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But Oriel had been right. He wasn’t an innocent little boy anymore, and none of them were the same people they’d been a few months ago. Nalha had picked the wrong people to betray.
Oriel turned to Aspen. “Do you want to finish him? We can let him bleed out like I said, but it’s your choice.”
It was almost like an offering to show not everything he’d said was lies. He’d kept his promise to cut off the bastard’s dick just like Aspen wanted, and he was trying to give him back some control over his life. Roth had even saved him and said he was important.
But Aspen had seen enough blood tonight and didn’t want to sink a blade into flesh. He wanted to lie down and not think.
“Let him bleed.”
The Captain had gone limp and probably only had minutes left.
For the first time on the boat, Aspen felt truly safe since it was just them. With the sailors gone and Nalha nearly dead, no one could touch them.
Then he remembered something when Roth mentioned they’d have to go soon.
“Unless you know how to sail,” he added.
“Erm, no.” Oriel glanced around. The ship was steady for now, the ocean was calm, and the wind was good, but such things never lasted, and a ship couldn’t simply be pointed in one direction and left to go for ages. “We can steer it a bit, and it’s steady for now, but there’s only three of us. We can’t do this ourselves for long. We have a little bit of time, and we can use the lifeboat to get down later and go to shore.”
If any of those men had survived, they’d have a hell of a time getting to shore. Even if they went to the new lord of Qualquetty and explained what happened, the trio would be long gone.
“Go lay down for a bit,” Oriel told Aspen. “See if you can get a little sleep before we leave. I don’t want to go to shore in the dark.”
Now that they were safe, Aspen also had a strange sense of deflation. Roth, who he’d treated like pure shit, had saved him. Oriel had given him a weapon, kept his promise, and tried to give him some control over someone who would have let his men hurt him without a second thought.
Maybe some part of him really did love Aspen. Maybe he wasn’t a heartless liar who had only viewed Aspen as a hole two years ago and only brought him along to assuage a little guilt.
But why? Oriel didn’t need him, and he shouldn’t bother caring. He had Roth who wasn’t broken in his mind, and Roth certainly didn’t need Aspen. Perhaps he should settle for silence instead of insults and snaps.
They’d be better off without him, and soon, they’d be too busy to worry about him at all. Both needed to move on without him, and that was better. Roth had proved he was better than Aspen thought, and so had Oriel, which was why they deserved each other.
Aspen couldn’t fit into the equation. He was a pile of busted pieces that would never fit anywhere now.
At dawn, Roth got him up. They loaded up a lifeboat with their stuff including all of the money they could find. The shore was visible. Once they lowered the lifeboat, Oriel and Roth took turns rowing since they had more muscle than Aspen.
He imagined someone seeing the ship at some point. If they boarded it and the Captain wasn’t too rotted, they'd see the word traitor carved into his torso. They’d wonder what he’d done, who the ship had belonged to, and why his testicles and penis had been severed.
Let them think what they wanted. They’d probably assume pirates had gotten them.
When they finally got onto an empty stretch of beach, they left the lifeboat and had no choice but to walk since they didn't have horses anymore. Aspen wasn’t sure where they were, but Oriel said they wouldn’t be stuck in the wilderness for too long. He seemed to have some idea of where they were.
He seemed beyond agitated as they finally made their way into another port town by the afternoon.
Aspen sat against their packs near the docks. People walked to and fro, ignoring them. Oriel had gone off to find if there were any ships taking passengers around here. If not, they’d go farther up the coast. Aspen glanced at Roth who was silent, and he wanted to thank him, but the words stuck. Surely, Roth hadn’t forgotten what an ass Aspen had been.
Apologies were useless. Roth would probably give him a smug look and said he’d actually done it for Oriel, not Aspen. Maybe he’d just said Aspen was important to make Oriel feel better.
Oriel returned. “We have to go right now. There’s one ship heading north to Realm’s Edge. From there, we’ll find another to the Windswept Isles.”
Oriel had already gotten tickets. Someone checked the little stamped, wooden pieces at the gangplank so nobody could sneak on. Aspen could already feel his body freezing up and his breath growing short at the idea of being on yet another ship. There would be so many people, and passengers would mostly be in the hold since they couldn’t put everyone in a cabin.
This was what Oriel had been trying to avoid for him and partly why he’d gone to see if Captain Nalha had been in port by any chance.
The sailor stamped each little wooden piece and handed them back with a warning to watch the warm wax. Oriel pocketed them, took Aspen’s packs, handed them to Roth, and picked him up. “I know you’re scared, but we have to go. Close your eyes and try to focus on me.”
“What the fuck’s his problem?” asked the fairy who checked their tickets.
“He’s scared of water," snapped Oriel. "Shut up before I give you a reason to be frightened of water."
