by Matt Forbeck
Ledenstrae cut Kandler off with a wave of his hand. "Do you think your ways matter to me? You forget where you find yourself. Here, the viceroy has shown nothing but the utmost respect for me. My word is as good as law to the elves who call this outpost their home.”
Burch started to say something, but the elf cut him off. "If you can keep your mongrel there on a leash,” he said, "I will put this into simple words that your minds can digest: Give me my daughter back, or I will kill you all and pry her hands from your corpses.”
Chapter
16
Kandler felt his hand on the pommel of his fang-sword, and he wondered how it had gotten there. He glared at Ledenstrae. "Forget it,” he said. "Esprina left her to me.”
The elf smiled back at him. "You believe you have a choice in the matter. How amusing.”
Sallah put her hand atop Kandler’s, keeping him from drawing the weapon. He turned to spit something spiteful at her, but when he did he saw the look in her eyes. His voice caught in his throat, and he closed his mouth.
Sallah cleared her throat and spoke to Ledenstrae. "It’s not clear that allowing you to take Espre would be in her best interests. Kandler loves your daughter very much, and he only wants to see her happy and well. He believes that those purposes would best be served by keeping her with him.”
Ledenstrae rubbed his chin. "Such a man who would let his mate speak for him is not one whose words I can take seriously.”
Kandler started to curse at the elf, but Sallah shut him up with a finger across his lips. In frustration, he looked to Burch, but the shifter didn’t notice. He was too busy staring at the decorative bits of furniture, artwork, and tightly trimmed foliage that screened the room and the balcony beyond off from the outside world.
"I’m surprised that one who speaks with so many invectives would be given a post as an ambassador, unless, of course, the aim of Aerenal is to plunge its offspring nation into war with its neighbors.”
Ledenstrae smiled. "The title 'ambassador’ is only a ceremonial one, I’m afraid, given to any member of my family who cares to travel beyond the shores of fair Aerenal. I have no direct political duties. I am only here to recover what is rightfully mine.”
"Don’t you mean 'who’?” Kandler said. " 'Who’ is rightfully yours?”
Ledenstrae bared his teeth, which were as even as the edge of a book. "The girl is of my blood. In the absence of her mother, I am her only family. Now that I have found her again, I wish to reassert my claim on her, and splitting definitions in your barbaric tongue will not dissuade me from the rightfulness of my aims.”
Kandler stepped toward Ledenstrae now, angling away from Sallah as he spoke. "Where have you been for the past few decades? Have you even been looking for her? Where were you for the past four years while I raised her on my own? Where were you when her mother died?”
Ledenstrae’s ivory cheeks flushed pink, although Kandler could not tell if this effect was rooted in anger or shame. "You have your point of view, of course, and you deserve my thanks for taking care of my daughter when I was not available to do so myself. Know, though, that I would have been with her every day since her birth had her mother not stolen her away from me.”
"Escaped from you is more like it,” said Kandler. "You think Esprina never told me how you treated her?”
Ledenstrae pursed his lips. "Yes, I would like to hear that story someday. I suspect her point of view deviates sharply from reality, but that always was one of her more egregious flaws. I do hope that penchant for exaggeration hasn’t been passed down to our daughter. If it has, I suppose I shall have to cure her of it.”
"You got any other children?” Burch asked, his eyes still scanning their surroundings.
The elf stared at the shifter as if contemplating whether or not speaking to Burch was beneath him. He followed Burch’s eyes around the room, then seemed to decide that in a foreign land he could afford to be more liberal with his words.
"Espre is my only offspring,” Ledenstrae said. "Children are rare in Aerenal. With as long as we live, if we bred like humans or shifters the entire continent would be overrun in no time.”
"Children’s rarity is what makes them so valuable,” Sallah said.
The elf gave her an approving nod. "The Undying Court carefully selects breeding partners to produce the finest possible children. Only the greatest of the great achieve the goal we all wish for ourselves, to ascend to the Undying Court and exist with the other heroes who have gone before us into immortality.”
"Does being a father who’s lost a daughter harm your chances?” said Kandler.
"There is that,” Ledenstrae said. "It is far from the only reason I wish to reunite with my daughter.” The elf paused for a moment before continuing. "When I heard of the Day of Mourning, I feared that Esprina and Espre had been consumed in it. Reports in Aerenal indicated that there were no survivors, and since I knew them both to be living in Gyre at the time, I knew there would be little chance that they had survived.
"I wanted to launch an investigation of my own at the time, in the slim hopes of locating them, but the Last War still raged. Such an undertaking would have been hazardous in the extreme. I would have risked it, but it seemed clear that no one in Cyre had survived.
"I consulted with mystics of all sorts, but none of them were able to find a trace of Esprina or Espre at the time. Perhaps this was due to some sort of magical disruption emanating from the Mourning, but at the time I believed the results. They merely confirmed my worst fears.
"I mourned for my daughter and yes, even my wife. Despite what she may have told you”—the elf looked at Kandler—"our marriage never ended. In the eyes of the Undying Court, we were matched for all time, and no dalliance with a member of a lesser race could undo that.”
Kandler checked his rage himself this time. He could tell the elf meant to provoke him, and he refused to give Ledenstrae the satisfaction. He glanced at Sallah and Burch instead.
Sallah smiled at him in a way that made his heart hurt. Despite the fact that they would part soon and likely forever, he would have preferred to spare her watching him spar with his wife’s first husband.
Burch caught his eye with a hand signal. The shifter had spotted at least four guards hiding somewhere in the room or on the balcony, perhaps more.
Kandler gave the signal to sit tight. He should have realized that a noble elf like Ledenstrae would never risk death at his hands by failing to protect himself. The elf probably had been hoping Kandler would attack him, giving the guards an excuse to chop him to pieces. With Kandler dead, that would make his claim as Espre’s father all the stronger.
Kandler wondered why the elf hadn't just killed him straight out. He supposed that Ledenstrae’s influence here in Aerie might not be enough to cover up a cold-blooded murder. If so, then getting out of here with Espre wasn’t as hopeless a cause at it had seemed.
'Why now?” Kandler asked, suspicious. "What made you come searching for Espre now? What are the chances that you’d end up waiting for us here, right in our path?” The elf nodded sagely. "These are all fine questions. To answer: Now seemed like the right time. Certain information came to me that Espre was, in fact, alive and well, and I set out to find her. As for how I managed to track you down, I’ll admit I had a bit of help with that. An old friend of the family contacted me after running into you recently and alerted me to Espre’s plight. Fortunately, we have a great deal of influence in Shae Cairdal, and I was able to arrange for transport here immediately.”
Kandler stared at the elf. Who could have tipped Ledenstrae off to their whereabouts? The Lord of Blades or his lieutenant Bastard? Vol? Ikar the Black? The Captain of Bones?
Even if any of them had, how would Ledenstrae have known that they were headed here? Kandler hadn’t made the decision to head south until after they’d survived the battle with Nithkorrh and Ibrido.
There could only be one person.
"That changeling bitch,” he said. "She sold us out to you. She went
from one mistress to another.”
Ledenstrae grinned, pulled back his thin, pale lips to reveal sharp, white teeth. "I’m sure I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he said. "You must feel surrounded by traitors on all sides. Perhaps your lady knight there betrayed you so she could serve her own cause?”
Kandler glanced at Sallah, who stood scowling at the elf.
When she noticed the justicar watching her, she snorted in disgust. "Could you really think such a thing of me?”
The elf giggled. "Perhaps it was your shifter friend there instead. How well do you really know him anyhow? He’s barely more than a wild beast, is he not?” He gave Burch a cold look. "I’ve heard of curs turning on their masters.”
Burch stared at Ledenstrae for a moment then barked at him. The elf flinched back in fear, and the shifter chuckled. He stopped when he saw the murderous look on Kandler’s face as he glared at the elf.
"Who was it?” Kandler demanded.
A figure sauntered in from the balcony then, one whom Kandler recognized instantly. The emaciated, paperskinned elf stood there before him and took the arm that Ledenstrae kindly offered to her. Her fine robes of green and blue silk flowed around her, billowing in a gentle breeze. She opened her cut-like mouth and smiled so wide that Kandler feared her knife-sharp cheekbones might slice through her skin. Madness and glee danced in her sunken eyes.
"Majeeda,” Kandler said, his voice tight and low with shock.
Chapter
17
How wonderful to see you again,” Majeeda said to Kandler, Sallah, and Burch. "I feared our paths might never cross again.”
Kandler stared at the mad elf as if his eyes might fall from his'head. Sallah and Burch remained silent too, just as stunned as he. Ledenstrae struggled to stifle a vicious laugh, enjoying the situation but clearly wanting to avoid insulting his surprise guest.
Then Kandler realized he’d stopped breathing. He took in a deep breath then plastered a pleasant smile on his face. He thought that Ledenstrae would see it for the thin disguise it was, but he didn’t care. He knew from experience how dangerous the wizard was. If he treated her with the respect she felt she deserved, she would gobble it up, or so he hoped.
"My Lady Majeeda,” Kandler said in Elven, after clearing his throat. "How wonderful to find ourselves in your presence again.”
Majeeda arched a desert-dry eyebrow at these words. "Is that correct?” she said, hiding her suspicions under the
thinnest veil of civility. "The manner in which you took your leave of my hospitality would seem to indicate otherwise.” Kandler gave the deathless elf a short bow. "My deepest apologies if our actions caused you any distress, my lady. We were called away in an instant and didn't wish to disturb your rest as such a late hour.”
Majeeda rasped at this such that Kandler thought she might fall over from lack of breath. The he realized she was laughing. "My foolish soldier,” she said, "do you not know that those such as I do not require such things?”
Kandler feigned disappointed shock. To nail home that effect—he hoped—he switched to the common tongue again. "Please allow me to double my apologies over this incident. We must have seemed rude in the extreme to leave so hastily. Please believe that we had only your interests in mind.”
The justicar looked to Sallah, who nodded regally. She seemed to see the need to pay Majeeda some respect, whether authentic or not, but she didn’t enjoy playing along with the charade.
Kandler felt something somewhere in the room thump against the floor. He’d been in enough fights to recognize it as a body slumping to the ground, and he coughed to clear his throat once more. Before he could say anything, though, Majeeda raised a skeletal hand to silence him.
"May I ask what you have done with the airship?” she asked. Her papery lips shook as she spoke, and Kandler knew everything turned on giving her the right answer here.
"When we discovered her, we realized that she must have belonged to the intruders you had mentioned to use during that wonderful dinner you served us. Since she had sat for so long, unused, we thought . . .”
The skeptical look on Majeeda’s face told Kandler he was losing her. He struggled to find the right words and felt himself starting to panic. His hand fell to his sword.
Dealing with Ledenstrae was one thing. That elf had something to lose. Majeeda, on the other hand, was not only crazed but powerful. She could probably kill them all with not much more than a word, and where would that leave Espre then?
Perhaps if he could unsheath his fangblade quickly enough he could kill Majeeda before she could cast a spell. Killing something already dead was always tricky though, and he would only get one try.
"That's how you found us,” Sallah said to the deathless elf. "Isn’t it?”
Majeeda stopped staring so coldly at Kandler and smiled at the lady knight. Her lips crinkled like paper around her yellow teeth. "Of course,” she said. "I am a seer of many things—especially those that I own. When something has been in my possession as long as that horrid airship, I know where she is. Finding her is as easy as closing my eyes.”
She did just that by way of illustration. Her eyelids folded and unfolded like ripe husks, and Kandler realized that he’d never seen her blink before.
"Why?” Kandler said. "If you know so much, then you must understand what Espre means to Ledenstrae.” He meant to speak around Espre’s dragonmark. So far, neither Ledenstrae or Majeeda had said they understood her horrible powers, and he didn’t care to tip that hand without some kind of confirmation that they’d already seen it. "Why would you help the people who abandoned you so long ago?”
Majeeda’s head wobbled atop her neck, and Kandler feared it might fall off. Instead, she spoke. "Don’t you see, my dear soldier? Your stepdaughter is my way back into the good graces of proper elf society. She’s my way into the Undying Court.”
The deathless elf spoke with such breathless glee at the end that Kandler thought her concave chest might burst from the rare stress of expressing a happy emotion. He nodded at the creature, whose presence turned his stomach more than ever. He didn’t want to incur her wrath, but he refused to consider turning Espre over to Ledenstrae, now more than ever.
Kandler gave Majeeda a half-hearted smile. "I am pleased to hear that you’ve managed to find your way home. Permit me to take my leave of you once more so that I might go and tell my daughter the good news.”
"Please,” Ledenstrae said, stepping forward to show Kandler the door. "I’m looking forward to seeing my daughter again. It’s been far too long.”
"Of course,” Majeeda said, "we must do something to repay the man for all his trouble of taking care of your darling for so long, mustn’t we?”
Ledenstrae cocked his head at the deathless elf, surprised at the turn the conversation had taken. "How do you mean?” "It is unseemly to not present such a man with a gift to demonstrate your gratitude for all his efforts. Just think what sorts of horrible fates might have met young Espre, wandering through this cruel land, thinking herself to be an orphan.”
Ledenstrae narrowed his eyes at the elf. "What did you have in mind?”
"Why, the airship, of course.”
Ledenstrae’s suspicious frown evaporated. "What a splendid notion.”
"You want to trade me an airship for Espre?” Kandler couldn’t believe the words passing through his own lips.
"If you have no further need of her, I will pay you handsomely,” Ledenstrae said, warming to the idea. "I'll even arrange for your passage home—wherever that might be.”
Kandler hesitated. He had no intention of letting them take Espre, no matter the price, but he wasn’t ready to declare that to them yet.
"You’ll probably be happy to get rid of her,” Ledenstrae said. "A ship like that is nothing but a target.”
The elf’s tone bore just a hint of menace, enough so that Kandler couldn’t miss it. Majeeda, on the other hand, showed no sign of detecting it. She smiled blankly at both him and Sall
ah.
"I’ll have to discuss it with my crew,” Kandler said. He bowed toward Majeeda. "My thanks for your kindness, my lady.” He nodded sharply at their host, then turned and left. Sallah followed close behind.
"Where’s Burch?” she whispered as they stepped into the basket.
Kandler kept his mouth closed until the basket began to descend. "Don’t worry about him,” he said. "He’ll let himself out.”
"What are you going to do?” Sallah said.
"Just what I told Majeeda. I’m going to discuss it with the crew. Then we’re going to sail out of here as if we had a horde of dragons on our tail.”
"What about me?”
Kandler looked at her, surprised. "I—I don’t know,” he said. "I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
"You can’t leave me here after you race out of town. They’ll have my head on a pike.”
"You could come with us.”
Sallah’s nostrils flared as she glared at the justicar. He turned away.
"We’ll find someplace safe to drop you off,” he said. "Maybe in Q’barra. Wyrmwatch isn’t that far from here, I think.” Sallah nodded. "One of our faithful is the lead elder there, a man by the name of Nevillom. That could work.”
When the basket reached the ground floor, the guards showed Kandler and Sallah to the door. "The dockmaster returned to his post,” one of them said. "You can show yourselves back.”
The door to the tower slammed shut behind them. As it did, Burch appeared from where he’d been hiding behind the door.
Chapter
18
Have a nice talk?” the shifter asked as he fell into step with the others.
Sallah craned her neck up to see how far down the shifter must have climbed to get out of Ledenstrae’s place. She let out a low whistle.
"We’re getting out of here,” Kandler said. "They want to trade Espre for the airship.”
"And our lives,” said Burch. "This isn’t the kind of offer they let you refuse.”
Kandler smirked. "Then we’ll just let them figure out what our answer is when we’re gone.”
Burch pursed his lips and nodded. They walked along in silence toward the docks.
