“A way to kill a god,” I said, leaning on the table with my fists. “Now we just need to figure out how to get there.”
“That is easy,” Dahlia shrugged. “Go north and east.”
“We can’t just go northeast, love. I need more than that.”
She smirked. “You still believe you’ve tamed the ocean and can travel upon it freely. You do so because it lets you. Go northeast. There is a fog bank called the Myre. You call it Daughter’s Pass. No one sails there, but now we must.”
“The water pulls too hard there,” Mullins said, shaking his head. “It’s impossible to sail. It’s a ship killer.”
“When the water begins to pull, let it,” she explained. “Theloch is too lonely a place not to bring us to it.”
“That’s unsettling.”
“Ifwe survive the jagged rocks, the fog, and possible starvation, it will open to us.”
“Excuse me?” Nazario said.
“I jest, of course.”
No one believed that…
I glanced up at Nazario, raising a brow. “We haven’t left yet. Your ship is still anchored just outside, but once I leave this island, I am not turning back, whether you’re onboard or not.”
He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at the map. He could go anywhere and still, after everything, I would not blame him if he left.
“Impossible odds,” he said, stroking his chin. “And no one will ever hear a thing about it. If we die, that is the end of it.”
“Yes,” I nodded.
“But…” he continued, leaning on the opposite side of the table to mimic me. “If I leave now and I take my crew and I never hear of you again, I will forever live with the fact that you could not do it without my skill and expertise and…” He shook his head with a frown. “The guilt would be very hard for me.”
I sighed, a slow grin forming on my lips as I inclined my head toward him.
“First thing we need is supplies,” I said. “We willnotbe dying of starvation after all we’ve been through.”
“Gilly Pine is small and would not attract much attention,” Nazario suggested. “And it’s on the way.”
“We’re wanted there,” Mullins pointed out. “Had a bit of a scuffle not too long ago.”
“Right. Treson Harbor is nearby,” Nazario pointed to the map. “I know it is—"
“We killed their governor,” Dahlia added. “In Gilly Pine.”
“He was a prick,” Mullins said under his breath.
“Wonderful,” Nazario nodded. “Thorpes, then.”
“We know that place will have goods. I don’t want to risk getting caught in any other town like we did in Dornwich.”
“Right,” Mullins said, heading for the door. “I’ll get the men up to speed.”
“My crew should be finishing up,” Nazario said. “We’ll have the weapons and loot from the Amanacer loaded onto your ship soon enough.”
“Addison has been set up rather nicely on deck to continue her work,” I added. “Once everyone is outfitted with a bronze blade, she’ll be making slugs with all the scraps that remain. Boil and Billy have harvested a healthy amount of hemsbane from the island. Everyone is to drink tea on the daily from here on out.”
Dahlia wrinkled her nose at the idea. Already, the ship smelled of it. I was certain she and the other two were hating it.
“It’s being kept in the hold,” I told her.
