The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [61]
"No." Cold anger and fear battered Jherek but they couldn't overcome the stunned numbness that filled him. His life was his own. He'd forsworn all gods.
Azla approached them, her face hard and chiseled. "This is sorcery," she said as she gazed around the two ships.
Jherek peered through the railing, looking at the eight-foot-high waves that seemed to pass all around them, leaving them in a hollowed bowl in the middle of the Sea of Fallen Stars.
"Young warrior," Glawinn said, "you must go. It is your destiny."
"No," Jherek argued. "This is my curse. I am finally among friends. Now I am being turned from them."
Nothing about this was fair. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sabyna. The ache in his heart worsened.
"Not a curse, young warrior. I sense this is part of your birthright. You must believe me."
Captain Tarnar shouted across the distance, clearly heard in the still air as he demanded to know what was happening.
A sudden banshee shriek ripped through the air above them, filling the sails hard enough to rip canvas free in places. Azure Dagger rocked violently, scattering men across the deck.
"What is going on?" Sabyna demanded as she joined them.
Glawinn looked at her and said, "Lady, he can't stay with us. His path lies in another direction."
Panic touched Sabyna's face for just a moment, but she got control of herself. "If that is true," she said, "I'm going with him."
The banshee wind shrieked again, ripping more canvas free.
"You can't go," Glawinn gasped. "I can't go. No one can go with the young warrior. We each have our parts to play in this tangling of threads."
"No," Sabyna denied quietly. "You have to be wrong."
"My friend, I wish that I was wrong." Glawinn took Jherek's hand tight in his. "Look inside your heart. Tell me if you feel that I am wrong."
Cold and adrift inside himself, Jherek found it hard to concentrate. He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath, searching within. No voice gave him direction, but he felt a tug eastward, a wanderlust that pushed him to go in that direction.
"There is no place for me here," he croaked as he stared into the paladin's eyes.
"How can you speak so surely?" Sabyna demanded.
Jherek looked up at her, trying not to see the tears that tracked her cheeks. "I can't say, lady."
"You don't have to go," Azla said defiantly. "This is my ship. I say who comes and goes."
Another powerful gust of wind slammed into Azure Dagger. Half her canvas ripped free and cracked in the wind. Pirates immediately worked the rigging, dropping the canvas.
"I have no choice," Jherek said. He forced himself to his feet. "What am I supposed to do?"
Glawinn shook his head. "I don't know. Trust the love inside you, Jherek. It is your strength and your belief. You must hold tight to that till you find your anchor and your forgiveness."
"There is no one to forgive me."
The paladin was silent for a moment. "There is one."
"Who?"
"It's not for me to say. When the time is right, you will know. Come. I will help you pack."
"No," Jherek said. "I'll take what I have with me."
"You have gear here," Azla said, "and we have supplies we can spare."
"Nothing." Jherek looked at the still water between the two ships.
"You're going then?" Sabyna asked.
Jherek looked at her, the pain in his heart almost too much to bear. "Lady, perhaps it is better. All I seem capable of doing is bringing you pain, and I am sorry for that. I'm sorry that you are so far from home."
"I am where I need to be," Sabyna said. "I have charted this course as much as you have."
Jherek started to shake his head.
"I’ll not tolerate a pig-headed argument," Sabyna warned in a hoarse voice, "and you've no other to offer in this matter."
Before he could stop himself, Jherek took her hand in his and knelt. He pulled her hand gently to his chest above his heart.
"Lady," he said, "I swear that should you ever need me, should there be a way made that I can help you, I