by KM Merritt
Vola shrugged. “I don’t even like to read and read at the same time, but if you say so, I believe you. Talon?”
“We tracked him to the edge of the swamp. Gruff is keeping an eye on him, but I came back to guide you. He heads southeast, straight along the only road out of town.”
“Where is he going?”
“I don’t know. What lies at the other end of the swamp?”
“Harbor,” Lillie said. Without looking up, she held out a map and Vola took it.
Sure enough, the rough sketch showed Water’s Edge right on the outskirts of the swamp. One trail skirted the edges of the mire and came out the other side at the small Ghost Creek Harbor.
“It might be tiny,” Lillie said. “But it’s strategically significant for the area. The only way to get goods this side of the river.”
“So, he’s moving the prisoners,” Sorrel said. “Getting the heck out of…well, here. But why?”
Lillie finally looked up and straightened the pages she’d been reading. “He’s selling them.”
“What?” Sorrel said.
“Slavery is illegal in all fifteen principalities,” Vola said.
“I don’t know if they’re going to be slaves,” Lillie said with a frown. “I’m not sure he knew what was going to happen to them after they made it to the buyer. He just needed the money.” Her lips went white and thin. “The bastard was broke. So, he started kidnapping people and selling them. At first, he stuck to criminals and bandits that nobody would miss.”
Sorrel nodded thoughtfully. “That explains the low crime rate.”
“But when he ran out of those, he started stealing his own people to sell.” Lillie’s voice rose and her knuckles went white on the edge of the desk. “He completely ignored his duties as a noble and preyed upon his own people. How anyone could betray their duties so-so…” She stopped herself and focused on Vola once more. “Sorry. Go on.”
Vola raised an eyebrow. “Who was he selling them to?”
Lillie sat back with a grumble. “This doesn’t say. I expect the best way to find out would be to run the bastard to the ground and make him tell us. Painfully if at all possible.”
Vola raised an eyebrow. “You get feisty when you’re angry, don’t you?”
Lillie flushed. “Maybe a little.”
“Then it’s a good thing we can follow him,” Sorrel said, giving the three of them a grin.
“Sounds like you have good news on that front.” Vola tilted her head.
“We have horses,” Sorrel said. “And Braydon. And the small army of townsfolk that Braydon plans on leading.”
“Holy crap. Well done, Sorrel,” Vola said.
“He said to tell you not to worry about your backside. He’ll watch it for you.”
“Aw, that’s nice of him,” Lillie said.
“Yeah. Unless he meant butt.”
Vola shook her head. “What?”
“Maybe he meant he’d watch your butt.” Sorrel tapped her lip. “That’s not as helpful. And kind of creepy.”
“I think he meant back,” Talon said. “He seemed stubborn. Not lecherous.”
“You’re probably right. I know very little about butts and watching them.”
“Which is funny given your height,” Talon muttered.
“I know, right? I just don’t see the appeal.”
“You do an excellent job of kicking them, though,” Lillie said.
“Which we’re gonna go do,” Vola said, raising her voice. “Now. We’ve got to get to the harbor. Stop Lord Arthorel before he sends Henri and the others to…wherever he’s sending them. If we’re too late…”
“We won’t know where to go next.” Sorrel finished for her.
Vola nodded. “Lillie? Think you can sit a horse?”
Lillie levered herself to her feet. “Try to stop me.”
Twenty-Nine
Vola stepped into the courtyard and blinked in the sudden flickering torchlight. She held up her arm to shield her eyes and sucked in a breath.
Braydon waited at the foot of the manor steps, his sword in one hand and a torch in the other. Dozens and dozens of angry townspeople were arrayed behind him, armed and armored with leather aprons, pots and pans, and pitchforks. Too many torches splashed light up the walls of the manor making the night beyond seem that much darker.
Holy crap, they were going to get themselves killed outfitted like that, but from the set mouths and hard eyes, they knew what they were doing and Vola wasn’t going to be the one to disappoint them.
“Ready when you are, boss,” Braydon said with a grin that looked entirely unnatural on a face that had only ever scowled at her before.
“Uh, right,” she said, pushing down her discomfort. She cleared her throat. “I trust you to call the shots for the townsfolk.” She leaned in toward him to whisper. “Keep them alive, would you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll point them in the right direction.” Braydon gestured to the crowd, which parted to reveal their mounts. “You four go on ahead. Catch Lord Arthorel before he can escape with our people. We’ll be right behind you ready to mop up and reinforce you if you need it.”
Vola couldn’t respond because she was too busy groaning at the horses. Well, three horses and one swamp beast.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Talon muttered.
“I would really like to swear right about now,” Vola said.
“One of us could do it for you,” Talon said.
Vola considered it for a split second, but…“I feel like that would defeat the purpose.”
Sorrel danced from foot to foot. “I’m sorry. This was all they had.”
“Millford!” Lillie limped toward the swamp beast. Who promptly reached out and bit her on the shoulder.
“Ow!” Lillie stumbled back and glared at the creature with a mixture of pain and betrayal.
Vola sighed. “I’ll take it. Everyone else mount up.”
Braydon gave Lillie a leg up while Vola approached the swamp beast from the side with her hands out. It lunged one way, but Vola was ready and lunged the other way, then swung her leg over the makeshift saddle. Someone had gotten close enough to the thing to tie a blanket around its middle.
Vola was tall enough that her feet dragged unless she held them off the ground. This was just going to be so much fun.
It didn’t have a flowing mane or tail. And its teeth were more like fangs but at least it was too mean to be afraid of her. That actually made a pleasant change.
She glanced over to see Lillie and Talon mounted. Talon had drawn their hood up as soon as they’d stepped outside and seen all the people. Lillie was taking the books Braydon handed up to her and stashing them in the satchel she’d acquired somewhere between the study and the front door.
“Are those multiplying by themselves?” Vola said. “Or are you collecting?”
Lillie gave her a hurt look. “We might need them.”
Sorrel scrambled up the side of a surprised looking horse as if it were a tree. She perched on top of the animal, legs swinging, stirrups a million miles below her feet. The monk didn’t seem to care.
Sorrel grabbed her reins and shouted “Yee haw!”
Her horse stood there, looking nonplussed.
Sorrel tipped her head. “That’s how you get them to go, right?”
Talon shook their head and kicked their horse into a trot.
Sorrel’s followed amiably while the monk’s eyes went round. “Oh,” she said.
Lillie followed her, and Vola urged the swamp beast into motion so she could guard her party’s rear.
The crowd parted as they cantered through the gate, and when she cast a glance over her shoulder at the bottom of the hill, the torches were streaming out after them, ready to follow them to the harbor.
She set her face into the wind, keeping an eye on her people ahead. Riding behind the others should have made her anxious, but her spine relaxed a bit. From back here, she could see them and guard them
and it felt like a missing brick fitting back into a wall.
She resigned herself to the fact that she’d be staring at a lot of butts in the future.
Talon led them at a gallop along the road, the only solid path through the mire of the swamp. Talon rode as if they were one with the horse, and Vola suspected the ranger of secretly communicating with the creature.
Sorrel clearly had no idea what she was doing, but she clung to the saddle, sticking to the back of the horse even as it followed Talon’s headlong pace.
Lillie rode stiffly, like someone who knew the right way to sit a horse but couldn’t quite manage it at the moment and felt like they were cheating by not pushing themselves.
The swamp beast ran like a belligerent crocodile, all sinuous motion and malevolent intent. Vola was pretty sure the only reason it ran was to catch and eat the things fleeing in front of it. That didn’t bode well for when they finally stopped.
Just as dawn lit the sky with streaks of burning orange and pink, the trees gave way around them, stretching away on either side where the sea met the land in a series of muddy little islands. Buildings rose ahead, gray with weather and the salt air. Nets and strings of buoys hung between them. The mildewed sock scent of the swamp faded, replaced by a fishy pall.
Three docks jutted out into the harbor, and Vola’s heart sank as she realized there wasn’t a single ship tied up there.
A sharp bark and a growl heralded Gruff’s appearance. He peeled away from the last of the drooping trees and fell in beside them. Talon leaned over the side of their horse as they raced toward the harbor buildings.
“He’s on a ship,” they called back. “There! He’s leaving.”
Talon pointed, and Vola stood in her stirrups to see the masts that rose against the horizon out in the middle of the harbor.
“Shi—crap!” she said. “Can we catch him?”
They clattered onto the boardwalk between the buildings, and Sorrel threw up a hand. “There’s a ferry!”
The flat-bottomed barge was already pulling away from the docks, but vines sprouted from the pier and snaked around the edge of the ferry, sinking thorns into it and holding it in place.
“Thanks, Talon,” Vola called.
Sorrel kicked her horse, which pulled ahead. She threw herself from its back, leaping the gap between the dock and the ferry. She hit the edge of the raft, rolled, and popped to her feet as her horse skidded to a stop and milled about at the end of the pier.
“Beware, citizens,” she said to the two ferrymen. “We are commandeering your vessel.”
“You can’t just do that,” one of the men protested, pushing a floppy hat up so he could glare at them.
“Watch us,” Lillie snapped, pulling her horse up. She clambered down from the saddle, and Talon helped her across the gap.
“Look out,” Vola called. She tried to pull the swamp beast to a halt, but it lowered its head with a wet snuffle and plowed for the ferry. Vola lunged forward and wrapped her arms around its neck just as it jumped the distance.
The ferrymen screamed and plunged into the water on either side of the boat.
The swamp monster’s claws scrabbled across the wet wood of the ferry’s deck, not slowing its momentum in the least.
Vola flung herself from its back and rolled across the deck as the swamp monster disappeared over the side with a squeal and a splash.
Sorrel peered at the ripples it left. “Can that thing swim?”
Frothy bubbles broke the surface for a moment and then trailed away toward the docks where the ferrymen were climbing out of the water.
One screamed and scrabbled at the pier. The other swarmed out of the water and reached to help his buddy.
“Something’s in the water!” he yelled.
“Time to go,” Talon said under their breath, and the vines released the ferry from the dock.
“Hang onto something,” Lillie said, then whispered a spell.
A huge gust of wind slammed into the side of the ferry, and they shot out into the harbor. Vola grabbed hold of the edge and clung for dear life. Sorrel turned her face to the wind and laughed.
Spits of swampy land surrounded the harbor on both sides, leaving a narrow passage of deeper water just ahead. That’s where Lord Arthorel’s ship was headed.
The wind pushed the ferry so hard it shoved the back end into the water and waves sprayed over the front. Vola shifted her weight to keep the thing from capsizing and watched Arthorel’s ship grow closer and closer.
The wind died off, and the ferry settled back into the water, coasting the rest of the way toward the ship.
Sailors and several black-clad figures Vola recognized as golems covered in illusions yelled and pointed as they drew up beside the ship.
Vola grabbed at the slippery ladder that trailed down the side of the ship and steadied the ferry.
“First priority is to keep him from escaping with the prisoners. Sorrel, Talon, clear the way on deck. Lillie, I’ll toss you up and guard the rear.”
Sorrel didn’t wait for anything further. She swarmed up the side of the vessel, yelling, “For Henri! For Maxim!”
Talon followed.
“You didn’t mean toss toss, did you—”
Lillie’s voice cut out as Vola scooped her up and heaved her clear to the top of the ladder. All she had to do was stop squealing and climb aboard.
Vola climbed up after and popped her head onto a deck full of chaos.
Sailors rushed back and forth, calling orders as a row of golems advanced on them. Talon’s knives flashed out, keeping them at bay.
Vola glanced around. Sorrel was up on the next deck, taking swings at the captain who defended the wheel.
Lord Arthorel pressed against the railing, screaming orders down at the golems.
Vola swung Henri’s shield off her back and settled it on her arm, then drew her sword. She spun to face a couple of sailors who crept forward with rusty cutlasses.
Vola raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
They glanced at each other. “You’re boarding our ship. That’s piracy.”
“We don’t want to hurt you. We just want him.” She jerked her chin up at Lord Arthorel.
One of the sailors bit his lip. “Yeah, but…he’s the one who’s paying us. So…”
They attacked.
Vola caught the first swing on Henri’s shield, thrust it away, and returned with a swing of her own.
One sailor stepped forward and swiped for her feet. Vola had to dodge back a step with a wince.
She wasn’t exactly worried about them maiming or dismembering her. She was more worried that they’d give her some sort of disease with their rusty blades.
Vola roared to throw them off balance and pressed forward. But the older sailor clearly had fought off pirates before. He held his ground and feinted well enough to trick her into meeting his blow. He used the advantage and punched her square in the jaw.
She went down to one knee.
A streak of light and sizzle of heat made Vola’s skin tighten. Uh oh. Lillie.
She hit the deck and threw her shield over her head.
The sailors screamed, but Vola felt nothing except a pleasant draft.
She peeked over her shield. The sailors beat at the flames, but Vola lay in a clear patch of deck, the fire bending around her.
She blinked at Lillie.
Lillie beamed. “Pockets!” she cried.
Vola didn’t stop to question whatever the hell that meant. She surged upward and caught one of the smoldering sailors under the breastbone with Henri’s shield. She heaved and popped him over the railing.
He disappeared with a splash.
Vola expected him to surface—she hadn’t hit him that hard—but there were just some frothy bubbles. The other sailor hung over the railing, waiting for a sign of his friend.
“There’s something in the water!” a sailor called from across the deck.
Vola met her last opponent’s eyes. “Whatever he’s paying y
ou isn’t worth this,” she told him amiably. “He’s broke.”
Something below them went bloop and the trail of bubbles streaked away, around the other side of the ship.
“Yeah, okay,” the sailor said. “You do whatever you have to do, lady.”
He stuck two fingers between his teeth and gave a sharp whistle. The sailors remaining on the deck all scrambled into the rigging, leaving Lillie, Talon, and Vola with the last of Arthorel’s golems.
Above them, Sorrel swept the captain’s feet out from under him and lunged for the ship’s wheel. She leaped for a spoke above her and hauled with all her weight.
The ship began a ponderous turn.
Arthorel screamed and grabbed at the sides of his head. “You can’t do this to me.”
He threw himself at Sorrel.
“Lillie,” Vola said calmly.
Lillie muttered a spell, and Lord Arthorel’s feet stuck to the deck as though glued. Talon notched an arrow and let fly. It cracked against Arthorel’s chest, and a flash of light washed over him.
“He has a shield,” Lillie said.
“What’ll take it down?”
“Enough blunt force. Sorrel’s staff or…” Lillie glanced at Henri’s shield hanging on Vola’s arm.
Sorrel was still hauling on the ship’s wheel, turning the vessel from the harbor’s opening.
“All right, Talon, you’ve got the golems,” Vola called. “Lillie, cover them.”
Vola braced herself for a charge, but suddenly the breeze died and fog sprang up around the ship, obscuring her view.
“What the—”
Thick tendrils of fog curled up her legs and waist, reaching for her mouth. She coughed and threw her arm up over her face. The fog reached down her throat, stealing the breath from her lungs.
“It’s just an illusion,” Lillie called.
“That won’t matter if he convinces our bodies they’re dying,” Talon said between coughs.
“Hit him,” Vola said. “If you can see him, hit him. It’ll distract him.”
Somewhere in the fog, Sorrel cried out. In triumph or pain, Vola couldn’t tell.
Vola lunged for the sound. She tried to hold her breath to keep the coughing to a minimum.
