Page 14 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)
Fourteen
Audra
T he fishing boat sped faster than the dinghy had, careening across the water as Audra dozed and considered giving the mage a watery grave. Would distance break the thread between them? It was tempting either way. But caution held her in check. Ferin would suffer if anything happened to her. Getting to Oxton, then home, was her priority. Only then could she figure out how to dispose of the mage.
Zin might know. She might even deal with him entirely. Audra smirked. He wouldn’t know what hit him.
It was early morning when Moon nudged her with his boot and barked her name twice. They hadn’t spoken in hours and, over the sound of the hull upon the water, the air between them was thick with mutual resentment.
Curled atop a blanket, a dream fogged her waking brain. It left a quieter feeling than she was used to, the weight of melancholy. She stared at Moon’s back, unsure that it had been her dream.
She stood and stretched, then startled. To the west were steady voices. All’ights speckled across several piers and dangled from the decks of fishing boats as they prepared to disembark. Behind them, a sleeping city spread out, nestled between shores and the lower reaches of the Shei-nam mountains. This town had been burned and rebuilt numerous times and was where her father and older brother died many years ago.
Moon twisted his hair into a half knot while scowling at the pier. A massive Starling vessel was moored at the closest dock. Its sails were tacked down, but a white flag with a gold Starling burst waved in the breeze.
“You said you didn’t want to go to Oxton,” she said.
“I want off the sea. This was the closest major port. We can get supplies and head north from here.” He glanced at her, arching one eyebrow. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Audra didn’t respond. She gathered the pack she’d taken from the Requin . Chon’s coins jingled inside. What she couldn’t steal, they’d have to buy.
“Horses, blankets, food.” Moon’s eyes flicked over her. “Suitable travel clothing, and you need boots, or I’ll be feeling every stone beneath your feet.”
She didn’t ask what that meant, too busy forming ways to retrieve the package without an argument. It was a forgone conclusion that he’d be against it. Plus, she’d reconsidered getting Traq involved. It was bad enough she was stuck with this asshole. If Traq found out, he’d break too many Starling rules to help her, even if she told him not to. After five years enlisted and only a three-star ranking, Traq would be no match for what Moon had done so far. And she wouldn’t see her oldest friend dead on her account.
She’d wait until Starling was full in the sky to lose Moon. He’d have to hide beneath his robes, and that would draw attention from the locals. Then she could use his vulnerability to her advantage.
“Are you a good thief?” he asked.
She frowned at the disbelief in his voice but nodded anyway. It was unlikely that a writ from Callaway would make it across the sea. For all of Claude Suna’s posturing, he wouldn’t want the fact that he’d been selling dangerous artifacts spread to the mainland or, more specifically, to the Moon tribe. The islanders strictly avoided negative attention from the other tribes and the Rajav had ordered all the jade destroyed during the cleansing of the Western monasteries. But profiteering should have been expected, and it was likely that both Starling and Moon soldiers had stolen some away to sell to the highest bidders. The jade should never have left the western mountains since there were few left in the world who understood its properties. Auntie Zin being one of them.
Moon hadn’t asked what she needed in Oxton, and she’d intentionally neglected to explain further. Confessing to a meeting with a Starling mage wouldn’t go well, and it was too early for another fight she was bound to lose. It was enough that they’d made it this far without killing each other, and she’d be more likely to get what she wanted by staying quiet. If the mage knew her thoughts, as he stated, he’d shown no signs of it.
They gave the Starling ship a wide berth and pulled the boat in at the end of the furthest dock. Audra’s legs shook with the first few steps on the solid pier. Moon swept past her. A gentle, energetic tug pulled her in his wake. Despite her shorter legs and his long stride, she stayed in step behind him.
“There’s an hour until Starling rise,” he said.
“The shops won’t open until mid-morning,” she said.
His sudden stop caused her to nearly run into him. He sneered down at her. “I thought you were a thief.”
By the time dawn broke, Audra had snuck through a small window at the back of a clothing shop. She traded her filthy clothes for a pair of dark breeches and two loose linen shirts that hid her breasts, then grabbed a dark green cloak; the color reminded her of the mountain conifers. The fine leather boots she pulled on were supple with strong soles.
Moon hissed her name impatiently from the alleyway. With his tiresome nature, it was no wonder people wanted him dead. After what he’d done to the anglers, she’d add her name to that list.
She considered leaving him floundering in the alley while she darted through the streets to find Traq. But the threat that whatever happened to him also happened to her made her rethink, not that she truly believed him .
Audra shoved the clothing through the window and dropped to the ground below. Moon looked disdainfully at the pile of fabric.
“There must have been other options.” He lifted a blue robe made for someone twice his girth. “Is this your petty attempt at humiliating me?”
“It’s a common color here and a good disguise,” Audra replied. “No one would search for a moon mage in these colors. And it’s big enough to hide your robes beneath. Or do you desperately need the attention you’re obviously used to?” She threw a set of black pants and linen shirt at him. They were nothing like the finery he was accustomed to, but their darkness might placate him.
She turned away as he awkwardly stripped and changed clothes in the shadows. The blue caught the deeper colors in his hair, cast his light eyes with a cerulean tint. Now he was memorable for different reasons. If he wasn’t so despicable, she might not have minded his company.
“Where are the gloves?” he demanded.
He’d mentioned them several times before she’d entered the shop, and his stubbornly persistent lack of faith in her ability to remember the simplest things made her bite back her words. With an annoyed snort, she pulled a pair of black gloves from her pocket and shoved them at him.
“I’ll need cover,” he said.
“Hats are easy to find once the market opens,” she said.
“You’re hungry again.”
She was so accustomed to ignoring the emptiness of her belly that it was only after he’d drawn attention to it she noticed the rumbling. His sudden grip on her hand made her flush. With the length of his hair tucked beneath the robes, Moon drew his hood up and pulled her into the street.
Scents of cinnamon, mace, cloves, and grilling meats teased her nose as morning vendors hoped to entice those passing by. The intricately formed pastries native to the mountains caught her eye at one stall. The cookies were traditionally shaped into a simplified western script. One for love , another for fortune , one for Raia , and one into a word that neither Starling nor Moons knew— pangzhufi . Roughly translated it meant may the wings bless you . Selling it here for all to see was a small sign of rebellion that Audra appreciated. She and Traq used to make them for birthday celebrations, and, later, when trying to avoid Zin discovering any plans they might have. Moon followed her eye but didn’t inquire.
As the market filled with merchants and urchins alike, an occasional flash of white robes drew her eye, but Moon dragged her into a shadow conspiratorially until they passed.
Traq’s Starling vessel was moored in the dock, and, in another hour, his daily route would have him passing their prearranged meeting place. At the right moment, Audra would have to abandon Moon. It would be interesting to see how far their bond could stretch.
That he’d be angry was a given. That she didn’t care about his near constant irritability was also a given.
They purchased skewers of grilled lamb and fresh flatbread from separate stalls and leaned against a shaded eastern wall, watching the crowd grow. Several vendors down was a tall stack of wide, flat-brimmed hats with a hole open at the top to allow hair to be pinned through. The flatlands style would complement his disguise.
Moon swallowed the last of his lamb while studying the townspeople.
“You have quite an appetite for someone who said they didn’t need to eat much,” she said, raising one eyebrow.
His lip twitched. “If my anchor were properly nourished, or her spirit stronger, I wouldn’t need it as much.”
“Ah, I see. It’s my fault.” She laughed. “Even you must admit that the food here is delicious. I never tasted spices like this until I came here during a spring festival when I was young.” The food was her only good memory of the festival. She’d been lost in the crowd, trapped, nearly trampled, when her brother found her. “We should get some wine for the road.”
“No wine,” he said. “We can’t afford the secondary effects.”
“It might make you more tolerable.”
He snorted. “Doubtful. And it would put more people in danger. Is that what you want?”
Audra gritted her teeth and swallowed her reply. She motioned to the hats before weaving in between moving carts and bodies. Lua hesitated, waiting until an opening in the crowd appeared before darting through. Although he’d tugged his hood over his head before stepping into the light, a hiss escaped his clenched teeth as he followed. Abandoning him here would be perfect.
She shoved one of Chon’s gold coins into Moon’s hand, withdrawing before that uncomfortable feeling made her flush again. “You’ll need this.” She pushed him toward the hat stand and, before he could turn back, disappeared between stalls.
She knew Oxton well enough to choose the best routes to lose someone. If Moon found her, then it would support his claims. If he was a liar and whatever she’d experienced was nothing more than a mage’s trick, then she’d happily abandon him to his fate.