“That leaves very little time, Jules.” Dor wiped his face with one hand. “But I’ll do what I can. May I ask a favor?”
“Of course.”
“My daughters. If I don’t make it through, please help look after them.”
“I will,” Jules said.
They cleared the harbor before night fell, tacking west with a strong wind urging them on as if the sea itself wanted to ensure their voyage was a fast one.
Sun Queen stopped at each port and settlement in turn. First the new one at Gull’s Haven, then another at Lar’s Harbor where the Strait of Gulls opened into the Jules Sea. Then down to Julesport, Jules counting the days and risking a dash to Edin’s Town. In each place she passed on the news and urged the people to send help to Dor’s. Jules met with the captains of every ship they encountered, doing the same, and asking that they pass on the warning and the plea for help.
Finally a quick stop at Cape Astra, a final entreaty for whatever help they could send, and they headed back through the strait to the Sea of Bakre. If the winds held, they should reach Dor’s again a day beyond the end of the fourth week.
And the whole time at sea she brooded, worrying about the fight to come, and how much time was left, and many other things.
“Captain?” Liv said as she came into the stern cabin, closing the door behind her. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” Jules said, pushing away a plate of food that she hadn’t eaten much of. “What’s bothering you?”
“I’m worried about whatever it is that’s bothering you,” Liv said.
Jules gasped a short laugh. “You mean with the Imperial attack coming at Dor’s? What could possibly be bothering me?”
Liv sat down opposite Jules, leaning back and watching her. “There’s something else, and I finally figured out what it is from watching you at every port. What are you not telling people?”
“What?” Jules looked away before she could stop herself, realizing that was exactly what a guilty person would do. And also realizing that she couldn’t outright lie to Liv. “I’m… I have to.”
“Have to what?”
Jules rested her elbows on the table, her head in her hands. “I couldn’t let everyone know that the Imperial attack will be accompanied by Mages.”
“Mages?” Liv demanded, bolting upright in surprise. “With the Imperials?”
“Yes. To help them.”
“How many Mages?”
“I don’t know,” Jules said, keeping her eyes on the table rather than look at Liv. “Limited numbers, the Mechanics guessed. I don’t know how many.”
“Jules, how the blazes can you not tell people that?” Liv demanded, sounding as angry as Jules had ever heard her. “How can you not tell them they’ll be fighting Mages as well as legionaries?”
“Because if I did they wouldn’t come!” Jules shot back, raising her head to glare at Liv. “They wouldn’t fight, they wouldn’t try to fight, they’d lose before they even tried, because they’d be afraid to face Mages and legionaries!”
“You can’t—”
“I have to!” She paused to try to regain control, but the repressed anger and guilt inside overrode her attempts. “Don’t you understand? All their lives these people, all of us, have been told we’re inferior. Inferior to Mechanics, and Mages, and Imperial officials, and princes, and anyone who’s a little better off than we are! And we all believe it. The people in the free lands believe it. They don’t think they can win. But they can. If I can get them to Dor’s Castle, I will show them they can win, and we will. But first I have to get them to Dor’s Castle.”
Liv returned Jules’ glare. “By lying to them.”
“Yes! Because I know they can win, and if we can win just once they’ll know it, too!”
“And if you’re wrong?” Liv asked in a low voice.
“Then the free lands will fall to the Empire, and I will die at Dor’s Castle.”
* * *
And so they came to Dor’s Castle again, for possibly the last time. Jules wondered how many of those with her would ever leave again. Would she? The prophecy, after all, was done with her now.
The wall was visible well behind the houses of the town, inland at a place where the valley narrowed enough that a substantial structure could be built from one sheer side of the valley to the next, each end of the wall anchored in the living rock rising almost straight up. People were carrying things north, trying to get their valuables behind the wall before the Empire arrived. Already, the town was emptied of the old and very young, all of them moved to temporary shelter behind the barrier. Food was being moved as well—anything a person could eat or drink. None of it would be within reach of the Imperial invaders.
“You’re back,” Dor said, looking tired. He’d come to the Sun Queen soon after she tied up, and now sat in the stern cabin across the table from Jules. “Some people doubted you’d return. I reminded them that Captain Jules was a woman of her word. Just having you here will lift spirits immensely.”
“There aren’t any other ships in the harbor,” Jules said.
“No. None have come. Only you.” Dor turned a haunted gaze to the east. “The ships of citizens escaping the Empire have also stopped coming. The Empire is probably scooping up every ship it can get its hands on to carry legionaries.”
“Other ships will come,” Jules said, hiding the doubt that made her gut tighten. “Listen, I have something else I didn’t tell you about, something that’ll help a lot in defending this place.” She went to the long, large bag and began drawing out the Mechanic weapons, laying them out carefully one by one on the table.
“The Mechanics gave you these?” Dor asked, gazing in amazement at the rifles and revolvers. “All of these? What are these long ones called?”
“The Mechanics call them rifles,” Jules said. “They can shoot much farther than the revolvers.”
“That’s wonderful! They use the same, um, cartridges?”
“Different ones than the revolvers,” Jules said.
“All right. We’ll just have to choose which targets are worth shooting with them.” Dor smiled with delight as he looked at the rifles.
“It probably won’t be hard to decide on the targets,” Jules said.
“Why?”
She took a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t keep this secret from him any longer. “We’ll want to kill the Mages first.”
“Mages?” Dor blinked, confused. “What Mages?”
“They’re helping the Empire. Some Mages will accompany the legionaries and assist them in the attack.”
Dor stared at her, his mouth open but no words coming out.
Jules leaned over and grabbed his shoulder. “Listen to me! We can beat them! Every single Mage has been trying to kill me for years and I’m still alive. We have these rifles, and four revolvers. And the Mages will still be coming for me, first and foremost.”
“But…” Dor finally got his voice back, his gaze terrified. “Mages. They’re…”
“I’ve killed them! They’re not invincible! Stay on that wall, hold it, and we can beat them.”
Dor lowered his face into one hand, visibly calming himself. When he finally looked back at Jules, his mouth had firmed up and his eyes were dark. “All right, then. Mages. We’ll stop them, too.”
“That’s it,” Jules said. “We’ll have to tell the others at some point, and they’ll be scared, but if we’re confident, they’ll hold the line.”
“I hope you’re right,” Dor said. He looked at the weapons again. “If you hadn’t brought these, our people wouldn’t stand. They’d be too frightened. But with these, we can hold that wall.” He rubbed his forehead. “If we get more people to defend it. Do you still think everyone will send help?”
“No,” Jules said. “I’m hoping at least half of them will. If we get that, we’ll stand a chance.”
Dor reached to touch one of the rifles. “Why are the Mechanics giving us these? Because we’ll use them to kill Mages?”
“The Mechanics are loaning them to us,” Jules said. “Why? As you said, they’re happy every time we kill a Mage. But also because they need this battle to be fought, and they don’t want to fight it.”
“Why don’t they want to fight it?”
“The Mechanics are afraid of something I heard one of them call the Final War. They’re afraid if they get into direct fighting with the Empire, the world will be devastated.”
“So they want us to do the fighting,” Dor said, his mouth tight. “We’re just more tools for them, aren’t we?”
“That’s what they think,” Jules said. “What they don’t realize is that we’re fighting this battle not for them, but for us. They think they’re using us, but we’re using them. Mak told me that was how to handle things, and it’s served me well. It’ll work here, too.”
“But if we win using these things, doesn’t that make us dependent on them?”
“They’re going to move into the west,” Jules said. “We commons can’t stop them, and the common people need whatever devices the Mechanics will share with us. If we can stay out from under the Emperor’s hand, the free commons will keep getting stronger. Someday, they’ll be strong enough.”
“Then they’ll need that daughter of your line,” Dor objected. “Shouldn’t you…I mean…this coming battle will be risky. You can’t—”
“I decide what I can do.” Jules kept tight control of her voice and her expression to keep from revealing anything. “The prophecy is up to me,” she said. “It’ll be taken care of.”
“But…” Dor saw the warning in her eyes and stopped speaking. “As you say. It’s up to you. No one can force you.”
“The Emperor wants to.” Jules smiled. “But he’s going to be disappointed.”
* * *
The next morning Jules went out on deck as the sun began to rise, a slight chill in the air as the red rose of dawn grew in the east. The Mechanics had delivered their warning of the looming Imperial attack to her four weeks and two days before. Dor could not hope to hold this town without help, and she could not hope to stop the Imperial fleet on her own.
If the Mechanics were right, there were only five days at most left before the Imperial attack reached here.
Jules stood on the deck, viewing the harbor of Dor’s Castle, empty except for her own ship.
Chapter Fourteen
Not even Prosper was here. Had the Imperials managed to capture or sink Prosper? And, if they had, what had been the fate of Lieutenant Ian, deserter? The Imperials wouldn’t have waited for a trial to hang him.
In the growing light of this morning’s sun, nothing could be seen to inspire hope. Had everything she’d done been for nothing? The twins were out there somewhere, separate and not knowing of their true parents or that each had a sibling, but at least she’d managed that. Everything else, though, looked destined to fall into ruin here at Dor’s Castle.
“They’ll come.” Keli had walked up on deck as well, a cup of hot coffee held in one hand.
“How can you be sure of that?” Jules said.
“Because I would’ve come, if I hadn’t already been on your ship. Because you’re this world’s hope.”
“You’re thinking of that daughter of my line,” Jules said.
“No, I’m not.” Keli took a drink of coffee, looking to the west where the last remnants of the night were surrendering to the rising sun. “That prophecy set things in motion, didn’t it? I’ve been thinking on that. If the prophecy had never been spoken, the last few years would’ve been a lot different, wouldn’t they? But once people knew what the future was supposed to hold, they started acting differently. Maybe a prophecy like that doesn’t simply predict the future. Maybe that sort of prophecy helps bring about the future it says will come.”
“I’ve wondered about that myself. Where does anything begin or end, then?”
“Maybe there are no real beginnings or endings.” Keli took another drink. “Maybe we just see things that way because it’s easier.” He nodded to the north. “Speaking of seeing things.”
Jules looked, seeing the masts of three ships approaching the port as the light grew stronger.
There were moments when she’d despaired, when the prophecy seemed impossible to fulfill, when her own role seemed destined to be short and involve a violent ending.
But then there were moments like this.
The three ships came parading into the harbor, the morning sun gilding their sails with gold, a three-master like Sun Queen in the lead. Behind came two sloops equipped with ballistae. Storm Rider, Second Chance, and Storm Queen.
Before noon, Star Seeker showed up, carrying militia from Western Port.
In the afternoon, three more ships arrived, one of them Prosper, their decks crammed with more volunteers to swell the ranks of defenders.
The volunteers came ashore, determined and enthusiastic, cheering when they caught sight of Jules.
Ian boarded the Sun Queen, nodding to Jules and smiling. “I managed not to get killed,” he told Jules.
She smiled back, no longer trying to suppress her feelings for him. “I’m glad.” If she might die soon in defense of this city, she would take this much from life, at least. Taking another step forward, she grasped his hand tightly. “I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I am that you’re back, but I can’t show it on deck in front of the world. I can say welcome back, my man.”
“Your man? Don’t I get a say in whether I want that?”
“You do,” Jules said. “And I wouldn’t blame you for refusing it.”
Another smile quickly came and went on his face. “I can’t. I could pretend not to want that, but I’d be lying to myself.” He looked about as if seeking something else, then back down at her, sadness in him.
She knew who he’d been searching for. “I’m always looking for them, too. Ian, you understand if we’re together, we can never have more. They’d be born with death marks.”
“I know.” Ian lightly squeezed her hand. “Even though no Mage ever made a prophecy about me, I guess it was always my fate to stand with you. If the worst happens here, we’ll face it together.”
“Yes.” Jules turned to face the boarding plank as others arrived.
“You’re going to be impossible to live with after this, aren’t you?” Captain Erin said to Jules as she came aboard Sun Queen.
“She already has been,” Liv said.
With Erin were Captain Hachi, Captain Lars, and Captain Kat. Jules led them along with Ian into her cabin, the other captains looking impressed by the sight of two of Jules’ guards in armor standing post at the cabin door. Once inside, though, she found herself without enough chairs for everyone. “Introductions,” she said, standing while the others sat in the mismatched collection of chairs the cabin boasted. “This is Ian of Marandur. Ian, this is Hachi, Lars, Kat, and Erin. They look like ruffians because they are ruffians. I guess the first thing we have to decide is who’ll be in charge of the effort at sea.”
“We get to decide that, do we?” Erin said.
“It’s been decided,” Captain Lars said, waving toward the town. “Everyone knows the pirate of the prophecy is leading this effort.”
“I’m not—” Jules began.
“You’re the only one the rest of us will all listen to,” Captain Kat said. “I mean, I like these guys, but I don’t want them giving me orders. Especially that one,” she added, pointing at Hachi.
“Aren’t you the Empress of the Seas?” Hachi asked Jules.
“I’ve never called myself that,” Jules said.
“A lot of other people are calling you that,” Lars said. “Your fellow captains consider it a title of honor. And as far as the sailors are concerned, destiny gives you special strength to stand against the Empire and the Great Guilds.”
“So,” Erin said, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table, “what’s the plan, Empress?”
Jules shook her head at them, trying not to feel overwhelmed
by her responsibility, as well as by the trust these others were granting her. “Uh…the Imperial force will have warships, and other ships carrying legionaries. I was thinking we have to let the legionaries come ashore. If we try storming ships full of legionaries we’ll be the ones getting overrun.”
She pointed at the chart. “We can post a sloop east of Dor’s Castle, to spot the Imperial force before it gets here and give us a little advance notice of what it’s like and how big it is. If they’ve got heavily laden ships with them, they’ll be slower than the sloop, so it can warn us before the Imperial forces get here.”
“But you don’t want to engage them right off?” Kat asked. “I agree with you there.”
“What’s going to change, though, to make it any easier for us?” Erin said, leaning forward in her seat. “The war galleys won’t put ashore their legionaries.”
“I think they will,” Jules said. “I thought our ships would withdraw as the Imperials approach. Make it look like we’re fleeing, which is what they’ll expect to see, a bunch of pirates afraid to confront an Imperial fleet.”
“They’re not all that wrong when it comes to the afraid part,” Lars said. “Taking on one isolated Imperial warship is one thing. A fleet’ll be a much tougher bite.”
“Hear me out,” Jules said. “We sail just over the horizon and wait. If they chase us then, they’ll get strung out and we can hit them one by one. But I don’t think they’ll chase us, even though the Empire’s commander will be over-confident.”
“It’s Prince Ostin,” Kat said. “We swung by the Sharr Isles just before heading west and everyone was talking about it.”
“Prince Ostin?” Jules thought of Sandurin and what had happened there. “I still owe him payback.”
“When he learns you’re here, he’ll be all that more eager to win,” Erin said.
“Good. That’ll make it easier to beat him.” Jules pointed inland. “The Imperials will put their legionaries ashore, probably not all of them at first, and they’ll run into Dor’s wall. With the men and women who’ve already come to help hold that wall, the legionaries won’t be able to crack it. They’ll land more legionaries, all they’ve got, and they still won’t take it.”
Fate of the Free Lands Page 28
