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“We’ll get there,” I answered, nodding at people as we passed. Tobyas’ wooden sword cleaved the air as he bounced around the street slaying invisible monsters.
Even though I didn’t particularly like him, ever since Lord Castemont had suggested I could be a Royal Guard one day, I decided I was going to act the part. That meant I had to march, not run, to the Cliffs of Malarrey.
The Lord had come by our house a few days after we met him in the market. How he knew where we lived, I wasn’t sure, but he brought a bouquet of flowers for Aunt Berna and two wooden swords for me and Tobyas. I was too old to play with a wooden sword, but it felt kind of powerful to have it strapped to my side. Almost like a real guard.
“Watch it!” an old man barked as Tobyas barely missed the man’s arm with an unruly swing. Tobyas didn’t skip a beat, continuing to swing and dodge enemies that weren’t there without so much as an apology.
“Look!” Tobyas suddenly called, pointing his sword to the castle looming overhead. At the very top of the highest turret, a figure stood on a balcony, looking out over the city. “King Umfray! He’s right there!”
The man was too far away to tell if it really was the King of Widoras, but Tobyas began frantically waving his arms trying to catch the person’s attention as we continued walking. I wondered if the King was still in mourning. It’d been a year since his son passed. They told us he’d caught a fever, but the rumor was that he’d actually been drunk and fell into the harbor. Some even said he’d been pushed.
I’d only ever seen the King from afar, during parades or when he addressed the city from a balcony on holidays. Aunt Berna said he was a good king, but I didn’t know if that was true. Sure, we were more than fine in Prisma, but every district wasn’t like that. Aunt Berna told us we were never allowed to go to Inkwell because it was full of people that were so poor and hungry that they’d attack us for the coin in our pockets. But we were poor and hungry when we lived with Mama, and we never attacked anyone.
If I were ever King of Widoras, the people of Inkwell would be the first I’d help.
I glanced back at the man on the balcony, but he’d disappeared.
We rounded the corner of Maple Avenue to the waterfront of Pellucid Harbor. I liked living in a city on the water. Growing up in Taitha, I’d always felt a little suffocated. But in Eserene, the horizon over the sea went on forever. I couldn’t see the Onyxian Mountains from within the city walls, but I knew they were there, watching over the sea like King Umfray supposedly watched over his people.
The cliffs drew nearer as Tobyas continued to swing his sword. “I want to go back to the Onyx Pass so I can kill a bonehog,” he called over his shoulder as he thrust his wooden blade forward.
I shuddered at the thought. We’d spent four nights camping in the Pass on our journey from Taitha to Dry Gulch to Eserene after Mama was killed. The guide that escorted us told us we’d be okay as long as we stayed with the group. We made it through unscathed, but the screams and snarls of the beasts still rang through my mind like they’d been howling just for me.
“You were too little to remember the Onyx Pass, Tobyas. Besides, you couldn’t kill a bonehog,” I answered as we began to ascend the hill to the top of the cliffs.
“I could kill any of the beasts in the Onyx Pass.”
I rolled my eyes. Tobyas was twelve now, but he still acted like a child sometimes, something that other boys his age had already grown out of. He loved his books — devoured them like his favorite pastries. And he loved playing soldier, even more so now that he had a wooden sword. He often frayed my nerves, but I didn’t mind it, especially because I’d been forced to grow up so quickly. He could be a kid for a little longer.
“Do you know how big a bonehog is?” I prodded.
“Doesn’t matter how big it is. Just gotta know where to stab it.” He swiped his sword through the air as he ran up the incline, overshooting and almost catching himself in the leg.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” I called.
“Am not,” he answered, just in time for him to overdo his follow-through and strike himself across the arm. “Shit,” he hissed.
“Hey!” I barked.
“Aunt Berna isn’t around!”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Who cares–”
“What does Aunt Berna say?”
Tobyas’ arms dropped to his sides as he let out a sigh, dropping his head back in exasperation. “If you’re not smart enough to say something without swearing, you’re not smart enough.”
“That’s right.”
He rolled his eyes as we reached the top of the cliffs. Tobyas plopped to the ground and hung his feet over the side. “Well in my opinion, smart people sayfuck.”
And he slid over the edge.
Even though the drop was short, I still got nervous every time I saw him disappear. Aunt Berna had taught us a lot, but she’d never taught us how to swim. I tried to keep my pace slow and deliberate like a Royal Guard would, but I couldn’t help but scramble to the cliff’s edge to make sure he’d actually landed on the thin strip of rock a few feet down.
“Let’sgo,” he called over his shoulder. I let a tiny sigh of relief escape when my eyes found him. I lowered myself over the edge to land behind him as he began making his way across the face of the cliff. “We’re going to miss the lights if you don’t hurry thefuckup.”
