The Carnelian Way

24.1

The note came late in the afternoon. Rina took Fin's crystal from around her neck and held it. It didn't pulse, but it was warmer, and excitement slipped through her veins, urging her to hurry.

She raced across the lawn to the edge of the acolyte level and started up a set of stairs hewn into the mountain city. After a day in the sun, their warmth penetrated the soles of her slippers. Nebia sprawled below her in layer upon concentric layer, outlined by the towering outer wall, and beyond it, the azure bay. The ships were colourful insects drifting on a pond. One the Crystal Queen.

When she reached the Magister's level, she sprinted down the gravel path, kicking up dust, slowing when the tower loomed. Her heart skipped a beat as a sentry excited the building. She paused. Less than a week had passed since that guard had tried to kill her. But this man was young and fair, with a guileless face.

Olav would have been careful in who he selected as a replacement she reminded herself.

"Miss?" the man asked.

She detected no distrust, no haughtiness, no contempt in his tone: nothing but candour.

The guard's questioning eyes swept her.

"I—ah—I'm here to see Ola—the captain."

"And you are?"

"Rina."

The guard smiled a wicked smile that did not belong on the face of a subordinate. She narrowed her eyes. The smile left his face. "Ah, I see," he said. "A moment, please." He turned on his heels and disappeared into the tower.

Rina walked around the cottage garden, trying to stamp down the urge to move faster. To act. The smooth white rocks rolled beneath her feet in a clinking rhythm. She plucked a sprig of rosemary, rubbing the waxy leaves between her fingers and inhaled the sharp aroma. What was the man doing?

She caught the sound of footsteps. Olav was still adjusting his half-armour as he came to her, his breaths coming fast and his face flushed.

"Rina, is everything okay?"

"Yes!" she cried out, a little too enthusiastically.

Olav's forehead creased. "You're feeling better now?"

"I'm fine. I promise."

"Oh, so then..." His face lit with what looked like hope, and it struck her he might think she came here to tell him this—that she came just for him. "How can I help you?"

She bit her lip not wanting to disappoint him, but the bay lay behind her, and it called. Hurry, it cried. And her bones sung for her to follow the order.

"I need to get to the harbour—as quick as possible, and well, I hoped to use the—" she waved a hand in a circle, searching for a word. "The—contraption."

One dark eyebrow rose. Wind blew through the courtyard, and the black ringlets of his hair danced about his face. His lips pursed.

"Contraption?"

"You know, Ol—the carriage that takes you down the mountain. Is there room for me to go down in the next one?"

He flushed as she said, Ol, then he paled. "The Crystal Queen landed today."

Rina missed a breath. So, he was here. Her bones had been right. Her hand moved to her chest, to Fin's crystal, half aware of Mai's crystal beneath her skin.

"It did?" she said, hoping to sound nonplussed.

After Olav's brow raised higher, she amended, "I mean, I'd heard a rumour—and after the court, I wasn't ready to walk down the streets by myself."