The Dragon Prince

by Patty Jansen

  He still resisted her, trying to keep swaying against her grip.

  “Sit still! Maybe you like getting wet, but I don’t”

  He relaxed a bit. She was able to pull his hands away from his face. His eyes were still wide. Sweat glistened on his forehead.

  He squealed, “There is a ghost in the water!”

  “It’s not a ghost, but someone has died.”

  “He’s all white. Did you see that? He’s all white. He’s been touched by magic!”

  “It’s just the colour that skin goes when someone is dead and the body lies in the water.”

  “The frogs! What did he do to the frogs?”

  “It doesn’t bother the frogs.”

  “But the frogs will be scared!”

  “Come, Roald. Get up. You’ll catch a cold.”

  She heaved herself up and pulled him up with her. A guard rushed to help. A couple of others splashed into the water and gathered around the body, staring, speculating what he’d been doing there.

  Johanna and Roald made their way back to the garden, where courtiers came to help them. It seemed that the commotion had caused the meeting of the King’s Council to be halted. The men had also come into the garden. They stood on the grass, looking out of place in their finery and out of their element in the sunshine.

  Father rushed up to her. “Dear daughter of mine, what is going on? Are you all right?”

  Johanna told him.

  His eyes widened. “Auguste LaFontaine?”

  “I’m wondering if it was him we disturbed at the Lady Sara two nights ago.”

  Johanna should go inside with Roald. He was wet and shivering. When he had an attack like that, he was usually very tired, but the guards were now carrying the body out of the reeds into the garden. They put Auguste down on the grass. His body had gone rigid. His arm stood out at an angle as if he was pointing at something.

  The chief guard who stood next to Johanna judged that he’d been in the water for no more than two days.

  “He doesn’t float yet,” he said in a tone that suggested he had experience in this matter.

  Johanna wasn’t sure if she wanted to know this much detail. She felt ill.

  One of the guards gestured to his superior.

  “Excuse me, Your Majesties.” The chief guard went to join his men who bent or crouched over the body.

  Father went and had a look as well, and then he gestured for Johanna to come, too.

  Dragging him through the reeds had twisted Auguste’s shirt and exposed the soft underside of his lower arm, where the skin was marked with an ink stain about the length of her thumb, in the shape of a dragon.

  The same symbol as the carving that Li Fai had given her.

  Chapter 11

  * * *

  JOHANNA QUICKLY TOOK Roald into the bedroom, and then she went to look for Nellie. She had to tell the whole story over again, also about seeing the man on the Lady Sara a few nights ago.

  Nellie’s mouth fell open. “But why would he be sneaking around on your father’s ship, Mistress Johanna?”

  “Wouldn’t it be good if we knew that?”

  There were many possible reasons why Auguste might have been walking over the deck, maybe spying on Li Han’s iron ship next to the Lady Sara. Maybe to do damage to Father’s business.

  A chill went over her.

  The door opened and a courtier came in. “Your Majesty, your father wants to see you in the Red Room.”

  “I’m coming.” Johanna looked at Nellie. “Are you going to be all right with Roald?”

  “I just give him the usual treatment?”

  “Yes. Give him warm milk with honey and books about frogs. Lots of frogs.”

  Nellie assured that she would look after Roald, who was already going through the shelves for a book to read, and Johanna went to the Red Room, where Father sat on the couch close to the hearth.

  “I’ve asked Li Han to come,” he said. His expression was grave. “Some members of the King’s Council will be here, too.”

  Johanna’s heart skipped a beat. “Do you really think Li Han has something to do with this?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. At least, I hope not.” But he was worried, clearly. “Some people suggested to me that Li Han may try to get rid of all his competition who are trying to build the iron ships and that he’s here and wants an office for that reason: that he is looking for ways to kill his competitors or ruin their businesses. I don’t think that is true at all, but now that this has happened, I don’t know how I’ll be able to defend my position.”

  A deep hole of despair opened up in Johanna’s mind. “If we had a water magician, we’d know what happened.” Or at least they would know whether Auguste had been pushed or jumped and simply met with misfortune while sneaking around in a place where he wasn’t supposed to be.

  “If I’m correct, I heard you mention a water magician.” Master Deim had come into the room. “I am not sure how that would help. A water magician can tell how he ended up in the water, but it might just have been too dark to see who was chasing the fellow or why he jumped.”

  Johanna gave him a sharp look. That was as close an admission she’d heard from him that he, in fact, was a water magician. “Chasing?”

  “He jumped off the Lady Sara’s deck. He tried to swim, but the current was too strong and he got swept out of the harbour. Shouldn’t have attempted to flee that way while the tide was going out.”

  “There was nowhere else for him to go, because we were on the quay.”

  “It was still stupid. The water is too cold. I don’t think he was a good swimmer.”

  “What about the mark on his skin?”

  Master Deim shook his head. “I have no idea. He must already have had it when he got into the water, but not too long before that. It’s drawing ink. It would come off within a few days.”

  “So, what? We disturbed him at the Lady Sara where he was doing something mysterious, he tried to swim, but drowned? That doesn’t account for the mark on his arm.”

  While they were speaking Johan Delacoeur had come in, followed by Thomas Kloostermans and Joris Decamp.

  “The matter seems clear to me,” Thomas said. “This eastern stranger captured him, gave him this mark, and then he jumped when escaping.”

  “It’s a warning,” Johan Delacoeur said, nodding.

  Johanna protested. “That doesn’t make sense. If that were the case, Auguste would have run to us and not from us. Also why would Li Han capture this man? Why would he draw in ink on his skin?”

  “Evil magical foreign ways,” Thomas said, his voice dark. “Who knows why these people do things? It’s only a matter of time before the dragon comes out of that ship and roams the city. And you will all be sorry when all I can say is, ‘I told you so.’ ”

  “Oh, stop it with your stupid superstition!” Master Deim called out. “We’re trying to solve a crime here. The witch hunts have long gone.”

  “Tell me with an honest face that you truly believe that these people have no evil magic.”

  “No evil magic,” Master Deim said, his voice soft. “I believe that.”

  “You are wrong! All magic of this type is evil.” Thomas Kloosterman’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

  A chill went over Johanna’s back. It was unlikely that Li Fai’s little dragon was as harmless as it had looked. She said, “That is all very well, but why would Li Han purposely put this mark on Auguste’s arm and then kill him to advertise what he’s done? Why would he even want this young man dead?”

  “I have no idea, but we can ask him right now.” Thomas gestured to the door where a courtier had come in.

  The man confirmed, “The eastern trader is here.”

  “Do let him in,” Master Deim said.

  The courtier disappeared again, and a man came into the room, flanked by two massive guards who each wore armour and looked dangerous despite having left their weapons at the door. The much slenderer ma
n in between them was not Li Han, but his son.

  The guards accompanied him to the middle of the room, where they stopped and let their master walk to the throne alone. Li Fai bowed before Johanna. “Your Majesty, it is always an honour to see you.”

  Johanna cringed at seeing the smile in his eyes.

  Today Li Fai was wearing a white shirt with a brocade jacket over the top. His hair was tied in a sleek bun at the back of his head.

  He remained standing in a bowed position.

  “Do get up,” she said, glancing at the nobles.

  He did, meeting her eyes. He was so serious. Doing his job. Representing his father’s company.

  “I’m afraid I don’t have a pleasant reason for calling you here.” She cringed.

  “Oh?”

  “I will show you. Come.”

  She led him into the corridor.

  He walked next to her, his footsteps silent like a cat’s.

  They went into the bare, damaged ballroom. Alexandre had made a start at cleaning up this room, but hadn’t progressed any further than to clean up and repair the doors to the garden room. That particular room was still in its ruined state. The guards had placed the body on the stone floor.

  They gathered in a circle around it—Father, Master Deim, the three men from the King’s Council and a couple of guards, including Li Fai’s.

  Li Fai’s face did not show any emotion at the sight of the drowned man. He looked puzzled until she pointed out the ink mark on his arm. Then his eyes widened briefly.

  “This is the mark of your family. Do you know anything about how this came to be on the man’s arm?”

  “You think I did this? Why would I put this stamp on a man’s body?”

  “I’m presuming it was put on before he entered the water from our ship two nights ago. Right now, I’m not drawing any conclusions about who put it on or why.”

  Thomas Kloostermans snorted.

  Li Fai’s gaze shifted from her to Father, to the three nobles and back. “The brand is for marking our merchandise. It’s not for people.”

  “You draw this sign on your products?”

  “Yes. It’s a stamp. We use it to put on bags and crates.”

  “You’re certain that you or your crew did not put it on this man?”

  “No. It’s for things, not people. It’s a stamp, not a brand. You put it in ink and stamp it on bags. We don’t trade in slaves.”

  “Do you keep the stamp in a place where someone could steal it and use it?”

  He frowned. “It is usually in a cabin on the deck of our ship.”

  “Would you miss it if someone took it for half a day or a day and put it back later?”

  “Depends on if we need it. Some days the cargo manager doesn’t use it.”

  “Did he use the stamp yesterday?”

  “No. He only uses it if stock is loaded or unloaded. He keeps it in a box with a pot of ink and an ink pad.”

  “Could someone have stolen it?”

  He gave her an affronted look. “That’s why we have the ducks.”

  Yes, he had told her about them. “However, it looks like someone has used this stamp.”

  “I don’t know how. The ducks always make a noise when anything moves on the deck. There are always people on the wharf. I don’t know how anyone could have taken the stamp.” His voice had lost the even tone, and his accent became more pronounced. “We have nothing to do with this man. I don’t know why he jumped. I came to the quay to check. We have not spoken to him. I have never seen him before. I don’t know who he is.”

  Johanna cringed inside.

  Li Fai gaze’s darted from one person to the other. His eyes were pleading when they met Johanna’s.

  Johanna said, “If you haven’t done this, who would have?”

  “I don’t know.” He glanced at the nobles again, and back to Johanna.

  “Have people made threats to you or your family recently?”

  “Yes. But that is normal. It happens wherever we go. People don’t like us or our ship, and they make threats.”

  “Who are these people in Saardam?”

  “I don’t know them. They don’t show themselves. They write letters. Sometimes there is a fake name on them, most of the time not. They tell my father to leave. They tell him that he will be killed. It’s the same everywhere. We get used to it.”

  That was a rather terrible way to live.

  “But talk and trying to scare us is easy. Writing letters like a coward is easy. Doing the things they threaten is not. My grandfather always says that. Words are easy but deeds are not. Sometimes people try to steal things from us, or yell bad words at our crew, but we get used to that. This . . .” He nodded at the dead man—

  “Can you swear to us that you have nothing to do with the mark on this man’s arm?”

  “Yes, I swear. I have not seen this man. I have not touched this man. I have nothing to do with him.”

  Johanna believed him.

  The three men from the King’s Council watched with unemotional faces. Johanna didn’t think that they believed him.

  It was rather macabre holding council with a dead body between them, and the waft of wet clothes mixed with the beginnings of decay did nothing to calm Johanna’s queasy stomach, so she led the group into the foyer, where the rest of Li Fai’s entourage waited.

  “Well,” Johanna said to him. “I am still interested in your plan for an office, but we first need to establish to the satisfaction of the King’s Council that neither you nor anyone in your crew have any responsibility for the death of this man.”

  He nodded. The expression in his eyes of confusion, bewilderment and hurt disturbed Johanna deeply. He spoke the truth, she was sure of that. Not only that, she wanted him to teach her magic.

  He bowed and left with his entourage. Johanna looked at his back until he had gone through the palace gates.

  “How do we know that he’s speaking the truth?” Johan Delacoeur said. “If it’s true what he is saying about the ducks, then the only people who could have had access to the deck at times when no one else was there were the members of his crew.”

  “Auguste LaFontaine is a son of a respected family,” Thomas Kloostermans said. “I’m sure the family will be highly affronted if he stands accused of larceny. It’s most inappropriate.”

  “I told you my version of the story,” Johanna said. And she very much wanted to challenge the respectability of the LaFontaine family. Or, for that matter, that of some other “well-respected” families.

  Thomas waggled his eyebrows. “If the man you saw jump in the water was indeed Auguste.”

  “It was,” Master Deim said, his voice firm. Thank the Triune for Master Deim.

  “How do you know?” Thomas shifted his gaze, lifting his chin.

  “I know. I saw him.” Master Deim kept a straight face. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Thomas a cold stare. Magic was the answer, and Thomas would know it. That was the crux of the matter. As a staunch supporter of the Belaman Church, Thomas Kloostermans would support only the type of magic sanctioned by the church, and opinions over exactly what sort of magic that was varied wildly.

  He snorted. “To me, it is clear. That gold brought by the slitty-eyed stranger has bewitched you, and your words are muddled by it. This man and his family are trying to scare us with magic. This is what Alexandre was trying to protect us from. He was doing it poorly and angered a lot of people—”

  Johanna burst out. “ ‘Angered’ does not quite cover the fact that he killed many people and burned their houses!”

  Thomas lowered his voice. “I didn’t say he was skilful or good. I said he was trying to protect the land from the influence of foul dragon magic, and match the menace of the iron ships with iron ships of our own. This murder of a son of one of our respected noble families proves that the threat is real, and that these people are not here to our benefit.” He sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth and made a point of looking at he
r stomach.

  Johanna responded equally terse. “They are here for business. We have to do business with them, or they will do business with Anglia.” Why was that so hard for these men to understand?

  “If he can prove that he’s got nothing to do with this death,” Master Deim said. “But I don’t think that will be too hard.”

  Thomas Kloostermans glared at him. “So you believe.”

  “I know that. But rest assured, the palace guards will investigate and they will find out what happened.”

  It seemed that there was no more to be said.

  Thomas Kloostermans huffed something about being busy and excused himself. Johanna watched him go down the steps into the forecourt.

  Johan Delacoeur nodded to her. “My congratulations on the impending birth. I don’t think anyone has said this to you today.”

  “Well, thank you.” The next thing he would start talking about how she should rest and do only womanly things like embroidery, so she changed the subject. “I don’t think anyone has been in the mood for congratulations. It’s a dark day.”

  “If you ask me, Your Majesty, I’d say that Auguste was asking for trouble. If he was snooping around the eastern trader’s ship and one of those mountainous deck hands pushed him over the side, it could only have been his own fault.”

  “But they didn’t, and he fell off the deck of the Lady Sara. Li Fai came to check because he heard a noise. That was the only time he became involved.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I was there.”

  “We’ll see.” Clearly he didn’t believe her. Was there anything more frustrating than dealing with these men who thought she made things up?

  He dipped his head to her and also left.

  The next person in line, Joris Decamp, came up to her. “I’m sorry to bother you, Your Majesty, but the LaFontaine family is asking me a lot of questions, mainly about getting access to the body so they can hold a funeral.”

  “They can come to pick him up.” Everyone who needed to have seen the dragon mark had seen it.

  “They also told me that they launched their own investigation. They’re not happy with what they called our lax approach.”

  “They’re not happy that we haven’t gone and arrested Li Han and put him in jail?”