by Candy Rae
“But if his fleet was joined to Murdoch’s, they could rival Argyll’s?”
“Yes.”
“So Leithe needs Murdoch’s fleet?”
“I’d say so, yes, it’s a big worry that your Queen might ally with Leithe.”
“That’s what he’s playing at,” announced Daniel with dawning realisation. “He doesn’t really want Murdoch itself, just the fleet to enable him to become Emperor of the Islands of the Great Eastern Sea. Stupid of me, I should have guessed. If something should happen to Queen Antoinette she would be succeeded by her daughter as Queen Antoinette the Second. Prince Crispin of Leithe, her husband, would, in effect be ruler of Murdoch and he could order the fleet to join with the fleet of his father to defeat the navy of Argyll.”
“I think you just might be right. At least it is the most rational idea I’ve heard to date. You’ve got a fine analytical brain in you,” exclaimed Alun Hallam. “I’ll get word about your suspicions, nay, prognosis, to my Admiral. Don’t fret. It’s not going to happen. Forewarned is forearmed.” He lowered his voice, “it’s not common knowledge but the Admirals of Murdoch and Argyll do speak to one another. Why, they might even be friends!”
“What an amazing thing,” said Daniel with an absolutely straight face.
* * * * *
-38-
THE ISLAND OF GALLIARD – THE GREAT EASTERN SEA
The inn was called The Rhian Inn. It was a large building, it was therefore moderately easy to keep to oneself if one so wished.
Chadwick Smallhide did so wish.
Be there on the third day of Dunthed his instructions had said and here he was.
“Yes Mr Thirlbrick,” said the innkeeper, “your room has been reserved, it is booked for two days, I was told it wasn’t certain just when you would arrive, paid in advance.”
“Send a meal up,” Chad ordered, “I must wash.”
“Your business in Galliard sir? The law it is, I must keep the records.”
“Business.”
“Yes sir, that’s understood but …”
“I wish to make a purchase, I’m an agent.” Chad was good at thinking on his feet. Why didn’t they warn me that questions would be asked? “A present for a wife I understand.”
“I see. Will you be requiring the use of a strongbox Mr Thirlbrick?” asked the innkeeper, assuming Chad was carrying coin with which to pay for the jewellery.
“Ah yes,” Chad answered, “that would be helpful.”
“Alternatively we can keep it safe in the strong room, round the bell guard guaranteed.”
“That won’t be necessary, it’s a, it’s a promissory note.”
“New to here? First time? One word of advice. The Cartel are not keen on promissory notes, they prefer hard coin.”
“They’ll take this one,” answered Chad.
“As you say sir. Room thirty eight, top floor as requested and at the end of the corridor, not as requested, but its got a nice view of the sea.”
* * * * *
That night, late, there was a knock at the door, four raps, silence then another four.
“Who is it? Chad demanded sotto voice, one hand on his dagger hilt.
“I’ve come with the diamonds and the agates,” said the voice.
Chad relaxed, the sentence was correct, exactly as per his memorised instructions.
“I expected you sooner,” he growled, opening the door and backing off.
“I was delayed,” the man informed him, entering the room. He was followed by another man. Chad flicked him a quick glance. He had not been expecting two.
“By how many?” Chad asked. This was the second security question.
“Seven.”
This was also the correct answer and Chad breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down by the table at the window. He thought the first man was the same one who had hired him all those months ago but he couldn’t be sure. The former had been clean shaven and this man was sporting a luxurious beard. He was also wearing a hood which covered his hair.
“You got the coin?”
The second man placed a heavy bag on the table in front of Chad, just out of reach of his arm.
“The box?” queried the first man.
“Over there on the bed,” Chad replied, pointing but his gleaming eyes were on the bag in front of him. At last, he was a very wealthy man.
“Count the coin if that is your wish,” said the first man, stepping over to the bed and bending over the box to examine it, “but I think you’ll find all is in order. I counted it out myself.”
The second man pushed the bag towards him and Chad opened it eagerly.
His eyes bulged as he saw the mass of gold coin it contained. He dipped in his hand to finger them. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And all mine. He was gloating.
“Enough to keep me in luxury the rest of my life and then some,” he murmured.
He felt the blow as the cudgel came down on his head and knocked him unconscious, a searing flash of blinding pain. He neither felt his throat being cut nor saw his bright blood splash over the bag.
“Messy,” chided Erik Halfarm, “now we’ll have to wash the blood off.”
* * * * *
-39-
PORT LUTTERELL - ARGYLL
Tara Josensdochter sat bolt upright in her bed and listened to the chimes ringing the bell on the grandfather clock that sat in the hall below.
One bell to go, she thought as she counted the chimes. She shivered, despite clothes and bed coverings, still even now, only half believing that in a bell’s time she would go to the garden gate and be waiting for who, for what?
Her conversation with Lyei? She was now only half sure that it had been real, the other half positive it had been some sort of surreal dream.
Adventure. Is that why he persuaded me? Well, I’m going to do it. I’m going and no-one is going to stop me. Like Thalia. Perhaps Lyei meant that I should join the Vada, just like she did. Maybe it will be my Lind who will be waiting for me at the gate. Perhaps no-lind or no-one will come at all. Perhaps it was all a dream.
It was difficult to judge the bell exactly but when she thought it might be a quarter to the midnight one she pushed away her bedcovers, swung her legs out over the bed-mattress and pushed her feet into her boots.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
She fumbled a bit as her hands searched under her bed for her pack. Yes, there it was, jacket on top. She dragged them out and put on the jacket, her shaking fingers putting the toggles into the wrong holes.
Got to keep quiet, she reminded herself.
Tara tip-toed down the stairs, avoiding the creaky fourth step. Her footfalls sounded very loud in the night silence. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she exhaled her breath. She hadn’t even realised she had been holding it in.
Now to get out of the back door and into the garden, where, hopefully, her assignee was waiting, or soon would be.
She accomplished this part of her escape, closing the outer door behind her with another very audible sigh of relief, then like a little ethereal shadow she flitted down the garden path, towards the gate, hoping, hoping.
Her hopes were fulfilled. A large shadow was waiting under the trees on the other side of the garden wall.
The gate she opened with eager fingers and passed through. She didn’t bother to shut it.
“Hello,” she said to the waiting Lind in a faltering voice.
The shadow moved towards her. What emerged under her fascinated stare was a Lind, a very large, long-legged Lind.
“I am Dsya, sister of Lyei and Vya,” the striped shape introduced herself. “I am here to take you with me to Vada.”
* * * * *
AN INN EIGHTEEN MILES TO THE WEST OF PORT LUTTERELL - ARGYLL
At the same time that Tara Josensdochter scrambled up onto Dsya’s back, another night-time excursion was about to begin.
In the loft above the stables a boy was stuffing his meagre possessions into a canvas bag then slip
ping his feet into a pair of boots only slightly too large for him.
Jak had been waiting for this night for a long time. He was twelve and a half and had met Emmaya three years ago, when he had been a little boy and living in the orphanage.
He had never told a soul about their meeting. Every time he had started to blurt it out, wanting to tell the world, he had found himself unable to. It had become his secret. It was his private dream; the knowledge that one day, when he was fourteen, Emmaya would come for him. It had come a little earlier than he had expected, that was all.
He hadn’t even told his boss about Emmaya although for some reason Jak knew the man would have kept his secret. His boss was the head groom at the inn stables where he worked. The old man was the closest thing Jak had ever had to a father. The old man had taken him on, given him a job and treated him almost like the son he had never had. For that Jak was so grateful. He owed him a lot.
Because of this, Jak had spent bell upon bell composing and writing a goodbye letter. Spelling wasn’t one of Jak’s strong points so it had taken him seven tries to write out the fair copy.
Practical skills were taught in the orphanages in Argyll. Reading and writing were not considered important. He hoped his ‘Father’ would understand the reasons behind the reasons as to why he had gone.
If anyone does, it will be him, thought Jak, getting to his feet.
With a last look round to see if he had forgotten anything, it was impossible he knew because he didn’t have many possessions, Jak exited the loft, climbing down the ladder into the stable proper.
As he tip-toed past the stalls the horses whickered.
As the head groom knew, young Jak had a way with horses, with any animal for that matter.
Jak patted one of them as he passed, a handsome stallion who now belonged to the Master.
The stallion stamped his hoof as Jak drew his hand away, annoyed that Jak was leaving him. Jak was the best of all the stable boys at knowing just the right spot to caress.
Jak opened the stable door a crack, slipped through it and closed it behind him, all in the space of a heartbeat.
Emmaya was waiting for him in the trees beyond the courtyard.
* * * * *
-40-
THE ISLAND OF GALLIARD – THE GREAT EASTERN SEA
The sea air had brought a hint of colour to Zeb’s naturally pale cheeks.
He had moved on from being in a seventh heaven of delight, he was in the eighth or perhaps the ninth or tenth. He stood, face glowing, leaning against the taffrail.
Daniel and Thalia were likewise standing, but a lindlengh or so away, being careful, as was Zeb, to keep out of the way of the busy sailors who were, to Thalia’s untutored eye, ‘moving ropes and things about’. Daniel, used to travelling by sea knew that they were readying the lines to take in the sails when the Dalina made anchor.
“Galliard is a famous place in the history of the Vada you know,” Thalia was telling Daniel. Zeb pricked his ears at the word ‘history’ and shuffled along so that he could listen better. He was finding history the most interesting of his lessons, especially when it was Thalia telling one of her stories. She was even better than spinning a yarn than Josei; the people and Lind in her stories came alive as she told her stories in her sing-song voice. He had been known to beg for more, Daniel had too.
“How’s that?” asked Daniel.
“The Tale of Rhian and Tadei,” Thalia answered, “want to hear it?”
“Do you want to tell it?” he countered.
Zeb held his breath but needlessly. Thalia was anxious to tell this one.
“Rhian and Tadei were Ryzckas, I can’t remember which Ryzck in the middle of the second century, the same time, or no, just before it must have been, my ancestor Tana. She, they, became known as ‘The Heroes of Galliard’. A man arrived at Vada one day with a request for help for his island, I don’t remember his name, perhaps it was never written down. A group of pirates were terrorising the islands, some things never change, attacking and demanding tributes and so on. He was looking for help to stop them.”
“What kind of tributes?” interrupted Zeb.
“People for the most part,” Thalia answered, “they took them to the Kingdom of Murdoch and sold them.”
“Slaves?” asked Zeb.
“Slaves,” confirmed Thalia, then, after a quick look at Daniel who was looking embarrassed at this reminder of his country’s past, she added, “that was before slavery was abolished.”
“In AL 615,” Zeb nodded, eager to show off his recently acquired knowledge.
Daniel looked surprised.
“It’s in the history reader,” explained Zeb. “I’m good at remembering things. Of course,” he continued, switching into what he called the Thalia lecturing mode, “some of the duchies declared em_an_cip-ation before then but King Elliot the Twelfth freed those in the duchies whose dukes had forgotten to do it. Bit odd that they hadn’t done it already I thought.”
Daniel bit back a smile at Zeb’s altruistic description of the stormy days when the Kingdom of Murdoch had been ruled by Elliot the Reformer who had forced through emancipation with steely fist and iron determination.
“Quite,” agreed Thalia, “well done for remembering Zeb. Well, Thalia and Tadei led their Ryzck out here to Galliard, it was the first time the Vada had ever come to the aid of anyone not on our mainland. The Ryzck and the islanders fought off the pirates, I think they killed most of them and so the island was saved. That’s why Rhian and Tadei became Ruza. Ruza is the Lindish word for hero.”
“What happened then?” asked Zeb.
“Rhian and Tadei went back to Vada where Rhian became Weaponsmaster. After the Battle of Fountain’s Head, or the Battle of the Gorge, it depends where you come from what you call it …”
“I like Fountain’s Head better,” Zeb interrupted again.
“So do I. After the battle, when the Susa of the Vada was killed, she and Tadei became the new Susa.”
“What happened next?” repeated Zeb.
“Next? They lived happily ever after,” Thalia concluded, “as it should be. We’ll go visit the graves of the vadeln-pairs who died here if we have time. I’m told by those who’ve visited here that it is a beautiful spot. The islanders still look after the graves, even after all this time.” She was looking east, towards where Galliard was, her face introspective.
Her eyes grew distant and Daniel felt tears prick at his own eyes. The way she described her feelings was almost like how he felt about the huge graveyard in the Duchy of Duchesne where the thousands who had fallen during the great battle against the Dglai were buried.
“We will definitely go if we have the time,” he agreed, “I sure could do with some peace after all we’ve gone through and will be going through.”
Thalia turned eyes that shone in his direction, “you do understand.”
Daniel coughed. She’s gorgeous when she looks like that, looks at me like that, her face alight, her hair loose. She’s so alive!
Zeb donated on Daniel a knowing look that spoke volumes and Daniel looked down at his feet, they being the most mundane and safest object he could think of in the spur of the moment.
“When do we dock?” asked Thalia, who seemed unaware of the confusion afflicting Daniel.
“Captain Hallam will anchor in the bay,” he answered, “warships usually do. They can then cut their anchor cables and sail away much faster than if the need to warp away from a jetty.”
“Oh? I never thought of that,” said Thalia, “but as to my question, how long?”
“About a candlemark I should think.” Daniel still found it difficult to think of time in bells which was the northern way.
“Better get our gear together then,” she suggested, “I want to start making enquiries as soon as possible. Uniforms I think. It will make our enquiry look more official.”
“Agreed,” Daniel said as he followed her down the hatch that led to their tiny cabins. Warships were not like me
rchantmen, where spacious cabins, or as spacious as the ship’s design would let them were provided for the paying guests.
* * * * *
-41-
STEWARTON - ARGYLL
Foreign Secretary Francis Durand looked at yet another report. This one came from the Secretary of the Interior.
Tara Josensdochter, youngest daughter of a reputed academic from Port Lutterell had disappeared, vanished into thin air.
This was, unfortunately for his secretarial compatriot in the government, just the more recent in a whole series of disappearances.
All young or youngish people.
From many areas in Argyll.
There must be a connection, a worried Francis thought, another connection, prompted his inner voice.
A connection between these disappearances and the strange population movements in Vadath?
Francis rather thought so. Perhaps he’d better pull out more of his intelligence agents from the Great Eastern Sea and send them west.
“I think I will,” he said out loud and into the emptiness of his office.
* * * * *
-42-
THE ISLAND OF GALLIARD – THE GREAT EASTERN SEA
Is this the thief you were searching for?” asked the constable.
Thalia registered the cold and very dead face of Chad and simultaneously, Josei, outside, was aware of it too.
