Shielding her eyes from the blazing sun, her other hand on the tiller as she peered ahead, Chloe felt sudden relief: she knew the city she was approaching. It wasn’t Phalesia, but at least it was somewhere she recognized.

Despite using the wind to cut her journey down to days, she didn’t know how to navigate by the stars, and had been forced to hop from isle to isle, following barren coasts. Then a storm blew her off course, confusing her further, and now, rather than the swift journey to Phalesia she’d planned, she had found herself at the Sarsican city of Myana.

Her father had taken her to Myana only once, when she was a girl, but she recognized the hilltop temple overlooking the city below, and the wide mouth of the Silver River that split Myana down the middle and emptied out in the harbor, which was full of boats of all shapes and sizes, from huge biremes to tiny fishing boats, all bobbing alongside a network of wooden docks.

When she reached the piers, wary of the other boats approaching and departing, she allowed the sail to go slack, remembering the things Dion had shown her as she guided the raiders’ small vessel. Dropping the sail completely, she picked an empty berth and steered her boat toward it, but then realized too late that she still had far too much speed. With a smack, the boat ran hard against the wooden dock, jolting her forward out of her seat, but fortunately no harm was done. Hearing the noise, a boy ran toward her, grinning at her embarrassment as he tossed her a rope to fasten the boat’s bow to the quay.

‘How long?’ he asked, bold despite being just seven or eight years old. ‘One day is two coppers.’

The raiders’ boat contained a pouch filled with small currency and Chloe handed him four coins, although she didn’t plan on staying long in Myana. He checked each coin over in turn and then nodded.

‘Welcome to Myana.’

Chloe gathered her few possessions and her staff, then left the boat behind, moving from one walkway to another until she reached solid ground. Finally away from the docks, she paused as she tried to get her bearings. Her plan was to find someone who might sail her to Xanthos or Phalesia in return for the boat itself as payment.

She took a deep breath. Her vision of crumpled bodies in the Temple of Aeris in Phalesia, and of her sister Sophia, still and unmoving, had stayed with her all voyage. The Oracle had said it would come to pass, no matter what she did. But Liana had once told Chloe that she should act as if there were no prophecy, to never feel like her destiny was already written. She had to make it back home.

She scanned the area, wondering how to begin.