“Only one way to find out,” Theodor said. “Sophie, you should stay here. Just in case.”
“No, I should come with you. Just in case.” The ships drew closer to the bay below. “The closer I am, the more effective I am.”
He hesitated. “Sianh?”
“Wherever she is most effective. If this is a ruse, we will have very little time to react and our troops will be bottlenecked at the cliff road. Which is why I am going to remain here to direct the artillery and reinforcements.” He pressed his lips into a thin line, and I knew that there were a dozen scenarios unspooling behind his focused eyes.
“Good enough. We’ll go greet these—shall we optimistically call them a delegation?” Theodor said with a strained smile that Sianh didn’t return.
We moved quickly down the cliff road, its winding, slow descent particularly frustrating at this moment. I scuffed my boot on a rock and sent a loose torrent of gravel down the side of the cliff face.
“Easy,” said Theodor. “They’ll have to lower boats, and row them to shore, and that takes some time.”
“You’re assuming that they—whoever they are—are here for something nice, not Royalist marines worming their way past our artillery cover to pitch grenades through our defenses or some such.”
“You have the loveliest imagination,” Theodor said.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t consider it, too.”
“Of course I did. Not the grenades, I don’t believe that the marines employ grenadiers,” he added with a grin.
My breath pulsed against my stays, my lungs burning. If I was going to march north with the army, I chided myself, I was going to need to be in better condition.
We reached the bottom of the cliff road where it opened into a sandy harbor beach. Rows of red-and-gray clad soldiers lined the bottom of the road and the bay, making an impressive show of force with their muskets ready and bayonet hilts glinting in their belts. Already the ships had anchored in the bay and were preparing to lower boats.
“That’s a good sign,” I said, cautiously. “If they intended to fire on us, they wouldn’t be anchoring, would they?”
“Doubtful,” Theodor agreed. “I’ll get the opinion of the men down here—maybe you should find a place to cast from… just in case.” He strode toward a nearby officer, a captain of the First Regiment, and conversed with him in low tones.
The bay was wide and open, and the beach offered very little cover. Still, I spotted a rocky outcropping behind a company of the First where I could comfortably slip out of sight—and out of the way—if need be. I squinted at the boats, each outfitted with rows of oars manned by sailors. No uniforms, I ascertained, even on the man in the bow of one longboat, standing with hand on the hilt of a sword and, I guessed, either the captain of the ship or an officer of the landing party.
I looked harder, and my eyes widened. “Theodor!” I called, ducking out from my half-hidden spot and dashing toward him.
He turned, panicked, and I slowed my pace. “Don’t worry, it’s good news!”
The longboat scraped ashore as Theodor joined me. “Is that—no.”
“It is!” the officer called, and made a nimble hop into the shallow water, wading the last few steps to us, then drew Theodor into an exuberant embrace.
Annette. In a simple gray coat and with a dainty rapier slung over her chest, her dark hair clubbed and her cheeks ruddy with the sun.
“And you! Sophie! I’m so glad—I wasn’t sure if you had made it here.” She flung her arms around me, and I stood half-dumbfounded.
“But how?” I finally managed to ask. “How are you—with a boat—is that yours?” I asked, pointing to the sword.
Annette laughed, and the last of the tension holding the First Regiment behind us melted. “Yes, it’s mine. It’s a Serafan blade—pretty little thing, isn’t it? A captain of a ship needs a sword.”
“Captain of a ship!” Theodor exclaimed.
“Admiral of a fleet, if you prefer,” she said. “I’m given to understand you’re in need of a navy.”
“Desperately,” Theodor said. “But how is it you’ve come by one?”
“Oh, it’s a long story and involves too much time talking about bank transfers.” She turned back toward the boats. “So might we repair to your headquarters—I presume you at least have a marquee with a chair or two? I’ve someone on board who won’t wait another minute to get to the main encampment.”
“Viola?” Theodor guessed.
“Afraid not. She’s managing the finances out of a countinghouse in Pellia—a navy uses so much money, you know. No, someone to see Kristos.”
The last longboat landed and a woman clambered over the side. “Penny!” I cried, and ran to her. She grinned and caught my arms, jumping up and down like a little girl who had just sighted the table of desserts at a wedding. She turned and I gasped.
She was pregnant, her apron hiked high over a burgeoning belly.
I clasped her hands as she grinned. I bit back my first thought—that she shouldn’t be here, that it wasn’t safe. “Does Kristos know?” I asked. “If he knew I was going to be an aunt and didn’t tell me I’ll slap his ears back!”
“No, he didn’t know. It felt so impersonal to write it and I wanted to come anyway—we agreed I would, once he was settled—and it took longer than I’d expected. I look like a barrel, don’t I?”
“You look lovely,” I answered. “And he’ll be so delighted,” I said, even though I couldn’t be sure. The dangers here were real, and he might not be pleased at risking even more with Penny and a baby in tow.
“Back to camp, then,” Theodor said, taking in Penny and her unspoken news in one long glance. “Annette has some explaining to do, and it seems Kristos has some news, as well.”
25
SIANH GREETED US AT THE TOP OF THE CLIFF ROAD AND, UPON seeing Penny, sent a runner for Kristos immediately. Not to be deterred, Penny dashed ahead as soon as she saw him, unmistakable with his mess of dark waves even in his Reformist uniform. I held back, keeping Theodor and Annette on either side of me, as the two met behind the camp kitchens.
Kristos stood stock-still when he saw her, and I could see him blinking stupidly even from fifty yards away, and I almost cried when a slow smile spread over his face and he lifted Penny into the air with a whoop. She laughed brightly, the sound cascading over the camp, and they hurried away to the relative privacy of Kristos’s room in the farmhouse.
“I don’t suppose she ought to stay here,” I mused.
“Wives travel with the regular army,” Theodor said with a shrug. “And wives mean children, too. Ever increasing children.” He laughed.
“It is not unusual in the Serafan army, either,” Sianh said. “It is doubtful she has anywhere better to go, at any rate, though Kristos is already as distractible as a young colt.” He raised an eyebrow. “At the same time, Penny may be a good influence on him. She always was, before, in Isildi.”
I considered this—I had known both well, but I hadn’t known them together. “They got on well, then? I always worried, with Kristos’s stubbornness and Penny’s temper—”
“You are thinking of them as brother and employee. They know one another’s faults well, and they tolerated them. But more, Kristos never wanted to disappoint Penny. He would leave a lively debate and concede it as a loss if he had planned to make her dinner.”
“And to think, I couldn’t get him to keep his dirty laundry away from the kitchen table at home,” I said.
“People show different faces to their lovers than their sisters,” Sianh reminded me. “I am sure you would be appreciative if Theodor did not compare notes with Kristos about your habits.”
“Too late,” Theodor joked. “It’s a shame, too, because Kristos swears she darned his stockings, but she never offered to repair mine.”
“Oh, you had a bevy of servants to attend to that,” I said.
“How times change. Shall we have tea, Annette?” Theodor said, turning to the admir
al of our fleet, who had watched our exchange with brightly smiling eyes.
Annette laughed. “Very proper, Theo. Will we take tea in the powder magazine or on the artillery emplacements today?”
“I suggest the kitchen. It’s quite cozy.”
“Very well,” she sighed with mock disappointment.
Alba already had the kettle boiling when we packed into the kitchen, gathering around the hearth and holding our damp soles up to the heat radiating from the coals. “So I am given to understand we have a navy,” Sianh said once we had settled onto the rough benches and stools.
“At your disposal,” Annette said. “I’d sent several letters—a bit coded, though I knew Theo would catch onto the references. I assume none arrived, from your utter and complete surprise?”
“No word from you or Viola,” Theodor said, passing Annette a small pitcher of milk. “Though I wasn’t surprised by that. The Royalist navy is intercepting anything coming toward Galatine ports.”
“Which is why I didn’t say anything outright in those letters.” Annette dosed her tea with milk. “We should have realized when you first came to us the… gravity of the whole situation,” she said. “And for that blind spot, I’m sorry. I think—Viola and I didn’t believe that your father would side with the nobility to the extent he did. We thought he’d return order to the city, and quell the violence. We expected a return to safety.”
“There is no safety without change any longer,” Theodor said quietly. “I didn’t realize it for a long time, either, Annette.”
Annette shook her head, her rose lips pulled into taut chagrin. “No, you saw it sooner than most of us.”
I cleared my throat. “If Kristos were here, he would remind you that the common people have been quite aware of it for some time.”
“We believed in the Reform Bill,” Theodor said.
“And it was worth believing in,” Annette said. “I…I underestimated many of the nobility. Or, rather, I overestimated them.” She sipped her tea and gave Alba an approving nod. “But when the reports began coming in, that Pommerly and Merhaven had taken control of government—there was no denying it any longer. And we began to try to decide what we could do.”
“And you decided… navy?” Theodor asked, eyebrow raised.
“We decided to try to get money to you, first off. But that’s when we realized what trouble you were in.”
“You may wish to be more specific on that point,” Sianh said with a grin. “We are in all sorts of trouble here.”
“Getting anything to a landlocked army from overseas when they have no navy! We thought to buy powder and shot, but then we heard the Royalists were boarding and requisitioning anything bound for you. Landing supplies anywhere was going to be a logistical nightmare, least of all Galitha City, which we understand is completely blockaded.”
“It is,” I said. “They’re holding for now, but at some point…”
Annette gestured with her mug of tea, agreeing with me. “We thought to simply transfer money, but. Well.”
Theodor nodded. “Yes, the nobility unfortunately had a good handle on the banks, didn’t they?”
“So we decided, since most of what we wanted to do was thwarted for want of a navy, that we ought to build a navy.” I imagined Viola and Annette, discussing the pragmatics of founding a wartime navy in their genteel white garden, wearing their silk wrappers, hair still dressed from some evening’s entertainment. Strangely, it suited them perfectly.
Annette continued after a draught of tea. “We finally got what money we could claim as ours out of the Galatine banks. And not just us.” She grinned. “You have more friends in the nobility than you may realize. They’re in hiding, some of them, but we collected donations from the Mountbank family, the Clareglens, the Rock River Cherryvales, so many others—even a few Pommerly offshoots.
“That’s why Viola is in Pellia—we found an exchange there that would accept the money in our names. That’s another story entirely, and you should consider banking reform at some point in your next council session,” Annette said with a wry smile. “It still wasn’t nearly enough, especially as the Serafans were not going to be willing to sell us naval vessels on any kind of open market, knowing where we intended to deploy them.”
“The Serafan black market is quite expensive,” Sianh agreed.
Alba burst out laughing. “‘Quite expensive’? As though you were talking about the price of button mushrooms at the market!”
“At any rate,” Annette continued, “I wasn’t sure what to do. And then I heard from—well he isn’t really an old friend. Do you recall Prince Oban?”
“That intrepidly dull East Serafan you were supposed to marry?” Theodor said. “Of course.”
“He sold me fifteen ships, at what must have been a loss. Fully outfitted with cannon, and rigging and sails so new you can smell the hemp.”
“Why would he do that? Still madly and hopelessly in love?”
Annette snorted, somehow dainty. “It probably comes as no surprise that the East Serafans are less than thrilled with the West Serafans’ involvement in the Galatine Civil War.” She passed her mug to Alba for a refill. “Oh, yes, you have an official name abroad now. The Galatine Civil War.”
“It’s not very creative,” Alba said.
“It will have to do,” Annette replied. “As for Oban. The East Serafans don’t have the money or influence of the West Serafans, and rely quite heavily on Galatine grain exports. War means more uncertainty and fewer rewards for them. But they’re rather dragged into the whole thing by virtue of being neighbors. Oban saw a way to make some money to lay aside for the inevitable increase in grain prices, and some insurance in case we happen to win. Won’t we be grateful?” She inclined her head with a conspiratorial smile.
“Makes sense,” Theodor said. “Though I can’t help but worry that they’re ready to spring leaks at any moment or that the cannons aren’t sound, if it was such a bargain.”
Annette rolled her eyes. “I know more about ships than you do. If Ballantine is here, maybe he can settle any argument about their quality.” Theodor’s face went ashen.
“Ballantine was captured by the Royalists,” I said quietly. “We presume he’s been executed, as we haven’t heard anything from or about him.”
“Oh no,” breathed Annette. Tears sprang into her blue eyes. “Theo, I—I’m so sorry.”
Theodor swallowed, forcing back the thick pain I knew rode with him all the time. “I am, too.”
“Damn. I had so hoped—he would have made a far better admiral than I.”
“You seem, my lady,” said Sianh, “to make a fine sea captain. But is it not unusual for a lady to do so? Or do I presume Galatine custom too similar to our own?”
“You presume nothing incorrect,” Annette replied. “We’ve recruited along the southern coast, and they’ve been accommodating to the, shall we say, inconsistencies of this armada. Serafan vessels with all of their quirks, a former princess assuming the role of admiral. With all of her quirks,” she added. “But I had hopes of giving this all off to someone with better expertise than I have.”
“It seems it’s on you, at least for now,” Theodor said, “but what I want to know is, now that we have a navy, what best to do with it?”
“Protect our ports, of course,” Alba said. “We’ve supplies incoming. We can’t afford to lose any more to the Royalists.”
“A prudent course of action,” Sianh said, but he looked unconvinced.
“What are you thinking?” Theodor asked.
“I am considering,” said Sianh slowly, analyzing the idea even as he spoke, “the methods by which a navy can grow itself.”
26
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘A NAVY CAN GROW ITSELF’?” KRISTOS asked even as Sianh and Annette exchanged a conspiratorial glance. “I figured you’d just—patrol the coast or whatnot.”
Annette drummed her thin fingers on the table. A pink garnet ring on her right hand caught the light and winke
d at me. “There is no point in patrolling unless you’re going to do something about anyone you happen to come across. Tomcats patrol their territory to tear the ears off any feline intruders. Ships?”
“Ships patrol to chase off incursions or to take prizes,” Sianh interjected.
“Exactly,” Annette said.
“We are undersupplied. Still.” The kitchen went quiet at Sianh’s simple statement, the only sound the muffled pops of the settling coals in the hearth. “If we are to succeed in taking first Rock’s Ford and then Galitha City, we are in need of more powder and shot. Particularly for the cannons.”
Theodor sighed. “I know. But we can procure more from Fen, now that we have some lines of finance coming through, with Viola managing the funds in Pellia. It will take time to run the money through and send messages, but—”
“We do not have time,” Sianh said through gritted teeth.
“Beyond that.” Alba’s voice was quiet but cut through the argument instantly. “The factories and foundries of Fen are… shall we say, understaffed at the moment?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Annette leaned back in her chair, her narrow shoulders in her perfectly tailored coat nestled into the high back.
“The workers,” I said. “They’re in a proper revolt now?”
Alba nodded, then dug a creased letter out of her pocket. “Just received this from Erdwin Tyse. He’s offering to sell another load of powder, along with some bayonets and muskets, at exorbitant prices—but recommends we take the deal given as he foresees difficulty in any manufacture in the near future.” She paused, waiting for the rest of the group to follow. “The workers are striking.”
“That can’t go on forever,” Theodor said.
“No,” Alba agreed, “but it can go on a good long time—long enough that your war will be over and lost for want of powder and shot. Besides, do you realize how volatile the production and storage of black powder is?”
“I’ve a good guess,” Kristos said.
“So you can understand how difficult it would be to prosecute anyone for arson in such facilities.” Alba’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Funny, but all three large manufacturers experienced ‘accidents’ just before the workers went on strike.”
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