Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
TALLY
Three Months Later…
Scratching ink into a piece of parchment, trying to not smudge the writing as I go, but still completing the document as fast as I can.
I didn’t want to have to do this.
But with everything that has been going on, how can I not. Besides, the Burnt Bones owe me for allowing them to be stationed here for so long. If the bandits currently reeking havoc across the island win, they won’t ever get that opportunity again.
Three months since they left, and it’s been two and a half since things started happening.
Robberies in broad daylight. Members of my community being shoved into walls in the middle of the night, after closing up their businesses, before being robbed. Graffiti, everywhere. Setting the horses loose in the stark of night.
At first, we thought it was children, teenagers messing around– although serious, still forgivable with a stern talking too– but then things started stepping up. And they all started to point their vengeance towards me.
Animal remains left in front of the inn. Stopping supply boats from entering the dock. Writing over the front of the inn in blood.
Fucking pirate slut.
Among other insults.
Then the posters started popping up all over town, showcasing how bad of a leader I am, how someone else should take over. Dragging my name through the mud.
The last straw was the fire, set in my home in the upper village on the cliffs. It wasn’t much, I didn’t keep much there other than things from my childhood. But my parents' hut isn’t far from it. If the wind had been blowing slightly differently, they’d have gone up in flames too.
Thinking of my ill father, dying before he should, at the hands of some bastard, sends unadulterated rage through me.
My people are worried, scared. They don’t know who to turn to and I can see in their eyes with each poster that goes up, the less they start to trust me.
So now, it’s time for me to pull in people who can help me. People who will make these bandits’ work seem like nothing. The ones who don’t even bat an eyelid at causing violence.
I’m calling on the Burnt Bones.
I really don’t want to have to call them back. My chest still aches at the thought of seeing her so soon. But I’ll make my way through it, for my people. This is for them, not for my own petty reasons.
I know Amara will come back immediately. After all, when she left she told me to ‘just send a raptor, if you ever need us, and we’ll be here’, so that is exactly what I’m doing. I can only hope Cyrus is okay with coming back and doesn’t stop them all from coming.
If she did, I think I’d go searching for her just to end her. Fuck whatever happens to me. My people are worth more than whatever our feelings are towards each other.
Finishing writing my scribbles on the parchment, I blow on the ink to help it dry before rolling it up and tying it closed. Dribbling wax and stamping it, to keep it sealed.
What I’m about to do is risky, heading out in the dead of night alone, to get to the raptor enclosure.
But this needs to be done in secret, no one can know I’m calling them, that I’m asking for help.
Not before they arrive. The bandits’ can’t know the reason they come back, is because I called for them, that they’re on a mission for me.
Tucking the parchment into my coat pocket, before checking that I have plenty of blades strapped across my person.
Even with at least twelve attached to me, it doesn’t feel like enough– doesn’t stop the anxiety running through me. This constant anxiety is draining; is this how Cyrus feels all the time? I have to shake my head to stop my thoughts drifting to her once more.
Closing my eyes and breathing deep, I take a moment to adjust myself, then I’m sliding down the ladder from my window and becoming one with the shadows, until I reach the bird enclosure.
Cooing at a raptor, I call for one to land on my arm. The intelligent bird lands and rubs its beak against my cheek, as I start to attach the letter to his talon.
Giving the bird a delicate kiss on its head, I whisper my instructions. “Take this to the Burnt Bones. It needs to land in the hands of Amara. Make sure they know it's urgent.”
He lets out a little caw, like he somehow understands the exact urgency of what I said.
Moving outside the enclosure, I allow him to spread his wings before taking off.
Time is irrelevant, standing here watching the bird move further and further away. I only wanted to make sure it cleared the island, I wouldn’t put it past the bandits to shoot it down to stop word from getting out. To stop me from getting any sort of back up.
The bird has long since cleared the distance required, yet I still stand here watching.
Watching, as that bird flies off with all my hopes tied on its little clawed foot.