Aether's Pawn by Gabrielle Harbowy

Author:Gabrielle Harbowy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragon Moon Press
Published: 2022-02-07T20:34:12+00:00

I parked the caravan in the gravel-strewn tourist lot at the top of a steep hill, and we walked the rest of the way into Robin Hood’s Bay. The village was invisible from the roadway, but once we started rounding the curve of the steep downward slope, the picturesque little cove came into view. It was a sunny day, crisp but not yet cold, but when the wind off the sea gusted over us it brought with it a shock of polar chill.

I was glad for the tread on my thick-soled boots. The steep grade would have required much more of my concentration with hooves.

Wind blew AJ’s auburn curls around her face as she squinted out to sea. It rattled the beads at the ends of my braids, until I tucked them into my hood to quiet them.

Gulls circled out on the beach, settling down with some washed-up catch, fighting over it and taking to the air again. We were too far yet for their cries to carry to our ears.

“Gorgeous. It’s like a picture postcard.” AJ drew her smartphone out of her pocket and I waited while she took her own snapshots of the road leading down the hill, the quaint houses nestled below us, and the water beyond. The surf was calm with the outgoing tide, but the odour of dead salty things rotting in the sun hadn’t yet tainted the pure scent of the sea.

“Is this not one of the places your parents took you on holiday?” I teased.

“No, they seem to have skipped this one. Maybe that’s why I can appreciate it now.”

We passed the inn and she looked longingly toward its shopfront window and the promise of pastries and caffeine within. “Do you need to eat?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’m too fluttery in my stomach. Let’s meet your friend and get on with it. Tell me there won’t be tentacles?”

I wouldn’t have called Delachiel a friend; an acquaintance or a contact, certainly, but she was one of the less personable of the jinn I’d met on this world. There was something comforting in that, after the sting of my last encounter with Zakai. When I could see a danger, I could choose to walk into it on my own terms, and I could armour myself accordingly.

“No tentacles. She’s more like a cat. She’s mysterious and aloof, and you want to pet her fur because you need to know whether it’s as silky as it looks, but you never know whether she’s going to purr or bite.”

“Sounds lovely. I see why you like her.”

I couldn’t tell if she was serious or just taking the piss, so I responded with a wide, smug grin instead of answering. She scoffed, shook her head, and tried to hide a quick, nervous smile.

Robin Hood’s Bay had been a haven for smugglers, and the tiny cliffside town still bore the signs, wearing them proudly for anyone who knew where to look. We followed the single road, stepping carefully down the hill to where it finally spilled out to a small, flattened stretch at sea level.

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