Chapter 14: The Toll Chain

The first day on the river felt longer than the eleven hours Kai had once spent in a holding cell with a guy who sold knockoff cologne.

The boat was so cramped that every time Harl had to adjust the sail, someone had to move out of the way, and every time someone moved, Kai bumped into one of the three women around him. When he shifted to the left, he hit Mira.

"Be careful," Mira said.

When he shifted to the right, he hit Dagna.

"Watch it," Dagna said, without sounding like she cared whether he did or not.

And when he leaned forward, he bumped right into Elowen’s back.

"I can see your light, and it is very warm. Please stop leaning on me," Elowen said, without even turning around.

Kai didn’t move a single muscle for the next six hours.

[You will have a sore back tomorrow]

"I have a sore back right now," Kai whispered.

[That is because you are sitting like a fence post. When you are around women you find attractive, your body goes stiff, much like your heart rate]

"Stop noticing me," Kai whispered.

[I cannot. I am a part of you]

At the back of the boat, Garrick was carving a small wooden halo, crooked just like the one on the chapel wall.

"Is that for Wren?" Kai asked.

Garrick’s ears turned red, and he didn’t answer, but he kept on carving.

[His heart rate just increased by 40%. That is a yes]

Around noon, Elowen turned around to face the rest of them, with her sword resting across her knees and her blindfolded face pointed at Mira.

"Your father was Lord Aldric Vallen," Elowen said.

"Yes," Mira said, and her whole body stiffened.

"I was at the Cathedral when they brought him in," Elowen said. "Another inquisitor questioned him, but I saw his light as they walked him past me."

"What did it look like?" Mira asked.

"It was calm," Elowen said. "Like a candle shining through a window. It was the light of an innocent man."

Mira looked down at her hands.

"He was innocent," Mira said.

"I know that now," Elowen said. "And I am sorry that I did not know it then."

Her sword stayed dark, and Mira didn’t say anything back. But that afternoon, when Elowen nearly toppled out of the boat, Mira grabbed her arm and held her steady without a word.

[Faith gained. Mira Vallen: +2%.]

"Why does that count towards me?" Kai whispered.

[They are both here because of you. So I assume that if they become friends, it counts towards you as well]

That night, they camped on a freezing sandbar in the middle of the river, where nothing could reach them without getting wet first, and there were only five blankets for seven people.

Harl and Bram shared one and slept back to back in the boat, and Garrick took one and curled up by the fire with his carving. That left three blankets for four people, and even Elowen understood the situation perfectly.

"We’ll share," Dagna said. "Body heat. Fishermen do it all the time."

"Fine," Mira said. "Kai can sleep on the end."

"Kai sleeps in the middle," Dagna said. "He’s the warmest. He’s practically burning up."

"He is literally burning," Elowen said.

"I’m literally standing right here," Kai said.

Nobody listened to him, and five minutes later, Kai was lying on his back with Mira on his left, Dagna on his right, and all three blankets piled on top of them. Elowen lay on Mira’s other side with her sword hugged to her chest.

[Your heart rate is higher than it has ever been]

"I know," Kai whispered.

[Would you like me to stop monitoring your heart rate?]

"Yes," Kai whispered.

[I will continue to monitor your heart rate]

Kai was absolutely certain he wasn’t going to fall asleep that night, and at some point, he fell asleep anyway.

When he woke up at sunrise, he couldn’t move his arms, because Mira’s head was on his left shoulder and Dagna had an arm and a leg thrown across him. At some point in the night, Elowen must have crawled over Mira, because now she was curled up asleep on his feet like a cat.

Kai stared up at the gray morning sky.

[Good morning. I monitored your heart rate all night. Would you like to know what it was?]

"No," Kai whispered.

Garrick looked up from the fire at the pile of women on top of Kai and slowly shook his head.

"Don’t," Kai whispered.

"I didn’t say anything," Garrick said.

"You’re thinking it," Kai said.

"Yes, I am," Garrick said.

Then Mira woke up and shoved him right into Dagna, who woke up swinging, while Elowen sat up with her sword half drawn, and by the time everyone sorted out whose arms were whose, Harl was rolling around in the boat laughing.

They reached the toll chain the next day around noon.

A giant chain of black iron stretched across the river between two stone posts, and on the left bank, ten soldiers wearing the Draven crest lounged around a wooden guardhouse.

"Toll chain," Bram whispered. "If you’re heading to Ironwatch, you have to stop here and let them search your boat."

"Can we go around it?" Kai asked.

"Only if you have a boat that flies," Bram said.

Kai looked from the soldiers to Elowen and started to smile.

"Perfect," Kai said. "A practice run."

"For what?" Mira asked.

"For the real thing," Kai said. "Elowen, you’re an inquisitor on a holy quest. Garrick, you’re her blacksmith. Dagna, you’re her guide. And Mira, you’re her scribe."

"And you?" Mira asked.

"I’m her priest," Kai said.

He closed his eyes and focused.

"Lesser Glamour," Kai whispered.

Warmth spread over him like a hot tub, and when he opened his eyes, Mira was staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

"What?" Kai asked, in a much deeper voice.

"You’re old," Mira said. "Really old. You’re bald, and you have a long beard."

"You look like an old wizard who fell down a flight of stairs," Dagna added.

[Your glamour is working. Remember, do not let anyone hit you]

The boat drifted up to the chain, and a soldier so thin he looked half starved wandered over, chewing on a piece of jerky.

"It’s five silver, and we search your boat," the soldier said. "Who are you?"

Elowen rose to her feet at the front of the boat, and her white armor sparkled in the sunlight.

"I am Sister Elowen Ashgrave of the Radiant Church," Elowen said.

The soldier dropped his jerky and snapped to attention.

"Sister! Forgive me, I didn’t know," the soldier said. "We’d never charge you, of course. Who’s with you?"

"These are my companions," Elowen said.

Her sword stayed dark, and Kai was impressed, because it was the truth, and it didn’t tell the soldier a single thing.

"What brings you to Ironwatch?" the soldier asked.

Elowen thought about it for a moment while Kai held his breath.

"I am searching for something that does not belong in those mines," Elowen said, and her sword stayed dark again.

"Oh," the soldier said. "Heretics. Right. It’s always heretics in Ironwatch." He turned to Kai. "What about you, Father? Have you been traveling long?"

"It has been many years, my son," Kai rumbled.

"Well, you’re always welcome in Ironwatch, Father," the soldier said, and he gave Kai a big friendly pat on the back, and there was a tiny pop.

[Your glamour broke. You got hit]

"YES, I GOT HIT," Kai said out loud.

Kai was young again, with no beard and no bald head, just Kai Mercer, wanted heretic, with his hand still raised in a blessing.

"You," the soldier whispered, his jaw dropping. "You’re the heretic from the wanted posters."

Garrick’s grip tightened on his hammer, Dagna reached for her gaff hook, and Elowen’s hand went to her sword. But the soldier didn’t yell for the others. He just kept staring at Kai, and then his eyes moved to Dagna and went wide.

"Dagna?" the soldier said.

Dagna froze, looked the soldier up and down, and went pale.

"Pell?" Dagna said.

"Who’s Pell?" Kai whispered.

"He’s from Millbrook," Bram whispered. "He’s our cousin, mine and Harl’s. We haven’t seen him in four months. We hung a cloth on his mother’s door."

Pell glanced back at the other guards playing dice, then crouched down by the boat and spoke in a rush.

"They pulled us off the river, me and about eight others," Pell said. "Forced us to work in the mines. When they found out I was good with a spear, they made me a guard, but the rest are still working down there."

"Tam?" Dagna asked, and her voice cracked. "Is he alive?"

"He’s on the bottom level. They call it the Black Seam, and that’s where they keep the maws," Pell said. "But he’s alive, or at least he was a week ago."

Dagna clapped her hand over her mouth and started to cry, and Mira reached over and held her arm.

"The guards have been talking about you," Pell said. "They say you killed a gutter maw and burned a whole nest of them in Millbrook."

"Sort of," Kai said. "It was an accident."

"Lord Draven is coming to Ironwatch in two days," Pell said. "They’re sending a big shipment down south. Whatever your plan is, you’ve got two days."

Pell stood up and shouted to the other guards that the boat was clear, and the chain lowered into the water so the boat could sail right over it. As they passed by, Pell waved, drew a crooked circle in the air above his head, and grinned at them.

[Faith gained. Pell Corrin: 9%. Status: Hopeful.]

[You did not keep your glamour on for even one minute]

"But we made it through," Kai whispered.

[Yes. I am getting used to this]

Kai looked north, where a column of smoke was rising above the tree line on the horizon, and he knew without asking that it was Ironwatch.