Chapter 2
“I won’t do it!”
The protests came from Ramaro as he sat on the crate on the deck. His tail swished to and fro behind him, and his tongue flicked out every three seconds. “You can’t make me!”
Marc stood over him with his arms folded over his chest. “As your captain, I could make you walk the plank into the deep.”
“I’d rather have that than go along with your plan!”
I raised my hand. “I’m not so sure about this, either.”
The weakening late-afternoon sun shone down on us as the Tempest rocked up and down on the waves.
Her anchor was down and her sails were lowered, leaving the crew little to do but to lie about on the deck and bask in the sun.
The ship was anchored close to one of the larger crags, and the island city was hidden from view as we were concealed from it.
Marc shrugged. “Very well. He can stay on the ship and hunt the mice.”
Ramaro’s tail struck the rear of the crate. “Why can’t I just hide in a hood or a bag?”
“Hoods bring attention, and the Sylvaris Nightshade guild works their ‘magic’ in the capital.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “The what guild?”
“Sylvaris Nightshade,” Marc repeated for me. “They’re a group of expert thieves who operate in the capital and surrounding islands.”
“Does the Admiralty allow that?”
A faint smile slipped onto his lips. “They don’t have a choice. The guild members are professionally trained and suicidally loyal. Everyone who’s been captured by their enemies has committed suicide.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
Ramaro scoffed. “And you actually believe them? They’re a bunch of thieves. Lying is second nature to them.”
I had to tamp down the corners of my lips. “Like it is to a pirate?”
He wrinkled his snout. “We have more honor than that bunch. They’ll as soon steal from their mothers as not.”
“I think it’s about time you went below deck and performed your rat-catching duties,” Marc chimed in.
Ramaro flicked his long tongue at the captain. “Do I look like a cat?”
“We could fix that by gluing the hull’s dust weeds to your scales.”
His tail acted like a bongo against the back of the crate. “I’ll have you know these scales saved your hides in the fight with that lunatic, Jaeger, or was your dragon brain too interested in eating chickens to notice?”
A bemused smile slipped onto his lips. “I was thinking more of roasted lizard, but we couldn’t miss our flight. Jaeger was so eager for us to stay that he may have gone to drastic measures to keep us there.”
Ramaro’s nostrils flared. “You might joke about it, but it was no joking matter to the two of us. I had to hide under the boat while those villains pawed over Rose.”
Marc’s good humor dropped off his face. “We’ll have to find a way to thank them for that.”
“I’m alright,” I spoke up as I offered the pair a smile. “You both saved me, and we’re here now waiting for, um, someone.”
“The Wraithcourier,” Ramaro reminded me as he stretched his neck up and surveyed the area. “The creepy bugger should’ve been here by now.”
“He comes when he wants to, and no earlier,” Marc reminded him.
Wraithcourier. The name made me shiver. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Why is he called that?”
“Nobody’s ever seen his face,” Ramaro told me as he flicked out his tongue. “Nobody’s even sure it’s a man. It could be a phantom or maybe the spirit of a drowned sailor.”
“Isn’t a spirit the same as a phantom?” I inquired.
Ramaro curled his tail around himself and stretched himself to his full, unimpressive stature.
“Of course not. A spirit is the shade of your average dead person. A phantom is much more than that. It’s a soul that is so powerful that it’s taken on a new life.
They can even talk and touch you, whereas a spirit needs to really focus to do either of those things. ”
I lifted an eyebrow at my short companion. “You seem to know a lot about spirits. I thought you didn’t like people all that much.”
The tip of his tail twitched. “I know a lot about a lot of things. As for them being people, humans are conceited enough to think they’re the only ones with spirits. I’ve met more animal spirits than humans.”
“That’s because they’re more likely to talk to you than a human,” Marc pointed out as he inspected the area around us. “The fog’s coming in. He should be here any moment.”
“Fog? But it’s a perfectly clear-” The words died in my throat when I noticed the huge bank that fast approached us.
The completely clear horizon was now blocked by a high wall of fog that approached us from the direction of the city. The barrier blotted out the sun and cast us in its huge shadow. Its speed was so fast that if I had been forced to outrun it, I wouldn’t have won.
My mouth dropped open, and shivers ran down my spine. I had to lick my dry lips before I could speak. “W-what is that?”
“The coming of the Wraithcourier,” Marc revealed as he stood. “He hides his customers in his fog.”
I wrapped my coat tighter around myself. My breath came out in white wisps of warning. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention against the rising tide of mist. “Won’t somebody in the city notice the fog and see where we land?”
Ramaro rolled his eyes. “Nobody will be the wiser that it isn’t a natural fog when we land after sunset. The city has them most every night thanks to the warm waters.”
Marc turned to face our small friend. “Are you coming or do you start rat duty?”
The agama hunched his shoulders, but slipped off the crate and slunk over to the port side of the ship. “Stop asking stupid questions, and let’s get onto that boat.”
“Boat?” I asked him as I jumped to my feet and was promptly attacked on both sides by the heavy flaps of the overcoat that I wore.
The dingy exterior was thankfully not the same as the clean interior, thanks to a lot of soap and scrubbing.
I grabbed the sides and rebuttoned the few remaining buttons on the front.
“I don’t think this is going to stay on very well,” I told my companions.
Marc strolled over to me and buttoned the last few, which just happened to be over my breasts. A sly smile slipped onto his lips. “If you have any further problems, feel free to ask for my help.”
I frowned and swatted his hands. He yanked his hands away before I connected. “I think I can handle this part myself.”
He reached into his vest and drew out a small roll of rope. “I think this’ll help.”
I could only blink once before he looped his arms around me and drew me against his chest, where his hands settled atop my butt cheeks. We were face to chin, and I could feel every ripple of his muscles. He flashed me a sly grin. “Like what you feel?”
I glared at him. “I’d like it better if I wasn’t feeling it, now let me go.”
He raised his hands on either side and stepped back. “I was just helping you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and took a step. “How were you helping-” I paused, and my eyes widened before I looked down. The rope he had held was now neatly wrapped around my waist. I twisted this way and that, and the large coat no longer fidgeted around my thin frame. “I, um, thanks.”
“Are you two coming?” Ramaro snapped at us from the railing. “He’s not going to wait forever!”
Marc set a hand on my lower back. “Come on, or we’ll miss our boat.”
He led me over to the railing, and Ramaro scooted to one side. I grasped the wood and leaned over the side. My blood ran cold.
The fog parted to create a passage, and a long, narrow boat glided out of the mist at the end. The vessel had been carved from a wood as black as the deepest night, and the surface was smooth enough to reflect the dark waters.
The most striking part of the ship wasn’t the material, but the driver.
A tall, robed figure stood at the back of the boat.
They were as thin as a skeleton and grasped a gondolier pole in their pale, bony hands.
A hood covered their face, and they were slightly hunched, so inquisitive eyes wouldn’t have an easy time taking a peek.
The ferryman sailed silently up to our ship and turned so the boats were parallel. Then he waited.