They drifted past the floating Varedan ships and into the entry channel. Kali’s heart raced and she unconsciously held her breath as they swerved through the winding canal, finally reaching the end.
Ahead, all she could see was blackness.
Blackness blanketed with stars that glimmered sweetly, reflecting in the gentle sea below.
The gate was open.
Zenib worked the oars tirelessly until they passed through the archway and out into the open waters of the Loranos Gulf.
“We made it,” Kali uttered, finally breathing again, not totally believing it even as she said it aloud.
“I can’t wait to get paid,” Zenib said behind her. Then, “Is he gonna be alright?” Kali was mildly surprised by the concern in his tone.
She looked down at Puk, who lay battered at the bottom of the boat, dripping blood onto its planks from his injured hand. But for now, he was still breathing steadily. That was promising.
“I think so,” Kali answered. “We just need to get back as soon as possible.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” said Zenib, “but you two sure took your time getting back to the boat, didn’t you?”
Kali nodded. “We had a bit of a hiccup,” she said.
As they coursed through the waters and the dark night, Myrisih’s winding canals faded from her memory. Shortly, she would be unable to remember anything about what the island looked like, or where it was in the vast Loranos Gulf.
And that was fine by her.
CHAPTER XXII
THE FLOWER AND THE FROG
It was early morning, the moon still hanging longingly in the sky, when they knocked anxiously on Eva’s front door.
To her credit, the woman did not immediately scream at the sight of Kali, battered and bruised, propping up a bloodied and unconscious qarm with the help of a mold-ridden centript.
Instead, she asked, “Kali, are you…? What’s—?”
“He needs your help,” Kali said, nodding her head toward Puk. “He’s lost a lot of blood and he might have a concussion, I don’t know.”
“Come in,” said Eva, moving aside.
Kali and Zenib rushed in, navigating to the living room and gently placing Puk down to rest on the couch.
The two moved aside and Eva stepped closer, lifting the qarm’s bloody hand. She began to gesture with her own, and the dried blood liquefied, dripping down onto Puk’s dirtied clothes. Eva then began casting a new spell, which slowly sealed the hole in his limp hand.
It had been several years since the woman had practiced white magic in a clinic, but she had clearly not lost her touch.
“Is he going to be okay?” Kali asked.
Eva frowned. “It’s a bit soon to tell,” she answered truthfully. “He seems alright for the moment, but there’s no telling for sure until he regains consciousness.”
There came soft but audible footsteps from above, and soon Eva’s wife Violet appeared on the nearby staircase, a powder blue robe wrapped around her slim figure.
She was much more taken aback by the sight than her wife had been. “What in the hell is all this?” she demanded to know, before nodding at Kali and saying, “Hi, Kali. It’s been a while.”
“Yes,” Kali said, offering a weak smile. “I’m sorry to intrude…”
“Speaking of,” said Zenib, “I should…leave here.” He scuttled back toward the entryway, but stopped to tell Kali, “You can bring me my payment tomorrow. Or make Puk do it when he wakes up.” She could sense a tinge of sad hopefulness on the centript’s words. He nodded his crimson head in farewell to them, then ducked outside.
Eva waved her hands over Puk’s body, wiggling her fingers and gesturing wildly to cast more spells on the beaten qarm. When she finished, she said, “This doesn’t look like the result of a normal business trip.”
Kali sighed.
“You’re not wrong,” she admitted. There was no reason to conceal the truth anymore, least of all after banging on the woman’s door in the dead of night pleading for help.
All three of them had been jolted into wakefulness, so Violet prepared some coffee and they seated themselves around the kitchen table. With a warm mug in hand, Kali set to regaling the entirety of their scheme, starting with the egg heist.
The women were shocked by the confirmed existence of Myrisih and Pontequest, and Violet particularly enjoyed the portion about stealing Bella from the too-forward jeorn at the outpost. They gasped in awe at her prowess in the night’s scuffle, which already seemed a world away. Kali could scarcely believe it had been mere hours before.
At the conclusion of her story, Eva assured her that they could stay at the house for as long as needed. She would continue watching over Puk and administer any necessary treatments until he awoke.
“Thank you,” Kali said, her voice cracking. “You two are far too generous. Really, I don’t deserve this, but I truly appreciate it.”
“Nonsense!” Eva smiled. “You’re always welcome here.”
Less than five minutes later, the boys were racing down the stairs, demanding they be fed breakfast. Eva and Violet got to work cooking, with which Kali offered to assist.
“You’re exhausted,” Violet said, chuckling. “You’ve been up all night. Go upstairs and get some sleep in the guest room. It’ll do you a world of good.”
That much was true. Her muscles ached and her head was pounding. She could collapse and sleep soundly right there on the kitchen floor. A nice bed sounded better, though.
She thanked the two women again, said goodbye to the boys, and marched upstairs to the guest bedroom. She practically threw herself onto the bed and was asleep before she could even pull herself underneath the sheets.
The next day saw no change in Puk’s condition.
Kali had slept through most of the day and enjoyed a nice dinner with Eva’s family that night, unaware of how hungry she’d been. She then slept again until morning, and the first thing she did upon waking was check on her companion.
She fretted over him for a few hours before Eva suggested that getting some fresh air might do her some good. “I’ll keep a close eye on him,” she assured Kali with a kind smile.
It probably was a good idea for her to get out, so Kali made herself presentable then left the house to wander for a while. Her hair was pulled taut in a high ponytail, swinging carefree with each step she took.
The ocean waves lapping against the docks could be heard from where she walked in Restick’s arts district, heading north toward the gulf. It was then she realized she had not gone outside at all since appearing at Eva’s doorstep, and the sunlight on her skin was amazingly refreshing. She felt reinvigorated.
Kali zoned out while walking the streets, letting her feet automatically guide her wherever they saw fit. When she snapped out of her daze, she discovered they had brought her to the docks. Already eager to travel. Never resting.
I wonder…
The thought had come to her out of the blue. She was planning on resting the entire day, waiting for Puk to finally awaken, but she was already at the docks.
It wouldn’t hurt to look. Just in case.
She walked over to the nearest worker, a man lugging unmarked crates off a ship and onto the pier one by one. With some trepidation, she asked, “Excuse me? Do you happen to know a merchant named Zara?” She hoped she was correctly remembering the name Vonoshreb had given her so long ago.
The man grunted and shook his head no. She moved on to someone else, asking the same question. The process repeated up and down the docks, until finally someone perked up at the mention of Zara’s name.
“Oh, sure,” the girl nodded. She couldn’t be more than twenty years old, but already her skin was weathered by the sun. “Her ship’s the Yawning Cat. Flag’s pretty much what you’d expect it to be.”
Kali exuberantly thanked the young woman and set to peering at every flag she could spy at the docks. She wandered down the glistening bones of Seroo’s tail, which swayed gently in t
he calm waves, seeking out some sort of feline flag fluttering in the sea breeze.
Finally, near the end of the dock just short of where the aeon’s bones dipped downward into the water, she spotted it.
A modest but mighty ship floating in the gulf, with a green flag flying proudly at the top of its mast. On it was stitched a white cat with blue eyes and its mouth stretched in a satisfying yawn.
Kali’s heart momentarily stopped beating. Part of her couldn’t really believe that she was standing there, before Zara’s ship, with the crescents she needed to embark on a voyage to Atlua.
Back in that Yspleash inn, the whole concept had been little more than a dream. Something far off, something intangible, always an inch out of her grasp.
But now she clutched it. Tight.
It was real.
She spied a woman up on the ship’s deck, authoritatively shouting orders at men and women scurrying about. Some were tending to the ship, others were hefting boxes to and fro.
The woman had to be Zara. She had short, white hair that hung down in front of her face, with the sides shaved close to her scalp. Kali briefly wondered whether she could pull off such a hairstyle. Zara was absolutely making it work for her.
Kali apprehensively sauntered across the gangplank, sliding out of the way of Zara’s employees as they huffed past her. She stopped when she reached the deck, staring creepily at Zara a few feet away.
It did not take long for the jeornish captain to notice her. “Can I help you?” she asked Kali. “Sorry to say most of our stock’s accounted for already, but I might be able to find you what you need.” Her voice was silky and strong.
Kali stood blinking like a fool for a second before finding her voice. She coughed and said, “I’m not looking to buy.”
Zara gave her a curious look.
Why are you being so awkward? Calm down, act normal.
The past couple weeks had all been leading up to this moment. In truth, nearly her entire adult life had been. She was simply at a loss for words. Once more, she reminded herself this wasn’t a dream.
She said, “I heard you travel to Atlua.”
Zara nodded and smiled. “That’s right,” she said. As if reading Kali’s mind, she asked, “You lookin’ to book a trip?”
Kali nodded, saying nothing.
“Well, I think you can buy a ticket somewhere over there,” Zara said, pointing off in the distance at the other end of the dock. “Plenty of Herrilockian ships coming and going.”
“I was hoping to specifically ride with you,” Kali said, only recognizing after the words escaped her lips how creepy they sounded. “I—sorry—the thing is, I’m a merchant too. Nowhere near your level, but…” she trailed off. Finding her footing again, she continued, “I was talking with someone who bought from you, a centript named Vonoshreb, and he—sorry, okay, I’m rambling, sorry—the point is, I would love to ride with you and learn from you. And, more than anything, I’d love to see Atlua.”
She held her breath, watching the woman’s reaction. Zara’s face was a blank slate as she processed the faif’s inane words.
“You—”
“I can pay my own way,” Kali cut her off. “That’s no problem.”
Zara grinned. “You’re weird, but I like you. What’s your name?”
You didn’t introduce yourself first, you idiot?
“Kali,” she said, embarrassed.
“I’m Zara,” said the woman, holding out her hand. Kali shook it and smiled. Her tension eased ever so slightly.
“I know,” she said, doing nothing to help assuage the assumption that she was a creep.
Zara brushed the comment aside and said, “I’d be glad to have you on board. We’re leaving in two days, if that works for you. Two hundred crescents should be able to cover food and everything else for you, assuming you can help carry the load around here and work a bit. Sound fair?”
“Totally fair,” Kali beamed. One part did not work for her, though. “I need to make a trip first, though,” she said, frowning. “I can’t really leave in two days.” The errand was an idea that had occurred to her during her walk to the docks, and she couldn’t shake it. But she needed to run it by Puk when he awoke.
The captain shrugged, blowing her hair out of her face. “No big deal. We’ll be back again in a few weeks and you can hop on then. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect,” said Kali. With her confidence somewhat boosted, she said, “Can I ask one more thing?”
“I’m all ears.”
“I’ve got this friend who’s trying to get to Atlua too. Is there enough room on board for him?”
“If he’s got two hundred crescents and can clean dishes or scrub decks, then he’s welcome aboard.”
Kali hadn’t stopped smiling. Soon she would strain her facial muscles. “Thank you so much,” she exhaled.
In that moment, it was as if all the stress of her life suddenly rushed out of her body and crashed into the sea. Washed away, indistinguishable from the water lapping up against the Yawning Cat’s hull.
“I should get back to barkin’ orders,” said Zara, “but I’ll see you in three weeks, yeah?”
Kali nodded. “Definitely.”
The sun beat down on her, sinking into the pastel swirls of her skin. She caught herself nearly skipping down the gangplank.
- -
When Puk awoke, his eyelids fluttering open with drowsiness, he found himself in a distressingly familiar environment.
“Why the fuck am I here?” was the first thing he said once he found his voice again.
He was propped up with his head on a pillow on Eva’s lavender velvet sofa. The fabric was amazingly soft against his skin, and he felt as if he were laying on a cloud. He felt absurdly comfortable, but had intended never to enter this woman’s home again.
“Because you needed to rest,” came an answer from a woman Puk had never seen before.
She was sitting in a plush armchair nearby reading a novel, which she bookmarked and placed closed on the side table. Her hair was long and luscious, a slightly wavy brunette. Her face was thin with sharp features, her skin dark in contrast with the powder blue robe she wore.
“And please do not use coarse language,” the woman added.
“Sorry,” Puk apologized. “I guess you’re, uh…” He was ashamed to have forgotten Eva’s wife’s name.
“Violet.”
“Right. Where’s—”
“Kali and Eva are in the kitchen, preparing lunch. I’ll go fetch them.” Violet stood and disappeared around the corner.
Puk attempted to sit up and it was as if a sharp spike stabbed through his lungs.
He felt, simply put, like garbage.
It was then he remembered that the last time he was conscious, there had been a hole in his hand. He raised the rubbery appendage and was pleased to discover nothing more than some scar tissue in the center of his palm. His next question was how much blood he’d gotten all over Eva’s immaculate home. No matter what he did, he was fated to ruin the woman’s house.
The three women then entered the room. Violet was still mostly apathetic, but Kali and Eva’s faces lit up at Puk’s improved condition.
Kali hurried to his side and slung her arms around him, which hurt terribly, but he refrained from mentioning it. He embraced her, and they stayed that wait for a moment.
When she pulled away, tears were welling up in her eyes. Puk did not know how to react to that. So instead he asked, “Did we do it?”
She wiped her eyes and gave him a devious smirk, then nodded.
His eyes widened and he laughed heartily. “Fuck me! How the hell did we manage that?”
“Language,” Eva and Violet said in unison. Puk could hear the boys playing in the next room, definitely not out of earshot.
Kali acted affronted by his question. “What do you mean ‘how’? Did you think we wouldn’t? You were talking a big game back there when we got to the Rabid Dog. I didn’t stop believing in us.”
“Yeah,” Puk said, “but that was before I got the sh—stuff kicked out of me,” he self-censored.
She shrugged and grinned wider. All trace of sentimentality had by now been erased from her features. “You know what this means, right?” she asked him.
“What?” He dreaded whatever the faif was about to say.
“You can’t rag on me anymore for being knocked out in that mage fight. Ha! You passed out in a fight too, and I saved your life this time!” She cackled heartily. “We’re even now.”
“Fine, fine,” Puk conceded. “We both passed out. We’re both wildly incompetent at this whole business.”
“That’s true,” Kali agreed, “but we won in the end, huh?”
He had to laugh. It was insane that they had managed to succeed. A few weeks prior he couldn’t even hold his own in a poorly-made card game, and yet he had somehow pulled this off.
“Oh, by the way,” Kali added, “Zenib’s waiting to see you so that you can pay him.”
“I was hoping he forgot,” Puk confessed.
“You really think he’d forget collecting his fee? Not a chance.”
They both laughed.
Eva prescribed Puk a few more days of rest, which he gladly accepted.
Spit and Song (Ustlian Tales Book 2) Page 43