Strife & Valor: Book II of The Rorke Burningsoul Saga by Regina Watts (red queen ebook .TXT) 📕

He named a price that made my mouth fall open.

“Surely not,” I said.

Erdwud, however, swallowed his bite of food and leaned forward, waving dismissively with a napkin still between his thumb and the palm of his hand.

“Don’t listen to him,” said the rural innkeeper who was, perhaps ironically, the more worldly of the two. “Sharp won’t even go near the bloody airport! He’s afraid of blimps.”

“I’m not bloody afraid, you cock! I just don’t cherish the idea of being waylaid by pirates or dying in a fiery crash.”

“Pirates! Listen to you. Ten years old…probably secretly wish The Flying Rhinemaid’ll drift by and all the lovely lassies will avail themselves of your—”

Lively cleared her throat.

“Right,” Erdwud, red-faced and laughing now. “Anyhoo, he’s talking about the price for a cabin. The price for an economy ticket is much more reasonable. I’ve even heard you can give a few copper to the baggage crew and they’ll let you ride in the cargo hold, but they don’t take responsibility if you’re crushed by something, of course.”

I tried not to look impatient—but, much as Valeria might have felt through the frequency of her prayer the forthcoming waves of spiders, I could feel the information on our new warrant spreading through the city. When leaving El’ryh we had the benefit of slipping out before anyone knew we were gone. In Skythorn, we were wanted already. Keeping my tone even, I asked, “How much for an economy ticket?”

“Oh, shouldn’t be more than two ounce of gold apiece.”

“That’s good information,” I said, nodding. “Will you come by our rooms in a few minutes, Erdwud? I have a few more questions to ask, and I’m afraid we must pack.”

“Of course! No problem, no problem at all. What a shame to see you lot move on!”

I could see him wanting to ask where we were headed, but, pressed for time, I smiled at him and said, “Yes, it is a pity in some ways—we’ve all grown quite attached to you and Lively.”

Then, hand in the small of Valeria’s back, I steered her toward the stairs and we hurried to our rooms.

Not more than five minutes later the whole party stood together, Indra and Branwen packing while Odile, the self-appointed treasurer of our group, complained, “Why do we keep having to spend all our money!”

“It does us no favors weighing down our hips,” answered Valeria while helping me out of my armor, which otherwise made us too obvious as subjects of investigation.

Odile scoffed. “Easy for you to say, Materna. You’ve never had to worry about money in your life. What if we need it later on down the line?”

“Weltyr has plenty of money,” I assured everyone. “As we require it, more will be allocated to us. For now, we have to trust in him and spend it. Certainly I know no better way to flee our current circumstances and race toward our goal at the same time.”

With a hefty sigh of displeasure and a look at the leather sack still sitting on her dresser, Odile snapped, “Fine. But don’t come crying to me when our coffers are empty and we need to bribe a guard somewhere. I still can’t believe this! Why on Urde did you ever agree to such a stupid duel? And please! Don’t say it’s because of Weltyr.”

“I confess that he is the only reason why I do anything, Odile.” Sighing and rolling her eyes, Odile fetched the party’s purse. “Trust in Weltyr’s will was the reason I went agreeably with you two to El’ryh.”

“I’m starting to regret that deal,” she said, shaking her head while checking through the coins to make sure we had enough. “And I’m really starting to get sick of fleeing from cities…can we make this the last time?”

“If I can help it,” I promised her merrily.

Branwen, meanwhile, seemed drawn with concern and paused over the bag she packed, one hand resting against her forehead. I slid my arms around her and asked, “Are you coming with us?”

“I’ve never been to Rhineland before,” she said with reluctance, “or on an airship…but…”

Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth and her eyes lowered to the sword over which the ladies had been given little time to marvel.

“All right,” she said, looking up at me seriously. “After all we’ve been through, and the ways I let you down—I can’t stay here worrying about you. But are we really going to make it to the airport before being intercepted? I don’t know how fast word travels in Skythorn, but…”

“It’s true, I’m concerned about the actual path we’re to take. That’s why—ah!”

A knock rang out upon the door. Hurrying over, I threw it open to reveal Lively and Erdwud’s smiling faces.

“Just in time,” I said, my tone still somehow effortlessly carefree. I felt anything but. “Hello, friends! Erdwud, could you explain to us how we would get to the airport?”

I won’t bore one with the details, especially because they proved irrelevant. The women hovered about between the rooms, hastily packing, and for a span I swore to be shorter than four minutes we were given a chance to figure out a general route of escape. A difficult task, given how notoriously bad Erdwud was with directions!

Before he had even finished, however, a commotion from the street cut through all the city noise. My companions and I froze, exchanging urgent looks.

Erdwud noticed our expressions belatedly, connected them to the sound, and asked, “What’s that going on out there?” just as the door to the tavern blew open.

I and the ladies retreated into the rooms immediately. Erdwud and Lively, exchanging glances, stepped into the doorways and stood as if they were guests of the inn leaning out to find the source of the noise. The clamor of city guards entering the inn was crystal clear around the corner of the upstairs hallway.

“No weapons in the tavern,” said Sharp calmly, this immediate reprimand so audacious I would have laughed under another circumstance. “The lot of you