Dragonoak (26 page)

In the
hallway, Varn let her composure slide and congratulated me by way
of punching me in the shoulder. Atalanta came over and shook my
hand, assuring me that I'd done a terribly good job, really,
considering that even Varn hadn't been able to take Gavern down; it
was the start of better things for all of Canth, she
said.

But
nothing anyone said reached further than my ears. I was already
adrift at sea, salt on my skin, wind howling through me, straining
to see the land creeping over the horizon; straining to understand
what awaited us in my own country, one I'd long since betrayed, and
a land razed to ash by dragons and resurrected by those who spread
suffering to make saviours of themselves.

PART II

CHAPTER X

The Uncharted Sea
was far from uncharted.

In
Canthian, it was known as the Wide Waters, and had been crossed by
pirates and traders alike for centuries. It was only within the
last forty years that the Felheimish had made an earnest effort to
do more than chase pirates away, and though trade routes had been
establish in order to better pay off Canth's debt, a new name had
yet to stick.

Still,
the Uncharted Sea and the Wide Waters both spoke volumes. Eight
weeks stood between us and Felheim. From the deck, all I saw around
us was sea and sky, and we only ever seemed to chase the latter
away. The captain, a good natured man in his sixties, assured us
that he'd followed the stars across the Wide Waters enough times to
be able to reach Asar once they burnt out.

For all
but a few scattered days of the journey, we were made to stay
beneath deck. The fewer questions asked about us the better. To the
crew, we were cargo. Our help wasn't needed because there ought to
have been none to give; we were something to be stowed away and
forgotten.

Our
cabin was cramped, comprised of nothing but hard, narrow bunks.
Kouris was relegated to the floor, and our time was passed staring
up at the slither of light that made its way in through the hatch,
days slowly but surely cooling off. During storms, the hatch would
be sealed shut, turning the air thick and stale, and the
bitterwillow hung around the ship to keep sickness at bay did
little to console anyone.

The journey was spent sleeping for the sake of something to
do, practising Svargan with Kouris though I had nothing worth
saying, and poring over
The Sky Beneath
The Sun
, committing every image to memory,
pretending that I could read the words to myself. There was one
advantage to the endless journey: I learnt to keep my light within
myself.

I drew
it in and let it glow, exhaling as though breathing life into a
fire, and could make my fingertips burn without setting my eyes
ablaze.

On the
rare occasion we'd be let out – twice a week, at the very most, and
always at night – I'd stare at the sky and into the sea, certain
that it was all going to slip from our grasp at any moment. Either
the Felheimish would find some reason not to let us make port and
turn us around, or a storm the ship couldn't survive would head
straight for us.

I almost
began to believe that I didn't want to get back to Asar.

The
journey to Canth had caused my stomach to turn, and I'd believed
I'd never grow accustomed to the rocking of the waves. There was a
different sort of discomfort present, this time. Katja had been
given more space and less freedom than us; the brig was hers, and I
could feel her through the walls.

Some
days, she'd whine and shriek, demanding to be let go, but for weeks
at a time she remained silent. That was the worst of it. I knew
when she was awake, when she was sleeping. I knew when she thought
of me, for my stomach twisted and clenched.

It was
too late to leave her behind, and I hated myself for not having
condemned her to a jail cell for all time, letting the Wide Waters
keep us apart.

The day
we reached Asar was like the dozens that had come before it. We
were given a breakfast of the same sort of bland, dull food that
the sailors themselves were subjected to, forever grumbling about
the fresh fruit they were transporting, and I stared up at the
ceiling, mulling over all the things I'd yet to say about Felheim
and Kastelir. When we first boarded the ship, I'd expected to spend
weeks fine-tuning plans, but the moment we'd been shown to the
cabin, all desire to talk had drained from everyone.

I didn't
realise we were close to Asar. From what I could tell, we'd either
been on the sea for a week or a year, and the only hope I had was
of getting to go out on deck soon. But when every sailor on the
ship suddenly had work to attend to, boots thudding on the deck,
voices raised, we sat up and took notice.

We glanced between each other as though one of us knew more
than the rest, and slowly, the sound of something other than
sailors and the sea reached us. I rushed towards the hatch, moving
with enough force to make up for the eight weeks I'd spent idle,
and stared up at the sky to see birds gliding overhead. They
squawked as they circled the port that had to be Ironash, it
had
to, and I strained
to pick out words over the buzz of the town. It wasn't until we
were there, inches from the land, that I finally realised I
couldn't
go
back.

We had
to get into Felheim. Even if it meant pushing our way past the
sailors, swimming to the shore and outrunning all those that gave
chase.

“Ah,
Northwood,” Akela said, clicking her tongue. “It seems that you are
getting excited enough for all of us, yes?”

I
followed her gaze and found my fingers sparking with light. Hands
balled into fists, I took deep breaths, telling myself that it was
going to be alright, it was going to be alright: and it
was.

The
captain knelt over the hatch, beckoning us up with a tilt of his
head. My feet almost slipped off the rungs, body trembling, and
Kouris caught me with a laugh, easing me up into the cool coastal
air. It was mid-spring, but after Canth, I found myself shivering
in lieu of trembling.

Kouris
stretched out, finally able to return to her full height, and
Atthis shook the captain's hand, thanking him for all that he'd
done.

“Just
doing as the Queen asks of me,” he said, “You'd best be making your
way out of here in a hurry, though. We'll be bringing the, ah. Our
other passenger up, just as soon as we're unloaded.”

I rushed
off the boat as though a stray breeze might send us back to Canth,
feeling the flagstones under my bare feet. I was home, but that
wouldn't sink in until I stumbled across something I recognised.
I'd never been to Ironash. It was just another port to me, albeit a
port full of so much Mesomium being thrown around that it made my
head pound. The air was choked with the sounds I wasn't used to, as
though the language was no longer my own.

“Here we
are,” Atthis said, trying not to flinch when Akela slapped his
back. “One step closer to Kastelir.”

The four of us stood by the dock, biting back grins, acting
as though we hadn't seen each other in months. The strain of the
journey caught up with me all at once, and the thought of setting
foot on a ship again made me ache to the marrow. I couldn't stop
staring up at the sky, taking in how
green
Felheim was, even within a
town. The wind rushed through me and Kouris wrapped a cloak around
my shoulders, letting me lean against her.

All of
us had so much we suddenly wanted to say, but we all knew that the
moment the words left our mouths, we'd realise what it meant to be
four people out of a town of thousands; four people in a kingdom of
millions, somehow expected to fix all of this.

I kept
my eyes on the ship, unblinking. I wouldn't let Katja out of my
sight for a second. If I could endure the feel of her through the
walls for months then I could certainly set eyes on her, and as we
waited, I saw what they were unloading.

Crates
of spices and Canthian fruits, kept ripe with strips of
bitterwillow. That's what had brought us all the way back. The sort
of thing that sold for coppers at market, always flooding our
kitchen table.

“Rowan,
if you'd like to go on ahead...” Atthis said, but my eyes were
already fixed on Katja.

I didn't
know where we were headed, and I certainly wasn't going to let her
see me flee at the sight of her.

I
couldn't comment on Katja's appearance. Being at sea for so long
hadn't done any of us any favours, but I knew that warm water
wasn't going to wash the look off her face and a change of clothes
weren't going to rid her of the tension rippling through
her.

“Uncle,”
Katja said, “Kouris, Akela.”

Everyone
stared at her, barely nodding their heads in acknowledgement, and I
saw how little there was to her. How she was only one person,
barely bigger than I was, and how there was so much more anger
within me than there was worth within her.

“We'll
get cleaned up and have something to eat, shall we?” Atthis asked
when Katja continued to stare down at the ground. “Reis gave me
plenty of gold for the journey.”

Food was the last thing on my mind with so much to take in
around me. It wasn't until I was back in Felheim, in the customs of
my old life, that I appreciated how
different
Canth had been. Felheimish
soldiers strolled through the town and no one gave them a second
look. I couldn't tell if ships had always scattered the horizon,
but all those who made port had their credentials checked by
soldiers stationed there.

Beyond
that, there were no signs of the unrest in Kastelir. I could almost
convince myself that it hadn't happened; we'd seen the worst of it
and ran before the ground could cool off.

“Food of
actual colours! Now, that is sounding amazing,” Akela said, leading
the way.

I spared
one last glance towards the ship that had brought us there,
frowning at the sailor with his eyes fixed on us.

We took
rooms at the first inn we came across. The lack of pirates
lingering in corridors confused me, and I glanced around for a
danger that wasn't present, convinced that no one in the town could
intimidate me. Dropping my things on my bed and resisting the
temptation to do the same with my body, I headed straight for the
basin, cleaned myself off, and changed into fresh clothes. The
moment I started scrubbing at my face, some of my old self came
filtering back, as though I was finally possessing my own bones
again.

We were
back in Felheim. I'd got us there, and I wasn't going to wake at
any moment and find myself pressed against a hard bunk, corners
splintering. I allowed myself to smile, and headed down to dinner
with no fear of the company.

Atthis hadn't been exaggerating when he said Reis had left
him with plenty of gold. He'd taken a private room at a restaurant
beneath the inn and had ordered what looked to be everything on the
menu, plus whatever the cooks could come up with on their feet. I
didn't know where to start, where to let my gaze linger. Everything
was so
colourful
,
the greens of lettuce clashing with the reds of tomatoes, dark
brown meat swimming in darker gravy, all the things we'd forced
ourselves to forget on the journey over.

“This, everything you are seeing on the table, yes, it is
making it all worth it,” Akela said, scooping a mountain of
potatoes onto her plate before she'd taken a seat, “If I am
rewarded with a feast like this, I am happily sailing beyond Canth.
Ah! I am thinking I am never seeing another stew in my life,
but
look
. It is
the most beautiful thing you're ever seeing, yes?”

“You
were never this excited when I made stew,” Atthis said, cutting the
meat and placing slabs the size of roof tiles on my
plate.

“You
cannot be blaming me,” Akela said gracefully through a mouthful of
food, “You are a much better King than a cook, surely you are
realising this.”

I
smiled, took my place next to Kouris, and didn't watch the way
Katja leant over her plate, cutting her meat into tiny, even
squares.

“I
supposed we'd best be coming up with some sort of plan,” Kouris
said, helping herself to the raw meat, “At the rate Akela here is
going we're gonna be done with dinner in half an hour.”

Akela
grinned, asparagus hanging from the corner of her mouth, and I
grabbed the glass of wine that'd been poured for me so
enthusiastically that it almost sloshed into my lap.

“There's
much we have to find out,” Atthis agreed, “The situation in
Kastelir, for a start. Where the rebellion is based. How we might
cross into the country.”

Knocking
a fist against her chest to force down the chunk of meat she'd torn
off with her teeth, Akela demanded everyone's attention and said,
“What, you are saying that we are not simply walking into Kastelir
and saying, hm, we are not liking what you are doing with the
place, and we are taking it back now?”