They resumed their journey, and the gentle rolling terrain they had passed began to grow rougher, slowing their progress as the horses had to climb steeper hills, while the forest around then seemed to take on a darker complexion.
Stillwater floated rapidly back from the carriage to where Kestrel rode not too far behind. “Kestrel friend, Princess Aurelia dear heart told us that the messenger for the king told them that the evil one,” he paused.
“Exmoor?” Tewks supplied the forgotten name.
“Yes, Exmoor has not gone to his home but has gone to his own ships, the ones he uses to carry his gold to other nations, and he has set sail away from this land. And the prince, Aurelia’s foolish brother, has gone with him,” the imp completed his report.
“Poor Aurelia,” Kestrel softly moaned, knowing the anguish she would feel at the defection of her brother.
“She is most sad,” Stillwater agreed. “But we will be at the place of ships for her beautiful friend’s departure very soon, once we are past these hills in just a few more miles, and she will be happier then, we are sure.”
Stillwater returned to the carriage, and the journey continued on uneventfully for several more miles, then crested a hill, beyond which the Great Sea suddenly came into view, with a tidy harbor just a short distance away and below them. The road they were upon descended in a series of gradual switchbacks and the royal entourage arrived in the small village without event.
There was a large ship docked in the harbor, and numerous people milling about on the pier where the ship was tied. Kestrel recognized Moorin, her father and her betrothed all waiting aboard the ship, and they walked back to the pier upon the arrival of the king’s party. As they did, there was a sudden dimming in the sky above, then a flashing brightness, and then the illumination returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
Murmurs and a few shrieks arose throughout the village in response to the unnatural phenomena. “What happened Kestrel?” Tewks asked in a quavering voice.
“I don’t know my friend. I don’t know,” he answered softly as he held a hand overhead to shield his eyes as he searched the sky overhead. There were no clouds present, and the comet was far in the western sky, preparing to set before the sun. Killcen came racing back.
“That was one of the changes of the sun we have been telling you about!” he said excitedly. “None of us have ever known them to change the light of the world before! It must have been the great mother of all problems in the sun.”
“Are you all safe?” Kestrel asked.
“We are safe, and all of you are safe, but trying to travel after such an event would be very problematic. We are glad we do not have to try to carry you anywhere today,” the imp answered.
“Will there be more?” Kestrel asked.
“We cannot say. That may have been the last for all we know, the end of the troubles,” Killcen answered, then returned to the other imps as Kestrel and Tewks dismounted from their horses. Tewks held the reins as Kestrel joined the other guests and approached the pier front.
“I thank you all for coming,” Count Stelten said, “to join me in the mixed blessing of seeing my beautiful daughter leave behind her life under my roof, to start her new life as a married woman.
“What strange event is this?” he gasped, catching sight of the imps who floated near where Kestrel and Aurelia stood.
“These are Kestrel’s friends and companions,” the queen spoke up. “Aurelia, you and Kestrel must take the blue ones to the front for our friends to meet.”
The princess glanced at Kestrel, who nodded his head after looking at the imps, and the small knot pressed across the pier and came to stand with Stelten, Moorin and Ruelin.
“She is the one, Kestrel friend?” Odare asked loudly, motioning towards Moorin.
He blushed, and nodded his head.
“What one is she, my lord?” Count Stelten asked. “What does this jolly blue being know of my daughter?”
“She,” Kestrel stuttered, then started again, “I had a vision of your daughter,” he looked at her momentarily, then at Ruelin, then back to Stelten. “I was following that vision when I came to Kirevee.”
Ruelin harrumphed, and Moorin blushed in turn. “They’re such wonderful creatures to see,” Moorin spoke about the imps, seeking to gracefully deflect the awkward moment.
“Well, you and they are here just in time to see our formal betrothal ceremony at the pier before this happy couple departs,” Stelten moved the conversation onward.
Kestrel, Aurelia, and the imps moved back away from the others, and rejoined the crowd. “I’m sorry about that, Kestrel,” the princess told him in a kindly voice.
“Why are they having a betrothal ceremony now? Aren’t they already engaged?” he asked.
“They are going to be traveling together in intimate circumstances on board that ship for several days,” Aurelia answered delicately. “So this allows them to travel in such a fashion before the formal wedding,” she explained, making Kestrel blush. “Moorin insisted on the ceremony before she would share a cabin with Ruelin.”
A priest from the local temple of Morph, the elven god of speed, presided over the short ceremony, as Ruelin and Moorin stood with clasped hands, responded to questions, and made pledges. And then it was time to depart.
The newly betrothed couple stood together as their guests went through a line saying farewell and wishing them a prosperous future.
“Safe travels, my lord,” Kestrel said awkwardly to Ruelin as he reached him in the receiving line. Ruelin ungraciously grunted a response, and Kestrel stepped over to Moorin.
He stared at the flawless beauty of her face, as her eyes turned to him. “Someday I will be called on to rescue you, I believe it,” he spoke softly, desperately wishing that she was looking forward to a wedding with him instead of with the prince of Seafare.
“And I hope that I never need to be rescued,” she answered evenly, then turned to the next person who approached her, freezing Kestrel out of any further conversation.
Kestrel moved on in stunned silence, then walked away without looking back at the woman who was fated to be in his future, though she clearly despised him in the present. A few minutes later he stood next to Aurelia and watched the Seafare ship throw off its lines and begin to gently move away from its dock. It unfurled more and more sails as it gained the center of the harbor, and began to pick up speed as it approached the harbor’s mouth. White foamy water appeared along its bow as it began to cut cleanly through the sea that provided its pathway to its home.
There was a sudden, strong, and sustained gust of wind that hit the backs of the bystanders who stood on land watching the ship. Aurelia grabbed onto Kestrel to steady herself, while he reached out to hold the queen upright as the whipping breeze nearly blew her over. Out at sea he saw the ship buck and rear, then jump forward with increased speed as the wind was caught in its sail and propelled it forward.
Kestrel turned. He looked away from the ship that carried Moorin away, and back towards the hills that framed the harbor. The sky was clear of any sign of storms. “I’m ready to go,” he muttered to himself, feeling that his journey to Kirevee had ended with failure in Moorin’s dismissal and departure.
“We all need to be going,” the king agreed, not understanding Kestrel’s motivation. “It will be a long journey back to the palace this afternoon. We won’t arrive home until after sunset.”
“Stillwater, can you take me back to Graylee?” Kestrel asked the imp.
“The conditions are not good, Kestrel friend. The sun makes the journey rough and unpredictable,” the imp answered reluctantly.
Kestrel thought about Ruelin, on-board the ship with Moorin, now in sole and rightful possession of the right to claim her as his own. It was a position that Kestrel still felt he was fated to be in at some point, and he felt upset, bereft of something that he knew was rightfully his. It should be him on that ship with Moorin, he told himself.
“I have to lea
ve here. I have to see a different place,” Kestrel told Stillwater. “If you believe it is possible, I ask you to take me back to Graylee. Let me go visit Picco and find out what is happening in Graylee. Maybe it’s time to return to battle there against Namber and his forces.”
“Why don’t you let one of us go back and receive a report from the humans of Graylee, and then come back here and tell you?” the imp countered, clearly uneasy about transporting Kestrel through the uncertain ether.
“I need to leave this place, Stillwater,” Kestrel said simply.
“So be it, my friend,” Stillwater surrendered.
“Aurelia, your majesties, Tewks, Lord Ripken, my time to visit the North Forest has come to an end. I am fortunate to have met you all, and I hope I can come back some day to visit you again,” he turned and spoke to the others who were preparing for their own departure. “My friends the imps will be taking me from here back to Graylee.”
“Oh Kestrel, you can’t be serious!” Tewks cried out. “We were going to have such a great time around the court. I have all kinds of adventures planned!”
Kestrel smiled at the boy, while he reached up to the horse he had ridden and pulled down the enchanted bow that had come from Kere’s temple. “I have no doubt that you will enjoy a great many adventures without me, just different ones. You were a good friend and guide, Tewks, thank you.
“And thank you all. May the gods continue to protect you and bless you,” he said as the imps pressed up snuggly against him. And then he was gone.
Chapter 18 – Kestrel’s Injury
The transition to the grey nothingness between worlds was rough from the very beginning of the journey. Kestrel felt as though he was being physically buffeted in the dimension where nothing physical existed. There were flashes of light where there had only been dark grayness before, and the silence of the space was replaced with a very high-pitched whine. The experience was the worst he had ever been subjected to, and Kestrel began to wish that he hadn’t forced the imps to make this journey; he hoped they were not feeling the same unpleasantness that he was, and he hoped they were going to be able to complete the journey, as it seemed to drag on and on and on.
He wondered if he was going to die, and realized that if he did, he would have lived his short life without achieving the one thing he knew he most wanted deep down in the pit of his soul – to have a relationship with Moorin, to be the man who she had given her heart to. If only he had been on the ship with Moorin, instead of Ruelin being the man there, none of the pain would have been necessary, he thought to himself, and then he passed out.
Moments later the imps arrived in the upper-floor room of Creata and Picco’s home, and the unconscious Kestrel slumped onto the bed there.
“Help, help! We need help!” all the imps called as loudly as they could, and a maid timidly pressed the door open and looked in the room. It was Elise, the servant who Kestrel had saved from assault by the guards of the former prince, and she immediately recognized Kestrel.
“Oh heavens! Lady Picco! Come quick!” she shouted as she entered the room. She ran over to where Kestrel lay and examined him closely, then straightened his figure on the bed, trying to make him more comfortable. Moments later Picco entered the room curiously, and saw the imps and Kestrel.
“What is it? What’s happened?” she asked as she rushed across the room and knelt next to Elise.
“Wounded Kestrel friend wanted to come here, he wanted to see you, his heart was broken, but the trip was bad, the sun had made our ways of travel unpredictable. It was the worst trip any of us have ever taken,” Odare answered in a nearly hysterical rambling explanation, pressing against Picco for comfort as she spoke. “And there was something else at work, some energy that we do not know struck us like a bolt of lightning.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Picco asked. “Kestrel?” she called tentatively, brushing her fingers through his hair gently.
There was no response, and she called again, but still there was no response. “Let’s get him undressed and comfortably in bed,” she decided. As Elise began to remove Kestrel’s boots, Picco began to remove his shirt, then stopped. “Look at this!” she gasped, as she saw the gorgeous design that was embroidered across his torso. “This is a work of art!”
After a pause of examination they proceeded to get him between the blankets. “Odare, would you go to the palace and find Wren? Tell her we need a skin of the water from the healing spring,” Picco directed.
The female imp flew out the window, and Picco sat disconsolately down on the edge of the bed, looking at Kestrel and worrying about his health.
Chapter 19 – At Sea
Kestrel’s mind wandered through a series of inexplicable dreams of friends and promises and ships and prophecies. He finally felt himself start to return to consciousness, and the first awareness he had was when he heard a woman’s voice speaking to him.
“I never thought things would turn so grim so quickly,” he vaguely heard the voice say. He opened his eyes and saw only misty shapes in a dim room.
“You’re awake!” he heard the voice rise. “He’s awake!”
“Keep him calm, ma’am,” another voice said from some distance.
He had a vague recollection of having been with the imps, and then nothing. He had, he had, he had wanted to leave the North Forest and the memory of Moorin, and he had wanted to return to Graylee; Graylee, a human city, of all places, was the place he had chosen to go to for comfort.
“Picco?” Kestrel called.
“They’re attacking, my lady. We couldn’t outrun them,” the distant voice called.
Kestrel sat up, suddenly awake, his soul jolted by the report of an attack. He felt heavy; his body seemed to have lost energy and quickness, or perhaps it felt as though it were encased in heavy, gripping mud.
He rubbed his eyes clear and looked.
And he saw Moorin sitting upon a small stool in a tiny dark room. She was sitting next to the narrow bunk he was resting upon.
“What dream is this? I thought I woke up!” Kestrel cried.
Moorin looked at him. “You’ve been unconscious for three days, since not long after we boarded the ship,” she said. “No one had any explanation for why you collapsed, and nothing has roused you until now,” her voice was as thrilling as ever, but without warmth towards him. Yet also without the chill he had last heard her use to address him.
He looked and behind her he saw the bow that Tewks had given him. It was a dream, it was clearly all a dream, a strange inexplicable vision.
“They’ll board us in two minutes,” a voice called. Kestrel struggled to stand up, knocked his head on a low beam, and reached for his bow and arrows.
“Lie down Ruelin. There’s nothing you can do,” Moorin said.
He looked at her in shock, then opened the door and staggered out. He was on a ship. He had sensed it, but there was a sudden roll that confirmed it. Kestrel grabbed hold of a door frame to steady himself, then darted up a steep set of stairs and burst out into the bright deck of a ship at sea. The members of the crew were desperately trying to steer the ship away from another vessel on the right, while also avoiding a second that was on the left and ahead of them. The two ships were shepherding and converging upon the ship he was on. It was the most vivid dream he had ever experienced.
“Good to see you up, my lord,” an officer said.
“What’s the situation?” Kestrel asked.
“They’ve been chasing us for two days, and when our foremast broke this morning, they caught us. Now it’s just a matter of minutes,” the officer said.
“Who is it? What do they want? Are they pirates?” Kestrel remembered the false Moorin’s tale of being captured at sea by pirates.
The officer laughed bitterly. “I’d call them pirates sure enough, if I lived to tell anyone. They’re both ships from Exmoor’s fleet,” he said.
“Which is the more immediate danger to us?” Kestrel asked, looking up at the masts to judge where
he should climb.
“The one coming up on the starboard side is going to be the one to board and ruin us,” the officer said.
Kestrel leapt up into the ropes that rose along the mast. Or he tried to leap, but his legs were weak, and he grabbed hold of the ropes just inches above the deck. Without taking time to consider the pitiful performance of his limbs – he had just risen from a three day coma, he told himself – he climbed up to where the mainyard crossed, then turned and settled into place. He pulled his first arrow out, and griped the smooth stock of the blessed bow, then squinted as he looked at the looming attacker.
A boarding party was lined along the near side, two dozen men or more, looking brutish and prepared to wreak violence upon the occupants of Kestrel’s ship. Kestrel aimed his arrow at the apparent leader of the boarders, then fired. The bow felt as sweet as ever, and Kestrel saw the man plunge over the railing and into the sea, a startled look on his face.
Kestrel pulled out another arrow and aimed at the man who was at the wheel. The man was at the far end of the ship, a fuzzier sight than he should have been, and Kestrel took a long second to squint and be sure his aim was true, then released his arrow. He pulled another, and saw the man at the wheel topple over, and without waiting, Kestrel fired at another member of the boarding party. Then he fired at another and another and another.
The ships drew slightly apart, as the lack of anyone to steer the attacker caused it to drift off course, and Kestrel used the time to fire at a man who appeared to be an officer, and then shot three more members of the boarding party.
The other members of the boarding party recognized the danger they were unexpectedly exposed to, and scrambled away from the railing, taking refuge behind the masts or plunging down through hatches, as the boat resumed its course towards capture of its damaged quarry. There were men up in the masts, even with him or higher, working the sails of the other ship, and Kestrel began to shoot at them, then stopped after watching his first two targets falling sickeningly to the sea below. The other men on the yards were all sliding down ropes looking for safety, and so Kestrel fired at the new man who had taken the spot at the wheel, then fired another arrow at another officer.
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 04 - A Foreign Heart Page 30
