Freida Waters's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

The door swung wide. Corvina Blackwater filled the frame, mud on her boots, a dangerous smile on her face. Freida gripped the scrap of paper in her pocket. She told the curse story fast. Steal a Garth Lizard, and it drags your luck into the deepest mud. Corvina only laughed. "A curse? Show me proof, old woman. A book. A tale on record. Anything." Freida had nothing. Her bluff hung in the air, and Corvina saw it. Then boots thumped on the dock. Silas Marsh ducked through the door, an eel bucket in one hand. He had learned to read at this counter twenty-five years ago, and he still trusted Freida over any stranger. He looked at Corvina, then at Freida's pale face, and set the bucket down. "Trouble?" he asked. "She wants proof of the lizard's curse," Freida said. Her eyes begged him. Silas rubbed his beard. He did not blink. "Curse is real," he said. "Seen it. Man caged one of these fellows. Beast came for him, not the lizard." He spoke plain, the way he read an eel run. Corvina's smile faltered. Two voices now, not one. "Then how do I feed the beast?" she demanded. Freida seized the opening. "The beast never wanted lizards." She thought quick. "It hunts bog beans. Warty green things, deep in the mangrove mud. Feed it those, and it stays calm." Silas nodded once. "Whole patches out past the reeds," he added. "Bigger than your fist." Corvina crossed her arms. "And if it turns on me anyway?" "Then you kill it," Freida said. She lowered her voice. "The smithy forged a white blade. They call it the sword that ends any beast. One strike, and the creature falls." Silas grunted. "Sharp enough to split a keel." Corvina weighed it. She was a rogue, but a practical one. Bog beans cost nothing. A famous sword cost only a visit to the forge. The lizards had scattered; chasing them meant days of mud. She saw the easier road, and she took it. "Fine," she said. "The beans. The blade. I have no use for a cursed lizard." She turned in the doorway. "Keep your creature, bookseller." Then she was gone, boots fading down the dock. Freida sank against the counter. Drake blinked from his rock, safe. "You saved me," she told Silas. "You lied for me." "Wasn't all a lie," he said. "Garth Lizard's harmless. You proved that. The rest just steered her off." He picked up his bucket. But Freida's relief curdled. She had sent Corvina toward the smithy, and toward the beast in the mangroves. A real monster still guarded a real treasure. Corvina would arrive armed, hungry for it. Freida had bought Drake's safety by pointing a dangerous woman at something far worse. "Silas," she said slowly. "What happens when she reaches that beast?"