Oath of Rings

Chapter 13

"Are you causing me trouble again, Becca?" Finn's voice carried on the wind and Bex wasn't surprised to see him approaching her and Bayley alone. Though the king insisted that he have a retinue for safety's sake, Finn avoided it whenever he could. He did have his sword in his belt, though, so there had likely been a discussion between him and the king about security, especially in light of their unexpected guests.

Smiling, Bex stood up and brushed sand off her pants. She and Bayley were making more changes to the boat, enlarging it—in part so Charlotte's figurehead didn't look out of place—and anchoring spells within it so they would be easier to summon in an emergency. "Again? Doesn't that imply that I stopped at some point?"

Finn grinned back and came over to hug the fire-forger. "I would never accuse you of such a thing." Then he took a step back to critique the boat. "It's looking quite fine. Who would have thought you would ever become a shipbuilder? I practically had to tell you which end of the sword to hold so you didn't cut yourself."

"You did not." Bex feigned a kick at the prince before sitting back down beside Bayley. "Don't believe him," she mock whispered to the earth-etcher. "He can tell lies as easily as you can move the earth."

"And what does that make me, then?" Finn flopped down on the beach beside them. "A lie-looper? Surely it must have some name." After they had all finished laughing, he pointed down the beach to where Charlotte and Sasha were working. "What are they doing?"

"Making a proper sail," Bayley answered, leaning back against a section of the boat. They had tried a few ways of building spells into the boat, dismantling it each time after and letting the magic dissipate before trying a new method. Their current attempt seemed to be the most likely to hold up over time, so they were building slowly and carefully, hoping to make their hard work last. "The skirts won't be salvageable anymore, but at least they got us here."

"Speaking of skirts," Finn said, flicking some sand at Bex, "I was able to covert most of the treasure you . . . ahem, rescued. Now it's in coins that will be much easier to spend. I was even able to find some buyers for Charlotte's dresses. Some of the royal families in the north are struggling due to a war with Scotland, but they still want to keep up appearances. No one they're trying to impress is likely to have seen the dresses, so they're good as new to them and they're most grateful for them."

"That's good." Bex looked down the beach to where Charlotte was conjuring up a light breeze to test the new sail. The fabric caught the air so quickly that it almost got swept out to sea. "It's probably not wise for us to take all the money with us, is it?"

Finn reached over and knocked on the closest part of their boat. "In this death trap? Only if you want to make some salvagers very rich. You're all welcome to keep some coffers here. You know our castle is safe, Bex. But that's a discussion for the four of you."

Bayley looked out across the water. "Paige left rather quickly yesterday. Was that because of us?" Her shoulders slumped as she added, "We didn't want to bring any trouble to your shores."

"You shouldn't have brought this one with you, then," Finn said with a wink, pointing at Bex. "She's nothing but trouble. Paige was going to be heading back within a matter of days anyway, Bayley. She simply wanted to make sure things were okay in her absence, especially since King Ric's men might be paying an unannounced visit. She said that when you leave here, she wants you to stop in. Apparently she's arranging a gift for you."

"A gift?" Bex raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that Paige wasn't kind or generous, but after everything the elementals had put their various hosts through, gifts were the last thing they should be getting. "Why?"

Finn shrugged as he stood. "You'll have to ask her. In the meantime, I need to speak with Bex alone for a bit." He cast a dubious look at their boat, most of its parts currently strewn across the beach. "But I don't want to interrupt your progress."