Chapter 33
Aeliana tossed and turned, watching the moon through the porthole of the ship.
After a week of dead ends, she tried contacting Durriken, wondering if he might have leads on the starbridge.
As much as she wanted to reach out to the dragon, she was distracted by the new moon and what it meant, making it impossible to follow the threads tethering them.
When the sliver of light moved beyond her sight, she finally gave up, throwing off her covers.
She changed into her blouse and trousers, which she’d finally grown used to.
She pinned back her hair with a small braid the way Kendalyhn had taught her, but then tugged on the ends, wishing it would grow back faster.
By the time she made her way to the deck, she’d worked up a sweat from the muggy air and relished the slight breeze coming off the waves to cool her skin. The Sun’s morn would come soon, but she could still see that sliver of moon in the distance.
“You’re up early.” Gaeren’s voice startled Aeliana into turning around. She took in his disheveled hair and sleepy eyes and held back a grin.
“That makes two of us.”
His smile held less bite than usual, softened by the early morning. “Larkos snores like a bear. Every morning is early when I bunk with him.”
She smiled, but his words only made her think of Felk’s nocturnal habits and the way he’d made her rise far earlier than she wanted on more than one occasion. She turned back to the water. “It’s a new moon this morning.”
Her back grew warm as he stepped closer. “You’re thinking of Felk.”
Tears pricked her eyes at his understanding. “It will be the first time he has a cycle where he hasn’t met me. He won’t even know me.”
They stood in silence, and Aeliana let herself run through all the times she’d taken care of the winex, all the ways he’d taken care of her.
“He may have had hundreds of cycles before he knew you.”
Gaeren’s words struck her as insensitive with her lack of sleep, and she turned to frown at him.
“And hopefully he’ll have hundreds more,” he added. “You’ve changed the nature of the winex whether you meant to or not. I’m guessing they’ll no longer be content forgetting their past lives.”
Her heated words froze on her lips, and she stared at his collar, unsure what to say.
“In sixty years, when you lay on your deathbed, maybe Felk will take care of you.”
She shifted her weight so she could bump her shoulder against his. He wrapped an arm around her to regain his balance but kept it there far longer than necessary.
“You have me dying far younger than I plan to live.”
He snorted. “At the rate you seek out trouble, I thought I was being generous.”
“I wish we’d had a little more excitement this last week.” Aeliana couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. The night before, they’d reached the end of Ludo’s and Barny’s leads with no luck.
“I’m not sure we’re looking in the right places,” Gaeren said.
“Clearly.”
He laughed, and despite her exhaustion, grief, and frustration, she laughed with him, grateful for the ways he helped her see the lighter side of life.
He looked like he might say more, but the Sun rose to the east, cutting off their conversation as they watched it rise in all its glory.
Now that Orra had all but confirmed the Vendarans were right, that the Sun was their creator and deserving of worship, Aeliana still wasn’t sure how to worship such a distant creator.
The Stars had always seemed approachable and loving—as eager to please their creation as their creation was to please them.
She nearly asked Gaeren about his own faith, but Cyrus joined them, arms stretched overhead and his jaw popping with a yawn. When he finally settled back into a sleepy smile, he pulled his hair into a knot. “Ready for another day of fruitless searching?”
Gaeren snorted. “Sylmar’s starting to rub off on you. And no, we’re busy enjoying the Sun’s rise.”
Aeliana’s face heated at the way his words sounded more like they’d had a clandestine meeting.
Cyrus rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Good. Me neither. Because today’s the day. I can feel it. We’re going to find the starbridge.”
“I can’t believe we didn’t find it.” Cyrus’ words carried across the tavern they entered, drawing heads in his direction.
Aeliana grimaced as several eyes narrowed at his pale freckled skin.
“Failure makes me hungry,” he went on, rubbing his belly. “I could use a big bowl of beef stew.”
“You’re always hungry,” Aeliana pointed out.
“But tonight it’s justified, right?” He sat down heavily next to Barny, whose only acknowledgment of their arrival was a twitch in his hand as he tightened his grip on his mug.
“Have any more leads for us, Barny?” Cyrus asked, elbowing the other man in his oversized gut.
The grunt he received in response could have been a confirmation or denial—or maybe just the expected result of an elbow to the gut.
Gaeren and Riveran soon arrived, followed by Velden and Ludo, and Aeliana and Cyrus scooted aside to let them in at the table.
“I know we haven’t been here long,” Gaeren said, “but this feels impossible.”
He leaned back with a look of defeat that echoed Aeliana’s feelings, and Riveran hummed his agreement.
Today they’d scoured the darkest parts of the harbors, meeting a wide range of seedy individuals.
Some had even produced items that could be labeled as a silver fish, but none of them hummed at Aeliana’s touch.
“You’re not going to let the rougher residents of Andel scare you away, are you?” Ludo sent a sneer in Gaeren’s direction. He would likely always be the enemy in the old navy man’s eyes.
“Oh, I’ve been scared of them since we arrived,” Gaeren said. “But now I’m frustrated.”
Ludo grinned, and a waitress brought another round of drinks, taking the empty glasses as well as the newcomers’ orders. Her eyes lit up as Cyrus selected half the menu. Aeliana raised her brows as the woman walked away.
“What?” His ears turned pink. “Sylmar and the rest should be here soon. Now they won’t have to wait as long to eat.”
“Unless they take too long to get here and you finish it all for them,” Velden said.
“How far have they made it down the coast?” Gaeren asked.
Sylmar, Kendalyhn, Lukai, Iris, Holm, and Brogdon had started approaching ships at harbor.
They’d developed a story about a lost heirloom that they were offering a reward for, but so far they’d only had swindlers trying to convince them the metal trash they’d drudged up in their lobster traps had a fish shape to it.
They’d even brought Ludo and Barny in on parts of the truth in the hopes that they might have better leads, but the navy men still consider the starbridges to be tall tales, despite having a friend who clearly held Sayhleen ancestry.
“They might have made it halfway down the coast,” Velden suggested. “But approaching docks is tricky. If a sailor has it, they might have already gone past his berth, only he was out at sea when they did.”
“It feels like there has to be a clue we’re missing,” Gaeren muttered. “Something.”
“You’re the one who was so certain this was the plan of action to take.” Aeliana still wished they’d gone after Pacran instead. Especially when they hadn’t made any progress in so long. “Where did you get your information anyway?”
Gaeren hesitated. “I’m not proud of the source, but I feel like it’s reliable enough.”
“Gaeren.” Riveran stretched out his name in a warning that only served to make Aeliana more curious.
“I think we’ve all done our fair share of questionable acts to get information.” Aeliana scoffed. “I can’t judge anyone. I went to the sprites for help.”
This time the look Gaeren and Riveran exchanged was thick with guilt.
Aeliana’s chest tightened, and she leaned forward. “Please tell me it wasn’t the sprites.”
Gaeren grimaced. “All right. It wasn’t the sprites.”
Riveran groaned, and then Ludo and Velden guffawed, clearly pleased that Gaeren was about to be in trouble. Even Barny shook with silent laughter as he raised his glass to his lips.
“You’re almost as bad a liar as Cyrus,” Aeliana said.
“Hey!” Cyrus feigned offense. “I’ve come a long way in my deception skills.”
Aeliana rolled her eyes. “Are you telling me we’ve been following the directions of the sprites? What condition did you have to make to get their advice? Does it feel worth it now that they’ve sent us on a wild chase?”
Gaeren winced. “I thought you weren’t going to judge.”
“She’s not judging,” Velden said. “She’s just asking questions. But the rest of us have all found you very guilty.” He gestured at his friends, who laughed again and clinked their glasses together.
Aeliana leaned an elbow across the table to block the idiots from Gaeren’s view. “Just tell me what they said.”
“Technically we didn’t hear all their advice.”
Riveran shuddered. “Their price was too high.”
“You didn’t take their deal?” Aeliana sat up straighter. “They didn’t let me go back on my deal. Said the deal was made the moment I asked.”
“Which ended up saving my life,” Cyrus added. “So not an altogether bad thing.”
Riveran stared at the table, as if the grooves had suddenly sprouted letters worth reading.
“Come on.” Ludo nudged Riveran. “You can’t tell us half the story. This is one that might rival some of Velden’s tall tales.”
“I never embellish any of my stories,” Velden lied, his grin as cheeky as ever.
“What happened to you in the cave?” Aeliana asked.
“I tried making a deal,” Gaeren admitted. “Riveran didn’t trust them, and he didn’t want me to take the deal. He did the best thing he could under the circumstances.”
Riveran looked up, his eyes holding a mix of confusion and appreciation.
“But he did kill the sprite before it finished giving us the information.”
Aeliana gasped, then placed a hand over her mouth as if she could take it back. “How in Rhystahn did he manage to do that?”
Riveran shrugged. “Their blood might be cold, but it’s their source of life like any other creature in this world. If you stop its flow, they’ll die.”
She winced. “I was wondering more how you managed to do that and survive.”
“We almost didn’t.” Gaeren shuddered.
Both men looked chagrined, and Aeliana decided to put them out of their misery. “Fine. So you maybe took the deal and killed a sprite in the process. What words did you hear?”
Gaeren’s eyes closed briefly, and he went still, likely calling up the memory for the exact lines. Part of her wanted to ask to see it for herself, but when Riveran continued looking haunted, she supposed she was better off without it.
“They said ‘a fisherman in Andel has the fish. He doesn’t know what he holds. He mounted it on the wall of his ship’s cabin, along with the hide of—’” Gaeren cut off abruptly. “And that’s when Riveran—you know.”
This time Ludo and Barny exchanged nervous glances. It was the strongest reaction they’d ever seen from Barny, and Velden perked up. “Does that sound familiar to you, old Barnacle?”
Ludo and Barny busied themselves taking long swigs of their drinks.
“You all know that Gaeren could take your memories if he wanted,” Aeliana said. “He respects you enough not to do that, which is why we hope you’ll tell us what we need to know on your own.”
“We’ve cooperated with all of you ever since you arrived,” Ludo said. “We owed it to Velden, not to you.” He directed his words at Gaeren. “But we won’t talk about that sailor or the hide that he shows off like it’s a carnival booth.”
Aeliana sat up straighter. “Then you know who it is.”
Barny shot a dark look at Ludo.
“Aye,” Ludo agreed.
Velden clapped a hand on Ludo’s shoulder. “Come now, what would be the harm in giving us his name? You don’t have to approve of what he does. But we can go settle with him.”
Ludo and Barny refused to meet Velden’s gaze.
“You’ll kill him,” Ludo finally said.
Velden rolled his eyes. “You think I’ve become a murderer since I left the navy?”
Ludo remained quiet long enough that Aeliana grew uneasy. What was it about the sailor? What hide did he have that would—
Understanding hit Aeliana a moment before Velden. He stood, his knee bumping the table and sloshing the drinks. “Give me his name.” His words dripped with vengeance, a hateful tone Aeliana had never heard on his tongue.
Aeliana stood as well, laying a hand on Velden’s arm. “Maybe we should have them give the information to Sylmar.”
Velden shook her off, then slowed his words as if the sailors had been unable to hear. “Give me his name.”
“What’s happening?” Gaeren asked.
The waitress chose that moment to bring several dishes, oblivious to the showdown occurring at her table.
While most were placed in front of Cyrus, Aeliana sat back down to whisper, “Velden’s mother was murdered by a sailor.
He harpooned her. I assume that’s the hide this man shows off alongside the silver fish. He stole two prizes that day.”
Gaeren’s face paled. “That’s sick.”
The waitress grinned at the group, then finally seemed to sense the tension before scooting away and mumbling something about “too much to drink.”
“Give me his name.” Velden’s hands shook, water dripping from the webs as if he couldn’t contain the power inside him. Perhaps that was what made Ludo finally give in.
“Dreyfus. His berth is on the west side of Andel near the tallest Sungazer.”
Velden stepped back, then kicked his chair in.
“But you can’t go now,” Ludo rushed on, standing and raising a calming hand. “Dreyfus is on a run and won’t be back until end of next week or middle of the next. At least ten days.”
Aeliana stood and tugged on Velden’s sleeve. “It’s all right. That gives us time to prepare.” She didn’t bother adding, “And to calm down.”
“Seems like you’re well acquainted with the beast.” Velden’s words came out through gritted teeth.
Ludo sighed and lowered his head. “We’ve been after him for years to give her a proper burial. Even tried stealing her tail one night before he warned us he would turn us in.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Velden’s hands remained fists, dripping water all over the tavern floor.
Ludo looked to Barny for help, but his gaze remained fixed on his glass. When Ludo glanced back at Velden, he winced.
“Because the story he tells mentions you as his next prize.”