Footsteps sounded on the stairs behind us. Another set, lighter, coming up from the cellar.
“Hoi, what’s going on?” Tigo’s gruff voice.
And Rhianne’s, groggy: “Where’re you taking her?”
Metal rang faintly, like a weapon being hefted. I tried to call out around my gag.
“Back, Mudmouth. There’s a good man, now.” It was the woman. There came another scrape of steel. “Brigant’s orders. He wants the Floodmouth. Don’t you worry, it’s all in hand.”
My ribs thumped violently. It wasReximwho’d ordered this?
They dragged me backward out of the tower.
Cool air hit me. The scent of the sea. The cold solidity of the tower’s stone floor turned softer, bumpier: packed earth and grassy hillocks. Then the ground dropped away—we were descending rapidly.
The realization came over me like a sickness. After learning from Llir what had happened on the causeway, the Brigant must have decided I was useless and was already packing me off back to Arbenhaw.
But with nothing on save a nightshift? Bare feet?
Nearby, I heard the shushing of the ocean, building its strength before it rushed into the bay. “Not far, little whippet,” came that horrible voice, and I shuddered, going limp, forcing them to half carry me down the steep cliff paths.
At last the ground levelled, went spongy beneath my feet. Freezingwater pooled around my toes. I staggered on, hearing the sea’s susurration, but it was muted, as though on the other side of a wall.
I was shoved forward roughly and fell to my knees.
“Ticktock,” said the third man as he loosened my wrist bindings. He pressed something cold and hard into my palm. “You’ll want to make use of that sharpish, I warrant.”
Chuckles from the others. I heard them squelch away.
Bewildered, I fingered the object they’d given me and pricked myself on its pointed tip. A knife, small, not particularly sharp. Trembling, I raised it and hacked away my blindfold.
When my eyes had adjusted to the predawn murk, I turned in a circle, or as best I could with my ankles still bound—and stared up at the nearly sheer cliff faces around me.
They were twenty, maybe closer to thirty, feet high. I’d been dumped in the deep cove, its only entrance to the east: narrow, like a winding alley, the rocks overlapping and concealing the bay beyond. Three sets of footsteps led out that way, but they were already starting to disappear in the wet sand. Above, the sky was just beginning to pale, thin clouds cloaking the waning moons.
My thoughts darted, whirled, like a shoal of fish. Why had they dropped me here if Rexim had sent for me? Why give me a knife to free myself with?
I bent down to saw at the rope around my ankles, intending to follow them as soon as I could. My gag still bit into the sides of my mouth, and my hair and nightshift were damp with a cold sweat.
“Good morning, Miss Fraine.”
I jumped, dropped the knife. Craning my neck, I saw figures on the clifftop.
Rexim Shearwater stood closest to the edge. A little way back, just their heads and shoulders visible, were Vercha, Llir, a stricken-lookingCatua. The eldest, Emment, whom I’d met in the night, wore a velvety night-robe and a nauseated expression.
Llir stared down at me, face unreadable. Vercha looked thoroughly entertained, eyes glittering, her high collar sprouting with lace.
“I hope you slept well last night, as I advised.” Rexim’s voice carried well despite the distance—a quirk of the way the wind was blowing. “My apologies for the rather uncouth method of bringing you here. But you see, if I’d asked you, I think you would have refused.”
I tried to call out, to demand to know why I was here, but the gag turned it into a series of muffled grunts. I snatched up the knife, intending to cut the gag away. But the Brigant appeared to grasp my meaning.
“Just a simple test,” Rexim said with a smile. I froze. Behind me came an ominous, growing roar. “I have to be sure, you understand. After what happened with your predecessor, I can’t take any chances. And when I was made aware of what happened on the causeway…”
My eyes flashed to Llir, my body tense with panic. He blinked, just once, his features pulled taut.
“After all,” Rexim continued, “I have my family’s safety to think of. And I need to know now if you will also disappoint us.”
Behind him, Catua snapped out a few words, but the others ignored her. The roaring grew louder.
