The Black Shard (16 page)

Thinking about it, Davina's mouth twisted from side to side. "Ah! What the heck! I can't hold a grudge forever—I guess I'll go look for them again," she said, and grinned happily. Then, just as she opened the door to leave, she turned to Kristina and said, "By the way, whatever kind of makeup you used on your face, looks amazing!"

Wow! Another compliment from Davina.
"Thanks," Kristina said.

As soon as Davina was gone, Kristina went to look in the vanity mirror, but when she viewed her reflection in it, she gasped.
What did Davina mean? The liar! I look revolting!
Her skin had a green tinge to it, and dark circles bulged under her eyes. She cringed. "I'm turning into an old hag!"

K
ristina rolled from one side of her bed to the other, and if it hadn't been for being well tucked in her bedding, she would have definitely tumbled off the bed. At first when she opened her eyes, she couldn't tell where she was, but then she viewed the bright beam of sunlight streaming down through the porthole—and she remembered. Smiling, she stretched her arms in the air. Then she turned on her side and caught sight of something moving on the outside of the porthole. She quickly got out of bed and went to see what it was. "Looper," she said while yawning. Once again the fairy was standing on the outer rim of the porthole window. The ship wobbled over a large swell, and at that moment Kristina realized that
THE KRISTINA
was no longer sailing but stationary. She could also see that the sea's color was different again. Instead of dark indigo, it was now a clear aqua-blue.

Looper pointed his finger to his right, where there was a rowboat teetering in the waves. Sitting in it was Werrien, wearing only a pair of shorts. His tanned, muscular chest looked like bronzed copper in the sunlight. He waved to Kristina, and then Looper gestured to her to go to her cabin door. A few minutes later, Looper arrived at her door.

"Werrien would like you go to the main deck," Looper said.

"All right! I'll just change and be right up," Kristina said happily.

"Oh, and Werrien said that there's something for you in the built-in drawers, on the left side of your cabin, third drawer down."

Kristina quickly went to the drawer and opened it. Folded neatly inside it was a pair of jean shorts and a light green tank top. "How cool is this!" she said to Looper, who was hovering over her shoulder, looking in the drawer as well. "Where did these come from?" she asked with an inquisitive smile on her face.

"Apparently, Queen Lafinia had them put in here for you."

"But these clothes look too modern for this world?" She looked curiously at Looper for an answer.

Looper shrugged his little shoulders. "Sorry, but that's all I know." Puzzled, Kristina stood looking in the drawer at the clothes. "Take them out," Looper said, enthusiastically.

She did so and laid them out on the bed. "This is exactly what I would have picked for myself to wear on a nice day like today," she said.

"Well then, hurry up and get dressed and come on up to the main deck," Looper said. Then he did a few loops in the air and headed out the door.

After Kristina dressed and brushed her hair, she hurried out of her cabin. When she stepped out onto the main deck, she was surprised to find that the sun was already blazing hot. She quickly went to look over the edge of the ship, where she eyed the rowboat. It was sitting in the shade the ship provided, rocking gently to and fro over the sea's large swells. Werrien looked very comfortable. He was lying on the bench with his eyes closed and his bare feet crossed and up over the edge of the rowboat. Kristina put her thumb and index finger in her mouth and whistled loudly to get his attention. The shrill sound didn't seem to faze him. It was like he already knew she was there. Calmly, he opened his eyes. "Took you long enough," he said, yawning.

"Sorry," Kristina said. "Anyhow, what's up?"

"Looks like you're up there, and I'm down here, so you should come down here."

"Oh, I should, should I?" Kristina teased. She leaned cautiously over the edge of the ship, trying to get a look at the outside of the hull to see if there was some sort of ladder attached to it that she could climb down.

Knowing exactly what she was up to, Werrien smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, but there's no ladder," he said, casually crossing his arms across his chest.

"So, then how am I supposed to get down there?"

"How about the same way I did—dive in." Werrien closed his eyes again.

Bothered by his calmness, Kristina swallowed nervously. The distance from where she stood to the surface of the dancing sea below looked to her to be about ten feet.
But I'm a bad diver and knowing me, I'll probably end up doing a belly flop and kill myself.

She heard voices coming from the stern end of the ship, and she quickly turned to see Elzwur walking in her direction. Behind him were Hester and Davina.

If I'm going to do this, I'd better do it before they see me,
Kristina thought. She glanced down at Werrien, still lying peacefully in the rowboat. Then promptly, she climbed up onto the edge of the ship, counted to three in her head, closed her eyes, and jumped. About halfway to the water, she pulled her knees up into a cannon ball and then landed in the clear, aqua sea, right next to the rowboat, causing the water to spring up high in the air, and then splash all over Werrien. The rowboat wobbled to and fro, and Werrien sat up abruptly—this time startled. He swung his wet hair out of his eyes and glanced around the water surrounding him, but he couldn't see anything. Then a moment later, Kristina emerged from the water in front of the rowboat. She took in a breath of air. "I'm sorry," she said, "but seeing you lying in your boat, so peacefully, like a baby sleeping soundly in his cradle, I just couldn't help myself." She pushed her shimmering wet hair out of her face. "Did I startle you?" she added, smiling.

"Like a baby sleeping in his cradle!" Werrien repeated. He stuck his hand in the water and began vigorously splashing her.

Kristina laughed and then ducked back down under the water and swam under the rowboat to the other side of it. Just as she was emerging, she swallowed a mouthful of the salty seawater and came up coughing strenuously.

Werrien had been ready to splash her again, but instead, he held out his hand for her to grab onto. He felt sorry for her, though he couldn't help chuckling while he pulled her up into the boat.

Kristina sat down on the bench, the saltwater still stinging in her nose and throat.

Werrien patted her gently on the back. "So, I guess it's obvious now who the real baby is," he said under his breath.

Kristina's eyes narrowed and a vengeful smirk formed on her face. It was those few words Werrien had spoken that triggered the feisty spirit in her. She stood up, about to push him in the water, but just as she was moving toward him to do so, she heard directly above them, on the main deck of the ship, Hester and Davina talking with Elzwur.

"Why do we have to go with you?" Hester's complaining voice could be heard saying.

"Listen clearly this time. The Brinewine brothers are far too busy today to take you," Elzwur answered in a seemingly patient voice. His tone with Hester surprised Kristina, for he had been nothing but grouchy to her, and she hadn't even been snippety with him, like Hester was obviously being.

"I've got an idea," Davina said enthusiastically. "How about Hester and I go with Werrien and Kristina?"

Hearing this, Werrien frowned, and he shook his head in a definite no. Then he quietly placed the oars in the water and began gently rowing toward the other side of the ship.

"Are you kidding?" Hester said in a disgusted tone.

"Actually, Kristina and I are getting long amazingly now—even though she talked my ear off last night, when all I wanted to do was get away from her boring on-and-on ranting and raving about Werrien."

"Whatever," Hester said, sighing and rolling her eyes.

Werrien and Kristina didn't hear Davina's last comment because they were already out of earshot.

Having had enough of Davina and Hester already and in no mood to take the two of them anyway, Elzwur agreed to let Davina and Hester go with Werrien and Kristina.

Davina had seen Werrien in his boat earlier on, and she raced to the edge of the ship to tell him the good news that Hester and she would be going along with him and Kristina. But when she looked over the edge of the ship she couldn't see the rowboat anywhere. "Where did he go?" she yammered loudly.

"They're probably already on their way as we speak," Elzwur said. "Now if you'd be so kind as to follow me, I will take you to the boat that we will be boarding, so we can get a move on as well."

Werrien rowed the boat north. "See the island ahead of us?" he said to Kristina. She looked ahead and did see a small island, wobbling in the waves of heat, about a mile away in the distance.

"Is that where you're taking me?"

"Yes. It's called Finimus Island. On most of our journeys to Tezerel, we stop here and visit it. It makes for a nice break in our sailing trips."

Kristina stared out at the clear aqua-blue sea, listening to the sound of the oars softly treading through the water, and she thought about how perfect a sunny day it was and how happy she was being back with Werrien. While relishing in the moment, she suddenly felt Werrien's eyes fixed on her, and a dry lump filled her throat. Her thoughts directed her back to the way she had looked in the vanity mirror the night before.
He's probably thinking how horrible I look,
she thought. Embarrassed, she quickly turned toward him, about to say something, but then she noticed that he was actually looking past her. Relieved, she turned to see what it was he was looking at. She couldn't see anything out of the norm. "What are you looking at?" she asked.

Werrien stopped rowing, still gazing intently past her at the surface of the sea. "I thought I saw something swimming, not far behind the boat," he said.

"What do you think it was?"

"It may have been a turtle." He picked up the oars and as he began rowing again, Kristina panned the sea, looking for any signs of a turtle.

"I think I see something," she said.

Werrien stopped rowing and looked past her, at the surface of the water. "You do? I don't see anything." He picked up the oars again.

"Wait—don't row yet. I just saw it again," Kristina whispered loudly. She turned and looked at Werrien, the sun making her eyes the same color as the aqua sea. "Maybe if you come over here, where I am, you'll be able to see it as well."

Werrien gently placed the oars down and discreetly made his way to the front of the boat where Kristina was now crouched with her back toward him. She pointed directly out in front of her at the sea.

"There it is. Do you see it now?" she whispered, glancing at Werrien out of the corner of her eye.

As Werrien crouched down and scrupulously studied the sea's surface, Kristina decided to finish what she had started, before she had heard Hester and Davina talking above them on the ship. Kristina pushed Werrien, and taken off guard, he went head-first overboard—quickly disappearing under the boat.

Nervous and excited at the same time, Kristina hastily went to sit on the bench in the middle of the rowboat, wondering what Werrien would do to her when he surfaced.

Ten seconds went by, and he was nowhere to be seen. Then fifteen seconds went by—then twenty. Restlessly, Kristina bit her fingernail, the seconds seeming like minutes. Twenty-five seconds—then thirty passed. A warm breeze blew at the rowboat, shifting it sideways. Thirty-five seconds, then forty. The breeze turned into a wind and spun the boat counter clockwise.

Kristina stood up and looked all around the rippling sea surrounding the rowboat. Sixty seconds had now passed, and still there was no sign of Werrien.

B
ack inside the cave, the serpent was in high spirits, savoring the fact that all of its plans were falling neatly into place. With its spiny little hands at the end of its leathery wings, the bat very cautiously held out a glass vile filled with a florescent-green, bubbling potion toward the serpent.

"I revel in the fact that this world will not much longer be the fatted lazy calf that it has resorted to being," the serpent gloated.

Eagerly agreeing with the serpent, the bat grinned from ear to ear, its eyes bulging enthusiastically. Then the bat began to laugh excitedly, and a tiny bit of the potion dribbled out of the top of the vile.

"Hold it still, you dim-witted fool!" the serpent snarled.

The bat gulped nervously as it regained control of its emotions and steadied its jittery hands.

"I hope you know that this potion has different ratios of the substances than that of the formula the insect made. Are you sure that you took the right amount from the Aurum sap?"

"Yes, and again, the remainder of the Aurum sap is safe in the back of the cave, where you told me to put it," the bat assured the serpent.

"Good, very good," the serpent hissed softly. "And the juice from the Efah fungus—is it safe as well?"

The bat's hands at the end of its wings were beginning to cramp from holding the vile for so long. Impatiently, it rolled its eyes. "Like I told you many times, it is right beside the Aurum sap." Even though the bat's tone was as soft as warm butter, its words implied impatience.