“Ah, not really? I learned a little from Kitania’s books, but it was fairly basic,” Isalla replied, frowning. She knew a little but wasn’t sure of herself.
“In that case, as cramped as it is belowdecks, I think you’d best stay out of their way,” Rose said kindly, hoping she wouldn’t upset her friend as she glanced at Azalea and added, “Especially considering how it’s liable to smell, if he was vomiting blood.”
“That is an excellent point. I think I’m going to stay up here for a few hours, or until I’m sure that it’s been properly aired out,” Azalea said, quickly moving back to the railing.
“Yes, but…” Isalla began, then paused and looked at Eziel. Rose winced as she saw Isalla’s eyes light up, a hint of hard edge to them as she ordered, “Eziel? Go below and assist Vinara, then help clean up the mess if they allow you to.”
“Yes, Miss Isalla,” Eziel said, barely hesitating as she turned and bowed, though she swayed slightly as the rocking of the ship put her off-balance. The angel then straightened and headed for the hatch.
“That was mean,” Rose murmured, glancing at Isalla reproachfully, a little disappointed in her friend. “She’s not the person she was, you know. She didn’t really even have to obey you. Estalia ordered Eziel to obey Vinara until she reached Kitania.”
“I know. But she still was the one who shot Kitania. Some punishment is in order,” Isalla replied, turning back to the ocean as she sighed and murmured, looking up at the sky, “The sky is so beautiful here.”
“Entirely agreed,” Rose said, reaching out to hug Isalla. She figured they’d find out what had happened soon enough.
About an hour later, Vinara climbed out of the hatch, wiping off her hands, which looked like they’d been washed recently. Just behind her was the captain, who was scowling angrily.
“Did your man survive, Captain?” Isalla asked, turning around and looking at the two in concern.
“He did, though I’m not sure whether I should thank him or strangle him,” the captain said, and nodded grudgingly to Vinara as he added, “I also need to thank Lady Vinara. Without her, we’d have lost him for sure, and he was… incoherent enough that she was forced to use the purged poison as a focus to find the other poisoned stores.”
“I see, thank you, Lady Vinara,” Azalea said, smiling at her warmly, though Rose saw that the emotions in the elf’s eyes were significantly more complex.
“It was no trouble. I’m happy we were able to track down the stores, since that was significantly more lethal than I anticipated,” Vinara said, waving off the thanks casually. “I’ll be spending some additional time looking over the other stores, but I’m relatively confident I covered most of them already in my search for poisons. Magic isn’t perfect, there are ways to bypass it, but they’re extremely difficult to manage.”
Rose nodded in agreement, and frowned as the thought tickled at her, as if she were trying to remember something associated with it. It was something about magic and detecting poisons, but she couldn’t quite place what was bothering her. After a moment, she shrugged and decided not to worry about it. If it was going to come to mind, it would.
“Even so, thank you. Captain? What happened, exactly?” Azalea asked, turning and holding on to the rail, since the sea was a little rougher than it had been.
“I bought a case of fine wine while in port, for dinners with you and any important guests, and apparently someone laced it with poison,” the captain replied bluntly, scowling heavily. “I bought it after receiving your message that you’d have additional guests, so it implies to me that someone intercepted the message as well, and wanted to get rid of them, and possibly you. Emmer decided to filch one of them for himself last night, which is why I’m trying to decide what to do with him. If he hadn’t, we all might have been in his shoes by morning.”
Rose’s blood chilled slightly, and then her eyes sharpened as she asked quickly, considering several possibilities. “Captain, you purchased the wine in Port Blackcrag?”
“That’s right,” the man confirmed, looking at her warily.
Thinking for a moment, Rose glanced over at Isalla and spoke softly. “Isalla… it’s possible I’m drawing conclusions where I shouldn’t, but I seem to recall you mentioning a human assassin trying to kill you before you came after me. You said that you thought her companion got away, but that they were probably from Hragon?”
“Oh, that’s right!” Isalla said, her eyes widening. “I’d almost forgotten after everything that’s happened, but Kitania said that her weapons were forged in a style common to Hragon. The paper she had didn’t mention the reward, but I got the impression it was significant, considering they came into the hells.”
The captain swore, and Azalea frowned deeply, speaking quietly. “That… is a rather unfortunate bit of news. Even worse is that I’m rather certain I didn’t tell anyone that you were coming with me, simply that there would be four members of a delegation accompanying us.”
“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t have learned of it from another avenue. Magical communication is possible, and if they spotted us on the drakes, someone might have learned of it with enough time to poison the wine,” Vinara suggested, placing a hand on the railing to steady herself as she glanced at the captain and asked, “May I ask when the wine was loaded? If it was anytime yesterday while we were still in transit, that’s the most likely explanation.”
“Damn it. That’s probably what happened. I ordered the wine the day before that, along with victuals for Her Lady’s dinners, as well as yours,” the captain said, his voice grim. “They were loaded onto the ship about noon yesterday, so you’re right that they’d have had time to tamper with the food. There’s more than enough time in there, if they used magic to let each other know.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea that something like this would happen. If I’d known it was a possibility, I’d have warned you,” Isalla said, sounding surprisingly guilty, in Rose’s opinion.
“No, I should have asked if there were any dangers to be aware of, and I didn’t. In addition, we should have been warier, pulling into an unfriendly port,” Azalea said, her frown vanishing as she continued, sounding slightly cross. “If we were on good terms with Hragon, perhaps we could have something done about it, but the Forest of Sighs isn’t. They even have an assassin’s guild openly in their capital, so it isn’t like we can do much.”
“Correct, you can’t. However, I have a method of communicating with Queen Estalia, and if you think that you’re displeased, she will be even more upset to hear about this,” Vinara said, her tone now cold as winter. “I’ll let her know, and she will… have words with Hragon’s king. I suspect that the assassin’s guild will quickly decide that this job isn’t worth their time.”
“At least that’s something,” Rose said, relaxing a little. Even if the captain looked a bit skeptical, she believed Vinara about Estalia’s likely reaction, and Estalia wasn’t one to take threats to those she cared about lightly.
“It doesn’t solve another problem, though. We don’t know if any of the other food that was delivered that day was poisoned. As it’s all intended for us, I’m leery of touching it,” the captain said, looking quite unhappy.
“I can help with that,” Vinara said calmly, nodding to him. “The spell I used with your crewman can be used on food as well. It forces out any poisons present, or at least the vast majority, so it can make the food safe. However, I must warn that it considers alcohol a poison, so if I use it on such, there’s no chance of getting drunk off the liquor.”
“I’m not sure I’d consider that a bad thing,” Rose said, glancing at Isalla and smiling, thinking back on one time Isalla had gotten drunk. From the way her friend was blushing, she remembered it, too.
“I don’t know about that. Some days you want to just drink and forget about everything. I do have my private cabinet of liquor, though, so we can make do with something else in the meantime,” the captain replied, his displeasure easing as he nod
ded at Vinara. “I would be much obliged if you’d help with making sure the food is safe.”
“I’ll do so shortly, after I’ve had a chance to catch a bit more fresh air. It got rather rank down below,” Vinara agreed politely.
The captain nodded, then briskly headed toward the helm. Rose waited a moment, then asked, “Is Eziel cleaning, then?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Vinara confirmed, smiling slightly. “She said that Isalla told her to, and the other seamen were more than happy to let her take charge of cleaning. I suspect she’ll be done within a couple of hours.”
“I see,” Rose said, nodding in understanding. Her pity eased slightly as she realized the succubus didn’t seem dismayed.
“I think I need to report on these events. If you have need of me, I’ll be in my room,” Azalea said, turning to leave.
Rose watched Azalea go, then turned her attention to Vinara, mulling things over for a moment, then asked, “So, it was pretty bad, then?”
“I’ve seen worse, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant. I doubt I’d have been in any condition to cast a spell if I’d drunk the poison and didn’t realize what it was in time,” Vinara said, wrinkling her nose unhappily. “The confines of a ship just made it worse. Her Majesty is going to be very unhappy to hear about it.”
“We were lucky someone else drank the wine first, then,” Isalla said, shivering slightly. “I just wish that people would stop trying to kill us.”
“Agreed,” Rose said, nodding soberly as she did so. “I wish the same.”
Ignoring her poor mood, the sun continued to move slowly across the cloud-studded sky, making everything look bright and beautiful. Even so, Rose knew that the passage would take a while.
Still, at least here they’d be able to see any further trouble coming. She hoped.
Chapter 30
Kitania adjusted her dress as she waited outside the door, feeling a little nervous. From what she’d been told by Niadra, the room she was in front of was the highest one in the palace, and it was from within that Alserah kept an eye on the palace grounds, as well as where she made decisions. As such, being called there had Kitania feeling a little anxious.
“Come in.” Alserah’s voice came at last, sounding quite calm. That helped a little, but Kitania still hoped that the goddess wasn’t going to be upset about the previous night. Niadra had stayed in Kitania’s room far too late and had fallen asleep in her chair. Kitania had moved the princess to the bed, and then had slept herself, but that was as far as things had gone. Still, it wouldn’t be hard to draw the wrong conclusions if someone had seen Niadra leave that morning.
Taking a deep breath, Kitania took the knob and opened the door, then stepped into Alserah’s office. That was what Kitania thought the best term for the room was.
A series of wide windows curved across the back of the room, providing a commanding view of the palace grounds, including several of the gardens where parties were held, and a door allowed access to a balcony on the other side of the windows. Through a side window, Kitania could see the training grounds as well, and it finally explained the sparkling she’d occasionally seen while training.
Numerous portraits adorned the walls, some of them quite old, each of various elven men and women, and most of which had some degree of resemblance to Alserah. There were also a few other items around, including an ancient-looking bow that probably would snap if it was drawn, and Kitania was a little startled to see a violin hanging in the corner, with a music stand folded up next to a cabinet. She’d never considered the possibility that Alserah might be a musician.
Alserah was sitting behind an old but well-kept desk, and the goddess was wearing a beautiful, flowing dress. The goddess looked up at Kitania from a sheet of paper, regarding her closely, then gestured to the pair of chairs on the other side of the desk. “Have a seat, if you would? I need to finish reading this first.”
“As you say, Your Grace,” Kitania said, quickly taking a few steps forward and choosing a chair. It didn’t have a convenient slot for her tail, so she curled it around to sway beside her legs as she sat.
Alserah occasionally glanced at Kitania as she waited, and Kitania forced herself to at least appear tranquil. It wasn’t easy with the goddess right there, but she managed. It took a while, but finally Alserah set down the sheet of paper and looked at Kitania.
“You look like you’re doing well, Kitania, or at least better than before. However, how have you been doing? Truly? After our last meeting, you didn’t look terribly well,” Alserah said, her back as straight as an arrow as she looked Kitania in the eyes, the piercing gaze enough to make the demoness want to squirm.
“Of course I didn’t. You weren’t exactly gentle in your criticisms of my attitude,” Kitania replied, refusing to let her surging emotions show as she looked back at Alserah, deliberately not thinking about the comment Alserah had made about being interested in Kitania. She really didn’t need the anxiety that admission had prompted. “However, I will say that you weren’t wrong about Niadra being able to help. Aside from a young girl screaming and running away in a panic the other day, my time here has been mostly pleasant.”
“I see. I’m glad to hear that… though the girl’s terror is a shame,” Alserah said, smiling slightly, and she tilted her head as she looked at Kitania closely.
Kitania waited for a minute, then two, but the goddess didn’t speak. Finally, she couldn’t wait any longer and sighed before asking nervously, “May I at least know why you asked to see me?”
“Of course you may. I was just waiting for you to work up the nerve to ask. Perhaps others wouldn’t realize that you are merely paying lip service by calling me Your Grace, but to me it’s rather obvious that you aren’t that impressed by my presence,” Alserah said, her lips curving a little more. “It’s quite a change from your initial terror.”
“Perhaps so, but I’m afraid that I’ve had enough experience with my mother that your power doesn’t intimidate me. How you may choose to use it can, but simply being powerful… no,” Kitania said, shaking her head slightly as she let out a soft breath, relaxing again. “My previous experience with you had me more than a little intimidated at the time, and I still respect you even if my abject terror has receded. I’m just not on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Your Grace.”
“I see. Well, when we’re in private you may call me by name. If there’s any chance of my interest growing to more than that, it’ll require somewhat less distance than calling me by a title will allow,” Alserah said, and then her smile faded. “However, while I intended to talk to you today regardless, I received information from Lady Azalea that troubles me. It’s not the most pleasant of subjects, I’m afraid.”
“Oh? I hope that something hasn’t gone wrong,” Kitania said, her heartbeat quickening suddenly. The surge of anxiety was almost a surprise after several days of relative calm. “I know that she’s on her way back, but not much more than that.”
Alserah gave Kitania an odd look, then shrugged as she replied quietly. “I would have thought that you were told, but your Isalla and Rose are coming with her. However, someone tried to poison them yesterday. It failed, mostly due to a crew member choosing to sample the wine early, but it was far too near a thing.”
“What? I…” Kitania almost yelped, sitting up straight. She was a bit incredulous that she hadn’t heard about Isalla and Rose, but the information about the poisoning horrified her. “That’s horrible! Is the person who was poisoned alright? Did they catch the poisoner?”
“They’re all fine, though I suspect the captain isn’t pleased with his crew, regardless of how they helped in the end. Stealing alcohol isn’t something he’d look well on. Unfortunately, they aren’t sure who tried to poison them, as it was done in the city before they left,” Alserah said, shaking her head unhappily. “It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing to be done about it now. However, during their conversation some other information came to light. Rose apparently explained that she and
Isalla had been betrayed, which is how they ended up in the hells, and that an additional attempt at assassinating them sent you here. Is there any truth to that?”
“I…” Kitania began, but then she took a breath and let it out slowly. After a moment, she asked nervously, “Could I have a minute, please? My emotions are in a bit of turmoil.”
“Go ahead and take the time you need,” Alserah said, nodding as she looked at Kitania in concern. “I moved on quickly, in the hopes it’d be easier for you, but obviously that wasn’t the case.”
“No, I’m afraid it isn’t,” Kitania said, her emotions a knotted mess. She wondered why she hadn’t been told that Isalla and Rose were coming, but in the end it really didn’t matter. Their near-deaths were far more concerning, and besides, she needed to force herself to let go. It wasn’t as though the women had asked her to wait for them, after all. She took slow, deep breaths, and after a couple of minutes, the anxiety eased enough for her to speak.
“Yes, there’s truth to what Rose said,” Kitania said at last, at least a little calmer as she looked at Alserah. “I’m not sure how much she told you, though.”
“She told Lady Azalea a little. However, as the message book we use to communicate with her has limited space, messages are kept as terse as possible, and we also use shorthand to convey more information,” Alserah explained, still watching Kitania closely. “She did mention that Rose wasn’t explaining everything, since there were plenty of others to overhear them.”
“I see. If she said that much, I suppose I can share more without betraying their trust,” Kitania said, relaxing slightly. A part of her wondered if the difficulty communicating might be part of why the others hadn’t sent her a message. It didn’t seem likely, though it didn’t matter; she needed to focus on explaining herself to Alserah. She considered for a moment before speaking. “Isalla was stationed in the heavens, and was investigating unusual visits to her post, since it was something of a backwater. I don’t want to explain too much, of course… it’s her story, after all. However, someone she trusted betrayed her, cut off her wings, crippled and poisoned her, then threw her off the continent. Somehow, they opened a portal between the heavens and mortal world above the portal to the hells in Hragon, which dropped her into the hells. I caught her with my magic, and then nursed her back to health. More than a month after that, an assassin tried to kill her.”
Mortal Gods (Mantles of Power Book 2) Page 25
