by F. E. Hubert
docks and now that he looked at her a little closer, he saw that she had an unhealthy, grey pallor. Before he could ask what was wrong, she burst out:
“I know what they are looking for.” She looked up at him with an iron gaze that brooked no doubt. “They were after me.”
Dun raised his brows in surprise, but kept quiet and waited for Kalis to continue.
“You know I said it was my first day out?”
Dun nodded and got up to see to the boiling water.
“My mother finally gave me permission to start training with the pilots,” She accepted the steaming cup Dun handed her. “That’s why there were three, well four, of our boats out. Normally we take just one, maybe two.”
“I wondered why they let themselves get caught like that,” He glanced at Kalis over his cup. “They were distracting them so you could get away, weren’t they?” Kalis nodded, staring into the cup in her hands.
“Want to tell me what makes you so special that the path is after you?” He thought she wasn’t going to answer him, but then she started to speak, still staring at her cup.
“My mother. The Path has been at her for as long as I can remember, but she always refused to help them with their smuggling,” She snorted. “She says that if she wanted to dirty her hands, she’d go into business for herself. More profit and less danger of a knife in your back. Anyway, they seemed to accept it, but almost ten moons ago they started pushing. First they were just threats, and then they started going after Krake out alone. We’ve lost five since it started, mother thinks they’re all dead.”
“But it didn’t work?”
“My mother?” She gave him a tight smile. “No, it didn’t work. Unless they meant to piss her off. And then they threatened me.”
“And somehow they knew you’d be out with the pilots yesterday and came to get you.” He finished for her. Dun laughed, a loud and pleasant sound. “Gods, they must be angry enough to spit bricks that you weren’t there.”
She looked up from her cup, surprised by his mirth. After a moment she laughed with him, laughed until her eyes teared and she had to put down her cup to keep from spilling the hot liquid in her lap.
The stronghold
Kalis insisted that she come with Dun to see what was on the rocky island Muki pointed out to them earlier as the place where the captured Krake had been taken.
“Even if they catch us, they have no idea who I am!”
“Hmm…” Dun scratched the ruddy stubble on his cheek. It itched, but he went back to shaving because Vera preferred it that way. Not that she would notice in her current condition. The effects of the spell were slow in wearing off, leaving him to worry if she would ever be the same. “You sure about that?”
Kalis frowned at him, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and looked at him with a thoughtful expression.
“You think…”
Dun shrugged, but his eyebrows lifted in a way that said they both knew he was right about this.
“They knew you were out on the water, no reason they wouldn’t know what you look like.”
Kalis sat staring out over the city’s roofs for a while, then she nodded to herself and faced him again.
“I think I should go with you anyway, even if you find them, the rest will never trust you when you’re alone. No offence, but to them you’re just a dirt scrubber. And a man.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. The way I figure, they will never expect you to come to them.”
She laughed. He liked it when she laughed. It was deep sound for such a little girl, the top of her head just reached his chest, and it lit her face with an uncomplicated and contagious joy.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that” She said, still chuckling. “If they have any idea who they’re dealing with, they’ll be prepared for an all-out rescue mission.” Her face dropped. “My mother will think I’m in there-”
“Well, she’ll be right in an hour or two,” He jumped up from his chair, tired of talking and ready for some action. “Let’s go shrimp.”
Clouds covered the moon and the stars, leaving Dun and Kalis to make their way in almost complete darkness. They passed the last houses out on the rocks, they had a cold and abandoned look, like the last people that lived there left a good while back.
“Ow...” Kalis hissed under her breath when she tripped over an unseen dip in the course gravel path that led up to the shore. Dun glanced at her with a frown and she mouthed an exaggerated Sorry as she rubbed her foot. Not that anyone was likely to hear her over the roaring sound of waves against rock. The tide was coming in.
The trail twisted its way down to a bridge suspended over the narrow waterway between them and the looming mass of the island. It looked rickety from where they stood and Dun didn’t enjoy the thought of what it would look like up close.
“Looks deserted.” Kalis said after a long stare down into the dark shadows below them. She sounded worried.
“That’s usually a good sign that it isn’t. Deserted, I mean. We’ll find them. If we have to turn this city upside down, we’ll find them. I promise.”
She squeezed his hand, looking relieved, but before she could reply, a light flashed on the other side of the bridge. As they watched, three long flashes, followed by two short ones, lit the waves between them and their goal. Clearly some sort of signal to someone on their side of the bridge.
“Down there, about halfway,” Kalis crawled back from the edge. “You were right. Someone is here. They’re signalling back to them.”
Dun’s mind churned out a list of obstacles that made him sigh.
If someone was on this side signalling, then the people on the island would notice the guard had been disabled the next time they signalled and got no answer. Not to mention that, even if they could disable the guard, they’d be sitting ducks out on that bridge.
Dun was good at getting into places unseen, but if the lookout on the other side was paying as much attention as he suspected, then he might spot him, especially when Kalis was with him. He turned to the girl beside him.
“We need a new plan,” He pointed to the dark expanse of water of the bay behind the island. “Any chance we can reach it from the water?”
Kalis pursed her mouth into a parsimonious bud, slowly nodding her head, more to herself than at Dun.
“Might work. They’ll be looking to the waters on that side, in case mom figures out they took them to the island here and sends the boats to get them.”
“So, not that way then.”
“…No,” She chewed on her bottom lip with nervous frustration. “But we might get over from this side.” She crawled back to look over the edge of the cliff again and after a moment Dun joined her.
“There,” She pointed down at the water’s edge to their left, back towards the city. “See those spots? They’re boats. We could borrow one and sail to the island from there. I bet they’ll just be looking at the bridge and at the water on the other side, because that’s where they expect attacks,” She scooted back down and lay next to him on her back, looking at the sky. “If those clouds hold, we’ll make it.”
Even Dun could see the first boat they came across wouldn’t be getting them far, the water in it stood more than two hands deep and it listed sadly to one side. Kalis muttered something he didn’t quite catch, but he thought there were some harsh words for the boat’s owner.
The next one looked almost as depressing to him, but Kalis gestured for him to get in and start bailing with the rusty bucket tied to its side. Before he could express his doubt about this boat, she’d already pushed them off, alternating swipes on each side with the single oar.
She knew what she was doing and they picked up speed quickly without making much of the spattering noises Dun associated with rowing. He wondered if this would be a good time to admit he didn’t swim all that well.
When they came closer to the island, Kalis pulled up the oar, letting the boat glide in silence. Anyone
handy with a bow would be able to take them out, so if they were spotted an arrow to the chest might be the only warning they got. Dun listened for anything that might be the sound of their discovery. The night seemed too silent.
The bridge loomed dark to their right.
He looked in front of the boat. They were aimed at the side of the island, if they made it close enough, the rocks would shield them from guards watching the bridge or the open water in the direction of the ocean on the other side. When they reached the shadows that indicated safety, he let his breath out in a long gasp.
“Ssh” Kalis put a finger to her lips for him to be still. She sat listening, her head tilted to the side and her eyes closed. He listened too, but the idea of the both of them sitting there blind, kept him from closing his eyes. It seemed even quieter than before. The lapping sounds of water touching the shore barely more than whispers.
When Kalis motioned for him to follow her onto the rocks, his movements in the boat sounded like whales mating. He tensed, but apart from the sloshing water, nothing moved.
The way up was steep and riddled with loose stones that slipped under his feet. About halfway to the lighter patch of dark that he imagined was the edge, something touched his right shoulder. He pulled back in response and for a heart-stopping moment his hands touched nothing as his feet started to slide on the gravel. Kalis grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
“This way.”
He could hear her smirk. His lips tried to smile with her, he deserved being laughed at