CHAPTER FORTY: HIDDEN

Fawkes and PeyPey did not see anyone about Blackstone until they were heading towards the docks. The closer they got, the more wandering drunks or lone figures, badly hidden in the shadows between buildings, they encountered. After nights where he was lucky to see even one drunk staggering home, these numbers were ridiculous.

"Damn the Hand," Fawkes whispered more to himself than to PeyPey, who twitched his ears back and grunted even as he was doing his "out for a walk" routine.

At the dockyard, two sailors were sitting in the rain near the dock leading to the Gosling. They passed a bottle between them in a drunken manner that Fawkes did not for a moment believe. Doing his best to ignore them, Fawkes and PeyPey returned to the Gosling.

He tied the front flaps of the deck tent closed and stepped into his cabin. Fawkes put away his wet things and dug Garzio out of his haverpack then set it on his table. Sitting on his stool, he stared down at the book.

"Welcome home, Garzio." The book fluttered its pages within the confines of the silver chain. "There are at least three wizards in Blackstone right now and I am pretty sure all of them are on board the Eddy Rider moored at the ship dock. One of them is the bastard that killed Grandfather."

The book pages fluttered again. This time, the bookmark ribbon slid out and joined the chains in wrapping the book closed.

"I agree. We need to wait until that ship leaves before I get this stupid chain off you. Until I can, we need to hide you before someone looks for you."

Garzio unraveled the ribbon bookmark and pointed at Grandfather's stowe and Fawkes nodded.

His own satchel was designed to hide any magic within it, but it would not withstand a spell scrying for a specific object, unlike Grandfather's satchel. Sadness rushed through Fawkes. It was his now, he supposed, but he could almost feel a walking stick about to whack him for getting into something that was not his.

He smiled sadly at his hesitation and pulled open Grandfather's stowe. With one last sigh, he purged his reluctance and took out Grandfather's satchel.

Its enchantments were not so obviously embroidered as those on the loot sack Kipess had, but they were very strong. It did not require attunement as it did not have that added enchantment of refusing all but the bonded owner from opening it.

"Soon as it's safe, I will get that stupid chain off you," he promised the bound tome. He hugged Garzio tight to his chest then placed it in Grandfather's satchel. Returning them to Grandfather's stowe, Fawkes went to bed.

Tired as he was, he did not fall right to sleep. Instead, he kept worrying about the ship of wizards only one dock away. Did he really just manage to steal back Garzio without them realizing it?

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: GONE

The sun was well up when Fawkes crawled out of bed. He blinked out the window at yet another gray day as he got ready, but thanked each dog for letting him sleep in. After walking them, he was very awake and annoyed at how the Hand had spread themselves throughout town. Even worse, but far from surprising, was how the town watch seemed not to care.

Back on the Gosling, he served them all breakfast, washing his down with cider instead of ale. He glared down at the box of brandy bottles still on Grandfather's bed. They really needed to be put away before a Hand wandered aboard. After a moment's thought, he opened a stowe under one of the rowing benches. Making sure to pack the straw from the wooden crate around and between the bottles, he managed to fit them all in and closed the stowe.

All that was left was Haggler's mark burned onto the top slats of the crate. Dropping it over the side would not work. Luckily, he had dogs who loved to destroy things.

"You two can have fun with this," Fawkes said, kicking the crate. "Just make sure no one can read the marks on it when you're done." 

Running footsteps hurried down the dock. Both dogs jumped up from their blankets and PeyPey stepped out of the deck tent.

"Fawkes!" Shyri called from the dock. She was in the same slicker as last night but wearing her yellow shopping dress. Without hesitation or concern for the dogs, she jumped aboard and ran into the deck tent where she hurled herself into his arms, her shopping basket dropping to the deck.

JuJu picked up the basket and set it on a bench. PeyPey pricked his ears at her then stuck his head through the open tent flaps, watching the docks and the Eddy Rider.

Fawkes, overcoming his surprise, held her. She was shaking.

"Are you cold? I could light the brazier for --"

"No!" She hugged him tighter and sobbed.

What's upset her? She hates to cry. He did not ask but hugged her as the tears fell.

It took a few minutes before she let go and looked up at him, tears still in her eyes.

"Thimmy is missing," she told him.

"What?"

"I think he went looking for me last night and something happened to him."

Fawkes narrowed his eyes. Thimmy had known of their brandy heist plans for days. He would have gone to the storehouse and, not finding them there, might have gone to the distillery and put himself in the clutches of the Hand.

"Can we please take your dogs and find him?" Shyri begged. She never did that and it hurt him to see her doing it now.

"It's very wet, Shyri," he gently wiped away her tears. "And you need to be with your family. I will go looking but you need to be home right now. The Hand is too dangerous for you to be running about, not to mention how unseemly that is. Your father is prob—"

"I know but—"

"Shh," he hugged her.

"It's all my fault!"

"Shyri, it's the fault of whatever is stopping him from coming home, not yours."

"He wouldn't have gone out if I --"

"Shyri," Fawkes gently touched a finger across her lips. "Blaming yourself will not find him. Running about the streets in bad weather while the Hand is everywhere will only make more grief for your family." He kissed her tear-stained cheek.

"I know it's hard to wait and do nothing. Believe me, I know! But you have to do it. For Thimmy." He kissed her other tear-stained cheek. "I will go looking for him. I promise you, Shyri. If he can be found, I WILL find him."

More tears streamed from her eyes. She buried her face into his chest. He felt her nod. Then, she pushed away to look up into his eyes.

"Thank you," she said. "I will tell PaPa I came to ask you to use your dogs to find him."

He winked at her with a smirk.

"For once it will be the truth."

She laughed. The sound cheered his heart.

She grabbed her basket and tossed up the hood of her slicker. With a teary wink, she dashed out of the deck tent.

"Thank you, Mons Fairchild!" she yelled louder than she needed to. Jumping onto the dock, she dashed off for home.

Well, now that she had alerted the entire dock he was going to help, he had best get going. For grabbed his slicker and locked the cabin door. He sighed. Map scrying so close to the Eddy Rider was too risky, especially now that Garzio was hidden inside. Stepping out of the deck tent, he tied the flaps. There was still plenty of room for Peypey to wriggle out if he wanted.

JuJu stood on the dock. Fawkes jumped up beside him. Time to find out what happened to Thimmy.

THE END