Page 10 of Chasing the Night
I took a deep breath and met his gaze again. “I do. I have good coin and I am prepared to do business in exchange…” I attempted, but he rudely shut me down.
“I’ve called the exchange. Either you get your skinny ass in there or get the fuck off my porch.” His face scrunched up and he spat over the railing. I flinched in disgust and started to turn away. There was no sense arguing with the man.
His calloused hand snatched my wrist and jerked me so hard I fell up the steps and landed against his big belly. Debris littered his beard and the rancid smell of bodily odor made me cough and flail long before I had consciously realized what had occurred.
He grabbed me by the upper arms and plucked me up the step beneath him. A loud double clack sounded viciously behind me. The intimidating sound and its proximity left me squirming back toward the filthy Dock Master rather than away from him. He, too, seemed keen on backing up, which only left us collapsed atop one another and staring up at Ender.
“Be a shame if Rochambeau needed to find another Dock Master. Damn tide. Always so unpredictable,” Ender taunted, the crazy looking double balled weapon dangling from his hand. A flail, that’s what he had called it.
“Ender, be easy…” the Dock Master pled. He grabbed the rail and desperately tried to find his feet.
“Do you know what I love about Thunder and Lightning?” Ender continued, undaunted and waving the weapon so it was clear who—or what, rather—Thunder and Lightning were. “They can’t be stopped. Little fuckers reach right around the edge of a shield, snatch a sword clean out of a man’s hand. Speaking of hands…”
He drew back and hurled the thing like a whip. The Dock Master’s arm shot out to protect his face. Rather than swat the thing away, a nasty crunch left him howling and curled up like a beetle.
“Breaks the hand when resisted.” Ender sighed before stepping over the wounded creature and hovering low enough to conspire with him. “Mind your fucking place, or I will dig you a new one.”
He left without a glance or a word, leaving me to explain myself to the gathering crowd. I shook so bad I had to curl my toes and remind myself I was still very much on two feet. Each time I did so, I felt my body sway. Every moment the crowd bickered louder until, alas, Reverie was birthed through a tunnel of people.
“Chali… Chali, my word! Are you okay, love?” Her arms enveloped me, drawing me into a honeysuckle embrace. I wanted to weep. She smelled clean and felt safe. I wanted to be her in that moment. I wanted to be anyone and anywhere as long as I wasn’t in the center of the growing mess at hand.
“I just wanted a home,” I whispered lamely before taking another peek at the writhing Dock Master.
“Girl. Don’t worry about anything that simple. Don’t you worry one little bit! My momma will take care of you!” She spoke of me as if I were a pet for her to present to her family. As much as I appreciated her company, my dignity flared. I wiped my face and turned only to find Ender standing on the other side of me.
It was only then that I realized the crowd had not closed its entry path. The fur cloak muffled the sound of sharp heels over cobblestone, but her appearance made up for it. The moment she drew close enough to be distinguished the crowd lit with whispers.
“The Krypt. The Krypt,” the words repeated in a hundred hushed tones, each cranking my anxiety another notch.
“Momma, this is Chali,” Reverie whispered happily.
The Krypt hauled her into a side hug and blessed Reverie’s blond crown with a kiss. “A Chali, is it?” she whispered.
“Chalice. My name is Chalice, if it pleases, your Excellence.”
The crowd hushed at once. People looked at each other knowingly, but her full lips turned up in a broad approving smile. She leaned forward like she might kiss my cheek, but instead, her breath fanned over my earlobe.
“Not yet, love. Not yet.” The Krypt’s long tanned fingers tangled with my own and she gave a maternal pat to the top of my hand. “No daughter of mine sleeps in a dock rental.” Her tone grew as she straightened herself back to her full height and cast a look over her shoulder to Ender. “Take her to the villa.”