Or it could be a trap.
A breeze filtered through the trees around them, rustling the leaves and sending another sound through the air: bells.
It was unmistakable. The tinkling sound of tiny bells, pure and clear like water.
Keir snapped his head towards Alison. “Do you hear that?”
Alison nodded, and she led them into the cave.
Chapter Nine
ONCE MORE INTO THE SEA
Rinka
Rinka awoke to the smell of fried fish and the sound of a crackling fire. Her body was stiff from a night spent on the sand, and her arms ached in places she’d never felt before, but she was alive.
And she wasn’t alone.
As she slowly pulled herself upright, she spotted Drystan. He was a few feet away, seated next to a fire he must have built at the edge of the cavern where smoke could escape.
“Good morning,” he called over to her. It must have been late in the morning because the sun was nearly overhead as she left the cave’s shelter to join him. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” she said.
Drystan held out the skewer he’d made—there were two large, flat fish on it, and they looked reasonably cooked.
“Flounder,” he said. “I haven’t been fishing since I was a boy, but they’re easy enough to catch.”
Rinka looked around for equipment—he must have had a hook, at least—before realizing what he had done. “The coin?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Can you make it into a knife?”
The fire sputtered and went out as Drystan shifted his focus to the coin, producing from it a dagger.
“A little longer and narrower,” said Rinka. She watched his face as he worked, but she could see little sign that he was performing magic. There were no magic words, no strange gestures. And yet he did as she asked, producing a much more appropriate knife for deboning.
Rinka made quick work of the fish. Although fish weren’t her usual trade, she’d seen the fishmongers at work in the market, and she found it simple enough.
She handed a filet back to Drystan as she ate her own in just a few bites.
He pulled a glob of water from the air and handed it to her, the knife turning back into a coin as he did so.
“Thank you,” she said.
He was looking at her strangely. Staring, almost the same way he’d stared at the coin as he worked his magic on it.
“Is it my hair?” she asked. “I bet it’s a terrible mess. The first thing I’m doing when I get to Alison’s cottage is having a bath. Which seems like an odd thing to want after spending far more time in the water than I’d expected, but the salt just clings to you—”
“No, Rinka. You look fine. Great, actually. The salt air suits you.”
He couldn’t quite meet her eyes on the last part, and that was just as well because she found she had to look down at the ground too.
“I—well, thank you,” she said.
“No, Rinka. Thankyou. You saved my life.”
