Page 119 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘Good. Let me know when we’re leaving. I’ll be ready.’ The door slammed shut behind her and Naal was left staring at the back of it.
???
‘Are you joking?’
‘I rarely joke, Captain,’ Naal said drily.
Damar’s expression fell into one of disbelief. ‘You want to sail to Nevatis… in a rowboat?’
‘Yes,’ she replied shortly, plucking a large gold coin from the pouch at her hip, then flicking it to him. He caught it and surveyed it. ‘For your troubles thus far, Damar, and for departing with one of your boats. Kyra and I will leave at sundown. Please have the boat ready for us. Oh, and a few supplies to aid our journey would not be amiss either.’
Hours later, as the sky became a wash of every shade of the departing sun, Naal waited on deck for Kyra to meet her. Sword sheathed at her side, adorned once more in her full armour, wings flared behind her, Naal felt more herself than she had done in weeks.
Kyra emerged from her cabin just as the sun melted into the horizon. Her hair was pulled back in her usual ponytail, those shorter, fluffier curls framing her face. A cloak was now slung over her shoulders.
‘Are you ready?’ Naal asked her gently. Kawai was deliberately sitting on the other side of the ship, the shadow of the mast darkening his features.
Kyra pulled her hood over her head and nodded. Whether she’d said goodbye to Kawai or not, Naal could not be sure, though her gut told her it was unlikely.
‘Kyra, wait!’
They both turned to see young Jak running over, something gripped in his right hand. ‘In the last raid, I found this. Boony said it was stupid to keep it, but I thought you would like it.’ He dropped the item into Kyra’s palm. It was a solid gold pin, soldered to the pointed shape of an awacca leaf. The tree native to her fae kin in the Valfell woodlands.
‘Jak…’ Kyra said thickly. ‘I can’t take this. It must be worth a fortune.’
He shrugged. ‘We find stuff like that all the time. It should belong to someone like you. An earthling, that is… not some Lorish fae noble who probably stole it in the first place. I thought… I thought it might remind you of home.’
Kyra stared at it for a moment, apparently lost in thought, then quite suddenly she threw her arms around Jak in a tight embrace. He blinked with surprise, his cheeks blushing profusely as his arms came up around her to awkwardly pat her on the back. Naal threw a glance at Kawai but he was obstinately ignoring them.
Untangling herself from Jak with teary eyes, Kyra kissed the young raider on the cheek and said, ‘Thank you, Jak. I hope I see you again.’
Naal didn’t think it possible, but his cheeks reddened even more as he smiled sheepishly back, giving both of them a clumsy and completely incorrect salute before bounding away.
Kyra fixed the pin above her heart, a little smile now playing on her lips.
They climbed into the rowboat and once settled, Naal gave the signal for the raiders to lower them to the water. The waves below were relatively mild tonight, and if Corla was good to them, they would stay that way.
The boat hit the water and Naal looked up at Captain Damar, nodding her head in appreciation. Damar saluted back. Then, forgetting Naal and Kyra would be able to hear him, turned to Boony and said, ‘Three silvers says they’re dead within the hour.’
Kyra’s head snapped up with a frown.
‘Leave it,’ Naal said.
Pulling a wooden oar onto her lap, Kyra muttered, ‘Asshole,’ and Naal could not help but agree.
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Kyra.
Though theThilenewas not the fastest ship in the world, it sure sped away from them quicker than Kyra wanted it to, becoming a shadow on the water’s dark surface that her eyes could barely keep a hold of.
Kawai had not said goodbye. He’d refused to even look at her.
She couldn’t blame him. She hated herself for what she’d done, accident or not.
But as the ship pulled further away, so did her hope that she would ever see him again. Or that he would ever forgive her.
For being the shit Warden that she was.
