Stone grabbed the journal on top, a deep cognac color that was wearing on the corners and thumbed through it. “He kept many journals,” Kamari said, filling the silence. “Always taking notes, sketching, babbling to himself.” She smiled, but the last memory of him shouting at himself turned her stomach sour. “I can’t be sure it’s where he went–”
“Shh,” Stone said, his brows furrowed.
“Excuse me?” Aesira said before Kam got the chance. His eyes snapped to Aesira’s first, then to hers.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” He cleared his throat and set the open journal down between them. “It’s just there’s somethinginteresting here.” He pulled the glasses from the top of his head and slid them on, burying his face closer to the journal. Hope surged through Kamari’s chest. “This, here.” Stone tapped on the open page, his forefinger landing on a single word circled over and over again.
“Ravki?”
“Yes.” Stone dropped his voice to a whisper which sent Kamari on edge. “This word.” He pointed again to the word, rather than saying. “Have you seen it before?”
Kamari studied the word and it took her a moment before her memory came rushing back. “Yes!” she shouted and then silently cursed herself for the outburst. “Sorry. Here.” She rifled through the maps until she came to the one that she was looking for. “It’s interesting, I’ve studied these maps the last several days and none of them match any in the Vargah libraries. At least any that I could find.” She slid the parchment to Stone. On the tea-stained map sat the word, worn down and barely visible;Ravki. And next to it, Desmond’s notes.
"Through the ruins,” Aesira said, reading over her shoulder. “What does that mean? I’ve never heard of that place.”
Neither had Kamari, which is why she thought the map a farce. Sometimes, in the height of war, cartographers from the opposing kingdom would draft illegitimate maps to confuse enemy troops, purposely planting them in their camps. She figured this was nothing more than that but the way Stone tensed when she’d said the word aloud told her there was much more to this map than she first assumed.
“Listen to me,” Stone said, the roughness of his voice sending the hairs on Kamari’s arms straight up. “I need you to go backto your husband's study.” He ripped a blank page from one of the journals and Kamari flinched. “Anything you find with these words on them, bring them to me.” He pulled the pencil from behind his ear and began writing so quickly Kamari gave up trying to read from across the table. “Here.” He folded the paper in half twice before handing it to her. He pushed his glasses back on the top of his head and downed the last of his drink. “I would advise you to show no one. Tell no one.”
“You’re speaking as if the words written in that journal are dangerous.” Aesira stepped closer, craning her neck to get a look at the journal.
Stone glanced at her. “This”— he tapped the word–Ravki–in the journal again—“I believe, is the first clue to finding your husband. And that”— he pointed to the folded paper in Kamari’s palm—“may be the whole damn puzzle.” He took a ragged breath, like the last few minutes he’d forgotten to breathe at all.
“You think my husband went in search of this Ravki place?” Kamari’s eyes wandered over the dull map again but they stuck on the handwritten note where Desmond had drawn circles over and over, the pencil marks so deep there was a tiny tear in the paper. “Why?”
Stone stiffened before running a hand down his face. “Ravki is a place of stories, not fact, but every myth surrounding it is the same.” He looked up from the papers. “Magic and beasts that live in harmony.”
Kamari scoffed, holding a hand to her chest like she’d been hit there and in a way it felt like it. “There is no magic other than that given to us by Celestria.” Her body went rigid, her spine straightening. “There is no magic other thanastra.” It was blasphemousto believe in magic outside of what the goddess provided, and the thought of Desmond going after such myths… She clutched her hands together under the table.
“Like I said, it’s built on old traveler myths. There’s no proof Ravki even exists but to some, the promise of reward is worth more than the risk of getting there. If that is what your husband went looking for, I’m afraid to say it was a fool's errand.” Stone stacked the journals into a neat pile and slid them toward her. “The faster we leave, the better chance we have at finding him before it’s too late.”
Lead settled in Kamari’s stomach. A million questions buzzed in her mind but before she could ask them, Stone stood. “If you find anything with the words I’ve written, please bring them to me before our departure.”
“So, you’ll go? You’ll do this?” Kamari knew how desperate she sounded, hated the fact that the look on Stone’s face told her he knew as well. But this was her only chance at finding Desmond before her time was up and she’d be forced to make an impossible decision.
“There’s no guarantee we’ll make it past the Outpost during the storms. And even if we do, there’s a chance that his Majesty didn’t.”
The implication polluted the air around them.
There’s a chance he’s already dead.
“I understand the risk of travel during the storm season which is why I’ll pay you triple what a flight fee typically runs, not to mention the crown will owe you a favor.” Nervous, excited energy buzzed through Kamari as she spoke, her knee bobbing under thetable. “And as for Desmond–just find him, in any state, and bring him home. Do we have a deal?”
“Kamari,” Aesira warned.
“I’ll need funds to cover the cost to prep a ship.” Stone crossed his arms again. “We’ll want to take our best girl and she took a large hit during the last sandstorm.”
“Fine,” Kamari said, her heart thundered in her chest.
Hope, hope, hope,it seemed to say with every beat.
“And time,” Stone continued, “the repairs are extensive.”
“How long?”
“A few days.” He shrugged. “Maybe a week.”
“A few days,” Kamari said firmly. She didn’t want to waste a moment longer than she needed to.“Expect the money for your ship to be deposited tonight.” She extended her hand and waited.
