Chapter 18
My ear tickled again. I frowned and creaked open one eye.
Ramaro’s face was mere inches from mine. His long tongue was out and stretched across my cheek and into my ear.
I screamed and shot up, sending the creature tumbling over the bed. Again. I scrambled to the edge and leaned over, but his head popped up, forcing me to jerk back. He had a deep scowl on his face as he scrawled onto the bed.
“Do you enjoy tossing me aside?” he growled as he climbed onto the chair and plopped himself down in front of me.
I glared back at him. “Do you enjoy scaring me?”
Ramaro puffed out his chest and grinned. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, the minute you stop scaring me is the minute I stop tossing you off the bed.” I paused, and my heart skipped a beat. “Where’s the captain?”
“He was on deck hours ago,” Ramaro told me as his tail swished from side to side. “Some humans don’t sleep for twelve hours.”
My eyes widened. “Was I out that long?”
“At least.”
I cupped my head in my hand and furrowed my brow. “Twelve hours. Am I sick?”
“Nothing a good beating couldn’t fix.”
I dropped my hand into my lap and glared at him. “What are you even doing in here, anyway?”
“You’re wanted on deck,” he announced as he crawled headfirst down the sheets and scurried across the floor to the door.
He turned to face me and nodded at a chair placed close to the bed.
My old clothes were draped over the back, while the ones I wore were all wrinkled from the long nap. “Immediately.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, but paused and frowned at the lizard. “Turn around.”
He twitched his snout. “Why?”
“Because you’re a guy and I’m not getting dressed with you watching.”
His tongue flicked out. “I am not ‘a guy,’ I am an-”
“Agama, and you still need to turn around,” I insisted.
He lifted his nose, but obligingly turned tail toward me. “Alright, but only because you remembered what I was, and not some ‘lizard.’”
I wrestled my way free of the sheets and hurried over to the chair. I was halfway through my dressing when my ears picked up on a sound, or rather, a lack of sound. “Did the captain stop pushing us through the ocean?”
Ramaro let out a heavy sigh. “Of course. We’re not in the ocean anymore, we’re on the outskirts of Azur Bay. It would be very stupid of him to use his magic in such shallow water.”
I perked up at the warning. “What would happen?”
His tail clapped against the boards. “Are you still dressing?”
“Almost done,” I assured him as I resumed my chore. I was soon finished and hurrying over to the lizard. “So what happens to the bay if he uses his magic?”
“Bad things,” Ramaro quipped as he crawled up the wooden door and pulled the handle. “Now come on. The captain’s waiting.”
Ramaro led me out onto the sunshine-filled deck. I had indeed slept through the morning, and the afternoon had taken hold of the day.
The crew hurried hither and thither, manning the sails and securing the anchor rope. More than one gave me a sharp glance as the lizard led me through their number to the bow, where the captain stood. I couldn’t help but wonder if he ever stood anywhere else.
He half-turned to me with a smile as bright as ever. “Good afternoon, Miss Larkin. I trust you slept well.”
“I could ask the same thing of you,” I mused as I looked him over. “Are you alright?”
He flashed me a grin. “Better than ever. Doc’s hands work wonders when he’s sober.”
“And when he’s not?”
“Then he works wonders, but not on muscles.”
Ramaro climbed onto my shoulder, and his tongue flicked out. “You didn’t call her out here to talk about drink and the doctor.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “What did you call me out here for?”
“To show you this,” the captain explained as he stepped to one side. “Welcome to Azur Bay.”
The crystal-clear blue waters of the bay were held tightly between two branching land masses that looked like thick arms. The land was covered in small fishing shacks, and docks of various shapes, sizes, and ages dotted the coastline.
The arms met in front of us, where a large, hilly island stretched out of sight.
The first mile inland was covered in a packed city of clapboard houses, all of which were different from their brethren.
Some shared walls. Others stood alone on small plots of land with grass.
Dirt streets wound through their number, never straight and never the same width.
The roads bustled with activity as carts and pedestrians went on their way.
Larger docks stretched out from the city shoreline, and they were attached to the land by a huge wharf and warehouses. Smaller ships were anchored at the docks while the larger vessels like ours were moored within three hundred yards. Their away boats were docked on land.
The shoreline on the leftward arm was covered in dry-docks. The large berths were half-filled with vessels of various sizes, having their hulls scraped and repaired by half-naked men with huge muscles. Men alone manned the docks, as well, moving cargo on and off the ships.
All this I saw from our position some two hundred yards from shore. For me, it was like staring at a throwback to a foreign land.
“Does any of this look familiar to you?” the captain asked me.
My heart sank as I shook my head. “No.”
“Have you ever been ashore in such places?”
“I did live in a city.” My hand instinctively moved to my empty pocket. “And I usually had something on me to protect me.”
He cocked his head to one side and studied my hand. “And you no longer have that thing?”
My heart sank. “No.”
“Then stay close to me.”
I blinked at him. “Close to you? You’re taking me ashore?”
The corners of his lips twitched higher. “Shouldn’t I?”
“Should we?” I heard Ramaro grumble as his tail whipped my back. I lifted an eyebrow at the lizard.
Torvus frowned at our short companion. “Nothing a little bit of my charm won’t fix.”
Ramaro scoffed, but didn’t argue further. Instead, he scurried down my side and disappeared into the open hatch of the hold.
I cast my eyes to the unknown city and shrugged. “I don’t think I’d be of much use out there.”
“We’ll see about that,” he mused as he looked past me. I half turned and beheld Fidel standing a few yards away. “We’ll be leaving for a few hours. Aim the ship toward the dry-docks. Berth seven should be empty.”
Fidel nodded. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
The captain caught my eye and jerked his head toward an away boat that hung over the side of the ship. “This way.”