by John Booth
“And if the swords end up with Maximum Tallis?” Jalia teased.
“I have put my life on the line to prevent that from happening,” Jak replied with grim sincerity.
“You will have no further need,” Jalia said airily. “I have made it my mission to thwart Gally Sorn’s ambitions and destroy her life.”
Jak grinned at Jalia’s response. This young girl spoke with such certainty on matters where even kings with armies at their disposal would be circumspect. He had to admit that she had style, even if she was crazy.
“They say the graveyards are filled with people who have tried to thwart Gally Sorn.”
“She tried to add us to that total earlier today. We killed four and castrated one of her men, so it doesn’t amount to a graveyard of our own yet, but you have to give us time. It would have been five more, but Daniel was having a merciful moment.”
Jak decided to release a little information that Jalia already had guessed in the hope of gaining something in return.
“I cannot see how they can get these swords from the harbor in Dalk to Tallis,” he said. “Gilan Dalk is not so foolish as to let it happen, even if he has to use every soldier at his disposal to prevent it.”
“You are looking in the wrong place for your plans,” Jalia said, as it suited her purposes to have one of Gally’s enemies better informed. “Until a couple of days ago, Lady Rotiln believed this boat was docking at Dalk. In fact, it will dock in the harbor at Tallis.”
“How do you know that?” There was cold anger in Jak’s eyes.
“I have my sources of information,” Jalia replied and grinned. “The Boat Company buildings in Dalk were attacked and they have rescheduled the Dragon to dock in Tallis. Captain Toren received new orders from the Boat Company.”
“Has he now?” Jak said through gritted teeth. “If my lady will forgive me, I have people I need to talk to.”
“I have been trying to get you out of that door for the last five minutes,” Jalia pointed out. “And don’t forget to take your knife when you go.” She turned her back on Jak and began a careful search of the drawers he had been looking through earlier.
As Jak pulled his knife from the door he realized he could probably turn and kill Jalia if he wanted. He gave a sharp bitter laugh. He couldn’t afford to kill her and she knew it. Whatever her plans were, she intended to stop Maximus Tallis from getting the swords and she had shown herself to be rather good at that sort of thing. He might need her help.
Jak listened at the door before opening it and slipped out every bit as quietly as Jalia had entered. There was a man he needed to talk to urgently and he hurried down the corridor in pursuit of that goal.
Jalia’s eyes swept the three room suite. It was laid out identically to Gally Sorn’s rooms above, so she knew all the places anything could be hidden. Despite the thoroughness of her search, all she found on her first pass was a scent bottle, which she dropped into her pocket.
It had been nearly an hour since she left the dining table and there was a good chance that Lady Rotiln would return soon. Jalia willed herself to be calm and started the search again, looking in the less likely places.
Carefully removing all the drawers of the cupboard in the main cabin, Jalia spotted what she was looking for. Underneath the bottom drawer, nestled between the wooden runners was a muslin bag. As soon as she touched it, she knew Daniel’s dagger lay within it.
Jalia tipped the bag out onto the table and found it also contained a small silk drawstring purse. For some unknown reason she found her hands trembling as she tipped its contents into her hand. The wide silver ring with runes and symbols etched on it that she knew so well was once again in her hands.
“Have you missed me?” she asked in a whisper as she put the ring onto the index finger of her right hand, where it fitted perfectly.
It seemed to Jalia that the air moved to form a transparent girl’s face that kissed her lightly on the cheek. The face was nearly invisible and Jalia was almost sure she had imagined it. The ring had never done anything like that before.
Jalia replaced everything in the room to where it had been as best she could. The fresh knife mark in the door was impossible to mask and Lady Rotiln would soon discover the scent bottle missing. It just felt more respectful to tidy up before she left.
When she walked out of the room, she whispered to the ring. “Magic Ring, lock the door for me, would you?”
Jalia heard the soft snick of the door lock and grinned with unadulterated pleasure as she walked back to the dining room and Daniel. She felt whole again for the first time since leaving Telmar.
Alin Bredan and Sila Klint sat at a table in the dining room away from the other passengers. Sila had bought bottles of expensive wines at Bratin to replace the cheap alcohol the Boat Company offered, and was appreciating the flavors of her well spent money.
“It really is astounding how much one can miss the little things in life, like a fine wine,” she informed Alin as they sipped their wine.
Bredan shifted his broken leg to a more comfortable position using both hands to move it. It would be weeks before he would be able to walk without splints around his leg and he was already heartily sick of them.
“Yes, my lady. But your gold will not last forever; especially at the rate you have been spending it. We must seek to turn the money that remains into a power base in Slarn,” he replied. He glared at Daniel, who he had somehow come to blame for his present misfortunes. He reserved more of his hatred for Jalia, but she had left the room some time before in some pain. Her pain pleased Bredan; he hoped to provide much more for her when circumstances permitted.
“Alin, do stop looking at young al’Degar like that. It ill becomes you to waste so much of your time on futile hatred. Have you wondered why he and his young lady decided to invite themselves to a meal with Sala Rotiln and her bedmate?”
“I considered they had become bored with the Marin’s and those awful children,” Bredan stated tartly.
“Those two children saved my life and my money, which is one and the same to me in a manner of speaking. You have no reason to hate them so please be civil,” Sila paused and a shiver of delight ran up her spine as she sipped again at the ten year old red wine. “I have come to the conclusion that Jalia and Daniel do nothing without an ulterior motive. You really should be warming to them, Alin, because you and they are cut from the same cloth.”
“There is nothing they could want from the Rotiln woman,” Bredan grumbled as he scratched at his itching leg. “She is merely providing support for Sorn in collecting those swords from the Telmarian traders. Sorn is the real player in this game. It is likely that Rotiln is not fully conversant with her plans.”
“Now, that is more like you, Alin. You are a schemer and it is certain that Gally Sorn is one too. There were only two people that I have feared in Slarn over the years, Deren Sorn and Maximus Tallis. All the others had gone to some soft school for gentlemen, which seemed to regard removal of the balls of its pupils as its primary objective.”
“As I remember, Yandin was eternally grateful that those men hated each other’s guts. Had they teamed up they would have been formidable opponents.”
Sila ran the rim of her wineglass over her lips. “I wonder Alin, would a girl like Gally Sorn who makes no secrets of her sexual proclivities and her desire for power, not be drawn to a man like Maximus Tallis, who is like her father in many ways?”
Bredan considered the possibility with pursed lips. “Highly likely, except for the certainty of death that such a relationship would bring. Gally Sorn does not strike me as a stupid woman by anyone’s estimation.”
“That is your one weakness, Alin; your inability to see what love will drive people to,” Sila Klint smiled at her own cleverness. “I think the real motive of our young friends is being played out in front of our eyes.”
“You have lost me, my lady,” Bredan admitted.
“They are kept busy here and Jalia al’Dare has gone. I wonde
r where?”
“Searching Rotiln’s room,” Bredan said in disgust at himself and he uttered a foul expletive at his own stupidity.
“The question we should be asking,” Sila mused to herself as much as Bredan, “Is exactly what is she searching for?”
Jak Venjer banged on Captain Toren’s door in a blind fury. The Captain was a bought man, and bought men were expected to keep their clients fully informed. As he heard the door being unlocked, Jak drew his knife from his belt.
Captain Toren opened the door in his underpants, which were bulging suspiciously at the front. Before he could so much as ask a question, he found himself pressed hard against the wall with Jak’s knife tickling his throat.
“And just when were you going to tell me that we are docking in Tallis?” Jak whispered furiously. Toren looked in horror at the knife but could not answer the question because it was held so close to his throat. Jak realized he had to move his knife if he wanted Toren to speak, and this he did reluctantly.
“It was Boat Company business and I work primarily for them,” Toren explained in as conciliatory a whisper as he could manage under the circumstances. “Our arrangement is nothing to do with information about their plans.” Toren hoped that Venjer would understand he was whispering for a purpose and would continue to do the same. He flicked his eyes towards his room door repeatedly in the hope that Venjer would take the hint.
Jak let the knife fall further from Toren’s throat as he decided Toren had a point. Under an absolutely strict interpretation of their deal, Toren was in the right.
“Did it even occur to you that this matter might be directly connected with our arrangement?” he asked in a much lower voice.
“I would have told you at our next meeting, once the Steam Dragon is underway. I did not want the news to leak out to people like the Governor. He might have taken it as a sign of Boat Company weakness.”
“The Governor is not one of my men,” Jak said softly. He let go of the Captain who tried to straighten up his sagging underwear.
“Who can know for certain who are your men, and who are not?”
“Fair enough,” Jak said and swept down the corridor without a backwards glance.
Gally Sorn swung around the bedroom door wearing nothing but a smile.
“Who was that?” she asked as she beckoned him back.
“Nothing. A silly misunderstanding, that is all.” Toren noticed what Gally was using the side of the door to do to herself. She seemed unconcerned by the prospect of splinters. The sight of Gally’s body was having its usual effect on the Captain.
“I can see you are ready to play again, Gil. Come back to bed and I will see if I can make that nasty swelling go away,” Gally giggled as she stopped using the door as a rubbing post and grabbed the Captain’s hand. “Not too quickly though, I hope. A girl has certain needs to be satisfied.”
Jalia walked into the dining room with an apologetic smile on her face.
“I am so sorry, Lady Rotiln, what ever must you think of me?” she asked as she sat down at the table. “The problem I was suffering seems to have left me.”
“You must call me Sala, child, and I shall call you Jalia. That is an unusual name you know, very ancient if my memory serves me correct. I am surprised that there are any left in Jalon who carry it.”
“My mother chose it for me,” Jalia replied. “She died before I thought to ask her why. It is too late to ask now, I’m afraid.”
“Daniel on the other hand, is a fairly common name,” Daniel pointed out.
“Only in the form of Dan,” Lady Sala corrected. “It seems everyone in Jalon gives their children shortened names, even royalty. Even Jalia is itself a shortened form of the name Jaliscia.”
“Really?” Daniel said with a sudden gleam in his eye, “I shall know what to call Jalia when she next acts like a naughty little girl.”
“Harrumph!” Lady Rotiln said as her face reddened. Jalia just looked sweetly at Daniel as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. The smoldering sexual signals flying between Jalia and Daniel had an invigorating effect on Lady Rotiln.
She gave Halad a significant look and he gave a start as he realized he was required to speak.
“I thank you for your conversation, but I am tired after a busy day in Bratin. I am sure that Lady Rotiln is also feeling the same way. Would you mind if we called it a night?”
“Absolutely no problem,” Daniel said, rising quickly to his feet before Lady Rotiln stood up. “Thank you for all your kind assistance. I’m sure our stay in Slarn will be much more enjoyable now we know exactly what to see.”
Daniel and Jalia watched Halad and Lady Rotiln leave the room with fixed smiles on their faces.
“You don’t suppose they are going to play at naughty little girl and angry father?” Daniel asked just before Jalia’s elbow in the guts rendered him temporarily speechless.
“I can’t take you anywhere?” Jalia scolded. “I’ve a good mind not to give you your toy back.” Exactly contrary to her words, she rammed Daniel’s knife into his hands. Jalia thrust them with enough force to bend Daniel further over.
“Some bad fruit we ate in Bratin,” she explained loudly to the room and everybody watching them returned their gaze back to their food.
Lady Rotiln turned and faced Halad at the door to her suite.
“You won’t be rough on me, now will you Halad?” she asked in a little girl voice.
“I shall not leave a single mark upon your tender flesh, my lady,” Halad replied sternly.
“You can, just so long as they are not where anyone might see them,” Lady Rotiln giggled. “I have never felt as young as I do now, even when I was really that age.”
She unlocked the door and they rushed into her suite. Halad took her in his arms and lifted her off her feet to kiss her passionately. Lady Rotiln’s eyes were closed for a long time while Halad hugged her close. She wrapped her legs around his as best she could while constrained in her dress. Then she opened her eyes and saw the knife mark in the door.
“Put me down, you oath,” she shouted; all thoughts of liaisons forgotten. Halad staggered as she struggled to get out of his embrace.
“Have I done something to offend?” Halad asked in sudden fright. Lady Rotiln was part of a powerful family who would have less trouble killing Halad than they would swatting a fly.
“Not you fool, there, look where I’m pointing.”
Halad followed her arm and saw the knife mark in the door. He ran his finger over it, getting a splinter in his finger for his troubles.
As he cursed and shook his hand, Lady Rotiln started to search the room. It took only moments to remove the draw and pick up the empty bag hidden beneath it.
“The cunning bitch,” she said, half in curse and half in admiration. She sat down heavily in a chair and considered her options.
“What is missing, my lady?” Halad had wrapped his finger in his handkerchief and was trying to avoid bursting into tears.
“Nothing, Halad. Forget it. I do not want you to concern yourself in this matter.”
“Once I have run cold water on my finger I am sure we will be able to resume where we left off,” Halad offered.
Lady Rotiln dismissed the suggestion. “I am no longer in the mood,” she told Halad. “Go back to your own cabin for the night. We will meet in the morning for breakfast.”
“Why would anybody stick a knife in your door to let you know they had burgled you?” Halad asked. “Wouldn’t it have been simpler to leave the room in a mess?”
“That is a very good question, Halad.” Lady Rotiln gathered him in her arms and led him towards the door. “And it is one I shall sleep on tonight.”
Before Halad was aware of what was going on he was standing in the corridor staring at a closed door. After a few moments of thought, he shrugged and made his way to his cabin, which was much less salubrious.
Lady Rotiln went to her bed and sat down upon it. The ring and the dagger were back with their
original owners, of that she was certain. On her own part, she would have to explain to Gally Sorn what had happened and suspected that the conversation would not be a pleasant experience.
Lady Rotiln shrugged. She had done her best and it wasn’t her fault. If Gally wanted to take the matter further with Daniel and Jalia that was up to her. The ring and dagger were hardly that valuable. The whole thing was nothing more than a contest of wills between Gally and the couple. It seemed that Jalia and Daniel had won this round. Knowing Gally the way she did, Lady Rotiln almost felt sorry for the two of them. For all that they had just stolen from her and made her life difficult, she admired both of them and didn’t want them hurt.
15. Essences
Next morning, Daniel fitted his dagger back onto his belt. It felt good to wear it again, as it had been his since his mother gave it to him on his seventh birthday. He now knew that the dagger was over a thousand years old and had hung from the belt of every heir of the Magician King’s since their destruction at the hands of the Fairie.
Even before the Fairie, Princess Clea, endowed it with the power to fly to his command, it had been filled with ancient human magic. It had shielded the heirs from Fairie detection and he knew it had been shielding him even as Clea added to its power. Daniel looked down at his dagger with a sense of awe.
The dagger’s hilt was of the plainest construction, its wooden hilt had cracked centuries ago and been repaired many times, string having being wound around the handle soaked with glue. He had repaired that handle himself when he was twelve years old, using furniture makers’ glue made from the hooves of horses. This gave the string a varnished look, though its hilt felt anything but smooth in his hand.
The blade it sported had been tarnished and dinted in those days, he had sharpened it many times but some of the nicks along its length were deep. Princess Clea had changed all that the day she added her magic to that already there. The blade now glinted with a wicked blue light in sunlight and it had become sharper than any razor that Daniel had known. It sometimes felt like it was cutting the air itself when Daniel swung it. What Clea had also done that day was make the knife desirable to a thief; where before, a thief would have left it untouched.
