All that animated Ombrash Island now were the fears of the people who didn’t belong anywhere near it.
Chapter20
A Monster Is a Monster Is a Monster
When I finally spotted land from atop the back of the higantorus, eight days of the twenty-two on the spell concealing my scar had elapsed.Eight miserable days riding this creature—this monster.
He glided through the ocean’s deep like he was out for a leisurely swim, yet ate up great distances due to his size, unhurried, unconcerned, as if he were one with his surroundings.No enemies, no threats could touch him.
Even before Isai’s many imports, the Moaning Ocean had teemed with all kinds of deadly creatures.Nowadays, I didn’t want to ponder what might prowl its depths—at least not until I put the water far behind me.
Despite Cosette’s belief that her insurance with “key officers” protected her from me—she was wrong.I’d been gone centuries, but accidents on the ocean must still happen all the time.One could take great care and still end up in the drink.
After all, we were riding amonster.Willingly.
No matter how smooth the ride or how even the higantorus’ temperament, a monster was a monster was a monster.Time would never change that.
Cosette, to boot, was the size of a hummingbird.So many accidents could easily befall someone that size.A wave could splash across the higantorus’ back, which doubled as a passenger deck.Her wings would get doused.She might slip on that glistening, slick, pink flesh I could only think of assquelchy, and disappear without notice.
There would be no saving a parvnit from the ocean.No scooping her out.No spotting her, even, amid the water’s swells.
One moment there, the next … gone forever.No one would blame me.It didn’t matter what she believed, what instructions she’d left friends or colleagues that pointed my way.If anyone did accuse me, I’d bat thick lashes, maybe even work up a tear.I have no idea what happened to her, Officer.I’m devastated over her disappearance.We looked everywhere for her, I swear.I might throw in a sniffle.
If the officer was a man, he wouldn’t question my act.If my accuser was a woman, my allure would work at least half the time, regardless of her attraction to females in general.
The officer would consider me and see what they wanted to see.My admirers always did.
The most effective weapon in my arsenal wasn’t always the sharpest.
If anyone came searching for Cosette, however, I wouldn’t be lying—not much, anyhow.
Two days ago, after I left her under Marina’s watch, Cosette vanished without a trace.
Unlike the ships B.A., which possessed living quarters beneath deck, the higantorus had none.When cargo needed to be transported, it was done by ship like before, but now escorted by several higantoruses.
Yes, there was more than one of the monsters.Apparently, there were whole pods of them scattered throughout the deep.And also yes, they were needed to defend against other monsters that weren’t intimidated by anything less than several enormous sea dragons.
It was all very reassuring.
Isai had taken a world already fraught with dangers and heaped onto them.Quite the accomplishment for one lone man.
I’d been readingThe History and Conquest of the Domdurron Empire,The Opalese World in the Modern Era, andThe Book of Isai—it was all I could carry in my satchels.The latter treated Isai as if he were a savior or a prophet, perhaps even a demigod.
Isai had no right to change the world as he had.
Neither did the fucking emperor.
Alobaz especially didn’t.
The higantorus we rode had scales large enough to create a series of shallow caves all across his back.Passengers huddled inside them to take respite from the elements.
I refused to step inside one.They were surelysquelchy, for one.They also allowed for easy cornering.
With the spell in place, no one would recognize me as the missing princess.Even with my scar, who would guess that after all that time presumed dead I was now roaming with the living?
But threats lurked everywhere, not just in the water.And not just for a princess.
Marina had checked every crease and fold of the beast’s back, anywhere a parvnit could hide.Goblins slunk around hardly noticed, if not entirely ignored.Their power allowed them to imitate their surroundings, and blend to such a degree that only when someone knew exactly where to look would they be spotted.That they were so consistently underestimated was one of their greatest advantages.
