Page 21 of Virelai’s Hoard (The Dagger & Tide Trilogy #1)

Eryx

Eryx waited on deck, going through the arguments in their head. None sounded convincing enough. They knew something was wrong. They even suspected what was wrong. But they couldn’t for the life of them figure out how to explain it to someone else.

They weren’t dumb. Making claims they couldn’t back up and then expecting everyone else to take them seriously was a fool’s quest. But there had to be a way to make themselves heard, even if it meant fabricating evidence that didn’t exist. They were loath to do that, but if they’d tried harder that night of the storm then Calla would’ve fully trusted them and they wouldn’t have lost anyone. That couldn’t happen again.

Footsteps clicked on the deck at their back in a rhythm they instantly recognized.

“Eryx?” the captain asked.

Eryx turned to face her, parting their lips to speak and closing them immediately after.

The captain didn’t look well. Her eyes were tired, with faintly dark circles beneath as if she hadn’t been sleeping.

Her cheeks were pale, lips dry, and the skin on her neck and hands was flaking in spots, though she tried to hide it with powder.

Even her voice, usually calm–edging on warm–was brusque.

Eryx had always felt a weird sort of affinity with their captain, noticing the shifts in her mood days before anyone else picked up on them.

But this did not feel like a mere shift in mood.

They suspected Calla had her own link with the sea, but different from theirs.

Something old and painful. Something that punished her the more she resisted it.

Eryx, not for the first time, wished the captain could trust her crew enough to ask for their help, or at least not suffer in silence.

Whatever it was, Eryx wouldn’t turn their back on her.

The rest of the crew wouldn’t either. The pirates on this ship weren’t as scared, or hateful, as the people back in Vareth were.

And they loved their captain. Eryx believed that in their heart.

“Is something the matter?” Calla asked, a clearer note of impatience in her voice.

“I…” Eryx hesitated, then squared their shoulders, looking Calla in the eye. “We’ve entered siren waters. It won’t be long before the others will hear their song too,” they said, with more confidence than they felt.

Calla considered Eryx for a moment, forehead creasing just a touch. Then she walked past them and placed her hands on the railing, closing her eyes as she listened. Her frown deepened. “Are you sure?” she asked.

Eryx despised that question. How was one to be sure about anything?

They’d never seen sirens before, only heard about them from older sailors, drunk on rum and the heights of story-telling.

From their grandmother, when they were just a child, a blanket gripped tightly between their tiny fists as they brought it up to their nose, spooked but still listening to her every word, enraptured.

They still nodded. “Yes.” They’d rather be wrong and ridiculed for it than to be right again and not listened to because they hadn’t been confident enough.

The song in the air was clear to them, a low mournful hum that had kept them checking the waters for slivers of scales for the better part of two days.

They’d wanted to be sure, but the song was getting louder, and there wasn’t much time left.

The others would start hearing it soon. Ripples in the water appeared just this morning, in small contained circles surrounding the ship, as if something was boiling deep beneath the surface.

They shifted places and numbers as the Moonshadow sailed on.

Far ahead, a cluster of stone peaks rose out of the water, perhaps the remains of a cluster of drowned out islands.

A vague sense of dread gripped Eryx’s chest as they stared at those, at the narrow passage the ship had to cross if they were to continue on their journey.

Merrow had been unbending about it, insisting it was the safest route they could take.

“Very well,” Calla said, drawing their gaze.

Eryx’s lips parted in surprise. They expected the captain to question them again, ask for some kind of proof, but instead she signaled Sable, Gadrielle, and Thorian and consulted quietly with them to the side, just outside of hearing. The crew on deck this morning gave them curious glances.

Perhaps Eryx wasn’t the only one who felt responsible for Maren’s death. The only one who had regrets about that night. Maybe that was why the captain seemed unlike herself today–why she didn’t question them.

As the brief conversation ended, Sable was clenching her fists at her sides, Thorian had his arms crossed, and Gadrielle took a few steps away to stare at the water, her jaw locked in a hard line.

The stone peaks were getting closer. And the song louder.

Calla walked past Eryx and made her way to the helm, the others following her quietly. None of them had to beckon the crew to leave their current tasks and gather around. The somber looks on their leaders’ faces were much too obvious. The shift in the air rippled like a wave across the deck.

While Calla and Sable consulted with Merrow, each of them in turn pointing at the approaching rocks, Gadrielle stepped forward.

“Listen up!” she said, lifting her chin.

“Riley, looks like all that rope you hauled yesterday’s gonna come in handy after all.

You’ll check the hold for any coils in good shape that you might’ve missed.

Draven and Venn will help you. I want you back one bell ago.

” The three of them stood around, looking confused.

Gadrielle pinched the bridge of her nose and spelled out, “It means move your fucking asses right now. Go. ”

Once they scrambled off, Gadrielle moved her sights on Pip. “You’re going to run and send up anyone who’s not already here. And bring anything you can find on the way that you can stuff your ears with. Wax, cotton, I don’t care, just bring it.”

Pip snapped to attention, bringing his fingers to his brow in a sharp salute. “Yes, ma’am!” In a blink, he was off.

“The others will split into two teams. One will grab the rope, measure it, and cut it into four-span long strips. The other will clear out the space around the masts and any other objects that won’t budge if you pull on it with all of your strength. Understood?”

“Uh…” Kittredge raised her voice over the confused murmurs. “ Why? ”

Gadrielle blinked at her. It seemed she’d gone straight into problem-solving mode, failing to explain first what was the problem she was firing off the solution to. After just a breath, her expression shifted into something determined. “Sirens ahead.”

After that, the crew needed no more prodding. The deck settled into a grim silence as everyone did what was asked of them.

Eryx waited until Calla and Sable were done with Merrow, then they settled at his elbow.

Awkwardly, they cleared their throat, unsure of how to word the question. “Do you need…”

“Yes, please,” Merrow said tightly. “What do you see?”

The old man gripped the helm, adjusting the wheel in small increments as Eryx described the number, shape, and position of the peaks ahead of them. They kept their voice quiet and hands still, careful to hold up appearances.

Eryx wasn’t sure how many on board knew Merrow’s sight was going. Merrow didn’t need his eyes to guide them, but Eryx knew some in the crew might feel differently about that. And the old man himself hadn’t made peace with it yet, tensing up every time they brushed against the subject.

“Thank you,” Merrow said under his breath, once the course was adjusted.

Eryx wished it didn’t pain him so much to have them be his eyes. They truly did not mind it.

A bell later, everyone on the ship was as ready as could be.

They dedicated the mainmast to Thorian, and used several coils of rope to individually tie up all of his limbs and trunk, unsure of how the sirens’ songs might affect his already impressive strength and unwilling to leave anything to chance.

Sailors of similar height and build were tied up together, and everyone had either cotton or wax shoved in their ears.

Pip was already tied up to the railing in front of Eryx–by Eryx themselves–the smallest of the crew and with his own length of rope. He smiled encouragingly at Eryx as Calla tied them up.

“What do you think they look like?” Pip asked. Pirates around gave him hard looks at his upbeat attitude, but the boy was oblivious. “Do you think they’re as pretty as they say? Or downright hideous? Or something else?”

“I don’t think this is necessary,” Eryx told Calla, ignoring their friend’s yammering.

Calla’s movements didn’t even falter. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“I could stay at the helm,” they insisted. “There might be more rocks just under the surface. I can help steer us. Or-”

“Eryx,” Calla cut them off sharply. “This is not up for discussion. I’m not losing anyone today.”

Eryx pressed their lips but stayed silent, sucking in a breath as the rope tightened around their chest.

Once their knot was tied off, Calla was the only one left standing.

“What will you do?” Pip asked, suddenly concerned.

“I’m going to lock myself up in the brig and slide the key out of reach.

” She turned back to Eryx. “I’m leaving you your knife.

” Her eyes glanced at the knife Eryx kept stripped to their ankle.

“Even if you’re affected by the song, you won’t be lucid enough to think of using it.

Once we’re through, you’ll free everyone else and then come unlock my cell. ”

Eryx nodded, and Calla did a quick last sweep of the deck before nodding to herself and descending down the hatch.

Even through their stuffed ears, the song in the air was clear now. A low smooth vibration that pulled ropes tight and made teeth grind all around the deck. The melody was wordless, or perhaps in a language so different from what they knew that it was impossible to tell one word from another.

It pulled at Eryx’s chest as if they knew it intimately.

Not in the way it pulled at the other sailors, making them beg for more or sing loudly to drown out the temptation.

They knew, from stories, that to others the song appeared seducing, driving people mad with want, and they saw it now, all around them.

To Eryx, though? The song was a story long forgotten.

A sad, mournful story, drowned in loss and tragedy.

They closed their eyes and leaned their head back against the mast, listening intently.

They wished they could reach to pull the cotton out of their ears.

Maybe then they could make out the words and remember them after.

A shadow fell over them, brief and sudden, and Eryx opened their eyes.

A flash of panic hit their chest before they realized why. Then their gaze fell to the slack rope at the front of their feet.

Pip was gone.

Eryx spun their head around, catching the tail of their younger mate as he walked to the railing, climbed on top of it, looked down at the water and–jumped.

“No! Pip! Don’t–”

But Pip was gone.

He couldn’t hear Eryx’s scream.

It was useless.

None of the other crew took notice. They battled with their own ropes, trying to escape, their minds a long way from lucid or aware.

Eryx was lucid, though. They could do something. They could be of use. They could save Pip.

With a lurch, Eryx dove for the knife strapped to their ankle and grabbed it out of its holster.

They angled the blade between the loops of rope and sawed at it in frantic movements.

The threads frayed and snapped under the sharp metal.

Not fast enough. How long did Pip have before he drowned?

Before the sirens got him? When the knife cut through the last thread, the rope slackened and fell at their feet.

Eryx wasted no more time. They rushed to where Pip had jumped off, gripping the railing. They put their foot up to climb it, but then they realized. Even if they could find and rescue Pip, they would have no way of getting back to the ship.

Frantically looking around, Eryx spotted the cluster of unused coils of rope and hurried to them.

Grabbing one end, they tied it around their waist, their hands steady despite the voice in their head screaming to be faster, be faster .

They tied the other end to another coil of rope and hoped it would be long enough. No more time. They had to follow now .

With the free end of the lengthened coil of rope tied to the railing, Eryx stepped up.

Taking one deep breath, they dived head first.

They met the water with a shock, the coldness of it gripping their lungs and leaving them disoriented.

Blinking, Eryx took in their surroundings.

Shadows flitted all around, toying with them, the song less clear under the surface but…

deeper. Stronger. Vibrating right into their chest. Fighting off a shudder, Eryx tried swimming towards the back of the slow-advancing ship, squinting their eyes through the murk and trying to peer past the algae and the moss-covered rocks until–

There. A pair of feet!

“Pip!” Eryx tried to shout, precious breath escaping in bubbles of air.

Their arms worked against the current, feet pushing savagely as they fought to reach Pip, fingers slipping on the slick moss as they tried to use the rocks for more momentum.

It was working. He was right there, getting closer.

Despite feeling like their lungs were about to burst, Eryx pushed through.

Harder. Faster. They were going to reach him.

They would save Pip, and everything would be alright.

Suddenly, one of the shadows twitched in their periphery and slashed through the water. In the next moment, a woman’s face flashed in front of Eryx, lovely features twisted into a savage snarl as she roughly pushed a hand against Eryx’s chest.

Eryx’s eyes widened, and their movements halted, heart speeding up.

Please let me pass through , they tried to say with their eyes. He needs me. He’s my friend.

The siren’s tail, covered in fine dark green scales and glinting with slivers of light, swashed in the water angrily. She shoved Eryx away with both hands. Pip was getting further away, only just visible through the water now.

Please .

The rope tugged at their waist, and the siren gave them one last warning glare before turning and swimming away.

Eryx gasped, gripping their throat, their chest convulsing with the lack of air, and still they tried to resist, pushing against the limits of their lungs and the rope tugging them towards the ship to try and get one last glance at Pip, try to see where they were taking him–and then their vision spotted, their own body betrayed them, and Eryx started swimming toward the surface.

When they broke through the water and gasped in a desperate, life-saving breath, Eryx hated themselves for it.