Chapter Ten #2
“They are,” Bee said. “Fakes. Or ancient. Or fake and ancient.” She glared at Stone but he missed it because his eyes were on Aesira.
He studied her from brow to lip and she studied him back, not wanting to be the first to break away. Even if all she saw when she looked at him was images from her dream last night and heated moments from the tavern, she didn’t want him to know just how much he affected her.
“I know it’s a risk,” Stone said, finally looking away. “But Soo said the tea never fails, and if that’s true, this is the path we need to take.”
Against her control, Aesira’s stomach plummeted.
He drank the tea with her last night in a moment of solidarity. Only hers betrayed her and his seemed to work. “What about you, Commander? Did the tea give any direction on where to find King Desmond?”
It showed me ruins,” she lied, remembering the note from Desmond’s journal he’d written next to Ravki. “But other than that, no.”
Stone squinted a moment before he rolled up the map. “Likely Ravki as well, it’s rumored to have been destroyed in the first war.”
“By Vargah,” Patch finished for him between bites of his breakfast. “Making us an enemy to any remaining Ravkian.”
“There are no remaining Ravkians.” Again with the sure, factual, tone.
Stone reclined in his chair, the rolled map clutched in his hand.
He used his other to push his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
“The war was a long time ago. Everything was destroyed. Ravki would have been no exception. As well as–” He caught himself, his mouth frozen around the word none of them dared to speak aloud.
Dragons.
“The king had maps that shouldn’t exist,” he continued.
“Even if they aren’t accurate, he had to have gotten the information from somewhere.
” Stone propped his elbows on the table and glanced at each of them, lingering a moment too long when he got to Aesira.
“He had notes about a country that hadn't existed long before his time.” He let out a long breath before draining his mug, which only reminded Aesira of how dry her throat was.
“We’ll do another sweep around the Outpost, make sure he isn’t here and if he isn’t, there’s nowhere else he would have headed.
” Stone set his mug down, his eyes bouncing between each of them.
“We have enough astra to get us to the Whispering Mountains and back. Enough food provided by the queen. With everything the king had written in his journals, with the maps he kept locked inside them, it only makes sense it was where he was headed.”
“How do you know his notes are true? Wasn’t the king…” Bee’s thoughts died in the air around them. She didn’t need to clarify, because everyone at the table already knew.
Wasn’t the king mad?
The cadre chattered quietly amongst each other, Patch leaning over to whisper to Bee, Bee leaning back to whisper to Birdie.
Even Nora joined in, like she was an Odega herself.
Leaving Aesira and Stone to stare at each other.
The corner of his mouth quipped up, a half smile, pulling taut on the scar that spanned the entire left side of his face.
She helped herself to a cup of tea, plopping a cube of sweetener in and watching it dissolve completely before adding another.
“Are you going to have any tea with your sweetener, Commander?”
She picked up a third cube, held Stone’s eye as she dropped it in. “Want some?” She smirked before taking a sip; sweet, just how she liked it.
Stone reeled back. “I’d rather choke.”
She laughed into her mug. “We can make that happen.”
“Oh?” Stone leaned forward. “Is that a promise or a threat, Commander?”
“Would you two shut up?” Birdie snapped. “Some of us are trying to think.”
Stone tsked. “So unprofessional.”
Aesira scoffed. “But you’re the one–”
“I have a question,” Nora interjected. They all paused and for a moment it seemed the entire place silenced.
Nothing but the soft clinking of the hanging gears above them.
“If there is nothing left of Ravki, why is it so dangerous? You make it seem forbidden.” Like an exercise they’d practiced a dozen times before, the three Odega’s turned to Stone and waited for his answer.
He chewed his bottom lip for a moment, glanced beyond Aesira, then settled his gaze on Nora. “The journey can’t be an easy one,” he said, much quieter than before. “If it truly lies where the maps indicate, whose to say what kinds of beast might be roaming.”
“Then why would anyone travel there?” Aesira pressed.
“Because there are other rumors as well. Not just of beasts.” Stone settled back in his chair.
“Rumors of magical blades left untouched from the war a century ago. Rumors of plants that only seem to grow there–some say they contain cures for certain diseases. Other rumors say they give magic, even to humans. And then, of course, rumors that dragons still thrive there. Hidden in the mountains.”
“What good would finding one of those be?” Nora asked between mouthfuls of fruit.
“Save some for the rest of us, sweetheart.” Patch snatched the bowl from Nora, popping a piece of dried stone-fruit in his mouth.
“No.” She stole the bowl back but didn’t hide the smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.
Bee snatched the bowl from Nora and ending her and Patch’s back and forth game. “Finding one of those," she said, "wouldn’t bring us any good. If something like that exists and hasn’t been seen for centuries, there’s a damn good reason for it.”
Aesira could admit she hadn’t taken the time to know Desmond well. They only spoke on a few occasions but her sister had told her more than enough. Desmond was kind and thoughtful. He doted on Kamari’s every step and never once pushed or pressured her.
They fell in love as naturally as two people could, according to her sister.
She couldn’t connect the missing pieces.
Why would Desmond leave on some ridiculous quest to find magic or dragons?
Why would he leave Kamari to fend for their country alone?
Especially this close to Naming Day. Why wouldn’t he tell her or bring a crew of his own?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. It didn’t make sense, and she loathed the fact that she’d been handed a riddle she couldn’t solve.
Birdie sighed. “Some people who still believe in the old ways believe you know what's to be healers. Life-givers. They believe their presence is what made the world.”
“That’s absurd,” Aesira said, shaking her head. “Celestria would smite you if she heard that.”
“Celestria doesn’t give two shits about us,” Birdie said, her eyes narrowing. “She’s proven that all our lives.”
Bee wrapped her arm around Birdie’s. “The rumors I’ve heard are that the world we know wasn’t always this way,” Bee said.
“According to some, there were places where water ran freely. Where trees grew to the heavens and food from the ground. There was even something called seasons. Periods of time when the weather would change. The sun would trade for rain. The rain would trade for snow.”
“Snow?” Nora cocked her head to the side.
“Like water, but colder,” Patch said through a grin.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Nora said.
“Well you wouldn’t have,” Stone said, standing from the table.
“It’s not taught and any textbook with the mention of”—he mouthed the word dragon again—“has long been burned. Except, it would seem, for the one your brother-in-law was hiding. He had to get this imagery from somewhere. Maybe he was made of more secrets than the queen realizes.”
Nora leaned around Aesira to get a better look at Birdie and Bee. “And how do you know all of this?”
Bee shrugged. “I don’t know for sure,” she said. “When you run in the desert, you meet all kinds of people. Scammers, drifters, even royals want their fill of drugs.” She smiled behind her mug. “Anyway, they liked to tell stories and I liked to listen.”
“The point is,” Stone continued, “we have a direction. A path. My dream last night showed me a route that would get us to Ravki in just over a week.” He pointed to the map again. “If you’re with me,” he said to Aesira, “the queen will want an update.”
Bring him home, at any cost.
“I’ll send a hawk,” Aesira said. “To let her know.”
The heat of the desert reached the inn, the small room now stifling. Aesira brushed out her hair before pulling it back into a tight braid. Her armor was constricting but she was used to its weight.
“Do you need me to take that?” Nora asked, pointing to the letter Aesira had penned for Kamari.
“We can take it together.”
Nora shook her head. “Let me. After last night, I’ll admit I could use some time alone to think about my life choices.”
“Oh?” Aesira grinned. “Do tell.”
Nora’s dimples deepened on either side of her freckled cheeks. “There’s a chance I never made it back to the tavern after going to change.”
Aesira shot her a look. “Now you definitely owe me the details.”
Nora scrunched her nose. “Might have stayed on the ship. Might have done something I shouldn’t have.”
Aesira’s laugh tumbled out of her. “Patch?” Nora buried her face behind her hands before smoothing her red hair out of her face.
“Like I said, I need fresh air and a long walk in silence to think about where my life is going.” Aesira signed her name on the parchment before sealing it with wax.
She would give Kamari the details as vaguely as possible, just to be safe in case anyone intercepted the hawk.
It would be enough to put her sister at ease, knowing she was safe, and knowing there was still hope Desmond could be out there.
“Then by all means,” Aesira said, passing the scroll to Nora, “your walk awaits.”
With Nora gone, Aesira clasped the last hook on her chest plate, examining herself in the small washroom mirror.
The bronze glared at her in her reflection.
She thought twice about peeling it off and throwing it out the window, but she was nothing if not loyal.
So she brushed off a speck of dust and straightened her shoulders.
“Can I come in?”
Aesira peeked out of the washroom and as expected, Stone stood with his hands in his pockets, the map from earlier and a few books tucked under his arm.
“Come in.”
Stone set his pile of books and papers on the small counter, the same one he brewed the tea on last night. “You left breakfast early,” he said, turning to face her. “Thought you might want to know the plan.” He was right, which annoyed her.
“I needed to send a message to Vargah, remember?” She sat on the end of the bed, regretting the full armor she’d donned. “Better to send the hawks before it gets too late in the day.”
Stone nodded, which made his glasses slide down his nose a fracture, forcing him to push them back up with his index finger. Aesira would have chastised herself for noticing such a detail but decided it was her training that made her so observant.
“What’s the rest of the plan?”
“Right,” Stone said. “The plan was to leave today for the Whispering Mountains, there’s a small village there where we can dock the Aquila.”
“Was the plan?” Aesira’s brows pinched together.
Stone cleared his throat and picked up a box on the counter that was hidden under the books. “You asked last night about the man who Soo said we should see. I’ve arranged for a meeting but that’ll set us back.”
“It would be worth it, wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t we exercise every lead before we leave?” she asked. “What if Desmond didn’t leave the Outpost? What if someone saw him and he headed east?”
Stone nodded again. His glasses slid down. He pushed them back up. It was almost mechanical, his movements. She wondered if he realized the habit as he was doing it, or if it was so second nature he didn’t notice at all. She noticed, though. Even if she had no reason to.
“I do agree he’s worth talking to.” Stone handed her the small, plain box.
“What is–”
“He’s not an easy man to deal with,” Stone said. “But he’s agreed to see us both together.”
Aesira ran her fingers over the edges of the box. “I thought you said he doesn’t like outsiders.”
Stone shrugged. “He doesn’t, but he made an exception.”
“Why?”
Color rushed to his cheeks and neck and he cleared his throat again. “He’s an old colleague, and I told them you were part of my crew, that he didn’t need to worry about you.”
She squinted, like if she narrowed her eyes she could focus better, see all the details he was leaving out.
“Easy as that? So Birdie and Bee and Patch have all met him?” She tilted her head to the side to study Stone.
He ran a hand across the back of his neck, averting his eyes.
He was nervous, but she couldn’t pin why.
“Oh they’ve met him.”
“What did you really tell him?”
“Shit,” he muttered. “They’re overprotective of the Outpost. They think it’s their territory–”
“It is the kingdom’s.”
Stone held up a hand. “I know, but they think it’s theirs since no one from Vargah has ever deigned to visit.” He let out a long breath. “I told him you were with me, that we were together, and that I trust you.”
A prickle of nervousness shot down Aesira’s spine.
“What do you mean you told him we were together? As in together, together?” He nodded, his face reddening.
She glanced at the box and considered throwing it at him but decided since she didn’t know what was in it, she couldn’t risk it breaking. “You should have run this by me first.”
“This was the only way to get him to believe you weren’t a threat.” Stone pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can go back to bossing everyone around tomorrow, but for tonight you’ll have to trust me.”
“That sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Do you have a better one, Commander?”
She bit the tip of her thumb. “Unfortunately not.”
Stone sighed, slipping his glasses back on. “Our meeting is in two hours.” He pointed to the box he’d handed her that she was still gripping like her life depended on it. “Wear that.”