Page 78 of The Garnet Daughter
“You don’t have the spell book.”
“I know, and we will figure that part out, but we can’t go back now.”
Sav grunts and pulls at chunks of the metal, now fully inside the pod.
He takes a stealing breath and stands, pushing his shoulders back. “Maybe she knows where it is. Do you trust her?”
I shake my head. She helped me, warned me about the others, but I am acutely aware she would leave me to die if the conditions were right. “If I had nothing to offer her . . .”
He nods in understanding.
Sav climbs out of the damaged hatch, walks a few feet, then collects a palm-sized rock. When she returns to the interior, the sound of her using it as blunt force against the metal echoes into the air.
“We will be careful. If she wanted me dead, there were a few things along our path she could have not warned me of, but she did. We only need her until we reach the rock formation, then we can go our separate ways.”
“Only one way to find out if she knows of it.” He crosses in front of me and winks.
The banging continues even as we both approach the pod. Through the dirt and blood-covered windows, I can see her in the bottom, clawing at the control panels.
August peers in, leaning into the open hatch. “If you are looking for mineral, our pods don’t have any, but you’re welcome to try the ship. That part of it, however, has a bit of fire damage.”
She glares up at him, letting the rock fall to her feet.
“What is she looking for?” I whisper to him.
He leans close to me, blocking her view as she emerges from the pod. “Mineral found on Viathan, expensive. She probably knows a buyer.”
“This doesn’t cover my trouble.” She gestures to her bag of scrap metal.
“I suppose it doesn’t.” August flashes a charming grin at her. “I am grateful for your help all the same. But if you areinterested, I have access to the mineral you’re looking for. I can arrange a shipment.”
“What do you want for it?” She crosses her arms, looking back and forth between us.
“We are looking for a rock formation, a bird beak,” I tell her.
Her eyes widen. “I don’t go there. Too dangerous this close to the conjunction.”
“Sav, is it? Sav, I know that scrap metal will not pay much, and the supplies on our ship are all gone, ash. If you take us to the bird’s beak, I can guarantee a shipment as big as me wherever you want it. I will deliver it myself.”
“Who are you that you have such access to it?”
“I’m August,” he says flatly with no other details.
She considers, looking over his dinged armor. “You’re a Viathan commander of some kind?”
“Something like that.”
She drops the metal bunch in her hands like it’s worthless. “Alright, I will take you to the area, but once in view, you are on your own. You do as I say. I won’t have you both getting me killed.”
August nods and extends his hand to her, and she shakes his forearm, sealing the deal.
August and Sav walk ahead of me, chatting as if they are trusted travel companions.
He glances back often to check on me but returns to his in-depth conversation with minimal pause. At first, I thought it was odd. She was very silent when we traveled together, stayingmysterious and focused on the path ahead. But now with August, she opens up about her family, what areas they scrap, what metals burn down better than others. He even makes her laugh a few times.
I watch in fascination, staying a few paces behind and focusing on placing my steps where hers are. I tried to follow August’s, but they were spaced too far, his strides longer than both of ours. I remind myself that August’s friendly demeanor toward most people is a mask, a way to gain information. Sometime ago, I would have thought he was flirting with her, but now I know what he is doing. He doesn’t trust her, and the more charming he presents, the more he is signaling to me just that.
We walk for hours. They chat off and on, sometimes just about the terrain, other times about the conjunction and her peoples’ traditions. My legs ache, the sand is a laborsome surface to walk on, even compared to the soft give of the moss layer.
