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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

IN WHICH THE PARTY INVESTIGATES THE SITUATION

Yrra and I were first to the meeting point and feeling rather good about ourselves. We had transportation to Munarzed lined up, a plan for how to approach the island, and a vague idea of what we would be getting ourselves into. It was a pretty good start.

Daethie and Hohem arrived next, their raised voices preceding them. Somewhat out of respect but mostly due to my own curiosity, I didn’t interrupt.

“There’s a wrong and a right way to ask someone for a favor,” Hohem was saying, throwing up his hands. “You lead with that kind of attitude every time, and we might as well be talking to the cobblestones. That guy was about ready to twist your wings off.”

“As I told you,” Daethie retorted from her spot on his shoulder, “there’s no guarantee someone’s telling the truth. Put a little fear in them and they’re more likely to give you what you want without a fuss.”

“They weren’t afraid of you; they wanted to shut you up. There’s a difference.” Shaking his head, Hohem let the matter drop and turned his attention to Yrra and me. “Next time, one of you gets Daethie. If I have to do this again, I’ll wring her neck myself.”

Yrra extended his hand—was it my imagination, or was that a little smile on his face?—for Daethie to clamber up to his shoulder.

“Am I to assume that you two didn’t get anything helpful?” I asked.

“Not much.” Hohem scratched the back of his head. “We found some fishermen who go out that way. There’s a rare type of mollusk that breeds in coves around the island. Anyway, they deal with the islanders sometimes and had mostly nice things to say.”

“Let me guess—they’re all super friendly and cooperative.”

“Yeah. You heard the same?”

“Basically. Let’s see what Vyrain and Luthri have to say.”

It took several more minutes until they returned.

Their arms were full of assorted goods, and they were making every effort not to look at each other.

When they saw us, Lu’s face lit up, and Vyrain’s darkened.

I was tempted to lead with a comment about how they’d gotten on well, but it didn’t seem like the time.

“Any luck?” I eyed the bundles they carried. Did they buy out a whole store?

Vyrain snorted. “None of it was luck. He’s so charming it’s disgusting.” Throwing himself on the ground, he set down his burden and dug into it to pull out five massiya . My mouth watered at the sight… but all that cost money.

“We really don’t have—” I began, only to lose my train of thought when I found myself with a still-warm pastry in my hands.

There were hums of delight as the others bit into theirs.

Breathing a helpless sigh, I followed suit, swallowing a moan along with the first bite of rich, spiced seafood that danced across my palate.

Luthri joined Vyrain on the ground and passed out full water skins. The rest of us sank to our knees to relax and enjoy a much-deserved lunch while he filled us in.

“All right, let’s see. We stopped by a few of the shops and found several folks who had done business with the islanders, directly or indirectly.

Jasya—nice girl, she sells beautiful handmade jewelry—knows a mason who did work for the mayor over there, Rugaveld.

The guy’s a delight, apparently. Real stand-up guy. ”

“Big surprise,” I muttered through a mouthful of fish and bread.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“Nothing. Sorry. Keep going.”

“Mm. Well, he spends his days basking in the sun, indulging in luxuries. Who knew administrative positions had it so good? I ought to have gone into local government.”

At my pointed look, he cleared his throat.

“That’s not relevant, I suppose. But it took about two weeks for the upgrades to his home to be completed, and in that time, the mason didn’t see him do any actual work.

No paperwork, no sorting grievances, nothing.

It was more of an envious observation than anything else, but I thought it could be worth mentioning.

“Then there’s the baker’s son, who dated a girl who worked on one of the shipping crews.

On one trip, she ended up declining a return trip without so much as sending a note back to her family.

So the Kereti girl wasn’t the first time someone’s gone to Munarzed and decided to stay out of nowhere.

In fact, there’s a superstition circulating among some of the townspeople that the island has some sort of aura capable of hypnotizing the feeble-minded.

Sounds like idle gossip to me, but then again, I’ve seen stranger things. ”

Finishing the last bite of massiya , I swept the remaining crumbs from my pants.

“Okay. Hypnotizing auras aside, I think it’s safe to say there’s something weird going on here.

I spoke to one of the shippers—we have transportation lined up, by the way—and she mentioned how everyone on the island seems to share the same positive attitude. Could be a cult scenario.”

Through his last mouthful, Vyrain asked, “Would that be a problem? I mean, hear me out.” He choked down the bite before continuing. “If everyone’s happy, why is that bad?”

“It’s not. They can do what they like; it’s no business of ours.” So long as they weren’t throwing virgins in volcanos or molesting kids, it didn’t matter to me what they were involved in. “Our job is to find Narille and get her out. Or at least find out what happened to her.”

“What if we find her, and she doesn’t want to come with us?” Daethie posited.

What would we do in that case? “Then we ask her again, very nicely.”

Rolling her eyes, she tried again. “And after that doesn’t work?”

Ah. Eyes narrowing, I told her in no uncertain terms, “We will not be threatening the leading family’s heir. If she won’t come with us, then… then we’ll tell her family we tried. They should at least give us part of the reward, since we found her.”

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if that was how it worked?” Hohem mused.

“I’m with Daethie.” Vyrain slapped his knees and leaned forward. “We’ve come all this way; we shouldn’t leave without her. If you don’t want to hurt her, you can keep her distracted, and one of us will give her a good whack to the back of the head.”

My mouth dropped open. “Do you hear yourself?”

“Maybe we should take a vote?” Daethie suggested.

“How about we leave the decision to an older and wiser version of ourselves?” Luthri offered me a waterskin, which I took gratefully. As he opened his own to take a long drink, he added, “You said you found transportation, didn’t you, Mar?”

Nodding, I pointed to the majestic beast on the water. “That one there. I spoke with the owner. It’s not the first time they’ve had guests who were looking for Narille, and she seems to know what she’s doing. She wants twenty vodt each, and we set out midday.”

Lu’s hand went to his money pouch. My eyes followed the movement.

“How much did you spend?” I dreaded the answer.

“Not as much as it looks,” Vyrain piped up.

“We stuck to the necessities—dried foods, water, zanna , clothes, and two packs to carry it all in. We didn’t bother with tents, only a tarp, but so long as we can find a standing surface to work with on the island, we’ll be set.

Most of them liked Luthri so much that they threw something in for free or gave us a discount. ”

“Happy to be of service.” Lu grinned. “Anyway, that left me with seventeen vodt . But you should be able to make up the rest, right?”

The others watched with bated breath as I counted what I had, the clink of coin against coin filling the empty air.

Ten, twenty, thirty… My heart sank. Eighty.

Combined with Luthri’s seventeen, it made ninety-seven.

Where could we scrounge up another twenty-three vodt in the space of—I cast a quick glance upward to judge the sun’s position—two spans?

“It’s not that far. Luthri could fly.”

Silence met Daethie’s hopeful comment. Lu’s throat bobbed.

“I… would,” he hedged. “It’s only… with the aftereffects of Yrra’s venom, my stamina might not be what it’s supposed to be, and there aren’t many places to land?—”

“It’s all right.”

My head swung around at Yrra’s gentle statement.

He stared down at his hands, folded in his lap.

His lips were curved in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“I’ve been giving it some thought,” he said, looking up to meet our questioning stares.

“The wetlands we came through… the water is a little salty, but not unlivable. Deep enough in places. Food would be easy to find, and the nykse … they wouldn’t be a problem for me. ”

The massiya I’d eaten stirred in the depths of my stomach. “What are you saying?” The question came out more accusatory than I had intended. Softening my tone to something more appropriate for a friend, I tried again. “Are you…?”

Yrra hesitated before nodding. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but I think… I found my place. With a little work, it could be home. A good one.”

None of us seemed to know what to say to that. Hohem and Vyrain were exchanging wide-eyed looks. Daethie’s mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

“I can look out for other travelers who come that way,” Yrra continued, a measure of excitement slipping into his voice. “I can search for our things too. You could swing by on the way back to pick them up. And see me, if you wanted. One last time before…”

“Ah-bup-bup.” I stopped him there. Took a moment to let the sea air soothe my burning sinuses.

This was inevitable; people always came and went.

We each had our own goals in our ragtag group.

If Yrra had accomplished his, that was something to celebrate, not bemoan.

My mouth formed words of congratulations when?—

“I’ll stay too,” Daethie announced. Yrra’s gaze snapped to hers. She crossed her little arms and stared back, lips pressed together in a stubborn line. “I’ve already decided, so there’s no use trying to change my mind. You could use the company.”