Chapter 32

The courier boat doesn’t have a shelter and the rain falls straight on Tirad’s face. He is already wet; at least the raindrops are not as sticky as the seawater. The boat sails at a very high speed and they should get to Avij by nightfall. But Tirad can’t bare the moist wind that blows in his face. He covers his ears and pulls his head down. He has to do something. Maybe it is time to bring out the Saviour coins he has hid under Asin’s boat and go to Atlan. Dalia hasn’t been feeling well the last few months. She has constant nightmares and looks thinner and paler every day. She can hardly walk on her weak legs carrying her heavy belly. She keeps having bad dreams about her mother and her stillborn babies and is scared of giving birth on the sea. She has been asking him to take her to a land but Tirad doesn’t know where to take her. They can’t go to Oxan or the Saviour Island, even the Atan guards are looking for him. Dalia had insisted that Tirad should take Hurmaz’s documents against Mart and the Circle to Atlan and ask them to give them refuge. But Tirad knows these documents are not news to Atlan, they already know about all the illegal dealings. Atlan can’t and does not want to get involved with the affairs of the Saviour Ship. If they know where he is, they will come and arrest him and hand him over to the Saviour authorities to prevent the war that is going to start in Tirad’s name. Atlan doesn’t care if Tirad was innocent or not, they would easily surrender him to stop the war.

Dalia keeps saying she is going to have the same fate as the dead pregnant women and Tirad had tried to take her mind off such negative thinking. They don’t have a choice now. They can’t stay on Avij anymore. They have to sail again. Maybe he should take her to Parsana. She will at least be safe there with so many professional healers on the ship and so will her baby. In the last few months, Tirad has thought about going back to the Saviour Ship and give himself in to stop the war. He doesn’t want this war to be in his name and because of him. But he never had the guts to leave Dalia behind. He loves living with her and diving with the Avij divers. He can’t let go of Dalia and leave her alone with her endless nightmares. Returning to the Saviour Ship means confessing to the greatest crime of the Oxan! He can’t bring himself around to take the blame for something he hasn’t done. Whatever he gets blamed for will not make up for the pain, suffering and the deaths of the Oxan refugees but at least he can stop further bloodshed. It would cost him his life and even Dalia’s life since she was his accomplice. And what would happen to his baby who would have to carry his father’s shameful name for all his life. The only way to avoid this dreadful war and the many calamities it will bring for the sea people, would be to self-sacrifice himself and surrender to Mart. Dalia will understand. They can’t ignorantly hide anymore and watch the suffering of the people.