The Key: Book 2 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Seven: The Key Goes Missing

Rein sat atop the tallest mast of the Blood Omen for several hours waiting for a bird—any bird—to come within her rope's reach. For the first hour, she didn't mind the wait. It felt grand to finally be out of that cigar case—out of the cabin entirely. Fresh air, even salty sea air, was healing. But at the end of this hour of breathing the odors of fish and low tide, Rein felt like she had enough and enacted the use of the bird calls she had taught herself during the past few centuries without wings. Just when she thought she would lose her voice, a seagull landed about two feet from her. She slowly pushed herself to her feet after learning it couldn't talk and grasped her small rope of twine.

When Rein successfully looped the seagull's beak, the bird took off with her clinging desperately onto the end of the rope. She struggled to climb the twine as swiftly as possible while the seagull glided past the starboard side of the ship and then out to sea. Soon, Rein managed to mount onto the bird's back as it swerved madly to-and-fro. It was a battle, but eventually Rein took complete control of the seagull and flew it to Arcor where she safely landed atop a bell-tower, the tallest building inside the massive, anarchic city.

Rein, still mounted on her feathered ride, scanned the decay that was Arcor City for any sign of Empress Renée, but the city was so massive as it extended to the northern horizon that it was impossible to examine the entire metropolis from where she sat. It didn't help that the many fires spotting the city produced the smoke which further obscured her vision. She began to wonder if the empress had already learned of the location of the Mystery Miracle Worker. Or maybe she got caught with the key and someone had kidnapped her. No—it was too difficult to kidnap a naiad. But perhaps Renée had followed whoever might have stolen the key from her. No—Renée wasn't so bold of a person. If someone had taken the key, the empress would have given up and returned to the ocean. Rein didn't even want to consider that.

Rein tried to put herself into the empress's shoes and considered where she may have gone first in her quest to find the Mystery Miracle Worker. Where could one start in a search to find a merchant who would have such information? Rein wasn't about to attempt to talk to any of these people. She would have to hunt for Empress Renée the old-fashioned way.

Rein steered her bird back to the busy port where she slowly drifted among the dirty, angry people with their boats, ships, and rickety carriages. She realized that she didn't even know exactly what to look for since she couldn't be sure what the empress was wearing. She only knew to look for a woman, most likely wearing a lavish cloak of some sort, and chances were she was by herself keeping away from people as much as possible. Rein longed to ask one of these criminals if they had seen a naiad, but she repeatedly reminded herself that they would all be less than helpful.

Rein spent all day exploring every port of Arcor. As Arcor was a massive island, that was a lot of ports and Rein grew rapidly frustrated with her lack of progress. As the Southern sun made its way to the horizon, Rein finally steered the seagull onto a rooftop among a number of pigeons and other seagulls.

"Do any of you talk?" Rein called. She caught a couple of seagulls trading glances with each other and pointed at them. "I saw that! Listen, I'm not from here, and I'm not looking for trouble. I just have a simple question."

The seagulls hesitated but one finally replied, "What?"

"I'm looking for a naiad."

"On land...?" asked the second seagull with a scoff.

"Yes, I realize that's strange, but I know she's here. We recently learned that an Arcorian merchant knows the location of the Mystery Miracle Worker, so she's looking for him."

"Oh, well I can at least give you that much," said a third seagull and Rein leaned forward in anticipation. "People say that the merchant who owns the Worldly Trade shop learned that information from a pirate. As for your naiad friend, I don't have a clue."