Jask nodded.
“Sounds good,” Darion said, and for a moment, things between us felt normal.It was so easy to fall back into trusting him with my life.It unsettled me.
We sat there for what felt like forever.I grew impatient, worried that we had missed them somehow, but Zephyra flew overhead in tighter and tighter circles, presumably an indication of how close they were.Soon I made out two figures cresting a hill in the distance.Elena’s fire-red hair was impossible to miss.
She didn’t appear to be restrained or injured, a fact that Darion and I acknowledged with a relieved nod.In fact, if I didn’t know better, they looked like any two people out for a stroll.And yet something about it felt wrong in my bones.
As they approached the town, they spoke to each other.Kael appeared to be pointing out landmarks in the distance.But they were moving very quickly, and as they got closer, I saw Kael glancing around, looking for danger.
I felt an irresistible urge to jump up and confront them and whisk Elena away.I’d missed her so much and had been so worried.She was literally right in front of me.As I fidgeted, Darion leaned closer.
“If you want to pull her now, just say the word,” he said.
“We hold for now.”
As they passed, Jask whispered, “If they decide to stop, there’s really only one inn that’s not a pleasure house.Hidden Reef Inn.Still pretty rough, though.”
“Okay,” I said.“Let’s fan out.Jask, since they don’t know you, you’ll follow behind them.I’ll walk one block to the left.Darion, you take one block right.If it looks like Elena is in danger, we’ll converge.If they go into an inn or something, you follow them, Jask.If you need backup, give us a whistle.”
They nodded.
As Kael and Elena passed the first buildings in the town, we began to follow.Walking a block away was nearly unbearable for me.Each time I lost sight of them behind a building, my pulse kicked up until they emerged on the other side.But from what I could see, Jask was a master of stealth, staying within a reasonable distance but neverlookinglike she was.
Exactly as Jask had predicted, they approached a sea-worn but respectable-looking inn with the nameHIDDEN REEFpainted on a wooden sign, a mug of ale and a bed drawn below it.Elena and Kael entered together.After just enough time that it didn’t look suspicious, Jask followed.Darion and I converged behind a stack of old ale barrels across the street.
“IlikeJask,” Darion said.
Despite the churning in my gut, that forced a smile from me.“Me too.”
“Well, now we wait.”
The waiting waskillingme.I fidgeted with my hands and tapped the ground with my boot.
As we watched, several patrons entered and left.The inn appeared to cater to traveling merchants and locals of relatively high standing.I assumed the fishermen and dockworkers favored the inns closer to the wharf.I hoped Jask didn’t stand out too much in her worn nautical attire.
Just as I was nearing the end of my patience, Jask stepped out the door as casually as she might if she were strolling home after a night on the town.Darion cupped his hands around his mouth and made a short series of chirps that sounded remarkably like a sparrow’s call.Without even looking up, Jask pivoted and walked our way.She leaned against the barrels we hid behind, took out her pipe, and started fussing with a chunk of flint and a steel striker.As she did, she whispered while somehow barely moving her lips, “Kael’s downstairs, meeting with a well-dressed man.Elena’s upstairs, second room from the northwest corner.”
“I’m going in,” I said to Darion.
He nodded.“We’ll keep watch.”
Darion stayed put as Jask drifted back into the inn, and I orbited the building’s perimeter.The inn had a small field in the back with a chicken coop and a few pigs and goats in a pen.There were stables attached to the building along the north side.Just above where the stables met the inn was a row of second-story windows.
I let the smallest bit of my Ember flow through me.Its absence felt very alien to me, and I welcomed the inner warmth.After scanning for anyone watching, I scaled the back side of the stables and crept up to the second window from the northwest corner.The wood creaked as I walked along the roof.
My heart leapt at the sight of Elena sitting at a small wooden table, tending to something in her bag.As quiet as a mouse, I pulled open the window and slid inside.
Elena spun on her heel, brandishing her short sword, eyes wide, a scowl on her face.But the moment she saw me, her scowl turned into a smile.“Cas!”she said, far too loudly, as she ran to hug me.
“Shh!”
She covered her mouth, then whispered, “Why did you shush me?And how did you find me?And why didn’t you come in through the door like a normal person?”
“We have to go,” I said.“Now.”
Her brow crinkled in that same suspicious expression she’d had since she was a small child.“Kael is downstairs, trying to get us horses.We should go talk to him.”
“No,” I said quietly, with as much gravitas as I could manage.“I can’t explain right now.You have to trust me.Let’s go.”
