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"Yes." The time it took for his message to arrive concerned me. Hades only knew what might have changed since then. Viva might be dead already. Helene too. In the back of my mind, I knew that wasn't the case. I had nothing to base that assumption on, but I was as certain as I was that Kerina stood in front of me, a smirk on her face.
"I hope you're right," she said slowly. "I'm not a fan of wild dragon chases." She frowned. "That's not true, I like chasing real dragons, not shadows. Especially broken shadows."
I nodded. That's exactly what we would be chasing if I was wrong. Still, I knew I wasn't, so I waved for her to do as I asked, and strode into the guard's barracks.
Wide and cool, the barracks held room for nearly three hundred men. The women were housed in a smaller dormitory across a narrow courtyard. In the days before the Alpha's father, men occupied both. The women's barracks were used for officers, or for storage.
These days, it only ever held a handful of women at a time. Few of them wanted to be guards and fewer still had the skills necessary to fight off an attacker. For the most part that was because of the lack of training for girls. Many of the older trainers wouldn't let them train alongside the boys, unless, like Kerina, they refused to be told no.
LikeVivatoo, I mused. If they wanted it enough, they found a way. I made a note to mention it to Dex. If women wanted to defend the Vault, why shouldn't they be allowed to? Encouraged to.
I found a servant and ordered him to find two saddlebags and fill them with water bottles and food for the journey. I found two more bags myself and started to pack as lightly as I could. Hades knew how long this might take, but what I didn't pack now, I could buy later.
The servant returned with the saddlebags and Kerina followed virtually on his heels, arms piled with clothes and other items.
"TheShadeleaves in two hours." She picked up her own bag and began to stuff her belongings into it. "The captain wanted a grand for the journey. Transferred electronically."
When I responded with a twist of my lips for the price, she added, "Each."
I swore softly. "Thief." Not to mention the time it would take to have the funds sent from Dex's bank. Plenty of people in the Vault preferred to trade the old way. More and more were turning to methods used by the outside world. That was inevitable I supposed.
Kerina shrugged her bag onto her back and picked up her saddlebag. "I think he sensed the importance, or it would have been half the price. And you're sleeping on the deck."
"Of course I am." It didn't matter to me where I slept, as long as I slept, but I would let Kerina score another point. If that was what it took to have her speak to me again, I would put up with her ribbing. If nothing else, we needed to have each other's backs. If not…
I wouldn't think about that. I swung my bag onto my back and followed Kerina out to the stable yard.
A car greeted us outside. Specifically a Second World War era Volkswagen. Tiny and worn, I'd be lucky to squeeze inside next to the driver.
Kerina caught my glance and returned it with one of her own. "What? it was all I could find at such short notice."
"It will do," I said with a grunt. I would have preferred one of the limos, but nothing about them said stealth. At least we didn't have to walk.
I swung my bag into the boot and climbed in beside the driver.
Kerina gave me a stony look through narrowed eyes and I smiled back. Neither of us would sit comfortably in the back, but she was smaller than me. She could sit in there or stay behind.
The driver, a man named Harold, nodded to me and turned over the engine. Contrary to the way the car looked, she purred like a proverbial kitten. It hummed past through the residence gates and out onto the street.
I wound down the window and watched the scenery pass by.
An unusual stillness hung over the city, heavy with the heat of the afternoon. Ever since the attack by the dragon, the Vault had fallen into an uneasy watchfulness. People only went out and about to do important business, such as work or to buy food. No one lingered for a conversation and an eye was always on the sky, or the citizens around them. As if they might turn into a dragon without warning, or incite a riot.
There was something more, something I couldn't put my finger on.
"That music is weird," Kerina remarked as she climbed down out of the carriage at the docks. She tossed a coin to the driver, who nodded and only waited long enough for me to grab our bags before he drove away.
"What music?" I asked, my eyes already on theShade. She was a small ship, but would be quick, if not comfortable.
"Are you losing your hearing in your old age?" Kerina teased. She gave me a hard poke in the ribs and headed toward the ship.
"Don't make me demote you," I growled. I listened, but heard no music at all. I shook my head and shrugged.
She stopped and waved a hand in the air. "I can hear it, as clear as anything. It's… violins and something I don't know." She shook her head. "It sounds mournful. You must hear that?"
I strained, but I couldn't hear any kind of music at all. I turned in a slow circle. Just the usual dock sounds. People talking, laughing, moving crates, the barking of dogs and bleating of a large box filled with sheep. Perhaps a drumbeat now and again, but no music. Certainly no violins.
"I don't hear it. Perhaps my hearing is failing."
