Bastial Sentinels (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 5) (7 page)

“Four,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get there tomorrow.”

“Do you think the war could’ve changed Goldram since you were there last?”

“I don’t think it could be that much different.”

Chapter 5:

CLEVE

It was a relief when the docks of Goldram came into view. Cleve was eager to speak to Danvell Takary. They had a lot to discuss. He told himself he would do whatever it took to make sure war didn’t come to his home continent of Ovira. Some part of Cleve knew he would be fighting here in Greenedge, though he still had no idea whether it would be desmarl or man. He was fearful when he thought of Reela fighting beside him. But he tamped down those concerns. It wasn’t right to bring her all this way and then ask her not to fight, not that she’d listen to him anyway.

Captain Mmzaza whistled. “Boy, come here.”

As Cleve approached, he realized their ship wasn’t moving toward the docks that were just ahead. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Captain Mmzaza doesn’t like what he sees. Look for yourself.” He handed Cleve a spyglass.

As he lifted it to his eye, Cleve could hear Reela and Vithos coming up behind him. He saw the familiar sight of the docks—wooden walkways over the water and rustic buildings farther inland. He peered around the long section of docks, trying to figure out what Mmzaza had seen. There was nothing.

Then Cleve realized that was it. There were no other people or ships. The last time he’d been here, the docks had been filled with boats, small and grand. The walkways had been crowded with people.

“Everyone’s gone,” Cleve said. “What does that mean?”

“It means if Captain Mmzaza was sailing by himself, he’d be heading back to Kyrro by now. But if you want, boy, I’ll let you off first.”

“I thought you wanted to see the palace,” Cleve tried, not wanting the captain to leave without them.

“I did until me eyes saw that.”

Reela and Vithos each took their turns with the spyglass. “It wasn’t like this last time?” she asked.

“No,” Cleve said. “And I’m not sure how we’re going to get to the palace if we can’t purchase at least one more horse. Nulya can’t carry three of us.” Kyrro’s king had given Cleve money for horses, food, and lodging, but it would be useless in a deserted town.

“We walk and find out more,” Vithos suggested. His common tongue was continuing to improve, especially with Reela correcting his mistakes. Though, his accent didn’t seem to be fading. Cleve didn’t mind the rough sound of it, but he did wonder how the people of Greenedge would react to an Elf with a Kreppen accent. From what he knew about Elves, they spoke Elvish, and hardly anyone had ever seen one in person, for nearly all of them stayed in Meritar,
where the practice of psyche is forbidden
, he reminded himself. It was strange to consider, especially when most of Greenedge didn’t even know psyche was possible.

It reminded Cleve of Azaylee and Fatholl. All Cleve knew about them was what he’d discovered in the note Jek took from Azaylee’s pocket after Cleve killed her. Fatholl’s army, which Azaylee seemed to be a part of, wished to rid the continent of desmarls, but they also seemed intent on attacking Humans. Cleve didn’t understand their methods but figured he would as soon as he spoke to Danvell. Surely the King of Goldram would know much about the rogue Elves by now.

“Alright lads,” Captain Mmzaza said. “I’ll steer this ship into the docks, but then me and King Kerr’s crew will be returning to Kyrro.”

“Thank you,” Cleve said.

“I miss you.” Vithos offered his hand.

“I’ll miss you,” Reela corrected him.

“I’ll miss you,” Vithos repeated as he and Mmzaza shook hands.

“Ol’ Captain Mmzaza will miss you too. And what about you, me pretty?” He looked at Reela with one eye, the other focused on where he was navigating the ship. “Does Captain Mmzaza get a kiss for getting you to Goldram?”

Reela came close to kiss Mmzaza on his bearded cheek. But at the last moment, he turned so that their lips touched.

Reela uttered a cry of surprise as she recoiled. “You old sneak!” She punched his arm hard enough to make him to stumble one step to the side.

“Easy, woman. I’m trying to steer the ship.”

Reela looked at Cleve, dumbfounded.

Cleve merely shrugged and said, “You’re crazy for kissing him in the first place.”

With Vithos laughing, they left the Captain to gather their belongings and take Nulya from her pen in the hold. The ship had arrived at the docks by the time they were ready to disembark. Once their feet touched the plank wood of the closest dock, Captain Mmzaza gave one brief wave, then hurried to cast off again.

Nulya seemed giddy to finally be on land. The white horse whinnied and practically pranced. She twisted her head, clearly wanting Cleve to let go of her reins.

“At least she’s excited,” Reela said nervously, her eyes darting around the empty waterfront. “I don’t like this at all. What could’ve happened?”

The houses were in fine condition, making it seem as if they hadn’t been deserted for long. The trio came to a two-story inn, and Reela wondered if they should go inside.

“We should,” Cleve agreed. “Can you use psyche to have Nulya stay?”

Reela nodded and put her hand against the horse’s muscular neck.

Stepping into the dim dining hall, Cleve called, “Hello?”

“No one here,” Vithos told him. “Just…Reela what is word for creature here?”

“Rats,” Reela said.

“No one here but rats.”

“No one’s here except rats,” she corrected him.

The tables were cleared. The kitchen shelves were bare, and every barrel was empty. “They didn’t leave in a hurry,” Cleve said.

“Let’s see if the other buildings are the same,” Reela suggested.

They quickly found every place was just like the inn. The small settlement was completely abandoned, and somewhat recently based on the thin layer of dust that coated everything.

“Do you know how to get to the palace?” Reela asked.

“I believe so,” Cleve said. “But it’s far. It’ll take us more than a few days to walk there.”

“At least we have food and water.”

Vithos grumbled and said, “You two ride to palace. I walk.”

“No,” Reela said. “Even Cleve isn’t absolutely certain how to get there. That won’t end well.”

“Let’s look around more,” he suggested. “If we could find something with wheels, then Nulya could pull us.”

“Alright,” Reela said. “But let’s separate. It’ll be faster.”

Cleve nodded, and they began their search.

After finding nothing around a few buildings, Cleve was curious whether he still could see the ship. He looked out over the ocean and spotted a speck on the horizon. It was then that he realized whatever was going on in Greenedge, he was now part of it.

The door through one building led Cleve into a room that looked to have been used for dancing. The floor was made of smooth, polished wood. There were no carpets or tables. The walls were covered in paintings of dancing partners and instruments. Song lyrics were scribbled between them.

In his brief search, the name “Fatholl” caught Cleve’s eye. Coming close to the wall for a better look, he saw someone had cursed the Elf’s name and then followed with, “Let him be fed to rabid dogs.” Below it someone else had written, “You’re a fool. Fatholl deserves to be king.”

Cleve further inspected the walls and found other insults and praises, but nothing that gave him a clue as to what had happened.

“Cleve,” Reela called from the doorway. “Vithos found something.”

Cleve followed Reela out but didn’t see her brother. “Where?”

“There.” Reela pointed up high.

In the distance, Vithos was waving to them from the roof of a three-story inn.

They trotted to the building and left Nulya outside as they hurried up the stairs to the top floor. Vithos had come back inside. “I show you how get to roof.”

“What’s up there?” Cleve asked.

“You see something from it.” Vithos brought them through one of the guest rooms. He climbed out onto the windowsill. Then Cleve saw his feet rising until they disappeared. Cleve peered out to find Vithos had reached up to the roof and simply pulled himself up without anything else to grab on to or anywhere to put his feet. It wasn’t safe.

“I think you should stay here,” Cleve suggested to Reela. She was many things, but agile wasn’t one of them. He moved so she could see what the climb entailed.

She leaned out to have a look. “Yes, I think that’ll be best.”

When she ducked back inside, Cleve hoisted himself up. Vithos had moved to the southern end of the roof. Seeing Cleve, he pointed toward the horizon. “Look like horse.”

Cleve squinted and followed Vithos’ finger. The wavy dirt hills flowed to the south, eventually reaching more hills of sparse trees and thick grass. There was a four-legged animal that might’ve been a horse leaning down to eat grass. Or it could’ve been a big dog, perhaps even a creature Cleve wasn’t familiar with. He’d first heard of mookers the last time he was in Greenedge. Who knew what else lived here. Still, it was worth the short trip to find out.

“Let’s hurry before it runs away,” he said.

Outside the inn, they quickly decided that Cleve and Reela should ride Nulya to get there as soon as possible. Vithos jogged behind them, but soon he was lost behind the hills.

It wasn’t long before they found the animal. It was a horse. “My Bastial stars,” Reela said. “Who would leave it behind?”

“Perhaps it’s wild and whoever first captured it couldn’t find a way to take it with them.”

Cleve slowed Nulya so as not to startle the other horse. But before he could get Reela close enough for psyche, the animal snapped its head at them and reared up. The moment all its hoofs were back on the grass, it turned and darted in the opposite direction.

Cleve kicked Nulya to chase after it. “Hold on.” He pressed Reela’s hands into his stomach before returning his grip to the reins. She tried to clutch him tightly, her hands constantly adjusting to get a good grip.

“It’s hard to hold on with that bow over your shoulder,” she said.

“Sorry” was all Cleve could say to that. He wasn’t about to get rid of his prized weapon. “As soon as we get close, calm the horse with psyche.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Nulya couldn’t gallop as fast as usual with Reela sharing the saddle, and their quarry was heading for a dense cluster of trees. Cleve tried to urge Nulya faster, but she already seemed to be at her maximum speed.

The horse they were chasing was brown and smaller than Nulya, difficult to find among the trees if it got too far from them. Reela still wasn’t used to riding horses, and she had trouble balancing herself. At one point she almost slipped off and pulled Cleve with her. She gasped as they struggled to stay in the saddle, and finally they were stable again.

“This might not be the best idea,” Reela said as they approached the small forest. Cleve could feel her grip tightening.

She was right. He should’ve taken a moment to let her off first.

“The other horse probably isn’t trained to run as long as Nulya. We should be able to catch up,” he said instead.

Cleve steered his mount through the trees, determined to stay behind the wild horse.

“Duck,” Cleve called as he saw a low branch about to sweep them off the saddle. He could feel Reela leaning down with him.

But when he straightened his back and his eyes found a large, jagged rock in the middle of their path, he froze in fear for a moment. He couldn’t decide whether to halt Nulya or hope she’d see it and jump over.

“Cleve!” Reela screamed, noticing the rock as well.

It was too late to stop by then. Reela’s screams intensified as she squeezed the breath out of Cleve. Nulya took to the air and landed with a thud.

Cleve opened his eyes, not even meaning to close them in the first place. They were gaining ground; the wild horse was tiring faster than Nulya.

“Can you use psyche?”

“We’re going too fast for me to focus.” Panic clung to her voice.

“I need you to try,” he said. The longer they continued, the greater the chances of harm.

Reela cautiously pushed out one hand, the other practically buried in Cleve’s stomach.

“I can’t,” she said. “It’s too frightened to be calmed at this distance.”

“Is there anything you can do to slow it?” Nulya was no longer catching up. She needed to rest after her hard gallop.

“I think I can force it to stop, but it might fall and get hurt,” Reela warned.

“We have to try.”

She grunted and snapped her elbow. The brown horse whinnied loudly and slid across the dirt. A cloud of dust rose behind it. As it cleared, Cleve could see the horse had stopped.

“Get Nulya close and then let me jump off,” Reela said.

They reached the horse quickly, and Cleve gave Nulya a much-needed reprieve. Reela slid off the saddle, holding her hand out at the other horse the whole time. With a complete lack of coordination, she landed hard and fell to her knees with a groan. In that brief moment, the animal reared up and started to flee. But Reela jumped back to her feet and pushed both hands out. Once again, the horse stopped.