The Silver Tree (Spirit Animals Fanfiction)

Chapter 20

Meilin was deep in thought as she stared out at the inky black waves of the ocean under the midnight sky. She watched them eb and flow gently and felt the northwest breeze blow past her as it filled the sails and pushed their boat towards its destination. The wind had been favourable to them these past few hours and Meilin knew they would arrive in Greenhaven by tomorrow morning.

Without thinking, she glanced down at the faint line across her palm. After a couple licks from Jhi, the cut she'd received from the sharp leaf back in Zhong had all but disappeared. Still, her mind lingered on the oddity. The gunk from the hole at the base of the rotting tree hadn't simply clung to the leaf she'd wiped it on. The black slime had twisted the leaf, sharpened its edges, and hardened it to the touch—it had become more like a sheet of metal than a soft piece of nature. She hadn't gone back for the leaf like she'd promised herself she would. She had been far too distracted by the news about the mobilisation of the war efforts.

With nothing much to show, the three Greencloaks had returned from their search for the missing siblings, Cindy and Derek, to warn Chai and her husband Victor about the nearby troops and the mandatory recruitment tactics of the Emperor. Meilin had no idea what the couple planned to do because after sharing the information, the three Greencloaks had thanked them once again, then taken their leave. And Meilin had forgotten to return for the leaf.

Kyle stepped up beside her on the railing of their sailboat. He didn't say anything, just joined her in staring out at the ocean. She heard him take a deep breath and found herself vaguely wondering what he was thinking about.

Meilin was the first to break the easy silence. "We'll be in Greenhaven by tomorrow morning."

"If all goes well."

"If all goes well," she agreed. If being Greencloak and trying to save the world had taught them anything, it was that nothing ever went as smoothly as planned.

There was a short pause in the conversation before Kyle said, "It's time for Akit's watch shift."

Meilin responded with a simple grunt of acknowledgement.

"So you can take a break and get some sleep now," Kyle tried again.

Meilin nodded, but didn't move and didn't take her eyes off the waves lightly brushing past the side of the boat. Kyle didn't push anymore. He just stood beside her and waited.

Eventually she sighed and stepped back from the railing. "It was too easy," she said. "Stealing the boat."

Meilin was referring to the small sailboat the three Greencloaks had illegally borrowed from the Xin Kao Dai harbour two days ago. They were currently using it for their journey to Greenhaven. The vote between the group had been unanimous—they needed to regroup and make a new plan with the rest of the Greencloaks. They had information about the war they could share and hopefully some of the senior warriors would have ideas on how the Greencloaks should proceed.

In any case, the boat Rollan and Meilin had taken to Zhong in the first place was long gone, and the trio had been forced to take another one from the docks. It had been surprisingly easy. Suspiciously easy. There had been no more than three or four guards and the watchtower had been empty. There had only been maybe six boats left in the entire harbour—all fairly small and rickety. They'd pretty much just quietly snuck on the closest ship and quickly set sail. If any of the guards had found it weird that the little sailboat had taken off without warning, they didn't show it. No one had followed them. No alarm bells had been rung. Nobody had even taken notice.

"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "It was easy. But it makes sense. Almost all the ships had already been sent out to mobilize the Zhongese troupes. And most of the usual guards were on those ships. Who needs a whole set of guards to protect five dinghies?"