Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Galvin, Aaron (classic fiction txt) 📖

“There is,” said Lenny, drawing the attention of all as he pointed back toward the train tunnels. “‘Cause we escaped one such place already.”

Tom’s face darkened at Lenny’s reply.

“Well?” Brutus asked. “What’s the plan now, Tommy? If there’s really no way out and it’s on to New Pearlaya, or else back to Rorykval, what’re we to do with all these other Selkies here?”

“Don’t know,” said Tom. “Take them with us, I suppose. What do you think, Dolan? You and Jemmy were both brought down from the capital, no?”

“Yeah,” said Lenny, thinking back to all the prisoners lined and chained in the dungeon-like station beneath the city. “We could maybe run the same scheme there as we did in offloading here. Having more bodies might help us to catch the Orcs in the capital that are sure to be waiting there by surprise too, but then what? Even if we live through the first wave of getting back, there’ll be all kinds of Orc soldiers and catcher gangs too for the crown to call down and hunt us after.”

Brutus snorted. “Then, we’d best not wait for the second wave or any thereafter. Aye, it’ll be every man for himself once we get to the pearled city, that’s what. Having more bodies should help in that too. All of us scattering about throughout the city like rats coming up outta the sewers.” He laughed. “Ought to keep the Orcs and catcher gangs busy awhile, so it will. Confusion for all and every man a fair chance at searching out his own way. And us to seek out our own families too, eh, Tommy?”

The elder Weaver nodded, though his expression shared none of the hope or mirth that Brutus did.

Family . . . Lenny thought dourly, his mind turning to the question of where he might go or what to do. What if you don’t got one no more? He wondered as to his own path in the days ahead. His gaze turned to watching Jemmy T load Yusuf on board the train. For a moment, he considered the possibility of returning to the capital with his father’s friend and seeking out Edmund’s whereabouts in New Pearlaya. Lenny discounted the notion a moment later. Nah, he told himself. Can’t do that. Not when I’m the one who got Jemmy in this mess. Almost landed Edmund in it too.

Lenny looked back in Tom’s direction, debating whether or not he could help Tom to find Garrett. Whether their reconnecting could help Lenny to find Ellie. If she might still be with the princess, Sydney, and if he could take up the queen’s previous offer for protection too.

For all the scenarios running through Lenny’s mind, it was the constant mantra of Declan Dolan that stayed with him when his gaze turned toward the Selkie masses once more. “We can’t leave them . . .” he said quietly.

“Nobody’s leaving anybody behind, Dolan,” said Tom. “We just said they’re coming with us.”

“No,” said Lenny, remembering his single night of running alone on the streets of New Pearlaya. How it ended with him being caught by Orc catchers and thrown back in the slave stocks to be resold at auction, his saving grace that Edmund and Jemmy T came to his rescue. “I mean we can’t just take them all back to New Pearlaya and leave them to scatter on their own,” Lenny said to the others, an idea forming in his mind as he watched his father’s former friend coming back to rejoin their company. “If we don’t stick together, then the Orcs, the catcher gangs, the masters . . . they’ll just find and take these Selkies here as slaves all over again. Keep repeating the cycle.”

Tom Weaver shook his head. “You figure out a plan for what you want to do with them, then, Dolan. I’ll not be sticking around for it. We get back to the capital, I’m off to find my son and my wife the first chance I get.”

“Aye,” said Brutus. “And me to find my family too.”

“Even if it means quitting on fighting the Blackfin and the Merrow king?” Lenny asked.

Brutus squinted. “What’s that you say?”

Lenny took a deep breath. “Yusuf said the Merrow king and the Blackfin sent all these down here because there were too many Selkies running and rebelling, right? That the royals and the masters were worried about another Selkie Strife.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, let’s give them a reason to pay attention to us,” said Lenny, his blood warming at the immediate cheer he saw in Brutus, the knowing smirk and delight spreading across the face of Jemmy T also. “And let’s give our people some hope for a change. A reason to believe we might turn the tide for our people for good and all.”

Tom Weaver alone seemed dissenting of the idea. “Another rebellion won’t work,” he said. “Røyrkval was one thing because we had no choice, Dolan. It was either rise against the Orcs, or be killed down there. Same with fighting here in Bouvetøya. We’ve had real fighters with us in both places, but we’ve taken some losses on those scores too. Now, you’re talking about bringing a bunch of women and children on board. Old folks too.”

“There’s child gangs of Selkie cutpurses all over New Pearlaya, no? And the Silkies I know can handle their own, yeah?” Lenny asked, his thoughts turning to Ellie and Chidi who had fought beside him before. How Ellie at least would have had some of her own words to say at the slight, perceived or otherwise.

Tom chuckled at the argument too. “Aye, the Silkies I’ve known can handle a blade. My wife, at least.”

Brutus chuckled. “She might still when you turn up after all these years being gone and with that ugly mug of yours too, Tommy.”

Lenny nodded. “So, we’ll give all these here some blades, then,” he said, reflecting again on the Orc soldiers who had come for Ellie