Zenia wasn’t surprised when someone knocked on the door. Interruptions seemed to be a requirement whenever they decided to tickle tongues.
“Jev?” came Cutter’s voice through the door. “You naked?”
“No.” Jev drew back, though he didn’t remove the arms he had wrapped around Zenia.
“Is Zenia naked?”
“No.”
Zenia thought she heard someone groan in disappointment. It didn’t sound like Cutter.
The door opened, and Cutter ambled in carrying Jev’s elven sword, blood dried on the blade. Zenia wrinkled her nose. Borti strolled in behind him.
“You left this sticking out of a flying bird monster.” Cutter waved the blade in the air.
“We decided it’s a manticore,” Jev said.
“Whatever it is, you left your sword in it after skewering it. Since I’m a loyal friend, I brought it to you.” He leaned it against the bulkhead next to the bed.
“You could have wiped it off,” Jev said as a not-so-dried drop of blood ran down the blade to the deck.
“I said I was a loyal friend, not a loyal servant. The captain wants to see you.” Cutter and Borti exchanged looks that immediately made Zenia think that more trouble was afoot. Or maybe the captain wanted to question someone about the current trouble.
“The other boat isn’t back, is it?” Jev looked at Zenia.
She checked in with her dragon tear and learned that the other boat’s crew had cleared the fallen tree and that they were heading upriver again. “It’s not back, not close, but it’s resumed its journey in our direction.”
Jev’s expression turned distasteful. “I’ll let the captain know.”
Zenia shifted so he could ease out of the bunk. “If he wants us to get off the boat so his crew won’t be threatened, I understand.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Jev said firmly. “I haven’t seen any roads or even trails along the river for miles and miles. It would take three years to walk all the way to those valleys through that dense jungle. But don’t worry. You stay here and relax. I’ll take care of it.”
He nodded firmly, picked up his sword, and walked out with the others.
Relaxing wasn’t what Zenia had in mind, but she lay back on the bed for now. Better to let Jev talk with the captain. Even here, his zyndar status might give him some sway. Or, if not that, the coins in his purse.
If she were to speak with the captain, she would have to rely on her dragon tear’s manipulation ability, and since she feared they were in the wrong for endangering the boat and crew, she would be reluctant to use it on him.
“What are the chances we’ll make it to those valleys without any more trouble?” she murmured, touching the gem.
The sense of uncertainty that emanated from it wasn’t reassuring.
9
As night approached, Jev sat on the roof with Hydal and Cutter, gazing down the darkening river behind them. According to Hydal, who had been keeping watch, the other riverboat hadn’t been seen all afternoon.
Narken, the dwarven captain, knew something was amiss though. At first, he’d seemed to believe the attack on Zenia had been a fluke, that the manticore had taken a shine to her luxurious shiny hair—those had been his exact words—but someone must have suggested that a greater threat was out there. Maybe one of his own people had a dragon tear or other artifact and had sensed the troll boat following him. However he knew, he’d been blunt when he accused Jev of bringing trouble up the river after them. Jev had a feeling he would have already dumped Zenia’s team off on a bank if he didn’t think her hair was so appealing. It probably didn’t hurt that she carried a dragon tear and Jev carried the elven blade.
Hydal removed his spectacles and wiped them with his shirt. “My eyes could use a rest.”
“Take a break, my friend,” Jev said.
The rain had shifted to a drizzle, but it was still damp, humid, and unpleasant. Further, the screeches, hoots, and roars that came from the jungle grated on one’s nerves after a while. The monkeys, in particular, were loud and incessant with their hoots. Jev wasn’t sure if their boat was being jeered, admired, or completely ignored. Maybe the monkeys were always this excited.
“I’ll send up someone with fresh eyes.” Hydal headed toward the edge of the roof.
“Nothing wrong with my eyes,” Cutter said. “Dwarves can see in the dark, you know.”
“I bet that comes in handy when your lover has lost her keys and wants to go home,” Jev said.
“Dwarves don’t need keys. We don’t lock our rooms. Nobody steals from anybody else in Preskabroto.”
“Are you telling me dwarven cities don’t have any crime?”
“Not thieving. You’re more likely to get someone scheming to discredit someone else’s work so they can get a position on the Crafts Council.”
“So political crimes.”
“More or less. They give me a headache. It’s a relief being with Master Arkura.” Cutter glanced at Jev. “I mean, in your city. Away from dwarven politics.”
Jev smiled at the slip. He’d long suspected his friend had a crush on the bearded dwarf female, even if he denied it. Jev wasn’t sure if she returned any of his feelings since Master Grindmor was always quick to tell him he needed to work harder and that he was old for an apprentice. But she had imbued Cutter’s hammer with magic, and she’d helped Jev attune the elven sword so he could draw on its magic. Jev doubted that was because the grumpy master liked him.
“I’m glad you’re finding Korvann amenable,” Jev said.
An alligator disturbed by their passing slid off the bank with a soft splash. It headed downriver to hunt. Jev supposed it was wishful thinking to hope it would take a large bite out of the other boat.
He didn’t like paddling upriver, knowing they had enemies behind them and doing nothing about it. He felt like a bale of hay on an archery range, waiting to be plowed with an arrow. More than that, he resented that someone on that boat had attacked Zenia. His Zenia. She didn’t deserve to be a bale of hay. He ground his teeth, longing to put a thousand holes in the one who’d been responsible for that attack, to do whatever it took to protect her.
Jev twisted to look at the route ahead, though with the deepening twilight, he couldn’t see much. Just that the passage had grown narrower. The captain had slowed their boat, and occasionally, crewmen with poles pushed logs out of the way before they bumped into the craft. Two men were lighting lanterns at the bow to help with the task.
“Zenia didn’t sound that interested in setting an ambush for the other boat,” Jev said, his thoughts turning in that direction again.
The paddlewheel was turning slowly now, the boat trundling along at no more than three miles an hour, he gauged. Even if there wasn’t a path along the bank, he wagered he could catch back up to it again if he left for a couple of hours to sneak down and ambush the crew of the other boat. With the help of the elven blade, would he stand a chance at taking down the magic user pursuing them? Was it a troll shaman? Or something more inimical? More powerful.
“You’d think she would want to slam her hammer into their anvil after they sent that furry bird after her,” Cutter said.
“Technically, it was more that she didn’t believe an ambush would succeed than that she objected. But I’ve been contemplating ways to make it work.”
“Such as?”
“I was thinking of sneaking aboard their boat and running my sword through the odious would-be thief that attacked my lady love.”
“You don’t say things like that to her, do you?”
“Not exactly.”
Jev didn’t point out that Cutter might have better luck with Master Arkura if he openly proclaimed his love for her while giving his gifts. Until his friend confessed to having romantic feelings toward her, Jev wouldn’t presume to advise.
“Also, that plan is awful,” Cutter added.
“You can always count on dwarves to be blunt.”
“If you want subt
lety and subtext, go read an elven poem. Look, a confrontation with a mage is never wise. If you’re sure someone on that boat was responsible for the attack, then why not send some explosives downriver on a raft? Put a big magnet on the raft so it’s drawn to their boat, and then boom.”
“While I wouldn’t be opposed to blowing up the boat of the odious thief, I didn’t pack magnets or explosives.” Jev also doubted the other boat was made from metal. Theirs wasn’t.
“What were you thinking?”
“That we’d have to travel light,” Jev said. “Why, did you pack magnets?”
“I have a small one in my toolkit.”
“Grenades?”
“No, but I can make explosives when I need them. And I’m not the one leading this expedition.” Cutter shook his head. “Are you seriously telling me you didn’t bring any explosives?”
“I did not. I envisioned us trekking through the jungle for days with only what we could carry on our backs.”
“Zenia brought fifty pounds of books.”
“Ten pounds, and I assumed I’d end up carrying them, hence my even lighter packing.” Jev hated to admit that Cutter had a point. It would have been difficult to carry boxes of ammunition and grenades, but he could have brought a handful of explosives. Maybe. As damp as it was in the jungle, the powder might simply have gotten wet.
“How did you plan to assault the orcish stronghold and rescue the dragon without explosives?” Cutter asked.
“By being clever.”
“Dear mining ancestors, you should roll over and show your belly now.”
“You’re in a pessimistic mood tonight,” Jev observed.
“Only because you got me excited about planning the explosion of a boat and now you tell me you don’t have any grenades.”
“You got yourself excited about that. Maybe we could make a small explosive out of powder taken from bullets. I did bring extra ammo along, and I’m sure everyone else did too. You said you could craft your own bombs, right?”
“Certainly. But a small explosive sounds insufficient for dealing with a powerful shaman.”
“If we deal with his boat, won’t that be enough? He would be stranded out here on foot. Unless he made a raft and summoned alligators to propel it up the river.” Jev said the latter as a joke, but if the magic user had summoned that manticore and ordered it to do his bidding, maybe it was a possibility.
Cutter scratched his bearded jaw with his hook. “It is possible that a small makeshift device, detonated while attached to their boiler, would cause a catastrophic failure that would render their vessel unserviceable. Or possibly launch it into the treetops.”
“That would definitely give the monkeys something to hoot about. Why don’t we see if one of the twins can come stand watch while we take a look at your toolbox. And the boiler room in this boat. Assuming theirs is similar, you can show me a good place to detonate your device.”
“Always happy to help.”
“So long as explosives or crafts are involved?”
“Precisely.”
Zenia sat against the wooden wall in a corner of the sleeping area, a lantern resting next to her on the deck. Two of the books she’d brought along lay open, along with her notepad and the map the ogress had drawn on. According to the captain, whose eyes were noticeably level with her chest whenever they talked, they were about halfway to the orc valleys, but they wouldn’t be able to continue all the way upriver to them by boat. He’d told her there was a trading outpost two days away, and that was as far as they could navigate. The passage grew narrower and shallower after that, so they would have to continue in skiffs or walk on foot.
She hoped their pursuer hated skiffs and foot travel. Maybe he—or she—would be deterred and head back downriver in search of easier prey. However, given how much even basic dragon tears sold for back home, she expected persistence.
Whistling came from the cabin entrance. Jev and Cutter strolled down the aisle between the hammocks and into view.
“Hello, Zenia,” Jev said brightly, waving and continuing past.
Had he left something in the captain’s cabin? His sword was back in its scabbard at his waist. Cleaned, presumably.
Zenia waved her pen in response while wondering what they were up to. Cutter saluted but didn’t say anything. He was the one whistling, and it continued as they disappeared into the back of the boat.
“Thanks, but I’m not interested in seeing your rat,” came Rhi’s voice from the entrance.
Zenia frowned as Rhi walked in with Horti trailing after her. Outside, the rain had stopped as night fell, and the majority of her comrades and the crew were eating dinner under the tarp. Or had been. That was why she’d chosen this spot to do her research. The sleeping area had been quiet and empty.
Horti didn’t speak, but Zenia glimpsed him gesturing through the hammocks.
“They carry diseases,” Rhi said. “Who knows what deadly plague you’ll bring back to Kor?”
Horti stopped, his shoulders slumping.
“I need to talk to Zenia. Maybe that female crew member would like to see your rats. Her arms are larger than mine. She shovels coal, I think. She’d be perfect for a big boy like you.”
As Horti turned and shambled back out the entrance, Rhi came over and sat down beside Zenia.
“What do you need to talk about?” Zenia asked.
“Something besides the three fine future racing rats that Horti and his brother have captured on this journey, including one they discovered in His Majesty’s steamer before the crash. Horti tells me they nobly saved its life, and it’s a surprisingly fine and fit specimen that they can’t wait to start training for the races.”
Zenia tapped her pen on her chin. “That is an unexpected hobby, and this seems a strange time for them to pursue it, but you could have taken a look, don’t you think? He seemed upset that you weren’t interested.”
“He’s been telling me about his rat-race dreams for the last week, Zenia. I’ve seen one of the rats, and I don’t want to see any more. Unfortunately, my hammock is only two hammocks away from his, and I can hear them squeaking from the cage he made. At first, he kept them under his hammock while he slept. This morning, I saw him sleeping with it on his chest. Those two men are weird.”
“Still, they seem nice. Are you sure you couldn’t—”
“Has Jev ever shown you his rats?”
“Well, no. Why are they so into breeding and racing, do you think? Do they make money doing it?”
“Probably. I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Yesterday, Hydal came by when Horti was grabbing my hand and describing some albino rat he’d seen in the kitchen but hadn’t yet been able to catch. And I gather Borti told Hydal that we used to see each other all the time for work and that we knew each other well. We do not. But I think Hydal believed him and then some. He’s barely spoken to me all day. Zenia, I was just making some progress with him. The other night under the trees, he kissed me. I never thought I’d be so excited about a kiss, but it’s taken us weeks to get that far.”
Zenia decided not to point out that it had only been a few weeks since Jev first introduced Hydal to Rhi. And that Rhi had ignored Hydal for the opening days of those weeks.
“Was it a good kiss?” Zenia asked, bemused that her friend, who’d once had a different man visit her room every week one summer, would be moved by a kiss.
“It was.” Rhi rocked back, her hand to her chest and her expression somewhere between dumbfounded and delighted. “I wasn’t expecting him to know how to use his tongue, to be honest, because he seems like someone who wouldn’t be that experienced…”
Zenia fought down a blush, not wanting to admit to her own scant experience in such matters. She hoped Jev didn’t mind.
“But he was so sweet and at the same time… intriguing. And you could tell he actually cared about me enjoying myself. And I did. You should have seen the dream I had last night. I hope I wasn’t groaning and squirming since those hammocks are
close together and completely lacking in privacy.”
Now, Zenia’s cheeks heated for a different reason. This was far more than she wanted to know about Hydal or Rhi’s dreams about Hydal.
“Can’t you tell him that there’s nothing between you and Horti?”
“I started to, but the captain walked by. There’s no privacy on this boat. Couldn’t you have picked something with cabins?”
“Sorry. Jev did the shopping.”
“Men.”
A clang sounded from the rear of the boat, and whistling came from the passageway, heralding the return of Jev and Cutter. But they only passed through, smiling and waving again on their way by. Cutter’s toolkit bumped against his thigh as he walked, the handles looped through his hook.
“Those two are up to something.” Zenia wondered if she should be concerned. She already had enough to be concerned about. Earlier, she had used the dragon tear to check on their pursuers, and she’d found the boat had caught up fully and was maintaining the same distance it had earlier, staying out of sight but close enough for magical monitoring.
“Because they’re men.” Rhi sighed and slumped back against the wall. “You doing all right after that attack today? And what about your nightmares? I guess I shouldn’t be bragging about my sexual dreams when you’ve been having horrible nightmares. Though waking up from that dream by myself was more frustrating than satisfying, I admit. It’s not like I could do anything about it in the middle of a full cabin.”
Zenia held up a hand, wanting to forestall any details on what doing something about it might involve. “I’m fine. Just a few scratches.”
“Jev did a good job keeping that thing off you and killing it. I was running to get my bo and was too late to do anything but observe the killing blow. If I weren’t currently fantasizing about someone else—Hydal did land a timely kick, you know—I’d be lusting for your zyndar warrior.”
“Then it’s fortunate for me that you have a zyndar warrior of your own to lust after.”
“He is a warrior, isn’t he? I was skeptical at first, but he has nice muscles under his shirt.” Rhi gazed longingly toward the door.
Agents of the Crown- The Complete Series Page 120
