A Hero of Realms(22)

I stared at her. “Where to?”

“I-I don’t know, but we must flee this island before someone discovers them.” Her lips quivered, her voice was close to cracking.

I would have been surprised if nobody had gone to investigate already. Unless guests of the Blue Tavern were used to banging coming from rooms… but the noise we’d made would have been hard to pass off as even wild vampire lovemaking.

Still wearing her nightdress, Julie grabbed her cloak from the back of the door before flinging on her shoulder bag.

“Julie, who were those people?”

She barged past me toward the door and stopped just as she reached it. Her hand rested on the handle. Her back heaved as she drew in a deep, rasping breath.

“I have a boat that I used to get here,” she whispered, ignoring my question. “It’s moored in The Tavern’s harbor. I’m going to run straight there now, and try to get far away before dawn breaks.” She turned around to face me, a look of worry in her eyes. “I suggest that you do the same in your boat.”

My mind worked quickly. I didn’t have a boat, of course. But if I followed Julie to the harbor, I would have to hope that I could find a suitable one. Then I would have to wait off The Tavern’s shore in safety until Aisha returned. I had the gold band around my wrist so I wasn’t too concerned about her finding me. I’d touch the snake’s head and that should summon her to me.

“Okay,” I breathed, seeing that Julie wasn’t going to answer my question—at least not now. “Let’s go.”

She pulled the door open and we both poked out our heads, looking right and left, scanning the length of the corridor. I was relieved to see that it was still empty. Julie darted left, toward the nearest staircase to us, and I followed quickly behind her. We flew down the stairs, level after level, as silently as we could, and arrived on the ground floor. We approached the door that led into the pub and peered through the glass. The eatery was still packed with people—no less packed than when we’d left it, in fact. We pushed open the door, and, keeping our heads down, tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as we slipped into the crowd and made our way toward the exit. We stepped out into the early morning air.

Julie pulled her hood lower down her face and took a right. She was short and slight of build, able to squeeze through narrow gaps in crowds in a way I couldn’t, so I had to make a concerted effort to not lose sight of her as she scrambled forward. I didn’t take in much of my surroundings as I followed the vampire. I just kept my eyes focused on her back.

Soon we had left The Tavern’s town center and entered a much quieter area. We hurried along cobbled stone streets, until Julie raced down a flight of stairs and stopped at the bottom, in front of a heavy wooden door. An ogre was slumped in a chair beside it, his eyes closed, his head lolling onto his chest. Julie shot me a sharp glance and placed a finger over her lips.

She crept up to the door and slid open the bolts. They were large and heavy and, no matter how quiet she tried to be, the metal ended up making an uncomfortable amount of noise. But thankfully—and perhaps predictably—the ogre slept through it. Julie creaked the door open just wide enough for the two of us to slip through, then closed it again behind us.

We emerged on the beach that lined the other side of the high wall surrounding The Tavern.

Julie didn’t miss a beat. She sprinted toward a port in the distance, a network of wooden platforms surrounded by a myriad of boats and ships.

Julie kicked up a storm of sand as she tore along the beach. Catching up with her, I ran by her side. Her eyes were fixed forward, still wide with terror.

“Are you going to tell me who those men were?” I asked, irritated at the lack of an answer considering they had just attempted to murder me.

“I just need to… get to my boat,” she panted.

Although impatient for answers, I didn’t press her. We traveled along the maze of wooden platforms that extended into the sea and connected each of the ships. It was our good luck that I didn’t spot anyone else here at this time of the morning. I had to hope that it would stay that way while I found a vessel to steal for myself.

Julie halted in front of a small boat whose deck was covered entirely by a curved wooden shelter. She leapt up onto the deck’s railing and looked down at me. “This is my boat,” she said. “I suggest you hurry up and find yours.”

“Julie—” I began, exasperated.

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter to you who those men were. All you need to know is that you have to get out of here. Go to your boat and just… get lost.”