Ascendant

Nym worked on it for the next week, but failed to make a breakthrough into the second layer. It wasn’t really a surprise, but it was frustrating. What he did figure out though, was that he could use magic to do more than lift things with his mind. It started with him trying to expand the garden and realizing they didn’t really have good tools for it. Ciana had borrowed them from a friend of her father’s years ago and had been making do with what she could do by hand.

It started with him wondering if he could use his magic to form a tool. When that worked, it progressed to wondering if he could also wield the tool via telekinesis, which was difficult but possible. The better he got at it, the bigger he went. By the end of the week, he was mentally dual wielding a hoe and a spade at the same time as he expanded the garden. Ciana picked up the seeds from Apari’s general store after telling him that she couldn’t trust him to go into town on his own without picking a fight anymore.

Nym rolled his eyes and gave her a light mental shove, then went back to work. Once she’d returned with the goods, they’d started working on planting. It was a bit late in the season to expand, but it never really got too cold this far south, and if the vegetables grew a bit stunted, it was still better than growing nothing at all.

She also taught him how to make the crab traps that she had placed all over Blood Fin Cove. They’d gathered the materials and made dozens of them to replace some of the older ones and set new ones, and were moving around the cove placing them when Ciana said, “Your shark is back.”

“Why does he have to be my shark?” Nym groused, watching the scar-marked shark circle around the boat.

“Never behaved like that before I met you. I don’t see him when it’s just me out here. I think he’s got a crush on you.”

Nym rolled his eyes and used his magic to help push them through the water while Ciana rowed. It tired his legs and arms out like he was actually swimming behind the boat and pushing it, except he was significantly less likely to get eaten. They got to the next drop spot and sunk the crab trap, leaving just two more to go before they were finished.

“I don’t know how I’m going to check all these without you,” Ciana said.

“Why? Am I going somewhere?”

“Look Nym, I’m not kicking you out or anything, but like… don’t you want to get your memories back? Maybe if you saw some other places, some stuff would come back to you.”

“You think so?” Nym asked, distracted as he forced the boat to turn towards their next destination. They’d already seeded the buoys to tie the trap lines too, and using his magic, even recovered a few traps whose lines had been snipped by curious sharks. As they approached, Ciana fished the buoy out of the water.

“I don’t know. I ran out of ideas for you after that jackass magister called you a liar and kicked us out. You’re welcome to stay here. I kind of like having a little brother, but don’t feel like you have to. Big Sis will survive if you want to go on a trip in a few years when you’re older.”

“Big Sis, huh? I guess you are though.”

“Yeah yeah. Don’t get all sappy on me. Here, hand me that next trap box.”

Nym leaned down to grab it for her and she started weaving the rope through it before she dropped it into the water. It was almost out of sight when a shark cruised in and took the whole thing in one bite.

“Damn it, I hate when they do that. Wait, is that your shark? Tell him to behave, Nym!”

“He’s not ‘my shark.’ I don’t have any control over him.” Nym glared down at the retreating form in the water. “You think maybe he can smell magic or something? Maybe I’m the tastiest thing he’s ever smelled.”

“He eats another one of my traps, and we’ll be having shark fin soup tonight,” Ciana threatened.

“I’ve never had that,” Nym said.

“That’s because these sharks are terrible eating. It’s not even close to worth the effort plus it’s dangerous to harpoon them. Best case you’ll probably lose the harpoon, worst case they’ll capsize the boat if you’ve tied a line to it.”

Nym shuddered. The odds were not good in getting back out of the water alive if he had to swim to shore. Even with his magic helping him, he didn’t like his odds. It wasn’t like there was always a shark in sight, but they regularly came close enough to the surface to see a silhouette or a fin cutting through the water.

“Why are there so many sharks here, anyway?” he asked. “Shouldn’t they be spread out more so they get enough to eat.”

“It’s because of the currents in the open water. The sharks go out to hunt in the shoals, but it’s nice and calm here. So they come back in to rest between hunts. They’re all the way up and down the coast here. The bigger trade ships can ignore them, but the fishermen in the smaller boats are taking their lives in their hands every time they go out on open water. That’s why I stick to the cove, where the water’s calm.”

“Makes sense. Still annoying though. Especially you, my finny little stalker!” Nym shook a fist at the scarred shark still circling their boat.

The shark swerved in and bumped the boat with its snout, rocking it and throwing Nym against one side. “Hey, watch it!” he yelled at the shark.

“Nym! Sit down and brace yourself!” Ciana snapped out. A second thump rocked the boat. If not for her warning, he might very well have been thrown out. The shark circled around and came up directly from below, lifting the boat and setting it to spinning in place.

“What’s wrong with this thing?” Nym said, eyes wide.

“I guess you got its attention,” she told him grimly. She set the oars and stopped their spin, then started rowing back towards the beach. “We’ll do this last trap some other time. It’s not worth it to- ahh!”

One of the oars was ripped out of her hand as the shark caught it in his mouth. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ciana said, dumbfounded. She immediately pulled the other oar out of the lock and started alternating sides as she paddled.

Nym fell into his magic and cast the boat speeding spell again. Sweat started to pop out across his skin and they picked up speed, but not nearly fast enough to outpace the persistent shark. It snapped at the remaining oar several times, but Ciana jerked it out of the water whenever the fin approached.

That worked until a second shark joined in. The two of them circled the boat relentlessly, each lap they took bumping up against its hull. Despite Nym’s efforts, the boat slowed to a stop and started spinning in place. “Are they doing this on purpose?” he asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

“They’re sharks! How could they be coordinating this?”

Her eyes darted back and forth, tracking their circuits. A third shark joined, then a fourth. “What is going on here?” she whispered.

It was impossible to get the oar back in the water without one of the sharks taking it, and they were bumping up against the boat enough that if Nym or Ciana stood up, there was a decent chance they’d be thrown in the water.

“I got this,” Nym said, his voice clearly strained. Slowly, the boat started moving towards the shore again. Each time a shark bumped up against it and diverted the course, he worked to correct it. Inch by inch, they crawled closer to shallow water and safety.

That was the plan, at least. Nym felt his stamina giving out on him half-way, and Ciana didn’t have any real way to help. The boat slowed down and drifted to a stop again. “Sorry,” Nym panted. “Can’t… keep… going.”

“Nym, if we get out of this, you are never allowed on a boat with me again.”

“Hah… funny.”

Just because the boat stopped didn’t mean the sharks were done. If anything, there were more of them. It was harder to keep track with them occasionally dipping under the boat and pushing on it, but Nym figured they were up to six or seven now.

A loud crunch caught his attention, followed by a blistering string of curses from Ciana. She’d tried to use the oar again, and a shark had quickly taken it from her. “Okay Nym, this one is all on you. Take your time here. Breathe in. Get your strength back. Let me know when you’re ready. I’m going to use the harpoon to try to keep them away from the prow so we can keep a straight heading.”

“Thanks… for the… pep talk,” Nym gasped out.

Another bump nearly tipped them into the water. “No pressure here, but how long do you need before we can start moving again?”

“Working on it,” Nym said.

He took a series of deep breaths and forged a conduit to the first layer again. His vision doubled, then blurred, and he found himself on his knees in the bottom of the boat, trying not to heave his guts out. With great effort, he started forcing arcana into his soul well and shaped it into a set of paddles. They were invisible to Ciana, but he could see them as two misty shapes.

Since she no longer had oars, it was easier for him to give his legs a rest and use his arms. In fact, once he thought of it, he wondered if Ciana would be able to use the oars he’d shaped. “Give me your hands,” he said.

“What?”

“Just do it!”

He took her hands and placed them on the oars. “Can you feel them? I made oars with magic.”

“I don’t feel anything,” she told him.

“Your hands are wrapped around them. Do a rowing motion, see if it helps.”

“How about that?” she whispered to herself as she pulled on the invisible oars. “It does feel like I’m rowing.”

The boat shot forward a few more feet. “Again,” Nym said. “Just keep going. I’ll try to hold them in place as long as I can.”

It was maybe less effort than it would have been to row himself, but there was still a strain on both his mind and his muscles. Ciana made the rowing motions as fast as she could, unaware that each motion cost Nym a little bit. It wasn’t just time that was a factor, but usage.

Still, it looked like they were going to make it. They lost one of the oars when a shark bumped into the paddle and the whole construct fell apart, but Nym spun a new one out of the ether and they kept going. Nym was barely still upright, weakly clinging to his seat as sweat rolled down skin that had turned bright red. It was taking everything he had not to hurl and hold the magic in place.

Suddenly the boat was sideways and he slid off his seat into the water. It crashed back into place still upright next to him, and he heard Ciana’s panicked screaming. She reached out to grab hold of his arm as he fought weakly to stay above water, but it was too late. He slipped under the surface and saw his stalker shark coming straight at him, mouth open wide.