Fable (Fable #1)(9)

“Sorry, Speck.” I whispered, leaping over him.

But I wasn’t sorry. While I was barely surviving the last four years, he was drinking enough rye to feed me for the length of my life. And he was my only way off the beach.

I waded out into the water quietly, dropping my dredging belt inside before I lifted myself into the boat and pulled up the small anchor, my heart racing.

“Fable!” a ragged voice rang out in the darkening light.

My head snapped back toward the trees, my face flushing hot. I pulled the anchor onto the deck and untied the sail.

“Fable!” My name tore through the silence again, lifting over the sound of the water.

The skiff drifted slowly as I took up the sculls. I’d have to row until the wind caught the sail, but I was out of time. Back on the beach, a figure burst through the trees.

Koy.

As soon as his eyes found me, he was running down the slope, kicking up sand behind him. Dark blood ran down the side of his face and neck, spreading onto his bare chest like an open hand.

I dropped the sculls into the water and pulled with a groan. Above me, the canvas of the sail was barely fluttering against the wind. I wasn’t moving fast enough. My heart stumbled in a haphazard rhythm as Koy’s boat splashed into the water behind me.

“Come on!” I screamed, willing the wind to come. “Come on!”

The sail snapped, bowing as the wind filled it, and the boom swung across the deck as the boat lurched forward, knocking me down. I crawled back to the stern, taking hold of the tiller. Behind me, Koy’s skiff was turning about. The barrier islands were only barely visible, but at my back, Jeval was illuminated in the last moments of a fiery amber sunset. And Koy was gaining on me.

I was stupid for not leaving him in the water. I was stupid for getting on that boat with him alone in the first place. It was my own fault that he’d been able to sneak up on me on the reef. And now, if he caught me before I got to the Marigold, I’d have no one to blame but myself.

You weren’t made for this world, Fable. You want to prove me wrong? Get yourself off this island.

“Shut up,” I rasped, the tears burning in my eyes as Saint’s face conjured like a ghost before me. If I’d come this far only to die, I’d prove him right. A hundred times over.

I didn’t slow as I came upon the docks. I stepped up onto the side and crossed my arms over my chest, jumping into the dark water with my belt and purse. When I came back up, Speck’s boat crashed into the post, the crude wood scraping and cracking as I swam for the ladder. I pulled myself up the rungs and ran as soon as my feet hit the wooden planks.

“West!” I screamed his name into the dark as the Marigold came into view.

The ships floated silently in the bays, their lanterns flickering on empty decks. Behind me, Koy’s footsteps pounded on the dock. Faster than mine.

“West!”

A figure appeared on the starboard side of the Marigold, and a lantern lifted to illuminate the face of a girl—the girl I’d seen up in the masts that morning.

“Fable!” Koy growled behind me, his voice like thunder.

The girl stared down at me wordlessly as I skidded to a stop beside the ship.

“Please!” I shouted, reaching up for the stowed ladder.

Her eyes went behind me, to Koy. She hesitated before she finally pulled at the ropes, and the ladder unrolled, slapping against the hull. I leapt for it, swinging out over the water and crashing into the side of the ship with my shoulder.

Koy slid on the dock, reaching for my legs, and I kicked him back, climbing the ropes with shaking hands until I was tumbling over the railing. I fell onto the deck hard, landing on my back and gulping in the air.

The girl stood over me, the lantern still swinging from her hand.

“What the hell are you doing?” West was suddenly behind her, his face almost invisible in the dark. He reached down, taking hold of my arm and yanking me back to my feet.

I went for my knife, opening my mouth to speak, but in the next breath, the cold, sharp point of a blade was pressed into the soft skin below my jaw. The girl was instantly at my side, a jeweled dagger clutched in her fist.

My hands lifted before me, and I went still as more figures came out onto the deck behind West. His furious gaze was fixed on me.

“Fable!” Koy’s hoarse roar sounded again below, but West didn’t budge. His stare didn’t wander.

“Forty coppers to take me to the Narrows.” I lifted my hand between us, where the heavy purse was still tied to my fist.

West stiffened, a storm of thoughts lighting in his eyes before he took hold of my arm again and shoved me backward. “Get off my ship.”

I bit down hard on my lip, the sting of tears reigniting behind my eyes. I was going to have to give him everything. “Fifty-two coppers and two good pieces of pyre for passage,” I panted. “Please.”

“We’re traders. We don’t sell passage.” West said, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

That was a lie and we both knew it. Traders sold passage all the time.

West’s eyes fell to my busted lip, and I watched the tick of his jaw. I could still feel the dried blood, tight over the skin on my face. “What’d you get yourself into?” He looked over the railing to Koy, who was pacing the dock below, waiting for me.

I reached back slowly, taking the knife from my belt. In one motion, I slid the blade between my palm and the purse, cutting it free before I pushed it into his chest.