The 3 Seas

The glow had not been strong enough to be obvious during the daylight hours, or even during the onset of night. Seen from a distance, obscured by a curtain of greenery, and in the open air it had not been as immediately recognizable as it would have been had Jace encountered it in an enclosed environment… like a cave, or a ship’s hold.
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Jace crouched low to the ground and tried his best to sneak up on the treeline, but as there was no appreciable cover to be had on the small island except for the very vegetation he was trying to ambush this may not have been the most effective exercise of stealth ever attempted.
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It was Katryn, not Jace, who first saw signs of ghosts.
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By the time night had well and truly fallen, Jace and Katryn had assembled a pair of very passable shelters in the lee of the ship, made out of canvas and wood. It took some coaxing to get Sheiral out of the ship, even with it tilted at an odd angle on the beach. It took the promise of fresh fruit found by Jace to lure her out onto the sand, and even then only after it was made perfectly clear that none would be sent up for her if she didn’t come down.
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“I don’t think anybody’s ever lived on this island,” Jace said to Katryn, as he helped her assemble a camp after having made a cursory exploration of the wooded crescent.
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Katryn gave Jace the go-ahead to hop down, wade ashore, and start exploring before she’d decided where to put the Chaser.
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The closer one got to the rim of the world, the stronger and less predictable the air currents grew. This made the region particularly hazardous for ships with sails, but slightly more pleasant for the travelers aboard Horizon Chaser… the sun was hot, and an occasional strong breeze was not a thing to be despised.
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Jace took to his second sea voyage a good deal better than he had the first. Some of it was simply a matter of expectations… the first time he had expected to find great excitement, and the second time he did not.
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“Am I to actually believe you would allow me to have an equitable share in the treasure, when you hold the key to my very life or death?” Iskondra asked.
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“You seem to have mistaken me for a mercenary of some kind,” Iskondra said. “I am no mere sell-sword. My services and skills with the blade are not mere commodities to be offered up for sale to the highest bidder. Though, incidentally… approximately how much would you be offering?”
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“You’ll never make it out of here,” the man choked.

“Makes three of us,” Tauri said.
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Iskondra awoke to a painful brightness that, after she had a chance to adjust to it, proved to be more of a painful dimness. Thin rays of grayish sunlight slanted through cracks in heavy wooden shutters. Her eyes’ sensitivity was the first sign hint she received that she had not, in fact, just closed them for a moment when the last spell hit her.
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