Chapter 5 The Sea Seeker
The Sea Seeker
It’s bad, Gavyn,” Erik said in a hushed rasp. He held the pail of rainwater he’d collected through a night storm.
I swallowed through emotion. “He dead?”
Maj was gone. Bloodsinger hadn’t wanted to tell me, but I could see it. The way he looked at me when I asked about her, I knew. It was the same look he had whenever I brought up his dead mother.
Gone.
I didn’t know how to live in a world without her. She wouldn’t sing to me again, wouldn’t tease me about my wild morning hair anymore. My maj wouldn’t wink at me anymore right before we played a trick on Daj.
I blinked through broken memories. No. I had to think about what to do now. Maj needed me to save the rest of us.
She’d want me to look out for Cel; she’d want me to protect Daj.
Erik grunted when he lifted the pail a little more and made a move for the door. “Saw him breathing last I checked. But Harald got to him real bad.”
“I gotta get him out, Bloodsinger.” I glanced to the place beneath the king’s bed where we’d fashioned a bed for Celine. She hugged her skinny knees to her chest, asleep, but still whimpering through nightmares. “He’s not gonna make it if I don’t.”
“What the hells do you think I’m doin’?” Erik held up the pail. “Wait at least a chime before slipping into the cell, the fifth one from the back wall. Window’s small but not blocked.”
Gods, he was placing water in the cell of my daj, giving me a shot to free him.
“A chime,” Erik whispered, then hooded his head and slipped into the dark corridor off his room.
I blew out a breath. I’d cried enough these last days to bring shame to the whole of the seas of the Otherworld, where ancestors swam.
The window had a few jagged pieces of old iron. Bloodsinger was younger, but he was proving to be a bit wiser. It was both comforting and annoying.
I shouldn’t let a younger little outsmart me, but tonight I was glad he knew a bit more. Beside my daj’s cell was a small stream that led to one of the inlets. The window was left unguarded, no doubt because it would take my daj breaking his shoulders or something to slip through.
Too small for him but perfect for me.
I shook out my hands and slipped inside. The cells below the palace reeked of stagnate water, piss, and rot. I coughed against the stench of it and carefully maneuvered down the cobbled wall until my feet found damp ground.
My breath choked in the back of my throat.
“Daj.” The word croaked. I hurried to the corner of the cell where my father was rolled against the wall, bloodied and still.
My fingers shook when I touched his shoulder. He flinched with a groan.
Damn the gods. Harald had him balancing near the Otherworld. He’d taken out his rage on my father’s head and chest. Like he wanted to crush his skull and heart. One more strike, and he’d meet Maj, no mistake.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the pail of rainwater, disguised to look like a chamber pot.
With hurried, quiet steps, I pulled the bucket to us and took hold of my father’s arm.
I’d done this with toys, blades, and books.
If I was holding tightly to them in one hand, and touching the water with my other, my voice would evaporate whatever I was holding along with me.
I’d never tried it on another sea fae.
There wasn’t a choice left to make. Daj needed out, and we couldn’t leave a trace that Bloodsinger and I had anything to do with it. Sewell of the House of Bones needed to disappear.
“Hang on, Daj,” I mumbled, and placed my free hand in the rainwater.
A low hum like the wind on the tides broke the silence of the cell.
The shift to sea mist was calm, gentle, a little disconcerting.
My skin rippled like a rolling tide, then little prickles of damp coated my skin.
It always felt as though I’d walked into the first moments of a rainstorm, right before the torrent began.
My song peeled me through the small bucket. With focus and intent, I led us to the nearby stream. Slowly, the misty sensation on my flesh strengthened to something as slick as eel skin until I found my feet again.
I gasped when my head emerged from the splash of a rogue wave in the stream.
Gods, he was heavy. My father was iridescent while my song wore off but as strong as the ships we sailed.
Still damp and slick, I winced as I pulled him onto the banks of the stream. Once he was sprawled on the grass, I rushed to his side, checking to see if I’d torn him to shreds even more or if his heart still beat.
I pressed an ear to his chest and grinned in relief when the slightest thud pounded against my cheek.
We weren’t in the clear yet.
Before I’d entered the cell, I knew I’d have to carry Daj to the shore where we could sail to a small cave, so I hid a cart fishmongers used in the royal city.
It took more time to lever him onto the back, and truth be told, his legs dangled off the edge the entire journey to the shore, but I managed to heave him onto the rowboat and sail far from the palace and Harald’s cruel hands.