“You’re a lifesaver.” Cali accepted the chai gratefully, cradling its warmth between her paws.
“A hot drink and a good book make everything better.” Lira gestured to Cali’s notebook. “Speaking of books, how’s yours coming along?”
“I’m working on the troll queen chapter,” Cali said as she blew the steam off her drink.
Lira’s face split into a grin. “Troll king or troll queen?”
“Depends entirely on whose version you believe,” Cali said. “Though I’m inclined to write it the way Pirrin told it after the fact, because his version is significantly more flattering to himself.”
Lira laughed as she settled herself cross-legged on the grass next to the hammock. “He would have loved knowing you’re writing him into a book.” Her forehead bunched. “What’s it like writing about him and Malek and everything that happened?”
“Surprisingly therapeutic.” Cali turned her quill over in her fingers. “And you’re still sure you’re fine with me putting our crew and our quests into a book?”
“We’ve told you a dozen times,” Lira said, swatting lightly at the edge of the hammock. “We’re more than fine with it. We can’t wait to read it.” She paused, then added with mock solemnity, “Though I should warn you that Vaskel, Rog, and I have already decided that we fully expect the first book to be dedicated to us.”
Cali laughed. “That’s an easy promise to make.”
A rustle came from the direction of the tavern’s kitchen window, and Bramble scurried out across the grass, his striped tail swishing behind him as he hurried toward the hammock cradling a cloth-wrapped bundle in his paws. He presented it to Cali with a tiny nod.
She leaned down and took it, returning his bow before unwrapping it to find a scone still warm from the oven, its scent unmistakably sea lime and coconut.
“Bramble and Crumpet thought you should enjoy the last of our sea limes,” Lira said. “You’re getting a scone fresh off the rack before anyone else even gets a taste.”
Bramble chattered something, then turned and scampered back toward the kitchen, scrambling up the side of the tavern and darting through the open window.
Cali took a bite of the warm, buttery scone, and was about to say something about how it was a shame sea lime and coconut couldn’t be a regular scone flavor when movement across the bridge caught her eye.
Val was running full out, her blonde ponytail swinging wildly behind her as she hurtled from the direction of Greyhelm Castle and pounded across the wooden bridge toward the tavern.
Lira went still beside her, following Cali’s gaze. “That doesn’t look good.”
“It really doesn’t,” Cali said, already setting her mug down in the grass and swinging her legs out of the hammock.
Lira was on her feet first, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Val! Everything okay?”
Val didn’t slow until she’d nearly reached them, chest heaving, one hand pressed to her side. She shook her head, gasping out the words between breaths. “News from Eldu.” Another gasp. “Pirate war.”
Cali’s fur went cold, every thought of troll kings and sea lime scones evaporating as a single name rose unbidden in her mind.
Bonnie.
Forty-Five
Cali barely registeredthe warmth of the tavern kitchen as she leaned against the worktable and waited for Val to catch her breath. The guardswoman perched on the three-legged stool, her chest still heaving and one hand pressed flat against her side. Sass hovered, fanning the woman with a dishtowel.
Lira stood behind the stove where the pot of chai simmered. She poured a mug and pressed it into Val’s hands before the woman could protest. “Drink. Catch your breath.”
Crumpet, apparently unwilling to let a crisis interrupt the day’s work, continued stirring sugar into flour at the far end of the table, while Bramble squeezed the juice from half of a turquoise sea lime into the bowl.
Cali tried to keep her impatience from showing as Val took a long sip of chai, her hands still trembling slightly around the mug.
“Val,” Cali said, her voice measured. “What happened?”
Val set the mug down and drew a steadying breath. “From the reports we got, there was a skirmish on the docks in Eldu. It broke out into a full-scale pirate battle, and it spread from theharbor clear out to open water. There were numerous ships involved.” She shook her head, blonde ponytail swinging. “One of them sank.”
Cali’s stomach did a flip. “Do you know which one?”
“It wasn’t The Cruel Mistress,” Val said quickly. “That much I’m certain of, but there were other names mentioned—The Riptide, The Kraken’s Claw, The Slippery Eel. I can’t remember which one sank and which were just caught up in the fighting.”
