The portal had opened slightly above the courtyard, and the cursed welcome I'd expected from Hilgarda did not come. Instead, I heard hundreds, if not thousands of voices calling out below. Then Dauntless crash-landed yet again, and the silence that followed made me wince inside.
A few seconds later, my communication bracelet started ringing, seemingly louder than before. 'You need to practice your left and right signals, Jake. Try holding your hands out in front of you.'
'Asher,' I reply awkwardly. 'What did I crush?'
I could hear Hilgarda trying to get the device back off him. 'Try over fifty Elves! Fifty! That mess will never clean off my ship!'
Hilgarda mustn't have had the opportunity to look at the vessel's port side yet. Hopefully, she wouldn't, and I could blame it on the actions of the enemy. My thoughts shifted to the interior stairwell as more voices carried despite their attempts to keep quiet.
