Chapter 10: Pale Horizon
A gray sky was their companion, all through the journey. Even into the afternoon, and through the heat that tried to blanket the sea, the skies kept sinister and relentless cast. The wind beat at the sails in a chaotic rhythm, the bow of the ship rocking in time with each gale. Robin could practically taste the tension of the crew members stirred in with the breeze. After what they'd experienced, she couldn't blame them for keeping one eye trained on the steel grey sky.
'It was only a matter of time until we encountered another storm.' Robin told herself. They'd been sailing from Ferox since dawn, and the weather turned increasingly dour and overcast.
The first growl from the storm pushed a flinch into the entire crew, Robin included. The thunder left a strange echo in her ears. She glanced to where the storm was brewing overhead, taking note of the ever darkening tinge in the clouds.
That was when she saw the great tower, though distance made it only a sliver of white stone against the murky sky.
"The lighthouse..." Chrom named the structure, from his spot on the helm. It still looked so odd to Robin's eyes, a lonely tower stretching above the sea. It belonged in dreams instead of reality.
But the crash of water on rocks was too real. All around the tower she could see a maze of crags springing from the ocean. Waves turned to foam where they slammed against the sharp walls of stone. Jagged chunks of granite littered the base of the lighthouse, shielding the tower from the crash of tides.
"Just as Flavia said... that passage does look treacherous." Chrom had left the wheel in Frederick's hand, in favor of leaning against one of the ropes at the prow. He clung tight to the line as the ship bobbed. Waves crashed against the ship's side, a small taste of what the white-capped straight was promising them.
"You've made up your mind to sail for this?" Came Emmeryn's voice. Lissa was at her arm, and had found her own sealegs in the process of helping Emmeryn. She helped her older sister keep her footing, and carefully pick her way across the deck.
"Aye; I won't ask you to put yourself at risk, however. You can go to your own ship. Keep your distance and wait," Chrom started to say, only for Emmeryn to raise a hand to stop him.
"Absolutely not. I refuse to send my family on any task too dangerous for myself… and I confess, I have some interest in this place as well." Something in Emmeryn's voice brooked no argument. Even Frederick could only gape at her.
"Your Grace?" Came a cautious note from Phila. She'd planted her feet near the stern, and kept her eyes moving over the neck of her pegasus to help steady the creature. "I must protest. Flavia herself said this passage is difficult to navigate."
"Perhaps… But I have every confidence in our captain. He's won us an alliance already, and I wish to see what else can be done."
Chrom paused at that, a blush crossing his cheeks… but finally dipped his head, surrendering the point.
"Though Phila, given your caution, I'd like to insist you come as well. We could use someone with keen eyes, and a fearless pegasus." Emmeryn did her best to assure Phila; then it was the rider's turn to blush, and manage a stammered agreement.
The howl of the storm winds reminded them that they didn't have much time to debate, either. The gust lifted the white sheet of Chrom's new cape, tugging it and him towards Robin.
Chrom lifted his eyes to her, nodding his head to the stern and wheel. "Ready to guide us through?"
"As I'll ever be." Robin tried to keep the shiver out of her fingers. Instead she looked over where Stahl and Sumia were tightening the lines on the sails.
Nearby, Miriel coached Ricken and Maribelle on their places on the spell circles, in case they ran into any nasty surprises in the straits. Sully and Vaike anchored the mast lines, giving Sumia room to climb up top and secure the sails.
'They're counting on you to see them through.' She told herself. 'Don't let them down, and don't let them see how nervous you are.'
"Frederick, I'm feeling ready to take the ship if you are?" Chrom said.
Frederick hesitated at releasing the wheel. Robin wasn't surprised that he still glanced at her askance. Frequently passing out probably wasn't a convincing argument to how capable she wa, but shock swept her when Frederick transferred that same wary look to Chrom.
"Milord, are you sure this is wise-?"
"I'm sure. We won't take any undue risks. I want us to get in close enough to have a better look. That's all." Chrom easily met Frederick's gaze, the glint in the prince's eye like this was just another sparring match. One he was certain he'd be able to win.
"Need I remind you that it is not only your safety I'm concerned for." That light dimmed in Chrom's eyes once he followed Frederick's gaze. It had settled on Emmeryn. Her green and gold robes resembled gilded seawater against the deck of the Shepherd.
The Exalt was flanked by Phila and her pegasus, looking out over the sea. But she seemed to sense Frederick's gaze on her, turning to watch Chrom and favoring him with a warm smile. Her robes were a ripple of motion as she easily crossed the distance towards them.
Frederick didn't return the smile, a twinge of concern knitting his eyebrows together.
"She should be sailing back to the capital, where she's the most safe. By all rights, we should…"
"Frederick... what if this concerns Emm, too?" Chrom dared to step forward as he spoke, and Robin followed. His voice had dropped, and the playful note vanished. Now the prince was dead set on this course... and Robin felt a certain need to show she could lend him support.
"You make a bold claim, that the potential risk of your lives may have a benefit. If there is, I certainly don't see it."
"Yes, but-"
"I have faith in them, Frederick." Emmeryn's voice stilled the argument before it could take on any heat. The Exalt had one hand on the stair rail, and gazed up at them all.
Somehow, the fact they were above her didn't reduce the gravity of her words.
"I did ask Chrom to accompany me for protection. But not only for that. Nor solely for the pleasure of his company... though I can assure you that was no small factor." She gave a small, feather weight of a chuckle at her own words. "But also due to a feeling in my own heart. Frederick? Might I ask you to look at the lighthouse again?"
Frederick squinted against the glare of the white stone, mouth still set into a frown. "What of it, your Grace?"
"Does it not look similar to our own castle? Like it was carved by the same maker, in the same age?" From the way Frederick stared, Robin had a notion that the answer was 'yes.'
She moved to the side of the ship as well, leaning on the railing for a better look. Judging by the footsteps beside her, Chrom was doing the same.
It DID look like it could've belonged to Ylisstol, as an orphaned tower to the castle.
'But how did it end up here?'
"...Well, I'll admit my curiosity is roused now." Robin allowed. "Enough that I want to take a closer look. But for what it's worth, I'll do my best to keep us safe. I've been reviewing the records the Feroxi do have of this passage, and I think I've found an approach we can take."
Frederick let his breath out in a long, slow sigh at that. But he finally stepped away from the wheel, bowing his head.
"Very well, but in Naga's name... tread carefully here, I beg all of you."
For his part, Chrom strode to the wheel. Robin tried to trail him, only to pause, glancing back up at the storm.
"There's a strange note in the air." Robin added without thinking, but the moment she said it, it felt truthful. It explained the low background buzz ringing in her head, one that she'd steadily been ignoring. She feared it would turn into a headache if she focused on it too much, and she needed her thoughts clear.
Chrom made a surprised noise at her observation, fingers freezing halfway to the wheel. What she said made him pause, before looking to Frederick.
"Actually... perhaps it would be better if you steered us, according to Robin's guidance? I can trust you to be the voice of reason and caution."
Frederick gave Chrom a bewildered look. She guessed it wasn't often that Chrom willingly offered the wheel back.
"I... thank you, milord. I appreciate the trust. And will see that it is not mislaid."
-o-o-o-
"Sumia, a little less sail!" Chrom shouted, the wind eager to carry his voice. It seemed the closer they got to the tower, the more restless the ocean became.
"Wait a moment longer before you turn the ship. Just about…" Robin trailed off, glad to see Frederick's hands stayed steady on the wheel. No longer second guessing her. The Shepherd hesitated for a moment, almost as if it was trying to feel out if her commands were sound. Once the ship found the direction to be true, she slid easily into the stream of the currents and swung wide around the rocks.
"There. That should keep us in a pattern where we can use the wind to move against the current." Robin concluded. "We can observe at our leisure now... though we don't want to change our course at all."
"Aye, milady." Frederick allowed, favoring her with a quick nod. She hadn't lead them into a crash... and Robin hoped that raised her standing at least a little in his eyes. The waves themselves seemed to ease for a moment, giving her time to breath and look around.
Robin gripped the railing, sight drawn to the white flecked waves stirring below. They seemed almost hungry, with how they leapt and plunged into the water.
'But there's something more, stirring beneath even that.' The thought broke into her mind, and also escaped her lips.
A wave shivered against the side of the Shepherd. She swore she could see each of the droplets breaking apart, scattering into the ocean like wayward children coming home.
"Robin...?" Chrom's voice seemed to come from miles away, even though he was right beside her. "Did you say something-? ROBIN!"
His hand clapped over her shoulder, yanking her away from the railing. Her feet scrambled, her balance uncertain on where to go before settling with crashing into Chrom's chest. They both hit the deck, Chrom cushioning the fall with his body. A gasp rushed out of him from the impact, but he kept his grip on her.
"Are... are you okay?" Chrom wheezed, managing to collect a bit of the breath he'd lost. "I was..." He glanced away from her, noticing how close they were. Haste made him clumsy, his shoulder bumping against her cheek as he scrambled to put distance between them. It didn't help that he was ducking his head in apology at the same time. "Sorry, sorry. I was scared for a second. I swore you were going to fall overboard."
He stuttered that out, and his hand ruffled the hair at his neck sheepishly.
"For a second, it felt like I was." Robin admitted.
'Like something was calling me back.'
That thought, she kept to herself; Chrom looked worried enough. She tried to ease some of that by finding her feet, cursing her legs when they threatened to turn to jelly.
"You've seemed off lately." He noted, finding his feet before pulling her up. "Sort of... distant somehow. Ever since Ferox."
"Would you blame me, after what we fought?" She countered.
"N-no... because I... sort of..." His eyes took on a distant quality, falling away from her and going to the waters. She wondered if they'd have to trade places, with her pulling him off his feet instead-
Lightning went off directly over their heads. The Shepherd herself seemed to flinch away in response.
"THE CURRENT!" Frederick shouted, and they both turned to see him fighting with the wheel. "The current just shifted underneath us!"
"Oh gods…" Robin trailed off, staring up at how the sails had gone slack, the wind deserting them.
"What's our heading now!?" Chrom had the presence of mind to shout out.
"Directly towards the lighthouse! We're being pulled into the rocks!" Robin yanked her eyes to the front of the ship. Spires of stone seemed to grow from the ocean, straight in their path.
Chrom shot upwards, stumbled his way to the wheel, and threw his weight into it. He tried to help Frederick keep it steady. The crew wasn't faring much better. Overhead, Sumia struggled with the ropes. Vaike tangled in the rigging and cursed the storm and waves both. It was probably a good thing the howl of the gale took those words away before Robin could hear more than a few of them.
Chrom groaned at the wheel, his arms shaking from the effort. But somehow, the Shepherd turned; they missed the first rock by a spear's length, if that. The waves crashed at the ship, sending Robin to her knees. Below, Emmeryn crouched in the shadow of the staircase, Phila standing guard over her. Lissa tripped her way towards them, her face white from panic.
'What just happened!?' The sky crackled again in answer, and she knew this storm was out for blood.
"Robin!? If you have some insight on how not to die, that'd be really great right now!" Lissa screamed from below. Robin lurched upright, staggering to where Chrom was.
The rocks loomed cruel ahead of them, but she forced her eyes away from their edges. Instead she watched the currents, trying to find something, anything-
She saw it for a split second, illuminated by the next lightning bolt.
"Chrom, let go of the wheel here! Let the tides carry the Shepherd!" He and Frederick both stared at her like she was mad. "This is how the Feroxi ships all wrecked! They tried to fight the tide, and their ships didn't hit the current at the right angle! Please!"
The last word hitched and cracked, with Robin praying that the urgency in her voice would be enough to convince them to trust her.
Chrom met her eyes, still staring in disbelief. But as he watched her, slowly his hands let go of the wheel. It spun at a crazy speed, the brig listing hard to the side-
But the sails billowed out for a heartbeat, catching the wind. The Shepherd dodged another set of rocks. This time with perhaps an arms breadth of distance between them and a wreck. They'd dodged the first obstacle… but as another flash of lightning showed, that was only a taste of what was to come. They'd landed in a forest of rocks.
Frederick only narrowed his eyes at the oncoming canyons and rock spires.
"We need breathing room!" He outshouted the gales. Sumia yanked herself upright in answer. She stumbled across the deck… to where Phila's pegasus still pawed at the wood, tossing her head. Phila herself had her hands full, sprawled across the deck but still trying to shield Emm.
Sumia somehow seemed to have balanced herself against the rolling and pitching of the deck. Or at least enough to stumble close to the pegasus.
"S-sorry about this," Sumia's voice drifted across the ship. Her hands were out, running over the face and neck of the pegasus to try and calm it for a moment.
"SOMEONE GET A LINE OUT!" Frederick shouted. Sumia answered the call, vaulting into the saddle. The pegasus mare was spooked by Frederick's voice and the howl of the wind, and churned her wings, fighting the storm. Sumia clutched the reins with one hand, the other holding a lance coiled in rope. The hempen braids twisted in the gale, a wild serpent lashing in the wind.
Robin fixed her eyes on Sumia, watching her take to the sky. The snowy wings fanned out against mast and sodden sails, as the rider and beast struggled upwards. The pegasus was bright in the darkened sky, looking half like a beacon, and half like a target.
The thunder seemed to hold its breath, as white feathers stretched across the stormy clouds. The brilliance seemed to dare the lightning to strike against the Sumia, for daring to outshine even the lightning and challenge the storm winds.
The moment was over in a blink; before Robin could do more than worry, Sumia cleared the mast. She swung her arm out, and the spear cut through the air, lodging in one of the rocks. The rope went taut, and the Shepherd wrenched to a halt as Frederick yelled for them to brace.
Robin blinked up from where she found herself sprawled across the deck, her robe fanned out around her. The first thing she noticed was the rope line, which was pulled so tight it ran parallel to the sea. The next thing her head managed, was realizing they'd turned their own anchor line into an emergency stop.
"There, that gives us a little breathing room." Chrom gasped out. "How's the damage?"
"Tattered sails, a few snapped ropes and tears along the hull... but nothing breached yet." Frederick reported, and his eyes slid from Chrom to Robin. "...We would have been far worse off, if it wasn't for that call."
Chrom knelt by Robin, helping her climb back up. He switched places with Frederick once again on who was handling the ship… though it wasn't going anywhere, the steel of the spear still holding strong, and the ropes creaking in protest.
"Still with us? Good. That gives us time to plan our next move, before we're forced to act." Chrom's speech was a little rushed, and she could feel a shiver in his fingers. By contrast Frederick's hand on the wheel was steady, and he treated the rain as inconsequential as morning mist.
"Well milady, what would you advise us to do now?" Frederick's voice remained surprisingly calm. Equally surprising was that he was looking to HER for advice. It must have shown in how she stared at him, because he dipped his head to her. "You DID just save our collective necks. I can give some weight to your opinion now, if you have advice for us."
Robin managed to nod, Chrom helping her to the rail. She stared out over the prow, weak daylight and pulses of lightning giving her something to see by.
"Once that improvised anchor gives, we're going to go hurtling into the next passage. I think we have no choice but to thread all the needles this island throws at us, and get through to the other side."
"Similar thoughts to mine." Frederick answered, and Chrom gave an encouraging noise. Nearby the pegasus gave a soft whinny, touching back to the deck.
"But as for how to do that... we need more sail out once we hit that fork. I just... I'm positive the wind is going to double up. Look at the way the rain falls in lighter sheets there; something must be blowing it aside." She gestured to the passage.
Frederick nodded at that, bellowing out orders. Sumia was still agile enough to jump from the pegasus and swarm up the rigging. She pulled a red haired girl up with her; one of Phila's crew, Robin suspected. Sully followed behind, while Lissa coaxed the pegasus below decks.
"Now make for the gap in the rocks," Robin motioned to the space. The aforementioned rocks had been pushed wide apart, a thin arch spanning overhead. High enough that the Shepherd could pass through. "I think the channel narrows past that, but if the currents stay this way we might just-"
Lightning sparked ahead of them, splitting into a three forked tongue that lashed the sea. The air sizzled around them, an electric taste teasing at Robin's lips. All around her, the sky hummed like a swarm of angry wasps, managing to mute even the thunder roiling overhead. She watched the waters burn blue with each stab of lightning, before fading into a sickly green as the energy was lost amongst the waves.
The waters changed direction, swirling against the current and turning into whirlpools.
"Captain!" Sumia's voice reached them. Sully and the red haired girl held her by the shoulders, so she could cup her hands over her mouth and shout to Chrom.
"There's something surfacing!" She pointed to the whirlpools, and now Robin could see it as well. The whirlpools retained that sickly green glow, like something underwater had caught fire from the lightning.
A broken mast cleared the vortex first. Followed by a second and a third mast, all in various stages of being shattered; work from either the waves or the rocks. The sails were equally tattered, the ropes rotted from saltwater.
"Oh gods..." Chrom whispered. "I've seen this before."
His hand tightened on her shoulder, and Robin froze under his grip; because she could remember it too. The Risen ship from several weeks past, now tripled in numbers.
"OH COME ON!" Stahl's voice drifted down from the rigging. "Do we have 'pick on me' engraved in the hull or something!?"
That of all things was what spurred Robin into action. She didn't think over it, didn't even talk about the idea that burst into her head. Instead she shrugged out from underneath Chrom's arm.
Robin flew to the rails, her hand grabbing at the spellbook belted to her side. With just a whisper from her mouth, her own lightning lanced out from her fingertips. It snapped out like an arrow, aimed at the rope holding them in place.
The line frayed, the braided threads shriveling one at a time before they broke. The entire rope parted with a snap, and the Shepherd surged forward.
"Keep us on this heading!" Robin shouted. "And pray that this works," she managed in a lower voice.
The Shepherd barreled towards the three Risen ships. Close enough that they could see the dead swarming the decks; they wore old, tattered armor reminiscent of something Feroxi. Remnants of those who had come before, and been smashed by the currents.
Clearly they felt no allegiance or friendliness towards them, with how they raised weapons. The archers looked ready to rain arrows down on them-
One of the Risen fell, an arrow lodged in its neck. Then a second. On the fighting top, Virion stood with one foot on the edge of the crow's nest, loosing arrows. Over on the sides, Miriel had gathered the mages to start firing spell volleys.
She had to be there too, Robin suddenly knew. She vaulted the railing, stumbling where she hit the deck below. She caught a glimpse of Emmeryn's startled face, but couldn't dwell on it. Instead Robin charged to one of the metal circles. The lightning magic leapt eagerly to her fingers, ready to join with the storm.
She managed to get a spell off, right as the Shepherd streaked by. A few arrows thudded into the side of the Shepherd, none of them hitting any living targets. Her spell did much better, gouging into one of the ships. Flashes of fire followed her spell, courtesy of the Shepherd mages.
In the next breath, the current caught the Shepherd and threw it past the Risen ships.
Robin slumped against the railing, letting her breath out.
'Don't rest easy though.' She reminded herself, looking back at the Risen. Though gouged with spells, they were picking up the chase, heedless of the rock maze they were all getting pushed into. 'We're not out of this yet.'