The Storm Crow (The Storm Crow, #1)(89)

“Hey!” I screamed, pounding as hard as I could.

“Thia?”

“Open the damn door, you bastard!” My throat tore with every word, my voice turning hoarse.

“Thia!”

“What?” I shrieked, rounding on Caylus.

He blinked, head tilted, then lifted his gaze to a spot over my head where a line of ships was secured to the docks. He pointed at one with orange and green flags depicting a stag’s antlers. “I know those flags. We have to get to that ship.”

“She needs a healer.” Kiva had slumped over despite the fact that Caylus had torn off a piece of his shirt and pressed it firmly against the wound.

“There will be one on board. Trust me!”

With a final kick to the door that sent one of the hinges clattering to the ground, I gave Res to Caylus before leaping onto my horse. Once I had him back, we took off along the docks to the ship. Moonlight bathed the deck and quarters, but it was otherwise dark, and the only way up meant scaling a mooring rope.

“There’s no one here,” I hissed.

Caylus rode past me to the water’s edge. “Talon!” he shouted at what looked like an empty lookout perch. “Talon!”

For half a second, nothing happened. Then a shaggy mop of red hair appeared slowly over the edge of the lookout, followed by the rest of the yawning young man. He put a hand to his forehead as if to shade his eyes from some invisible sun. “Who’s there?” he called.

“Damn you to Duren, Talon! I know you can see me.”

I blinked. I’d never heard Caylus use that tone, let alone curse. Though I was about to do a whole lot more if Talon didn’t hurry up.

The redhead waved. “Hiya, Caylus. Have a nice time in Illucia, did ya?”

I stared at Caylus. “Is he serious?”

“Talon, get Samra. Now.”

Something about the other person’s name sent the redhead into action. He scurried down from the lookout like a rodent, landed on the deck, and disappeared inside the ship. I eyed Caylus. He’d sounded confident, in control. So different under pressure.

“I need your vest,” I told him.

He looked at me, brow furrowing, but did as I said, unbuttoning the vest he wore over his long-sleeved tunic and handing it to me. I wrapped Res in it, careful to leave part of his beak exposed so he could breathe.

You’ll be okay, I promised him. Faint pulses of indistinct emotion came back down the cord.

A moment later, Talon reemerged beside another figure, each holding a torch. The firelight illuminated a dark-haired woman with a scar across one eye. I gaped. It was the woman from the ball. Her lips pressed into a thin line as her eyes fell on Kiva, scanning her wound, before she faced Talon.

“Lower the gangplank,” she said. “I’ll wake Luan.” They both vanished over the edge of the ship.

“What’s happening, Caylus?” I asked. “Who are these people?”

“Later. Help me,” Caylus began, already sliding from his seat. He kept both hands on Kiva as he went, and I leapt down to help him lower her from the horse with my free arm. We each slid under one of her arms, but she barely supported any of her own weight, and she was muttering incoherently.

“Kiva,” I said. “Kiva, stay awake. Stay with me.”

She groaned.

Caylus and I moved as quickly as we could to where Talon had lowered the gangplank. He practically skipped down the wooden board and slid his arms under Kiva’s legs.

When we reached the top, Samra had returned with a wisp of a redheaded woman who resembled Talon almost identically save for the length of her plaited hair. She took one look at Kiva and said in a low voice, “This way,” before turning back into the cabin of the ship. We followed, taking the first turn into the now-lighted hallways and then a left into the open door of a small infirmary.

“Lay her down on the bed,” Luan ordered. “Then get out.”

“I’m not le—” I started, but Caylus was already dragging me out of the room. “Let go of me!” He reached over my head to shut the door once Talon was through.

“Best to let her work,” Talon said with a nod.

I glared murderously at Caylus and shook off his hand. Clutching Res to my chest, I stalked back the way we’d come to the deck of the ship. Voices reached me a second before I stepped out. I reflexively shrank back into the shadows and then stuck out my arm when Caylus started to go by me. I pressed a finger to my lips.

“They went farther down the docks,” Samra was saying. “They abandoned the horses here as a distraction and fled on foot. You’re at least ten minutes behind them.” Another voice I couldn’t make out answered, then Samra said, “Search the ship if you don’t believe me, but do it quickly. I’ve already wasted enough sleep yelling at those damn fools for all the racket they were making.” She moved toward the gangplank.

Tension coiled my muscles, and I started looking around for something to use as a weapon before remembering the bow strapped across my chest. Then Caylus grabbed me, jammed his fingers into the wall, and shoved me toward it. Except the wall had vanished, and I stumbled into a dark space. He joined me, then slid the false wall closed, enveloping us in cool air and the scent of oak.

Footsteps thudded, dulled voices not reaching through the thick wood. Seconds stretched into minutes as I fought to keep my breath silent, my senses blind to everything save for the hard press of Caylus’s body against mine and the traitorous thundering of my heart. Then everything faded.