Portrait of A Goddess: Dragon Sin #5 (Dragon Shifter Romance) E-Book

Mac Flynn

• Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The time has arrived for Cait, her lover dragon Asher, and their friends to face their final battle with Davy and his selfish desire to free himself from his curse, no matter the cost.

Rumors come to them via an acquaintance that the vampyre is on the move, and moving toward the mystical islands of the wizarding family that created the Heart of God boxes. They pursuit their foe only to find themselves embroiled in international conflict and a race toward the islands that involves more than the bloodsucker. Someone else wants to learn the secrets of immortals and their powers, and that someone is just as desperate as Davy to find the answers they seek.

Pitted against foes known and unknown, Cait also struggles with the sliver of immortality she carries with her. Amalthea's powers manifest themselves and complicate matters, leading to a final showdown that will decide not only the fates of Davy and Asher, but her own.

Leseprobe

Portrait of a Goddess

Dragon Sin, Book 5

Mac Flynn

Copyright © 2021 by M. Flynn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Continue the adventure

Other series by M. Flynn

1

She was out there. I could sense it.

I could also smell it. Who could miss the stench of oil of newt and blood of bat?

I leaned out and looked around. The street was a mess of shouting people and hurrying wagons, each vying for supremacy of the street. My target wasn’t among them, but then again, she had her own way of travel.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and grasped the handle tighter in my hands. This was my first time out in the wilds with this thing. My bedroom didn’t have the winds and mess of the big world. A few muttered words passed my lips.

“Where is she?”

Ask, and ye shall receive. Or at least, I received a signal from my compatriot, the short, cowled figure in the gap between houses across from where I hid. Their clawed hand gestured at a house to my left. I leaned out and spotted it. The end of a broomstick sticking out.

This was it. This was my moment.

I tightened my hands on my own stick and took a deep breath. “You can do this, Cait. Just a nice flight, a little scolding, and it’s all done.”

I closed my eyes, gave a prayer, and opened them. Determination ran through my tense body as I gritted my teeth.

Now.

I shot out of the gap between the houses on my broomstick and flew out over the streets. Or rather, into the street, as a swirling wind broad-sided me and swept me toward that flowing mess of carriages and pedestrians. I pulled up on the front of the broom and whisked over the canopied tops of the vehicles. A toupee was lost in the making of that maneuver as my straw end brushed up against a man’s head.

Movement out of the corner of my eye warned me both that the man wasn’t happy, and that I had a tail on my, well, tail. A black-clad figure with a pale face. A slight cackle to her voice. Yep, it was her, my arch-nemesis.

The witch.

“Thought you could run from me on a broom?” she cackled.

I grinned and yanked the broom to my left. The motion swung me around so I faced the witch. She skidded to a midair stop in front of me and narrowed her eyes.

“I’m not trying to run from you,” I corrected her as I leaned down low against the stick. “I’m trying to run at you.”

The witches’ eyes widened as I shot straight at her. She yelped and tried to turn. Too slow. I grabbed the end of her broom and spun her around. She whipped in a circle like a top, and by the time she came to a stop the witch was slumped over the front of her broom with a noticeable greener tint to her already green face. The witch shook off her nausea and gave me a glare before she darted away.

“Oh no you don’t!” I shouted as I sped after her.

We flew over the tops of the vehicles and people. I barely missed hitting a chimney sweep brush slung over a man’s shoulder and was almost slapped by a fishmonger selling his wares from the back of his wagon. Another wind blew against my side, but I gritted my teeth and pulled the broom back into position so I pointed at my target. I tried to edge up on her from the right, but she darted into an alley. The grimy street below us showed our reflections in the filthy puddles as we sped past, leaving reverberations in the water. The witch darted out of the alley and I tried to pull along side her right again, but again we turned and found ourselves on a street behind where Asher’s house was located.

She threw her head back and loosed a cackle before she glanced over her shoulder. “You think you can keep up with me? I am the best flier in this city!”

“I don’t need to keep up with you-” I called back as I looked ahead of her. “I just need to lead you in the right direction.”

The witch frowned. “What do you-” She looked ahead and her eyes widened.

A thick piece of leather dropped down in front of her from two balconies opposite one another. The witch let out a shriek before she slammed into the leather. A sickening crack told me her broom was once again broken and the witch herself became entangled in the sticky front of the banner.

The cowled figure from before stood up from the balcony at the rear of Asher’s house and removed their hood. I grinned at Ratatoskr, my rat friend with the clawed hands. A small figure darted past me and landed neatly on his shoulder.

I leaned my crossed arms over the front of the broom and gave a thumbs-up to the tiny person. “You did great, Leith.”

The pixie spun in a circle and clapped its hands. “That was almost as much fun as taking apart an engine!”

“Let me out of here!” the witch growled as she thrashed about in the banner. “Why can’t I get out?”

Ratatoskr held up an empty glass bottle. “A little bit of Doc’s bandage juice. You’ll be stuck there for days.”

I floated over to the witch and grinned at her. “All those warm, bright, sunny days.”

The witch let out a shriek and tried to free herself, to no avail. “Let me go! Let me go!”

“I’ll let you go if you promise to stop bothering me,” I demanded.

The witch wrinkled her long, pointed nose. “But what is a witch to do in her mornings?”

I shrugged and floated toward the balcony. “If that’s the way you feel about it. . .”

“Wait!” she yelped as she squirmed in our fly trap. She hung her head and groaned. “Alright. You win. I swear I won’t bother you again.”

“Will you swear it on a leg of this-” I reached into my coat and drew out a limp frog leg.

The witch glared at me. “How do you know about the sacred oath?”

“I have friends in strange places,” I told her as I shook the leg in her direction. “Now will you swear it on the sacred oath of the frog leg, or not?”

She groaned, but stretched out her hand, and together we both took an end of the leg. My enemy and I gave a shake of the leg before I tucked the limb back into my coat and nodded at Ratatoskr. Leith flew across the way and loosed the banner on that end while Ratatoskr untied the other, but they both kept a hold on the ends. Ratatoskr reached into his coat and drew out another vial, this time filled with a purple substance. He popped the cork with his sharp teeth and doused the witch with the concoction.

She sputtered and spat at him. “What was that?”

“Glue dissolvent,” Ratatoskr told her as he took up his end with both hands.

With devilish grins the pair, rat and pixie, gave the leather a great shake. The witch flopped out for a moment before she dropped from the banner and fell face-first onto the street. Her broom clattered to the ground beside her. She groaned and raised herself onto her arms. The witch shot me an ugly glare, but I drew out the frog leg and waved it at her. She sneered at me, snatched up her broken broom, and stomped off.

I breathed a sigh of relief and floated over to Ratatoskr’s balcony. “I’m glad that’s over.”

Ratatoskr wrinkled his nose at the appendage I held. “Does that really work to keep her word?”

“Unbelievably well,” a voice spoke up, and we all looked to the open balcony door. Asher leaned against the frame with a smile on his face. “The frog is their god of warts. If they break the oath the god will rescind his divine blessing and remove their warts.”

“A god, huh?” I mused as I studied the limb.

“Perhaps more of a legend,” Asher mused as he pushed off from the frame. He half-turned to the doorway and jerked his head in that direction. “But could I speak with you for a moment, Cait?”

The tone of his voice made my heart skip a beat. “Sure thing,” I agreed as I handed the leg to Ratatoskr and followed him inside. Ratatoskr tried to follow, but Asher shut the door behind him and the curtains fell into place. I could see Ratatoskr’s shadow stumble back and Leith catching him. There was some mumbling as the pixie grabbed the back of Ratatoskr’s collar and flew him over the railing and to the ground.

My humor died when I returned my attention to Asher. “What is it?”

“I received this from Leon this morning,” he informed me as he drew a folded letter out of his pocket and held it out to me.

I took it and opened the note. It read at thus:

Hi Old Man. I have some news for you, and I don’t think you’re going to like it. Davy was spotted in Porta del Cielo procuring passage on a ship . My sources tell me the ship was headed for Bradach. Arzat was from Bradach and before that from parts unknown, if you see my meaning. Meet you there! - Leon.

“Porta del Cielo?” I repeated as I raised my eyes to Asher.

“Gate of Heaven,” Asher translated for me as he folded his arms over his chest. “It’s the largest port in the world. I wonder that even Leon’s connections found him there.”

I furrowed my brow. “And Arzat? Wasn’t that the guy who made the Heart of God boxes?”

Asher nodded. “Yes, and that worries me. Davy may be trying to find another way to harness celestial power.”

I winced, and my mind invariably thought of someone I dearly missed. It had only been three weeks since our adventure among the windmills of Molina. “I wish Cosimos was still here. . .he knew about Arzat.”

“That’s why I plan on searching his papers before we leave,” Asher told me as he took back the letter. His eyes sparkled as he looked me over. “I thought I could use another pair of eyes.”

I snorted. “I’ll try, but it’ll all be Greek to me.”

Asher arched an eyebrow. “Greek?”

“Well, Fiontarian,” I corrected myself as I looped my arm through one of his. “Now let’s see if Cosimos left us anything.”

We walked downstairs and opened the front door to find ourselves face to face with an annoyed Ratatoskr. He had his arms crossed and his bare, clawed foot tapped the marble flagstone.

“Where’s the breakfast you promised me?” he growled.

I sheepishly smiled at him. “Would you take an IOU?”

“I’d rather take some of that expensive bacon Asher has locked away in his ice box,” Ratatoskr countered.

“Then you’ll have a whole pound if you take us up to Professor Cosimos’s home,” Asher promised.

Ratatoskr arched a furry eyebrow. “Why there? Didn’t you tell me he died?”

“Dead, but not forgotten, nor without his uses,” Asher replied.

“That sounds spooky!” Leith spoke up as the pixie popped out of the ether. “Can we go now?”

Ratatoskr wrinkled his whiskers, but shrugged. “Alright, but I’ll be checking to make sure it’s a whole pound.”

We climbed into Ratatoskr’s strange vehicle and chugged up the streets to the lonely mansion on the hill. I stepped out and looked up at the towering, tottering old house and my heart sank. My mind drew back to that scene at the edge of the pond where he had given us one last smile.

Asher set a hand on my shoulder. “You can stay here if you like.”

I smiled and shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Maybe it’ll help knowing he can help us some more.”

Asher looked over his shoulder at our two companions. “We might be a while.”

Ratatoskr crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Asher. “The bacon is worth waiting for.”

Asher smiled, and together he and I entered the home. The darkness greeted us, so we kept the front door open and Asher led me into the library. The map of the world with the White Garden at its center still lay on the large table.

“There may be something in these books on the table,” Asher mused as he strode over to the furniture. He inspected several of the titles. “He may have been researching the origins of the boxes before he left.”

I joined Asher at the table and studied the large expanse of nothingness on the map. There was a small, familiar-looking wooden box just above the Garden. I arched an eyebrow and picked it up where I cradled it in both hands.

White light burst out of the box. I yelped and dropped the container onto the table. Asher wrapped his arms around me and pulled me behind him. The box pulsed with light for a few moments before it faded.

“W-what was that?” I whispered.

Asher tapped the box with his finger before he shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

“You are late.”

Asher and I froze, and a moment later we both spun around.

Behind us stood Professor Stephen Cosimos.

2

There was nothing ghostly about the solid figure that stood before us, but the edges of his person were. . .off. Almost like they were frayed. It meant I couldn’t quite focus my eyes on his person.

The professor chuckled. “You two look as though you have seen a ghost.”

My eyes bulged and I whipped my head to Asher. “Is that a thing here?”

He looked as stumped as me, and a little wary of our deceased companion. “There have always been stories, but I haven’t seen anything myself.”

Cosimos grasped his hands behind his back and arched a bushy eyebrow in bemusement. “Might I turn your attention to the box that Cait touched?”

Asher and I half-turned to face the table and the tell-tale box, and what a tale. I picked it up and looked back to the poltergeist professor. “Is this another Heart of God?”

Cosimos grinned and shook his head. “Not quite. It is a box to contain not the essence of an immortal, but the soul of a mortal.”

“You left a part of your soul inside the box,” Asher guessed.

The professor nodded. “Quite right! Quite right indeed! I thought perhaps such an expedition as you described would require more than one adventure, and so I left a little bit of my being inside the box. In case you should have need of it.”

“Then you expected to die?” I asked him.

Some of his humor fled as he turned his face to one side and pursed his lips. “Let us say that the likelihood was there, and so I took precautions.”

I looked him up and down, and now my eyes began to see what they had at first refused to see. The edges of his body rippled like the frayed strands of a shawl in a slight breeze. There was also a touch of an unearthly light that emanated from his person. In the darkness of the room I could see it, but guessed that out in daylight it would be impossible to view.

“Then you are sort of a ghost, aren’t you?” I wondered.

“Now that my body is no more, I suppose that is the proper title,” he mused. There was a tinge of sadness in his voice, but he cleared his throat and turned his attention back to us. “But that is in the past, and I must surmise that your being here means I may still be of use to this world.”

“We received a letter from Leon that Davy chartered a ship to take him to Bradach,” Asher informed him.

Cosimos’s eyebrows crashed down and his face tightened. “I see. That is worrisome news. Did the letter state his intentions?”

Asher shook his head. “No, but we thought perhaps your writings might illuminate his reasoning.”

Cosimos glanced around. It was kind of eerie watching someone whom you knew to be dead act with such normal gestures. There was something distinctly abnormal about the whole thing. “I haven’t much left of any particular books. They went the way of all things.” He absently waved his hand at the hearth. A pile of ash had spilled out onto the floor. “Much that is left in my collection are the basic-” He paused and his bushy eyebrows crashed down.

His eyes zeroed in on a particular spot on one of the far bookshelves. He marched over and searched the shelves for a moment before he spun around to face us. “The book is gone!”

“What book?” Asher questioned him as we joined our deceased companion at the wall.

Cosimos stepped aside and gestured to the empty hole. I could see a dust spot where a book had once stood on end. “My first academic writings on the subject of gods! Someone has stolen it!”

“What exactly did you write about?” Asher wondered.

Cosimos shook his head. “Nothing of great importance, but I believe it was the only copy left in existence. There were notes on the research into the gods that were done by one of my ancestors and Arzat, such as their possible abilities and limitations, and the location of Amalthea.”

I felt a strange twinge run up my spine, like a tingle of fear and creeping realization. The funny part was I had the strangest feeling it wasn’t my fear that clouded my mind. “The power of gods?”

Cosimos nodded. “Yes, though that knowledge was a limited scholarly subject due to the secluded nature of the gods and what was known from legends. I could hardly make a half book out of the subject, and that was only due to Arzat’s notes.”

Asher stepped closer to me and set his hand on my shoulder. The touch jolted me from my strange fright and I whipped my head up to him. His eyes bore into mine with a worried intensity. “Are you alright?”

I shook my head. “I. . .I don’t know. I just feel-” I grasped my left arm and hugged Cosimos’s box against me as I bit my lower lip. “I just feel scared.”

Cosimos’s own keen eyes studied me. “You clutch your arm very unusually, Miss Miller. Why?”

I looked down at my arm as though it was the first time I’d seen it. “I-I don’t know. It just feels cold.”

“Amalthea?” Asher guessed.

The professor stroked his chin. “I would venture to guess that you are correct.”

“The piece of Amalthea inside me?” I asked the pair.

Cosimos dropped his hand and nodded. “Quite right. There is evidently something amiss that the piece of her blessing you hold greatly dislikes.”

I pushed the troubling emotions aside and raised my chin. “Who else besides Davy could have taken the book?”

Cosimos shook his head. “No one would have any use for such a small pamphlet, and there were some protection spells around my home that would allow only those I deemed worthy to enter.”

“Unless they had the power granted to them by a god,” I finished for him.

He inclined his head. “Yes, and with that in mind we had better venture out as soon as possible. The Gate of Heaven itself is a three days’ carriage ride.”

Asher grinned. “Not with my driver.”

Cosimos wrinkled his nose. “Thank the gods that I no longer have a body to ache beneath his rough ‘driving.’”

That brought my thoughts back to the box in my hands. I set my palm over the top and studied the container. “Could anybody touch the box and summon you?”

After a moment when I didn’t hear a reply I looked up to find that Cosimos had turned his back on us. “Do you perhaps remember our first meeting? I commented that you had an unusual aura about you, did I not?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but-” A realization struck me and my eyes widened. I pointed a finger at myself. “You mean. . .you set me up to open the box?”

Cosimos looked over his shoulder and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Perhaps, but shall we go?”

In a blink of an eye he transformed into a ball of light and darted into the box. The container glowed for a second before it went dark.

I looked up at Asher and raised the box a little. “Think we could use him as a lamp?”

“I heard that,” Cosimos’s voice floated out of the container. “Now stop dawdling and hurry along now! There is no time to waste, even for my timeless existence!”

My eyes widened. “Are you. . .are you immortal now?”

“Not if you bore me to death with your incessant questions, now hurry along!” he insisted.

I tucked the box under my arm, and together Asher and I exited the house. We found our friends waiting, albeit impatiently. Actually, they appeared to have started a war between themselves.

“Another filter will not help!” Ratatoskr snapped at the pixie above his head. He leaned over the hood of his strange vehicle with his feet dangling in the air. His furry cheeks were smudged with oil of some kind and gloves covered his clawed hands.

“But it would be soooo much cleaner,” Leith insisted as it flitted above the rodent. “Ever so much cleaner, and so much more fun because we will have to replace it! That means-”

“Taking it off and putting on a new one,” Ratatoskr finished as he rolled his eyes. He waved a wrench at his curious companion. “There’s more to machinery than just taking apart and putting back together, ya know.”

“But what could be more fun!” Leith squealed.

“Keeping everything together, for one. . .” Ratatoskr muttered before he noticed us. He dropped onto the ground and removed the leather gloves. “Well? Find anything?”

I patted the box in my hand. “All the answers we could ever want.”

Ratatoskr arched an eyebrow as he studied the container. “In that tiny thing? What’s it got, a small encyclopedia?”

“More or less,” Asher confirmed with a sly smile at the corners of his lips. He inspected the vehicle. “Are you ready to return us home?”

“Ready and willing,” Ratatoskr confirmed as he slammed the hood shut. “But I’ve got a feeling you’re not going to be there for long. You’ve got that look in your eyes that spells trouble.”

“Trouble, no doubt, that you would like to avoid?” Asher teased.

Ratatoskr twitched his whiskers. “Well, if there’s more bacon to be had, I wouldn’t turn down an offer for help.”

Asher shook his head as he led me toward the back seat of the vehicle. “You wouldn’t want to go where we are headed. The high seas are not a place for a rodent.”

Ratatoskr’s face turned slightly pale. “The puddle of horrible wetness?”

“Just that,” Asher confirmed.

“Well, I guess I wouldn’t then,” Ratatoskr mused with a shrug.

“The high seas? Is that the ocean?” Leith spoke up as it flitted between them.

“A load of filthy water, that’s what it is. . .” Ratatoskr mumbled.

Leith flew in front of his face and clasped their hands together. “Can we see it? Please?”

Ratatoskr waved his hand in the direction of the port. “You can see it any time you like out there.”

“But I want to see more of it,” Leith pleaded as it clasped its hand together. “There must be more greens and blues in it, and so many more creatures to play with!”

The sneak wrinkled his whiskers. “Then you can see it as much as you like, but I’m not ending up like my great-granddad and being a drowned rat.”

Leith’s face fell and it hung its head. “Oh. . .” The disappointed pixie turned away and sniffled. “O-okay. I-I guess I don’t want to see such a pretty thing, anyway.” Leith kicked at the air with one foot. “It’s just been a dream of mine forever. Just a little glimpse of the waters. . .”

Ratatoskr shut his eyes and slapped his hand over his face. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but fine.”

Leith spun around and its face lit up with joy. “Really?”

Ratatoskr dropped his hand to his side and sighed. “Yeah, really.”

Leith squealed and flung itself at him. The tiny pixie enveloped his neck in a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you!”

“Don’t go doing that soft stuff on me,” Ratatoskr scolded his companion as he yanked the pixie off of him. “I’m not saying we’re going to be going on a ship with them. We’ll just take them to port, and that’s all.”

“Yes! That would be wonderful enough!” Leith agreed.

“Now then-” Ratatoskr mused as he returned his attention to Asher. “What’s this all about, anyway? What takes you to that overgrown puddle?”

“Destiny,” Asher replied.

Ratatoskr frowned and squinted his eyes at Asher. “You’re in that bad, aren’t you?”

Asher’s smile didn’t falter as he nodded. “That bad.”

“The god mess like on Athas?”

“Worse. Davy.”

“Well, that settles in then,” Ratatoskr announced as he crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re going with you to keep you out of trouble, and there’s nobody faster than my machine.”

A devilish smile slipped onto Asher’s lips as he folded his arms over his chest. “I had thought to employ Gregor.”

Ratatoskr wrinkled his whiskers. “Those horses and that rickety carriage? They wouldn’t make it half a day keeping up with my beauty. That’s why you need us.”

“So very much us!” Leith spoke up as the little pixie zoomed up to flutter between us. “I want to see the ocean!”

Asher’s expression took a serious turn as he studied our small rodent friend. “I would be lying if I said we didn’t have a chance of dying during this trip.”

Ratatoskr snorted and shrugged. “So what’s new? Besides, if you kick the bucket then I’ve got myself a lot more bacon.”

“And I still want to see the ocean!” Leith insisted.

Asher sighed, but the corners of his lips turned upward into a smile. “Very well, but pack quickly. We leave in an hour.”

Ratatoskr saluted us, and Leith mimicked him. “Aye aye, captain.”

“But first you have to get us home,” I teased as I nodded at the vehicle.

“Not before the bacon goes down my stomach,” Ratatoskr reminded him.

“Now?” Asher scolded him.

“Right now,” Ratatoskr confirmed. “Then we get packing.”

“I thought we were going to leave in an hour,” I reminded the group.

Ratatoskr grinned and wagged his eyebrows at me. “This won’t take long, love.”

Asher sighed, but gravely nodded. Ratatoskr drove us back home and Asher led our small troupe inside and the three headed toward the kitchen. I, however, paused just inside the door. The box in my hands had remained quiet the whole time. I turned the container over in my hands and a whispered word passed over my lips. “Professor?”

“You needn’t jostle me so,” Cosimos’s voice spoke up from within the box.

I sheepishly smiled at him. “Sorry. I was. . .well, I was just making sure you were still there.”

There was a moment of silence before he sighed. “Yes. I suppose that is understandable, all things considered.”

I furrowed my brow. “Do you. . .do you know what happened? At Molina, I mean.”

Another pause, and I could feel a strange coolness flow from the container. “Yes. Though my soul was split into two parts, they were still as a whole. I. . .I witnessed everything.”

I shut my eyes against a wave of tears. “I didn’t get a chance to say how. . .how sorry I was. I mean, it was kind of our fault it all happened-”

“Nonsense, woman,” Cosimos scolded me. Heat now emanated from the box, but it was a soothing warmth. “I knew perfectly well what I was doing, and I must say my mortal coil left this earth on a most heroic deed.”

I laughed and patted the top of the box. “You did indeed.”

“Now that’s a good slab of bacon!” Ratatoskr announced as my corporeal companions strode from the kitchen.

I blinked at the threesome as they came up to me. “You’re done already?”

Ratatoskr puffed out his chest and patted his stomach. “Yep.”

I arched an eyebrow. “With a whole pound of bacon?”

“I said it wouldn’t take long,” Ratatoskr reminded me.

“It wasn’t cooked,” Asher elaborated.

“Minor taste changing wasn’t necessary for that,” Ratatoskr objected as he looked up at Asher. “Now then, we’ll be right back and ready for that trip.”

“I must send off a letter first,” Asher announced as he turned to the stairs and set his hand on the banister. “I won’t be more than a moment, and then we can be off.”

“A letter now?” Ratatoskr wondered.

“I won’t be more than a moment,” Asher promised as he climbed the stairs and disappeared into our room.

Ratatoskr turned to me, but I could only shrug. The sneak sighed and shook his head. “I’ll never understand that guy.”

3

Two days later found us bumping along the rustic roads of the world surrounded on all sides by ancient trees. The only signs of life were wagons that wheeled past us going in the opposite direction. Many were large affairs with their backs loaded with boxes.

I still held Cosimos’s box between my hands. He hadn’t spoken since the house, but a slight difference in heat told me he was still around.

Asher leaned forward and draped one arm over the partition that separated us from Ratatoskr. “I suppose you haven’t kept up with the latest designs of the ships.”

“You mean since they started putting engines in them?” Ratatoskr replied with a detestable twitch of his whiskers. “Some nice engines being put into those useless things.”

“Engines?” Leith squealed as it flitted about the rodent. “Can we play with them?”

“Don’t touch anything or you’ll be the death of us,” Ratatoskr snapped with a sharp look at his flying friend. “Besides, we’re not getting on one of those death traps. That’ll end up with me floating face-down in the water.”

“Have you tried to learn to swim?” I suggested.

“Sneaks don’t swim,” Ratatoskr reminded me as he looked straight ahead. He gave a nod in that direction. “We should be coming up on the port soon.”

True to his word the trees began to thin and houses now dotted the landscape. They were high-peaked, shingled homes with clapboard walls. Old nets and broken boats littered the yards and hinted at the occupation of the owners. Stacks of wood and metal cages leaned against the weathered walls, and more than one curious eye looked at us from behind canvas curtains that once sped ships along on their voyages.

The road widened and turned into a muck pit, and a hell of a busy one. Wagons of all sizes and carriages of all shapes fought for supremacy of the mess I could hardly call a road, much less a street. But a street it was, and the main drag that led down to the heart of the city, the port.

The port was much like that of Tras, but five times the size. Huge docks as wide as a half block stretched out some hundred yards into the water. Ships of all sizes anchored their weary boards against the sides, and sailors with their spry steps hurried to and fro, unloading and loading the ships.

The entire city was focused on that single point. The houses all faced the ocean, that great wave of water that stretched out to the horizon. All the widest streets separated out from the one on which we approached and journeyed down to those busy docks.

Unlike Tras, there were very few fine houses, but what the homes lacked in style the boats made up for in class. Yachts of all makes and sizes dotted the huge bay that protected the city from the worst of the ocean storms. Many sported tall masts with white sails, but a few of the shinier new ones were overshadowed by their own smokestacks.

I pointed at those vessels without the sails. “Are those the ships with the engines?”

“Either that or they’ve spent a lot of money on going nowhere,” Ratatoskr quipped.

Leith flitted in front of Ratatoskr’s face and clasped its hands together. “Can we go see the engines? Please?”

Ratatoskr wrinkled his nose. “I’m not tempting fate.”

Leith’s eyes grew larger and filled with shimmering tears. “Please?”

The sneak’s whiskers twitched and he turned his face away. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “Fine.”

Leith threw its hands up in the air and spun around in a circle. “Yay!”

I smiled at the unlikely pair, but I noticed that Asher wasn’t in as good a humor. I reached over and clasped his hand in mine. “You okay?”

His gaze lay on the road before us and those glistening deep waters. “I believe this will not be an easy venture.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

“Because that Davy friend hasn’t tripped up in all these years, so why’d he start now?” Ratatoskr pointed out.

“He might be desperate,” I suggested as an idea popped into my head. “And he doesn’t have Ida to help him now.”