The Colorless Land

Chapter 31: The Ground We Stand

"Any news?" the woman who had once been called Champion asked the agents before her.

None of them spoke a single word. That alone was answer enough. All of them had been taught to only speak up if addressed directly, or when there was something to say.

"Keep watching the havens," she said into the silence. "Don't let anything slip on or off the ships without our knowledge."

The agents saluted. Champion began to pace the room, the echo of her clacking boots resounding off the walls.

"Keep interrogating locals," she continued. "If they ever came to the coast, someone must have seen something."

If they ever had—

They hadn't taken any other way, had they?

Almost unnoticeably Champion's body tensed. Her clacking footsteps missed the fraction of a beat. Out of nowhere she could not help wondering if she might have made a miscalculation.

Then again, where could they be? The boy had definitely escaped to Firland. He was wanted in Firland. There had been reports of him gaining companions, a Firlandic peasant girl, an Elodian man and a Jadirian military woman. They had passed through Firland. Then, for whatever reason, they seemed to have come back.

And then...their trail became blurry.

After the company's return to Firland, they seemed to have been lost. All they had from that point were hints and guesses. The mapmaker's abandoned tower, all maps gone, as if he had been warned of the approaching Colorless. No trace of where he had gone. The horses roaming in front, visibly from the stock of royal Firlandic war-horses yet abandoned with no explanation.

The royal family of Firland. The same one that still had not responded to the message about the hostages.

What were they playing at?

Should she sent someone to Refyrn? No, no; it was still too early. Besides, she could not risk loosening the watch on the havens yet. Not until she knew for sure that they had never come here.

The boy and his companions...they must have at least tried to leave the country. To her best knowledge he was wanted in Firland. And taking a ship was the easiest way. Certainly easier than crossing the mountains where the orcs suffered none to pass, or venture into the uncharted no man's lands away south.

That only left one other way they could have gone.

Elodia...

Elodia, which was weak. Elodia, which had no royal family. Elodia, in the middle of a succession crisis, on the verge of a civil war.

Elodia could not protect them. Not from the Colorless. Not anymore.

They must have tried to go by ship. It was the only logical option.

She simply needed to keep watching.

~ ~ ~

It had been some time since the king's council-room had last been so crowded or so filled with a grim, sinister atmosphere.

"So," said Kelmond. "The pendant is gone. And gone, along with it, is any chance we had to free Rivertown."

He did not mention Lavilian's name, nor did he glance at her. There was no need. His daughter's face showed no remorse, but the way she squared her shoulders made it clear that she had understood the message.

It had been Theor's suggestion to still have her waiting on the king during his councils. It was safer, he had said, to keep her under watch at all times, to avoid incidents like the freeing of the captives or the disappearance of the pendant again.