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Back Sea of Shadows
Chapters (61)
  1. Dedication
  2. Prologue
  3. Ashyn: One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Moria: Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Ashyn: Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Moria: Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-one
  24. Twenty-two
  25. Ashyn: Twenty-three
  26. Twenty-four
  27. Twenty-five
  28. Twenty-six
  29. Twenty-seven
  30. Twenty-eight
  31. Twenty-nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Moria: Thirty-one
  34. Thirty-two
  35. Thirty-three
  36. Thirty-four
  37. Thirty-five
  38. Thirty-six
  39. Thirty-seven
  40. Ashyn: Thirty-eight
  41. Thirty-nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-one
  44. Forty-two
  45. Forty-three
  46. Forty-four
  47. Forty-five
  48. Forty-six
  49. Forty-seven
  50. Forty-eight
  51. Forty-nine
  52. Moria: Fifty
  53. Fifty-one
  54. Fifty-two
  55. Fifty-three
  56. Fifty-four
  57. Fifty-five
  58. About the Author
  59. Back Ad
  60. Credits
  61. About the Publisher

Ronan glowered. “I was getting her attention, Kitsune.”

“My name is Gavril. If you wish to speak to her, use words. You do not touch the Keeper. Not if you’d like to keep your hands intact.” He turned to Moria. “Call out a greeting. To warn the guards.”

“So they can come and kill me?” Ronan said. “No one survives the forest. Do you know why? Because you don’t allow—”

“We have nothing to do with it.” Ashyn’s voice was soft, but it silenced him. She turned to Moria. “There was another survivor. The governor said he was infected, and the guards killed him.”

“He was not infected,” Ronan said.

“Did he seem to be?” Moria pressed.

“He did not,” Ashyn said after a moment.

Moria turned back to Ronan. “You can tell the rest of your story to the commander. I will make sure you are allowed to do so. If they claim you are infected, I will ensure that you are properly quarantined, not killed.” She cleared her throat and called to the guards.

Twelve

Twelve

Ronan was being taken into the prison cells where they kept the damned when conditions weren’t right for the exile journey. Clearly he wasn’t pleased.

“Think of it as quarantine,” Moria said as they climbed down the ladder to the subterranean cells.

Ronan shot a look at the dripping earthen ceiling, then down at the scattering rats.

“At least the vermin are running,” she said. “We had some in the livestock sheds that weren’t afraid of man or beast. They bit a farmer, and we realized they were infected with the fever. They’re gone now, though. Just vanished. We’ve always wondered where they . . .” She looked at the fleeing rodents. “Oh.”

Ronan jerked back as if bitten. The guards laughed.

“She’s having fun with you, boy,” one said.

“Of course I am,” Moria said. “We’d hardly quarantine you someplace with infected rats. Although that would be rather clever, in a diabolical way. . . .”

Being sent down here was partially his own fault anyway. When the commander had asked about his crimes, he’d said nothing. So they had no idea how dangerous he was.

The guards reached the cells. They waved Ronan into the first one.

Two of the guards had left; only the third remained, taking up his post at a chair in the hall. The cell had a heavy wooden door, reinforced with metal, only two window squares cut in it—a low one for passing food and drink, and a higher one to see the occupant.

When Moria and Daigo began to withdraw, Ronan moved to the window and said, “What do you think the search party will report back?”