Gates of Ruin (Magelands Eternal Siege, #6) Christopher Mitchell (classic reads .txt) 📖

then paced the deck again. For better or worse, the ship had been dry, with no alcohol permitted, and the sailors were looking forward to their arrival as eagerly as the passengers.

The person he was most angry with was himself. True, he had been sick and in pain, but even so, they should have left Kin Dai earlier to search for Aila and Kelsey. He had let them down again. Not only had he failed to defeat the Ascendants, he had failed to find those he loved. The idea that he had any kind of destiny felt farcical to him now, a conceit born of over-confidence and arrogance. His strength may have returned, but many of his previous assumptions had been ripped to shreds; he was strong, but he wasn’t the strongest; a powerful warrior, but not the best. He wasn’t invincible – push a sword through his heart and he would die like any other mortal.

‘I’ll be glad to get off this boat,’ said Sohul. ‘Yes, I know I always say that; ships and me just don’t get along.’

Van smiled. ‘It’s been a good voyage, all things considered. The weather held, and the ocean was smooth. Could’ve been a lot worse.’

‘It could have been a lot better, too,’ said Naxor, ‘especially if we hadn’t had to listen to Corthie whine the entire way.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Corthie; ‘I did whine a lot, particularly in the first few days. Knowing that Aila and Kelsey were getting further away with every mile that passed was enough to send me half-demented. So, sorry if I might have been a bit much at times.’

Van shrugged. ‘It frustrated me too,’ he said, ‘but when you can’t change something, it does no good to let it rile you up. But anyway, I appreciate the apology.’

‘Yes, me too,’ said Sohul; ‘let’s put it behind us.’

‘I wonder if Vana is here,’ said Naxor, his eyes on the approaching town as the ship passed the breakwaters of the harbour. ‘This is where her boat was headed. She would have disembarked here, like us.’

‘If she is,’ said Corthie, ‘then the first thing I’ll do is apologise to her as well.’

Naxor nodded. ‘Make sure you do that.’

Corthie bit his tongue again, suppressing the comment that was forming on his lips. His companions had a right to be annoyed with him, and for a while he was going to have to take it on the chin.

‘There are no agents of the Ascendants on the quayside that I can see,’ Naxor went on. ‘So for now we should assume that our presence onboard has not been noticed. Getting through the harbour to a hostelry might prove otherwise, of course.’

Sohul pointed. ‘There’s our old ship; the one that took us from the Falls of Iron to Yoneath.’

They all turned. The vessel Sohul was pointing towards was berthed by a pier to their left. Corthie’s thoughts went to the luggage they had left behind. Buried among it had been the jug of salve left over from when Blackrose had been attacked by the Bloodflies, which had been left on board with the rest of their things when they had gone to Yoneath.

‘It’ll be gone,’ said Naxor. He sighed. ‘Some lucky sailor probably sold it for a thousand in gold.’

Corthie nodded. Of the three jugs, one had gone with Maddie and the black dragon, Corthie’s had been left on the ship, and Naxor had never mentioned the one that he had been given. When they had asked him about it, he had feigned ignorance at first, and had then told them a story about how he had accidentally smashed it in the Falls of Iron. Corthie knew it hadn’t been in Kin Dai, and it wasn’t onboard the ship they were currently on – he, Sohul, and Van had searched everywhere for it. A few doses would have been enough to have drastically shortened Corthie’s recovery time, and if Naxor had been keeping it hidden from him, then it was another mark against the demigod’s name.

‘I’ll take a look around anyway,’ Naxor said. ‘Who knows? I can think of a few places on our old ship where someone might have overlooked a bag.’

‘And will you tell me if you find it?’ said Corthie.

Naxor smiled. ‘Probably.’

They sailed past the other merchant vessels by the long pier, and came in next to the high, stone wharf. Dock workers picked up the ropes thrown from the deck, and looped them round the iron cleats jutting up from the edge of the wharf. A gangway was placed between the wharf and the deck, and the passengers began to disembark. Corthie and the others joined the dozen or so merchants who had made the trip, and they ascended the wooden board up to the solid foundations of the wharf.

‘That’s better,’ said Sohul, smiling for the first time in days.

‘Follow me, chaps,’ said Naxor; ‘I’ve already scouted the way to a hostelry.’

They walked through the busy harbour, and Corthie collected a few glances from the dock workers and fishing boat crews.

‘How do they feel about Banner deserters down here?’ said Corthie. ‘Assuming that’s what they’ll take me for?’

‘Much the same as Kin Dai,’ said Van, ‘but they’ve never been occupied by Banner forces. The Southern Cape’s too out of the way to get much attention from Alea Tanton. All the same, it would be better if you…’

‘Stayed in my room?’ said Corthie. ‘Aye, I get it.’

The hostelry was close to the harbour, and a pair of gulls was fighting over some scraps by the kitchen door.

‘It might not be as comfortable as the villa we stayed in last time,’ said Naxor, ‘but our reserves are a little low at the moment.’

They walked into a smoky, low-ceilinged bar and paid for a room, then took their meagre possessions up a narrow flight of stairs. Their quarters consisted of a single, cramped chamber, with four bed pallets taking up most of the floor space. Corthie picked a bed by the window and sat, while