Page 64 of Take No Prisoners
This was no different from how Martiz had treated Vadim when they were teenagers. Efren wouldn't stand for it again. He shoved Martiz aside and stepped between them. "Knock it off. Niall's already learned faster than any weaver we've trained, but he's not a miracle worker."
"Grandmother can show me," Niall said. "I need a good meal and a good night's rest, but we will start first thing tomorrow."
"Come," Martiz said. "We have just enough time to take Beatrice to Horseshoe Island while Petri finishes our meal."
"You should stay and reassure the islanders," Efren said. He wanted Martiz off his ship. "You're Head Elder while Beatrice is incapacitated."
It pained Efren to say Martiz was head of anything. The healer always played whatever side worked best to his advantage. After a lifetime of island politics and quid pro quos, Martiz didn't have many friends left on the island. His saving grace was his ability to heal anyone from anything. People who would have declared themselves outright enemies withheld their judgment more and more, the older and frailer they became. One day, they would need Martiz's soothing healing to keep them from their deathbeds.
Martiz knew it as well as they did. Efren hadn't yet heard him threaten to withhold healing during an argument since they'd arrived the day before, but it was only a matter of time. It was one of his favorite scare tactics, and Efren was embarrassed how easily it coerced the islanders to action, or inaction in this situation.
Efren stared Martiz down until he finally recognized Efren's authority on his own ship. Instead of arguing, he led Frost and Jermain down the gangplank.
Vadim stayed. He led Klaus to the railing along the prow just off the navigation wheel so Efren could see to steer.
Niall stayed by Efren's side at the wheel, though he occasionally helped with wind and water to steer around the sandbars.
"You've learned a lot in so little time," Efren said as they rolled up to the longest dock. They had to drop anchor and set the gangplank on the end of the dock with only Stan's earth weave holding it in place.
Niall remained silent as he untied the knots holding Beatrice in place and helped Efren secure another water barrier around her. They moved her from the ship to the large door in the giant sentinel oak.
Inside the tree, Vadim led the way up the stairway that wound to the second floor and beyond. He didn't stop on the first landing, instead walking up a second flight of stairs on the opposite side of the tree to a walkway that led to the center. From there, a rope ladder hung from the darkness, its moorings too far up to see in the weak enchantment's light.
Vadim climbed, and Efren pushed the bubble of water up to him, drawing it toward the moisture inside the living tree. The water reflected enough ambient light to cast a dim glow along the ladder's path. There was a door a hundred yards above. Vadim opened it, and Efren guided the ball of water inside. In a rush, all but a small light globe of water receded down its original path to the ocean, leaving them untouched and dry.
Klaus, Efren, and Niall climbed in silence. At the top, Efren and Vadim secured Beatrice to the feather mattress with twisted elemental ropes that would hold any weaver, even a spectral one. The bindings were handcrafted from iron, silver, gold, and wood. Niall reached out to touch them and recoiled. "They burn. You're hurting her."
Vadim shook his head. "It can't be helped. She arranged the room before she left. She understood the risks."
"I didn't," Niall whispered. "I didn't know she intended to set it off."
Klaus crowded into the narrow space beside the bed and patted Niall's shoulder. "She planned for the worst possibility, and this was it. She thought she could break the trap without help. It had seemed small enough, the way I'd described it." Klaus shrank in on himself again.
"This isn't your fault," Efren reminded him. "You had no way of knowing the trap would get stronger over time."
"It's Coryn," Klaus said. "I should have guessed."
Vadim lifted a gloved hand but stopped short of touching Klaus's arm. "You did well to alert them. That's all you could do. Everything that happened afterward was on Beatrice, not you."
Klaus lifted his chin to meet Vadim's gaze, but he still didn't seem convinced.
Once Efren checked all four ropes to make sure they were securely fastened around both Beatrice and the bedframe, and Vadim confirmed she still had feeling in her fingers and toes, Efren was ready to return home. He and Klaus left Niall and Vadim to exchange any last words with Beatrice as they descended back to the main floor.
A few minutes later, Vadim and Niall followed. Niall now had control of Efren's glowing water orb, and he sent it back to the sea with a thought.
"Come on." Efren took Niall's hand. "Let's get the food and rest we all need, and tomorrow, we'll figure this out."
Niall was still pensive and withdrawn, but he worked his fingers between Efren's and squeezed. It was a start.
∞∞∞
Niall
Though the meal of fish and vegetables smelled delicious, it turned to ash in Niall's mouth. His grandmother had chosen her fate. If Niall couldn't release her from the trap, he worried she would consent to Vadim's offer and die. Niall hadn't even known he had a grandmother, and now, two days later, he could lose her.
Niall couldn't deny the peril of the trap. The only way he could communicate with his grandmother mind-to-mind was because her life was in danger. He didn't know how long it would be before the trap expanded beyond his strength, especially in his untested and untrained elements. If he couldn't keep the trap from spreading, they would have to sever his grandmother's connection to it. Because she'd enlisted Vadim's help, Niall assumed the worst.
He thanked Petri for the meal and shoveled down a second helping even though he couldn't taste it. He needed his strength. He already felt completely drained after two harrowing days of training. He'd been looking forward to spending the evening with Efren, too, but now, he had a hard time finding joy in any of his thoughts for the future.
