The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (12 page)

His smile disappeared with her businesslike
tone, and he glanced back to the ships. “Well, I’m no harbormaster,
but I know most of ‘em that’s here. Which one ya looking for?”

“
Quicksilver
,” she answered and
watched his expression switch to a frown.

“Hmm, ya got a ships pass?” he asked after a
moment’s thought. She nodded and pulled the envelope from her cloak
and offered it over to him. He barely glanced at the seal before
ripping it open and looking over the document. Given his rough
appearance she found herself shocked that he could read. “There’s
your problem, miss.
Quicksilver
wouldn’t be here. You need
the sky port. That’s up the street then up the hill a bit. He
glanced down at her trunks then back at her. If you got coin, I can
get ya a pair of stout lads to carry those for ya. Would do it
myself but I’m on duty.”

“Sky port?” She asked stupidly.

“Aye, sky port, ya know. For the spell hawks?
It’s up the hill like I said. You want those lads to carry for
you?” He raised an eyebrow in question, obviously impatient to be
off if she wasn’t going to present more interesting entertainment
for him.

“Uhh, yes, actually. If you know a couple
trustworthy ones, I would be most grateful.”

He snorted and shook his head. “Miss, ain’t
no one trustworthy but for the right coin, I’ll find ya decent
ones.” She nodded her understanding and slipped him silver.
Hopefully, a coin worth that much would persuade him to find really
decent ones. She wanted to ask what exactly a spell hawk was before
he left, but remained silent, knowing that she would find out soon
enough.

Within a few short minutes, the guard had
waved over a couple rough looking dock hands. She explained what
she needed, and soon found herself walking quietly behind them as
they led her through a narrow street and up a slight hill. She
wasn’t even sure if it could be called a hill, it barely rose over
the height of the nearest buildings.

The top was roughly cobbled and completely
bare of buildings as well as trees. She could make out what kind of
resembled a ship on the far side. It was deep polished grey all
over, as if made entirely of metal. It seemed much smaller than a
water-going vessel and resembled a bird in form. It was easy to see
where the term hawk had come from as she studied the outstretched
wings. Given the coloring, she supposed the name
Quicksilver
could apply.

She heard two solid thumps and a throat being
cleared, causing her to turn to see the dock hands regarding her
expectantly. With a nod, she fished out more coins. Once again
silver, one for each of them. They both took a quick glance at the
coin and without another look headed back down the hill. She felt a
knot of tension release from her stomach at their departure. She
had been half convinced they would mug her and take everything, but
apparently the guard had found decent ones, as he said he would.
She glanced down at her purse and frowned. It was good that Fortune
had given her more money. She had already spent a month’s worth of
food money just trying to get across town. She took another quick
look around to reassure herself that she was alone and walked
toward the ship, leaving her trunks behind her for the time
being.

Up close, it was even more impressive. It was
roughly about the same size as a small fishing vessel and was fully
enclosed. She could see a door in the side right behind the wing.
Every inch of it was engraved with runes that seemed to dance
before her eyes. Along the wings, she could see the pattern of
feathers, but the front did not resemble a bird’s head at all,
rather more rounded, with no neck. She frowned a bit when she
spotted the title
The Shade
in elegant print rather than
Quicksilver
on the back.

She heard a noise from the far side of the
ship, and moved around the front to see. The sound of sharp metal
being scraped came again, followed by a muffled curse. She rounded
in time to see a sweaty young man backing away from the ships wing,
with a pry bar in one hand and what resembled a broken tree limb in
the other. He didn’t look much older than she was and had a much
cleaner appearance than anyone else she had seen in town. His short
hair was a light auburn and heavily tousled from the wind. While he
was simply wearing a good quality under tunic and pants, he was
both well fed and well-muscled with a wiry build. In short, he was
certainly not a local. He wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead
with the back of his arm, studied the tree branch he held briefly,
and tossed it over his shoulder. He seemed to notice her as he
turned back to his ship, and his expression grew quizzical. With a
raised eyebrow, he looked her over. She noted the glint of silver
and the flash of gems from his ears and raised her own eyebrow. She
had never seen a man wear that sort of jewelry.

“Well, now that we have both had a good look,
may I help you?” His voice sounded both amused and tired.

“I was looking for the
Quicksilver
and
thought your ship might be it, but when I got closer I could see
the name
The Shade
, so that answers that. I’m afraid I might
have missed her, though. Could you tell me if you have seen her?”
She glanced back down at the town and looked quickly back to him,
praying he wouldn’t say it had already left. She didn’t fancy the
thought of an overnight stay in Brannaford, and she doubted she
could book passage on another ship this late.

He leaned back against the wing of his ship
and nodded. “I’m afraid you did miss her, actually. She went down
in a storm about two months ago. How long ago did you book
passage?”

She stared at him in disbelief, hoping he
would laugh and tell her it was a joke. When his expression stayed
serious and he remained silent, she sighed heavily. “I’m not sure,
actually. A friend of mine booked the passage.” She looked over her
shoulder again and mentally cringed at the thought of dragging
those trunks back down the hill to one of the rundown inns.

“Well, where are you bound to? Brannaford is
not a place I would leave a lady.” He smiled as her head whipped
back around to look at him with hope written clearly on her
features.

“Truly?” She breathed. “I would pay for
passage. I truly don’t want to be here. It’s not at all what I
remember it to be,” she added hastily.

He laughed lightly, still sounding tired but
a good sounding laugh she decided. “Truly, and no you don’t have to
pay, but you do have to tell me where you are going. Are those your
trunks over there?”

She nodded quickly. “I’ll drag them over. I
wouldn’t want to trouble you. I’m headed for Sanctuary actually.
That won’t be too far out of the way for you, will it?”

With another smile he pushed off the ship and
tossed his pry bar down beside it. “I’ll get the trunks, it’s no
trouble. And no, it won’t be out of my way. I’m headed there
myself, actually.” He looked her over again and offered his hand.
“My name is Christian, by the way.”

She took his hand and gave him a smile.
“Jala,” she replied with a slight bow of her head.

“Are you heading to the Academy by chance or
does some other business take you to Sanctuary?” he asked in a
perfectly polite tone. He had a good voice as well as a good laugh,
she decided, and felt herself warming to his company.

“Yes, actually, though I confess I’m a bit
nervous about it. It will be my first year there.”

He nodded his understanding. “Will be my
third year, and we have a decent length of flight before we get
there. I’ll try to explain what I can of it on the way.” He made a
motion toward the trunks. “Let me get those loaded and we will get
out of here. I can’t say I’m fond of this town, the sooner we are
gone the happier I am.”

She watched him walk off toward the trunks
and smiled brightly up at the sky. “Thank you, Fortune!” She
whispered and kissed her amulet lightly. Her hopes were higher than
they had been in days.

He returned in moments with the trunks
bobbing in the air behind him. She gaped a moment at her trunks and
then looked to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Too bulky to carry without dragging so it’s
just simpler this way,” he explained briskly, obviously
misunderstanding her expression. Approaching the ship, the side
door slid open and without a pause he lifted the biggest of the
trunks, as if it weighed no more than a feather, and pushed it
inside. Once both were loaded he offered her a hand up as well.
“Sooner gone, the sooner there,” he said with a wink. She stepped
inside quickly and moved from the door into the interior. It was
bigger than she had expected and very well accommodated. Her trunks
rested easily between four leather seats in the back of the ship.
Noticing two more seats in the front of the ship, she paused unsure
as to where he expected her to sit. He stood behind her now,
securing the door.

“On up in the front if you wish, no sense for
you to ride back here as cargo; you might as well have a good view.
Take the seat on the right and please don’t touch any of the
controls.”

She gratefully nodded that he hadn’t made her
ask where to go, and moved to sit in the right hand chair. The seat
sank slightly as she rested her weight in it. The leather was warm
and soft to the touch. She ran a hand over it idly amazed at the
comfort. Not even her bed in the Temple had been this relaxing and
it was down filled. He moved to his own chair and dropped into it
lightly. With practiced ease, he leaned forward and rested his hand
on a panel on the dash. To her delight and amazement the entire
dash of the ship lit up with an array of bright colors. At one
place there were numbers and at others lines all clearly displayed
and completely incomprehensible to her.

Her mind raced with further curiosity when a
map appeared in the upper right hand corner of the display screen.
She had never actually seen a map of the world before and found
herself leaning forward to study it more intently. There were three
large landmasses displayed. The one to the west was far larger than
the other two. On the southern corner near the eastern coast a red
dot was flashing. “Is this where we are? Brannaford, that is?” She
asked, indicating the dot with her finger.

She glanced over to find him watching her
with an odd expression. He gave a slight nod but remained silent.
She looked back toward the map, examining the large circle centered
almost perfectly in between the land masses. It looked half the
size of the smallest landmass but had nothing written on it to
indicate what it was. In fact, to her great frustration, none of
the map had writing to indicate what countries were where. The only
ones she could identify with certainty were Merro to the south of
where the red dot was, and Greenwild, the country Brannaford was
in. Realizing the only way her curiosity was going to be sated was
by asking she pointed at the large perfect circle. “What is
that?”

He stared at her for a moment as if trying to
decide if she was serious then answered in a neutral voice. “That’s
Sanctuary.”

Her eyes widened and she looked from him and
back to the map. “It’s not really that big, is it?” It couldn’t
possibly be a city the size of a small country. That couldn’t be
possible, could it? How would she ever even find the Academy if he
didn’t offer to guide her?

“That map is to scale. Sanctuary is actually
several cities built around one, it was the first place created,
and that’s why it’s so big.” His voice still held that neutral tone
and he was still watching her very closely.

“Created?” She asked quietly. She really
didn’t want to seem as stupid as he obviously thought she was but
she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Where are you from?” he asked with
curiosity, his voice showing no hint of malice or reproach.

She blushed slightly and frowned. “From a
small Temple south of Brannaford; it’s near a crossroad village by
the name of Bliss. Though it’s not much of a village anymore since
the fall of Merro, and there is certainly nothing Blissful about
it. I doubt you have heard of the place.” She gave a derisive
chuckle. “I doubt many in Brannaford have heard of it, and they are
only about a day away.”

“And they never taught you the story of
Sanctuary?” he asked carefully as if testing her.

“They taught me the fundaments of the Temple
and how to read and write but not much beyond that. I’m afraid I
don’t know much about the other lands at all, or history for that
matter,” she replied, her tone cautious. She wasn’t sure why he was
suspicious but she didn’t want to offend him further.

He nodded again and seemed to reach a
decision. “Well, the story of Sanctuary is a long one, and I’m no
bard, but I can give you the general bones of it quickly enough.”
He leaned back in his seat and indicated the map. “This is not the
only world. That’s difficult to believe but it’s the truth of it.
In the distant past over a thousand years ago this world did not
even exist and its inhabitants, well some of them anyway, were
scattered across these other worlds. There were many others aside
from our people, and among them was an order of mages known as The
Guardians.” He paused as if considering how best to continue and
then spoke again quietly. “Our people here, the ones that dwell in
this world, were well known out there for their power and strength
and willingness to use that power. So in the best interest of the
other worlds The Guardians began the creation of Sanctuary. They
kept it secret in forming, and through cunning, trickery, and at
times simple explanation they slowly brought it to the attention of
our people. They told them it was a refuge to build strength and a
safe place from their enemies. They told them several different
stories and always in the greatest secrecy. Over time they
convinced our people to help them in the creation, never once
telling them what it really was.”