Page 22 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

TWENTY-ONE

HAZEL

W e’d combed every inch of the ship with a fine tooth comb. Well, at least all the parts of it we could con our way into. I learned from Luka and watched him like a master. Then we trained at night, left alone in our cabin when we weren’t assigned to the night watch.

We’d fashioned some wooden swords, and it passed the time. Luka was good. I wouldn’t give him full credit for it since I had a tough reputation to uphold, but he was well qualified for my class. In fact, it was a waste of huge proportions that he did not hold a rank in the King’s forces. What he could do on a dragon in battle would be something special.

We were days into the voyage and had got nowhere. The sun set over the horizon from the main deck, and I wondered what was next on this strange journey.

Luka was helping with the rigging on the main sail and the dragon, Faolan, was overseeing. He stopped beside me and stared out to sea like me.

“What’s our next port?” I asked like I was just making small talk.

“We sail for Damona Island to deposit half our cargo and take on some more, then across the Middle Sea to the Fifth.” Faolan dragged his gaze down over me, but not like he was checking me out. More like he was sizing me up. He knew what I was as much as I knew what he was. Why hadn’t he said anything? I kept waiting for it to come, but it never did. “Did Luka not tell you?”

“I didn’t ask,” I answered honestly.

He leaned closer and breathed in my scent. “Is he your guard, or are you his?”

I smiled, showing off my teeth. “I’m sure you can guess.”

He nodded, meeting my eyes, his glowing amber even in the twilight. “He’s important, that one.”

“Yes.” I kept my voice even despite his closeness. Was he trying to get more information out of me? Did he doubt Luka? Everything in me told me to leave the conversation, but I steeled my nerves, needing to know if our cover was about to be blown.

“I knew it from the first day I met him, but you, I didn’t expect.”

I cocked my head in a silent question.

“For him to warrant a dra—guard.” He lifted his shoulders and pulled back, camouflaging his dragon like we all learned to do around the other fae of the kingdoms. If we let the beast show all the time, they’d be terrified of us.

“The Goddess protects him.”

“That was evident before you even showed up. He carries it in himself.”

I couldn’t argue with him. I’d seen it myself. “He does. He’s a great aid to Her service.” I shouldn’t ask, but I did anyway: “And what makes this ship deserve the same treatment?”

His gaze swept across the water. “It’s less that they deserve it and more that I want to be here and am good at it.”

I didn’t understand it. Any of it. How could he avoid the King’s service? It had been driving me crazy. Did I just ask? But I couldn’t. If I drew attention to him, he might do the same to me in return. We’d have to keep with our mutual understanding.

“Does sailing run in your blood?” Maybe he came from a remote place like Luka and Zaria did. If there were people like theirs on the fringes, maybe there were more dragons who avoided the King’s laws as well. Hadn’t they found Jaxus that way? It made me wonder if there were dragon communities out there not living by Kingdom rule.

“That’s not what you want to ask, is it?” He rolled his shoulders before turning towards me, leaning his elbow on the rail.

“No, it’s not.”

“Say what you will,” he said at length.

“What made you not go?”

“Not go where?”

“To the King’s service,” I said, breathless.

“I could ask the same of you,” he shot back, prepared for my question.

“You could, but you told me to ask.” I couldn’t reveal my background to him here.

He considered me again. “My people have never submitted to the King’s rule. We predate his claim on this land, and thus, we are exempt.”

“How is that possible?”

“There are ways of the world you don’t see. Fae who exist under the surface. You’ll see a lot of them if you stay with him long.” He nodded towards where Luka climbed the rigging.

“I’m starting to see that.” A pit formed in my stomach. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was cut off by a call from the nest.

“We approach land.”

I turned, taking in the view on the other side of the ship. Sure enough, we approached a rocky terrain with steep cliffs. The ship launched into action, every member of the small crew sprinting to their posts to ready the ship to dock. Fae waited, holding their lanterns high as we approached, dragging anchor to slow, while fae furled the sails to slow our speed. When we got close enough, lines were thrown to those on the—rocks?

We were on the wrong side of Damona Island? I couldn’t believe my eyes. The West side of the island was known for being all sheer cliff face and treacherous tides that could slam any ship into the face and destroy it. Maybe I’d gotten the islands confused. No, that was impossible. I’d studied geography thoroughly as a youngling in the King’s school. We all did. How could we be the wings of the King without knowing where we were going?

Faolan was gone by the time I looked back, but Luka appeared at my side a few minutes later, just as the ship slid to a stop, nearly kissing the cliff face.

“Tell me you’ve been here,” I said out of the corner of my mouth, sure I’d be drowned out by the yelling of the crew back and forth with the dock workers.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought this side of the island was impassable.” Fear flashed in his eyes.

“I’ve never heard of trading happening this side of the island. It’s too dangerous.”

“This couldn’t be a secret military base, could it?” he asked, looking between me and the island.

“Not one I’ve ever been briefed on, but I’m also not in the King’s Army,” I said with no small measure of regret in my tone.

“Don’t you learn all that tactical shite, though?”

I nodded. “Yes…or at least I thought we did.”

“Goddess. What have we gotten ourselves into?”

“I don’t know.” Dread filled my chest.

The dock led far back into a cave, finally revealing a temple carved into the stone. Large pieces had been eaten away by the tides, and there were missing chunks, but I knew what it used to be. It wasn’t large, more like the size of a small temple for a herding village high up in the mountains, but what was it doing here?

We helped the crew unload into stores into the cave walls, and most of it came from the hold we were staying in. No wonder they looked like supplies for a base—that’s basically what this looked to be.

Luka and I exchanged looks as we worked, both taking the opportunity to see all that we could see even though the place was crawling with fae. Some were priests, others were not, but as Luka had proved, robes weren’t a wholly reliable way to tell who was who when you were this deep into something so underground.

We came upon Faolan on our return to the ship, and Luka did his best to appear casual, but I could tell he was rattled. “How long are we staying?”

Faolan lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m told we’re waiting for something we have to transport, and they don’t know when it will arrive. Depends on the weather.”

“So we’re just staying here?” Luka asked.

“It’s a break. Enjoy it. I’ll be drinking ale in the tavern.” He clapped Luka on the back.

“There’s a tavern?” Luka asked astonished.

“Sure is. You should join me. Some of these wayfarer taverns carry some interesting spirits from outside the realm. Perks of living on the trade routes.”

I shrugged. “I could go for a drink.”

“Good choice.”

He was not wrong about the spirits.

We walked down the dock deep into one of the caves coming upon the temple carved into the rock face. The ocean lapped at the stairs making the stone slick. We passed into the temple, finding it like any other on land, but Faolan quickly led us through a side passage into a series of chambers all carved out of the rock. It was like a little city built into stone.

Did this used to be a functioning temple and city for the priests? Or was it still? I’d never heard of such a place, but I also didn’t see any priests about in here. Just fae going about their days, and sure enough, we came upon a tavern.

We walked into a massive cavern filled with a skeleton of a small market that looked like it had been packed up for the day. The tavern was set into the rocks, along with a few dwellings. A small trading post hidden on the forgotten side of the biggest island in the Middle Sea.

How neither Luka nor I had heard of it, I could not say.

We made our way to the bar and found Faolan, who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the fae here. To me, he stood out as a dragon, but he concealed it, so I was highly aware that it was not widely known.

Faolan raised a small glass of clear spirit as he welcomed us, handing us each one of our own. He clinked glasses with us and threw his back. Luka and I looked at each other, then did the same.

Fire rolled down my throat. I was afraid I would ignite the liquid with my spark if I wasn’t on my guard. “Goddess, drinking that is like making out with a desert dragon.”

“It can’t be that bad…” Luka took a drink and coughed. “Goddess, save me.”

Faolan slapped his shoulder. “Even she can’t save you from a couple of these, friend,” he laughed, collecting the bottle. “Come.” He nodded, and we followed him across the packed tavern full of crew and dock workers.

There was a side room which was less raucous, and he found us a table there. We each set down our glasses and he filled them with swigs of the fire spirit. “To the sea!” he toasted, and we all raised our glasses.

The drink burned again, but it was easier the second time.

“So, Luka, are you tempted to come back on the ships?”

“I’m not closed off to anything, I love the sea. I just go where I’m needed.” Luka was so matter of fact in that conviction, I realized it wasn’t just what he was telling Faolan. He believed it.

“And you’re needed in the Fifth?”

Luka dipped his head in confirmation. “I intend to head there, but if I’m called off that path, then I will go with the Goddess wherever she leads me.”

Faolan studied him. “To what end?”

“To make a difference,” Luka said earnestly, and I could see it in his eyes. He would keep going until he felt like he had made a difference. But at what cost? He had followed Dragon’s Bane until he found eggs, and who was to say what would come along next? I was starting to worry that we had too many roads to choose from.

Faolan nodded, digesting that. “You are a better fae than me.”

“Oh?”

“I only want to travel as far and for as long as I can. The only difference I was looking to make when I set off was to my own restricted existence.” He laughed and filled the glasses again. “I want to see as much of the kingdoms as I can.”

“I hear that,” Luka said. “I came from a fairly restricted existence myself. I was just looking for an escape. The sea found me, really.”

“To escapes!” Faolan cheered, then looked to me. “What about you?”

I had merely been an observer to their exchange. I had very much adopted a following role since we embarked on the voyage because Luka just knew how to assimilate. Now, the attention fell to me, and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.

“I’m just along for the ride,” I said noncommittally. “Luka wanted to show me his world.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Luka said, taking the pressure off me, and we all took another drink.

We sat through round after round and became slow with drink. A game of cards was being played on the next table, and Faolan tried to explain the rules to us, but we were too far in our cups for such things, so we excused ourselves.

The wind blew off the sea and into the cove, cooling down the evening as we walked along the cave path.

“What if the eggs are here?” I whispered.

“Like, this is where they keep them?” Luka scoffed, not taking me at all seriously.

“Why else would we be here?” I felt like there was merit to what I was saying. What other purpose would this place serve? It was nearly impossible to get to.

“They could be anywhere,” he said as if he’d lost faith in finding them.

“But we will never know if we don’t take a look.” I took a sharp turn into a tunnel off the walkway.

“Hey, where are you going?” Luka hissed.

“To look around.”

“You can’t just go poking around here. If we get caught, we won’t just have to answer to Captain Veles. This is dangerous Hazel.”

“Shh! Just a quick look,” I said as I hurried down the tunnel. I could not hear any signs of life in the tunnel, so I felt safe to explore a little.

Luka kept up with me, huffing his objections.

The tunnel took a turn into the mountain, but it was sporadically lit with magic orbs so I kept going until we reached a stone staircase that led to a door. I listened but heard nothing except the roar of the sea echoing through the tunnel system.

We tiptoed down the steps, and together, we opened the heavy door just a crack.

A glow spilled from the space beyond, and a low drone could be heard. We waited, but no one came, so we opened the door a little more.

When we peeped into the space, we found ourselves on a balcony high above a great cavern, and down below was a sight that made me cold.