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What we’re doing is dangerous. Treasonous. If my father catches us, we’re all dead. Which is why I’m bringing only three with me: Athella, because she can get me through any door; Sorinda, because she can cut down anyone in our path; and Riden, because—
I just want him with me.
The four of us leave the ship and enter the keep. We slide along cave wall after cave wall, peering around every bend and turn to make certain it’s clear before proceeding. It’s getting late, and we can only hope that most pirates have already gone to bed.
When we reach the door, I put Sorinda and Riden on either end of the tunnel as lookouts. Athella gets on her knees to inspect the lock while I stand just behind her. My fingers start to fidget, so I fold my arms.
Athella lets out a low whistle.
“Shh,” I say, casting a nervous glance down toward my father’s rooms.
“Sorry,” she whispers. “It’s just that the kingreallydoesn’t want anyone getting in here. He has one of those fancy new Wenoa locks with a cylindrical keyhole. Most lockpicks haven’t figured out how to manufacture the tools necessary to get through these.”
“So you can’t do it?”
A mischievous grin takes over her face. “Didn’t say that, Captain. I’m no average lockpick. It’ll just take me a while.”
“I don’t how much time you’ll have.”
“Then I’d better get started.”
She unrolls her cloth of tools and grabs a hollow, cylindrical piece of metal and inserts it into the hole. Then she grabs a pick and starts poking it around the edges. I thank the stars that I have Athella in my crew. My lockpicking skills are nowhere near as advanced as hers.
“Powerful spring,” she mumbles to herself and adjusts her fingers slightly.
I realize I’m holding my breath while she works, so I force myself to let the air out of my lungs. “If you get this open, you can have half of my share of our next plunder.”
She laughs. “If? Captain, I’m heartbroken.”
“Someone’s coming!” Sorinda whispers through the flickering torchlight.
Athella shoves the tools and kit into her corset before standing. “What do we do?”
I haven’t had time to soak up more song. I’m practically empty after unleashing myself on Vordan, so we need to be clever in order to get out of this one. And if it’s my father approaching, singing will do us no good. As Vordan said, my abilities have never worked on him.
I wave Riden over. He joins us, and I start laughing and walking in the direction of the new footsteps.
Athella and Riden catch on quickly, relaxing their stances. Athella lets out a giggle, and Riden smiles openly. Sorinda falls into line with us, wearing an uncomfortable grimace, but she quickly masks her face with her usual apathy. Sorinda hasn’tmuch practice with playacting. She prefers not being seen altogether, but that is impossible at the moment.
“But the fool was so angry that he challenged me to a duel,” I say as though continuing a story.
A few men round the corner, and we continue walking toward them as though we’re heading farther into the keep.
“What happened next, Captain?” Athella asks.
“I had no choice but to accept. I embarrassed the poor man in front of his friends.”
The footsteps belong to Adderan and a couple of his men. He must have come by to make more apologies to my father, and to give him more assurances of his loyalty.
They give us inappropriate, lingering glances, likely thinking us to be whores requested by the king. That is, until Adderan bothers to look at my face. He grimaces as he recognizes me, then hurries the others along.
I almost wish he’d provoke me. I’d love an excuse to kill him.
We continue walking long after the men pass us. Then, just to be extra cautious, I say loudly, “Hold on, I’ve forgotten something on the ship.”
We turn back down the tunnel until we reach the door once more. Everyone resumes their posts.
“They’ve moved on,” Riden says from his end.
