The four of them made their way back toward the town square, the illusion around them becoming more apparent as there were more buildings and stands to take in. By the time they reached the fountain at the center, the sounds of daily life had returned. Vendors were hawking their wares. The scent of fresh bread baking hit them, not as delicious seeming as it had been when the illusion held full sway over them but still good and hearty. Above all that, though, less pleasant responsibilities called.

Quill was waiting for them, arms folded, looking both annoyed and impatient as the group walked up.

"Updates?" Marco asked.

“My scout’s back,” Quill said. “He didn’t get far.”

Marco arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t get far, or didn’t try?”

Quill’s mouth twitched. “Depends on who you ask. He says he got to the shore and heard screaming. He claims that abandoning the entire project at that point counts as trying. I don't agree.”

Elisa frowned. From the look of it, she had some sympathies for the poor scout.

“Did he see anything?” Marco asked instead.

“No. Just heard noises and decided the island was cursed. Haunted. Whatever gets him off the hook.” Quill scowled. “He’s not wrong to be afraid. But fear isn’t an excuse to come back empty-handed.”

Riv crossed his arms. “So you want us to check it out instead.”

“That’s right.” Quill didn’t even try to dress the request up. “I need to know if this is just wind through the rocks or something worse. Frankly, you four are suited to this kind of work. I doubt that whatever's there is all that dangerous. It requires bravery first, and none of my people have much of that.”

Aethe tilted her head toward Marco. “You think it’s worth the trouble?”

Marco considered it. He didn't mind Quill seeing them consider it. If there was any chance the man was still buying their we-aren't-really-enemies act, Marco didn't want to blow their cover by appearing too eager.

"What's the pay?" Marco said. "We are going to need some gold before too long, but that can't be all of it."

“Two skill crystals,” Quill said. “Your pick. And a pouch of gold to keep you going. You can have that now.”

Quill tossed the pouch to Marco. It was about twice the size of their belt-pouches. Adventuring was starting to pay well, it seemed.

"Sure. Why not. Everyone okay with that?" The entire group nodded. "Then we are good to go."

Quill gave a single nod, satisfied. “Good. I’ll expect you to leave tomorrow morning, early. Otherwise, good luck.”

He turned and walked away, claws swinging in the wind as he made a beeline back to his manor.

Riv grunted.

"Ghosts. Undead. Popping out of every corner. I can't wait."

“It could be birds for all we know,” Marco said. "Although I doubt it's anything safe and easy. Or ghosts, for that matter."

"Any particular reason?"

"It's Quill." Marco exhaled a sort of what-can-you-do sigh. "If he's sending us, I doubt it would be that simple."

—

They left at dawn the next day. When they got to the ship, a Carpenter was waiting for them, a hand-plane lazily hanging from his arm.

"Took a lot of work, that wood," he said, not waiting for introductions. "I dulled seven blades getting it into shape."

"Oh. Sorry?" Marco said. "I can pay for those."

“Don't bother. It doesn't cost much to resharpen them. Plus that wood was something real special. You weren't able to assess it, I'm guessing?”

"No. Not at all."

"Well, let me tell you." The man set his plane on the dock post and moved closer. "It's hard to tell what tree it came off, but whatever it was, it was a doozy of a plant. It’s been floating in the ocean for who knows how long. Staying in water as long as it did damaged it."

"Oh, too bad," Marco said. "I would have liked to have seen it when it was intact."

"No, no. If it wasn't damaged, I wouldn't have even been able to work it. Like I said, it was tough stuff. It had to marinade in the water for decades to get like it was. And that's not all. You know how water has it's own kind of system energy? It's own kind of magic?"

Marco looked at Elisa for answers.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"It does, Marco. Everything does, but the ocean is special because there's so much water and it moves. Something floating in the ocean is getting full contact from a magic bearing substance, all the time, and that connection never gets weaker."

"And that's a lot?"

"No." Elisa shook her head. "It's a tiny amount. But it can work on something over decades."

"And it did," the man said. "It absolutely did. Like I said, I could barely work the stuff, but it was worth it. More than worth it. Have fun out there, and make sure you report back to me on how that rudder performs."

Marco nodded and shook the man's hand, thanking him. After that, he got on the boat as quickly as he could. He suspected he had a notification to read, and he was right.

"Feed the chickens!" Marco yelled immediately after reading the description. "Let’s get the sails down!"

"It's that good?"

"It sure sounds like it," he said. "Let's get out on the open water and find out."

The currents carried them away from the docks with a steady pull as soon as Riv pulled the mooring lines from the dock. It felt like the ship wanted to get out there and be put through its paces as much as Marco wanted the same. The town receded behind them, and Marco cut a gentle arc to put the terrain of the island between himself and any prying eyes that might be able to see what was coming next.

"You going to do anything?" Riv asked. "So far it all seems normal."

"I just want a little more distance before I do it, but this should be about enough. Hang on, everyone. I have no idea what happens when I do this."

Marco pushed power into the ship and cranked the wheel to the side as far as it would go. He expected the ship would make a tighter circle than what he was used to, but nothing like what he got. It was like the rudder had grabbed the sea and was swinging the ship around like a monkey pivoting on a branch. The entire hull groaned as Marco felt the ship taking minimal but actual damage from the maneuver.

Everyone on the ship except Aethe struggled to keep their footing as their own momentum shifted orthogonal to the ship's.

"Holy crap," Riv said. "That wasn't a right angle turn, was it?"

"No. But it almost felt that way." Marco wobbled the wheel back and forth a few times, feeling the rudder grab onto more sea than it should with each movement. "Look. It's insane how well this works. It actually hurt the ship on that first turn. It's that far ahead of the rest of what we have."

"So we should keep a lookout for more of that wood?"

"If you can find it? Absolutely." Marco failed to express enough imagination to really understand what the ship would feel like if it was all made out of the stuff. "Somehow I doubt we'll ever do that, but yes, please figure out a way."

"You know," Elisa said. "Eventually that will happen. Maybe not that particular wood, but so long as we aren't sunk, we'll keep getting stronger and stronger."

"That seems hard. We've been all over this ocean and that's the first we've seen."

"But your Charisma keeps going up, Marco," Elisa said. "And you keep getting stronger. The system is going to take more and more notice of that. It's going to send us more and more places. Eventually, it's going to happen."

Travel was slow but steady after that. The unfortunate thing about a rudder was that it hardly affected things when they were going straight, so only Marco's power could keep them at the pace they wanted. The first day of traveling was spent out on open water, with only a few tiny, barren islands breaking up the monotony. They stopped briefly on one to stretch their legs and eat, scaring crabs and having a quick breather before they got back into the ship's outboat and paddled back aboard.

By the second day started out a lot like the first, boring except for putting the new rudder through its paces. It really had become even better, even if the changes to speed were minimal. Sharp turns seemed to ask a little less of the ship's hull, though he couldn't keep testing the exact limits of that without hurting the ship in ways he had no way of repairing at the moment. Overall, though, he felt very good about a variety of types of sea battles he would have worried about before. This was good. Very good, in some scenarios.

"We're coming up on it," Elisa said, finally. "We made much better time than the other ship did. It seems that either Quill didn't send his best or he didn't have anyone very good to send. I'm hoping for the latter."

The island finally came into view an hour later. It was a low, green sort of terrain from the beach a good mile inland, then jutted up sharply into hills, giant boulders, and other outcroppings of the ground that kept them from getting a good look at the wooded interior. On top of that, a thin mist stuck stubbornly to the whole island and the surrounding waters, like the landmass itself was trying to keep them from examining it.

“It doesn’t look that bad,” Riv said. “Not bad enough to scare the scout like that. What’s the big deal?”

As if summoned to the task by Riv’s optimism, the mist around the island chose that moment to pulse. It shot miles further into the ocean, engulfing their ship in one fell swoop. Marco could barely see the island at all now, let alone details.

Then the screaming began. It wasn’t screaming, exactly, although he understood exactly why the scouts and various people reporting back would have described it that way. There really wasn’t a better word for it, even if the shriek that came from the island sounded so far off what he’d expect from a human baseline it almost couldn’t have come from a person’s mouth.