They set out early the next morning, in those first sleepy, some might say dreary, minutes before sunrise. Damon wore his cloak over his best traveling clothes, heavy pack laden with tent and food and water skins, broken myrblade and curved Rem sword both hanging from his sword belt.
It was such a strange moment, one that felt disordered from time. He stood alongside Malon, Vel, and Ria, alongside his family, staring at the tower, the home they’d all shared for so many years. He felt like waving goodbye to the building itself, but sensed that the others, Ria in particular, would never let him live it down.
“I hope we get to come back eventually,” said Vel. “I really did enjoy my time back here.”
She glanced down at her shoes, and then her arm and waved to the tower. Damon grinned and pulled her into a tight hug, lavishing her cheeks and lips with kisses.
“Damon!” she said, giggling.
“I just suddenly remembered how much I love you,” he said. He waved with his free hand, along with her, appreciating Vel for being who she was.
The unfortunate truth was that, while Damon’s individual relationships with all of his traveling companions were as solid as they’d ever been, there was an element of discord within the group. They weren’t traveling together as much as headed in the same direction, committed to the same quest.
Ria pulled ahead, putting a good quarter mile in between herself and Malon, who was content with a more breathable pace. Vel, while having made great strides in repairing her relationship with her aesta, still wasn’t entirely comfortable hiking alone with her, which meant she stayed close to Damon as much as she could.
Damon had to vary his pace, speeding up to catch Ria whenever he wanted a word with her, slowing down to check on Malon and make sure they still had some semblance of cohesion as a group. It was irritating and more than a little stressful, a physical manifestation of the cracks within their family.
Surprisingly, the revenants, which Damon had anticipated to be their foremost challenge, were almost a nonfactor. The amount of power they shared between them made the encounters with the monsters swift and decisive, sometimes not even posing enough of a threat to force them to break stride.
Damon would whip out his broken myrblade and freeze them solid with a few quick slashes or drop his hand to the muddy ground to freeze them from below. Malon would simply point a finger and incinerate entire groups of the monsters, leaving no trace of their existence beyond piles of ash. Ria, too, could hold her own against them with her spear, and no doubt could have done far more with the rain.
And Vel, well… Vel was an eternal well of moral support.
***
They made a single detour from their northeastern course toward Silke. Ria mentioned a drop-off point where she could leave missives for a Rem courier to deliver a message to Joyell and Matrick on how to handle the havens in her absence.
“You think they’re up to the task?” asked Damon.
“They will have to be,” she replied. “They have both grown into capable leaders under my guidance. The question is less of their capabilities, and more of whether our quest bears fruit, I think.”
She scribbled out a quick note, hesitated, added a few more details, and then stuffed the rolled-up missive into the hollow interior of a tree. Malon and Vel had used the break in their pace to catch up, and for a few minutes after, they all traveled as a group again.
Their pace was punishing, and when they made camp each night it was for the sake of getting as much rest as possible. Damon didn’t slip into the tents of any of his beautiful traveling companions, much as he would have liked to, and similarly, none of them snuck in to visit him.
It was the night of the fourth day when they reached the point where they’d agreed to meet up with Lilian. Silke was no more than five miles distant, near enough to be visible on the horizon if it weren’t for the ash and hills. They made camp as soon as it became dark, earlier than they normally would have.
Lilian made her appearance within a few minutes of the sun setting completely. She looked good and wore a new set of traveling clothes, along with a set of lapis lazuli earrings that looked incredible against the tone of her skin.
“How has the journey faired you so far?” she asked.
“Well enough,” said Damon.
“I have a blister on my heel,” muttered Vel. “I absolutely cannot wait to get to Silke and have a chance to take a bath and be off my feet.”
“Well, unfortunately, you may have to wait a while longer for that,” said Lilian, with a frown. “I made it to Silke yesterday, and I’ve already spoken at length with Kastet.”
“That is good, is it not?” asked Ria.
Lilian shook her head. “She has some… concerns about welcoming the party into the city. Namely, she questioned whether there might be political implications to allowing a crest sorceress of Lascivious and the Vaista Aestairius free passage into the territory of the Empire.”
“I see,” said Malon.
“I doubt she would have deigned to see me either, for what it’s worth,” said Lilian. “I learned my lesson from when I came to visit Vel. I didn’t bother petitioning her guard. I just snuck into Redpane Tower and shook her awake from bed during the night. Quite a reaction she had upon first seeing me.”
She flashed a crooked smile that showed off one of her fangs.
“I take it you brought up our needs with her?” asked Damon. “What did she have to say about lending us a ship?”
“She said that it was outright impossible,” said Lilian. “She said… well, quite a bit, but I suppose I should let her speak for herself. She wrote a letter to each of you which she entrusted me to deliver.”
Lilian routed around in her traveling pack, pulling loose several slightly crumpled missives. She read the name on each and passed them out individually. They all pulled in close to the same lantern to read within its sphere of illumination.
Dearest Damon,
It pains me deeply that I must turn you and your family away from my city. In truth, I would welcome a visit from you and from Velanor, but the optics of allowing some of the others within Silke are a fact of politics which I cannot escape.
Unfortunately, these limitations extend to the amount of aid I can provide to you in a similar fashion. I have given Lilian the most accurate maps I have access to of the Endless Ocean, along with as much food as she can reasonably carry. A ship will not be forthcoming, as the city simply doesn’t have one to spare. I’m no more able to give you a ship than I am to give you the amount of gold it would cost to build one.
With that said, this is a problem which potentially has a rather poetic solution. For many months, I have been sending scouts from Silke to explore as much of the ruins of Avaricia as possible. I have determined that Avarice built a personal seafaring vessel during his last few months of rule as the Godking.
This vessel is still moored within Avaricia’s docks. The revenants have prevented my scouts from being able to draw near it, and various other shipwrecks have made it unsafe to approach from sea. It’s yours for the taking, if you can reach it.
I wish I could do more for you. I miss you, old friend and heavily encourage you to pay me a visit at the end of your journey.
Lady Governor Kastet Alquin