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They passed the only inn in town before coming to a mercantile shop.
Keres dismounted easily, tying her horse to a post at the front and gesturing inside. “Come along. Through here.”
The inside was … full of junk. Kerrigan was skeptical as she waded through veritable mountains of useless material. It hardly seemed like a store and more like a dragon’s hoard. If the dragon refused gold and instead wanted fifteen different varieties of broken clay pots.
“What is this place?” she asked.
“A friend’s shop.” Keres waved them on, deeper into the back until they reached a counter. Keres knocked twice on the wood. “Master Selby, if you will?”
Nothing happened for a second, and then a strange man in even stranger clothing popped out of the back of his shop. He was tall and mustachioed with a little curl at the end of his manicured beard. His clothes were a variety of blues and greens in a soft silk and sheer with pants and long sleeves that were tight at the ends.
“My dear friend,” the man said with a dramatic bow. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Keres grinned deeply. “I assume you received my message.”
“Yes, yes. I was surprised to hear from you again … after last time.” His blue eyes went distant, a smirk rolling across his face, then disappearing. “Anyway, introductions, and then we shall be gone.”
“Of course. These are my traveling companions: Kerrigan, Fordham, Cleora, and Danae. And this is Master Basille Selby, renowned in these parts for his clever ability to find anything for a price.”
“You’re too good to me,” Basille Selby said with amusement.
Kerrigan squinted at him. There was something about him that didn’t quite add up. Like she was looking at him sideways instead of straight on.
“Do you see it?” Keres asked, watching her closely.
“He’s … he’s shielded or something?”
Keres smiled. “Close. Dimmed.”
Master Selby waved his hand. “Now, now, don’t go sharing all my secrets, Keres, my dear.”
“You’re a Doma,” Kerrigan gasped.
Cleora laughed. “That is no Doma.”
Danae even looked skeptical. “You can tell Doma right away.”
But Fordham just nodded. “That explains it.”
“You ruin all my fun,” Basille said, wagging his finger at Keres.
She laughed softly. “I don’t know why you continue with the charade anyway, but I’ll leave you to it. Are we ready to depart?”
“Yes. Fine. This way. Through the back.”
They ducked under a wooden countertop and followed Master Selby through his shop. The back was as riotous as the front, perhaps with even more nonsense than before. But at least one wall was completely covered in books from top to bottom. Cleora looked half-ready to stop and peruse them before Keres ushered her to the exit.
Out back was a team of horses rigged up to a large, brightly-colored wagon just big enough to perhaps fit all five of them.
“Does this suffice?”
Keres clapped her hands. “Brilliant.”
The rest of the party looked rather skeptical of the situation, but Basille Selby was already offering Keres a hand and helping her into the wagon. Fordham sighed heavily and gestured for the rest of them to go ahead of them. Whatever Keres was planning, she had a taste for the theatrical. Something Kerrigan had clearly inherited.
The inside of the wagon was much nicer than the shabby exterior. Feathered pillows and blankets lined the floor and walls. Though there was little space for them to stretch too far, it was enough to be comfortable. Then, Master Selby took up the front seat, and off they went.
Darkness crept in heavily. Kerrigan didn’t know how he was going to navigate through this, but that was no longer her concern. Not as the events of the day caught up with her. She was here with her mother. Her mother. After all these years, Keres was really here. It didn’t even feel real. Kerrigan had so much to ask her and learn from her and understand about how this had all come to pass. But now, she was content to stare into her mirrored face and accept that it had happened after all. Her mother was real.
A violent bump jostled the inside of the carriage. Muffled groans came from its occupants. Kerrigan’s eyes slowly peeled open. Bright light momentarily blinded her. She didn’t even remember falling asleep. Just thinking about her mom and then nothing. She must have been so exhausted from the fight and flight that she’d completely passed out. And now, it was daylight.
“Where are we?” she croaked over a dry throat.
“Near enough to where we need to be,” Keres said.
She passed Kerrigan a skin filled with water. Kerrigan gulped it down gratefully before passing it to the others in the wagon.
“We can’t be there already,” Cleora said. “Rhithymna is two and a half days by horse. We couldn’t make it there in a night.”
“You’re quite right,” Keres agreed.
Yet as they peeked their head out of the flaps of the wagon, a great white castle appeared on the horizon.
