Chapter 38 Hell
Something in the air shifted. Up ahead we could see the cliffs of Verith looming. The sun had only just begun to sink. Right on time. I stood to survey the cliffs for lookouts, but stumbled back a bit. Raf caught me around my waist, so I would not fall into the water.
“Hell.” He studied my face for a moment, never loosening his hold on my waist. “You look ill.”
“How charming.” I rolled my eyes at him as I removed his hands.
“I am serious.” He crossed his arms.
“Seasickness.” I shot back at him, clipped.
“You have been on the water half the morning.”
“Your point?” I scoffed. “Apparently my stomach has only just received the news.”
I knew what seasickness felt like. This was not it.
I had felt this before. Beneath the Verisepth.
Just as I thought of it, we rounded the cliffs and the Verisepth appeared in the distance.
A chill washed over me seeing it again, and all of the memories of what unfolded there slammed into me at once.
It stole the breath from my lungs. Raf’s hands returned to my waist accompanied by a look of concern.
“I am fine, it is only…” My mouth felt dry, and a wave of dizziness washed over me.
“I do not want to talk about…” Before I finished the thought, Ezra let out a low whistle.
All of our eyes were on him at once. He pointed toward the beaches of Verith, just below the cliffs.
The beaches that usually sat vacant were now swarming with enforcers.
“We need to turn around!” Ezra shouted as his eyes grew wide.
“Now, we need to leave now!” He reached for his oars at the same time the enforcers shifted into formation.
Shit. The rest of us grabbed our oars, plunging them into the water.
In our chaotic attempt to escape, we had forgotten one very important detail…
our boats were tied together. The ropes strained and twisted against our struggle to escape.
I reached for my dagger and began sawing at the rope with it, but it was too late.
The enforcers’ command was distant, but clear enough. Nock.
“Someone help me cut the ropes!” another command sounded. Draw. No. “Brace for impact!” Liv and Ezra ducked, Raf tightened his hold on me, the girls’ eyes went wide. Then came the last command. Loose. The magic hit the water before the arrows did.
We were still out of range for any direct impact, but not too far for the aftermath.
The boats rocked violently. I collapsed to my knees, holding tight to the wood.
Raf held tight to me. Dinah was ducked down with her hands over her head.
Arabella, though, had frozen in fear. Perhaps she was not yet ready for this particular mission.
I watched in slow motion as the boat pitched, and her balance wavered, then a second wave rocked the boats.
“No!” I reached for my magic, but we were too far from land, and the rocks in the sea below would not rise quick enough.
Before any of us could do anything, she was in the water.
Dinah screamed. Ezra immediately covered our position in shadow.
Shouts and commands rang from the shore.
They were preparing for another assault.
We did not have much time. I lunged over the edge, intent on going in after her, but Raf seized me by the hips and pulled me back in.
I swatted his hand away and tried again, but once again he pulled me back.
“She will drown!” I shouted at him, trying once more to get into the water.
“So will you!” His voice was rough, strangled, as though caught in a throat pulled too tight.
It was only after I met his gaze that I truly saw it for what it was.
Fear. “You are injured, Hell. If you go into the sea, you will not be able to save her. And you will not come back.”
I wanted to chastise him for being overprotective.
To slap him for presuming that I was too weak to do what was expected of me. But I could not.
“Gods! The cantors have her!” Dinah was hysterical.
The nausea and dizziness had returned tenfold, and my throat grew tight as I fought back my breakfast.
I doubled over and hung my head above the water.
Suddenly, Arabella’s head shot above the water, her hands flailing wildly as the waves crashed around her.
She had drifted to the back end of the boat.
I leapt across the small space and leaned over.
This time Raf did not pull me back. He held tight to my hips and helped me lean further over the edge.
I glanced back at him, a small smile of appreciation.
“If you insist on losing yourself at sea, then I intend to be your fucking anchor.”
He smiled and tightened his grip. I reached for Arabella with complete disregard for the pain in my shoulder.
Her hands slipped from mine over and over again.
I thought for a moment she would be lost.
Then, as though the waves themselves wished to save her, she was pushed closer and lifted into my arms.
I wrapped them around her and pulled her into the boat.
She collapsed against me, gasping, and I fell onto Raf.
Liv did not allow a moment for us to catch our breath before she summoned seaweed that wrapped around the boats and pulled us away from the shore.
Ezra’s shadows faded as we headed for the canal.
The enforcers scrambled on the beach and their shouts became distant.
Liv’s seaweed replaced the ropes I had cut through, securing the boats to each other.
We rounded the cliffs and drifted back into the canal. None of us so much as breathed until we were certain that the enforcers could no longer reach us. Then Ezra broke the silence.
“How in the seven hells did they know we would travel by sea?”
He placed the oars back into the water and Liv's seaweed sank below the surface.
“They were lying in wait.” He turned to all of us, his tone almost accusatory, though I knew he did not mean it.
Liv took his hand. Arabella still lay on her back in the boat, trying to catch her breath.
Dinah sat silent in her own boat, clearly shaken.
And Raf would not look at him, his head hung low, he was still clearly rattled from the ordeal.
Ezra sat beside Liv and rubbed his hands down his face.
The moment we had the boats tied to the dock, Arabella crawled from ours and began kissing the wood.
I doubt she would ever feel comfortable in open water again.
Our group walked slowly back toward the tavern where Elsbeth said she would meet us.
We did not speak, did not look at each other, did not even dare to raise our heads.
We had failed. Returning to the sanctuary without a single rescued girl would feel worse than any defeat we had faced thus far.
Though there was one truth that none of us had dared acknowledge.
Those enforcers knew we were coming. Someone had to have tipped them off.
Someone who knew of our plans. Someone we had trusted.