The Midnight Storm (A New Dawn #2)

Chapter 45 - Fox

"Captain, I won't deny my past, riddled with mistakes, terrible ones that I deeply regret," Katla said. "But I take it we both have our reasons to get away from this place, this country. Neither of us is wanted here, nor free from danger. You'll find Silvermark more hostile now that Caracal reigns from Moonstone Castle."

"I care very little for local politics. What do you offer?" The female Captain rubbed her fingers together. "I have a crew to feed and please. And they're not too fond of people like you."

"Yet here you are, in Whitecliff Bay." Katla cocked his head. "You were desperate enough to come here, and I'm desperate too. The boy... he's valuable, precious. He's like a son to me."

Her nails tapping the iron dagger, Alex rolled her eyes dramatically. 

Fox snapped his fingers behind his back, imagining a powerful gust of wind and the rusty old thing at the bottom of the bay.

The air obeyed his will, blowing her hair in front of her eyes. Her grip slipped and catapulted the dagger onto the deck and landed into the water with a loud splash. 

Good riddance.

When the Captain shot her eyes at her, Alex clutched to the rail and pretended nothing had happened. She didn't even look at him, wouldn't even consider that he had been the one who had made her drop the weapon. 

That infuriated him even more.

Katla continued. "Captain, you would do anything for your son too, wouldn't you?"

"Is that a threat?"

Katla held his hands up. "Just a talk, parent to parent. I want the boy to be safe."

"And I want my boy to be grand," she said. "What's in it for me, mage?"

"More than what the Silvermarkers offer."

"Well... well... a Silvermarker with money. You have not all gone extinct."

Katla reached into the pocket of his coat and withdrew a piece of parchment. "I'm not a Silvermarker."

"You're no Islander to me either," she said, studying the document that was as drenched as the rest of the town.

She held the parchment in front of her, looked at Katla, then back at the parchment. Her interest was piqued, as planned; it was all money Katla had in some Jade Islandic bank. He always took it with him on his travels, to always have a fallback scenario when things went south. Or when he had to go south; Fox hadn't really understood his master's explanation to Badger.

"Where did you get this kind of money?" The Captain asked.

"I married rich."

"And your wife?"

"Murdered by Greenlanders."

"Bastards," she muttered. "Then why settle for Silvermark—why not go more north, to Ice?"

"It's complicated."

"This situation is complicated, mage!"

Katla paused, stroking his longer-than-usual beard. "I have a condition," he said after a while.

"The fools take anyone to work in their mines," she jeered. "Or are you afraid of getting your face dirty, Pretty Boy?"

"Does the promise paper look like I would need to work in the mines?"

"The thing is..." The woman glanced over her shoulder at the tall, broad Scorian man who had joined her on deck, holding his hand on his sword. She handed Katla the document back. "... I've learnt that when matters look too good to be true, they usually are. Especially when mages are involved."