21. Sleepless journey.
Sleepless journey.
JAYCE
T he small town of Orilon doesn’t have airdocks, so I watch from the balcony of the doctor’s house as my crew anchors the Blunder in a field outside of the city walls. The sun is high in the sky, and the populace has gathered to witness the landing.
I sigh, relieved. They did it. They repaired my ship enough to let her fly.
I don’t want to leave Kuroki’s side, so I ring the bell and send a housemaid to guide my friends here.
My cousin is on the bed, drugged out of consciousness, and his arm is bandaged from hand to shoulder, hiding away the gruesome damage.
The liquid-fire almost melted his skin right off his bones. His mother will never forgive me.
A few minutes later, I squint as my crew disembarks from the Blunder . I count four people, and wonder who stayed behind to guard the ship, even though I don’t expect them to as Kuroki lies on the bed behind me. Freddy is the only one I recognize from the distance, thanks to his massive figure.
Half an hour later, my confusion deepens as I realize the missing crew member is Harlow as they rush into the room, guided by the housemaid.
Before I can voice my question, Wilbur has thrown himself on his knees beside Kuroki’s bed.
His hands—the skin red and raw from his burns—are shaking as they skim over his body, avoiding his wounded arm.
“He’s heavily drugged,” I say. “He doesn’t feel any pain.”
Wilbur buries his face in the crook of Kuroki’s neck, and from the way his shoulders shake, too, I wonder if he’s crying. What a surprising turn of events.
I frown, noticing the bandage around Wilbur’s head. “Now that you’re here, we’ll fly him to Dragonest. The good doctor here did his best, but he’s not qualified to treat such extensive burns. We’ll meet with Harlow’s adoptive father, the surgeon. Did Harlow stay on the ship?”
Gia sobs, and my head snaps up. A single look from Alara tells me that something terrible happened. I know my second, and she’s fuming.
“Harlow was taken,” she says.
And the world comes crashing down on me.
It took all but an instant for Alara to retell the events of the night, and I’m already running down the stairs of the townhouse, rage and fear buzzing under my skin like hornets.
My hands are twitching over the guns at my belt; I feel like shooting someone. They took Harlow—my Harlow. I suddenly understand the dragons’ fury when they discovered their eggs were missing. I, too, feel like setting the sky on fire to get him back.
The doctor’s eyes widen as I rush into the room where he’s accepting patients. “We need to move Kuroki to my airship immediately. Do you have a vehicle to move him?”
The journey on horseback is not something I’m eager to repeat. Kuroki’s little whines of pain still haunt me.
“Of course,” says the doctor. “I’ll have the cart ready immediately, and the supplies for the journey.”
I gave him two vials of liquid-fire upon arrival to ensure he gave Kuroki his undivided attention and promised him more from the Blunder .
“What’s the plan, Captain?” Alara asks as I come back to the room.
“We’re taking Kuroki to Dragonest. And once he’s safe and cared for, we’re going after the fuckers who stole our dragoner. They’ll regret the day they crossed a crew of fire scroungers.”
To my surprise, the first to nod is Wilbur. His eyes too are burning with rage.
“Yes, Captain,” says Alara.
An hour later, Freddy and I carry Kuroki on a gurney over the ramp to the Blunder and set him up on the upper deck in a nest of blankets.
He never stirs, but his face is covered by a sheen of sweat.
Wilbur builds a fort around him to protect him from the sun and wind while we take off.
Gia sits by his side with medicine, water and food, should he wake.
We hope he won’t; it’ll make the journey easier for him.
Dragonest is a two-day trip at full speed.
We won’t dare go too high, in case the hot-air balloon repairs fail us.
For two days, I don’t sleep and man the control room and the sails to ensure fast travel. Alara and Gia try to make me rest, but I’m too mad with worry and rage to do anything else but make sure we reach Dragonest in record time.
Our enemies have taken Harlow to hunt for dragon eggs, and I have no clue where to. He could already be dead for all I know, his smoldering husk left in the Wilds. He could be chained and tortured in the underbelly of their airship.
I’m a man of action, and there’s nothing that drives me madder than being powerless.
I finally relent on the second night, only because I need to sit for a moment. Freddy takes the helm, and I go check on Kuroki. The air is cool; we had to fly higher to pass the Fangs. I find Wilbur at Kuroki’s side, holding his good hand. He says nothing as I sit opposite him.
Our mechanic looks as bad as I do; I don’t think he has slept either. He spent his days hammering below decks to repair the damage to the hull, suspended by ropes, and his nights guarding Kuroki while Gia slept.
“How are you feeling?” I ask him after a while.
It looks like he’s close to bursting out of his skin, barely containing his inner demons.
He takes so long to answer; I thought he was ignoring me. “Angry. So angry. And terrified.”
I sigh. “Me too.” I’m just better at hiding it.
“He woke up an hour ago, and when he understood I was the one giving him a drink, he asked for my forgiveness.” Wilbur’s frown is as deep as the mountains below the Blunder , his face twisted in anguish.
“Forgiveness for what?”
I already have an idea, but Wilbur needs a little push to exorcize his demons.
“I…” he struggles, “He kissed me the other day, and I panicked. I don’t fucking know why. One moment, he was kissing me; the next, I was pushing him away, as if his lips on mine were the worst thing that could have happened… When in reality…” He pauses.
“In reality, you liked it.”
Wilbur’s eyes shot open, and he stares at me, lost. “I think I do,” he says, his voice thick with emotion.
“I don’t—I’ve never… I’m a mess. I thought I didn’t like being touched.
But Kuroki, he…. He’s always invading my personal space, and I…
What have I done, Captain? Have I pushed away the only person who tolerates me? ”
I sigh and point a finger at him menacingly.
“First of all, he’s not the only one who tolerates you.
Open your eyes. We fucking adore you, even if you don’t talk to us more than a word or two a day.
” I’ve taken him by surprise, and he looks on the verge of tears.
“Second, you have the right to hesitate. We’re not all like Kuroki, who knows exactly what he wants to eat for breakfast every day, what he wants to do in the afternoon, and who he wants to love.
Trust me, when he wakes up long enough to get his head straight, he’ll still love you. ”
Shocked silence. Then: “He… loves me?”
I snort. “Gods, you really are oblivious. Try kissing him the next time he’s awake and see how he reacts.”
Wilbur’s fingers tighten around Kuroki’s hand, and he brings it to his lips.
I watch them for a moment, my chest hurting with worry, thinking about Harlow. Four days ago, he was in my bed. I feel like we barely had time together—only a second in a lifetime. I should have been less stubborn from the very first day and given in to my attraction to him.
If they hurt him… If they take him from me… I swear I’ll hunt every one of them and feed them to dragons.
“I need coffee,” I say, getting to my feet.
We reach Dragonest the next day around noon, the summer sun beating down on us and the sky too blue for our distress.
The city is nestled at the center of a dead volcano, and I often wondered if it might wake someday and devour Dragonest with the fire from the earth.
With our luck, it might even happen today…
We dock only ever when we have cargo to sell—I don’t like to linger in the royal city.
The king who ordered the death of my friends during the Crimson War sits in his grand castle on the hill.
But now, as my cousin agonizes on the upper deck and Harlow is missing, I couldn’t care less about kings and previous wars.
We pay the expensive fee to the dockmaster, and I hire a messenger to find us the address of Harlow’s adoptive father. There can’t be that many surgeons called Prince.
Two hours later, we’re crossing Dragonest’s busy streets in an expensive car with a liquid-fire engine.
Wilbur should have marveled at the invention, but he’s too busy checking on Kuroki’s well-being to care.
My cousin woke up long enough this morning to get a drink laced with drugs for the pain.
He winked out moments later, without saying a word.
Gia and Alara stayed to guard the Blunder .
Dr. Prince works most days at the royal hospital. The staff first refuses to let us see him. He’s a busy man and there’s a list of patients waiting for his intervention, but one mention of his son—and a vial of liquid-fire—and they ready a room for Kuroki.
Dr. Prince, unsurprisingly, looks nothing like Harlow.
He’s tall and burly, looking more like a farmer than a doctor except for the gray blouse of his trade.
This is the man who cared for an orphan found on the brink of death, the skin of his back melted by dragonfire.
Upon entering, he immediately scans the room, looking for Harlow.
He’s evidently a pragmatic man, and the first words out of his mouth are “Where is my son?”
I take a deep breath and retell the events of the past weeks.