Page 20 of Under Restless Skies

The sailors approach us, but there’s something strange about the way they get too close.

One moment Alayel is greeting them; the next, an arm yanks me back, a dagger pressing to my throat as a rough hand gropes my breast. Listeno points a sword at Alayel, while a third man watches.

It’s an ambush.

5

The storm rages around us and inside me—fury at these smugglers, at this man groping me. It’s Felien, who once devoured me with his eyes, now daring to use his hands.

But I almost died, and now I’m bold instead of scared, as if a new power coursed through me. A new strength. I push away the knife against my throat and elbow the smuggler with the other arm.

Felien lets go, and I turn around and shove him.

His eyes widen as his body flies back toward the wall of the cabin.

Too fast. Too hard. He hits it with a loud thud, then falls face first, the back of his head already bloody. A shiver takes my body, a wave of dread and disgust. Did I just kill a man?

There’s no time to check. I turn and see Alayel pulling Listeno by his sword arm, and yet the third smuggler is approaching him. I advance toward the other assailant and push him, except that the wet floor makes me slip, and all I manage is a weak shove. Still, the smuggler slides to the edge of the boat.

Alayel now has a dagger in his hand—and moves it toward Listeno’s throat.

One quick slash, and the man falls. Dead.

The third smuggler runs toward me, sword in hand, but Alayel pulls him and slashes his throat. Also in one stroke.

My body’s shaking, horrified by the blood, the deaths. I realize Alayel has done this before, and a cold dread coils in my gut.

He runs to Felien’s body and checks his pulse. There isn’t much to check, as the man is surrounded by a pool of blood, now washed pink by the heavy rain. I killed him. And I don’t even understand how.

Alayel gives me a quizzical look. I swallow, unsure what to say, as revulsion blurs my thoughts and the metallic tang of blood turns my stomach.

He removes Felien’s belt, then lifts his body, and I look away, unwilling to see the smuggler’s wounds. All I hear is a slosh, like a large piece of gallonfish dropped into a pot of water. Alayel moves to the other two men, unbuckles their belts, and also throws them overboard.

Like that, they’re gone. Slosh. Slosh. Forever buried in the sea. One moment they were here, threatening our lives, now they’ll rot at the bottom of the ocean, never to be found again.

“Are you hurt?” Alayel asks as he approaches me, his voice soft.

The rain washed most of the blood from my clothes, but some of it’s still clinging to the fabric, not to mention that my shirt’s visibly ripped, but my wounds are far from my biggest worry now.

“I’m fine,” I point at the sky. “Did you see the rider? And a dragon. It was flying in the storm.”

He glances at the island and furrows his brows. “Are you sure?”

As if I could get confused. I nod. “They might be coming after us.” I can’t imagine that dragon hurting me, but there could be more dragons, or he could be controlled by that rider. “Can you steer the boat?”

“Thankfully, yes.” He gives me a cocky smile that I shouldn’t find charming, and yet I do. He then tightens one of the ropes holding the mainsail.

It feels as if we’re going faster, but I’m not sure. We’re moving parallel to Dragon Island, east toward Dracolius. As I glance at all the ropes holding the sails, I notice a net—with two eggs.

Alayel brought them. I don’t know how he recovered them, how he pulled them aboard without me noticing. But the eggs are here. We succeeded. A breath of relief leaves my lips, even if my chest is still tight.

I crouch by the red and green eggs and extend my hands to touch them, taking in their smooth texture.

After a moment, Alayel stands beside me again, and I ask, “You didn’t cross the rider?”

“No. Thankfully.” Alayel shakes his head and looks up at the sky. “At least it’s still raining.”

Except that patches of blue sky are replacing the dark clouds.