Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) (17 page)

Maertn looked again, a little more awe now
stretching across his features. By the end of their journey, he’d
started to hate sailors, but now they did earn a little more
respect in his eyes.

“Well then, let’s get in there, shall we? I
need a proper bed, somewhere to lay down for the night where I
won’t be rocking from side to side.”

“Woah there, not so fast. Firstly, we’ve got
to wait for this little thing here to stop being sick.” Ross
pointed down at Quinn, who puked again by way of response. “Then,
I’ve got to figure out what I can actually can say when we get to
the council. And we’ve got to get to the council halls without
being stopped by any of the guilds, or just flat-out arrested for
being foreigners. So what I can do, is make camp here for one
night. You’ll still get your wish of sleeping on solid ground, it
just won’t be as soft as you’d hoped.”

Maertn ground his teeth in frustration, but
he didn’t complain. In truth, he was just glad to be off the
ship.

* * *

Eventually, Quinn’s stomach settled long
enough that she could sit down properly and she saw that Ross and
Maertn had already gathered together the majority of their camp. A
small fire was set, and a frugal pot of stew was already cooking.
The smell of it did make her stomach turn again, but there was
nothing left there for her to spill. She crawled over to her
bedroll, feeling thoroughly miserable. She had hated every single
second of that journey, from the moment she’d stepped on board the
planks of the ship, to the point she’d rolled out of Ross’s
forsaken little rowing boat and onto the beach. The face of the
mercenary falling overboard had haunted her. The nausea had been a
welcome distraction, rendering her incapable of concentrating on
anything but her stomach.

Quinn had hoped that getting back on solid
ground would be a glorious feeling, but as soon as she hit the
beach, her head continued to spin and her feet had wobbled. The
vertigo had overwhelmed her, and despite spending most of the
journey with her head over the side of the ship, Quinn had
continued to spill her guts. She was never going on another ship.
That was a strong promise, given that there were now on an island,
but Quinn was determined to stick to it.

Maertn had tried to stick all sorts of
noxious herbs down her throat to settle her, but none of them had
helped. She was pretty sure most of them had made it worse, and
Maertn was deliberately making her sick so that she was sick less
in the long run. That plan hadn’t worked, and now she had a
headache and a constant stomach ache from all of the muscles she’d
pulled. Maertn had apologised to her numerous times, saying that
they’d worked for countless people before. Quinn pointed out that
she wasn’t countless people, and this time his herbal tricks hadn’t
worked. Maertn didn’t speak to her for a few hours after she’d said
that, which made Quinn feel even more awful. She hadn’t meant to
hurt his feelings, but she’d felt so dreadful, that she’d lashed
out at the only person talking to her. After the Sighs, Ross had
ignored her for most of the journey. His excuse had been talks with
the captain of the ship, catching up on the news of what was
happening in the islands so he wasn’t caught unawares when they
finally landed. Quinn had thought he was avoiding her, like most
everyone had after what she’d done to the mercenary.

“How are you feeling?”

“That’s a stupid question, especially coming
from a healer. How do you think I’
m
feeling?
”

“
Quite rotten.
It
’s not as if I haven’t tried to help you.”

Quinn relented. “I know, and I’
m sorry. I don
’t mean to sound so horrid. I’ve just
never felt so vile in my life.”

Ross chuckled, and Quinn glared. He threw up
his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t kill me with those evil
eyes.”

Quinn stilled, hurt at first. Ross, though,
was just trying to be playful. Quinn tried not to overreact.

“I’m sorry Quinn, I’ve just never seen
someone go so green so quickly in my whole life. You were doomed
the second you walked onto that ship, and all of the deck hands
felt sorry for you at first. I’d considered throwing you over at
one point, but I decided against it. I thought it would do our
friendship some irrevocable damage.”

“I’m glad you decided to keep me,” Quinn
responded sarcastically.

“Try this.” Maertn handed across to her
another steaming mug of noxious liquid, and Quinn felt like
throwing up before it even got near her. She grabbed the wooden mug
in both hands, making the regrettable decision to sniff the
contents. Another wave of nausea rolled over her, and she passed
the mug back to Maertn. “What foul thing have you put in this?”

Maertn shook his head, trying not to laugh.
“It doesn’t matter what’s in it, all you need to know is make you
feel better.”

“By doing what, killing me?”

“No, by making you feel better.”

“But I have to drink the
whole
thing
for this miracle to happen?”

Quinn brought her hands back in as Maertn
nodded, obviously not willing to take the concoction back. Heaving
a massive sigh, she pinched her nose and quaffed the disgusting
liquid down. She retched twice, but did manage to get it all down
her throat. She kept pinching her nose afterwards, so she didn’t
accidentally taste any of it. The liquid settled in her belly, and
oddly, she did feel better, almost straight away. She hated it when
Maertn was right, especially when she’d been mean to him.

“Now that you two are done flirting, get
some sleep. You’ll need rest to get through tomorrow; you’re going
to get your first full experience of Sha’sek.”

Quinn was nervous, and she didn’t want to
let that show. She was certain that she wouldn’t be able to sleep
that night. She was wrong, and she drifted into a deep sleep
quickly enough as Ross settled himself in for a long night of
watch. They had been attacked in Everfell; there was no way, now
they were in Farn, that he’d consider them safe.

* * *

Quinn and Maertn both woke with the dawn,
the tense excitement from the night before spilling over into the
morning. Ross had already cooked them the remainder of last night’s
broth for breakfast, and Quinn scalded her tongue as she swallowed
it down, eager to be into the city proper. He chuckled at them
both, giving them the disappointing news that, before they did head
into the city, Ross would be getting a few hours’ rest himself.
He’d been up all night keeping watch, and whilst there hadn’t been
any incidents, he wasn’t taking any chances.

It was unlikely that anyone was going to
come wading out of the shallows to get them, but it was only a
matter of time before Sammah found out that they were heading to
Sha’sek, and it wouldn’t take much for him to figure out which city
they would head to. Sammah’s resources were spread wide, and Ross
wanted to avoid Sammah’s direct influence as much as possible. It
was going to be hard enough negotiating with his brother.

“Are you sure you want to go into the city
today? You look exhausted. You must need more rest than a
morning?”

Quinn bit down on her lip. She didn’t want
to be delayed heading into Farn, but nevertheless, she was
concerned for him. Ross shook his head slowly. “You have no idea
what it’s like to be in a campaign do you? I’ve fought battles
after night-long marches, so I should be fine looking after you two
in a city like Farn, even if you do ignore my instructions from
time to time. Don’t worry about me, just make sure you get fed, and
figure out what it is you want to do once you get behind those
walls. I can look after you, but I can’t tell you what your lives
are going to be like.”

Quinn didn’t think Ross would sleep, but he
was snoring within minutes of covering himself with a loose
blanket. She and Maertn sat there in silence for a few minutes, the
imposing walls of Farn on the horizon forcing them to contemplate
what might be ahead. Maertn cleared his throat. “So… what do you
think should be doing when we get there?”

“
I don
’t know. I
have no idea what it’s going to be like. Part of me wishes I had
stayed in Everfell.”

Maertn snorted, “And what, face a trial that
you have no chance of getting away from alive? That was a choice,
was it Quinn?”

“You know who rules Farn?”

Quinn did know, and Maertn must have
remembered, after all the conversations they’d had with Sammah.
Quinn had a few ideas why Ross wanted to bring them here, so she
hadn’t questioned Farn as his choice. He was after all far more
experienced in Sha’sek politics than they were. Maertn shook his
head, and the fact that Maertn was ignorant as to their destination
was more than a little worrying. “
You
can
’t remember who rules on Farn?”

“There is never just one ruler. Sha’sek is
ruled by the council.”

Quinn groaned, cradling her face in her
hands. “Did you never listen to anything Sammah taught us?”

“Usually, I was too busy healing. You were
the one that got all the lectures. Why, what have I got wrong?”

“The council is a collection of leaders from
all the islands. You don’t have a council per island, every island
has its own leader. So yes, we are going to be relying on the
benevolence of one single leader, and it’s someone you’ve
definitely heard of before.”

“Are you going to tell me, or are you going
to keep nagging me?”

“Farn is ruled by Baron Pax, Sammah’s older
brother.”

Maertn had been stirring a pot of tea, and
on hearing that news, he stopped, his petrified gaze rising to meet
Quinn’s. “Sammah’s brother? Is Ross out of his mind?”

“The opposite, actually. Think about it,
this is the only real place in all of the islands that we stand a
chance of being safe.”

“How, by the spirits, have you figured that
one out?”

“
We don
’t know for
sure that Sammah was acting on his own. But, how likely do you
think it really is that the council still wants a war with
Everfell? I don’t think it will happen. I think Sammah was working
on his own, and Ross evidently agrees. So, he’s taking the gamble
that the strongest island with the most influential leader will be
the safest place for us to stay. If anything, Farn will be the
safest place to keep us hidden from anyone coming to find us from
Everfell.”

Maertn grunted, and Quinn were sure it was a
sound of disapproval rather than anything else.

“And what happens if the baron and the
council knew precisely what Sammah was doing, and they
do
want to start the war again?”

Quinn had thought of that, and she didn’t
want to answer the question. Personally, she was pretty sure she
knew exactly what would happen if Sha’sek did still want to go to
war. Abilities had been useful in the previous war, and whether she
liked it or not, she’d figured that they’d want to use her,
especially if they discovered she could be just as powerful as
Nerren. If Pax was allied with Sammah, then she was walking into a
death-trap.

All she had to hold on to was hope; that of
all of his kin, Sammah was the black sheep. From his texts, Sammen
had been much the same. Ross had told them what it meant to be an
apath. Hopefully that was enough for the council to distance
themselves from Sammah’
s dangerous
intentions.

Hope. That wasn’t a lot to hold on to. Quinn
curled into a ball, deciding then that she definitely wanted to be
back in Everfell. Lying on a beach in a foreign land, exposed and
feeling utterly alone, a lonely tear trickled down her cheek.
Eden
Quinn thought,
I miss you so much
.

* * *

Ross’s snoring abruptly came to an end a few
hours later, to the relief of Maertn and Quinn. The two were
usually able to fill the silences. Their familiarity usually
brought with it an easy banter. Now however, with the imposing city
on the horizon and an uncertain future ahead of them, they had
nothing to say to each other that would be anything but
nerve-wracking. They were both desperate for their guardian to
wake, so that they could at least be on their way.

“What’s wrong with you two? You both look
miserable as sin. Have you spent the last few hours arguing?”

“Quite the opposite,” Maertn replied, “we’ve
been sitting in a grumpy silence waiting for you to wake up.”

“That sounds enjoyable.” Ross sniffed at the
air. “Is there any tea left?”

Maertn hit out at the brew pot with a spoon,
and Ross got himself a cup. The tea was long-stewed, but he didn’t
seem to mind.

“That will taste disgusting by now.” Quinn
said

“
I don
’t
particularly care, I just want to wake up.” Ross replied. “So,
you’ve decided what we’re going to be doing?”

“Maertn didn’t even know where we were, so,
no, we don
’t know what we’
re doing.
” Quinn replied tartly.

Ross looked cautiously to Maertn, then back
to Quinn. “I thought you said you hadn’t been rowing? I need you
two to be getting on with each other to give yourselves the best
chance of thriving in there. You’ve had a blissfully peaceful
relationship your entire lives, and I don’t want to see that start
falling apart now.”

“Nothing is falling apart, we’re just both
very nervous. We’ve never been here before, and we’re petrified,”
Maertn replied quietly

“I can’t blame you for being frightened, but
that’s why you need to
talk
to each other. And I mean really
talk. Quinn may need your support, Maertn, but the same works both
ways. You’re going to need Quinn there for you, if you decide that
you want to actually stay in Sha’sek.”