One year later, she only answers to Bastard since that’s what people shout at her when she blinks somewhere she shouldn’t.
“I told you to be good.” Bellamy scritches under her chin, and she wiggles against his fingers. “I know, being good all the time isn’t fun. Maybe some of the time, though? Just a bit?”
Bastard nibbles his finger again, then blinks out of the pouch.
“Bastard,” Bellamy mutters, swiveling around.
She always—all right, almost always—blinks back to him, but this is Draskoran territory. She isn’t familiar with the natural predators here, and Bellamy can’t help but worry. He scans the beach. None of the sailors flinch or swear, so Bastard probably isn’t there. The rustling wind doesn’t help, and the rocky beach is too similar to Bastard’s coat.
A rustle and chirp catch his attention, and he spins just as a streak of brown fur disappears from a nearby tree.
“Come back here!”
Bastard reappears higher up the same tree.
She’s been cooped up too long on the ship. Bellamy can’t blame her for wanting to play, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be annoyed. He trots towards the tree, where she vanishes before he reaches her.
Trees rise around Bellamy, darkening his surroundings. Foreign, but still reassuring. Bellamy’s second gift is Sandry magic, inherited from Mother via the inheritance spell. The magic links him to trees and plants, allowing him to manipulate them with effort. He doesn’t have his brother Audric’s power and control, though, and even the thick underbrush may not help him find Bastard easily.
He follows her to the next tree, then the next, crunching through bushes. Branches grasp at his coat until he concentrates, asking the surrounding foliage to let him pass. Sandry magic murmurs through the lower branches. Though he risks anthropomorphizing them too much, Bellamy can’t help imagining the plants surprised by his magic.
“Even the trees listen to me,” Bellamy complains out loud. “Why can’t you?”
Bastard’s silky body appears around Bellamy’s neck, paws clinging to his shoulders. Her cold brown nose presses under Bellamy’s chin.
“You’re lucky you’re cute.” Bellamy strokes her head and turns around—to see nothing but dark, impenetrable forest.
Oh, dear. Not again.
Gregoire is going to scold him for a week straight for getting lost again.
Bellamy hadn’t thought he strayed that far from the tree line, but there’s no sign of the gravel beach. He turns around again, in case he’s looking in the wrong direction, but that only confuses him more.
“Any chance you can lead us back?” Bellamy pokes Bastard’s paws. “This is your fault.”
The blinkmink just cuddles sweetly around his neck.
Bellamy scrubs his hands over his face and tries to think. He’s gotten lost plenty of times—this shouldn’t be a surprise. He can fix this. Choppy waves still crash in earshot, though they seem to sound from everywhere at once. Bellamy can seek through the trees for a change in the soil, or the boundaries of the root network. That should lead him to the beach.
Bellamy rests a palm against the nearest tree and exhales. But before he can connect with the towering tree, Bastard disappears with a squeak—and a dry twig breaks under a boot behind Bellamy.
“Hands up and turn around,” a woman orders in Trade. “Nice and slow.”
Bellamy’s heart trips with fear as unknown magic flashes in the corner of his vision. A dozen different plans race through his head. Brave, heroic plans. Trees ripping through the earth as he dodges a dozen arrows. What story heroes would do. What his brothers would do.
“Do as she says,” a male voice adds.
Oh. There are more of them.
Knees shaking, Bellamy lifts his hands very slowly and turns around.
Half a dozen Draskoran warriors surround him, bristling with steel and black iron. Drasgard, maybe, though only half of them are in uniform. Bellamy doesn’t recognize the black and emerald livery. Hedoesrecognize the three crossbows pointing directly at him.
“I don’t have any money,” Bellamy says.
A stocky woman with a cloud of brilliant green hair steps forward, magic shimmering around her bare brown arms. “Who are you, and what the fuck are you doing here?”
Bellamy can’t tell the truth.