Chapter Twenty-Eight
Back at the Reprisal, I sat at the dining table in my cabin, my breakfast plate pushed aside.
Sudar had done well. Not only had he gained access to the hold of the Hunter, but he'd also brought back presents—a length of softly glowing, pale blue silk, some white silk with no glow, and two bones.
One bone was Raltven, and the other was something else.
I couldn't tell them apart; only the Raltven could, and I wasn't about to crack them open to help distinguish them.
Sudar said there had been three crates of silk, and the rest had been bones. Entire skeletons.
The bones and silk lay on the table before me. I'd been staring at them for over an hour.
They were connected. As was the thread. Crav had said the thread was silk.
The Hulfrin had delivered crates of the stuff to the House of Silk and returned with crates full of bones and silk fabric.
An odd payment for thread. The Spider, whoever they were, had to be a weaver.
The glow of the silk fabric matched that of the thread, leading me to conclude that the Spider wove the thread into fabric and then sent some back to the thread supplier as payment.
I didn't know much about weaving, but it seemed to me that the amount of thread delivered would make far more fabric than was returned.
So, I could also deduce that the weaver kept most of her product.
But why send bones? And not just Raltven bones.
Did Lord Bara turn bones into thread? If so, how?
I knew of many procedures to create magical objects, but thread?
Of course, my expertise wasn't in magic.
I had no ability myself and knew only what I'd learned through books that had interested me and life experience. In short, it was entirely possible.
I looked at the bones again. Then the white silk.
I could only assume that Raltven bones weren't the only ones used in this process.
After all, we'd only seen one crate of thread.
There could have been non-glowing thread as well.
Thread to make this normal-looking silk.
I touched the white silk. It felt like silk.
Nothing special. Why go through what was likely a tedious magical process to turn bones into thread only to make regular silk?
The glowing silk was pretty, but that was all, and the white silk wasn't special in the least. It made no sense.
Seated in a chair beside me, Vas stared at me instead of the items. We had spent a restless night aboard the ship, although my cabin was the largest and the bed comfortable. My mind didn't like to rest when it had a mystery to solve. It just kept churning out possibilities. Terrible possibilities.
I felt as if I were on the cusp of understanding, but the information kept spinning without coming together.
Missing Raltven who vanished from somewhere they should have been safe, two types of bones, glowing thread, two types of silk woven in a pleasure house.
The Bone Cleaner and the Spider. It sounded like a children's story—a tale to make them behave.
But there was a third character in this tale. The one who made the thread.
“Shouldn't the thread-maker be called the Spider?” I mused.
Vas looked from me to the thread. “I suppose a spider does spin threads, but it also weaves its web. So, calling a weaver a spider is appropriate.”
I gave a mirthless laugh. “I'm focusing on things that don't matter because I can't fucking figure this out!”
“You will.” Vas took my hand and squeezed it. “You've already discovered so much.”
“Boss.” Drellan came into the cabin.
“What did you find, Drell?” I demanded.
“Bara's not in Weisha.”
I took a breath to calm myself. It was the puzzle vexing me, not Drellan.
I had told him to investigate Bara, so he was starting with the obvious.
Still, I couldn't stop myself from saying, “Yes, Drellan, I know he isn't here.
Bara owns the Hunter. He's the one shipping the thread here.
If he lived here, he wouldn't have to do that.
What I wanted you to find out is where he's shipping the thread from and anything else you could discover about him.”
“Yeah, I understand, boss. I had to get a few of the Hunter's sailors drunk, but they finally let it slip that they're returning to Hidzi today. But that's just where they're docking. They said they had to deliver some goods, but they wouldn't tell me where. No matter how drunk I got them.”
“They're leaving today?”
“Yes, the Hunter is making ready to sail at this very moment. Looks like the only business they had in Weiha was delivering that thread and fetching their payment.”
I leaned back and sighed. “I wanted to find the abductors first. It's more important that we stop them.”
“I know, boss, but we can't let this opportunity get away. Don't you want to know who made that thread?”
“Yes, I agree. I just don't like leaving Weiha knowing that more people could be taken.”
“Yeah. Your call, boss. What do you want to do?”
“Is the team all here?”
“Yes.”
“Tell Captain Tev to gather his crew and prepare to sail.”
“Yes, sir.” Drellan left the room.
“What about your friend?” Vasren asked.
“Huh?” I looked at him. “What friend?”
As if he'd been summoned by my forgetfulness, Crav walked into the cabin. “Good morning.”
“Crav! You have perfect timing.” I stood up to shake his hand. “We're about to set sail.”
“You're leaving already?” He pulled the spool of thread out of his jacket pocket and set it on the table.
I nodded. “So, what did you discover about the thread?”
“It's silk, as I suspected.”
“That's it?”
He held up a palm. “The fibers are infused with Raltven essence. How it got infused, I have no idea. But that thread is natural. There are no other fibers spun into it.”
“Natural,” I murmured, my stare shifting away from Crav. “Fuck. This doesn't make sense.”
“I assure you my findings are accurate.”
“I don't doubt you, my friend.”
Crav frowned down at the table. “Why do you have Raltven and Eljaffna remains?”
I froze. “Eljaffna? That's an Eljaffna bone?”
“An Eljaffna ulna to be exact.” He bent to peer closer at it. “I'd say this was a male in full maturity. At least a century old.”
“What about the Raltven?” I pointed at the other bone.
Crav's stare slid over. He made some pensive noises. “Young one. Also male, but no more than forty years, I'd say.”
“So age isn't a factor,” I murmured.
“What's that?” Crav straightened.
“Nothing. Thank you so much, Crav.” I pulled out a gold coin and pressed it into his hand.
“No, no, that's not necessary.”
“Crav, you worked all night on this, didn't you?”
He shrugged.
“And then you helped me with these bones. Take the gold along with my deep gratitude.” I hugged him.
“Anytime, my friend.” He smacked my back. “And good luck with whatever you're after now.”
“Thank you. Let me see you to the dock.” I left the room with him.
Vasren went with us down the corridor and out to the main deck. It was already bustling with activity, sailors doing what they did to prepare for a journey. Glancing over one berth, I saw the same activity happening on the deck of the Hunter.
“Will you be returning soon?” Crav asked as he stepped onto the gangplank.
“I think so.” I patted his back. “Let's have a meal together next time.”
“I'd like that. Both of our families.” He smiled behind me, at Vas.
Family. Was that what I was to Vas? I glanced over my shoulder to find him smiling. Interesting.
“Goodbye, Crav.” I stood near the bulwark as he left and then turned to face Vas. But I was really looking at the Hunter.
“What are you thinking now, my little genius?” Vas murmured in my ear as he pulled me into an embrace.
“I'm thinking we should leave first.”
“What?” He leaned back to look at me.
“Our ship. We should sail first so that the Hulfrin aren't suspicious. We already know they're heading to Hidzi. We can get their first and prepare to follow them wherever they head next.”
Vas motioned at the sailors pulling in the gangplank. “Looks as if we're ready.”
“But we need to move faster.” I strode over to the base of the quarterdeck and called up to the Captain, “We need to set sail as soon as possible, Captain.”
“Yes, sir,” the Captain said, then nodded at his First Mate.
The First Mate shouted, “Hands aloft to loose the fore top, main top, fore top'mast stays!”
The activity on deck got more frenzied, with men calling back to the First Mate as they completed the tasks. The sails were unfurled, and the ship creaked as the wind caught and pushed us away from the dock.
As we set sail, I contemplated the people behind this enterprise.
Separate kingdoms meant separate Dragon Kings and separate Talon Forces.
Whatever these people were up to, they were being smart about it.
If one of them was arrested, the other had a chance of escaping.
But I still didn't know what they were up to.
“Bones and silk. What are you doing with them, Bara Vanculf?”