathers.

They were breathtakingly large, which would explain the fear in Tyla’s eyes, but they were also peaceful, easily domesticated, and most importantly, they were vegetarians.

But she saw nothing of the sort.

A monstrous, frighteningly loud splash came from just below.

She shot her eyes downward. Swimming just under the surface of the calm ocean water, was a shadow.

The dark outline of a serpent stretching out so long that Ingrid couldn’t make out the head from the tail.

It was easily over one hundred feet long, larger than a blue whale.

Ingrid took one, then two, then three large paces backward, centering herself in the middle of the foredeck.

“Veston, any ideas?” Ingrid asked.

“Pertaining to what? If you’re asking what to do, I can’t help. But if you’re?—”

“What the fuck is this thing?” she hissed.

“Hydra. A syph-serpent from the Southern Depths.” Veston’s calmness had turned into an eerie quiet. “Though I’ve never seen one this big. Or anywhere near this part of the world, mind you.”

Tyla moved closer to the general at her side, placing a hand on his upper back and whispering, “Do we tell the captain?”

Veston grunted an affirmation, told the two females to keep an eye on the Hydra, then walked briskly but quietly to the helm of the ship.

When he returned, he injected some optimism into his delivery. “We’ll be coming up on the first island in the Occi sporattes soon. A small population, but Captain says the presence of so many Viator should scare it off.”

“Scare it? You think this gets scared?”

“Captain assured me. He’s no stranger to Hydras. Habitually self-isolating, he said. It will move on soon.”

But there was no change in the beast to suggest that.

The only difference was the pace at which it swam.

Slower, more intent, more curious. Just circling the ship, over and over, like it was sizing them up.

With its now unhurried movements, Ingrid could make out the three heads of the creature, fins jutting from the top and sides, and the pale yellow scales glistening like diamonds in the bright moonlight.

Ingrid might’ve been transfixed by the sight… if the creature hadn’t come to a full stop and lifted one of its heads from the water.