“And you’ve used it plenty of times. . .” Ramaro muttered.
The captain grinned at him. “The city is worth visiting.”
I patted one of Marc’s arms. “You know, I think you can let go of me now. I can get up on my own.”
I felt his arms tighten around me. “Why take chances? Besides, you’re soaked. I’ll use my own heat to keep you warm.”
“Just don’t get too hot that you forget that I don’t want to see anything,” Ramaro growled.
“You can shut your eyes.”
The agama scoffed. “And miss the landing? He practically crashed us into the shore, and I almost fell off the boat.” He leaned over and wrinkled his snout at the dark waters. “And we all know these things are just itching to get a hold of anybody, especially someone as handsome as me.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I promised him as I tilted my head back and looked up at Marc. “Right?”
My captor chuckled. “That isn’t a promise I’ll ever make.” He lifted his gaze to the way ahead of us. “But we’re almost there.”
Chapter 5
I followed his gaze and watched as the mist slowly began to clear. The edges of rocky land poked out of the fog, and a soft breeze off the mainland sent a scent of dirt over us. My land-lubber heart skipped a beat at the sight of solid ground, and I shot up.
Marc reluctantly released me so he could stand. The boat ghosted across the water and bumped into a nook between two large boulders. Sprigs of weeds stuck out between the numerous stones that lined the shore, but otherwise, I didn’t see any plants or trees.
Marc climbed around me and to the bow, where Ramaro scooted out of the way so he could take the bow. The captain climbed onto one of the boulders, as lithe as a goat. He crouched down and held out his hand to me. “Mind the slick moss.”
I climbed over my seat and took his hand. He pulled me ashore as though I weighed less than a slip of paper. I couldn’t help but wonder if all that strength came from him being a dragon man.
“Something on my face?”
Marc’s question made me realize I’d inadvertently been staring at his eye patch. “It’s nothing,” I assured him as I hurriedly slipped past him.
And had one of my feet slip out from under me. I had tread too carelessly on one of those mossy stones, and my inexperienced feet meant I fell onto my butt. Hard. And onto the treacherous rock.
“Ow,” I groaned as tears welled up in my eyes.
“He told you to watch your step,” Ramaro scolded me as he tromped onto land.
And promptly had his feet swept out from under him. He did a full somersault and landed on his back.
Marc stood over us with his arms folded over his chest and a crooked smile on his lips. “If you two are done greeting the shore, we need to get going before the fog lifts.”
I eased myself onto my feet and rubbed my wounded posterior. “How long do we have?”
Marc half-turned to the boat. The Wraithcourier’s boat slipped backward into the mist and soon vanished. “His magic fades in about ten minutes. There’s some natural fog in the area, but not enough to hide us completely, so we’ll need to get into the city as soon as we can.”
Ramaro rocked back onto his paws, and his tongue slid out, licking his snout. “I can taste the roasted roach already.” My imagination conjured up enough images of that delicacy that I didn’t want to know any more.
Marc inspected the area around us. “This looks like Turtle Bay. If you two are done kissing the stones, then we can reach the city in a few minutes.”
“Are there turtles around here?” I guessed as he led us carefully through the battlefield of mossy stones.
“It’s because all these rocks look like them,” Ramaro chimed in as he flicked his tongue at a particular pile. The five stones did resemble the shelled creature. “A pity there aren’t any turtles here. There’d at least be something worth eating other than water bugs.”
“You’ll get your fill in Cathair,” Marc promised him.
The lizard scoffed as he scurried along beside our feet. “That’s what you said the last time we came here, and all I got was a stick before you said we didn’t have any money for more food. I nearly starved those two days.”
“We’ll find ourselves a good job and you’ll have all the roaches you could want.”
