Nightfall by Den Patrick

Author:Den Patrick [Patrick, Den]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-06-24T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Kristofine

Captain Hewn became something of a friend of mine in the years that followed after. Many times, usually at the end of a function or feast, I would ask him if he had ever received his payment from Boyar Sokolov, a private joke known only to a handful of people. He would look at me with a rueful cast in his eye and reply, ‘I never believed she was who she said she was for a second, but it seemed important to Streig she be aboard.’

– From the memoir of Drakina Tveit, Lead Librarian of Midtenjord Province

Everything clenched tight.

Fists clenched in pain and frustration.

Stomach clenched tight from the agony of her wound.

Every ounce of energy clenched around her feelings less they flow down her face in a torrent.

Eyes squeezed shut to keep out unwelcome daylight: the dim and jumbled slowness of her thought was all she could focus on.

The city, which had been sporadically on fire ever since she had arrived, was hushed. The rain had silenced the many flickering tongues of flame during the night and even the most ardent of gossips dared not speak in anything more than a whisper. The Emperor ruled in name, yet silence reigned in Khlystburg.

‘You still with me?’ Reka, solid, dependable Reka, had conjured a mule out of all that silence and set his gaze south. The mule plodded beneath her and she plodded along with it. Reka had not, as far as she could tell, stopped walking since they had left the inn, leading the beast of burden by its reins.

‘You tried to teach me how to fight,’ she mumbled. It was hard to get her thoughts in order, harder still to say what was troubling her, but the silence troubled her more.

‘I did. And I’ll not hear you be hard on yourself for being laid low by a tavern keeper with a hidden knife.’ The mule plodded beneath her and she plodded along with it. Kristofine lifted heavy eyelids and lifted her sagging head. Before her was the sombre, deep blue expanse of the Ashen Gulf.

‘How?’ was all she could say.

‘I told Steiner I’d get you to safety, and that’s exactly what I’ve a mind to do.’

‘Is there’s a ship down there?’ she asked, afraid it was a mirage brought on by blood loss or some nameless madness.

‘It is. And we’re going to board it and voyage to Arkiv.’

A small settlement of refugees had sprung up at the top of the cliffs and a great deal of noise could be heard, even half a mile away as they were.

‘I think they may have the same idea,’ said Kristofine. ‘That’s a huge amount of people to fit on to one ship.’

‘You’re not wrong,’ said Reka. Kristofine closed her eyes and surrendered to torpor once more. The wind gusted, bringing a scattering of chilly raindrops.

The noise of the crowd was both overwhelming and hard to ignore, even for someone in Kristofine’s condition. The mule plodded beneath her and she plodded along with it, begrudgingly opening her eyes.

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