by K.N. Lee
Gavin sucked in a breath. The captain snorted. Let that be a lesson in gawking at a crowd without thinking of the risks and possibilities. A low roar rose up from the people as the tumbril clattered to a halt. Blood insults, jeers, and curses filled the air. Ugly sentiments for an ugly crime and ugly punishment.
It’s not that he wasn’t all for law and order–so long as the law didn’t apply to him, and the order didn’t get in his way. He’d handed out plenty of whippings for infractions by his crew. He’d dealt worse to traitors like Cook. But, he liked his justice to be one-to-one. One crime, one guilty party, one punisher, one punishment. A crowd like this had a tricky riptide of hate and violence running through it. It was too easy to be swept up and carried along.
A cluster of guards surrounded the prisoner as she made her way up the steps of the gallows, blocking the crowd’s view of her. Elian absently toyed with the idea of experimenting and seeing if he could take in her soul from this distance. He’d never stilled time for this many people before, nor breathed in from this far. He might be able to do one or the other without consequence. But, both might leave him weak. Vulnerable. He’d have to trust Siddhe and Gavin to get him back to ship.
Siddhe stood calmly with her hand resting on the carved walrus bone hilt of the knife at her side. She’d have his back. He trusted her.
Gavin was bobbing up on his toes trying to get a better view of the gallows and lost his balance when he tried to scratch the back of his neck at the same time.
Elian sighed. Never mind.
The crowd let out a savage whoop when the guards parted to reveal the condemned girl.
Elian’s heart gave a painful lurch.
Young. So young.
Too young. Terrified. That much was clear despite the girl’s desperate attempts at dignity. A shaft of sun broke through the overcast skies and landed on her hair, turning prison-dirty blonde to shining gold and copper.
He released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
The king’s bailiff stepped forward and unfurled the scroll in his hands.
“Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Right good dragons of Withrae, listen now to the word of your king, His Majesty King Thorne, full-blood dragon and gracious sovereign of this land.”
He didn’t need Siddhe’s eyesight to see the girl’s trembling. The muscles in his jaw hurt from clenching so tightly.
“For the crimes of high treason against king and country and the murder with malice aforethought of Crown Prince Lawson, Rowen Glenick, half-blood dragon of Harrow, is hereby sentenced to hang from the neck until dead.”
A wave of dizziness washed over Elian, and he gasped as his line of sight went dark then shifted.
He stood upon the gallows, cold and shaking. The crowd was a blur behind unshed tears. Fear made every vein pulse pound with each frantic heartbeat. The ropes were scratchy, then too tight. It was hard to breathe, and the bottom of the platform hadn’t even fallen out yet. Blink. The tears rolled down his cheeks, clearing his vision. Out of the sea of faces, one figure stood out. A grey-cloaked figure who raised his head and locked gazes with him.
He was staring at himself.
“Elian!” Siddhe hissed, the pain of her fingers digging into his arm bringing him back to the moment.
He blinked and raised his head to look at the girl on the gallows.
She looked right at him, and a startled expression of recognition flitted across her face.
Holy hells, this was why he had come to Withrae. The epiphany slammed into him. This girl was the next key to the map of the Red Dragon. In the back of his mind, he grumbled at Cota. Just for once, couldn’t a vision be easy, like, say, going and buying a book or burning some herbs?
“We’re going to steal her,” he whispered, his lips barely moving, but knowing that Siddhe heard every word.
Her grip on his arm became excruciating. “You’re mad.”
He grasped Gavin’s cloak and pulled the young man over. He spoke directly into Gavin’s ear. “When I give the signal, you are going to run up and grab the girl, then hightail it back to the ship. Understood?”
Gavin gaped at him. “B-but, I’m a scribe!” he whimpered.
“Yeah, well, you’re a bloody pirate now,” Elian hissed. “Siddhe, you’re with me.”
“Wait, this is insane!” Gavin muttered. Siddhe looked both shocked and disgusted that for once, she agreed with the lad. Elian couldn’t deny it, either, but it had to be done.
He tumbled through his thoughts, frantic for a ploy that stood even the slightest chance of working against a crowd of tens of thousands of full-blood and half-blood dragons, the full complement of the elite royal guard, and the royal family. Bugger his life.
The drumroll began. Time was up.
Elian summoned all his power and inhaled, inflating his lungs unnaturally until his ribs almost cracked from the strain.
The rope went around the girl’s neck. She closed her eyes.
He threw his head back and roared.
From the bowels of his spirit, he spewed forth the thousand dark souls he had swallowed from a lifetime of dealing death. They shot into the air with black shrieks and foul shadows that blotted out the sky.
“Holy hells!” Gavin yelled.
“Fool! That’s your signal!” Siddhe shouted, shoving the young man into the crowd.
The dark souls were enraged from their confinement in Elian’s spirit. They swooped and dove down into the crowds, their shadowy forms going through body after body, leaving them to fall limp and dead to the ground as their numbers swelled.
All around him, there was the sound of shredding cloth as men and women shifted to their dragon forms and took to the skies, some to flee, others to breathe fire in an effort to fight the dark souls. They were no match for the unholy spirits, and the earth shook as dragons fell from the sky and crashed to the ground, crushing buildings, and splitting the stones of the grand marble plaza.
The royal stands had been emptied, the guards dragging the king and other nobles back into the safety of the palace. Soldiers from the elite royal guard rushed at Elian and Siddhe.
He could do little but hold his ground and gulp in great breaths. He felt empty, brittle, weak, as if his bones had been hollowed out and sinews stripped away. Tremors wracked his body as he swayed and stumbled like a newborn foal.
Siddhe paid him no mind, except to register where he was so that her swinging blades missed him as they sang their way through the air to sink into flesh. She danced around him in a whirl of death, subtly moving them foot-by-foot toward the far end of the square where escape might be possible.
The ground grew slick from the blood and gore spilled by Siddhe’s double swords. He slipped, banging his knee against the stone as he tried to save himself from the fall and regain his footing.
“Bloody hell, and I mean that literally!” Gavin’s voice was pitched high with pain.
Elian could barely lift his head to see that the scribe was half-dragging, half-being-carried by the girl. She looked dazed, as if she had been pushed past the threshold of abject terror and was now numb and mechanical. Good enough. He didn’t need a hysterical female on his hands at the moment.
The dark souls were beginning to dissipate, their rage caught like smoke on the wind and pulled away from them, strand by strand. In a few more moments, they’d be gone, released from their earthly bondage and free to flee to the spirit world.
Speaking of fleeing, Elian was relieved to find they were at the end of the square. He even allowed himself just the faintest bit of hope that they would actually make it back to the ship alive.
Until the giant carcass of a dragon landed before them, blocking off their escape route. Just before everything went black, Elian thought sourly once more of how he wished that just once, this quest involved sitting in a tavern with a tankard of ale and a nice, hot bowl of stew.
IN THE END, it was Gavin’s… special friend, the barmaid who saved them. She had followed them to the square, and when t
hey were trapped by the fallen dragon, pulled them to hide out in a tavern in the square.
She led them through a complex network of cellars that connected the various taverns in the city until they reached the docks. The riots along the water’s edge allowed them to almost strut back onto the ship. In a bloodied, smoke-stained crowd, no one was going to notice a group of dirty, limping pirates, scribes, mermaids, and traitors.
Siddhe had dumped him unceremoniously on his bed and rushed to get the ship on its way, as far away from Withrae as fast as possible. Gavin had sustained some injury to his shoulder and had been taken below deck with the girl. She’d have to care for him because no one else would have the time to spare while they were trying to get away. He hoped to hell that she could keep him alive.
The last thing he wanted to do was to have to find another scribe while trying to figure out just how his quest involved this prince-murdering, gallows-escaping, half-blood dragon girl.
Why could nothing ever be easy?
Chapter 16
THE SHIP AWAITED just on the choppy water as rain fell in thick sheets from the sky. Rowen had just escaped death, and still wasn’t entirely convinced that she wasn’t dreaming.
“Hey, we’re almost there, sir,” Rowen said.
“Gavin,” he said. “Call me Gavin.”
Gavin fought to catch his breath and Rowen helped him board. The adrenaline that pumped through her veins kept her from passing out on the slick wooden floor.
Elian shouted above the noise of the port to set sail. Rowen and Gavin sat on the floor near the ship’s railing. She looked up at him, her chest heaving. She’d seen that face before.
Several times.
That man—the stranger from her dreams—had saved her life. And, the way he had done it was nothing short of spectacular.
A sorcerer. If only she had a shred of his power, she’d never be anyone’s prisoner ever again.
As if he read her thoughts, his gray eyes lowered to hers. The moment was brief, but she could feel something spark between them like a forgotten memory or a promise of revelations to come. She swallowed and turned her attention to the young man at her side.
He winced when she touched his bloodied shirt.
“Are you all right?”
“Just a few broken ribs,” Gavin said with a shrug. “I’ll live.”
Rowen sucked her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she pulled his shirt up for a better look. An arrow protruded from his shoulder.
“Oh, and I’ve been shot,” he added. “Brilliant.”
“Do you have supplies on the ship? Any stringent or bandages?”
“Wish I knew. I’ve only been on this ship for a few days.”
Siddhe walked by, her boots thumping on the deck, splashing water with each step.
“Ma’am,” Rowen called.
Siddhe stopped and turned to her, a cold look in her ethereal eyes. “What?”
The question was forceful and much louder than Rowen expected. It didn’t take much for her to realize that that woman did not like her.
Nonetheless, she had to help Gavin. No one else seemed to care that he was bleeding on deck and in more pain than he let on.
She nodded to Gavin’s injuries. “Is there somewhere I can take him to tend to his wounds?”
Siddhe pointed to the stairs that led below deck. “Down there,” she shouted. “Now, stay out of my way.”
There was no mistaking the malice in the woman’s voice. She would indeed stay out of her way. Rowen frowned as Siddhe stomped away to join the crew in setting sail. She peered over the railing as the ship rocked and swayed and pulled away from the docks. The protesters were rioting and yelling after the ship. Still, they weren’t jumping into the water or boarding ships to come after her.
For now, they were safe.
It would be hours before Withrae’s navy could organize a search party for her. She just hoped the ship she was swept away on was fast enough to outrun them. Then again, she knew nothing about the people who kidnapped her. What would they want with a convicted prince killer?
She didn’t know. But, she had to help the young man that helped her escape her execution.
“Don’t mind her,” Gavin said, breaking her from her thoughts. “Siddhe hates everyone. ‘Cept the captain.”
Sighing, Rowen came to her feet and helped Gavin up. “I’m not worried about her. I just want to make sure you don’t bleed to death.”
“Why, is that kind of you?” Gavin said with a forced smirk.
She lowered his arm over her shoulder and led him to the stairs, careful not to get in the way of the men that stood on deck.
Some raced to their stations, others watched her with great interest.
Once they were down the stairs and below deck, Gavin nodded to a cabin at the far end of the dimly lit hallway. “There, that’s where they keep the weapons and the supplies.”
“Gavin,” Rowen called as she helped him stumble to the door, and pushed it open.
“What?”
Rowen closed the door behind him. She settled him into a wooden chair and knelt before him, her eyes boring into his.
“Am I safe here?”
He stared back at her for a moment. The color of his cheeks had already drained to a color much paler than when they’d first met.
“Am I?” Rowen asked again.
Gavin took her hand into his and closed his fingers around it. He nodded, taking in a sigh. “Yes. You are safe. We didn’t save you to harm you, miss.”
Relieved, Rowen closed her eyes and exhaled. “Okay. Good. I just had to know.”
“No worries. I’d be a bit wary of being on a ship full of pirates too.”
Rowen’s eyes popped open. Her cheeks paled. “Pirates?”
Gavin cracked a surprised grin. He coughed out a laugh. “What did you think this was? A traveling side show?”
Rowen groaned.
Gavin pulled her close until her face was only inches from his. “Hey,” he said. “It’s fine. I told you that you were safe. You have to trust me.”
Rowen licked her lips, uncomfortable with how close they were. He was a stranger.
A handsome one… but a stranger no less.
“Trust you?”
He nodded and winced again. “Yes. Trust me, and get this arrow out of my blasted arm.”
“Oh,” Rowen said, remembering how much pain he was in. She stood up and held onto one end of the arrow. “How do I do this?” She looked at the sharp end and the blunt end. She couldn’t just slide it out without further damage to his flesh.
“Break the sharp end and pull it out.”
Rowen rubbed her hands together and nodded, giving herself courage. “Okay.”
She took one end, and with all of her strength, pushed the tip down, breaking it off.
“Good girl,” Gavin said.
Then, she pulled the arrow free and blood came gushing from his wound. Gavin let out a cry of pain and a squeal escaped Rowen’s lips and she hurried to pull his shirt over his head and used it to press into the wound.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Everything is fine.” She said the words to reassure herself more than anything.
“I ain’t no warrior. I told Captain Elian such. But, no. He insists that I have to save the girl.”
Rowen shook her head. “I don’t know how you all did it. But, I am grateful.”
She found a crate full of bandages and casks of water. She opened the cask and removed his bloody shirt. Pouring the water on the wound cleaned off the blood and dirt. She ripped the bandage and wrapped it tightly around Gavin’s shoulder. And another around his black and blue ribs.
“Were you a healer?” Gavin asked, and she noticed how intently he watched her.
Rowen shook her head. “I wish,” she whispered. “No. I was a lady-in-waiting to the princess of Withrae.”
“Dangerous job, aye?”
Rowen tilted her head and let out a laugh. “You have no idea.”
She p
aused when he lifted his hand and traced the bruise where the noose had been. Her body stiffened and she closed her eyes against the memories of facing her death. She’d faced it many times in her dreams. But, that morning had been the first time it had felt utterly real. She backed away, her eyes still closed, and sucked up her tears.
“Hey,” Gavin said, softly.
Rowen opened her eyes. His voice was soothing, and his eyes were innocent. Out of everyone on that ship, she felt that she could trust him.
“Yes?”
“You’re safe now,” he said.
Sliding to the ground, Rowen settled against the door and finally let down her guard. The moment she did, she realized just how exhausted she was.
“I could sleep for days,” she said.
“Let me take you to a cabin.” Gavin tried to push himself up to his feet, but Rowen crawled over and placed a hand on his other shoulder.
“No. Stay put. I’m in no rush.”
He placed a hand on hers. “It’s no problem. I’ll get you settled.”
Rowen bit the corner of her lip, her brows furrowing. “I’m afraid to be alone on this ship.”
He searched her eyes and then sighed. She watched him ponder for a moment, before taking her hand and helping her to her feet. With a little effort and a grimace, he stood and led her back to the door.
“Let me at least get you to a cabin where you can get comfortable.”
Before Rowen could protest, Gavin shushed her by putting a finger to his lips.
“I’ll stay with you. You know, guard you while you sleep.”
She stood on the back of her heels, a bit taken aback by his offer.
Without hesitation, she nodded. Anything was better than being alone on a pirate ship full of strangers. Even if Gavin was technically as much as a stranger as the rest, she just helped him avoid bleeding out. He owed her that much.
“Right,” he said, and opened the door. “Off we go.”
Chapter 17
RELIEF WASHED OVER Rowen as she followed Gavin down the narrow hallway to a turn to the right.