Elowen Cask's Arc

Chapter 8 of 10

Elowen left the Debt Archive with her mother's contract folded against her chest. The fae lord's signature was on it now. So was his warning. Aldric's copy had moved his name, and he had felt it move. Every guard on the water road would be watching. The river route was closed to her. She needed another way in, and she needed it before the lord bolted his court shut. She went to the one person who charted his court for a living. Petra Ashveil sold maps of fae lords to anyone with coin. She had sold Elowen a trap once. But their old alliance with the lord was broken, and a broken ally is easier to hire. Elowen found her at a stone den built for scrolls. Rolled maps filled the racks beside its iron door. Petra stood among them, straightening a ribbon on one scroll, her smile fixed and easy. She curtsied when she saw Elowen. Elowen watched her hands. A curtsy from Petra hid a blade. "You reek of trouble," Petra said. "His name is loose. Half of Dragontree can feel it." "Then you know I'm going in." Elowen set two coins on the ledge. "The river's watched. I need a door he hasn't sealed." Petra's smile did not slip. "Every door is sealed. He knows you're coming, thanks to whatever you did in the Archive." She tapped a scroll. "There is one crack. The roots of his tree drink from the river. When the water rises, a gap opens where the roots part. It floods. It closes fast. Most who try it drown." "When does it open?" "Tonight. The water's high." Petra unrolled the scroll and marked the gap with her nail. "But I want payment I can trust. Not coin." "You've already taken ten years of my life," Elowen said. "You'll take nothing more." Petra's hand drifted to her sleeve. Elowen did not move. She had faced this woman with a sea serpent at her back and won. Petra remembered too. Her hand stopped. "Take the map," Petra said. Her voice stayed sweet, but her eyes were flat. "I want him ruined more than I want your years. You bring me his name, once you've forced the debt. A fae lord's true name sells for a kingdom." Elowen took the scroll. It was a fair trade and a dangerous one. Petra would sell the lord's name the moment she had it. But that was tomorrow's problem. "Done," Elowen said. She rolled the map into her coat beside her mother's contract. Two papers now: one to bind the lord, one to reach him. The river route was dead, but the roots would open at high water. She had her door. She stepped into the night toward the old tree. This time the fae lord was waiting for her. And this time, she was coming through a crack he did not know she'd found.