Chapter 8 #2
She counted. Her accent sounded southern Medoran—possibly she was from Akera City.
Audra had a practiced ear for accents. Father used to give her extra dessert when she could guess where their guests hailed from before they revealed it themselves.
She internally flinched at the memory of him.
Guilt that she wasn’t there to help him recover.
Pain—the sharp ache of missing her family—flooded her belly.
She pushed thoughts of them away for now, focused instead on the heavy man in her arms. On Waterbearer’s accent.
Audra’s gaze dipped to the cut on her lip. It was bright red and looked painful. It needed a healing salve. They all needed a healing salve. Well, all but the noble, who seemed unhurt.
Both were cursing by the time they managed to lay the blacksmith down beside his (maybe) sister.
The newcomers would have to share the bottom bunk until they could climb the ladder themselves.
Neither of them had woken yet. Audra decided to keep an eye on them.
She wanted to know how long the potion kept them under—maybe then she could judge just how far from Salt Hollow they’d traveled.
Then again … How was she to know when they had been dosed?
Either way, half the knowledge was better than none.
She plopped down onto the floor beside the redhead’s bunk.
She was surprised when Waterbearer dropped beside her.
There was just enough room between this bed and the next for her to squeeze in.
Waterbearer pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, her muscles flexing.
The skin of her arm was soft and smooth against Audra’s.
Audra strained her neck a little so she could keep the door in her periphery. She wanted to be ready for when it opened again.
“That bastard was heavy,” said Waterbearer.
“I can’t believe I tried to move him on my own.”
The woman uttered a slight smile. “I would’ve offered to help sooner, but I was curious if you were actually stronger than you look.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Audra said with a smile.
“Not disappointed, just amused.”
They lapsed into silence for a moment. And then Audra realized, unlike the others, Waterbearer didn’t smell of that sleeping tonic.
“Can I ask … Were you dosed as well?”
“You can ask me anything, as long as you don’t mind that I question you in return.”
“I don’t mind,” Audra said. In fact, this was perfect. They could share all that they knew, maybe figure out together what was happening.
“Then, no. The last thing I remember was fighting for my life against a band of fae warriors. A hit to the back of my head knocked me unconscious. I woke up here.”
“You were brought straight to this ship? I mean, as far as you know? From where?”
“Yes, straight from Fort Royalta to this ship.”
A city a thousand miles to the south of Salt Hollow.
Right outside of Akera City, Fort Royalta was the largest city in the southern nation of Medora and home to one of the largest military bases in the realm.
People traveled from all over Medora to go to the military academy in Fort Royalta, which was supposed to produce the best soldiers in all of Khaveah …
to Ruscal’s chagrin. What nation didn’t want to have the strongest military force?
With that in mind, Audra was stunned. How had the fae been able to take people from inside the most famous military base on the continent? Rather than ask, she decided to offer a piece of her past so that the woman wasn’t the only one being so open.
“I was put on another ship first. A small one. I’m from near Jibrette, in northwestern Ruscal,” Audra said, naming the closest city to Salt Hollow. Nobody from Medora would have heard of her village.
Waterbearer nodded. “You aren’t the only one who was transferred from ship to ship. Is there anyone else here from your town?”
Audra shook her head. “Just me. You?”
“No, I’m the only soldier from my regiment. The rest were …” She swallowed, looking away. “Things escalated quickly. Many didn’t make it. One other from ‘Ta Town was taken with me, but they’re a civilian, and I haven’t seen them here.”
Audra opened her mouth to say something, but what were the words she was looking for?
An apology, for the people this woman had undoubtedly lost when the fae had taken her?
What possible comfort or hope could Audra inspire when her own situation was so bleak?
Their eyes met, and the woman gave her a weary smile, assuring Audra that she needn’t make an attempt at comfort.
Still, Audra wanted to do something. She decided the best course of action was to focus on the puzzle that lay before them.
Finding what pieces they each held independently, so they might fit them together.
“After all that effort of coming to my village—I was taken from my family’s inn, which is quite difficult to get to from the port—why was I the only one taken from my town?
Why wouldn’t they take more of us? I can’t see any rhyme or reason for how they’ve chosen their captives, aside from our similar age. ”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out too.” Waterbearer cast her gaze toward the sleeping redheads beside Audra. “Do you have any siblings?”
“A little brother.”
Though none by blood. Or not that she knew of anyway. She didn’t usually volunteer information about her less-than-honorable birth story. Not to anyone outside of Salt Hollow, anyway, where it was normal to be the child of a Nightly.
“I’ve none myself. But I’ve been talking to the others, those who are willing to speak with me, and there are quite a few siblings here.
” She jutted a pointy chin toward a trio huddled across the way from them.
All of them had the same deep mahogany complexions, button noses, and ethereal, cloudlike hair. “Those three are triplets.”
Hmm. Siblings taken together. “I also noticed that all of us appeared to be in our twenties. Are you?”
A nod to confirm. “I just turned twenty-two four days ago. I think.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. I’ve been on this ship for almost a week.
Making our way up the coast, I believe. Every once in a while, they open that door and throw in more people.
I’ve been trying to keep track of the days, but it’s proving difficult.
” She let out a hollow laugh devoid of humor.
“I was hoping to spend my nameday with my friends. What did I get instead? An invasion and this shitty place. Well, I guess I got my nameday wish—a day off from training.”
She spoke with no bitterness, though the situation warranted it. The comment was a genuine attempt at humor, either to soothe herself or Audra. The woman smiled weakly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. She was beautiful in a strong, understated, effortless sort of way.
“Your friends … were they …” Audra didn’t know what she was even trying to ask. Were they hurt? Killed?
Waterbearer’s smile disappeared, and Audra immediately regretted broaching the subject of her friends. Forgotten gods, what if they were killed in front of her—or worse?
“I wasn’t with them when they came. They were on patrol. I was in the barracks.”
“I’m sure they’re fine, then,” Audra said, though she sounded anything but confident. “Better not to be here with us.”
In their silence, they both avoided the biggest concern: What did it mean that the fae had so easily infiltrated Fort Royalta? What was even more bizarre was that this had happened a week ago, and Audra had heard nothing about it.
How had Audra not heard about this? She ran an inn in a port town. Nobody spreads news—and bastard children—as fast as sailors. She’d never met a sailor who wasn’t a gossip, and they were always the first to hear any major news across the continent.
Did that mean there was no one left behind alive?
“Yeah. They’re probably fine.” The woman’s voice was thick, and Audra could tell she was struggling to keep her emotions under control.
Audra tried not to let her own fear, squeezing her heart, her lungs, her fucking ribs, show on her face. Anguish and despair mingled within her as it dawned on her just how much she’d been hoping to be rescued by one of the very soldiers sitting next to her.
How had it come to this?
A fresh pang of terror struck her. This was but one ship, but if the fae could now cross the Mist, could more come and invade the human lands? For thousands of years the humans had been free from the fae. What had happened? What had changed?
Audra’s vision was beginning to blur from sheer terror, so she shifted the subject. She extended her hand in a formal greeting. “I’m Audra Evers.”
Waterbearer’s grip was so tight that Audra could feel her calluses.
Could the woman feel her own where the soft skin of Audra’s palms had met a broom and a scrub brush every day of her life?
She wondered if Waterbearer noticed her cracked knuckles and knew they were from the harsh soap used for washing linens every day.
Audra wished they were from training to fight, like hers.
Maybe then she would’ve known how to protect her father.
“I’m Wilder Demrah, Shadow Class of Medora’s Defenders Army.”
“Glad to meet you, Wilder. Tell me everything you know.”