The Last Mapmaker: Chapters 23–30

My eyes tracked up the mainmast, and I tried to imagine a forest of trees that tall standing guard on the shore of this desolate harbor.

He waved his hand at the dingy harbor.

I trust you not to tell anyone my treasonous thoughts.

But I can’t find any good evidence—anything credible—that shows where land might exist in the Harbinger Sea.

There have been faraway glimpses, but those could just be mirages, tricks the light plays on sailors’ eyes when they’ve been too long on a voyage.

“To be more specific, she’s my half sister. We have the same father but different mothers. My mother was a servant on the Sangra estate. Without being vulgar, I’ll say that my birth was not exactly welcomed by anyone in the Sangra family.”

Discovering the Sunderlands will vault us straight to the top of Mangkon society! We will be celebrated and sought after, and I’ll finally prove that I’m deserving of my father’s esteem.

In his fevered state, he spoke of a lush continent whose rivers were lined with jade and whose forests were full of trees twice the height of our tallest masts.

“I know how it sounds. I would feel skeptical if it were not for this. After the sailor died, they found this piece of silk in his jacket. This is a map he made of the Sunderlands!”

I had a stowaway to throttle.

“What’re you doin’ up here?” he said, eyeing me warily.

The sailor’s life had not been kind to him. His eyes were ringed with dark-purple circles. His formerly plump cheeks sagged loose on the bone.

He was a good lookout. So what if he thought he saw the Slake? At least he was being vigilant.

Lark nodded vigorously and tapped the notebook in his pocket. “Something absolutely fascinating, actually! There is a pod of at least twenty fluted whales there, off our port side.”

“It has always been a mystery where the fluted whale spends its summers. Sighting them here, headed south, lends strength to my hypothesis.”

If I’m right, we will find the southern waters to be an absolute paradise, full of animals feasting on the bounty that summer brings.

“Perhaps we’ll discover where those harbingers nest. Wouldn’t that be something!”
I turned. “Harbinger? Is that what the birds are called, sir?”
Lark nodded without looking up from his notebook. “Same name as the sea they will soon fly across. The word means ‘omen.’”

Paiyoon pointed out the brick furnace near the foremast, which the crew used to boil out the oil from whale blubber.

The surface of the ocean roiled, then stilled again.

More whales were coming to join the distraught mother.

The three sailors eyed Captain Sangra with barely contained contempt. The captain stood at the top deck, unaware of her crew grumbling about her behind her back.

“Are you a child? What did you think this trip was about, you fool?”
Lark stepped back, looking livid.

“I thought—but did we run aground?”
“Run aground? We're in the middle of the ocean!”
“I know that, but I heard this awful groaning down in the hull. It sounds like something’s scraping against the timbers.”

A low creaking sound reverberated beneath us.

Whispers spread throughout the ship that she’d contracted Listrus fever, which must have been festering in the fresh water we picked up on Fahlin.

“I can’t let her suffer alone, and we can’t afford for you or any other officers to fall ill. I’m the most dispensable person on this ship.”

The doctor exchanged a look with the first lieutenant that said she wasn’t going to argue about Rian being expendable.

“You’ve got the skills; and you’ve read every document that exists about the southern oceans. Most of all, you have the ambition to make this expedition succeed.”

Incense from the ship’s shrine filled my nose with sweet smoke. It smelled like a funeral.

The lieutenant stopped with his hand over the doorknob. Listrus fever was a powerful deterrent.

The first letter thanked the crew for their service thus far and warned of the dangers we would face in the next leg of our expedition. It released anyone who did not wish to continue on with no penalty and no rebuke.

“What? Release Paiyoon? But that’s preposterous! He’s fit as any of the crew to go forth!”

When we set sail from Avens Island, our numbers had dwindled to what the sailors called a skeleton crew.

And we lost another twenty sailors who were deemed too unhealthy to continue the voyage.

Dr. Pinching stayed with us out of duty to her, but Mr. Lark resigned. He said it was out of solidarity with Master Paiyoon, but most of us suspected that it was because he was too scared to cross the Harbinger Sea.

Paiyoon had once explained that running with all the sails unfurled during a storm was a disaster waiting to happen.

Miss Rian, we’ve got heavy winds from the northeast and a squall line on the horizon.

Grebe and four of our strongest sailors stood at the helm in a wide stance, straining against the wheel.

“My sister, my blood. A shadow that I can never be rid of.”
I bristled at those last words, remembering the story of how the Sangra family had shut Rian out and made her fend for herself.

I didn’t have to stay and hear her slander her own sister.