Ether was awake by the time we reached the docks.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the town. Tres was a coastal city, so I’d been expecting some sort of walled inlet, but the back of the city was open to the ocean.
“How do they keep sea monsters from attacking the city?” I searched the buildings for any guideposts or turrets. Anything that might indicate that the town was prepared for a monster attack.
“Very few sea monsters can actually come on land.” Trent didn’t look up from his CB as he answered my question. “If one that can does, then the city guard is pretty quick to mobilize.”
“Sounds like a dangerous way to live.” Ether yawned from her seat in the booth beside me.
“Which is why the city is so small.” Nakten tapped on the table, bringing up a map of the city. She dragged her finger across the water. “There used to be a wall out here, but after a monster attack destroyed it, no one has bothered to rebuild it.” She looked up. “The Nobles who didn’t want to risk living through another monster attack left and now the city is too poor to pay for another wall to be built.”
“Why doesn’t the Temple foot the bill?” I looked over at Trent. “Don’t they technically run this place?”
“Things are different here in the Synagogue Ward.” Trent shook his head. “Archbishop Healy Tridi runs things like a business. If you don’t contribute enough money to the coffers, she only gives you enough to keep the lights on.”
“That’s horrible!” I looked at my father. “How hard would it be for you to fund a new wall?”
“It won’t help.” Trent finally looked up. “Unless there is infrastructure put in place to maintain it as well as guards to patrol the wall, it’s just going to get knocked down again.” He sighed. “The sad truth is that fixing their wall isn’t just a one-time donation. I’d have to fund a considerable portion of the town until it was able to get people to come back here to fund things on their own. Which means that I’d have to stick around until that restructuring was completed to ensure that the things I was funding actually got bought.” Irritation leaked into his voice. “But I’d also have to deal with the people currently in charge of the town because this wasn’t something that was their idea and anything that I did would have to be run through the Synagogue and receive their approval.” He let out a long sigh. “Basically, it isn’t that simple and in the end, nothing would really get done.”
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“Right…” I was beginning to think that it was a good thing that I could just turn those types of headaches over to Nakten. I wasn’t looking forward to her being able to pick who held some portion of power inside my eventual city, but I had to start trusting her sometime. Either she’d prove herself worthy of that trust and we could move forward or she wouldn’t. I paused as I tried to think about what would happen if we did catch her trying to undermine us. I was sure Trent had a plan in place for dealing with that, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know what it was.
“I see the ship!” Aelin pointed at the cargo ship slowly moving towards the harbor.
“That’s…” Trent got up to look at the ship. “Huh, they must have run into more trouble than I thought. They should have been here earlier this morning.”
“Didn’t Miel tell you that they weren’t here?” I looked at Ether first. A hint of fear covered my wife’s face. I patted her hand as I looked at Trent.
“Miel hasn’t checked in…” He looked at his CB. “But she’s still alive, so whatever she’s doing, it’s probably important.”
“Important…” Ether pulled her hand away and typed out a message on her CB. I didn’t have to look at the screen to know who she was sending a message to.
“Mom says that there has been an increase in monster attacks, so the port authority is renegotiating the deal.” Ether breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Bethy chooses who she lets on her ship and how much she charges them.” Trent growled as he touched his CB. “Not the port authority.”
“She said that they’re citing a possible monster infestation on board and won’t let the ship dock unless we pay a hazard fee.” Ether rolled her eyes. “They’re gouging us, aren’t they?”
“Yes…” Trent growled as he looked up from his CB. “Aelin, take up over to that building with the big blue anchor on the sign.” He pointed at the building that he wanted. “I’ve got a harbor master to remind of the definition of integrity.”
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