Dog in the Dark

Chapter Seven

That same evening, a small, two-masted Suman merchant vessel reached the port of Kêdinern and docked at a narrow pier. Dänvârfij was below deck in a cabin with Fréthfâre and Eywodan, deciding on their best course of action.

They had been forced to wait five days at the Isle of Wrêdelyd before finding passage on this Suman ship called the Bashair. One dark-skinned human sailor told her the name meant “good omen.”

Being so far behind their quarry had pushed Dänvârfij’s frustration to the limit, and she related her need for haste to the captain, a slender, dusky-skinned Suman named Samara. Though she was not fluent in Numanese, he was and spoke it with a strange musical accent more appealing than the guttural tone of the Numans. He said they would make frequent stops, but his ship was lighter and swifter than the larger cargo vessels.

Remembering that the harbormaster at the isle had described the Cloud Queen as such a vessel, she had gained a little relief from that. She and hers might yet overtake their quarry, but on this night, halted in another port, her impatience regained its edge.

The cabin was small but comfortable, with refined wool blankets, linen casings for the mattresses, and pillows of a soft and strangely shiny material. The latter were not as fine as her people’s shéot’a cloth, but similar. She cared little for such things but had been surprised by this trace of luxury on a Suman vessel, as she knew little of this human people.

Her team had not even touched their own food stores, as Captain Samara had made sure they were well fed. The ship’s cook often served savory dishes from the captain’s homeland made with rice and vegetables. Occasionally the strange spices did not sit well in her stomach, but at least tea was served instead of the ale and beer gulped by most other human sailors she had encountered.

The only problem with the cabins was their size, suitable for only three occupants at the same time. Her team could have all gathered on deck and spoken only in their own tongue, but Dänvârfij preferred to keep discussions private. Here and now she could only converse with Eywodan ... and Fréthfâre.

“How long will the ship linger in this port?” Fréthfâre asked.

Sitting on the edge of one narrow wall bunk, gripping her walking stick, she looked different in her new disguise. Dänvârfij had not quite adjusted to the sight.

Back on the isle, Rhysís had “acquired” their new clothing. None of them knew how the so-called Lhoin’na—those other elves—truly dressed, so they had simply done their best with human clothing. This was not easy, considering that some of them were well above average human height.

Fréthfâre was laced up in a long red dress, fortunately designed with cuffless sleeves that ended above the wrist. Her hair was pinned up and covered with a small matching hat. If not for her eyes and skin, she might have passed for a human female of high standing.

If not for her eyes and skin ... and her stooped, hobbling stride, which drew attention.

The others needed loose clothing in order to fight if necessary. Dänvârfij wore the breeches, white shirt, and black vest of an adult human male. The items were all a close fit in length, though she had to pull in the waist of the pants excessively. It all felt strange and uncomfortable compared to the soft forest gray clothing of an anmaglâhk. At least she could move freely, and she had tied back her hair under a black scarf.

“How long?” Fréthfâre repeated.

The annoyance in her voice grated upon Dänvârfij.

“Until tomorrow,” she answered. “They are resupplying some stores. Their cook seems to use much fresh water.”

“We need to learn if our quarry landed here, and if so, when they left,” Fréthfâre went on. “A larger vessel may be slower but might not stop at smaller ports. Knowing if it stopped here, and how long ago, will let us calculate how much—or not—we have gained on our quarry.”

Dänvârfij did not need to be told this. She nodded curtly and looked to Eywodan. “You and I will go,” she said. “If this can be learned, two will be enough in this small settlement.”

He also looked strange, dressed in brown breeches and a light quilted jacket—both slightly short for his height. His hair was pulled back into a long, thick braid, and among all of them he had kept his forest gray cloak and hood.

Eywodan nodded in agreement, as both she and he spoke passable Numanese.

Dänvârfij turned to the ex-Covârleasa. “Should I send Én’nish to attend you?”

“No,” Fréthfâre answered curtly. “Just bring back some useful information.”

Fréthfâre could not answer the simplest question without an implied accusation of probable failure.

Dänvârfij headed for the cabin door, and Eywodan followed her out and off the ship. The port was indeed small, barely large enough to qualify as a town. She thought it unlikely to have a harbormaster, let alone an establishment for such.

A familiar rush of water reached her ears.

Not the sound of ocean waves, and she glanced to the right. A small river flowing into the sea divided one side of the town from the other. From where she stood, she saw several people boarding a barge to be pulled against the current by a harnessed mule on each side of the waterway. The sight jolted her and brought unwanted thoughts of the last time she had herded someone onto a barge.

Eywodan stepped in next to her and peered about. When he then looked behind, she turned.

A stocky young woman herding two small boys came down the pier after them.

“Hurry, ducks,” she said to them. “We visited Papa too long, and your supper is late.”

“Why can’t he come home?” one boy asked petulantly.

“He’s very busy. Now on with you two.”

Dänvârfij guessed the woman might be bonded with a mate who was a captain or lower officer. Perhaps she had taken their children to visit him while his ship was in harbor.

Eywodan stepped in front of the woman. “Pardon.”

She looked up—and up—at him, and a flash of fear passed over her round face. He smiled slightly, bowing his head once, which was more than Dänvârfij would have thought to do.

“We have only arrived,” he said. “Can you help us find the master of this port?”

She appeared to settle a little, though she still eyed his height nervously.

“Harbormaster ... here?” she said. “We’re a bit of a small place for that huffy nonsense. Most of the inbound stop off at the Kettle and Drum while they’re docked.”

She pointed off along the shore, and at first Dänvârfij could not make out the destination. There were two buildings large enough—though smaller than those of the isle—to qualify as what humans called a warehouse. Along the dimly lit waterfront, there was one two-level building that leaked light from its shutters.

“Ask Master Liunt, the owner,” the woman added. “He hears of all who come and go.”

“My thanks,” Eywodan said, and the woman pushed the boys along with one more watchful glance over her shoulder.

Dänvârfij was relieved that Eywodan had found them an option so quickly. Again she glanced toward the barge some fifty or more paces beyond the river’s mouth. The crack of a reed switch and the bray of a mule carried through the night. The dim shape of a man aboard the barge poled the vessel away from the shore.

When she turned back, Eywodan was watching her, not the barge. She silently admonished herself for becoming distracted.

“I can go alone,” he said. “One of us among the humans would be less remembered. I will ask about the Cloud Queen on the pretense of trying to catch companions I failed to meet up with on the isle.”

A half-truth was the easiest lie to make believable. He was trying to be courteous about noticing her wandering focus. He was also right. One overly tall, tan-skinned elf with amber eyes would attract enough attention.

“I will wait in the shadows,” she said, “by the river.”

His brow wrinkled slightly. She grew wary that he was on the verge of asking her what was wrong. Instead he turned away to head along the waterfront. Once Eywodan was halfway to the house, inn, tavern—whatever the Kettle and Drum might be—Dänvârfij walked off the pier, heading the other, shorter way to the narrow river.

She ignored the stone-and-timber bridge over its mouth and stepped downslope, listening to the river gurgle softly into the ocean. Upstream, the barge was the only thing she could make out in the dark, as if the mules were not there and the vessel powered itself against the current....

Like the river vessels of her people.

Raised from living wood, they could propel themselves against the current or anywhere upon water that they and their small crews wished to go. But this had not made her last barge ride easy, let alone a comfortable homecoming.

Not with Osha there as well.

She could not keep her mind from slipping back....

Dänvârfij had kept watch on Osha’s every movement during the voyage home. The an’Cróan soldiers were always near, awaiting orders, though Osha gave her no reason to call upon them. Neither had he given her anything else, not a word more than he cared to for any attempt to question him. Even those were not true answers, always laden with grief that she felt as well and always within a finger’s breadth short of a threat.

Or worse than that, if, thinking she could force more out of him, she stepped in his way.

She made that mistake only once when Osha was on deck, and she had tried to get more from him concerning the journal. He had turned on her that time, and foolishly she had not backed away. Two nearby soldiers tensed, and one tentatively reached over his shoulder for an arrow.

Osha’s eyes shifted to that soldier. “Do so, if you wish,” he whispered.

The soldier hesitated, looking to Dänvârfij in that moment of uncertainty.

“Do it!” Osha barked.

Silence took the whole deck. The only thing Dänvârfij heard was the wind in the sails and the rushing water around the hull.

“But be certain in your heart,” Osha went on to the soldier, though he turned his gaze back to Dänvârfij. “Certain of whatever she told you about me. If so, then act!”

All of the crew froze in place. Not a creak of the deck or a rope broke the sounds of wind and wave. They were all watching now, watching as one of the Anmaglâhk faced down another, with two soldiers ready to strike that one by the other’s command.

Dänvârfij heard the sharp, quick breaths of the second soldier. That one reached out slowly and pulled down the first one’s hand reaching for the arrow. Osha never took his eyes off her.

“Move,” he said flatly.

She did so, and he walked off, heading below.

Dänvârfij frequently communicated with Most Aged Father, and he admonished her to never let Osha out of her sight. At her questions concerning what to do after that moment on deck, he said nothing at first. It was as if “Father” was as uncertain as she was.

Then he cautioned her not to create an altercation ... in front of the people.

When they reached their home port of Ghoivne Ajhâjhe—Edge of the Deep—nothing had changed, though there was no altercation with Osha over boarding the waiting river barge. A nearly silent eight-day journey followed as the living vessel propelled them up the Hâjh—the “Spine”—River, which ran through the territory. Only the unintelligible whispers of the three barge attendants and the sound of the rippling water spoke to Dänvârfij.

Osha never said a word, even whenever the young barge master brought meals to where he sat alone at the vessel’s front.

When they neared Crijheäiche—Origin-Heart—the large enclave that served as the center of all Anmaglâhk activity, in spite of everything Dänvârfij could not hold back her relief. Her first hint that they drew near was when curtained doorways began appearing in some trees. Soon every other oak, cedar, and fir was larger than the last, and the spaces in between broadened. As Crijheäiche came into view, she stood up on the back of the barge, but she did not approach Osha.

Five long docks with other barges and small boats moored along them appeared on the shore ahead. It had been so long since she had been home—not since she had left this place with Hkuan’duv.

Where the docks met land, no trees blocked her view, and the scents and sights of Crijheäiche filled her awareness. Curtained doorways in trees were unusually large here, and trunks bulged to what some would have thought an impossible size at their bases. Market stalls of planked wood, shaped flora, and colored fabrics lined the way into the enclave settlement. Inside these, occupants were busy with all forms of endeavor. Fishermen nearer the docks provided fresh catches, and as the barge slowly pulled into a stop, a wild tangle of aromas filled her head. Beneath the scent of baked and roasted foods were rich spices and herbs.

For all the industry here, everything was still woven into the natural world. Yet Dänvârfij’s relief at returning home waned when she saw what else awaited her.

As Osha rose upon the barge’s forward end, four anmaglâhk stood on the riverbank entrance into Crijheäiche. Their long hair of sandy to white blond blew free in the breeze. None had their cloaks tied up, but even here, Dänvârfij knew they all wore weapons carefully hidden from sight: stilettos up their sleeves ... garrote wires inside their tunics.

One stepped toward Osha.

Dänvârfij quickly raised a hand and shook her head to warn that one off. She hurried out, even stepping once into the water’s edge with a splash to get ahead. With a glance back at Osha, who did not even look at her, she led the way slowly while waiting to hear his footfalls. Even when she did, it was difficult not to rush, to have done with all of this.

The strange sight of her, of Osha, and of four other anmaglâhk escorting them turned too many eyes their way. The market’s buzz dulled in their passing, and Dänvârfij second-guessed how all of this was being handled.

Father had said to hurry, but perhaps it would have been better to have arrived at night, with far fewer present to watch. Even in Osha’s defiant but willing compliance, he looked like a prisoner before the eyes of the people.

But Father had given the orders, and he knew best. Perhaps he wished to cast doubts upon Osha before any of the story leaked out concerning what had happened.

As Dänvârfij strode through Crijheäiche’s inland outskirts toward Most Aged Father’s dwelling place of countless years, she fixed on nothing but that massive oak itself.

Sitting amid a wide mossy clearing, it was ringed by other domicile oaks beyond a stone’s throw away. Those places, reserved for anmaglâhk and other temporary visitors to the enclave, would have been considered huge by common standards. They were minuscule compared to the one at the clearing’s center.

Its roots made the earth rise in ridges spreading out from its base. Its breadth would have matched six men laid end to end. Even in the an’Cróan forest, it seemed improbable for such a tree to exist—yet it did. Three more anmaglâhk stood sentry before the opening in its base.

She would have found this unusual enough, as Father did not need to employ guards in Crijheäiche. It was as if they waited for something.

Were they waiting for her and Osha?

One sentry stepped into her path. She paused, expecting him to move aside.

“I have orders to bring Osha directly to Most Aged Father.”

The sentry did not move, and then the sound of light but shuffling steps rose from inside the tree. The curtain covering the opening pulled back, inward, and Dänvârfij stared in confusion at the woman who appeared.

Tosân’leag, elder of the Avân’nûnsheach—the Ash River clan—was dressed in a deep maroon robe. Immediately following her appeared Sheadmarên, a female elder of the Coilehkrotall—the Lichen Woods clan—the clan of Sgäilsheilleache. Last came a thin, diminutive male.

He was barely two-thirds the height of an’Cróan but as dark and amber-eyed. He wore only loose breeches of roughly woven material torn off at the knees. Blue-black symbols decorated his arms, torso, and his neck up to his cheeks, and twisted cords of grass bound parts of his wild hair.

Rujh, chief of the Äruin’nas.

It was said that his people had lived here for ages before the ancestors of the an’Cróan came seeking a new homeland. The Äruin’nas were now part of the people, though they lived separately, and Rujh sat for them on the council of elders like any of the an’Cróan clans.

All three elders wore dour, troubled expressions, though Rujh’s was tainted with an edge of spite, as always. Tosân’leag was an elder of a clan of scholars; she and Rujh barely tolerated each other, and yet they appeared together.

To Dänvârfij’s knowledge, none of the elders ever entered Most Aged Father’s dwelling tree, nor did he appear before them unless summoned or some event required his presence. Only the Anmaglâhk went inside the great oak—and only those called to do so. That non-anmaglâhk had stepped into Most Aged Father’s sacred home left Dänvârfij’s mind blank.

“What is happening?” she asked aloud before thinking better of it.

Tosân’leag looked at her with eyes both hard and dread filled.

“Tread carefully, young one,” she said. “I see churning waters ahead for your caste ... that may drown us all.”

Rujh would have usually made some guttural rebuke at such prophesying, but he made not a sound and burned Dänvârfij with a glare. Sheadmarên simply stared at the ground, though once she made a quick glance beyond, perhaps toward Osha.

Dänvârfij feared something of what had happened between Sgäilsheilleache and Hkuan’duv might have already spread. All three elders turned away, and the sentinel anmaglâhk stepped aside.

It took another instant before Dänvârfij realized she was to enter. Tosân’leag’s obtuse warning kept her feet rooted in place, though Most Aged Father was waiting.

“Are we going in or not?” Osha asked dully from behind her.

Of all strange reactions she could not explain, she looked back at him and asked, “Will you come?”

He did not look at her but stepped past to the doorway and vanished through the hanging. Dänvârfij followed, keeping up with Osha, and descended the steps inside.

They emerged into a large earthen chamber, a hollow space beneath the massive oak. Thick roots arched down all its sides to support walls of packed dirt lined with embedded stones for strength. Glass lanterns hung from above and filled the space with yellowed twilight. In the chamber’s middle was the tree’s vast center root.

As large as a normal oak, the heart-root reached from ceiling to floor and into the earth’s depths.

A thin voice carried from that center root and filled the earthen chamber.

“Come to me.”

Dänvârfij stepped closer, rounding to the heart-root’s front. The oval opening in its earth-stained wood was hard to spot from the side. It was as natural as the steps that grew out of the inner walls and the roots that supported the tree’s great bulk over her head. She heard Osha step closer, behind her. He did not move again until she entered.

The interior of the heart-root’s smaller chamber was more dimly lit than the outside. Its inner walls appeared alive even in stillness. Hundreds of tinier root tendrils ran through its curved surfaces like taupe-colored veins in dark flesh. Those walls curved smoothly into a floor of the same make, where soft teal cushions rested before and to the sides of a pedestal that flowed out of the floor’s living wood. The back wall’s midpoint bulged inward as well to support the pedestal.

Wall and floor protrusions melded into a bower, and among the copious dried moss therein, two eyes stared out from a decrepit form. Once he would have been tall, but he was now curled fetal, with his head twisted toward his visitors.

Dänvârfij stood in awe of the founder of her caste—Aoishenis-Ahâre, Most Aged Father.

Thinned and dry white hair trailed from his paled scalp around a neck and shoulders of bare shriveled skin draped over frail bones. His triangular elven face was little more than jutting angles of bone beneath skin grayed by want of daylight. Deep cracks covered features around eyes sunk deeply into their large slanted sockets, and his amber irises had lost nearly all color. All that remained was a milky yellow tint surrounded by whites with thread-thin red blood vessels. Cracked and yellowed fingernails jutted from the shriveled and receding skin of his skeletal fingers. His once-peaked ears were reduced to wilted remnants.

But to her, he was “Father.” Who but he could survive so long ... lead for so long?

The heart-root of the oak had been carefully nurtured from the living wood since the tree’s first day sprouting from the earth. Some said he had planted this tree with his own hands to sustain him for the sake of fulfilling the people’s future needs.

Although Dänvârfij longed to ask him why the elders had come, it was unthinkable for her to speak first in the presence of Father. Then she noticed someone else standing in the shadows of the near right wall.

Juan’yâre—Ode of the Hare—had become Most Aged Father’s new Covârleasa after the half-undead monster, Magiere, had tried to kill Fréthfâre. Dänvârfij did not know Juan’yâre well but instinctively did not trust him. Too much about him struck her as sly and deceptive, even his physical appearance. His small-boned stature and boyish features made him appear youthful, though he’d been assented by his jeóin thirty years ago to take his place among the caste. At least he was unfailingly loyal to Father, and in the end that was what mattered.

Father turned his head upon the moss with great effort and looked to Juan’yâre.

“Leave us. Wait in the outer chamber.”

Without a word Juan’yâre slipped out, and Father turned his milky eyes on Osha.

“My son,” he said coldly, “have you betrayed your caste?”

Osha’s tight expression melted into sorrow and pain, but his answer was firm. “Never ... Father.”

The patriarch’s tone instantly softened. “I did not think so, but it had to be asked.” He motioned with two fingers of a limp hand that did not lift from the moss. “Come tell me what happened.”

Osha stepped nearer, his stiff anger fading, and his voice sounded almost numb. “I can tell you no more than what I have through my word-wood ... before reaching our ship. Sgäilsheilleache had sworn our people’s oath of guardianship, which cannot be broken. He upheld it while Magiere, Léshil, the sage, and the majay-hì recovered the artifact they sought. And even beyond to see them safely home, as he should have. But Hkuan’duv ... and ...” Osha’s anger returned. “Hkuan’duv—and Dänvârfij—they tracked us into what the humans call the Everfen. The greimasg’äh ordered Sgäilsheilleache to turn over what had been recovered. Sgäilsheilleache refused, as was right by his guardianship. And they ...”

Osha’s eyes wandered. “It happened so quickly ... mere breaths ... and they were both dead.”

Dänvârfij fought an urge to interrupt, wanting to go at Osha for loyalty to his jeóin’s oath over their caste. She waited in silence.

Father knew most of their separate stories of a combat that had taken a great greimasg’äh and one of the most honored of their caste. But he wanted more concerning what that pale-skinned monster, her half-blood mate, and the deviant majay-hì had found. Father needed to know about the unknown artifact that none among them but Osha had seen.

And Osha must have seen it.

When Dänvârfij had followed Hkuan’duv in trailing their quarry into the Pock Peaks, he had told her all that Most Aged Father knew was that Magiere sought an unknown artifact. It was reasoned by Father to be something once wielded by the Ancient Enemy in the ancient forgotten war that was said to have covered the world. Such a device could never remain in human hands.

Then there was Osha’s secretly carried journal. Father expected many answers, and Dänvârfij waited for the questioning to begin.

It did not.

Father was quiet for so long, simply regarding Osha. He shuddered as his gaze suddenly wandered. Those old eyes, which had watched over their people from their beginning in this land, began to slowly close. Of all the things Dänvârfij had ever seen, what she witnessed almost broke her.

Tears rolled from the patriarch’s old eyes and would not stop. They trailed in streams down his withered face.

Dänvârfij breathed slowly so as not to shed a tear herself. She knew how much Father cherished Sgäilsheilleache, though he held all of his caste close to his heart.

Osha dropped, his knees sinking into a cushion. He slumped until his hood hid his face from view. Dänvârfij would not let emotion take her likewise.

“All because of that woman,” Father whispered. “Because of that half-living thing!”

It was clear he spoke of the monster, Magiere.

With great effort, he raised one frail hand from his mossy bed and reached out toward Osha—and Osha looked up at him.

“Leave us, Daughter,” Father whispered. “Stay near until I call for you.”

Dänvârfij started slightly in confusion.

It had been her understanding that she was bringing Osha for questioning, that her testimony would be compared to his. Aside from what needed to be learned concerning what had been taken from the six-towered castle ...

If she left, Osha could say anything for Sgäilsheilleache, and not a word would be spoken for Hkuan’duv.

“We will speak later,” Father whispered. “Go now.”

And he still held out a hand to only Osha.

It was unthinkable to question a request from Father. Confused, hurt, and shunned, Dänvârfij left the heart-root chamber, passing Juan’yâre without a word as she rushed up the stairs.

She was breathing too hard, her head spinning, as she slapped aside the entryway cloth and stepped out of the great tree. She did not acknowledge the startled glances and tension of the anmaglâhk sentries as she rushed past them.

As yet no one else knew that Hkuan’duv and Sgäilsheilleache were dead, but the sentries must know something of great importance had happened. She would not be the one to tell them more. Even if she would have been, her throat burned too much from her racing breaths.

A shift of shadow near one of the oaks ringing the clearing made her breath stop altogether.

Out of the shadow came Brot’ân’duivé.

“A greimasg’äh ... here?” she whispered to herself.

Never glancing her way, one of the remaining few shadow-grippers like Hkuan’duv strode toward the great oak. Brot’ân’duivé was the tallest man she had ever seen, but he looked travel worn. His forest gray cloak was dusty and marred, with tree needles clinging here and there.

Dänvârfij was only a dozen paces beyond the oak’s entrance. As the greimasg’äh neared Father’s oak, she saw those well-known scars that skipped over his right eye. But his dark face glistened with sweat that caught in the fine creases around his eyes and mouth. Wherever he had come from, it had been a long, hard, and fast journey.

Brot’ân’duivé might still be the greatest among their caste, but he was old for an anmaglâhk. Most of them were counted fortunate to see more than seventy years. He was beyond that, though she did not know his true age.

His expression appeared fixed, cold, and purposeful. She had seen him only a few times in her life but had never spoken to him. It was well-known that the relationship between this greimasg’äh and Father was deeply strained, and Brot’ân’duivé was rarely seen in Crijheäiche anymore.

Dänvârfij turned back as he approached the three sentries. Two of them closed together, blocking the entrance, and the greimasg’äh halted, not blinking as he faced them.

“Move aside,” he ordered.

“Forgive us, Greimasg’äh,” said the left one with a quick bow of his head. “Father is counseling a recently returned caste member, and no one may interrupt.”

Brot’ân’duivé answered in a half whisper, “I know full well who he is ... counseling.”

The right sentry visibly stiffened.

Even among the caste, not all was known about the Greimasg’äh—the Shadow-Grippers. They had skills that could be learned but never taught. Some claimed that shadow and silence became their very armor and weapons. And if their chosen target ever lost sight of them—if such ever saw a greimasg’äh coming in the first place—that one was quickly dead.

Dänvârfij had more than once asked Hkuan’duv about this. She received only a sad smile and shake of his head for an answer.

“I told you to move,” Brot’ân’duivé said again.

“Please, Greimasg’äh,” said the sentry on the left. “We cannot allow—”

“It is the right and responsibility of a caste elder to look in on those who return without their team. I will not instruct you a third time.”

Dänvârfij did not approve of Brot’ân’duivé’s using his authority in this manner, but he had earned his place among them long ago. All present knew his great deeds for the sake of the people.

The left sentinel stepped aside with a quick nod of respect, but the one on the right did not. In a snapping motion, his left hand darted toward his other sleeve. It never landed.

The path to the door was suddenly clear before the left sentinel back-stepped into a ready position. The other one lay on the ground, gasping for air as he clutched his throat.

Dänvârfij had not even seen the greimasg’äh’s strike. But no one moved into Brot’ân’duivé’s way as he swept through the curtained opening and vanished into the great oak. She stood there helpless, knowing she could not follow without Father summoning her.

An anmaglâhk had tried to draw a weapon upon a revered elder of their caste. And Tosân’leag’s words reverberated in Dänvârfij’s head.

I see churning waters ahead for your caste ... that may drown us all.

“Dänvârfij?”

Eywodan’s voice cut through her memories, and she found herself staring at the river running into the ocean. She turned to see him walking toward her, still looking somewhat unfamiliar in his human clothing.

If only she had known back then all that she knew now. With those sentries, she or one of them might have lived long enough to kill the traitor at Father’s entrance.

She waited quietly until Eywodan closed the distance between them.

“The tavern’s keeper said the Cloud Queen left three days before,” he related, “bound for the port of Berhtburh. No passengers remained behind, and I cannot see our quarry having ventured farther into this small settlement. It should be safe to assume they are all still on the ship. Since we left the isle five days behind them, we are closing the distance.”

At least they had a proper gauge of time and distance and the relative speed of both ships. Should Captain Samara not linger long here or in any port along the way, they might overtake the other vessel before it reached its next port.

And the traitor would die first.