Page 47 of Circle of Shadows
Daemon sat with his knees to his chest in a dark corner of the ship, behind several wooden boxes in the cargo hold. The air was dank and heavy down here, since there was no ventilation. It stank of stale water and damp rope and old, rotted wood; even if the sailors who’d previously manned this ship pumped the extra water out of the bilge every morning, it was still impossible to get rid of all of it, and years of seafaring seeped into the groaning planks, infusing the ship with every algae- and salt-water-soaked journey in its history.
In spite of the stench and the unsteady rocking of the ship, though, Daemon’s stomach growled. He hadn’t had anything to eat other than a handful of rice crackers and dried fish, before they arrived at Kaede City.
You’re going to have to wait,Daemon thought to his stomach,even if you have to eat yourself. There was no way he was leaving this part of the ship until Sora arrived.
The passing of each minute was excruciating, as if thewheel of time needed oiling and had slowed to a creaking, halting pace. He clenched his teeth as he waited for her.
Don’t be ridiculous,he chastised himself.There’s no panic coming through the bond. Sora’s fine.
But still, Daemon gound his teeth some more.
Forty-five torturous minutes later, Sora dropped down from the ladder and snuck into the cargo hold. The tension in Daemon’s neck and shoulders released as soon as he saw her, but he remained in his corner, tucked away in the shadows, watching as Sora darted around boxes and coils of rope that cluttered the floor. Her movements were fluid yet precise. She was a beautiful, deadly weapon. He never got the chance to simply admire her, and this rare opportunity might never come up again.
When she made it close to his hiding place, he finally stood. Sora smiled when she saw him.
Daemon grinned. “What took you so long?”
She punched him on the shoulder. “I had to wait until foot traffic died down in the hold I was in. It was busier up there.”
“I bet it smelled better, though.” The humid potpourri of mildewed rope and fetid water momentarily overpowered him again.
Sora wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, it did.” She began to explore the hold, looking for a place they could hide more permanently. “Anyway, before I got on the ship, I overheard a girl called Virtuoso teaching one of the new ryuu how to use their magic.”
“Learn anything useful?”
“Maybe. I couldn’t see what they were doing because I was inside a barrel of oranges, but I have an idea, in vagueterms, of how ryuu magic can work, at least on a beginner level.” She frowned at the boxes around them. “There aren’t any good places to hide that won’t be exposed by a ryuu just walking through here.”
Daemon pointed at a collection of trunks and an old armoire along the back wall. They’d been obscured by netting, usually used to hold cargo against the walls in the case of turbulent seas. “I wonder if any of those are empty?”
They shoved past the nets. The wood on the trunks and armoire were molded and nibbled at the corners.
He opened the first trunk slowly, trying not to make too much noise with the rusty hinges. “Damn. It’s packed full of rope and broken buoys and other junk.”
Sora pulled on the door of the armoire. Once. Twice. Three times. “This one’s jammed.”
“Leave it. I don’t want us to get stuck inside a closet.” Daemon moved to one of the trunks they hadn’t examined yet. He opened it and found this one only half full of water-damaged books in another language. This must have been a merchant ship from a kingdom on the mainland.
“We could stack those on the floor,” Sora said, behind him now.
He shivered at the feel of her breath so close to him. But when he turned around, Daemon had control of himself again. “Good thinking. You can finish telling me about ryuu magic while we move the books.”
Sora caught him up on what she’d overheard. It seemed that the ryuu didn’t need chants or mudras to cast spells; focused thought was enough to command the green particles of magic floating in the air.
Daemon chewed on his lip, thinking about it.
“Can all ryuu do the same things with the magic?” he asked as he set down the last of the books. “I assume commanding the particles to make little hands to lift things is basic, since that’s what Virtuoso had the recruit do. But what about the ryuu we’ve already seen in action? Do they get to choose if they like bugs or fire or whatever?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they do get to choose. Or maybe they have a natural inclination or talent for something.” She looked inside the trunk. “That’s going to be a tight fit for both of us.”
Daemon thought of sleeping pressed up next to Sora.
It was suddenly very hot on this part of the ship.
He shoved up his mental ramparts andtried to think about ice. No, not just ice, but dunking himself in an entire bathtub full of it. No, wait, glaciers. Swimming in a frigid, glacial pool...
Sora looked at him with her mouth twisted. “Are you okay? You look like you just ran headlong into a forest ogre.”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, never better. Great. Fantastic.”
