Page 100 of Salt in the Seas
“He’s a murderer two times over.”
Instead of the words rallying Velden further, the older man’s arms dropped, the shackles and Dreyfus along with them. “He killed her.” His webbed hands covered his eyes. “She shouldn’t have even been out in the water that day. But I insisted she take me. I wanted her to take me home. To her home.”
Velden’s vulnerability was all Dreyfus needed to rise and backhand the broken man. Velden fell back, his dagger clattering to the deck.
Gaeren’s sword was out to block the man before he could turn, except Aeliana had the same idea. She used Velden’s mother’s poor tail to knock the conman to the deck, and Gaeren had to stay his sword before he accidentally ran her through in his haste to disarm Dreyfus.
Her face held shock and guilt at her own actions, and she picked up the Sayhleen tail, practically cradling it. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her words more for the tail than anyone else.
“If you think this man’s lies ended with his murders, you’re all fools,” Gaeren shouted, pulling Dreyfus up to face the crowd. The tail must have hit his head just right because his eyes fluttered as he fought for consciousness.
Velden recovered enough to grab his dagger and sheathe it, but his body still shook with sobs, his hands back to covering his face. He was no longer in danger of publicly murdering his enemy, but that still didn’t mean they had a way out.
“How well can you swim?” Gaeren whispered.
Aeliana’s laugh came out on a choke. “Decent, but not when I’m holding this.” She angled her head toward the Sayhleen tail in her arms.
Gaeren grimaced, guessing it weighed more than half of what she did. “We’ll have to leave it,” he said.
“No.” Velden stood, surprising Gaeren. He took the tail from Aeliana’s hands and leaned his forehead against its scales, murmuring some sort of prayer or homage.
Gaeren put his sword away and let Dreyfus slump to the side, but the bystanders were getting braver. The young girl who’d helped swindle attendees stood with her jaw hanging open as people crossed the plank without buying tickets.
“We need to get out of here.” Gaeren said the words in a singsong to hide the fear crawling up his throat. Until an idea struck. “Can we use the fish?”
“Only as a last resort,” Aeliana said.
“I think we’re on last resorts.” Gaeren held out his hand, beckoning for her to hand the starbridge over.
“If we use it now, it could be a week or more before we can return for the others, and who knows where it would drop us? We need to get back to your ship first.”
He debated pulling out the golden arrow. At least they knew where that would take them. But it would also set them back by weeks they didn’t have.
“I’ll hold them off while you leave,” Velden said, tightening his grip on his mother’s tail. “I got what I came for.”
“We’re not leaving you.” Aeliana’s tone was firm, but she backed up against the ship’s railing as the people grew closer, their cries holding demands for the imprisonment of not just Dreyfus but also Aeliana, Velden, and Gaeren. “Can you swim with her body?”
“It will slow me down, but I’m faster than you.”
“Good enough for me,” Gaeren said. He hopped up on the railing, awkwardly pulling and forcing both of them up with him before unceremoniously pushing them into the water. A hand grasped at his ankle as he jumped after them, but he slipped from the stranger’s grip and plunged beneath the sea.
CHAPTER 38
It was probablyone of the worst plans Gaeren had ever had, but he was counting on the fact that they had two starbridges in their possession for an emergency escape. The longer they swam through the harbor, the more likely it seemed they’d need to use one.
“Where exactly are we going?” Aeliana switched to her back, her quick breaths signaling Gaeren that he should probably slow even more than their already agonizingly slow pace. With Velden’s unwillingness to let go of his mother’s tail, it was a wonder they’d even made it away from Dreyfus’ ship. For now, they weaved between boats, utilizing stealth more than speed.
“If we can make it past the main harbor to a beach with fewer observers, we can pause and reassess,” Gaeren said. He felt the skeptical look crossing Velden’s face down to his core. That was still a few miles of swimming. “We’ll need to tap into our starlocks to make it.”
It felt dangerous to use up magic they might need if they were being pursued, but as far as Gaeren had been able to tell, the mob had turned their attention to the conman, letting the lesser threats make their escape. They’d have to decide if they should risk going back to the tavern for the few things they’d left behind or forge ahead.
He glanced at Velden between strokes, noticing that even his webbed hands weren’t enough to keep him from being dragged downby his mother’s tail. How in Rhystahn were they going to transport that all the way back to their ship?
As they reached the harbor’s edge, all three of them were out of breath and weary despite pulling energy from their starlocks. Even so, they swam a bit farther until they reached an empty beach, where Gaeren helped Velden drag the tail far enough up the shore that it wasn’t at risk of being pulled back out to sea. But then the three of them collapsed in the sand. They stared up at the clouds in the sky, the only sound the waves crashing on the beach and their own deep breaths.
“I’ll admit I’ve been eager for a swim,” Aeliana said, “but that was not the kind I had in mind.”
For some reason, a giddiness bubbled up inside Gaeren, eventually breaking into uncontrollable laughter over the ridiculousness of their situation. Aeliana chuckled too, and even Velden cracked a smile, though the sadness in his eyes still lingered. It sobered Gaeren enough for his laughter to fade, but still left a grin that hurt his cheeks.
