Chapter 25
"It did what?" Ce'Nedra exclaimed when Belgarath told Polgara what had happened. "The only time it's ever done that was when it was close to the Sardion."
"Was it reacting to Sparhawk or something else?" Ehlana asked nervously.
"We're fairly sure it was Sparhawk," Belgarath said.
"Unless the Orb didn't like what the cook had laid out for dinner," Talen put in.
"Talen, be serious," Danae scolded him.
"I was. It didn't look to appetizing to me either."
"This is bad," Polgara said. "If the Orb thinks Sparhawk is the enemy, then the sooner we get him back where he belongs the better. Now it has become not just a mission to get him home, but to get him out of here before he damages the universe any further."
Sparhawk looked slightly affronted.
"The Lady Polgara has always had a way with words," Silk told him.
"He knows what I meant," she sighed.
Silk ignored her and turned to Garion. "Apparently you do have to fix things again."
Garion looked at Belgarath. "Don't worry, I'm not even going to say it."
"I didn't say anything," Belgarath said innocently.
"Well don't."
The storm continued to get worse. Sparhawk was awakened shortly before dawn when the ship pitched and nearly threw him out of bed. Ehlana's gasp told him she too was awake. He could hear the rain lashing the deck above them and the cry of sailors breaking down the mast. The storm must have gotten pretty bad if they were battening down that much, but they hadn't pulled into the coastline and beached to ride it out so it couldn't be that bad, Sparhawk thought. He put his arm around his wife, glad neither of them got seasick. "It can't be that bad can it?" she asked in a hushed voice that was barely audible over the wind and the crashing waves.
"I think we'd have beached somewhere if it was."
Just then a knock sounded on their cabin door. The door flew open and Stragen stood there, soaked to the bone. "Sparhawk, you'd better come up here, I think Greldik wants to beach the ship and we can use all the help we can get."
"I spoke too soon," Sparhawk said, wincing against the cold as his feet touched the floor.
"It's the wind. It may have already blown us off course. Lady Polgara flew out and found an island where we can ride out the storm. It's still half a day away but it's the closest thing bigger than a horse in any direction."
Sparhawk dressed quickly and pulled on his heavy cloak. "Ehlana, I want you to go next door to Polgara's room. Stay there until told otherwise."
She just nodded. Sparhawk could tell his wife was afraid because she didn't object to his giving her orders. She disappeared into the cabin where Ce'Nedra and Danae had already taken refuge.
The companionway was soaking wet. The wind and spray had combined to make the stairs very slick. Sparhawk slid his way to where Greldik had a death grip on the tiller.
"There you are," The seaman shouted at him. "You should keep a closer eye on your daughter, you know. About ten minutes ago, she came walking up here like there was no storm at all and suggested all sorts of crazy things to me."
"Danae?" Sparhawk said, confused. "What did she tell you to do?"
"Most of it I didn't understand, but I thought it was kind of odd, her bein' up here instead of below where it's safer. I told her that and she just walked away. I assume she went back to her room."
"You're sure it was Danae."
"I don't see how it could have been anybody else. She looked a little older than your daughter, but, if you don't mind me saying so your daughter is a mighty strange one."
"She can be sometimes. Where did she go?"
"Like I said before, she went below," he took one hand off the tiller long enough to point to the forward end of the ship.
Before Sparhawk could point out that the room his daughter was in was aft, the ship rocked even more violently and Greldik became oblivious to Sparhawk's presence.
Sparhawk had just seen Danae in Polgara's room in the aft end of the ship. He wanted to go investigate the mystery person, but at that moment, someone handed him a rope and he concentrated on getting the sails retied. He had some suspicions, but how they could be possible he could not explain.
They worked hard for most of the day to reach the little beach. The storm gradually lessened, but not to any safe degree. Luckily the rain had created no fog, and the passage to the islet was clear. Shortly after midday Sparhawk felt a break was necessary. The sailors had mostly everything under control now, so he decided to find out if his suspicions were true. Carefully he made his way down the forward companionway to Sephrenia's room. He knocked on the door.
"Come in Sparhawk," said a familiar voice.
He pushed to door open to see a very cute Styric girl of about four sitting serenely in Vanion's lap.
"Flute!" he exclaimed after quickly closing the door. "What in god's name are you doing here!"
"You have no idea how may people I had to kiss and pout at to get here," she told him. "You wouldn't even understand how I did it. I figured you could use a little help."
"Well now that you're here you can-"
"Unfortunately it's only temporary and I can't take you back with me."
"Why not!" he exclaimed. "You're a goddess. Perform a miracle or something."
"He's such a baby, Sephrenia. He really doesn't understand does he? The only reason I can be here at all, Sparhawk, is that there are Styrics here. They shouldn't be here and neither should I. You think you are messing up the purpose of the universe. You should see the giant hole I ripped in it to get here."
"But why are you here?"
"Because Sephrenia asked me to come."
"A long time go," Vanion told her.
"Like I said, I had a lot of people to kiss and whatnot. Besides, I wanted to see what exactly was going on over here."
"Was it you Greldik saw on deck earlier?"
"Yes, but not Flute-me. I used me-me. I thought it would get his attention more."
"He thought you were Danae."
"But I am Danae."
"I'm confused. If you were that curious, why didn't you just have Danae tell you what was going on?"
"Danae is an incarnation of me, I guess you could say. When she came over here, not all of me came with her. And the part of me that is her couldn't talk to the part of me that is Flute. The split is driving me crazy." She paused as if listening. "What is going on up there. I thought I made myself pretty clear to that oaf."
"He didn't believe you. Like I said, he thought you were Danae."
"What?" She stood up on Vanion's knees. "That idiot."
"You certainly don't expect him to take orders from someone he considers to be a child, do you?" Vanion told her, setting her on the floor.
She sighed. "I guess I'd better do it myself, then." She closed her eyes for a moment. From above them there were many loud thumps, as of bodies hitting the deck.
"What did you do?" Sparhawk demanded.
"Well I couldn't very well work with all those sailors yanking and pulling on what I am working on. I put them to sleep. They're safe, Sparhawk, I'll make sure none of them gets washed out to sea."
The ship lurched again then steadied. Sparhawk felt a slight rising in the pit of his stomach. "Are we flying?" he asked her.
"Not entirely. I'm just supporting the parts of the ship the water isn't. It'll make for a smoother ride. Now where are we going?"
"There's an island beach about a mile ahead of us," Vanion told her.
"I was afraid you were going there."
"Why is that?"
"There's a reef that rings the island. It's not too shallow, but shallow enough that this storm would have banged you all to pieces on it before you found a way through. I'll just go right over it."
As much as Flute had insisted that they were not flying, they were definitely floating on something other than water. After about five minutes Sparhawk felt the soft grind of sand against the bottom of the ship. The movement slowed and the ship came to rest slightly on its side, out of the water.
"Very nice," Sparhawk congratulated her. "But what happens when Captain Greldik wakes up and finds that he didn't steer his ship onto the beach."
"When he wakes up, he'll think he did. He won't remember ever going to sleep."
Sparhawk then had a cold thought. "What about the other ship?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Go up on deck and see for yourself."
He did. The stairs were marginally easier now that they no longer moved, but the angle of the ship made walking up them awkward. He walked between the sailors who were woodenly waking up to resume their former positions on the deck. It was rather eerie. In the flashes of lighting Sparhawk could see the Seabird several hundred yards away, positioned similarly. He shook rain out of his eyes, then went back below.
He walked in on Flute saying goodbye to Vanion.
"That's all?" Sparhawk protested. "Can't you stay and help some more?"
"That's all?" she repeated. "I just saved all your lives with a semi-divine miracle and you say, 'that's all'?" She looked annoyed. "I know you miss me, Sparhawk, but my older siblings are already cross with me for being here this long. When they find out I actually had to interfere, some may not speak to me for at least a hundred years." She smiled again then reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Sparhawk," she said, and disappeared.
"Did either of you understand what she meant about Danae?" Sparhawk asked Sephrenia after a moment.
"It works like this, as much as your daughter acts like a goddess, she was born human and that limits her sometimes. Mortality is a great threat to some people."
"It is to most people, Little Mother."
She gave him a stern look. "Flute came across a barrier that we cannot even fathom. Danae however couldn't even communicate across it. She has Aphrael's awareness and power, but on a slightly subdued level. That and the fact that there are very few Styrics here, probably less than ten, makes Danae's divinity relatively useless on a grand scale."
"I never thought of it like that," Sparhawk said.
"You should have asked her." Sephrenia shrugged.
At that moment Greldik stamped down the companionway. "We're ashore!" he called.
The small beach they had settled on was barely an inlet in a wall of cliffs, but it was well protected from the wind and a system of surprisingly large caves at the back gave adequate shelter from the rain, even for the horses.
The rain stopped shortly after they came ashore and Sparhawk decided to put his time to good use. As he was hunting for dry driftwood in sheltered places on the beach, Garion came up to him. "What exactly happened to the ship?" the king asked curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"When Grandfather and I flew over here to see what kind of shelter these caves afforded, I looked out to see if I could spot Barak's ship, and I did. Above the water. I know Aunt Pol and Durnik are strong, but I don't think even they could have lifted a ship each by themselves. I don't know how Sephrenia's magic works but that was pretty spectacular for one person to have done."
Sparhawk wasn't sure how much he should tell Garion about Flute. "Let's get your grandfather and find Sephrenia. She can answer your questions better than I can."
"She came over here just to pull us out of the water?" Belgarath seemed a little skeptical.
"And to get a better understanding of what was going on here," Sparhawk said. "That way she can help from our side."
"But why couldn't she do more?" Garion asked.
"Because there are very few of her worshipers here. She could not stay here long."
"I've noticed something else," Belgarath said suddenly. "While we're on the subject. Just how old is your daughter?"
"Eleven, why?" Sparhawk said carefully, wondering where this was going.
"She doesn't act eleven."
Sparhawk merely looked at him. He knew Belgarath was no fool, and had been wondering when the old sorcerer would figure it out.
"Now don't get defensive on me. I've been around a long time, Sparhawk, and I can usually tell when something or someone is more than what they want everyone to think. I'm just curios exactly what, or who that girl is. Is she really your daughter?"
"She is," Sparhawk told him flatly.
"There is no talking to him, is there," Belgarath remarked to Sephrenia.
"Now dear one," she said to Sparhawk. "I don't think Belgarath is trying to be offensive."
"I don't think he's trying to be not offensive."
"He's practically got it figured out, Sparhawk," Vanion told him.
"Danae is more than she lets on. Far beyond just being mature and intelligent for someone her age," Belgarath continued.
Sparhawk sighed. "Danae is an incarnation of the goddess Aphrael. The 'Flute' we were just talking about."
"That's interesting," Belgarath said. "I'd suspected something along those lines. I assume there is a specific reason that your daughter is a goddess."
Sparhawk hesitated. It was must have been obvious that he was hesitant to answer because Garion looked at him sympathetically.
"It probably explains why Aunt Pol is so attached to her," Garion put in with a smile. "After years of so many talented little boys it must be nice to have a girl."
"The main thing is that her mother doesn't know," Sparhawk told him. "We've managed to keep up that Danae is normal this long."
"Why?"
"Ehlana would rather not know. Believe me. Especially since Danae is destined to be an only child."
"Why is that?" Garion asked.
Sparhawk told them about Ehlana's past. "Aphrael only did it because we needed an heir," he concluded.
"Well that certainly explains it," Garion said, suddenly self conscious of his own large number of children.
"That young knight, ah...Talen, has designs on your daughter?" Belgarath asked after a moment.
Sparhawk laughed. "It's really the other way around. She's had her eye on him since she was about five."
"Aren't you worried that he's too old for her?"
"No," Sparhawk said, his own age painfully obvious. "He's only fourteen years her senior."
"It was very much the same with Sparhawk and Ehlana," Vanion said with a smile. "He had to babysit the king's daughter, who decided she wanted to marry him when she was three. He was about Talen's age at the time, maybe a little younger, and was not about to consider marriage to Ehlana. We all know who won that dispute. It took her until she was eighteen to talk him into it, though."
"I don't know what I'll do when Geran gets an interest in girls. I hope he doesn't have any already," Garion said with a pained expression. "They do all sorts of nasty things to a man's brain."
"Really?" Sephrenia said archly.
"Figuratively speaking of course."
"Smooth," Vanion murmured.