Chapter 3
Three
Kamari
“Ihave weighed the options,” Kamari said, which was of course, a lie.
There were no options to weigh. Finding Desmond was the only option and this was the only way.
The thought of sending a crew farther than the perimeter had been marinating since the first day of Desmond’s disappearance.
Now, with the council on her back and the threat of marrying Raffe hanging over her head, she couldn’t imagine any other option.
Storm season or not, she couldn’t just sit and hope Desmond would show up on his own. She had to find him.
“Our city needs its king. If you are up for the task, your crew will sail west, past the Outpost–”
“Past the perimeters?” Stone’s brows tugged together.
Kamari nodded. There was a long beat of silence as the weight of her suggestion settled around the table.
She didn’t need to look to know Aesira was frowning, disapproving of her idea.
It wasn’t long ago Aesira would have suggested something similar but the Order had changed her and even though she shouldn’t, sometimes Kamari missed the wildness of her younger sister.
“What makes you so sure he headed west?” Stone’s eyes bounced between Kamari and Aesira, a hard look on his face that was impossible to read.
Kamari filled her lungs, held the breath until it burned, then released it with a silent prayer to the stars.
“I brought you these.” Kamari placed the stack of leather-bound journals on the table, her fingers trailing over the raised lettering that sprawled across the spines.
“They’re my husband’s most recent journals I found in his study.
” She peeled one open, revealing several folded maps.
“All of these maps are of the west, though they’re vague as you can imagine.
” Her fingers traced over Desmond’s soft writing in the margins.
“He’s written notes all throughout. If he left, this is where he was headed. ”
Stone grabbed the journal on top, a deep cognac color that was wearing on the corners and thumbed through it.
“He kept many journals,” Kamari said, filling the silence.
“Always taking notes, sketching, babbling to himself.” She smiled, but the last memory of him shouting at himself turned her stomach sour. “I can’t be sure it’s where he went–”
“Shh,” Stone said, his brows furrowed.
“Excuse me?” Aesira said before Kam got the chance. His eyes snapped to Aesira’s first, then to hers.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” He cleared his throat and set the open journal down between them.
“It’s just there’s something interesting here.
” He pulled the glasses from the top of his head and slid them on, burying his face closer to the journal.
Hope surged through Kamari’s chest. “This, here.” Stone tapped on the open page, his forefinger landing on a single word circled over and over again.
“Ravki?”
“Yes.” Stone dropped his voice to a whisper which sent Kamari on edge. “This word.” He pointed again to the word, rather than saying. “Have you seen it before?”
Kamari studied the word and it took her a moment before her memory came rushing back.
“Yes!” she shouted and then silently cursed herself for the outburst. “Sorry. Here.” She rifled through the maps until she came to the one that she was looking for.
“It’s interesting, I’ve studied these maps the last several days and none of them match any in the Vargah libraries.
At least any that I could find.” She slid the parchment to Stone.
On the tea-stained map sat the word, worn down and barely visible; Ravki. And next to it, Desmond’s notes.
"Through the ruins,” Aesira said, reading over her shoulder. “What does that mean? I’ve never heard of that place.”
Neither had Kamari, which is why she thought the map a farce.
Sometimes, in the height of war, cartographers from the opposing kingdom would draft illegitimate maps to confuse enemy troops, purposely planting them in their camps.
She figured this was nothing more than that but the way Stone tensed when she’d said the word aloud told her there was much more to this map than she first assumed.
“Listen to me,” Stone said, the roughness of his voice sending the hairs on Kamari’s arms straight up.
“I need you to go back to your husband's study.” He ripped a blank page from one of the journals and Kamari flinched.
“Anything you find with these words on them, bring them to me.” He pulled the pencil from behind his ear and began writing so quickly Kamari gave up trying to read from across the table.
“Here.” He folded the paper in half twice before handing it to her.
He pushed his glasses back on the top of his head and downed the last of his drink.
“I would advise you to show no one. Tell no one.”
“You’re speaking as if the words written in that journal are dangerous.” Aesira stepped closer, craning her neck to get a look at the journal.
Stone glanced at her. “This”— he tapped the word–Ravki–in the journal again—“I believe, is the first clue to finding your husband. And that”— he pointed to the folded paper in Kamari’s palm—“may be the whole damn puzzle.” He took a ragged breath, like the last few minutes he’d forgotten to breathe at all.
“You think my husband went in search of this Ravki place?” Kamari’s eyes wandered over the dull map again but they stuck on the handwritten note where Desmond had drawn circles over and over, the pencil marks so deep there was a tiny tear in the paper. “Why?”
Stone stiffened before running a hand down his face. “Ravki is a place of stories, not fact, but every myth surrounding it is the same.” He looked up from the papers. “Magic and beasts that live in harmony.”
Kamari scoffed, holding a hand to her chest like she’d been hit there and in a way it felt like it.
“There is no magic other than that given to us by Celestria.” Her body went rigid, her spine straightening.
“There is no magic other than astra.” It was blasphemous to believe in magic outside of what the goddess provided, and the thought of Desmond going after such myths…
She clutched her hands together under the table.
“Like I said, it’s built on old traveler myths.
There’s no proof Ravki even exists but to some, the promise of reward is worth more than the risk of getting there.
If that is what your husband went looking for, I’m afraid to say it was a fool's errand.” Stone stacked the journals into a neat pile and slid them toward her.
“The faster we leave, the better chance we have at finding him before it’s too late. ”
Lead settled in Kamari’s stomach. A million questions buzzed in her mind but before she could ask them, Stone stood. “If you find anything with the words I’ve written, please bring them to me before our departure.”
“So, you’ll go? You’ll do this?” Kamari knew how desperate she sounded, hated the fact that the look on Stone’s face told her he knew as well. But this was her only chance at finding Desmond before her time was up and she’d be forced to make an impossible decision.
“There’s no guarantee we’ll make it past the Outpost during the storms. And even if we do, there’s a chance that his Majesty didn’t.”
The implication polluted the air around them.
There’s a chance he’s already dead.
“I understand the risk of travel during the storm season which is why I’ll pay you triple what a flight fee typically runs, not to mention the crown will owe you a favor.
” Nervous, excited energy buzzed through Kamari as she spoke, her knee bobbing under the table.
“And as for Desmond–just find him, in any state, and bring him home. Do we have a deal?”
“Kamari,” Aesira warned.
“I’ll need funds to cover the cost to prep a ship.” Stone crossed his arms again. “We’ll want to take our best girl and she took a large hit during the last sandstorm.”
“Fine,” Kamari said, her heart thundered in her chest.
Hope, hope, hope, it seemed to say with every beat.
“And time,” Stone continued, “the repairs are extensive.”
“How long?”
“A few days.” He shrugged. “Maybe a week.”
“A few days,” Kamari said firmly. She didn’t want to waste a moment longer than she needed to. “Expect the money for your ship to be deposited tonight.” She extended her hand and waited.
“One last thing,” Stone said, leaving her hand hanging between them. “I’ll take a crew of my choosing. Some of my best are currently residing under the city, but I won’t fly that far without them.”
The prisons.
If the people of Vargah didn’t see her as an enemy before, surely releasing several prisoners without reason would do the trick.
“How many?”
“Three,” Stone said. “I need them for the job. And after it’s complete, they’re pardoned. Free from any remainder of their sentencing. Free to leave Vargah if they wish.”
Kamari sighed. She should have anticipated some sort of bargaining. “I will need to check their records for any violent crimes.”
“They were smugglers,” Stone said. “Born on the wrong side of the wall. Just doing what they needed to do in order to survive. Like me.”
The wrong side of the wall.
The Outpost.
While the small colony was far enough from Vargah and Novaria to stand on its own, it technically resided in Vargahian territory and reluctantly Vargah had supplied just enough rations and astra to keep the Outpost afloat, and not a pinch more.
The very least she could do is pardon a few criminals who likely had no other choice in careers. Then, when Desmond was back, she’d bring up supplying the Outpost with more humane rations, now that Novaria and Vargah had joined forces, there should be more than enough.
“Okay.” Kamari ignored her sister’s glare like the plague itself. “Deal.”
Stone’s hand met hers, a smile lighting up his otherwise cold face. “Deal. Pleasure doing business, Majesty.” He leaned around Kamari, his smile spreading. “Commander.” Stone winked and Kamari bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “It was good to see you again.”