A Crown of Gold

The Journey Ahead

I watched Nik's finger as it dragged across the map's surface. He'd placed a pin where the Liptomal Fort was, as it wasn't properly indicated in writing. "This," he began, "is the Fort. We'll need to fly down the coast and land just shy of Wetchport."

I nodded along, my eyes running up and down the map from the Fort, to the coastal trade city called Wetchport that sat on the Bay of Gems. Nik had gone back to Greenbrock after we'd agreed he should accompany me to Hychorra. When he returned, he brought back three maps and a scholar from the library I'd ogled at when I'd taken the tour of the Greenbrock castle. It was The Mapp we were studying now, every city and landmark worth mentioning inscribed onto it. 

"After we pass through Wetchport on foot," Nik continued, "We can pay for a ferry down the coast to Silk Harbor. From there, we can take the King's Vein all the way east and into the city." His finger again ran across the map, this time taking course out of Wetchport, down to Silk Harbor, and along a river line that fed straight into Hychorra. Directly above the King's Vein was a space labeled 'the Whispering Plains' and above that lie the City of Shadows. The witch kingdom--backed up against the western half of the Spine. 

Nik straightened up, no longer leaning over the map. He nodded to the scholar, who pulled The Mapp from the table and replaced it with a smaller map. This one was of Wetchport alone. "We'll have to be careful when moving through Wetchport," said Nik. "The city is crawling with gangs, thieves, you name it. With you, we're lucky, because although word of your existence is traveling quickly no one knows what you look like. I, on the other hand..."

I eyed him, my eyebrow quirked. "You what?"

"Let's just say this won't be my first time visiting the lovely streets of Wetchport," He grinned guiltily.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't even want to know." 

I looked back down at the map of Wetchport. I began to feel uneasy. The streets seemed a tangled mess on the page, and Nik's warning of gangs and cutthroats weren't helping to ease my nerves. I wouldn't have Darius with me for protection, we all agreed it would be far too great of risk to try and have him follow us or attempt to ride in on him. It wasn't an easy agreement to come to. We'd spent the past night arguing for hours. 

"Why can't we just fly in over the Spine?"  I'd asked. "The trip will be shorter and we won't be as exposed."

"If we come in over the Spine we'll be flying directly at the front of the city and over the busiest mines. And even if Darius could get us down unseen, two travelers coming from an uninhabited region of the mountains will raise questions. Questions we can't afford to be asked," Nik had explained. "It's safer and far more inconspicuous if we take the King's Vein as tourists from Wetchport, and having Darius follow us that way will leave him out in the wide open for easy picking."

Darius had remained quiet the entire time. I looked to him, knowing without having to ask how he'd been feeling. "And you?" I asked. "What do you think of this?"

"I cannot believe I'm saying it," he'd said softly, "But I have to agree with Nik. We can't risk your capture."

That was that. I couldn't have argued with the both of them. Now, as we sat at the great room table planning our route through Wetchport, my stomach lurched with uncertainty again. I began to rethink my entire plan to go to Hychorra in the first place. Nik's voice brought me back to the task at hand. "I know a few of the Innkeepers, they'll keep their mouths shut if they have enough silver to weigh their pockets."

"Speaking of which," I said. Nik's eyes snapped to me. "I have something to show you."

...