Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
That much she knew.
Chapter 1
Brynla
“This is as far as I’ll take you,” the man says. His voice is as gnarled and rough as his hands that grip the oars.
I stare at his pockmarked face for a moment, my stomach pinching with unease at the thought of this mission going even remotely wrong.
“This wasn’t what we agreed upon,” I say. Beside me Lemi shifts on his haunches, casting a wary eye at the boatsman.
“I said I’d take you to Fjallen Rock,” the man says, and nods past me at the hazy shape of land shrouded by smoke in the distance, backlit by the orange glow of the Midland volcanoes. “That’s it right there.”
I give him a tight smile. I don’t want to start arguing with my only ride back to Esland and a stranger at that. “You know I meant past the wards.”
“You should have been more specific, then, girl,” he says, eyes narrowing. “Because that’s not what you said. There’s no law against coming this far. There is a law against going through the wards and to the Midlands.”
“The last boatsman—” I begin.
“Your last boatsman is no more,” he says, flashing me a smile of missing teeth. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be using me now, would ya?” His salt-crusted lips curl into a smirk.
I live more in each second of the day than you’ll ever live in your lifetime, I think as I try not to scowl at him. It’s hard for me to rein in my temper, but tonight I don’t have the luxury of letting it loose. I’m about to be dropped off at the most dangerous place in the world and I’m counting on this asshole here to pick me up. If he doesn’t, my dog and I are as good as dead.
“Also, most boatsmen wouldn’t allow a hound on the vessel,” he says, eyeing Lemi, who eyes him right back. “You’re fortunate I’m such an animal lover.”
I roll my eyes at that. On the two-hour boat journey he’s done nothing but try to spear every turtle, dolphin, and whale that’s come in passing distance.
I take in a deep breath to quell my mounting frustration, hoping I can reason with him. “But if you don’t go through the wards and bring the boat to shore, how am I supposed to come back with the egg?”
“That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem,” he huffs and sits back, crossing his arms until I get the point.
I sigh. It is my problem, and I don’t have the luxury of trying to figure out a solution with him. My plan was to be dropped off at the rock and, if I was lucky, I’d find an elderdrage nest. If not I’d head farther in to the other islands. But elderdrage eggs are at least three feet tall and they weigh a ton. It’s hard enough to carry them back across the rugged land and then swim them over to the boat, even with Lemi’s help.
Which means that now I’ll have to find either sycledrage or blooddrage eggs, and both are significantly smaller and harder to find in an unattended nest, let alone any nest at all.
But going back to the Banished Land empty-handed isn’t an option either. I need to come back home with something or I might be paying for it with my own blood. I’ve been too sick over the last few moons to come to the Midlands, so I already owe Sorland’s syndikat, and they aren’t the types to let a few absences go. Not only that, but the faster I get my coin, the faster I can hire a healer so that my monthly pains don’t continue to take me out of the game. I swear every month, every year, the pain gets worse, like it’s some punishment for being both a woman and alive. Even surgery from the discredited doctors in the Dark City costs more than I have saved so far.
Lemi lets out a whumpf of air through his nose, bringing my focus back to him. Of course more money would pay for more food for him and for my aunt Ellestra.
Staying alive is infinitely expensive.
“Fine,” I say to the boatsman, hating how right he is. My last boatsman disappeared while I’d been recuperating. People disappear all the time in Esland, especially those who have dealings with the Freelanders—the exiled such as myself—and the more likely you are to visit the Banished Land, the more likely it is that you are an unsavory character to begin with. My last boatsman might have been knifed during a card game gone wrong, or he might have been captured by the Black Guard and taken to the capital for execution. If it was the latter, they would know he’d been helping a Freelander steal dragon eggs to sell to House Dalgaard, Sorland’s syndikat, which means they’d be looking for me.