Page 80 of Across an Endless Sea

“She’s not dead yet,” I object. “You go. Stall the ship until I get there.”

“You’re not going down there to rescue her, are you?” Prae asks, incredulous. “Without your powers? That’s suicide.”

“No, it isn’t. Just hold the boat for us.”

I know how to survive the tunnel wyrms. Marlblew’s traps might give me some trouble, but I can get around them easily enough. If I can get to Rose and stop the death that Danu predicted, maybe she’ll feel generous enough to unblock my powers.

Prae nods, heading for the door. “I’ll pack your shit. Any requests?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

Our life doesn’t favour those who become attached to anything that can be stolen.

We split up. She disappears down the corridor to the left, and I go to the right, glamouring myself as I walk.

Marlblew used to get into the grain cellars through cracks in the walls using his shifted form, and there was a crack there that was big enough for me to squeeze through as a lanky pre-teen. With a little luck, I’ll be able to catch him and send him to find Rose before she gets eaten by a wyrm.

Everyone always assumes I survived the Deep Caves because of my magic. I never told anyone about the fox shifter who sheltered me. Partly because I enjoy the legendary status that being the only living Fomorian to have survived the punishment gives me. But also because it would’ve been a poor repayment for the fae’s kindness if my father had stormed down there and dragged him back to a life of slavery.

My opinion then—as now—was that if Marl was smart enough to figure out how to hide from the wyrms, then he deserved what little freedom his isolated life provided him.

The way to the stores is quiet. Too quiet.What is my father up to?Not trusting this strange twist of fortune, I keep my glamour tightly wrapped around me as I go.

The cellars are where the least perishable foods are kept. Huge sacks of grain, beans, and other dried foods which were raided from the fae are stacked high on shelves and weighed out carefully by the store masters. They’re nowhere to be found right now, which is just as confusing as my not meeting anyone on the way here.

I almost think the place is deserted, until I spot the two quivering under fae hiding behind a grain bag. Of course, they would be right in front of the wall where Marl’s tunnel is.

“We should make a run for it,” one of them—a leshy with stubby limbs—argues.

“No!” The goblin hisses. “You’ll be seen for certain.”

“I’m not waiting around to be found and executed! They’re purging all of us.”

Purging the fae? Ancestors, Elatha has never gone this far before. A shiver runs down my spine at the implication.

He’s punishing Rose, I realise.Ancestors, she’s not even here to see it, but he’s doing it, anyway.

I doubt that Marl will risk thieving while they’re in here. Regardless of what the leshy said about running, he doesn’t look like he’ll actually do it. At least not with the iron shackles around his wrists.

Sighing, I drop my glamour. Without giving either of them time to react, I grab the leshy’s cuffs and splinter them with one hand.

It shouldn’t be so easy, but the smiths rarely waste good metal on slaves. With all of the iron in their environment, it doesn’t take much more to stop most of them using their powers. He gapes at me as I pull away and catch the fleeing goblin, doing the same.

At least this way they can go out fighting, if nothing else.

“Now get out of here,” I order.

I don’t believe for a second they’ll actually make it out alive. Unless they’re smart enough to use glamour and sneak their way onto a ship—even then, they’ll probably be caught and killed.

The two of them scuttle off, whispering between themselves as they look back at me, then disappear under a thick glamour. When I’m certain they’re gone, I push the shelf of sacks of stolen grains and beans out of the way to reveal the thick crack in the base of the wall.

“Marl?” I hiss into the space. “You down there?”

Fur against my foot gives away his presence before the black-and-silver fox drops his glamour. He must have been up here, searching for food already, because his mouth is full of dried fruit and feathers, and I grimace as the smell of him hits me.

The other reason I never told anyone about him? Because it would mean admitting that I spent a year coated from head to toe in chicken shit. A male has to have some pride.

“Marl, I need you to find someone.” I drop to my haunches beside him. “Someone special. She ran into the caves, but you have to bring her here. She’ll fit through the gap, then I can get her home safely.”

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