Ship of Destiny

The memory burned up from Ke

Even. A boy's concept. But the soul of Paragon had always been a boy's soul, abandoned and forsaken. Perhaps only another boy could have won his love and friendship as Ke

"You think I love her?" Ke

"Never," the ship declared devoutly.

"Well. That is good. For now. But we both know there is only one way they can be truly safe forever. Only one way to keep our secrets hidden."

A silence followed his words. Ke

"What about my crew?" Paragon asked wearily.

"Take them with you." Ke

Paragon took a breath. "They will not like dying. None of them want to die."

"Well. But you and I know that dying only takes a little time for humans. They will get over it."

His hesitation this time was even longer. "I don't know if I really can die, you know." A space of a breath. "Last time, I couldn't even stay down there. Wood wants to float, you know." A longer pause. "And Brashen is locked down below, too. I made a little promise to him, Ke

Ke

This time the ship swiveled his great head toward Ke

"Of course I could. Of course," Ke

AFTER KENNIT LEFT HIS DECKS, SILENCE FLOWED IN AND FILLED HIM. IT WAS A silence not of the ears but of the heart. There were other noises in the world: the questioning cries of the crew inside his battened-down holds, the trumpeting of the serpents, the rising winds, the small sounds of a stern line being released, the crackling of flames conversing with one another. He swung free suddenly in a gust of wind. No one was on the wheel to check his motion as the building storm pushed against his venom-tattered sails. There was a sudden whoosh and a blast of heat as the fire suddenly ran up his rigging. More surefooted than ever sailor had been, the flames fa

He would have to be patient for a time. It would take time to spread. Wizardwood did not kindle easily, but once it took flame, the fire was near unquenchable. The other wood of his house and his rigging would burn first, but eventually the wizardwood would ignite. Patience. He had learned patience well. He could wait. The only distraction from his patience was his crew. Those inside his hold were hammering on the hatch covers now. No doubt they felt him drifting; perhaps they smelled the smoke.

Resolutely he turned his mind to more important things. His boy was a man now. Ke

Down inside him, the crew had torn something loose and were using it for a battering ram against his hatch cover. They did not seem to be doing it with much energy. Perhaps his hold was filling with smoke. That would be good. They could all just go to sleep and die.

Paragon sighed and let himself list, just a little, as he always did if he wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't his fault. It was a flaw in his construction. It was the sort of thing that was bound to happen when a ship was built from two different logs of wizardwood. One dragon would always try to dominate the other. Fight, fight, fight, that was all they ever did, until he was sick of trying to make sense of those other selves. He had pushed them down deep and decided to be just Paragon. Paragon Ludluck. He said the name aloud, but softly. He closed his mouth. He stopped breathing. He didn't really have to breathe, that was just a part of the shape they had given him. It was a shape he could change, if he thought about it carefully. Each carefully fitted plank of wizardwood could shift, just a tiny bit. For a time, he felt nothing. Then inside himself he knew the sheen of seeping water, the slow chill of water ru

"I THOUGHT YOU'D WANT TO MAKE THE DECISION YOURSELF, SIR." JOLA STOOD very stiff. He knew he ventured onto dangerous ground, but he was sage enough to realize that not to defer this to Ke