Chapter 7
“Aren’t you going to ask how I got the coins?” I eye Thane as he purposely trails a few steps behind me. We just left my home in the Commons, and I now have my rucksack and satchel in tow. When he doesn’t answer, I say, “I sold my necklace.”
I spot a fruit stand ahead and dig into my satchel for two silvers, handing them to the merchant and swapping them for pears.
“It was a family heirloom,” I go on as I leave the stand.
“It had a pearl, which I’m sure you know is worth a lot of coin, plus it contained magic.
My mother gave it to me as a way for me to look out for my sister.
It was all I had left from her, so this journey to Elphar is serious.
I’m not fucking around, as you stated earlier. ”
I glance over my shoulder, but Thane isn’t looking my way. Is he even listening?
I huff, biting into my pear and speeding up my pace. I don’t stop until I reach The Flour Tower. I’m glad to see the owner and my boss, Ellanoch, working behind the counter.
“Zaira!” Ellanoch sings as she slides tea cakes into one of the displays next to the loaves of freshly baked bread.
“You’re not scheduled to work today, are you?
” Thane strides in after me, and Ellanoch’s gaze catches on my companion.
I watch as her already pale face turns even whiter. “Orvena’s stars,” she whispers.
“Don’t worry about him,” I grumble, approaching the counter.
“Zaira, who is that?” she whispers. “Are you in some sort of trouble?”
I understand her alarm. Men like Thane, strolling around with scars on their faces, death glares, and several swords aren’t exactly an everyday sight in Meriva. We avoid men like him.
“No—well, yes,” I answer. “But it’s not exactly me who’s in trouble, and having him around is not what you think.”
She rushes around the counter, giving Thane a once-over before stopping in front of me. Taking hold of my shoulders, she says, “Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s my sister…and a long story. I’ll tell you when I come back…which will be in a few weeks, if I’m lucky.”
“A few weeks? Why? Where are you going?”
“I have to take a journey to get something important for Analla. I just wanted to let you know so you don’t worry about me, and so you can make arrangements to cover my shifts.”
“Oh.” Ellanoch still looks uneasy. “But I don’t understand. Why do you need him?”
I take note of her worried gray-green eyes, wanting so badly to tell her everything. But I can’t. I can’t risk word accidentally getting out and reaching Seferin. I also don’t want to cause concern… After all, I have plans to return, and nothing is going to stop me.
I remove one of her hands from my shoulders to enclose it in mine. “I’ll tell you everything when I’m back. I promise.”
“All right.” I can tell she isn’t satisfied with that answer, but she lets it go. “Well, at least take a loaf or two with you if you’ll be gone for that long.”
I smile as she returns to the counter to wrap two loaves of bread in an ivory cloth. I accept them and thank her as we hug.
My impatient companion clears his throat and cocks his head at the door.
Ellanoch frowns at him. “Come back in one piece, you hear me?” Her smile is warm as she rubs my upper arm.
“I will.” My eyes sting, but I bat the emerging tears away.
As we leave the bakery, I walk even faster to reach the refugee center. It’s going to be even harder leaving all the children I help teach, but I don’t want them or the director worrying about my absence.
Saying farewell for now to them all makes me cry.
I was in my ninth year when I came to the refugee center and didn’t leave until three years ago, when Analla was able to move us into our own place during her nineteenth year and my seventeenth.
We were still in school, but we took up jobs on the side to afford our home in the Commons.
I loved the center so much that I returned to volunteer.
When I finally exit the building, still swiping my eyes, I search for Thane, but he isn’t in front anymore. My heart plummets as dread seizes me.
“No.” I walk to the middle of the street as carriages and wagons rush by. Merchants yell, and people sit on the edge of the canal ahead, fishing or chatting away, but there is no sign of that wicked-looking man anywhere.
Then a whistle splits the air.
I turn around and my jaw drops when I spot Thane sitting on the edge of the roof of the refugee center three stories up.
The roof is built at a sharp pitch, an almost vertical angle, and many of the clay shingles are loose and have fallen off.
He causes shingles to slide downward as he stands up, and they shatter on the ground in loud clatters. How the shadows did he get up there?
To my shock, Thane jumps off the roof, and I gasp when he lands right in front of me with hardly a sound.
He’s wearing his cowl and buffers again, his weapons strapped to him like he’s prepared for combat.
For a second, I have to ask myself if this is the man I really want to take a journey with.
I mean, who jumps off of dangerously high roofs when they’re bored?
“Took you long enough,” he says, biting into a pear.
I glare at the fruit.
Wait a minute…
“Hey…” I frown, taking my rucksack off and digging through it, searching for the extra pear I bought. When I can’t find it, I ask, exasperated, “Are you serious? I just gave you a bunch of coins! Can’t you buy your own damn pear?”
He finishes off the fruit, licking the juice from his fingers. Then he tosses the pear core into the air. It halts, hovering in front of my face. In seconds, it’s no longer just a core.
It’s been restored to a whole pear and looks exactly like the one I just bought.
How is he this good with his magic? With his skills, he could’ve joined The Divine or at least become a city guard.
I disregard those thoughts and snatch the pear out of the air. “I don’t want your sloppy seconds.”
And, for a second, I swear he almost smiles.
…
We trek silently through the streets of Meriva until we reach the end of the Commons and enter the Scraps.
“What are we doing in the Scraps? Shouldn’t we be heading toward the bridge that takes us through the southern half of Ruvain? I looked up the route on a map, and it showed that we have to cross through Ruvain to get to Gadonia, which will lead us to Elphar.”
The sheer thought of passing through Ruvain is terrifying. No good comes from that kingdom.
“Have to make a stop before we go that way,” Thane says.
The deeper we walk into the Scraps and the closer we get to the trees lining the border, the more the atmosphere shifts from busy and uplifted to drab and weary. The canal disappears, leaving only streets riddled with weeds between ruined cobblestones. It smells like pee or fish…or both.
I’m certain the thick black smoke billowing from some of the chimneys is the cause of the phlegmy coughs echoing through the run-down buildings and alleys.
For the first time, I stick close to Thane, who’s pulled his mask up. I force a smile at the hollow-cheeked Scrappers sitting on the side of the road. Some have dark streaks on their hands and faces from working the coal and wood factories. But all appear tired, even the children.
Beastials live among them, too. I’d figure more would take their chances in the forests than starve here, but I suppose even beastials aren’t all that great at surviving out there alone. Not with the wilder beasts roaming Thelanor.
A young girl with messy pigtails sitting next to a broken barrel catches my attention.
“Just keep your eyes ahead,” Thane says in a low voice.
I’m confused by his statement and the urgency in his tone.
I glance at the girl again. She’s standing now, smiling sadly at me. I toss her a subtle wave, offering a smile, to which she cracks a full smile and reveals rotting teeth.
My skin immediately prickles with unease. Something about her grin causes my smile to slip away.
And before I know it, she’s running swiftly in my direction.