avoiding the Donâs direct question.
âAnswer me, or suffer the consequences.â The Donâs voice, though quiet, was steel. âI do not need the tools and implements of the Inquisitors to wrack with pain. Who taught you? How many more serpent-speakers are there? Where are they?â
âI know of no others,â Rodrigo said at last. It was nothing more than the truth, but it did not satisfy the Don. The air around him thinned, his lungs protesting as he took great sucking breaths that barely sufficed.
âWho taught you? Where are they?â the Don repeated.
âNo man taught me,â Rodrigo gasped out. Again the truth did not please Don Ruarte, and the tightness in Rodrigoâs lungs increased as he struggled for air.
âHow did you learn, then? Did the sea creatures themselves come to you and ask to be yours?â The Don eased his hold on the air, and Rodrigo took several blessed breaths.
âAs a child, I played with them in the
rÃas
near my home. A few came that far inland.â
Don Ruarte glowered at him, but finally he seemed to accept that Rodrigo told the truth. He drew himself up to his full height. âAs a senior priest of the
Grande y Felicissima Armada
, I have authority to deal with heresy aboard this ship as I see fit. You have practiced that which is outlawed and banned in the territories of His Most Catholic Majesty, and you have practiced it in the interest of heretics and enemies to Spain. The sentence for this treason is death, and I will execute that sentence myself.â He raised one hand, slowly closing the fingers together, and with each tightening of his hand, Rodrigo felt the thinning of the air around him.
In the last moments before blackness took him, Rodrigo sent Tareixa a picture of the open sea as a warning to flee, to seek out a place where she could be safe from his kind.
 â¢Â â¢Â â¢Â
Crushed by the loss of the one she followed, Tareixa sank to the chalky floor of the seas of Calais, stunned near to immobility. Then, in a lightning instant, her emptiness transformed to blinding rage, and she lashed her tail, driving herself upward to the great ship that her friend had sailed upon. Heedless of her own safety, she bore her sinewy body straight into the vulnerable rudder, her weight and speed causing the ship to swing around to collide with first one, then another of the ships beside it, the wood of the rudder split and useless. Her vengeance begun, she fled before that sharp, dark presence on board the ship could seek her out and snare her as it had her wind-friends. But she did not flee far, staying long enough to see that this ship moved no farther before she followed the others of the fleet.
For the rest of the season, Tareixa and her kin hounded the ships that sailed around the great island. She delighted in snaring and hindering and pushing them until enough of the ships had fallen to satisfy her, whether they were stranded by tides or dashed against the rocky shores or sank in the storms of the deeper seas. Only when her fury had eased did she leave the scattered remains of the fleet, her kin returning to their deeper homes. Only then did she retrace her path back around the land. Only then did she seek out the place where she had sensed a cold, fresh inlet to the sea.
Only then did she find a lonely
rÃa
where she could be alone and undisturbed, and mourn.
 â¢Â â¢Â â¢Â
Authorâs Note: The Spanish Armada of 1588 was devastated more by weather and the voyage north around Scotland to return to Spain than by any of the encounters with the English ships. The gunpowder explosion aboard the
San Salvador
actually occurred a few hours after the first battle engagement on July thirty-first, although it was not a result of the battle itself and is believed to have been an act of intentional sabotage. The
San Salvador
was then boarded and taken by Sir John Hawkins. All other events in this
âAnswer me, or suffer the consequences.â The Donâs voice, though quiet, was steel. âI do not need the tools and implements of the Inquisitors to wrack with pain. Who taught you? How many more serpent-speakers are there? Where are they?â
âI know of no others,â Rodrigo said at last. It was nothing more than the truth, but it did not satisfy the Don. The air around him thinned, his lungs protesting as he took great sucking breaths that barely sufficed.
âWho taught you? Where are they?â the Don repeated.
âNo man taught me,â Rodrigo gasped out. Again the truth did not please Don Ruarte, and the tightness in Rodrigoâs lungs increased as he struggled for air.
âHow did you learn, then? Did the sea creatures themselves come to you and ask to be yours?â The Don eased his hold on the air, and Rodrigo took several blessed breaths.
âAs a child, I played with them in the
rÃas
near my home. A few came that far inland.â
Don Ruarte glowered at him, but finally he seemed to accept that Rodrigo told the truth. He drew himself up to his full height. âAs a senior priest of the
Grande y Felicissima Armada
, I have authority to deal with heresy aboard this ship as I see fit. You have practiced that which is outlawed and banned in the territories of His Most Catholic Majesty, and you have practiced it in the interest of heretics and enemies to Spain. The sentence for this treason is death, and I will execute that sentence myself.â He raised one hand, slowly closing the fingers together, and with each tightening of his hand, Rodrigo felt the thinning of the air around him.
In the last moments before blackness took him, Rodrigo sent Tareixa a picture of the open sea as a warning to flee, to seek out a place where she could be safe from his kind.
 â¢Â â¢Â â¢Â
Crushed by the loss of the one she followed, Tareixa sank to the chalky floor of the seas of Calais, stunned near to immobility. Then, in a lightning instant, her emptiness transformed to blinding rage, and she lashed her tail, driving herself upward to the great ship that her friend had sailed upon. Heedless of her own safety, she bore her sinewy body straight into the vulnerable rudder, her weight and speed causing the ship to swing around to collide with first one, then another of the ships beside it, the wood of the rudder split and useless. Her vengeance begun, she fled before that sharp, dark presence on board the ship could seek her out and snare her as it had her wind-friends. But she did not flee far, staying long enough to see that this ship moved no farther before she followed the others of the fleet.
For the rest of the season, Tareixa and her kin hounded the ships that sailed around the great island. She delighted in snaring and hindering and pushing them until enough of the ships had fallen to satisfy her, whether they were stranded by tides or dashed against the rocky shores or sank in the storms of the deeper seas. Only when her fury had eased did she leave the scattered remains of the fleet, her kin returning to their deeper homes. Only then did she retrace her path back around the land. Only then did she seek out the place where she had sensed a cold, fresh inlet to the sea.
Only then did she find a lonely
rÃa
where she could be alone and undisturbed, and mourn.
 â¢Â â¢Â â¢Â
Authorâs Note: The Spanish Armada of 1588 was devastated more by weather and the voyage north around Scotland to return to Spain than by any of the encounters with the English ships. The gunpowder explosion aboard the
San Salvador
actually occurred a few hours after the first battle engagement on July thirty-first, although it was not a result of the battle itself and is believed to have been an act of intentional sabotage. The
San Salvador
was then boarded and taken by Sir John Hawkins. All other events in this
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