Chapter 20

The realm’s most important port city, spanning the distance between the Dryanic Ocean and the Fel River, Clearwater welcomed merchants and travelers in great numbers. The variety of skin and hair color was refreshing, and colorful tunics and shawls often draped people’s shoulders rather than the usual fleece coats and cloaks.

Now that he was here, Noah found he longed to visit the harbor, down the slanting cobblestone streets, where he could glimpse countless ships, and where the activity appeared to rival even that of the capital.

But, having a particular establishment in mind, Kitera and Dharkan rather kept their party to the eastern quarters of the city. Still, Noah promised himself to come back.

They crossed a grand square ringed by shallow steps descending to a flat base, in the center of which stood a bronze statue of Colin Nightvale�"first Felleran king from house Nightvale, grandfather to Tessa.

The Nightvales, Noah recalled from his lessons, exerted lordship of this city, being the owners of the merchant fleet.

Here the seven-tipped star of Fellera shared its place on banners, windows and doors with the crescent moon�"emblem of the Nightvales.

“Do you have family here?” Noah asked Jaden as they crossed a street where a painter stood by a booth displaying portraits of the queen. None did her justice, Noah observed, but the artist found buyers nonetheless.

“My name,” Jaden reminded, patting Silver’s neck, “is Fairlocks, not Nightvale. Here they would all rather I didn’t exist. The truth is, houses Nightvale and Fairlocks used to be close friends, for ages their relationship thrived, solidified by business partnerships and arranged marriages. I’m afraid that’s all over now, because of my mother, and myself.”

They lapsed into silence, trailing after Kitera and Dharkan, until they reined in before a three-storey building of detailed stonework, with delicate vines climbing up the columns that framed the entrance, and swirls of marble for the steps leading to the double doors.

Dismounting, they made a stop by the long stables to the side of the building before heading inside, where Dharkan was already speaking with a tall woman in a profuse peach velvet dress, blonde hair done in lavish curls, Tessa Nightvale-style.

Dharkan seemed pleased when the blonde woman informed there were rooms yet available on the top floor.

Upon ascending the spiral staircase, Noah came to understand Dharkan’s fondness for this place as they spilled out into a common room that featured a stunning view of the harbor far below.

“I think these people are leaving,” Noah told the others, already hurrying to the floor-to-ceiling windows where a family rose from their table, parents taking the young ones by the hand.

Dharkan smiled as he joined him. “Thought you might like this place.”

The harbor, with all its lights and animation, was charming but beyond, the docks and the resting ships, the dark ocean spreading far away, shimmering under a bright moonlight, fascinated Noah more than anything else.

“Tonight’s on me,” Kitera announced and went to speak with a red-headed girl in a spotless white dress and apron.

Jaden chose the seat in front of Noah, admiring the view as well.

They were soon granted a first round of ale, which, Noah noted with delight, actually was the best he’d tasted so far, not that any staff had bragged to that effect.

He shared his thoughts with Jaden, who replied: “The truly best things need no vaunt.”

They drank to that.

 

***

 

With good ale like that, the hours went by rapidly, aided by abundant delicious food--long gone now, Noah having scraped the plates clean of sauce with the last pieces of bread.

Whenever the redhead serving girl noticed that their mugs needed refilling, she hurriedly remedied the situation, exchanging a professional smile with Kitera.

“How are we to pay for all this, my love?” Dharkan asked her. “Did you want to dine and dash, because that would be a bit of a shame--I like this place, I don’t want to be barred.”

Kitera gave him a reassuring shake of her head. “Don’t worry about it. Did you forget I’m leader of the castle guards?”

Dharkan raised his glass to that. “Smart, beautiful, and rich. I might be the luckiest man in the world.”  

“To Kitera!” Noah said and they all went with it, knocking their drinks together and indulging long gulps.

When some tables and chairs were swept aside to clear a space for dancing, the singers and fiddlers enticing the crowd with a rhythmic tune, Dharkan and Kitera were among the first couples to go and show off their skill.

Noah smiled up at the serving girl as she refilled his drink once more. Then he caught Jaden staring in wonder at Kitera and Dharkan as they spun and swirled, Dharkan leading deftly despite his being a bit intoxicated, Kitera working her hips and responding to every move like it was second nature, a smile dancing across her lips.

“They won dance competitions in Quickrivers,” Noah told him.

“I can imagine,” Jaden breathed.

“Dharkan told me once,” Noah said between two sips of ale, “that learning to dance was a bit like learning to spar.”

“Sure,” Jaden replied, turning back to Noah, “if she hit him every time he stomped her foot.”

Noah laughed. “Must be how he learned so quickly.”

“You three,” Jaden began slowly, “make it rather easy to forget about the whole…”

“Selling our souls to demons?”

Jaden gave a brief smile. “Did you know that the Dragon and his followers worship demons and their king�"yes, they believe there exists a demon king. They accept, embrace even the fact that whilst their demon serves them in this life, they shall follow their demon after death, you see they think their place in the demon world should be a prized one, having worshipped their king.”

“A demon king?” Noah laughed. “I did not know about that�"I knew the rest of it. Demon serves you in this life, you serve your demon in the next for all eternity; a widespread theory, though a tad awkward to bring up in conversation with someone that already has a demon.”

Jaden scratched his hair. “Forgive me...”

“I’m just messing with you,” Noah replied, “I don’t really care. I don’t know what I believe in.” He took a swig of ale.

Timidly, Jaden said: “You never asked Kili?”

For a moment Noah just smiled.

“What is it?” Jaden asked.

“Nothing, just… still feels so weird that someone knows about her. The thing with Kili is… she doesn’t always answer my questions. Maybe,” he said, still smiling, finger teasing the rim of his mug, “maybe she thinks being so bloody mysterious makes me even more crazy about her. And it’s kinda working,” Noah confessed with a helpless laugh.

Raising his drink to his lips, he gulped a long sip before finding the courage to meet Jaden’s eyes.  

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe,” he said simply.

“I know,” Noah replied, “that’s why I’m telling you. Also because I’m drunk I think.”

Jaden laughed.

“The worst thing,” Noah went on, leaning his arms across the table, “is that I can’t even touch her.”

Jaden looked up at him, brow drawn in confusion.

“Why not?”

Noah sighed. “People react differently to magic, one might get a scar out of doing something, another might come unscathed from doing that very same thing. Dharkan rides his bloody horse all the time--no scars. Red perches atop Kit’s shoulder, she won’t get a scar from that. Yet Kili says it would take a lot of magic for her to be embodied, to be real, you know? She says I might wind up covered in the marks and… she won’t let that happen,” he finished.

“Gods be damned,” Jaden breathed. Then: “I wish there was a way that you could be with her.”

“You and me both, brother. You and me both.”

Suddenly Jaden said: “You should go be with her right now.”

Noah grinned. “Yeah?”

Jaden replied with a grin of his own. “What are you waiting for? You can have the room for as long as you want. I won’t interrupt this time.”

“You’re great, you know that?” he said with a slap to Jaden’s shoulder.

It was all he could do not to run.

 

***

 

He joined her as she sat on the wine-colored rug before the fireplace.

“This is quite the romantic setting,” he told her.

She glanced at him, long dark hair falling over one white shoulder.

“Isn’t it? One could almost say it calls for a poem.”

“One would be forgetting,” Noah replied, “that I loathe poems.”

That glimmer in her eye, that teasing smile on her soft black lips; he wouldn’t even know where to begin. From mid-thighs to chest, her sleeveless dress, made from countless strips of black fabric overlapping one another, hugged her small body in ways that made his heart ache, and her smooth, creamy legs were folded to one side as she gazed into the flames, their light dancing across her pretty face.  

“A demon found me,

What shall I do?

A demon haunts me,

You ask, does she frighten you?

No, the spider won’t hurt me;

She doesn’t bite, not unless I tell her to.

I think the demon wants me,

The truth is I want her too.”

Noah felt silly, heart racing like he didn’t think was possible but the delighted laughter that pealed from her lips made his little improvisation worth it.

“Not bad,” she tilted her head, her grin revealing she’d enjoyed it more than her words let on.

They sat calmly for a time, less than an inch apart, looking at the fire. When her expression darkened, he asked her why.

“What you said to Jaden earlier… I’m sorry that I don’t have answers to all your questions.”

“Kili,” he sighed, “you don’t have to have all the answers. But don’t you think it’s a bit unfair,” he said, keeping his tone light, “that you can read my every thought, yet you tell me so little about yourself?”

Even knowing she couldn’t feel such things, he thought she looked cold as she glanced away, part of her face hidden by her hair.

“The other world is difficult to describe,” she began, “because there are colors that don’t exist here, and sounds… Demons can communicate but the sounds they make hurt the human ear�"maybe that’s why they keep quiet in this world. And… the passing of time is different; it’s faster, much faster. It’s so disorienting that, when I woke up there I couldn’t remember who I was, or where I came from.”

She took a breath, her eyes finding Noah. “So I hid, like I told you. Took the form of a small, uninteresting demon without much power. Power there is like gold here. If you have a lot of it, better to hide it lest it be stolen. Or,” she said, “rise to the top, and subdue everyone else.”

For a moment Noah thought she was done but she added one final thing, spoken in a whisper.

“And the demons… They’re different.”

“What do you mean?” Noah asked, voice very low, holding his breath.

She shook her head. “I can still see them for what they really are, sometimes, I get these flashes. Even Red, or Xephos… They’re not what they seem.”

Noah swallowed. “Then what are they?”

“It’s probably better,” she said, “if you don’t know.”

 

***

 

Alone at his table, as he had been for a time now, Jaden gazed out the window at the moon, chin resting atop his fist. He made to raise his drink to his lips only to remember he was sick of the stuff by now--alcohol-free cider, which Kitera had made sure to order for the both of them instead of ale.

He started as the catalyst was suddenly slammed onto the table in front of him. Kitera dropped in the chair facing him, hair somewhat messy, kohl-lined gaze determined. She joined her hands on the table.

“You need to go. Now.”

“Dharkan?”

“Drunk and asleep,” she answered.

“Your strategy unfolds without a flaw,” he commented, not touching the white amulet.

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re stalling. Why?”

He sighed. “I suppose I’m not keen on the idea of Noah hating me.”

She leaned forward. “I don’t think you realize how important this is.”

“Enlighten me.”

“My father can’t have this, Jaden. He’s dangerous enough as it is. He has everybody fooled, but not me.”

“What makes you so sure it will be safer in Tessa’s hands?”

“Because I trust her,” Kitera said, her tone unwavering.

I wish I could say the same.

Jaden slowly brought his fingers to the amulet, wondering if he would feel something, some kind of magical energy.

He didn’t.

Picking it up, he secured it in a pocket.

 

***

 

With the two of them, they conjured up sufficient coin to bribe a few ferry workers to let him cross at night. After tethering Silver in a small pen made of rope they readied the sweeps and pushed the ferry off the wharf.

Jaden stood clutching the railing, coin purse empty, shivering in a cold night air that smelled like winter.