Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ryker
We decided to go to White Pool first. It was best to get it over with before the guards started regrouping. We’d be in and out in a matter of minutes, if not less.
Because there were only five sea communities, and we weren’t returning to Seacrest, Callan and I could open portals for the four villages we’d have to visit. Callan knew these communities well enough from his time spent as a traveling minstrel, and I’d spent some time in them too over the years.
We’d both be pushing our limit by the time we finished and might be too drained to open another portal by the end. Fletcher or Luna could get us back to the Revenant Woods.
I opened the portal into White Pool at the very edge of town. I’d chosen a spot where the winding road gave way to seagrass and sprawling homes dotting the coastline.
We stepped out behind a small pub with starfish, netting, and buoys decorating the outside of its slightly lopsided design. The back of the building overlooked a cliff, and no one would see us when we emerged.
Because of its location, only a few feet separated us from bone-crushing agony hundreds of feet below. The waves battering the cliffside would ensure more bones shattered once we hit the water.
“Holy shit,” Callan breathed as he flattened his back against the building and gazed at the sea with bulging eyes. “Warn someone before you place them on the edge of a cliff.”
“Don’t step forward,” I cautioned.
He glowered at me as the roar of the waves drowned out the caws of the gulls. The taste of salt hung heavily in the air, and the wintry, ocean breeze found crevices in my clothing to ice my skin.
“How did you know this existed?” Callan asked.
“I did some adventuring in my early days.”
Leaning my shoulder against the pub’s wall, I poked my head around the side of the building to search for any guards. Amsirah hurried down the street with their shoulders hunched forward and their heads bowed against the wind.
In the distance, a bell chimed on the water as ships bobbed on the waves. Word of the robbery must not have spread yet; otherwise, there’d be a lot more talking and excitement on the street.
There would also be more commotion inside the tavern, where many would gather to learn and share the gossip. Even with the windows closed, the clatter of glasses and scent of cooking seafood drifted out from within, but it was still far too subdued.
Saddles didn’t jingle, and shouts didn’t ring out as guards rode down the street, so I was pretty sure we were safe to move. “Let’s go,” I said.
Before coming here, we’d all removed our hoods. There wasn’t a reason to hide ourselves anymore… there hadn’t been much of a reason before, other than keeping Ellery from being a direct target.
These amsirah would see our faces and know who was bringing them this small reprieve. But more than that, they’d know we were still fighting for them and would do so until our dying breaths.
When I stepped out from behind the building, I strode between the pub and the mercantile toward the street. I stopped at the end to study the quiet, seaside street, and the others all paused beside me.
A fresh gust of wind carried sand that stuck to my face and swirled through the air. I blinked against the grainy tendrils trying to find their way into my eyes.
One of the amsirah skirted a thick pool of drying blood in the middle of the road. No dead body lay near the blood, but there was enough of it to indicate that whoever spilled it didn’t survive.
And beyond that, more pools of blood were sinking into the compressed, sandy road. When I looked the other way, three more puddles greeted me.
I was sure my father’s guards had caused that blood to spill. Either someone had tried to interfere with their collection, or they’d simply been in a pissy mood.
The woman walking toward us looked up and stopped. When her gaze fell to the chest in my hands, her mouth parted as her gaze flitted from me to the chest and back again.
“I hope this money will be enough to keep them on our side,” Luna muttered. “Something bad happened here.”
“And something bad will keep happening while my father is in charge,” I said.
“Do we really stand a chance against them?”
Her doubt irritated me, but I understood it. They had far more weapons, numbers, and carisle. Most of our numbers consisted of barely trained fighters who’d never seen combat, but if we lost hope, then we had no chance of keeping it alive in the amsirah.
“We have no other choice,” I said.
And that was the simple truth. If we didn’t stop him, Tempest wouldn’t perish, but it would become an inescapable, endless hell. Even if we did defeat my father, we still might not leave Tempest, but at least we’d make it livable again.
I nodded to the woman still gawking at us while Fletcher gave an awkward wave. The woman didn’t move, but a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
“We’ll take the money to the tavern,” I said.