Page 53 of Take No Prisoners
"Good. I'll send Martiz to do a complete workup on his health this morning. While he's there, I'll have him ask about tomorrow afternoon. Will that work for you?"
"We'll be gone for days."
"Hours. We're taking your ship and Vadim's wind weavers." Beatrice nodded, as though it was already decided. "As their reward, I'll have Olivia drop them at the Glamiere port of their choosing the following day. You and Niall can go sightseeing on the day of rest like everyone else."
Efren honestly couldn't remember what day it was any more. He also should have known Niall wouldn't get preferential treatment from his grandmother.
"When is the day of rest, again?"
Elder Beatrice laughed at him. "You've been too long on your ship. It's three days from now."
He hid his embarrassment by popping the last bit of bread into his mouth and chewing until it was almost nothing. By then, Beatrice had approached Niall's bench, where he, too, was finishing his breakfast. Efren returned to the bench and grabbed the two extra bowls wrapped in cheese cloth and headed into the jungle behind the barracks.
Vadim's hut was little more than one room with a roof over it. As usual, the death weaver lay in the hammock tied between two trees. He approached the hut, first, and knocked on the door.
The door creaked open on rusty hinges, same as it always had. Klaus rubbed at his eyes. "Captain?"
Efren shoved one of the bread bowls into his hands. "Spoons are in the lock box above the trunk."
Klaus nodded. "Thanks."
"There's running water at the barracks."
"I filled him a pitcher last night." Vadim's voice was all gravel and no warmth.
Efren handed him the other bread bowl as the door creaked shut behind him. He heard the muffled sound of a chair being pulled out from the tiny table Vadim also used for a desk.
With the flick of his wrist, Vadim dropped his handy utensil as effective for picking locks as it was for eating breakfast into his waiting hand.
"Petri asks you to stop by for lunch, on my coin, of course."
"Petri." Vadim grinned. "How is the little bugger?"
"Stop by the stand and ask them yourself." Efren turned back to the barracks, where Stan leaned against the side of the building. "We're going to watch Niall try to pick up air weaving. You coming?"
"No." Vadim glanced at the door to the hut, and then shrugged. "I've been summoned after lunch. I'll make sure Klaus eats a second bowl before then."
Efren recognized the dismissal. He expected it to hurt, but the empty hole in his gut was almost worse.
He no longer loved Vadim, if he ever had. The realization left a gaping hole in his heart, but he already had a sneaking suspicion that hole could be filled soon enough, if he only dared to let Niall in.
∞∞∞
Niall
Niall stood in the middle of a crater in the sand. If he hadn't seen Stan carve it into the beach himself, he would have thought it had been here forever. It was just far enough inland to stay dry at high tide.
Efren and Stan sat on a stone bench above, chatting like it had been weeks since they last saw each other instead of a few hours. Stan had a steaming bread bowl in his hands. Instead of a utensil, he brought it to his face and sipped the steaming gravy every now and then.
Niall hadn't heard a single rooster crow near Efren's house, but there were chickens everywhere near the beach. Two had fallen into the pit with Niall already. He'd lifted them to safety, noticing their wings were clipped so they couldn't fly.
When he lifted a third out of the ring, he heard a disappointed hiss behind him.
"Why use your hands? You have air." His grandmother circled above him, assessing.
"I don't know how."
A chicken squawked as it fell into the pit with him, and Stan smirked. Niall was starting to recognize not only what powers the weavers around him possessed but also when they used them.
