Page 50 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘Who areyou?’ the Captain said rudely, the Lorish accent thick on his tongue. He was a short, red-bearded, middle-aged man whose face was permeated with a frown.
Kyra opened her mouth, but Naal cut her off. ‘A distant relative of mine, Captain. I am taking her back to Phaenon where she can live more peacefully. Now, where do we stand on those cabins?’
The captain eyed Kyra up and down. Not in a lusting way, but irritated. ‘It’ll be twice as much for the two of you. We ain’t a ferry service, miss.’
‘As you wish,’ Naal said with a nod. ‘You have my thanks.’
He turned and beckoned them to follow him up the gangway to his ship, theThilene.The sails were black and worn, the wooden floorboards chipped and old, but the vessel had a sense of home to it, even if its Captain was about as welcoming as Kyra’s grandmother.
Captain Damar turned away, then abruptly looked at Kyra with distrust. ‘Don’t touch anything that ain’t yours.’
‘You mean this crap?’ Kyra asked, eyeing the broken, worthless junk scattered on the deck around them. ‘Trust me, I won’t.’
Damar glowered at her, just as someone snorted behind them. Kyra whipped around to see a man casually leaning against the mast, taller and younger than Damar, perhaps mid-twenties. A wonky, mischievous little smile played on his lips.
Whether he was laughing with her or at her, she didn’t care. She ignored him.
‘Kawai!’ Damar barked. ‘Are you going to gawk or are you going to set sail?’
‘Are you giving me the choice?’ the younger man said, his voice jesting as he strode past her, arm brushing hers on the way by.
The arrogance of men. Kyra resisted the urge to stick her foot out and trip him to the floor for that comment.
‘Don’t test me, boy,’ Damar warned. ‘You’re to give up your cabin for these two. Tell Boony he’s out too. You’re both in with the crew til we get to the ice-lands.’
Kawai began pulling sails down and untying ropes that Kyra could not even begin to understand. ‘What about your cabin, Damar?’ he asked. ‘Can’t I come in with you?’
‘I’d rather throw myself to the mer,’ Damar said gruffly. ‘Now shut up and get us out of this shit-smelling town.’
‘Ay, Captain.’ Laughing heartily, Kawai threw Kyra a brazen wink and continued to set them up for a voyage she wasn’t altogether sure she was ready for.
Leaning over the wooden rail, Kyra watched Vrethian become smaller and smaller as the ship pulled out of the port and into the open water. All of Avaldale could be seen from this viewpoint; the Citadel, the tallest point of the city and towering over any neighbouring buildings; the Arc to the south of the city, its ancient arched opening just visible through the town centre; the spaced out manor houses of the Upper States, belonging to Avaldale’s most affluent citizens. One in particular caught her eye, the furthest one from the shore on the topof the hill, a place that had once been so full of joy and family, now an empty shell of silent bitterness.
Apart from the greyscale of the capital, Vrethian was so… green. The rolling hills that would eventually stretch into the Sarlal Plains was an expanse of immense greenery, visible even in the darkening day. She’d never had the chance to notice that. Had never even had the opportunity to explore her own country, instead she’d been stifled night after night in the death pits at the Arc.
She suddenly yearned to be on that carriage with Rosary on the way to Taru, with nothing to worry about but where they would find their first taste of Sarlalian wine in their newfound freedom. She hoped Rosary was already on her way.
That dream had so nearly been hers. She mourned it already.
Naal joined her in her gazing, the wind ruffling her silver hair. ‘Will you miss it?’
‘No,’ she replied honestly. ‘I’m glad to see the back of it. I just… this isn’t how I imagined I would be leaving.’
Naal nodded with understanding, then said off-handedly, ‘Rosary is a good friend. One of a kind, I might say.’
Throat restricting, Kyra muttered, ‘She is.’
‘She would not tell me where you went.’
Kyra glanced at Naal. She was prying, cleverly and without demand for an answer, but prying all the same. She instinctively closed her right hand into a fist, hiding the fading scar. ‘I wanted to say goodbye to my brother,’ she said.
Not entirely a lie. Even if Lilion had not granted her that wish.
‘I see,’ Naal said, and Kyra had the feeling she didn’t believe her. ‘Kyraena-’
‘Kyra,’ she corrected her dully.
‘Of course,’ Naal said with a slight bow of her head for her mistake. ‘Kyra, you do not strike me as unintelligent. I do not think I need to tell you to act with caution from here on out, but I will say it anyway, in case you need to hear. Being a Warden means you will be targeted. There has been poison spreading throughout Droria since the Great Earthling war, poison that has many forgetting and even loathing theFour Mothers. For the time being, it’s best not to let slip who you truly are. There are spies in every corner of this world. Be wary with your trust. It has the potential to be your best or worst weapon.’
