by KM Merritt
Becky steered Porter back towards Water’s Edge while Vola squinted at the buildings and tried to decide which of the gray, peeling facades led to the local bar.
She couldn’t tell and figured a random guess was as good as any.
She got it right on the first try and found Sorrel perched on the edge of the bar. Astrid and Henri snuggled in a booth in the back corner.
“There they are.” Sorrel turned back to the barkeep. “I told you I wasn’t making them up.”
She jumped down and ran to drag them forward. “Sit, sit. I’ve got drinks for everyone.”
Sure enough, a line of drinks waited for them on the bar. A couple mugs for Sorrel and Vola. Something tall and fruity looking for Lillie. And something dark and mysterious for Talon.
“Henri didn’t want his shield back?” Sorrel asked as they settled themselves.
Vola touched the edge with a little smile. “He, uh, gave it to me.”
“Oh.” Sorrel’s eyes went wide. “Oh, that’s a big deal, isn’t it?”
“It means she’s a full knight,” Lillie said. “Correct?”
“Well, then that means you can finally have that drink, right?” Sorrel pushed the second mug toward Vola. “To victory!”
Sorrel watched her carefully. Vola bit her lip and spun the mug around without taking a drink. “Actually…”
“What do you mean ‘actually?’ We beat Arthorel. We saved Water’s Edge. We’re supposed to trudge off victoriously into the sunset.”
“Trudge?” Talon said.
“Yes,” Vola said, dragging it out. “But Lord Arthorel was selling those people to someone. And I have a feeling Lillie knows who.”
Lillie’s mouth dropped open. “How’d you know I—? I was hoping to surprise you.”
“Spit it out, spell fingers,” Vola said.
“Lord Arthorel never wrote down who he was selling people to, but I checked the shipping manifests filed with the harbormaster.”
Sorrel straightened up. “And?”
“And I know where the ship was headed. The port of Brisbene in Southglen.”
Vola caught her breath. It wasn’t exactly a name and address. But it was something. A lead. A clue. They could go there, ask questions. They could track this slaver down. They could…
They could do it together.
Vola rubbed the back of her neck and the other three stilled, all turning toward her like they could feel the words gathering behind her tusks.
“I know I haven’t been perfect,” she said. “I screwed up a lot of things. But…the truth is I actually like you guys. And shield or not, I don’t think I’d be very good at all this helping people on my own. So—”
“So we’re going to Brisbene,” Sorrel shouted. “Woo hoo!”
“She hasn’t even asked yet,” Lillie said with a mild glare.
“Oh, sorry. Go ahead.” Sorrel disappeared behind the edge of her mug again.
Vola rolled her eyes. “So, do you want to help me catch a slaver?”
“Uh, duh,” Sorrel said.
“What about Maxim’s Warhammer?”
“Astrid said she sold it to someone in Brisbene. If that’s not providence, I don’t know what is. Besides, I’ve never been on a boat. That’s gotta be exciting, right?”
Vola glanced at Talon. The ranger sipped at the dark beer Sorrel had ordered them, hood up and face unreadable.
“Why are you looking at me?” they said.
“I wanted to know if you and Gruff are coming.”
The hood turned, creasing the edge so Vola glimpsed a light blue eye and stubbly jaw. “Of course we’re coming. I can’t protect my pack if I’m not there.”
Vola smiled. “You know, you’d make a great paladin.”
Talon snorted and went back to their beer. “No thanks. We have one of those already.”
Lillie bit her lip and stared down at her drink.
Vola cleared her throat. “You don’t have to come,” she said, hiding the way the words felt like a punch to the gut. “You can go forget about me if you want.”
Lillie’s blue-green gaze flashed. “Don’t put words in my mouth. We did all of that already, remember?”
“Then what’s wrong?” Sorrel leaned over on her stool to stare at Lillie.
“I want to come,” she said. “It’s just that…I’m from that area of Southglen.”
And going back would mean returning to everything she’d left behind and facing all that she’d run away from.
“We can protect you,” Vola blurted before she knew she was going to. “From whatever it is you’re afraid of.”
“Ooh,” Sorrel said. “What is it? Bad debts? Mean family?”
“Ex-lovers?” Talon said.
“Yeah, I’d run from those, too,” Sorrel said.
“Do you have any?”
“Thank Maxim, no. Celibate monk, thank you.”
Vola met Lillie’s wide eyes with a grin. “Have they gotten close yet?
Lillie dropped her gaze. “Something like that, I suppose. Yes.”
“Right, so we keep Lillie safe from debts/family/lovers etcetera, and then she’s free to join us, right?” Sorrel said, looking at Vola.
“We could definitely use your fire,” Vola told Lillie. “Especially if you can bend it around other people, now.”
Finally, Lillie smiled. “As long as I get to blast some slavers.”
A surge of warmth swept through Vola as she looked at her companions, humbled by their loyalty and friendship.
“We’ll need a name,” Sorrel said. “Every famous adventuring party has a name.”
“Vola and the heroes,” Vola said.
“Oh gods, no,” Sorrel said.
“Vola and the slightly better-than-average people she conned into joining her,” Talon suggested.
That earned a chorus of nos.
“I didn’t con anyone into anything,” Vola said. “Paladin, remember?”
“We’ll have plenty of time on the way to Brisbene to come up with something much more fitting,” Lillie said.
Sorrel swung around on her stool to point out the window at the beached ship. “I can’t help but notice there is a vessel right here that’s already heading for Brisbene,” she said. “Though I can’t imagine they’ll be that excited to see us again.”
Vola hefted the bag Becky had given her. “Shall we see if we can persuade them?”
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One
A thick fishy pall hung over Brisbene harbor, like a wet blanket that had lain in a corner too long. But after a week cooped up on a transport ship, Vola was willing to breathe anything if it meant standing on dry land again. She stood at the railing and her chest swelled. Then her lungs seized, and she bent over coughing.
A delicate hand tapped her back as if that would help anything. “Oh, dear,” the lyrical voice said. “Take a deep breath. Oh wait, don’t. That might be the problem.”
Vola hacked once more, then straightened. She cast a rueful glance at the woman beside her. Lillie stood only a little taller than Vola’s elbow, with plump curves in all the right places, even after a week at sea with nothing but dried rations to eat. The sky was overcast and gray, but of course, a single shaft of light broke through the clouds to glint off her red-gold hair. Vola was pretty sure there was a law of the universe somewhere that said blonde hair and sunlight always went together, no matter the weather.
Vola tossed her own black braid over her shoulder and squinted up at the sky. But no sun shafts sought her out.
“It’s noisy,” another voice said, this one gravelly with mystery and disuse. Talon hadn’t said much during the voyage. They’d conveyed everything they’d needed to with grunts and gestures. Of course, it was all things like, “get out of the way,” and “don’t wake me up before noon.”
A decent breeze made the sails snap overhead but Talon’s hood remained firmly in place, concealing the
ir face. The dark edges ruffled against the rough planks beneath their boots.
“Why is it so noisy?” they said.
Vola glared out at the city stretched before them. Buildings with real slate and tile roofs marched all the way to the water’s edge where docks jutted into the harbor. Houses, warehouses, shops, and taverns crowded each other, spreading from one end of the world to the other as far as Vola could see. A low buzz crept across the water and Vola could just make out the rumble of carts, the hum of conversation and shouting.
The spires of temples and cathedrals dedicated to the Virtues poked out of the masses here and there, and off to the right, up a cliff, lurked a wide squat fortress of black stone.
“I suppose I’d better go fetch Miss Sorrel,” Lillie said. “If we’re going to dock soon—”
“Is that fresh air I smell?” another voice said. This one didn’t even reach Vola’s elbow. More like her hip.
A pale halfling with dark circles under her eyes and curly hair matted with sweat scampered to the railing and climbed up to take a huge sniff. Then she sagged against the wood, arms dangling over the side.
“Are you going to vomit again?” Lillie said.
“Ugh, don’t say that word,” Vola said.
“Which word? Vomit?”
“Can’t you just say barf like the rest of us? Barf at least doesn’t make me want to barf.”
“And vomit makes you want to vomit?”
“Please stop talking now,” Sorrel said, voice thin. “I’m not going to barf. No,” Sorrel said toward the sea rolling beneath them. “Y—no.” She gulped. “Not this time.”
She sucked air in noisily through her nose and let it out through her teeth.
The swell of the waves pushed them closer to shore. The noise got louder.
Talon drew back farther into their hood, which Vola hadn’t thought possible. As if trying to escape without moving their feet. A huge black wolf padded up to their side, and the ranger buried their hand in his thick ruff.
“I didn’t expect it to be so big,” Vola finally admitted.
“What? A city?” Lillie said. “Brisbene is actually the smallest port in Southglen.” Though she didn’t sound too happy about it.
Vola shifted from foot to foot. “I haven’t been in many cities.”
“How are we supposed to find Lord Arthorel’s slaver in that mess?” Talon said.
Vola rolled her lip between her tusks. It looked like a big maze, but it had to be better than that. Otherwise, people wouldn’t flock to live in cities. Would they? Maybe humans were really herd animals, and they just hadn’t noticed yet.
“The same way we tracked down Lord Arthorel,” she said. She opened her mouth to continue, but Lillie beat her to it.
“By accidentally getting him to hire us and then letting him kidnap one of our friends so we could swear vengeance on him and get lost in his castle of illusions before letting him escape again and then running him to ground in the harbor?”
Vola shut her mouth with a snap as Lillie tilted her head in thought.
“That’s pretty much what happened, isn’t it?” Sorrel said with her head draped over the railing.
“I really don’t think that will work a second time, do you?” Lillie said, finally.
“I meant methodically,” Vola said with a low growl in her voice. “That’s all I was getting at. One step at a time. We know Lord Arthorel was selling the people he captured to someone in Brisbene, and we know where the captain was supposed to drop them off. We can go from there.”
They stared out at the bustling mass of humanity and non-human species as the ship slid up to the dock and the sailors threw lines to those waiting ashore.
“You make that sound so easy,” Talon said.
Vola blew out her breath. It wasn’t that bad, she thought to herself. They at least knew where to start, and that was a whole lot better than last time. Vola’s palms itched for her sword. She’d always thought of that impatience as the orc side of her. But like Henri had told her, a paladin had to answer a call for help. But a real paladin wanted to answer a call for help. So she took it as a good sign.
The captain of the ship sidled up next to them, eying Talon and the wolf warily. Vola grinned, baring her tusks. It was a good day when she wasn’t the scariest thing around.
“We’ll be parting ways here, sir,” she said.
“Good.” His hand crept up to clutch his wild gray hair. “Oh, wait. I mean, so soon? You didn’t want to ride with us to Gerricksbane?”
He glanced at Sorrel as she groaned.
“No, our quarry is here,” Vola said. “We just have to find him.”
“Oh, darn,” the captain said, snapping his fingers.
“Pretty sure that’s sarcasm,” Talon said. The wolf stood.
The captain raised his hands. “Your monster will be waiting for you on the dock in thirty minutes. I’ve got a tide to catch, and if you need a ride back to Water’s Edge, please, please find some other ship.”
He spun on his heel and stalked across the deck to yell at some deckhands.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Lillie said. The party turned toward the hatch.
“Well, we did get his employer arrested and free his cargo,” Vola said.
Talon crossed their arms. “And I’m pretty sure holding his crimes over his head to get a discounted ride is called blackmail. I don’t think he likes us very much.”
Lillie jerked back as if affronted, making her long, bright hair sway. “He was going to be transporting slaves. People bought as property. We saved him from not being arrested himself. The least he could do is give us a ride.”
“Not sure he sees it that way,” Vola said. “Come on. Let’s get off this tub.”
“Wait,” Sorrel said behind them.
They glanced back at her.
Her knuckles went white against the railing, and then she heaved her guts into the sea. Vola and Lillie winced.
Sorrel wiped the back of her mouth. “Last one,” she said and followed.
It didn’t take them long to collect their things. None of them had much. Just a change of clothes each and their weapons.
In less than twenty minutes, Talon stood on the dock, bow and quiver secured to their back. Lillie had already cracked open a book to pass the time, and Sorrel leaned on her quarterstaff as if it was the only thing holding her up.
Vola slung a round shield—scarred and gouged by battle—over her shoulder and carried her sword and sword belt in her other hand. She’d stopped wearing it on the ship when she kept getting stuck in the narrow corridors, but she fastened her blade and shield to her back as soon as she got out into the open air.
As Vola drew even with her friends, a scrabbling and a squeal drew their gazes down to the other end of the dock. A second gangplank spanned the gap between the ship and the pier where the sailors unloaded their meager cargo. Three sailors had hold of the end of a ragged lead rope and they pulled and heaved, their feet slipping along the gangplank.
At the other end of the rope strained a…creature. Like a cross between a donkey and an angry crocodile. It raised its filmy crest in anger and bared its yellow teeth at the sailors as they dragged it to shore. One more sailor brought up the rear, putting his shoulder to the creature’s tail.
The creature’s claws flexed and left gouges down the gangplank as the sailors yelled and prodded and pulled.
Vola grimaced.
“I really wish we’d found someone to buy it back at Water’s Edge,” Sorrel said.
“Maybe here…” Vola glanced back at the city. Surely someone here in this vast gathering of humanity would have use for an ornery swamp monster that ate just about everything and everyone.
Lillie glanced at the altercation down the dock and her brow screwed up in thought. Then she twisted her fingers and whispered a spell, and a very surprised looking turtle popped into existence on the dock at their feet.
“Here you go, Millford,” Lillie called. “A nice tas
ty turtle. Come on, boy.”
The swamp beast’s eyes narrowed. Its scaly nostrils flared as it snorted. Then it squealed and barreled past the sailors, knocking two of them into the water.
It slid and skidded to a halt beside them and chomped on the turtle.
Then it looked up in consternation and tried again.
“It’s only an illusion,” Lillie said as the swamp beast’s teeth closed on air over and over again. “I didn’t have a turtle handy.”
“Can we just go?” Sorrel asked, leaning heavy on her staff. “Before I barf again. I don’t have anything left to barf up and that’s even worse than if you have a whole meal to barf up. It makes your throat burn and your stomach hurt and—”
“Yes, fine,” Vola said. “We’re leaving. It’s not like the dock is moving, though. This is almost as good as dry land.”
“I’d rather put as much distance between myself and the ocean as possible, thank you—Ahh!”
Vola spun to see the swamp beast hoist Sorrel into the air by the back of her tunic. It chewed maliciously, its eyes narrowed as if daring them to do something.
Vola rolled her eyes as Lillie and Talon lunged forward.
“Millford, put her down this instant. I thought we were past this. You can’t eat party members.”
Talon took a more direct approach and bashed the creature on its nose. It dropped Sorrel with a squeal and backed up a step.
Sorrel darted forward and tugged her tunic straight, breathing heavily. “Watch it.” She wagged her finger at the creature. “Or we’ll see if anyone in this town likes fried fish.”
Lillie’s brow furrowed. “Is that even a good threat? I’m pretty sure it’s part reptile, not fish.”
Sorrel threw her arms in the air. “And part horse, so we’ll find a glue factory, okay?”
Vola glanced around to find the captain and make sure they were square, but the sailors had all disappeared except for the one fishing himself out of the water, and when she looked toward the ship, all she saw was six pairs of wary eyes watching them from over the railing. They ducked when they realized she was looking at them.
Vola shrugged.
