Prologue
âWhen both moons are sleeping, the oceans go leaping.â
- Old seaside proverb
Once a century, the two moons of Lyra and Kaperna simultaneously experience their new phase. This occurrence causes the notable âdouble leap tidesâ during which the tides reach historical highs and lows in a single day.
But Rose was only interested in the low tides.
With a torch in her hand and a satchel slung over her back, Rose walked to the edge of the cliff face and peered over. The bottom of the cliff was pitch black, invisible in the moonless night. However, the sound of waves breaking against the cliffside and the smell of salt betrayed the oceanâs presence below her. She angled the torch downward and walked along the cliffside a few feet from the edge, looking for something on the ground. She stopped at a metal stake she had placed that morning to mark the point of easiest decent. After tying the torch to the straps on her satchel, Rose kneeled to the ground and flipped over on her stomach, letting her legs hang over the cliffside. Her feet prodded the cliffside until they each found a solid foothold. She slowly lowered her left hand, then her right, left foot, then right, descending the cliffside one limb at a time.
Upon reaching the bottom she lowered herself down and landed in knee deep ocean water. Though waves periodically battered her legs, they were not forceful enough to upset her balance. Any other day, the cliffside would be savagely bombarded by waves, but during the lows of the double leap tide the ocean was sedated. Rose began walking along the cliffside, peering at it intently, and a small cavity in the cliffside caught her eye. The half submerged opening was no more than an armâs breadth across. Rose extinguished her torch and crawled through. She closed her eyes to the saltwater splashing her face and reached forward with her hands, feeling the slick, algae-covered rocks ahead of her and pulling herself forward. Feeling no rocks ahead of her, she stood up and reached for her backpack. From it she removed another torch and a small steel device with a handle, trigger, and piece of flint. She quickly squeezed the trigger, causing a steel hammer to strike the flint. As the sparks came in contact with the fat-covered torch, the torch flared up immediately revealing that the small hole she had crawled through opened up into a small cave. Planks of wood and shattered boxes floated atop the knee deep water.
Rose smiled and began investigating the debris. Many ships met their end at this coastline. Caught in a sudden storm, a ship would find itself forced by relentless waves onto the jagged rocks of the coastline. The sea would sweep away most of the wreckage, but sometimes the debris would drift into underwater caves carved out beneath the cliffside.
Treasure-hunters had attempted diving to these caves to loot the accumulated wreckage. While a few were successful, most were flung by the waves onto rocks or trapped in the inky blackness of the submerged caves, unable to find the exit. The locals knew that looting the coast of Holden was the pursuit of fools.
Rose waded up to a barrel that had remained intact and pried the waterlogged wood apart. Inside were rare spices, made worthless by the ocean water. Inspection of the surrounding boxes revealed more spices. The inside of one of the spice barrels was still mostly dry, but it would be impossible to carry back up the cliff face.
This cave was a dud. There was no gold.
The low tide revealed the normally submerged caves, but only for about an hour, and she had already used up most of that time climbing down the cliff face and exploring this first cave. However, if she hurried she still had just enough time to check another cave before she risked being caught by the rising ocean level. Looting these caves was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Rose did not intend to waste it.
As she waded back to the exit, her foot knocked against something underwater. She glanced down. It was a human skeleton. It had a bright red-orange garment wrapped around its waist and a long oval leather shield strapped to its arm. The coin pouch hanging at its waist caught Roseâs eye.
She reached down searched the pouch, but to her dismay her fingers brushed against just a single coin. She held it up to her torch to look at it. It was gold and had the image of clouds on its face, with strange symbols engraved around the edge. She flipped it over. The other side of the coin was identical to the first, except amidst the clouds was engraved a full moon. She shrugged, and twirled the coin through her fingers before pocketing it.
As she continued toward the entrance, she heard a faint crashing coming from outside the cave. At first she paid it no heed, as it was likely the crashing of the waves, but the sound grew louder and louder. She stopped walking forward and hesitated, apprehensive. As the sound swelled into a deafening roar, a cascade of water burst through the cave entrance. It slammed into Rose hurling her off her feet. Water enveloped her in moments. A âcrackâ echoed through the water as Roseâs head collided with a rock. A high pitched ringing in her ears, her vision obscured by churning air bubbles swirling around her, the waves tossed her head over heels. She hadnât had time to hold her breath and was already running out of air. She started swimming forward, but had no clue whether she was swimming toward the exit She felt panic, and then terror as she realized that she was going to die.
Then, Rose glimpsed a glimmer of moonlight shining through the cave entrance. She frantically swam toward it, clawing her way up the algae-covered rocks, and then pushed off of them toward the surface above. She surfaced and gasped for air, but her respite was short lived as a large wave crashed down on her and forced her back underwater. The waves tossed her to and fro as she struggled to remain above the surface. Every muscle in her body ached as she fought the tireless sea. Rose felt her stomach church as a large swell plucked her from the sea and raised her into the air, and then threw her forward as it came crashing down. She felt a thump as her body collided with dirt and she blacked out.