Page 61 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“Yes.”
“He’s in Orla’s bed.”
“He’s used it more than I have. I think it might be his bed at this point.” Orla watched her uncle with apprehension, her hands poised against the window sill, ready to propel herself into action if the need arose.
Ferrin yanked his goggles down over his eyes and held out a hand.
“I don’t know where you got the Skal on your belt, and quite frankly, I don’t think I want to, but you are going to hand it to me, and I’m going to end this.”
I pushed Orla behind me and strode forward to stand between Ferrin and the bed.
“I didn’t carry him all the way up here so he could be murdered.”
Ferrin closed the door behind him.
“And we didnotwaste Skal bringing you here so you could save the man who wants to destroy both our realms!” he hissed through gritted teeth. “Why is he up here at all?”
“We found him injured in an alley while we were hiding from a Grand Barony guard.” The longer I spoke, the quieter I got.
Ferrin ripped his goggles from his face.
“What?”
“They were angry that we stole Skal from the city supply,” Orla explained.
Ferrin’s gaze raked over Orla, looking again at the bottles of Skal on her belt, and he pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.
“Galahad and I are securing Skal! From the Baron! Who you stole from and who probably won’t give us Skalorpassage to Riverstead now!” He pulled his hands down his face, and then paused with his fingers in his beard and his eyes trained on my chest. “Where the hell did you get that?”
I tugged at the edges of my Von Leer gear.
“It’s called a hoodie. I willed it into existence, I think.”
“Ferrin, you should see what Just-Wren can do—” Orla interjected.
“I can tell you what shecan’tdo. She sure as hell can’t offer an excuse good enough to explain the unconscious Grimguard in my niece’s bed!” His eyes widened as his gaze lingered on Ciarán’s bandaged chest. “Orla, is that yourcloak?”
“We didn’t have bandages!”
Ferrin’s eyebrows had long-since disappeared into the shadows of his cockatoo hair, and his nostrils flared as he exhaled heavily through his nose.
“We’re headednorth!” His words strained with the effort of keeping quiet. “Into themountains! Orla, you’ll freeze! And we’re supposed to be halfway to the Grand Baron’s mansion by now. We’ve been granted an audience, but this—”
Silence fell as we waited for Ferrin to find whatever words he was looking for, but they evaded him, and he settled for shaking his head again and pulling on his beard. The candle crackled on the bedside table.
“You can’t kill him,” I finally said.
“Why not?” Ferrin’s eyes glinted.
“You just said we’re on our way out of this city. He’s in no condition to follow us. Once he’s able to so much as sit up, we’ll be long gone.”
“And if he does follow us somehow—”
“We aren’t murderers.”
“Wren Warrender, you don’t know us.” A low growl rattled on the edges of Ferrin’s words.
“Mother wouldn’t do it.” Orla’s voice wavered.
