Page 31 of Voice of the Ocean

“We’ll get you a new sword,” Raiden called back.

Celeste didn’t move. She wasn’t confident in walking, let alone running. And she refused to show weakness in front of the prince.

“Come on, love,” Raiden pressed.

The commotion was just down the hall now. “They’re here!” a voice shouted. “The prisoners are escaping!” It was the guard who’d cut her bodice from her.

Her body began to shake.

“Hurry!” Raiden put his hand on his sword.

Celeste set her jaw, released her hold on the cell wall, and stepped forward. Her legs promptly buckled. Raiden surged forward, catching her just before her shredded knees hit the stone ground.

“Sorry for this, but we’re out of time,” the prince said before scooping her into his arms and kicking the heavy cell door back open.

He had only taken two steps in the direction of the others when Bastian, Kiyami, and the Admiral came sprinting toward them.

“No back way,” Bastian said as the trio ran past down the hall, a guard in pursuit.

Raiden cursed.

The too familiar guard stepped around the corner, blocking their escape. He smiled with his yellow teeth. “Nowhere to run.”

Celeste, to her utter horror, wrapped her arms around Raiden’s neck, curling into him as if to escape the man’s gaze.

Raiden looked down at her, and a vein in his neck ticked.

“Now, put down the girl and get in the cell.” The guard raised his sword. “We’ve got you surrounded.”

The group huddled back-to-back in the center of the hall, two of them unarmed. The guards laughed, swords gleaming.

Raiden merely sighed, withdrew a pistol from his belt, and shot the guard in the leg.

“This is what we should have done the first time,” he informed Bastian.

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

The guard crumpled to the floor, crying out as blood poured from the wound in his leg. Celeste had to swallow her horror.

“I thought we agreed no bloodshed,” Bastian argued before he fired his own weapon. The second guard went down screaming. “Now how are we to stay in town and get a crew?”

Raiden hefted Celeste in his arms, adjusting his grip. “I suppose we’ll have to figure something out,” he said, stepping over the guard and bolting down the hall. The others followed, ready for a fight.

But there was no need. As they sprinted through the front of the building, they found the other guard still unconscious on the floor. Kiyami tracked down her belt laden with weapons, checked her favorite sword, and the four of them—plus the Admiral—fled from the jail.

Outside the sun was bright, blindingly so compared to the dark cell they’d come from. Celeste squinted, taking in the city around her from a new perspective. Port Romsey felt like a different place than the one she was dragged through the night prior. Everywhere she looked there were humans going about their daily lives—shouting over each other, laughing, bartering, fighting. She saw a few animals similar to the Admiral poking around a pile of dirty crates, their matted fur far different from the prince’s well-kept pet. The crates sat beside a couple of stands with what looked to be food—the scent of it was incredible. But before she could get a better look, the group turned onto a side street.

“We should go to the Broken Compass,” Bastian gasped as they ducked into a darkened alcove to avoid a passing officer. “We can lie low there. Pick up more crew. I’d rather that than risk leading them back to my family.”

“Worth a shot,” Raiden agreed.

The Broken Compass, it turned out, was Port Romsey’s most notorious pub and inn. It sagged on the corner of two streets that crossed at a narrow angle, looking as though it had been squeezed in order to fit. Its peeling red paint was faded to pink, and its windows were opaque with dirt. Even the doorway was crooked. The entrance was marked by a large wooden sign displaying a circle with four arrows painted on it, the downward one red. Celeste recognized the image immediately. It was just like the gold thing she had scavenged for her collection at home.Compass, she thought, but she wasn’t sure how it was broken.

The group paused at the entrance.

“This the place?” Kiyami eyed the pub with distaste. “Doesn’t look like much. The pub I went to last night was far nicer.”

A cry came from down the street. “Stop! Criminals!” Apparently, a guard had woken up.

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