The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [100]
"Yes," Glawinn said. "He won't get so far ahead of us that we can't catch him soon enough. If he's stocking supplies, what he is going to do isn't going to happen too soon."
"Ill see to our own supplies," Azla stated. "We're going in stripped down. I want to be able to move quickly if the need arises."
"Agreed," Glawinn said.
Sabyna listened to the half-elfs footsteps recede from the railing.
"Lady?" the paladin asked.
"Aye."
"You're quiet."
"I'm thinking."
"About the young warrior?"
Sabyna hesitated. Upon occasion she and the paladin had talked of Jherek, but those talks had never brought much in the way of satisfaction. She couldn't help thinking that he might be dead and she'd never know, but the feeling Glawinn had told her would come if that were so never did.
"Do you still feel him close to you?" Glawinn asked.
"Not now, but earlier this morning. I could have sworn I heard him say my name on the wind again. It was foolishness, brought on by too much anxiety and too little sleep."
"And, mayhap, love?"
She hesitated. I don't know anymore, Glawinn. The way I feel has changed."
"Don't you still miss him?"
"Aye, but not like I did.'7
That's a good thing, though, lady. There's only so much pain a heart can bear."
"I don't know. Not missing him so much scares me."
"Why?"
She smiled at herself, then realized Glawinn couldn't see the expression. "When I was younger, just coming into my teens, I fell in love with one of the sailors on a ship my father worked on. He was seven or eight years older than I was, and he was so beautiful. I wanted him so badly to love me-to just notice me-but I was Ship's Mage Truesail's daughter, and the crew knew to leave me alone. My father was very protective then."
"So this love went unrequited?"
"Not entirely. I followed him around like a guppy staying with its school. He couldn't ignore me, but he didn't say anything. My mother noticed. She talked to my father. My mother is the only one who has the ability to convince my father to change his mind. She persuaded him to let me eat eveningfeast with the sailor."
"Did the sailor live up to your expectations, lady?"
Sabyna laughed at the memory, but there was a bit of sadness in the effort as well. '"No. It was horrible. We sat there at that little table across from each other and had absolutely nothing to talk about." She laughed again. "Well, I had nothing to talk about. All he did was talk about the things he'd done, the women he'd seen, and how he'd be captain of a Waterdhavian Watch warship someday.
"That was an infatuation, Glawinn. How am I to know this isn't?"
"I know love when I see it, lady."
She suddenly wished she could see the warrior's face. "How do you know it's love?" she asked.
"Close your eyes, lady, and imagine his face in your mind."
Sabyna pictured Jherek in her mind, as she'd first seen him aboard Breezerunner, then again as he'd fought for her when Vurgrom kidnapped them in Baldur's Gate. All the memories she had of him, of the way his chest had felt beneath her fingers, the way his lips had felt and tasted against hers, tumbled through her mind.
She seemed to see him again. His light brown hair twisted in the wind and a green-blue sea spread out behind him. White sailcloth fluttered overhead. There was a cut on his face, running vertically over his right cheekbone, half-healed and slightly red from inflammation.
Jherek?
Aye, lady. His lips moved, as though he spoke, but she couldn't understand any of his words.
Sabyna's heart swelled within her breast and ached so fiercely she thought she'd die. Then the connection blurred for a moment.
Come to me! she called.
He spoke again, smiling through the sadness in his pale gray eyes. She couldn't hear him this time either, but she read his lips. As you wish.
Opening her eyes, Sabyna remained somewhat confused. She couldn't see her own hands in front of her body due to the invisibility spell.
"Lady?" Glawinn asked.
"I'm all right."
"I called for you but you didn't answer."
"It was like I could talk