by David Drake
It was late morning when I came out of the trance. I’d been awake since dawn but I hadn’t even gone down to the refectory to get breakfast, though I’d need to do that soon. I’d drunk most of the pitcher of water on the washstand.
“Good morning, Lord Pal,” said Maggie, standing at the foot of the cot I was lying on. I just about jumped out of my skin.
I sat up as quickly as I could without knocking over the tray which held the two work pieces I was trying to join. At least I was wearing a singlet, which I didn’t always bother with when I was going to be in a trance.
I said, “I didn’t hear you knock. I’ve been working on what I think may be a map from the time of the Ancients.”
“I knew you were busy,” Maggie said, nodding seriously. “I wouldn’t bother you, only a messenger said that the Leader wants to talk to you. So I came up to the palace and stood here till you woke up.”
Maggie turned her back when she saw me looking for the suit which I’d hung over the back of a chair. She probably thought I was a prude and I suppose she was right, but I was the way Mom had raised me.
I pulled on the trousers, then tossed the singlet onto the chair seat and put the tunic on. The side pockets swung with the weight of the weapon and shield. My equipment was light, but it weighed more than the empty pockets did.
“Why did they go down to the boat?” I asked. “Didn’t they tell the messenger at the house that I was in the palace?”
“Lady May told the messenger you were in Guntram’s suite,” Maggie said, turning to face me again. “The fellow told me he didn’t know where that was. Which is a stupid lie, but he didn’t want to say he was afraid to come up here.”
“Well, I’m glad you weren’t afraid, Maggie,” I said as I headed for the door. “I’ll go straight to the Leader and hope I’m not too late.”
I’ll hope that Jon wouldn’t be too angry about me being late, but I couldn’t do anything about that.
“Oh, I’m afraid, don’t you doubt that,” Maggie said as I handed her out the door. “But I know you and even Master Guntram, you don’t mean to hurt me. I’ll take my chances.”
We went in opposite directions down the hall. After a moment, I decided to smile. It bothered me that somebody who knew me as well as Maggie still thought that I was a dangerous magician.
But at least she knew that I meant her well.
Lord Schaeffer, a Champion I knew only to nod to, was on duty in the anteroom of Jon’s suite. Nearly twenty petitioners were already waiting. Schaeffer wasn’t so much guard as doorman, his equipment made sure that he would be obeyed.
“Hey, Pal!” he called when he saw me. He turned and rapped twice on the inner door, then added to me, “The Leader said to let him know when you got here and he’d scoot away the folks complaining about log rafts fouling their fishing weirs.”
“Does the Leader handle that sort of thing himself?” I said in surprise.
Schaeffer laughed. “He does when the petition says it’s about navigation problems on the Great River,” he said. “Things are a bit disorganized still since Clain just got back.”
“Send in Lord Pal and Lord Fox!” the Leader bellowed through the door panel.
A man of about fifty hopped to his feet. He wore a tunic of puffy black velvet with red velvet breeches and cap. The cap covered most of what was either a high forehead or a scalp as bald as a cue ball. His moustache was small, neat, and hennaed red.
He joined me at the door while Schaeffer positioned himself between us and the other petitioners. I opened the door and squeezed in quickly along with Fox.
“Pal?” Jon said almost before the door banged closed behind us. “Your returning now is the best proof of God I’ve seen in far too long, but I know you’re just back from a rough one. If you want to pass this mission to somebody else, you’ve got every right to.”
“I’ll take the mission,” I said as I sat down. It would get me out of Dun Add at a time when there was nothing I wanted more than I did that.
I was a little shocked by what Jon had said about wondering about God. Guntram said openly that he didn’t know whether or not the Almighty was real, but I didn’t expect to hear that sort of thing from the Leader.
“Well, when Fox explained his problem,” Jon went on, “I thought of you at once. Go on, Fox. Explain it to Lord Pal just the way you did me.”
Fox had sat down in a chair at the corner of the Leader’s desk, about halfway between Jon and me. He looked at me, though, I guess because Jon had already heard the story, and said, “I succeeded my uncle Frans as Lord of Severin just three months ago. Frans and I hadn’t been close, and I hadn’t spent much time on the node since I was twelve.”
I nodded. I thought I’d heard of Severin before but I’d have to get the details from Mistress Toledana. I recalled Severin as not being far from Dun Add, but of course Beune was very far away.
“There was a scholar, a Maker, staying with my uncle,” Fox continued. “He’d discovered a treasure nearby in a sealed node. The Maker, Master Croft, had opened the node, but he hadn’t been able to get the treasure out when he died three years ago. I don’t think Uncle Frans even tried—he had enough wealth for his own needs.”
“What do you mean, ‘a sealed node’?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Well, as best I can tell,” Fox said, “it’s neither Here nor Not-Here, but it really does exist—if you can find it. Master Croft found it quite close to Severin. From what the manor librarian told me, that was why Croft came to Severin to begin with. But he couldn’t open it enough to get in.”
I swallowed and looked at Jon. “Sir,” I said, “that sounds very much like what Guntram called a cyst. With the help of the Almighty, it may be the key to freeing Guntram from captivity.”
Jon smiled in satisfaction. “How quickly can you get to work on this, Pal?” he said.
“I’ll want a day getting as much information as the Clerk of Here can provide,” I said. “And to take care of business in Dun Add. After that it’s just a matter of travel time, and we’ll be travelling in my boat. A day or two, if Severin is as close as I recall it being.”
“Why, that’s wonderful!” Fox said. “Ah, you understand that I’m not a warrior myself, so I felt I should ask the aid of people more used to violence.”
“What dangers are there inside this cyst?” Jon asked, his eyes narrowing.
Fox seemed suddenly to shrink. “Well, I don’t know,” he said. “But I understood that Master Croft was waiting for some problem to subside. I didn’t try to enter myself, as I said.”
Afraid of his own shadow, I judged silently, and from the look on the Leader’s face he was of the same opinion. I stood and said aloud, “Well, we’ll deal with whatever we find. And right now, sir, if I’m dismissed, I have business to take care of!”
“God be with you, Lord Pal,” Jon said. “And I’m much more interested in Master Guntram than I am with treasure.”
Me too, I thought.
It took me a while to learn where Lord Osbourn was staying, but Andreas had a couple of suggestions. By now I knew enough people—and maybe more important, people knew of me—that I could learn a lot by asking questions.
The delay was probably a good thing. I’d started out angry and might’ve just crashed on straight ahead till I got what I wanted, but that would’ve been the wrong way to do it in the longer term. I talked it over with Morseth and Reaves—Reaves was staying with his friend while the roof leak and water damage to his own townhouse was being repaired—and decided how to proceed.
Lord Felsham had rented a house north of the palace. It must’ve been quite nice when it was new, twenty-odd years ago, but it had been broken up into individual flats as the neighborhood declined. Felsham had bought and refurbished it to use for the parties that had made him notorious—and wealthy.
I was wearing brown with vertical white stripes, a nice suit but cut loose for travel and not
at all flashy. “I’m Lord Pal,” I said politely to the face behind the observation window in the front door. “I’m here to see Lord Osbourn.”
“Can’t say I recognize the name,” the face—it had a bushy black beard—said. “I know for sure you’re not on the list for admission, though. If I see Lord Osbourn, I’ll say you were looking for him.”
Instead of answering, I stepped aside and said to Morseth. “They don’t recognize me—or politeness either one, it seems.”
Reaves said, “Well, let’s try something else, then.”
He and Morseth exchanged glances to prepare the timing, then kicked the doorpanel together with their right heels. The wood was sturdy, but the impact bowed it in and sent the doorman back with a yelp. The two Champions shoved the remnants out of the way as they walked in; pieces fell out of the broken frame.
The doorman wore a combined shield and weapon. Instead of using it, he tried to unbuckle the rig as he staggered backward. When his panicked fingers failed, he turned and ran down a side corridor.
I could have gotten through the door easily with my weapon—but the doorman would have fought me and I’d have had to kill him. I simply didn’t have the presence of my two friends. When I’d calmed down in my search for Lord Osbourn, I realized that my reason for not being able to do the Chancellor’s job as well as Morseth applied just as surely to private problems—if I wanted to sort them without killing anybody.
Which, now that I was calmer, I did.
The crash of the door brought half a dozen servants into the entrance hall. Morseth pointed at the chubby fellow with gold embroidery on his skullcap and his tunic and said, “You! Where’s Lord Osbourn? We’re going to take him away.”
The servant straightened. “This way, gentlemen. His room is on the second floor.”
Morseth and Reaves both wore their equipment on bandoliers, but neither was acting threatening in any fashion except by being who they were. They couldn’t have seemed more at home if they’d owned the house. Though if it had been a house one of them owned, they’d have probably seemed more welcoming.
“Well, get going, then,” Reaves said. “We’re right behind you.”
The servant, who’d probably been afraid to move until he got the order, went up the stairs in little mincing hops. Morseth and Reaves followed—the staircase was broad enough for two big men side by side—and I trailed along at the end.
The lesser servants had vanished into rooms and down hallways as soon as my friends started up the stairs. I expected Felsham himself to appear at any moment, but he must have decided not to show himself. With some nobles I’d have wondered if they were in bed and too drunk to hear the commotion, but Felsham was famous for sipping while his guests drank themselves insensible.
The major domo—I guess he was—stopped at a door in mid-hall and pointed to it. “This is Lord Osbourn’s room,” he said.
“I’ll get it,” Reaves said. He kicked the panel, flinging the latchplate across the room beyond. It hadn’t been locked, but Reaves was probably more interested in making an entrance than he was in simply getting in. A woman squealed.
“Come on, Osbourn,” Morseth said as he walked in. “Time for a trip.” Then he added, “Say, Alma! Can’t you find any men your age?”
I couldn’t see past the Champions’ bodies, but Reaves backed out and Morseth followed with Lord Osbourn’s arm over his shoulder and a blue velvet dress in his free hand. Osbourn was stark naked and his feet were dragging.
“Morseth, where are you going with my dress!” a naked woman demanded as she followed them out of the room. She was at least forty, but I didn’t doubt that she’d pass for a good deal younger if she had time to dress and make up properly.
“Just borrowing it, Alma,” Reaves said as he draped the garment over Osbourn. He and Morseth must’ve done this sort of thing before, because their hand movements were perfectly coordinated. “You can have it back after we’ve got your playmate on the boat.”
“Whaz happening…?” Osbourn mumbled. His eyes were still shut.
Reaves led as Morseth carried Osbourn down the stairs. I was in the rear as before.
Alma didn’t follow us and nobody else was in the lobby when we reached it. At the doorway I said to Morseth, “I’ll get a barrow for him. Just give me a moment.”
“Naw, I’m fine,” Morseth said. “I’ve done this with lots bigger guys. Right, Reaves?”
“Right,” Reaves said. “And I’ve done it with you, my boyo.”
A few people stopped to stare as we walked to landingplace, where Baga, Fox, Andreas, and dogs all waited. Nobody followed or objected, however.
Andreas, holding his mongrel Kyrie, and Baga with both Sam and Osbourn’s Christiana, were in front of the boat. I didn’t see Fox but I assumed he was inside already. Baga would probably have been there also except that he had the dogs to control.
“We’ll put Osbourn in the last chamber on the port side,” I said as I led Morseth to the back. The boat’s central corridor was narrow, so Morseth was actually holding Osbourn at arm’s length in front of him. He didn’t show any sign of strain.
“Lord Pal?” said Fox, who’d taken the compartment behind mine on the starboard side.
“One moment, milord,” I said. “We’ll be under way shortly and we can talk all you care to.”
“Look, you don’t have to carry me,” Lord Osbourn said muzzily. He occasionally opened his eyes but his legs weren’t moving fast enough to keep up with the rate Morseth was moving his body at.
“You’ll be fine, milord,” I said. “Do you want me to put Christiana in the compartment with you? We’ve got enough space that she doesn’t have to be.”
“What?” Osbourn said. “Oh, with me is fine, sure.”
No dog I’ve met likes travelling by boat, so it’s a kindness as well as a practical matter to keep the animal which is going to be with you in battle as comfortable as it can be. I wasn’t sure Osbourn knew that—or would let it guide him if he did.
Morseth expertly tweaked the dress away. “I’ll take it back to Alma,” he said. “You know, it’s a real shame the way she’s let herself go. She was a real looker, you know.”
“One more thing, then, and I’ll let you and Reaves go,” I said, pausing to pick up a piece of hardware as we walk toward the entrance. “I owe you guys, and I won’t forget it.”
“Hey, you got Lord Clain back here as Chancellor,” Morseth said. “For that you can have anything short of the girl I’m with, and we could probably work something out about the girl.”
I probably blushed, but you couldn’t tell it inside the ship. Farmers on Beune aren’t any more delicate than Champions are, but Mom had raised me to be, well, proper. Prissy, I guess, though Morseth wouldn’t have put it that way because he likes me.
“Baga?” I said as I went out. “Put Sam in my compartment and Christiana in with Lord Osbourn in the back.” As I spoke, I realized that I needed to cut the alcohol level of wine from the converters in Osbourn’s compartment. “I’ll be coming in shortly.”
“And me, sir?” Andreas said.
I waited until Baga and the dogs were inside. Then I gave Andreas the shield I’d gotten. I handed it to him, saying, “Here, this is yours. Give me the one you’re carrying now.”
“What?” said Andreas, but he quickly swapped equipment with me. “Sir,” he went on after he looked at it. “I can’t afford this.”
“It’s not as much as you might think,” I said, “but anyway you’re not paying for it. It’s a gift.”
I handed his old shield to Morseth and said, “Carry this to Sante in Master Louis’s shop, will you? He’ll give me something back if he’s able to tweak it into something useful.”
Knowing Sante, I was pretty sure he could. It wasn’t really a lot of money, though; not for me nowadays.
“But sir!” Andreas said. “You don’t have to do this!”
“You’re backing me in this business,” I said. “I don’t want you equip
ped with a piece of junk.”
“You know…” said Morseth. “Reaves and me don’t have anything pressing on.”
“Andreas,” I said. “Find yourself a compartment. We’re just about ready to go.”
When he’d vanished, I said to Morseth, “I’ve got five men and three dogs. That’s as much as I trust the boat to handle. Thanks, though.”
“Bloody hell,” said Reaves in disgust. “Leave those two babies back here. We can give you real back-up.”
“I don’t need back-up,” I said. “Or anyway, I don’t expect to. Nothing else has worked with Osbourn, though, and if I don’t find something I’m going to lose May.”
“She’s a nice one,” said Reaves. “Always liked her. But there’s a whole lot of women, just in Dun Add.”
Morseth put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Not for him, though,” he said. “Come on, Reaves. Let’s get outside some good wine, hey?”
The two Champions went off. I swallowed hard and went aboard the boat.
I wouldn’t have friends like those two if they didn’t think I deserved them. But I was damned if I knew why they thought that.
CHAPTER 13
Surveying the Situation
I’d been right in guessing Severin was two days from Dun Add. Mistress Toledana’s staff had plotted two reasonable stopovers on the way: one a populous node with what she said were two respectable inns; the other, a small wasteland with no permanent population.
I’d planned to lay over on the second, unnamed option to avoid the sort of excited small-talk that followed the arrival of a boat at any node, even Dun Add. There isn’t much to do during a voyage on a boat, so after explaining to the Aspirants that they were to support me as I requested, I spent most of the time in a Maker’s trance. I’d brought along the artifacts I’d been working on in Dun Add, parts of what I thought might become a map if I could fill in the gaps properly.
To my surprise Baga shook me out of my trance. He knew to leave me alone until I came up on my own, but he explained hoarsely, “We’re on Severin in twenty-three bloody hours, all in one reach!”
