Death's Compass
This story is part of the Upon Our Seas, In Our Skies collaboration of stories, poetry and art set in the universe of The Môrdreigiau Chronicles. If you’d like to participate, follow this link for details and lore. You will be able to read all of the submissions here.
Wind guides a dirigible. Morals do a doctor. But Death has a compass all its own.
After the horrors and victory of Portlethen Bay, the crew of the HMS Dawn Javelin were due for a rest and refit.
Instead, they sailed into an awards ceremony with nosy nobility. One that gets interrupted by a dying woman who’d been dead once already. In her hands is a damaged compass that doesn’t point north.
It points toward the dead.
When Dr. Rebekah Thorne and her crewmates discover the woman was once sold as a corpse by resurrectionists, events take a dark turn. From there they have to navigate a conspiracy hidden beneath aristocratic society itself. Wealthy patrons, respected surgeons, and more come under suspicion with disturbing rumors of forbidden studies.
Even worse? Some of those subjects may not have been dead—or stayed that way.
As bodies vanish and witnesses are silenced, the compass leads Dr. Thorne into ever darker waters. Ones with signs that her missing sister Maeve may still be alive, and far closer to the heart of all this than is comfortable. The truth waits behind velvet halls, surgical steel, and candlelit lies.
In the end, it may be that some truths should never have been unearthed.
Table of Contents
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Death’s Compass of Upon Our Seas, In Our Skies is a work of pure, unashamed fiction. In truth, when its not fending off pirates, problems, and perils, it’s rather thoughtful and contemplative. Often, it enjoys a good book by a fireplace with a fresh cup of tea. Names of characters, places, events, organizations and locations are all creations of the author’s imagination for this fictitious setting. So the blame really lies at his feet.
In fact, it could be said any resemblance to persons living, dead, or washed ashore is coincidental—if not pure flummery. The opinions expressed are those of the characters and should not be confused with the author’s, since the characters and the author are apt to argue like cats fighting over cream. Often.