The Book of Wonders (14 page)

The captain looked like a man who was being torn apart from the inside. “I do not believe that it is their intention to sink this ship. They could have fired more arrows but they have not. However, I'm not prepared to lose a single life in a fight that we cannot win,” he said firmly. “We must surrender and give the sultan what he wants.”

His eyes strayed to Zardi and Rhidan, a silent apology in his expression.

Zardi couldn't feel betrayed by the choice. Sinbad's crew was his family and he would do whatever necessary to keep them safe … just like she would do anything to protect those she loved.

“No!” Rhidan cried. “He can't catch us. He's not taking Zardi.”

“I'm sorry, there is no other way,” Sinbad ground out. He turned to Nadeem. “Raise the white flag and do it quickly.” The words seemed to choke him, and the captain couldn't look at Nadeem as the boy started his ascent to raise the white flag of surrender.

“I said,
NO
.” The words exploded from Rhidan. “We have to get away from here. Anywhere.”

Zardi stared at her friend in amazement. His voice had taken on a timbre that she'd never heard before. It was a voice full of darkness and power. All around her, purple light sprang forth from their surroundings: the sailors, the ship, even the sea. Just like before, in Sula's house, the light peeled away from every surface and wrapped itself around Rhidan. But this time the light stream did not shut off. It kept on pulsing into her friend, lifting him off his feet.

“What's happening?” Sinbad asked hoarsely.

Zardi said the only two words that made sense. “It's magic.”

The purple light continued to surge into Rhidan, pulse after pulse. His face was transformed, suddenly gaunt, his skin so translucent she could see the veins that lay beneath the surface. His eyes were lighter too, almost silver. His outline began to shimmer with purple light and a fierce wind sprang up all around them. The sea became choppy, battering the sides of the
Falcon
, tossing the ship about like it was in the hands of an angry god.

Zardi heard a cry from above, and looked up to see Nadeem being thrown from the mast. He fell through the air, landing with a sickening crunch.

“Rhidan, stop!” she screamed. “You're going to kill someone.” She tried to get close to her friend, but the energy thumping out of him threw her back. The ship was now spinning in a whirlwind and she tumbled down the deck, only just managing to grab hold of a length of trailing rope.

The sailors around her were a blur, Rhidan the only point of clarity—a still figure in the center of the chaos as the purple light engulfed him entirely.

T
he sound of howling wind and crashing waves filled Zardi's ears. She knew she was screaming because her throat hurt.

The
Falcon
continued to spin on the water, and sea spray lashed Zardi's face. She turned her head only to be faced with the
Swift
. The sultan's crew was battling hard to avoid being capsized by Rhidan's tornado, but the masts of the royal ship were snapping under the force of the onslaught.

The howling wind became a screech, and Zardi's stomach clenched as the
Falcon
was sucked up by whirlwind and the
Swift
was left far below.

Sea and sky bled into one another. The
Falcon
swirled through the air, and then all became gray as the walls of the whirlwind closed in around them. Gritting her teeth, Zardi wrapped the rope in her hand around her wrist. Wails and prayers surrounded her and Sinbad's men scrambled to find something to cling onto. She saw Dabis grab hold of Nadeem and haul him to his feet. Nadeem put weight on his left foot and gave a scream of pain, but with Dabis's help he managed to stagger over to the boat's rail. Relief smacked into her. Nadeem was hurt but he was alive.

Her eyes sought out Rhidan again. The light around him was fading now, and she saw his feet come to rest once more on the deck. The whirlwind that surrounded them began to slow. The screeching wind became a sigh. Rhidan dropped to his knees, as the ship skimmed across the water, his eyes glazed with exhaustion.

He needs me
, Zardi thought. Her fingers began unwrapping the rope from her wrist.

She got to her feet and, for the first time since the whirlwind had subsided, glanced around her. There was no sign of the
Swift
, just a wide expanse of sea. She felt a swell of pride. Rhidan had saved them.

“Zee, what are you doing?” Sinbad's voice suddenly bellowed from behind her. “Hold on to something. We're going to hit those rocks.”

“Rocks? What ro—” But Zardi was interrupted by something near her head splintering apart. She was thrown forward. Her fingers grazed the roughness of rope as she flew down the deck, but she couldn't grab hold of it. Her eyes desperately searched for Rhidan's, and for a second met his horrified gaze before she was flung over the side of the ship. The water rushed up to meet her and Zardi crashed into the waves.

The shouts and screams of the
Falcon's
crew shut off as she plunged downward, her nose, ears, and mouth filling with icy liquid.

She tried to work out which way was up but all she found was blackness. Pressure built up in her chest and she forced herself to relax and then kicked hard.

She broke the surface and thirstily drank in air.

Eyes stinging with salt water and tears, she tried to see. Ahead was a strip of land bordered by jagged silvery-white rocks. They jutted out of the sea like swords, and the
Falcon
was being smashed against their sharp edges, again and again.

Crack
.

Something struck her head. Zardi's legs stopped treading water and she was dragged under once more. She fought back. Her head again broke the ocean's skin; she saw that the sea was littered with planks of wood and timber chests from the
Falcon
. She grabbed onto a piece.

The waves hammered at her but she managed to scan the water. There was no sign of the ship. Had it been destroyed? Could it have happened so quickly? Her heart pounded painfully. The
Falcon
and Sinbad's crew might all be underwater. Rhidan was gone.
I've lost him
.

Zardi didn't know how long she held onto that piece of wood, her eyes searching for the
Falcon
, but it never appeared. Her fingers cramped into claws and her teeth chattered so hard she thought they might break. The smiling faces of her family filled her drowsy mind. They held open their arms to her, told her she would be cold no more.

“Zub, I'm coming,” she whispered.

Her eyes fought to stay open.

“Baba, I'm coming.”

Zardi's fingers slipped off the wood and the waves carried her away.

“I'm coming home.”

Darkness washed over her.

When she regained consciousness, her cheek rested against sand, and her mouth was filled with it. Spitting the grains out, Zardi sat up, her archer's belt digging uncomfortably into her side.

She was on a deserted beach. The air smelled of both earth and salt, and the sky was tinged with saffron. Silver sand with a blue sheen stretched off in one direction, and in the other an enormous rock ridge that looked like an upturned cooking pot jutted out into the sea.

Zardi shook her head.

This isn't Taraket
.

When she squeezed her eyes shut, memories gradually began to lap over her and she remembered—
everything
. She remembered the look on her sister's face when she was captured by the sultan's guards, the plea in her father's eyes to stop Shahryār while he was dragged away. She could see the Windrose on Sula's table, and heard the sound of Rhidan's whirlwind screeching in her ears.

Zardi staggered to her feet, her legs feeling old and weak—as if they belonged to someone else. She steadied herself against a tall palm tree, heavy with coconuts, and began to cough violently, salt water wetting her lips. The whole length of the silver-blue beach was spread out before her and, farther inland, lush and strange vegetation: trees with maroon-colored bark and cascading leaves the shape of arrowheads. For an instant Zardi felt a spurt of excitement as she wondered what mysteries lay among the trees. But the thought felt like a betrayal. She had to find the
Falcon
first. Find survivors. Find Rhidan.

She walked along the shore, taking off her sandals, which were flabby and sodden with water. The wet sand squelched between her toes, comforting her even though the sight of silver-blue sand was so strange. The ocean was more lavender than azure, reflecting the sky above, a violet bruise, streaked with orange and red.

After some distance she neared a cluster of white boulders. They cut down the middle of the beach like a pyramid of giant marbles. Zardi froze. She'd spotted movement on top of the white pyramid. Squinting, she could see a lone figure lowering himself from the rocks and running toward her. It was a boy with hair like bright moonlight and a silver amulet around his neck.

They met in a jumble of words and hugs. Neither allowed the other to get a word in, excitement and relief making them both selfish and eager.

Zardi felt tears well up as she took in her friend's appearance. He had a long scratch down the left side of his face; it cut into his cheek like a gully. Ridiculously, it occurred to her that Rhidan now looked a lot more like a pirate than a sorcerer. “You're alive!” she managed to gasp out.

“So are you.” His voice was hoarse. “I knew I'd find you. I had to believe that.”

She gripped his hand. There was so much she needed to ask him but for a moment it was just enough to feel his palm in hers. “How's the
Falcon?
” she said finally.

“The ship survived,” Rhidan explained. “We got lucky and one of the waves carried us past the rocks and onto the beach. We're on the other side of that thing.” He pointed to the white pyramid. “Sinbad and Musty have everything under control. All those who can stand are pulling the ship farther up on the beach.”

“How is everyone?” Zardi asked. There was another unspoken question in her words and Rhidan heard it.

“There're a few injuries but everyone made it.” He looked down at his feet. “No thanks to me. I almost killed us all, Zardi. My magic, I just couldn't control it.”

“But you got us away from the sultan,” Zardi reminded him. “You saved us from him.”

“And shipwrecked us here,” Rhidan shot back. “Musty lost his compass and all the navigational charts in the whirlwind. No one has any idea where we are. All we can work out is that we're on some kind of island.”

Zardi sighed patiently. “Will you stop worrying? You're a sorcerer. You can use your magic to get us back to Arribitha. No problem.”

“Actually, yes problem,” Rhidan burst out. “A big problem, in fact. I can't get us home. I can't get us back to Arribitha. My magic is gone.”

“G
one?” Zardi repeated. “You made a whirlwind appear out of thin air. How can your magic be gone?”

Rhidan spread his arms wide. “There is this emptiness inside me—it wasn't there before.” His eyes glittered. “When I made the whirlwind come, it was like the amulet was telling me where to go and I felt so powerful. My whole life that ability to absorb magic had been inside me and I didn't know it. But now it's gone and I don't know how to make it come back. I've been trying everything.”

An image of Zubeyda and Baba imprisoned in Taraket's tallest watchtower stamped itself behind her eyes, and Zardi struggled to keep her frustration from her face. They needed to get back to Sula and find the Windrose if they were ever going to defeat Shahryār.

She sucked in a calming breath. “Your magic will come back, Rhidan. It will come back because it has to.”

“I hope so.” Rhidan tugged on his amulet anxiously. His brow suddenly creased, his whole face becoming a question as he held the entwined snakes in his hand.

“What is it?” Zardi asked.

“The amulet,” Rhidan replied. “It feels different, heavier somehow.” He shook his head. “It doesn't matter. Come on. Sinbad and the others will want to see you.”

“Really?” Zardi rubbed her arms. “Sinbad told me that his men would think it bad luck to have a woman onboard a ship. I've only proved them right.”

Rhidan snorted. “I wouldn't worry about silly superstitions. Out of the two of us it's me that they're really mad at, especially after I told them that my magic is gone.”

They climbed over the white boulders and, as they dropped down onto the beach, Zardi was faced with the ruined beauty of the
Falcon
. The ship was being dragged up the beach by the twins, Mo and Ali, and several other sailors. Nadeem looked on, resting heavily on a makeshift crutch.

The
Falcon's
two masts had snapped and hung uselessly like dislocated arms, the colorful sails crumpled butterfly wings against a sky streaked with red. On the deck, splintered planks stood up on end and water gushed from the battered hull like blood from a gaping wound. The proud
Falcon
figurehead had been shattered as well. A friend lost forever.

“No need for the long face, Zee.” Sinbad walked up to them. One of his eyes was bloodied and swollen shut but she could see no other injury. “Those rocks almost destroyed my ship, but we'll restore the
Falcon
to her former glory. It's nothing that a little hard work won't fix.”

“It is going to take a bit more than that, Captain,” Musty said, bustling up to them. “If we want to get off this island, it is not a matter of fixing the
Falcon
but rather rebuilding her.” He turned to Zardi. “Glad to see you made it.”

“Me too.” She frowned as his earlier words sank in. Zubeyda had been kidnapped by the sultan nine days ago, which meant that the Hunt was only eighty-one days away. She and Rhidan had to get off this island. “How long will we need to rebuild the ship?” she asked.