She’d chastise herself in her room later for being so easily distracted.
Aesira left Nora to warm with her tea and joined Stone at the helm. “What’s the plan?” His goggles sat snug on the top of his head, his hair tousled from the wind.
“We dock. Ask around.” He spun the wheel slightly to the left, angling them toward Dire. “We hope King Desmond is holed up here and if not, we prepare.”
Hope.
Aesira had done her fair share of hoping in her younger days. Hoping her father would change his mind about sending her off to train with the Order. Hoping Kamari would not be sent away to a foreign kingdom. Hoping her brother had found peace inthe afterlife. Hoping her mother would intervene and protect her children.
She’s outgrown the notion that hoping for things meant anything.
Over the edge of the ship, red rocky earth stretched beneath them. The crawlers had been mostly quiet all night, but every now and then her name drifted on the wind. Her secrets and shames.
The dock was in sight now. It was worse for wear, broken planks and missing hinges. Stone managed to land with grace, only knocking a few planks loose in the process.
He led them off the Aquila and into Dire, checking over his shoulder three times that the ship was tethered.
The wind tugged at Aesira’s hair, biting at her chapped lips and cheeks. The moon and stars twinkled through the growing clouds, but other than their light, the rest of the small encampment was dark. No music like in the Outpost. Noastralamps or sounds from the small cluster of buildings. She imagined the rations ofastrawere minimal out here, but still, shouldn’t there be some evidence of life?
“It can’t be that late,” Nora whispered at her side. “Where is everyone?”
Stone finished wiping the condensation from his glasses and slid them back on. Together, the six of them scanned the meager outpost.
A set of crumbling buildings sat vacant to their right. The windows had been shattered, the door barely hanging from its hinges. On the other side was another set of buildings. They glowed blue in the moonlight but through the broken windows, Aesira could see nothing but darkness.
“Shouldn’t there besomeonehere?” Bee asked, coiling her arm around Birdie’s. Dread snaked in Aesira’s stomach. She knew it was a small outpost, one that didn’t garner many visitors. But it shouldn't be completely vacant. Holding her breath, she scanned the ghost-like town before her.
“We’ll go in teams of two,” Aesira said. “Nora and Patch take the northernmost building. Birdie and Bee, head to the eastern cluster.” She nodded at Stone. “You and I take these.” She pointed to the set of dilapidated buildings in front of them.
They divided the torches they brought from the ship between them before they split up. Nora’s sword glinted under the moonlight as she and Patch trudged through the desolate outpost.
The building in front of Stone and Aesira was drowning in darkness, the shattered windows giving a distorted view to the empty void inside. “Hello?” she called out, her own voice echoing back to her. Her sword felt heavy in her hands after a week without use, but her muscles were quick to remember their training as she raised it higher, tighter. “Hello?” She took a step into the building when something crunched under her boot.
Broken glass.
“Here.” Stone lit the torch. Flickers of firelight cut through the room, illuminating shards of glass that littered the floor in every direction. Tables were overturned, a few chairs still sat in place, deep scratches carved through the backs and bottoms. Curtains hung in tatters on the ground.
“What happened here?” She sheathed her sword, broken glass crunching under her boots. “Rebels?”
“I don’t know,” Stone said, angling the torch to light the way in front of them.
The drifters of the desert had been quiet as of late. They had no real home, no ties to either of the kingdoms, coming and going as they pleased, usually bringing a torrent of crime with them. Theft, mostly, of resources likeastraand water. Sometimes more violent, like the time they invaded Novaria. They'd held a woman hostage and demanded medicine from their healers.
The room before them was destroyed, pillaged. There were little resources here to begin with, but she couldn’t imagine that would stop the rebels from taking their fill anyway.
Stone pointed the flame toward the back of the room, where another dark doorway sat. A thread of instinct pulled taut in Aesira’s chest. She moved through the room until she stood in the doorframe.
The light from the torch flickered from side to side as Stone joined her. The dread that was in her stomach crept its way up through her chest before clenching around her throat. “Stone.” She swallowed past a scream. “Stone.”
“What is it?”
Something dark slid from the wall, falling to the floor.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
