“Yes.”
She followed him back to the stairs, then upward. Intense emotions began to spill from him as they climbed. Guilt and fear combined. She caught snatches of his thoughts.
...
Alarmed, she hesitated, then drew magic and formed a shield around herself. Why would he think he might have to kill her? Did he think she would try to harm him? Or take something from him? Surely he didn’t think she could force him to give up any information he didn’t want to give.
Either way, he obviously had something to protect. They reached the top of the cliff. He walked along the edge, saying nothing. Emerahl watched him closely. She sensed he was taking a precaution of some kind. When they stopped, she realized they had moved past the edge of the town. She now stood above a precipice.
“So, what do you want to know?” he asked.
She met his eyes. “Is it true you’ve met The Gull?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Everybody knows that.”
She sensed that he was telling the truth and felt a pang of sympathy for him.
“Nobody believes you, do they?”
“And you do?”
She nodded. “But that’s not why you don’t tell the story any more, is it?”
He stared at her, his anxiety and guilt increasing. No amount of talking was going to reassure him. She decided to take a gamble.
“You made a promise,” she stated. “Did you break it?”
He flushed. She began to guess how it had been for him. Saved by a mythical being and needing to explain what happened, he had told as much of his tale as he knew it was safe to tell, until one day he had let some detail slip that he hadn’t intended.
“Why do you want to know?”
She frowned as if in worry. “I don’t
His eyes widened and he turned pale. “I thought you... They didn’t understand what I told them. I’m sure they didn’t understand.”
“What did you say?”
“I... I told them about the Stack. They put something in my drink.” He looked at her pleadingly. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t tell them where it was. You don’t think they can find it on their own, do you?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t know where the Stack is. We all end up with different secrets to keep and that was yours. Have you warned him?”
His eyes widened. “How?”
She blinked as if surprised. “You don’t have a way to contact him?”
“No... but I suppose if I went back... but it’s so far away and I don’t have a boat.”
“Neither do I, but I could buy one.” Shaking her head, she turned toward the sea and pretended to think. “You’d better tell me everything, Gherid. I’m a long way from home and my way of contacting him doesn’t work here. We need to get a message to The Gull. It may be that the only way we can do that is for me to go to the Stack and leave a message for you.”
The surge of gratitude that spilled from him sent a pang of guilt through her. She was manipulating the poor boy.
He moved to a nearby rock to sit down. “It’s a long story. You’d better sit down. Have you sailed a boat before?”
Emerahl smiled. “Many, many times.”
Devlein slipped the last slice of fruit into his mouth then licked the sweet juice off his fingers. One of the three servants standing nearby stepped forward and held out a tray made of gold. Taking the neatly folded damp cloth from it, Devlein cleaned his hands, then dropped the cloth back on the tray.
The sound of running footsteps echoed in the courtyard. A servant raced up to Devlem’s table and bowed.
“The shipment has arrived.”
He rose and strode out of the courtyard. An arched corridor took him through to the front of the house. He followed a paved path to the plainer buildings that housed his wares.
Tarns waited outside. Men were already carrying the large rolls of cloth inside, watched by his overseer.
Entering the building, Devlein ignored the servants and examined the shipment. The waterproof wrapping of one bolt of cloth was torn.
“Open it,” he ordered.
Servants hurried to cut the wrapping away.
“Careful!” Devlein bellowed. “You’ll damage the cloth!”
Their movements became slower and more cautious. As they worked they cast nervous glances in his direction.
The wrapping parted, revealing clean, undamaged cloth. He moved closer as more began to appear.
“Master Trader!”
The room echoed with running footsteps. He glanced up, annoyed at the interruption. The intruder was one of the lawn clippers. She was ugly for an Avven woman and he had sent her out to work in the garden so he didn’t have to look at her.
“Master,” she panted. “There is a monster in the pool house!”
He sighed. “Yes. I put it there.”
She bit her lip. “Oh. It appears to be dead.”
“Dead?” He straightened in alarm.
She nodded.
Cursing in his native Genrian tongue, he strode past her out of the warehouse and hurried toward the gardens. The pool house was at the center of a large lawn. The lawn clippers had gathered in a crowd around the entrance.
“Get back to work!” he ordered.
They turned to stare at him, then scattered. As he reached the gate of the house he drew out the key to the lock. Inside, he could see the youngling sea creature lying on the floor.
He hadn’t had much time to examine his purchase closely last night. The raider had claimed it was a girl child, but the only evidence of that was the lack of male organs. Devlein had ordered his servants to remove the dirty rags that had hung off the creature’s shoulders. Looking her over, he decided the raider was right, and wondered if she’d develop breasts like humans.
Perhaps, when she was mature, he would purchase a male. If they produced offspring he could sell their young for a fortune.
The lock clicked. He pushed the gate open and walked over to the creature. Why had she climbed out of the water? Crouching down, he saw that she was still breathing.
