Page 102 of King of Storms and Feathers

My heart squeezed at the sound of her soft laughter. The eponar lurched forward, leaping smoothly over a paddock fence instead of exiting via the gate I’d tried to direct her toward. Panic shivered down my spine as my mind careened from one disastrous scenario to the next.

If I made it to the Sunken Forest alive, which was reasonably unlikely, how would I find my way inside a city that was hidden by reaver magic? It seemed an impossible task, and I was insane to even attempt it. But I couldn’t remain Arrow’s slave forever, no matter how hard he made my heart pound. I had no option but to try to make it home—dead or alive.

Enyd sped through the desert under the light of a mauve sickle moon, bright stars illuminating the gold dust as it sprayed beneath her hooves. In the distance, glittering vortexes of sand spun as if by magic, and I looked over my shoulder, shivering at the storm clouds that gathered above Auryinnia Mountain.

I clung tightly to the eponar’s neck and wrapped the reins of plaited gold around my left wrist, using my other hand to pat my body and check my coin pouch and knives were still secured beneath my cloak.

Before long, I tasted brine on the breeze, heard the squabbling cries of gulls, and saw white caps racing over a pitch-black sea, visible between low-lying buildings that hugged the ragged slope of the coastline.

On the outskirts of the small port town, I dismounted clumsily and fell into a scraggly salt bush, bruising both my backside and my pride. I leaped up and stroked Enyd’s nose, kissing her unseeing eyes as I whispered my thanks for carrying me swiftly to my destination.

She nuzzled my neck, gave a too-loud honk, then took off in the direction of Auryinnia, where the Storm King hopefully still slept like a babe in our tent.

Holding the satchel strapped tightly across my body, I crept through shadows at the rear of the town until I found the rune-engraved wooden fence at the back of the reaver tavern that Ari had described in great detail.

I entered the yard via a narrow door in the wooden fence and hunkered down in a storage hut that smelled of rat shit to await sunrise and the arrival of Orion, the orc who was to help me stowaway on the ship bound for the Earth Realm.

The tavern was closed, but unfortunately, not all of the port’s inhabitants were in bed. Groups of what I assumed to be drunken sailors and port workers stumbled past at frequent intervals. They sang tunelessly and laughed at vulgar jokes as they knocked into walls and clanged over containers and gods knew what else. No one ventured near my little hideaway, and I passed the hours nibbling strips of dried meat in uneasy peace.

Eventually, the drunks passed less frequently, their rumblings replaced by sounds of the port workers beginning their day. I listened to their shouts and piercing whistles as I pictured their carts rumbling over cobblestones and loading planks.

Through the hut’s wooden slats, dawn burst in vivid strips of bright orange and purple, the light hurting my itchy, sleep-deprived eyes.

Not long after sunrise, the door cracked open, and a tall, gray-skinned orc entered the hut. He peered at me through a single, red-rimmed amber eye that took up nearly the whole of his rugged brow. I pulled the gold nugget from my pocket and squeezed it between my palms, whispering the three words Ari had taught me.

Auron khaban ana.

“Leaf?” he growled in a husky whisper, his bushy beard fluttering around bone-white tusks. “Is that you in the corner?”

Dust be damned. Of course Ari’s disappearing spell didn’t work. But hey, it was worth a try.

“I’ll give you a hint, Orion,” I called out. “I’m not your mother.”

A dry chuckle rasped through the air, the sound not unfriendly. “Given she’s been buried underground these past ten years, I’d be surprised to find the old orc crouching behind a woodpile.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, instantly regretting my joke. “That was cruel of me.”

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto my feet.

“No need to apologize. She likes it down there, beneath the mountains with her bone collection.”

Slinging my satchel over my shoulder, I puzzled over his words. Was his mother dead or not? In different circumstances, I’d be very keen to hear the story.

“Do you know what to do when I drop you off in the cargo hold?”

“Don’t move until the ship docks, which will be when again?”

“Midnight. The captain has meetings tonight, so they won’t be unloading any cargo until they dock again tomorrow, just heading to the taverns to pickle their brains. As soon as the ship docks, leave through the trap door in the far-left corner of the hold. It’s under the flour bags. Then walk northwest toward the forest. Don’t stop or even close your eyes. If you do, you’re dead.”

“What will—”

“You don’t want to know. Men on horseback. Hungry wolves in desperate packs. Naiads in the rivers, spriggans in the trees. Demons. Many more things than dust and stones exist in that land, girl. And most of them have sharp teeth and claws.”

“I thought you said you weren’t going to tell me about them,” I grumbled as I shuddered, watching him pull out a dusty blanket from a bag and unfold it. He lifted it toward me and grinned.

“Come closer. I’m going to wrap you in this, like a moth-girl in her silky cocoon, but not quite as tightly. Then I’ll button you in this bag.” Before I could protest, he started winding the blanket around me. On closer inspection, it looked more like a rug. “I’ll leave the top buttons of the bag undone. You’ll have plenty of time in the hold to work out how to get out of it.”

“That’s comforting,” I said, my voice muffled by the folds of musty wool pressing against my mouth.

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