“We can take the lot of you, but it'll be slow-going with the weight and all. Hope you aren't in a hurry.” The captain smiled a yellow-toothed smile. “And the fare is more when I'm traveling such a distance.”
“How close do you sail to Haradis?” Serovek counted out a pile of coins from a fat purse he kept tied to his belt.
The captain's face froze at the question. He dragged his gaze from the money dropping into his outstretched palm to frown at Serovek. “Too close to my liking, but to get where we're going, we'll have to sail within a quarter-day's walk from it before reaching the tributary.” He scooped the generous fee into a pouch before tucking it into his tunic. He tugged on his tangled beard. “Nothing to worry about though. There's plenty of water between us and the city, and we can navigate right quick past it. You'll only catch a glimpse of the tower remains before it's at our backs and gone.”
Serovek gestured to Klanek to bring the wagon forward and instructed the rest to start loading everything onto the barge. He nudged Anhuset's shoulder, and the two distanced themselves a short way from the rest.
“Here's where you decide if you want to stop at Haradis.” His offer surprised her, one that instinct warned she should refuse, and loyalty to Brishen pressed she should accept. Serovek nodded to the crew. “The captain can sail to one of the narrow points of the Absu without docking. The river is calmer there and easy to wade, even if you can't swim. We can get to the shore and make our way to Haradis on foot.”
“I'm familiar with the path.” She paused, caught by a single word in his plan. “We?”
The teasing smile flickered across his mouth and was gone. “I'll accompany you unless you wish to go alone.” He raised a hand as if to ward off an expected protest from her. “I know you don't need a protector, but this is Haradis.” No amusement remained in his expression, and his voice carried a note that made the hairs on her nape lift a little. His gaze shifted to the direction in which the broken capital lay. “It isn't as you remember it. I'd discourage anyone from going alone.”
Brishen had cut off every suggestion and offer she'd made to visit Haradis and report back to him of its condition. A man of mild temperament and monumental resolve, he barely listened to her arguments in favor of sending a scout. His face had taken on the same bleak look Serovek wore now, as if memory of battling the galla there was a blacker shade than all the dark dreams Ildiko claimed plagued his sleep. The margrave offered her the chance Brishen continued to deny her for reasons he refused to discuss; she'd be a fool not to accept. From a military standpoint, it was both wise and necessary. And Brishen Khaskem wasn't here at the moment.
“I agree with your prudence, but you're not obliged to me,” she said, wishing she could read human emotion more easily. Serovek's face was a study in stoicism, but the tension in his body and her own instincts alerted her to the fact that visiting Haradis wasn't something he anticipated with pleasure. “You fought the galla there. Surely, that's no memory you wish to resurrect.”
He shrugged. “We fought the galla many places before we defeated them. Haradis is the remains of a battlefield. The memorial of a tragedy. But neither I nor any of the Beladine lost a loved one there. We don't have a history with Haradis. You do.”
Had it been Saggara destroyed by the galla, he'd be right. Like all the Kai, a part of her mourned the loss of the city and its inhabitants, but the ties that bound her heart lay elsewhere. “Saggara, not Haradis, has always been my home. I won't be troubled.”
Serovek's forehead creased for a moment into a disbelieving frown. He sighed. “So you say. If the river and weather stay agreeable, we should reach the city's edge by late afternoon.”
The captain balked at first when Serovek relayed their plans, quieting only when the flash of additional coin passed in front of his eyes. Serovek's men protested even louder.
“I can go in your stead, my lord,” Erostis offered. “I know nothing of Haradis, but with sha-Anhuset acting as guide, we can scout enough of the city and report back with useful information for both you and the Khaskem.”
He grunted when Serovek landed a friendly swat on his shoulder. “You're more useful to me here. And with Anhuset and I both familiar with Haradis's streets, we can split up and reconnoiter in half the time and be finished before midnight.”
His assurances stretched reality a little in her opinion. He might have fought his way through the streets of Haradis, but Anhuset doubted he remembered much about the city's grid, too busy cutting his way through galla to reach the palace. But she held her tongue and didn't argue. Erostis was a decent sort, and she liked him well enough, but if she had to have human company for this trip, she preferred the margrave. The small voice inside her gave a mocking laugh before she could silence it.
Once they were all aboard and the towboat and barge riding the Absu's waves under his steersman's guidance, he approached Serovek with a pair of filled pipes, offering one to Serovek. Close enough to hear their conversation, Anhuset leaned on the railing to unabashedly eavesdrop.
“The stop where I'd normally put you to disembark has changed.” He puffed on his pipe before using it to point out some unseen detail of the geography on the passing shore. “A squire with holdings not far from here sent a small army of crofters and vassals to dredge the shallow spots. They're deeper and wider now, no drying up during the hot months, and they cut down every bridge and tore away every natural dam they found just in case you and the others missed a demon or two.” He shot Serovek a challenging look, as if questioning the Wraith kings' success and believing more in their failure. “The landing is too deep for your horses and too treacherous for a swimmer. I can pull to shore about a half league farther back. You can hike in from there and meet us down river by a way-stop called Cat's Paw Hollow.”
Serovek's gaze met hers over the captain's head. “Decision's still yours,” he told her in bast-Kai.
She replied in the same tongue, much to the captain's consternation. “It'll delay the journey.”
“Not by much and only if you want to pitch camp overnight in Haradis.” A tiny shudder belied his casual tone. “I'm not much eager to avail myself of the hospitality.”
Decision finalized, they made plans to disembark at the agreed-upon spot, leaving behind their horses and most of their gear, carrying with them only what they could transport in oilskin packs. For Anhuset, that meant going without her armor, her shield, and some of her heavier weaponry. It was much the same for Serovek.
They both watched the tow and barge for a moment as they sailed onward, leaving them on a spit of dry ground that stretched into the river like a pointing finger. A short footbridge had once stretched from this spot to the main shore, but the captain had spoken true. All that remained now were bits of cut rope and a few broken boards that hadn't been scavenged yet for firewood. The current tumbled slower there in the gap between land and river but was still something not to take lightly. People had drowned in waters shallower than these.
“I should have asked this on the boat but just assumed it was so. You can swim, yes?” Serovek eyed her with part hope and part dread.