Power's Shadow

by Richard Parks

  Now Callowyn did smile, ever so slightly. “Well, it is true that I am at leisure at the moment, which I was rather enjoying. I’m afraid all business on those islands belongs to King Boranac. Have you his invitation?”

  “We have gold. I fancy you would enjoy that more. As for Boranac, let the king manage his own affairs.”

  Callowyn looked thoughtful. “I don’t know if you’re brave or just ignorant, but I suppose that’s not my problem either way, is it? My price is three gold crowns, and no shavings, mind you. Full weight. Take it or leave it.”

  “Get us there before nightfall on the third day and I’ll make it five,” Marta said. “Three in advance, and the balance on our safe arrival.”

  Callowyn’s surprise was clear in her eyes, though she managed to keep the rest of her face from showing it. “All right then. When can you leave? We need to sail soon or we won’t make it by then.”

  “We have what we need. We can sail as soon as you’re ready.”

  “Then come aboard.” Callowyn immediately started barking orders to her crew, and Marta was impressed despite herself with the efficiency with which the ship was made ready. In almost no time the excess gear was stowed, the anchor raised, and two harbor tugs with wide beams and large oars were soon pulling the Blue Moon clear of the dock. When they were far enough out they detached the tug lines and unfurled the sails. From Callowyn’s first orders until they were completely under way had taken less than an hour.

  Sela and Marta put their bundles in a small cabin near the captain’s own quarters. Sela looked around, then nodded.

  “Hmmm.”

  “What is it?”

  “This is a small ship. The crew sleeps below decks in what amounts to the storage hold.”

  Marta frowned. “So?”

  “I just mean that storage space on a ship like the Blue Moon is precious. So why is this cabin empty? In fact, it looks like it was cleaned out recently.”

  Marta looked around, and she had to admit that Sela’s description was accurate. The space they occupied was barely six paces deep and about seven paces wide, and not luxurious by any standard. But there were two relatively clean bunks, and no sign of fleas or rats. Here and there were the signs of cobwebs that had been almost but not quite cleared away, a few patches of dust that had not been disturbed.

  “It was cleaned out for us,” Marta said.

  “Before we even arrived?” Sela asked.

  “Of course. At The Red Sunset we made no secret of the fact that we were seeking passage. I have no doubt that Callowyn heard of it, and the Blue Moon is the only transport available.”

  “So we were expected.”

  “Pretty much. A captain like Callowyn would make a point of knowing what is going on in a port town where she’s docked. She’d be a fool otherwise, and Callowyn is no fool, despite her involvement with Longfeather.”

  Sela looked grim. “Everyone makes mistakes. I just hope we’re not making a bigger one. Do you trust her?”

  “To do what she considers to her advantage? Absolutely.”

  “That’s not reassuring.”

  Marta smiled. “Good. It wasn’t meant to be.”

  Ω

  4 Birds of ill-omen

  “I don’t fear my enemies. I fear those whose purposes have nothing to do with me, save that I am in their way.” – Attributed to Tymon the Black

  The commotion brought Marta and Sela out on deck. They found the sailors gathered on the upper decks, all pointing up and shouting at the two birds, Bonetapper and Longfeather, perched on the spar. Callowyn watched from the wheel, her hands on her hips, but she turned to Marta as soon as she emerged.

  “I take it these ill-omened things are something to do with you?”

  “Yes,” Marta said. “They are my servants.”

  “They’re out of place here, which makes my men very nervous.”

  “Meaning that anything they’ve never seen before is automatically an ill-omen?” Marta asked.

  “Pretty much, yes,” Callowyn said. “It’s stupid, but one does get used to it after a while.”

  One of the men produced a crossbow and Marta frowned.

  “Captain, will you please ask your crewman to put that away? He may not agree at the moment, but he really does not want to do what he’s thinking of doing.”

  “Stand down,” Callowyn said, in a voice that did not invite comment. She got one anyway.

  “We can’t have these creatures on our ship!” shouted the man with the crossbow. “We’ll be cursed!”

  “I decide what we can and cannot have on this ship. Which is mine, not ‘ours,’ Mijjan. And if you fire that weapon, a curse will be the least of your worries. I gave the order to stand down. Do I need to repeat it?”

  “You need to rethink your position, ‘Captain,’” the one called Mijian said, and he pointed the crossbow in Callowyn’s, Sela’s, and Marta’s general direction.

  “Does he do this sort of thing often?” Marta asked.

  Callowyn scowled. “First time, though he has been one to brood. I can’t say I’m surprised, really. He’s too stupid to know he’s being stupid. Not necessarily a bad trait in a crewman, if one has just enough sense to do as he’s told. Mijian apparently does not.”

  One of the other crewmembers put a hand on Mijian’s shoulder, but the man brushed it off. “No, I’m all done with her. She’s no captain—“

  Whatever he had meant to say next was interrupted when his crossbow shattered in his hands.

  “First Law,” said Marta.

  Callowyn took her hand off the dagger she’d been stealthily reaching for. “It was a long throw, but I think I could have done it. So. Did you do that?” Marta nodded and Callowyn frowned. “Am I in your debt now?”

  Marta shook her head. “In order to be in my debt you would have needed to ask for my help. You did not. Let us just say that your interests and mine were in accord.”

  Mijian, who until then had just been staring at his now empty hands, finally came to a conclusion. “Witchcraft!” he shouted, pointing at Marta.

  “Yes,” Marta said, clearly enough for all to hear. “Would you like to see it again? Be very sure of that before you answer.”

  Mijian appeared to be about to speak again, but looked at Marta and thought better of it.

  “That goes for the rest of you as well,” Callowyn said. “We are going to treat our guests well until the time comes for them to leave us. Unless anyone else wants to dispute the matter…?”

  Apparently no one did. Upon Callowyn’s order, Mijian was taken below to be confined.

  “What will you do with him?” Marta asked.

  Callowyn scowled. “If he’d actually tried to fire that thing at me? I’d have either killed him outright or beaten him to a pulp and thrown him over the side for the sharks. As it is, I’ll put him ashore somewhere. Probably at the Five Isles, as Boranac does so love visitors, as I’ve already mentioned.”

  “So you did,” Sela said.

  “I’ll at least do you the courtesy of dropping him off somewhere separate from yourselves.”

  There was some grumbling from the crew, but nothing that Callown considered of any consequence, and everyone went back to their duties. Longfeather remained perched on the mast but Bonetapper flitted down to land on Marta’s shoulder.

  “You do have a way with people,” he said.

  “Just because I often must deal with stupidity doesn’t mean I’m responsible for it,” Marta said. “You should know that better than anyone.”

  That shut the raven up for the moment. He rejoined Longfeather on the mast while Callowyn returned to her cabin. Sela remained with Marta on deck and they made their way to the bow.

  “The sooner we’re off this ship the better,” Sela said. “I like Callowyn, but I don’t trust her.”

  “I do,” Marta said. “At least to the extent that I know she’ll bring us safely to the Five Isles. What happens after that is another matter.”

  “She did w
arn us.”

  “Nothing we didn’t already know. Boranac hasn’t kept his position this long without being both ruthless and cautious. Those like Callowyn who operate in his territory do the same, which will also be required of us if we want to ever leave his domain.”

  The rest of the voyage passed without incident, except on the second day when a rather sleek and nasty-looking black vessel appeared to the east, but before they were within hailing distance the other ship turned their course north and soon disappeared.

  “Friends of yours?” Marta asked Callowyn, who just smiled a cryptic smile.

  “Let us just say that we recognized each other.”

  The islands appeared first as dark shapes due south on the third day, and by evening Marta and her companions were being rowed to shore on an island Callowyn referred to as Kolloth. Sela waited until the longboat had withdrawn back to the Blue Moon and Marta sent Longfeather and Bonetapper to scout the surrounding area, leaving her alone with Marta on the rocky shore. After an hour or so of silence, Sela spoke.

  “I was thinking of that sailor, Mijian,” she said.

  “Whatever for?”

  “You didn’t break his crossbow just to avoid trouble, did you?”

  It didn’t sound like a question and Marta didn’t treat it as one. “I broke it both to avoid trouble and to make a point.”

  “In case Callowyn got any odd ideas?”

  “Callowyn struck me as sensible enough, but not all of her crew are as astute as she is, as witnessed by Mijian. So a demonstration of what might happen if they got greedy was in order, nor was it lost on Callowyn if I could break a crossbow, I could break a keel just as easily. If they didn’t get the connection, I am sure she made it clear to them.”

  Sela looked around at the rocks and sparse vegetation. “So. We’re here. How do you propose we get Sunset away from Boranac?”

  “We won’t have to. If we are to acquire Sunset at all, he’s going to give it to us.”

  Sela considered this. “I won’t ask how that miracle is going to be achieved, but I am going to ask something else. You said that we needed to gather all seven of my father’s swords. I agreed because that is my wish as well, but also for lack of a better occupation. The point is that I know why I want the swords together again. I do not know why it matters to you.”

  “Because of the Laws of Power,” Marta said. “Which is easy to say, but less so to explain. A witch must learn these laws to exercise power but also in order to control payment of the debts that are incurred when the laws are invoked.”

  “After meeting Bonetapper and seeing what you did to Longfeather, I think I understand a bit of how serious that ‘debt’ you mentioned is. But I’ve seen you use power on your own behalf many times. That doesn’t incur debt?”

  “No. Only when I use it on behalf of someone else. If no one ever asked me for help, there would be no debts. But someone always asks, and the nature of the Laws is that, when asked for help, I must give it. The debt does not belong to me, but rather to the Power that created the order to which I belong, yet I am responsible for it. If it is not discharged completely or passed on to my heirs, it will fall on me. It is only by acquiring the knowledge contained in all seven of the Laws of Power that I may free myself of it. If I die with the debt outstanding, or without an heir to assume the burden, my spirit will be in thrall to the Power called Amaet, and for all eternity.”

  Sela hesitated. “This may be an awkward question—“ she began, but Marta just smiled.

  “You want to know about my mother.”

  “Well…yes. I had heard stories of Black Kath, as I grew up. She was an extremely powerful witch, but I gather she never found all seven of the Laws?”

  “I understand the implication, Sela. For what little it may be worth I do think that my mother loved me, in her way. As for my father, she never told me who he was, but I can say this much with near certainty—their connection was not a love match. She was owed a debt, and I was the price.”

  “If the time comes, will…will you do what she did?”

  Marta shook her head. “You may trust me when I say that I will not let that happen. It all ends with me, one way or the other.” Even as she said the words, Marta wondered, when the time came, if she would be able to match those words with actions. She was nowhere near sure of that fact.

  “But what have the Laws to do with my father’s swords?”

  “When the two in your possession came together, there was a reaction, remember?” Sela nodded and Marta continued, “so they are connected, somehow. When I heard them resonate, I felt what I can only describe as recognition. It’s something I feel only when I’ve touched a Law of Power.”

  “You think one of the Laws of Power is contained in my father’s swords?”

  “Contained? I doubt it. I only know that they are connected to a Law. What the Law might be or exactly how they are connected, I have no idea. In order to find out, I believe we will have to bring all seven of the named swords together. This will not be easy, as you already know, but you have no obligation to me…I have been very careful to make certain of that. Assuming we live to return to the mainland, you can abandon both me and this quest without consequence.”

  Sela looked grim. “I am grateful to you, whether I owe you a debt or not. And this is my quest as well. I know why I am on it. I did not fully understand why you were. Thank you for the explanation. That is all I wanted.”

  “Little enough to ask, and not ‘help,’ at least not in the literal sense. Of course there’s more to it than I have told you, but nothing beyond what would aid your understanding, save in matters where it would be—frankly—against your own interests to understand. I’m not saying this to be mysterious, Sela, it’s simply the truth.”

  “Well then…what do we do now?”

  “We wait for Boranac or his duly appointed representatives to come fetch us.”

  “Fetch us? He knows we’re here?”

  “Of course he does, or soon will if he doesn’t already.”

  “But how…?” Sela stopped. “Oh. Callowyn.”

  Marta smiled. “I did say I trusted her to do what was in her best interests. Selling us to Boranac certainly qualifies. You know we’d never have made it, taking ship on our own. No one approaches the Five Isles without Boranac’s permission or knowledge. We needed Callowyn or another of Boranac’s agents to get here. There was no other way.”

  Bonetapper and Longfeather returned within moments of each other, and both with the same information—three large contingents of armed horsemen were converging on the narrow spit of land where Blue Moon had put them ashore. Escape was already impossible. Which, as Marta had no intention of escaping, suited her perfectly.

  “What do we do?” Sela asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do except wait to discover what happens next,” Marta said. “The actions of those men hurrying to greet us will tell us a great deal about that.”

  They made camp at a spot where the peninsula was less rocky and more flat. They had time to build a fire and have a bite to eat before the first sign of torches appeared in the distance.

  “Took them longer than I expected,” Sela said.

  Marta didn’t answer, but she’d been thinking along the same lines as Sela. When the first riders appeared out of the trees, Marta thought that she finally understood the delay.

  They had the body rigged to two of the horses, two ropes at each pommel attached to either an arm or leg of the unfortunate man between them. When the riders drifted apart, the body was stretched between them, but there was no reaction from it, and Marta knew it was because the man was past breath and caring. As they approached, she was even more certain. No one could sustain those sort of wounds and survive.

  “Mijian,” Sela said softly.

  “Did you think Callowyn was bluffing? I made my point. I had no doubt she would make hers.”

  There were about ten armed riders approaching, but Marta could see far more waiting back i
n the trees. Boranac had the reputation of a belligerent, hot-tempered man, but apparently there was a level of caution as well. Marta hoped that this was a good sign, for she was not at all certain what was going to happen next. She knew only that she needed Sunset, and Boranac had it. The unanswered question was--what did Boranac need?

  If the answer is ‘nothing,’ my quest could very well end here, Marta thought.

  The riders approached to within thirty yards of the camp and the two bearing Mijian’s body drew their swords. Sela’s hand went instinctively for the hilt of Shave the Cat, but of course it wasn’t there. Marta gave her a hard glance and Sela just let her hands drop to her sides. The two riders cut through the ropes and let the body fall and lie motionless on the ground.

  “This is the penalty for trespassing on King Boranac’s domain,” announced the larger of the two riders.

  “Then it would seem that our fates are sealed,” Marta said, with much more calm than she actually felt. “Or were you simply making conversation?”

  Whatever reaction the man had expected from her, he apparently wasn’t getting it. “Perhaps we should start killing your companions to continue the conversation,” he said, after he’d taken a little time to think. Marta realized, perhaps, giving the man even more time to think was probably not a good strategy.

  Third Law—The Appearance of Power, once accepted, becomes power itself.

  “You could do that,” Marta said. “But perhaps it would save us all a lot of time if you would simply tell me what King Boranac has ordered for us.”

  Marta did not simply speak to the man--she wove an application of the Third Law into her words, as if she had every right to command and he to obey, and in that moment it was as if a queen spoke to the lowliest of her subjects, who responded accordingly. As if compelled—and so, thus he was—the rider quickly said. “King Boranac has decreed that you are to be his guests—w-whether you wish to be, or not.” From the expression on the man’s face, he seemed to be hoping for the former.

  “Well then, why didn’t you say so from the beginning? Let’s be on our way.”

  §