“You’ve taken to it like you were born to it, my lord,” the captain agreed as he stood nearby. “No one told me to expect the prince of the land to be a natural seaman!” he laughed a creaking laugh that made Kestrel grin.
Moorin ran down to the cabin and got the pot of salve, then she and Kestrel went to the foremast and climbed up to the highest joint where the top yard joined the mast, and sat down.
“You climbed like you’ve done it every day,” Kestrel complimented Moorin as they took their seats.
“Hold out your hands,” she replied. He obeyed, and she took them up in her own, then slowly raised them one at a time to her lips, and gently kissed them while her eyes searched his face, before she lowered his hands to her lap and silently began to gently rub salve on his palms.
“Who are you really?” she asked when she finished. She looked directly into his face. “The Ruelin I heard about, the Ruelin I met, never would have done any of the things you’ve done since you woke up. You’re braver, stronger, kinder, cleverer. You could tell me you’re anyone in the world except Kestrel and I wouldn’t care, but I want to know who you are and what you’ve done to Ruelin.”
He sat with a dumbfounded expression, until she burst out laughing. “The look on your face is priceless, my dear!” and she laid her head on his shoulder affectionately, chuckling at her own humor. “If the only difference is the difference between you on land and you at sea, I suggest we build a palace that floats at the docks and live in the harbor.
“What’s the first thing you want to show me when we reach your nation?” she asked after a few moments. “Besides the bedroom, I mean,” she laughed gently.
“Land,” Kestrel said.
“Well, yes, we’ll see that soon enough,” Moorin said in a patient tone.
“I see it right now!” Kestrel replied. “There’s land on the horizon!”
“Land in sight!” he called loudly, turning to face downward towards the deck. He was relieved by the fortunate excuse to interrupt the conversation. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know a single thing about Seafare to be able to propose something to see. And Moorin’s pretense of seeing through his false identity had scared him, while her spoken disdain of his true identity had wounded him. Yet he had to tell her the truth, very soon, or he had to figure out some way to reverse the process that had stuck him in the human body.
“It must be a headland. We may arrive at Seafare before nightfall,” Moorin replied.
“I’m famished,” Kestrel suddenly realized that he was hungry. “Would you like to feed me another meal?” he asked with a grin.
“As long as you don’t think this is going to be the rule for every meal of our married life together,” she agreed, and they went back down to the deck.
“With the wind behind us we should pull up to the palace docks in about three hours, my lord,” an officer said before he agreed to have a tray of food sent down to the cabin where the ruling couple headed.
Chapter 23 – Arrival at Seafare
That very afternoon, a ship pulled out of Graylee, carrying the true prince of Graylee, along with Picco, who he had grown to trust and rely upon, and Creata and Wren, Creata going under the pretext of establishing diplomatic relations with Seafare on behalf of the new ruler of Graylee, though he was truly motivated more by the desire to remain with Wren. The imps were on board too.
“You’ll love seeing Seafare,” Ruelin told Picco. “We’ll have to go for a ride through the countryside, so you can see the fields of madder and weld. They’re beautiful to look at, especially at sunset, when the colors are so rich.”
“I’ll look forward to that, and to seeing you in your own body again,” she agreed. “I’d like to know what you really look like.”
“Whereas I have the advantage of knowing that you really look like a lovely girl,” Ruelin said valiantly. As much as he admired Moorin’s astonishing beauty and the prestige of marrying the granddaughter of a former king of the Northern Forest, there had been no chemistry between her and him. The nuptials had been negotiated by his ambassador in a business-like manner in the best interest of both parties, negotiated quickly but without any romantic or sentimental attachments.
And simplt the sheer physical condition of the Kestrel body he occupied had changed his outlook. Everything seemed easier in the fit elven body – running, even breathing seemed easier, and made him happier with life. He blushed as he thought about the dissipated lifestyle he had lived in recent years in Seafare, especially since Uniontown’s influence had grown so prominent. He shied away from the thought of having to reveal to Picco just how depraved his city, and his own life, had become when he had listened to the advice and encouragement of Probst, the Uniontown ambassador.
“We’ll need three days of sailing time to reach Seafare,” the captain told his noble passengers. “Maybe more if the wind or traffic are bad.”
They were aboard a well-armed ship, cognizant of the fact that Uniontown and its allies still controlled most of the ports and kingdoms that ringed the Inner Seas. Seafare itself was a close ally of Uniontown; though it had not been conquered, Prince Ruelin had listened closely to the ambassador from Uniontown and carried out many of his suggestions, including the ambassador’s suggestion that he send his own ambassador to Kirevee and propose to Moorin on behalf of Ruelin.
Ruelin’s inhabitation of Kestrel’s body had actually freed him from the influence of the Viathins though, and he appreciated the freedom of thought he enjoyed as a result. Once the whole fantastic story about Viathins and mind-control had been explained to him repeatedly by multiple friends of Kestrel, he had insisted that the ship carry the skin of water from Decimindion with it to Seafare, so that his own court could be freed from the unnatural influence of the monsters, just as he had been set free through Kestrel’s immunity to the influence.
“The city is a terrible cesspit right now. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done,” he stole a glance at Picco as he spoke. “But I know better now, and I’ll not be fooled again into doing those things. Seafare will become a more wholesome place.
“We’ll sail into the harbor, and then what will we do?” Creata asked. “Tell them that we’ve got their real prince, but he looks like someone else?”
“Show them us!” Odare had suggested. “Everyone knows how sincere imps are, so they’ll have to believe you!”
Chapter 24 – In the Palace of Pain
When Kestrel’s ship glided up to Seafare’s palace docks, he was dressed in a resplendent set of royal robes that had been taken from storage on board the ship, and Moorin was dressed in a set of her finest clothes as well. They stepped onto the dock and struck all who observed them to appear to be a couple that was eminently suited to rule the nation.
Kestrel felt the blood drain from his face as he saw that the hastily assembled welcoming party included Namber, the exiled former prince of Graylee, who Kestrel discovered was living in the palace at Seafare during his exile, a guest of Ruelin and of Probst, the powerful Uniontown ambassador to Seafare; Probst was the man who pulled the strings behind the scenes in Seafare and manipulated the previously compliant Ruelin with ease.
“Your highness, it’s a pleasure to see your safe return,” Namber told Kestrel on the dock. “We had heard rumors of pirates at large upon the Great Sea. It’s good to know that you survived the passage.”
As soon as Kestrel heard Namber speak he heard the falseness in the man’s voice, and he realized that the pirate attacks had been an ambush known in Seafare, and made with the approval of the palace where Ruelin was supposed to rule. His mind staggered at the thought of the level of treachery and deceit that must exist in the environment he was entering.
Namber looked at Moorin, and bowed low to kiss her hand as they were introduced, but in his glance Kestrel saw unalloyed lust for the half-elven woman who was in Seafare to become its princess.
“My lady, we meet again, and you are at least as beautiful as you were before,” Namber purred.
“Have we met?” Moorin asked in confusion.
“Not precisely, but yes, in a way. There was a false copy of you who visited my own palace,” Namber vaguely explained. “It is a complicated story,” he glanced sideways at Probst, the Uniontown ambassador, “but we must sit down some evening and I’ll explain it. And someday when I am back in Graylee in my palace there, I’ll show you the very spot where we visited.”
“Given your fall from power, that seems unlikely,” Kestrel blurted out.
Namber looked up at Kestrel with hate-filled eyes, and Probst looked at him in surprise. He had breached protocol, Kestrel knew. The situation in Seafare, the welcoming conclave on the dock, his distaste for what it all signaled, the shock of it all, in addition to the tension of living in someone else’s body, all were stressful beyond anything he had ever imagined. Together, the mix of volatile elements had caused him to blurt out his real thoughts; he knew that he was just one misstep away from disaster for both himself and now, he realized, for Moorin too, who would fall victim to Namber if Kestrel were not available to protect her.
“Forgive me,” he mumbled. “The journey was a long and tiring one. Let us return to the palace and refresh ourselves,” he said, then took Moorin’s hand in his and started walking towards the carriages that were parked near the dock.
“Would you like for one of the servants to carry your bow for you?” Probst asked, nodding towards the bow that Kestrel had slung over his shoulder and carried off the ship with him, despite the breach of etiquette it caused.
“It comforts me. I’ll carry it myself,” Kestrel demurred, and walked on.
“Lady Moorin, we have to talk,” he said as soon as they were in the carriage.
“Yes, my lord,” she looked at him, surprised by the urgent tone of his voice.
“Not here in the wagon, but when we’re safely alone in the palace,” he explained. “I will do everything I can to watch out for you and protect you.”
“I never doubted otherwise,” she smiled, “as you’ve already demonstrated repeatedly at sea.”
They sat in silence for the rest of the short ride to the palace, passing through a heavily guarded gate and then stopping before a grim, forbidding-looking structure. As their carriage pulled up, a quartet of guards climbed down, and other guards appeared from the palace, while other carriages from the greeting party pulled up near them.
“We’ve arranged for a tour for your new bride to see the palace this afternoon, your majesty. Shall we schedule that for immediately after your rest, before the banquet tonight?” the ambassador from Uniontown, Probst, asked.
“Yes, a tour will be an excellent idea, “Kestrel agreed. He led Moorin into the main entrance of the palace. “Will one of you show us to our lady’s new chambers?” Kestrel asked one of the maids who were assembled in the hallway, bowed in greeting.
An older lady, the apparent head mistress of the serving staff stepped forth, and the ruling couple followed her up the stairs, and away from the rest of the assembled gathering, who wondered at the Prince’s hasty exit from the crowd, without ceremony or comment to anyone.
“This is your suite, my lady, right down the hall from the prince’s quarters,” the servant paused at a door, which Kestrel opened.
“Thank you,” Kestrel told the servant, as he gently ushered Moorin into the room then closed the door behind.
They entered a series of elegant, if drab rooms. “Will our chambers connect with each other?” Moorin asked as Kestrel walked them hurriedly into the bedroom.
“Lady Moorin, I don’t know,” Kestrel answered. He felt miserable, not knowing any way to make his story sound plausible.
“My lord, are you well? Ruelin, you’ve been acting strangely ever since we reached the city,” Moorin answered.
“Let’s sit down, shall we?” Kestrel suggested. “I have to tell you something. I started to try on the ship once, but we were interrupted.
“When I awoke on the ship,” Kestrel hesitated as he began. “When I awoke from the coma, I did not know where I was. I didn’t expect to awaken there, though the miracle of awakening to find your beauty by my bedside made it a wonderful surprise in one sense,” he gave a weak smile.
“And not only did I not know where I was, I didn’t know who I was,” he saw her eyebrows rise. “I mean, I knew who I was – am – but I didn’t realize who I was supposed to be.
“I’m not really Prince Ruelin. Somehow, I woke up in his body, and,” Kestrel mused, “I suppose he woke up in mine.”
He looked at her and saw the alarm in her eyes. Kestrel stood up and started pacing. “Think about it Moorin; you said the very thing yourself! I thought you had caught me! The things I’ve done in the past day and a half. And the way I acted here? I couldn’t introduce you to anyone because I don’t know anyone here.”
“You knew the prince of Graylee,” Moorin said, as Kestrel paced back and forth in front of the window.
“That’s a different tale,” Kestrel said quietly. “I fought in the rebellion against Namber. I was caught and tortured in his palace. I know him far too well.”
“And what’s even more immediately important is that you know that this place is an evil place. We are in a land where terrible things are happening, and we need to be careful,” Kestrel told her.
“I know, I know,” he saw the stricken look on her face. “You’re thinking you’re hundreds of miles away from your friends and family and suddenly you find that your fiancé is insane, a madman.
“Just trust me, please. I’ve treated you as well as I could these past few hours. I will look out for you and protect you. I pledge myself to you,” he knelt before her.
There was a knock at the door.
“Who do you think you really are?” Moorin asked cautiously.
“You believe me? You concede that my story is true?” Kestrel looked up into her eyes, studying her. There was a spark of something positive in her expression.
“I know that these past few hours I have not known you at all except for your face – your words and actions are so completely different from what I expected them to be,” she acknowledged.
The knock on the door happened again, louder.
Kestrel rose and stepped into the hallway near the door, out of the bedroom. “Who is it?” he asked.
“Your lady’s tour of the palace is ready to begin whenever she wishes to come downstairs, my lord,” a man’s voice called.
“We’ll be down in just a few minutes,” Kestrel called through the door, then returned to Moorin. She was sitting on the bed with her hands covering her face, silently weeping.
“Who do you think you are?” she asked again from behind her hands.
“Someone you don’t truly know; someone who will not hurt you; someone who will not desert you,” Kestrel answered. “Just continue to call me Ruelin,” he told her, not wanting to admit he was the one man she seemed to truly hate. He reached out and took her hands, then gently pulled them from her face and pulled her up to her feet. “Let’s go take this tour together, so that we can see the palace and learn what we’re in for,” he told his fiancé-in-name.
Moorin wiped her tears, then, holding Kestrel’s hand, she walked downstairs with him to where a small group of people were gathered, waiting to participate in the tour. Kestrel observed their faces as the group gathered together, and he saw that some were marked by fear and apprehension, while others seemed to show a cruel satisfaction, and he marked those as men to watch out for.
The tour began by entering the public halls, the throne room, the reception areas, and then went out into the gardens. Kestrel took note of the distinctly martial tone of the presentation and the decorative motifs on the tour; Seafare was a warlike nation, or at least the palace had such a character, though Kestrel did not know if that was traditional, or a result of the recent Uniontown influence.
As they walked through the gardens, Kestrel noted a large glass-enclosed space on the far side of the garden area, a
nd he guessed what it must be. “Shall we take my beloved over to look at that facility?” he asked the tour guide.
“Is that prudent, your majesty?” one of the men asked.
“I think she should see and know everything there is to know about the man she agreed to marry,” Kestrel answered firmly, determined to find out if the enclosure was in fact a pool that provided a home for Viathins on the palace grounds.
The group veered to the left, and crossed over to where guards stood at the entrance of the glass room.
“Visitors are not permitted,” one of the guards said nervously, unhappy with appearing to block his nation’s ruler.
“Fool! Open the cursed door for the Prince and his consort,” one of the escorting guards said angrily, and the guard stationed at the door quickly complied, then stepped out of the way.
Inside the room there was a large pool, as Kestrel had expected, and several Viathins, in the form of the lizard monsters Kestrel had first seen, were floating idly in the water. The air was dense with humidity.
“We’re scheduled to feed them within a few minutes,” one of the tour leaders said fondly. “Would you and your princess like to watch?”
“What do they eat?” Moorin asked innocently.
“Prisoners,” the guide replied. “They’re a marvelously efficient way to clear out his highness’s prisons!” the man laughed a wheezing laugh, his noise drowning out the gasp of horror that Moorin emitted.
“No,” Kestrel said sternly. “No, we will not feed them human flesh! Feed them beef or horse meat today, and have them removed from the palace by midnight tonight! They are abominations, and I will not stand to have them in the palace of the people of Seafare.”
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 04 - A Foreign Heart Page 33
