Free The Ships of Aleph by Jaine Fenn Page B

set cloud piled on cloud, racing to meet us. The more superstitious men made the sign of the Eye, seeing the oncoming storm as God’s judgement. The sails were reefed. Against my advice, the Duke ordered the oars deployed; he would not give up the headway he had made, even in the face of God’s wrath.
    Then the storm was upon us.
    I remember an indeterminate time of soaking panic, of seeing men washed overboard and hearing the masts groan like the unquiet dead. Some of the oars splintered – killing one rower and injuring several more – before the Duke saw sense and shipped them. Finally, the aft mast snapped.
    When the storm finally spent its fury he ordered those men still able to row to go back below. I saw the futility of this command, for we had no idea whether we were still heading for the edge, but the Duke had a powerful presence, and I felt the need to do something, if only to stave off fear.
    So I rowed, along with every man still capable of doing so, even the Duke himself. I think I slept as I pulled on my oar, for I remember jerking awake at a shout. Then I heard the low rumble filling the ship, and saw the rowers abandoning their posts and running up the ladders. I followed them, too dazed to be afraid, to find that the Duke’s quest had been successful.
    Behind us, the sky was lightening towards dawn; ahead it remained clouded and dark. But I could see enough to make out a great lip over which the sea disappeared. The spray coming up from the drop shrouded the whole scene in mist, giving it a deceptive tranquillity. Without landmarks to provide a sense of scale I had no idea how far away we were. Then I looked down, and saw the speed of the frothing sea that carried us towards the edge, and knew that we were lost.
    The Duke shouted something about ropes and holding fast, which I barely heard above the now-constant thunder, but when a ship goes down the last thing you want is to be attached to it. Instead I fetched one of the float-bladders we used to rescue sailors who fell overboard. As the Duke lashed himself to the remaining mast, I tied the bladder to myself.
    I both felt and heard the impact that destroyed the ship, and just had time to be surprised – we hadn’t fallen yet, so how could we strike anything? – when everything turned to chaos. Wood split, men fell, and I tumbled down the rising deck and over the side. In my last sight of the Duke I saw the cross-spar fall from the remaining mast. It crushed him instantly.
    Then I was in the roiling sea, unsure which way was up. My head came out into air, and I gulped a breath before a wave broke over me and I was turned around. I clung to my float, eyes closed, battered by water and occasionally wood – and softer things. One of these clawed briefly at my arm before being whirled away.
    The sound of rushing water changed and deepened. I opened my eyes to see the world tilting, a crazy view of black lightning-laced clouds filling the sky. Sky meant breath – I breathed again, though the effort was almost too much.
    I was going faster than any man ever had. Though I knew I should try and observe the process terror and exhaustion got the better of me and I screwed my eyes shut.
    The next time my head broke the surface I took a breath. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes to darkness and a strange sensation. I felt as though I was floating, not falling, yet I was no longer in the water. Eerie silence had replaced the roar of the sea.
    How interesting, I mused. No one ever predicted this about the edge of the world: there is no air, and yet you float!  
    However, because there is no air, you also drown. 
     
                                                                ***
     
    I woke up in my bedroom.
    At least, so I thought when I opened my eyes; that I lay in my bed in the room where I had slept all my life. But the bed was against the wall, not under the window as it should be and when I