Chapter Seventeen
I opened my eyes again to the sound of whistling. Ransom’s misshapen face leant over mine. He grinned.
‘Urg.’
‘Hurts a bit, doesn’t it, when you touch a Heest?’
I glared at him.
‘Your dad’s fine. The healsmiths made him sleep, just to be sure. Everyone else is on their way.’ He sat half in the water and unlaced the pirate jewellery from my arm, throwing it carelessly behind him. I noticed a number of thick chains mixed among it all—gold and silver and other metals I didn’t recognise. A heavy pendant studded with emeralds glinted in a ray of light. ‘Why’d she give you all that?’
‘For safekeeping,’ I said.
‘Oh. So she’s coming back?’
I nodded. What did I agree to again? Oh telk. I made a bargain … with her.
Ransom put the rest of the gold aside more carefully and l
