Page 21 of The King's Sword
“We’re going to have to stop at the next port,” Evander said as he came over and stood before Sabine with his hands on his hips. “I need to repair that part on the mast and from the looks of it, it’s going to start raining. Normally, I’d still sail in a storm but since the rope isn’t holding, I don’t want to get stuck.”
“I think that’s a wise decision.” She’d rather be safe than sink. “Is the port in Nisk?”
“No. We’re north of Nisk. We’ll pull into an Avoni port.”
Which meant Sabine would get to see a new kingdom. Since she’d seen so little of the world, she wanted to experience as much as she could when she had the opportunity.
Evander sighed. “It’ll take us longer to get north to Cusp where my guards are, but I don’t see a way around it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she assured him, unable to hide the smile on her face.
“It won’t take long to repair, and then we’ll be on our way.”
As if on cue, a light rain started to fall.
Evander moved to stand behind Sabine. “We need to head east. Do you know which direction that is?”
With thick clouds concealing the sun, Sabine had a hard time keeping her directions straight. Since she spotted a bit of land to the right, she pointed at it.
“Good.”
She turned the wheel, steering the ship that way. “Are you just going to stand behind me?” she asked. “Don’t you have a rope to tie or a mast to move?” The idea of having an assassin standing at her back made her uncomfortable. Like a spider crawling on her neck.
He sighed. “I do.” He ran over and started bringing in the larger sail, then rolling it up.
The ship quickly made its way closer to land. “I see a red flag ahead,” she called out.
“Head toward it.”
She did as he said. When she got closer, she realized the flag was at the tip of a point, marking it so ships didn’t run into it. “Now what?”
“There should be an inlet right past the flag. Steer the boat that way.”
The rain came down harder, making it difficult to see. Sabine did as Evander said and turned the ship just past the flag, entering the inlet. It opened to a large bay. Her arms shook from a combination of being cold and from fear of crashing. As to why Evander trusted her enough to steer this thing was beyond her.
The choppy water rocked the boat. Through the rain, she could barely make out several docks jutting out from land.
Evander came over and took the wheel from her. “You did a great job,” he said. “But I’ll take it from here.” He turned the ship and steered it directly toward one of the docks where there was an empty slip. When they got close enough, he dropped the anchor then ran to the side, tossing a long rope onto the edge of the dock. Evander expertly jumped over the side, landing with grace on the dock where he proceeded to tie the ship up as if he’d done this hundreds of times.
Sabine noticed Evander’s movements were always smooth and graceful. And silent. He barely made noise when walking around the ship or jumping onto a wooden dock.
“Grab the bags,” he called out.
She ran below deck where she found it much warmer since there wasn’t any wind or rain. After getting their bags, she went back up.
“Toss them over,” Evander called out when he saw her.
She threw each bag to him. He expertly caught the bags as if they weighed nothing.
“Your turn,” he said.
Too wet and cold to argue, she climbed up and over the side. Evander reached out, grabbing her around her waist and setting her on the dock.
He looked at her, his brows drawn together, as if she somehow surprised him.
“Now what?” she asked, glancing around. A warm fire sounded lovely. And a hot cup of tea. Preferably that stuff Evander made and not herplainBakley tea.
“Let’s go to an inn,” he said. “Once you’re settled, I’ll come back and fix the broken part.” He lifted their bags, hoisting them over his shoulder.
