The Midnight Storm (A New Dawn #2)

Chapter 51 - Alex (Part 1)

Three and half days away from Whitecliff Bay, where the hills grew into the first white peaks of the Horseshoe Mountains and away from prying Silvermark eyes, Kaisa found an old, abandoned river barge buried in a hole covered by a pile of rocks. Kaisa's curiosity for the strangely stacked stones had not only given the Krakens an alternative to haphazardly walking to Sundale but thanks to the tools that the previous owner had left, they had something to do other than grieving for their losses.

It took a week to replace the rot-gnawed planks. Another one to stabilise the hull. Those able to hold a hammer worked on the ship while others recovered in the freshness and unexpected twists of the late Silvermark spring where the principle of four seasons in one day was the rule instead of a strange phenomenon.

Alex mostly steered clear from the Pirates. During the morning she built traps and laid them for the plethora of rabbits and hares that called this hilly shrubland miles from any settlement their home. In the afternoon, she sneaked around until she had scared at least one animal into her snare.

Providing food didn't stop the questions of how she had come to have such powerful ties with the Greenlander royal family, but at least a fully belly made the vengeful looks in some of the Krakens' eyes fade.

When the barge was placed into the water, and they were ready to continue their journey, Alex no longer needed to fear a stab in the back when Captain Ilona wasn't looking.

"Why all the sour faces? We could row back to Malva with this." Nagi chuckled. His white teeth gleamed in the sunlight.

"Pray to the Goddesses of Kindness and Charity that we'll make it to Sundale." Ilona's worried gaze was on the shallow water.

The wood croaked and groaned as the ship slipped over boulders.

There came no crack.

They were safe.

Not comfortable though.

Thirty-four Krakens had made it out of Whitecliff Bay. Too many people too tightly packed in a ship that in its glory years housed not even half.

Pan's theory was the barge had once belonged to a smuggler of magicians. Someone who would take people from one small river to the next. He or she had been a magician too, so Pan claimed—that was the only explanation they had found the ship in the middle of nowhere. Nagi believed the ship belonged to the Silvermark army, then left behind when there weren't enough silverlings to keep the barge sea-worthy. Not long after that, Rico came with a third theory that there had once been a village in this region but that a magician had come to destroy it all.

Alex didn't say anything though the story physically hurt her with a yearning to a time before Katla had set fire to Laneby. Nearly thirteen and a half, and yet she had seen too many people die; not only at the hand of magicians.

But whatever the story of the mysterious barge was, it kept the Krakens from thinking too much about what would be waiting for them in Sundale.

Alex wasn't sure either what to expect either. There was so much to tell, and so much she didn't want to tell. Would she mention Fox? Or would he be the key to convince the King to listen to her?

She wished she didn't have to worry so much; a yearning for simpler times.

Two nights and many more worries later, when they had returned to the sea, the wind came down from the mountains and dangerously rocked the barge. Ilona ordered the Krakens to bring the boat to shore and wait out the storm.

One by one, the Krakens laid down in the sand and closed their eyes.

But not Alex. She couldn't sleep with while the imaginary sword of marriage dangled above her head once more. She wasn't ready to exchange the wild pirate life where no day was the same for the boring stability of a husband who expected her to cook, clean, and bear him children. Preferably sons.