Justice At Sea by Christian Klaver

Author:Christian Klaver [Klaver, Christian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

12

A MOTHER’S LOVE

We approached from the rear of the place, moving quickly and quietly, on the lookout for any other sentries. If there were any, the rain hid us from them just as well as it hid them from us. We saw no one. Perhaps the Faerie didn’t have the discipline for more than a smattering of precautions, or perhaps they just didn’t feel there was anything to fear.

The rain had beaded down my southwester coat, but it had beaten my hat into a black shapeless slug on top of my head and soaked my boots through before I found the loose bricks on the side of the mansion that revealed the crawlspace that would lead us back into Stormholt. This was, of course, the same route that Étienne and Percy had taken when they’d led Faith, Henry and me out only a few short months ago.

I led the way, and while it had been open before, now it was so jammed full of dark roots that I was barely able to squeeze through. Avonstoke, working by feel in the dark, had to cut some of them clean through before he was able to pass.

The wine cellar, too, was no longer the same. The wine barrels that had lined the walls were gone, presumably consumed, with only a pair of rusty hoops to mark their passing. Here, too, the roots had invaded, dangling down from the stone ceiling like a hundred tapered and dirty white fingers.

We emerged in a silent and empty kitchen and froze when we heard voices.

The kitchen was empty now, but it hadn’t been abandoned. A mound of something bloody sat in the center of the table as if someone had just gutted an oversized deer and wasn’t sure which parts to serve. A foul-smelling soup lay cold in a great cauldron in the corner. I’m pretty sure I saw a finger in there, but didn’t dare look any closer.

Voices and the clinking of cutlery came from the dining room.

Some of those voices sounded familiar. Too familiar. I crept to the doors that let out to the dining room and listened.

“I wouldn’t mind a little of the shiver and shake, either, mum, if it’s not too much trouble? I ain’t done a tightener proper all day, practically ready to work the shallows, I was.” That had to be the Soho Shark or I’d eat my hat.

“Of course,” Mother’s voice answered.

I turned to share a significant look with my sister, to find her gone. Only Avonstoke and Mr. Sands crouched next to me.

“Where’s Faith?” I hissed.

“She’s right . . .” Avonstoke started, looking behind him. “Blood and bone! She was right behind me!”

Sands turned, too, to see the place where Faith should have been. But when he looked back at us, his face was twisted in wry understanding.

“Where?” I hissed. Was she running from Mother? Or the Soho Shark? That didn’t make any sense. Would she try and find her way up to the roof to save Benedict without us?

“The Wild Hunt,” Sands whispered.

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