Read Dream Storm Sea for Free Online

Fos remembered only one thing.
    “That’s right. Your snake tattoo.”
    “Sea dragon.” Emesea angled her head, so her hair fell away to reveal a fanged tattoo on her neck. The scaled creature coiled below her collar. “The gods bound us beside each other again for a reason. Let us promise this time we three escape together.”
    Fos felt fate settle over his body like a glowing frost. He knew that the goddess had spun him a rare destiny. He would not have guessed the thread of his life would twine with a she-warrior from another land and a poisonous thief. But if that was tigersbane, they already saved my spine once tonight.
    “I don’t have an elephant to lift this.” Fos clanked a shackle against the block. “But I’ll do what I can to get us free. Hiresha may need my help.”
    Inannis spat blood into the fire. “What’s become of your enchantress?”
    Fos flexed his arms, and the shackles dug into his wrists. When the other spellswords had pulled him away from the meeting room, he had heard Hiresha scream. “They said she retired, but she’d never want that.”
    Emesea glanced to the sky. Sunset colors bled over the mountains. “What would she want?”
    “Maybe to be left alone.”
    “Without you?” Emesea looked him up and down. “I can’t believe that.”
    Once Fos had thought Hiresha had feelings for him. Then he had seen her with a man, a lord who became beautiful at night. Hair of spun starlight. A smile that’d make anyone overlook his claws. Worse, Fos did not believe Hiresha loved the lord because of his exquisite appearance. What other hold does he have over her?
    Fos’s mouth had an aftertaste of poison. “I think they’re holding her prisoner.”
    Emesea said, “A gull ever wants to imprison an eagle.”
    Inannis fidgeted. Chains clinked.
    Sparks popped from the fire and fell around Emesea. She did not blink. Her eyes flashed gold as she leaned closer to Fos.
    “If we rescued Hiresha,” Emesea said, “if we brought her to a land across the sea, where she could have all the gems and none of the nuisance, do you think she could be happy?”
    Fos searched the block for a good handhold. “Shouldn’t we think about rescuing ourselves first?”
    “We’d need her to build us a war ship that could fly across the sands, but that wouldn’t take her long, would it?”
    “Wait, a war ship?”
    “The Dominion of the Sun hasn’t any ships that can float across the desert dunes. And even brave men won’t travel the sea.”
    Fos frowned. “You’re saying you want Hiresha to build a land ship to start a war?”
    “Only enough blood to satisfy the Winged Fire, so the sun won’t rain godly wrath and break the world.”
    Fos turned to Inannis, but he was fiddling with his shackles and not paying attention.
    Looking back to Emesea, Fos asked, “You’re serious about the war bit, aren’t you?”
    “You act as if war weren’t natural,” Emesea said. “Now, do you think Hiresha would do it? A war for her freedom?”
    “Well, we don’t worship your Winged Sun, and Hiresha doesn’t like hurting people.”
    “Think of it as saving people through war.”
    “Forget it.” Inannis stood. “I’d never let you take an enchantress to the Dominion.”
    Fos blinked up at him. The fire’s shadows covered the thief from the waist down, but he seemed to be upright and on his own feet. Somehow, he had freed himself.

6
    Escaping the Night
    Fos could not hold in his surprise. “Your chains…your legs?”
    Inannis slipped a twisty metal object into his collar. He gave no answer.
    Emesea said, “When they lifted the block for you, he pulled his legs from his boots, tucked his knees against chest. Had some stuffing to make his pants look normal. Didn’t need much for his twig legs.”
    “He did that with everyone watching?” Fos asked.
    “I knew I couldn’t manage that sleight of foot,” Emesea said. “So we distracted for him. You did fine, for your first time.”
    “Oh, I’ve been