The Runaway Princess

Chapter 11

-Storm's POV-

We arrived in Lengeli in the late morning. Lengeli was an interesting country, just a day's sail from Idi, yet Idi was a desert and Lengeli was covered in snow. Embeth and Adair were originally from here, they lived as nobles in the capital city Verko. We were going to be staying in Rudo where the primary port was, an hour's travel from Verko.

Thala was semi-nocturnal and took the night shift almost every night, so she woke me up when Lengeli was close enough for humans to see. The skyline was breathtaking, and I never got over its beauty. Lengeli was also known for iridescent lights in the sky at night and I hoped to stay up late enough to see them.

"Hey Stormy, we're nearly at the dock," Thala said, sauntering in and hopping on the bed, jostling me fully awake. I glared at her with her puffy coat and she grinned in return before skipping outside. I got dressed and went outside after adding a cotton coat over my clothes to keep warm. Not many of the others were awake, I spotted Thala heading below decks, Hortensia was in the crows nest bundled in a large blanket, and Baylen was leaving their office. I walked over to Baylen.

"Are we all set up for the delivery of cargo?" I asked them. They nodded a reply and we turned to look at the approaching land from beside the office. We docked at an available spot and tied the boat in place. I felt tension I didn't realize I had as I went through the familiar motions of the rope tying. Thala reappeared with the others following sleepily in various types of coats and hats to keep warm. Embeth and Adair looked fairly nervous and I couldn't blame them. They hadn't been dead very long, people they knew were still alive and not far from here. I walked over to them.

"How are you doing?" I asked. Embeth glanced at Adair, waiting for her to respond first.

"I'm wondering what happened to my husband," Adair said bitterly. He was the one that killed her, after Adair was married off to him to pull their parents out of debt. Embeth couldn't bear the thought of living without her sister so their parents lost both their children that day. They traveled the country for a year before Thala added them to our crew, I didn't know the details of how they met. "I might take a small trip to visit him if he's around." Embeth nodded furiously, and I knew I wouldn't be able to dissuade them from this.

"Ok, but you'll let myself or Baylen know before you go. Don't go to Thala, she'll just go with you without telling anyone." I said.

"Do what without telling people?' Thala asked, startling me who didn't hear her come up behind me.

"An adventure you are not going to be a part of." I replied, crossing my arms. Thala pouted, but before she could reply, we heard the noise of the ladder hitting the dock. Together we went to find the inn we had reservations at, leaving the unloading the cargo to Adair's spirits.

"It looks cozy," Thala said hesitantly. I had made reservations through a merchant in Piscor, where we had been before picking up the coffee in Aregium, so I had never seen the place personally. It was a bright green building with a tall roof, though the entire structure looked as though it was about to collapse. There were two levels, and we had booked the top level which supposedly had three rooms. We already planned who will be where, I would be with Baylen and Thala, Embeth and Adair had a room, and Odette, Amare, and Hortensia were in the last one.

We went inside the inn walking past a hallway of rooms and went upstairs to our rooms. I paid already, so we passed by the paying counter without stopping to chat with the man there. We all went into our respective rooms and I surveyed mine in dismay. There were four mats on the floor, but they were more like doormats than beds.

"I'll be back in a bit," Thala said looking amused. "I'm going to grab as many blankets as I can from the ship." I acknowledged her statement with a nod and turned to Baylen.

"It's almost noon now, I say we grab some lunch and then check our contacts about any jobs, sound good?" I said.

"Sure. I'll tell everyone and meet you out front in a few minutes."

I headed to the entrance and leaned against the wall by the doorway while surveying the street we are on. The few people I knew that live here are across town, closer to the food market than the residential area we were in. Baylen joined me shortly with Thala and we set off to the market. I buyed some form of spiced chocolate drink and beef jerky, Baylen got a slice of cake, and Thala got spiced wine and a loaf of bread. Bayeln and I openly stared at her as she bought it.

"What?" She asked when she spotted us. "I'm hungry and you can't go wrong with bread."

"You're not wrong, but you didn't buy anything to put on the bread. Are you going to eat it plain?" Baylen asked incredulously. Thala looked between the two of us.

"Come on, isn't this supposed to be a judgment free zone?" she asked and I snorted a laugh.

"Yeah but that was said when people weren't going to buy a giant thing of bread to eat plain with wine." I asked, laughing as I said it.

We finished eating most of our food and drinks though Thala ended up sharing her bread as she couldn't finish it. On our way to our contact, Trailer's, house we talked about activities we wanted to see or do while we're here. I wanted to see the skylights and starsee, Thala wanted to go to a party and play their gambling games that were only done in Lengeli, while Baylen wanted to buy the sequel to a book she bought last time we were here.

I knocked on Trailer's door, her house being a small red building in pristine condition. The house was special because it had a basement, a feature that was very rare here. She used it to run an illegal fighting ring and we had been penpals for a few years now, after I beat her in her own ring while Thala was finding Amare, Embeth, and Adair.

Trailer opened the door, looking as pristine as usual. She had chin length white hair that was cut in a straight line, stark against her ebony skin and pink modest dress. Seeing me she grinned widely, and opened the door fully to let us in.

"Well if it isn't Storm!" she exclaimed. "I was wondering when I would see you again, what are you here for?"

"You know how it is, a job takes me where it takes me. That's why we're here." I replied, gesturing to Thala and Baylen.

"Wow, she doesn't waste time, does she?" Trailer asked them, and Thala laughed and Baylen smiled as they shook their heads no. "Why not take a look at the board? We just got a big job, but it got taken almost immediately, it was about some royalty person." My mind flashed to Ester for a moment, but I shook the thought away.

"Any big ones not claimed?" I asked her as we walked to her poster board.

"Not any huge ones, but there are a few bounties, anywhere you want to go to especially?" she asked, and I felt Thala and Bayelns' stare on my back as I replied.

"Not particularly, we just did a coffee trade and had to go all over for it." Trailer nodded and ran her finger along the board before snagging a poster. She turned to me and offered the poster. It was offering a large sum of money for proof of life from some island off of Aregium. I felt Thala and Baylen looking over my shoulder and I could bet that Thala was smirking knowing that we would be close to Ester. I sighed before pocketing the poster in one of the deep pockets of my maroon coat.

I attempted some small talk with Trailer for some time before we all departed. Thala talked about coming back to Trailer as we left but Trailer just laughed and said that we would have to leave soon for the job.

Once we got back to the rooms, I checked the poster and saw that she was right. The employer wanted the proof in less than a week. There were multiple objections, so I compromised, planning to leave in two days as Adair wanted to go to a party that was happening tomorrow evening. We all headed off to bed but not before planning to buy new outfits, to my reluctance, at midday together. I fell asleep huddled with Baylen and Thala to help keep warm and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.