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When I opened my eyes again, I made an instant vow never to ask a guy I didn’t really know who’d had too much to drink to port me anywhere. We landed in a pile of limbs in the dead of night. After a solid “oof!” Carter passed out on top of me, his mouth lolling open in a loud snore.
It took more than a little effort, but I eventually managed to slide out from under him, dusting myself off. My brain quickly snapped to filter out a list of priorities, starting with job one: locating some baga root so I could breathe.
Broken-off memories of Finn bringing me here when I was on the brink of death with my back skin peeling off flooded me. My chin turned to the right and left, trying to locate something familiar so I dug for life in the right spot.
The marsh stood out in my memory, so I bolted to it, dropping to my knees when I found a three-pronged stick jutting out from the squishy grass. A blue vine hung in my face, tapping the top of my head over and over while I moved as quickly as I could. I nearly cried out with relief when I unearthed the gnarly root, choking it down in plenty of time (or with two seconds to spare. You never know with Terraway). I searched around in the moonlight for another root, just in case, and shoved it in my backpack.
Carter was a king, so I knew he’d be okay at the porting spot until he woke. I didn’t remember much of the journey to the Dagat palace. The last time I was here, Finn had run with me in his arms the entire way, and I’d been barely alive. For the time being, there seemed to be only one clear path forward, so I started down it at a light jog, keeping my head down in hopes that only the stars would take notice of me.
About two renditions of All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons from Evil Dead the Musical passed in my head before I heard a faint chittering that made my pace pick up to a run. In my periphery, I saw the same three-tailed monkeys swinging from branches that I’d noticed my first trip to Dagat. They hadn’t bothered us then, but it seemed that now I was here without Finn, I was persona non-grata. They began to throw nuts from the trees at me, some of them hitting my arms and my head as I made quick work of the journey.
The run turned into a sprint when I heard footsteps pounding a stone’s throw behind me, picking up speed to overtake mine. I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder, like a dummy. I let out a bitten-off scream when I saw a gilled Kataw chasing me, his triton clutched in his hand and a non-negotiable look of rip-tear-kill on his face.
“Stop!” he called to me.
He looked so big and ferocious, I nearly obeyed him, but turned back to the path and kept running instead. Relief spread over me when the spires of the palace came into view in the distance above the trees. If only I could outrun him a little more, I could get to Finn.
I made it about a third of the way into my next rendition of my favorite Evil Dead the Musical song before my foot slipped on something under a smattering of foliage. The next thing I knew, I was being hoisted up into the air by a large net. “Ah!” I cried out, clinging to the sides to try and fight my way out like a fool.
“Are you tired of running from me yet, little sandwalker?” the soldier teased me with a bite to his tone.
“Get me down! I need to talk to Captain Finn. I’m the Omen, and I need to see Finn.” I hated throwing around my royalty card, but I didn’t see any other way out of this.
The man frowned and clicked on his finger lights, shining them so he could get a good look at my face. He squinted up at me with too much skepticism for my liking. “You’re not the Omen. Lady October is regal and travels with her two Reapers. Do you really expect me to believe an Omen would travel to Dagat without her protectors?”
“I don’t care what you believe! Cut me down from here, or I’ll do it myself. I need to see Finn, so you can either take me in like a gentleman, or you can arrest me and bring me to him. I don’t much care. Either way, I need to see Finn, and I don’t have much time.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll take you in as a feisty little prisoner, then. The captain can decide what to do with your legs once he gets a good look at you.” He reached up with his triton and sawed only half of the rope netting loose, letting me tumble out and fall with a painful crack on the ground. “Up you get. Try anything smart, and I’ll run you through just to be rid of the hassle. I was hoping for a quiet night tonight on my patrol.”
I kept my mouth shut as he jerked me to my feet and yanked my arms forward, tying them together so deftly, I knew there’d be no chance of wriggling out. The wisps of the rope cut into my wrists, making them burn and itch as he led me forward like a slave.
I wanted to pummel him, but didn’t trust that I’d make it to Finn alive if I took a chance on besting the muscular military man. He started out at a march, but looked up at the sky a few minutes in. “Can you run on those puny legs, little girl?”
“I outran you well enough before you got lucky and that stupid net caught me. Let’s go. If we can get to the palace faster, so much the better.”
“Oh, how I’m going to enjoy throwing you in the dungeon. Let the more eager soldiers have their fun with you. Or perhaps you’d be better suited for what’s left of the harem?”
“Just run.” I rolled my eyes and tried to keep up when the soldier picked up his pace so much that I had to really concentrate to keep up. It was counterintuitive to run without pumping my arms, and when the palace was finally in sight, I tripped over my own two stupid feet and did an ungraceful, totally painful face-plant in the dirt. The soldier dragged me a few feet just to be a jerk before stopping to right me.
I shrugged off his help and stumbled to my feet myself, sucking the blood off my busted lip and blinking a trickle of red out of my eyes.
The man looked down at me, examining my face with a grimace. “Now you’re probably more suited for the dungeon than the harem, but don’t think that’ll get you out of going wherever Captain Finn sees fit to throw you.” He shook his head at me in exasperation. “Impersonating the Omen. Like I wouldn’t see right through that.” He tugged my rope, and despite my scraped knees, I managed to follow him at a slow trot. “I was at the funeral of the late Lady Mariang, you know. I saw Lady October stand for the shamed Reaper. She was fierce and glorious. You’re nothing but a child.”
I didn’t bother arguing, but trampled along in silence. I was grateful the three-tailed monkeys had stopped throwing things at me, and more grateful still when we reached the edge of the woods.
Lit by only the moons was the golden castle that shimmered even in the dead of night. The tall columns seemed to stretch to the heavens, small as I was next to them. The third floor was outlined in rubies, the fifth in opals. I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate the magnificence before, but now all I wanted to do was gape at the beauty.
Of course, the jag with the rope was jerking me along, so I didn’t have the time to gawk like I wanted to. He took the golden stairs three at a time, which I didn’t have the capacity for. My scraped-up knee was shaking, and I worried about it going out on me if I slipped on the smooth surface.
The soldier saluted two guards who’d been posted at the entrance. The one on the right managed a shadow of a smirk at my captor. “Evening, Lieutenant Emil. Looks like you found a prize for the dungeon. She give you any trouble?”
“She tried. I’m taking her to Captain Finn. Is he ashore tonight, or did he go home?”
The taller of the two scoffed. “You know the captain never goes to his home anymore. He’s in the study. You can take her on back.” The tall guy with a death wish pinched my butt as I walked over the threshold. “I guess I’ll be visiting the dungeon on my break today.”
I made him jump when I barked at him like a rabid dog. If they wanted to treat me like an animal, then that’s what they’d get from me.