The Tomb Guardian: A Fog World Epic Fantasy by Erick Mertz

Author:Erick Mertz [Mertz, Erick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Longbranch Productions
Published: 2021-07-05T22:00:00+00:00

18

Grayling Island

Rough white waves crashed around the pair of sentry stones towering over the water's surface. The boat cut through the chop across the sound toward the harbor's narrow entryway.

Lukka stood tall above the stern. Keeping his feet far apart, maintaining a tenuous balance, he guided them around rocks and unexpected shallows while Raffar steered.

"Keep the peninsula to your right," he said.

"I see it." Raffar nodded, warily eyeing his captain.

Rounding toward the isthmus, the water calmed, its pewter surface flattening enough that their course through the channel was clear. Lukka stood back, relishing that feeling of satisfaction familiar as the end of a long, dangerous voyage. He shielded his eyes from the sun flares, looking up at the limestone castle atop a mound of rock before him.

"We've arrived?" Nellyda said, calmly emerging from the cabin.

Lukka nodded, unable to divert his gaze from the impressive wall of rock that rose sheer from the harbor waters below. The castle walls shimmered like seashells. Far below, a small town nestled around the piers, smoke rising from the simple wooden huts and stone buildings.

"Grayling Island," Lukka said, shaking away his disbelief.

"What's so special about this place?" Deniz asked.

It was just like the youngest member of the adventuring team to look skeptically at such beauty.

"That before you is one of the last outposts of pure learning in the realm," Nellyda muttered. "At least that's what we're told this place represents."

Raffar snickered. "No wonder it took so bloody long to get here."

"Bigger than anything in Isambard," Deniz said, unimpressed.

"There is more stone in those walls than in our entire city," Lukka replied.

Nellyda joined Lukka at the stern. Together they watched the majestic scene unfurl as the boat circled toward the front of the castle. They saw an impressive drawbridge leading up to a pair of shining silver doors. Four looming corner turrets surrounded the central keep.

In a few moments, they were close enough now that they could see people in the village below. Dockworkers and market vendors strained for a view of the strange ship arriving in port.

"They're expecting you, Lukka?" Nellyda asked, half-joking. She knew very well they were arriving in a known suspicious town unannounced.

Lukka shook his head. As the boat crossed with the furthest end of the pier, a harbor patrol boat slipped across the water to greet them.

Raffar tensed. Deniz stood tall.

A stocky man wearing an official silver and purple uniform stood up on high the bow. With hands-on his hips, he carried himself with the arrogance of a man that knows he's in charge. Flanked on either side by soldiers armed with bows, they stared menacingly as Lukka waved them closer to the boat.

"You're on," he whispered to Nellyda, standing a step behind him.

"Your business here?" the patrolman shouted. He folded his arms, his look turned from vaguely welcoming to scowling.

Nellyda replaced Lukka at the stern. "We're here on official business," she said.

"Who are you here to see?"

"Vodnik Yarr," she said, feeling a step out of place. "The master of the lyceum.

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