by John Booth
“Of course they have the dagger and the ring,” Lady Rotiln said viciously. “Haven’t you been listening?”
“They don’t matter.” Gally almost tripped over her dressing gown. She pulled the garment from her body, flinging it across the room as she continued to pace. “The thing that matters is that they must know I sent assassins against them. They are not the kind of people to let such a matter rest. They will seek revenge.”
“Then jump off this boat and swim for shore,” Lady Rotiln suggested. “Because I believe that either one of them could kill you without getting out of breath.”
“I can’t leave, you stupid bitch,” Gally snarled. “My whole life is tied up in this mission and it must succeed.”
“Insulting me will not help.”
Gally took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
“I’m sorry, Sala. I apologize for the insult. This is not your fault.” Gally sat down again and started to rub her thighs as she thought; a sight that distracted Lady Rotiln considerably.
“If they were going to confront me over the mess in the Greenhouse they would have done so by now. Perhaps they killed my father’s men and couldn’t question them. It seems extremely unlikely, but then, so does either of them being alive.”
“Perhaps your men thought hard on their reputation and decided not to bother?” Lady Rotiln suggested. “It would explain why they have no injuries and didn’t mention a fight last night.”
“I ought to be whipped for trusting those men.” Gally slapped her thigh hard, as if as a prelude to taking such an action herself. She stood up again and looked hard at Lady Rotiln.
“Nothing has changed. Forgive me for putting you in a position where you were robbed. Was anything else taken?”
“Only a scent bottle, which I might have misplaced somewhere.”
At that moment, the distant horn of the Speedy Star floated through Gally’s windows, followed almost immediately by the deafening sound of the Steam Dragon’s response. More blasts on the Steam Dragon’s horn followed in short succession.
“I must get dressed, there may be a message from my father,” Gally said as she hustled Lady Rotiln to her door.
“Or from the king,” Lady Rotiln said with more enthusiasm on the matter than Gally had shown. “I will see you on the deck shortly?”
“Yes, but keep your distance from me. There are many spies onboard.”
Cara helped Hala to her feet, having just knocked her onto the deck with the force of her sword strike.
“You are only a child. You don’t yet have the strength to block those sorts of blows effectively. You must parry them away instead,” Cara explained.
Hala nodded. There was grim determination on her face as she stood and waited for Cara’s next attack. When it came, it was unexpectedly verbal.
“Are you having sex with Nin?”
“Not the full thing, but pretty close,” Hala answered reluctantly.
“I remember my first time. It wasn’t much fun at all,” Cara admitted. “But Nin seems nice, for a cabin boy.”
“What do you mean?” Hala asked, outraged.
“Well, he’s your first love and that’s pretty overwhelming. He must seem like everything to you.”
“He is important to me. He wants me to stay onboard and join the crew.”
“To do what, clean the tables after people have eaten?”
“I don’t really know,” Hala admitted.
“If you are going to spend the rest of your life with him, you should be sure you’re going to be doing what you want to do. I can’t imagine spending my life as a dishwasher. I want to see the world and have adventures.” Cara smiled.
“I’ve had rather a lot of adventures recently,” Hala replied. “They can get a bit wearing.”
“But here you are, practicing fighting with a sword and the crew of the Steam Dragon don’t even carry knives, except when they are stacking cargo. Nin doesn’t even own a knife, does he?”
Hala shook her head.
“Well, it’s your business, and none of mine, but you don’t seem to be the kind of girl who would end up living with a man who can’t defend himself.”
“I can defend both of us,” Hala said stoutly.
“I’m sure you can, but how would that make him feel? To know he had to rely on his woman to keep him safe.”
Hala shook her head because she had never considered such a possibility until Cara had brought it up.
The conversation was brought to an end by the sound of a horn in the distance. Hala put her hands over her ears as the Steam Dragon replied.
“Shall we go and watch the show?” Cara suggested
Hala nodded, keeping her hands over her ears because of the repeated blasts from the Steam Dragon’s horn.
The girls sheathed their swords and ran to the safety rails to await the arrival of the Speedy Star.
Prince Doran Dalk, youngest son of King Gillan the Fourteenth of the Trium of Dalk knocked on the door of the cabin of Tonas Mallow. Flanking him were Jant and Mal.
Tonas opened the door and looked at the men in surprise. He knew a deputation when he saw one and wondered what the men wanted.
“I have come to speak to you on a matter of increasing urgency and some delicacy,” Dor told Tonas grandly.
“Well then, you had better come in, hadn’t you,” Tonas replied, waving the men into the room.
Wilf and Tred sat at a table where they had been playing cards with Tonas. They stood in some alarm as three armed men entered the room.
“Anything you wish to say to me you can say in front of my partners,” Tonas said in an offhand manner. In the days that had passed since his father died, he had become more and more confident in his ability to deal with anything that might arise.
“Good enough,” Dor snapped irritably. “I am Prince Dor and my father is the King of Dalk. I know you have three thousand three hundred and sixty swords onboard this boat that you are planning to sell to Gally Sorn. I am here to make you a better offer.”
“You seem to be very well informed,” Tonas replied without batting an eyelid. “Do you also know the price that these swords have been purchased for?”
“No, but whatever Gally Sorn is paying you, I will guarantee to pay more.”
“That is a big guarantee when you do not know what you are guaranteeing. The price for the swords is twenty thousand pieces of gold, much more than a king’s ransom. Are you certain your father can afford to pay more? And then there is the matter of honor,” Tonas continued. “Lady Sorn has put down a significant deposit on the swords and I am honor bound to sell them to her.”
“Do you honestly believe she will pay you?” Dor asked in disgust. “She has already had your father killed along with most of your trading partners. Do you think she would hesitate for a moment if killing you will save her money?”
“You are mistaken,” Tonas said evenly. “My father simply caught a chill at Boathaven and sent me on to complete the deal while he recovers.”
“I watched the crossbow bolt cut him down from the platform on the funnel. I suppose the bolt may have made him shiver as it pierced his heart.”
“You have exceptional night vision and are extremely well informed,” Tonas said without rancor. “However, I see no reason to change the arrangements that have been made.”
“Then let common sense be your guide,” Dor offered. “This boat is docking in Dalk and there is no way that my father will allow those swords to reach Tallis. If you don’t deal with me now then my father will ensure you have nothing to deal with later.”
Tonas patted Dor on the shoulder as one might commiserate with a comrade who has suffered a misfortune.
“Then there is no need for us to have this conversation,” Tonas said quietly as he guided Dor from his cabin. “Let what will happen, happen, and do not concern yourself with the business of mere traders.”
Before Dor knew what was happening, he found he was out in the corridor. Jant and Mal behind him.
“Do call again when we reach Slarn,” Tonas said with a smile as he closed the door on the Prince and his men.
“Was that wise, Tonas?” Wilf asked as soon as the door was closed. “He is a prince and things may still go wrong with our plans.”
“Kalenda of Jenver has promised us the full price of the swords and it is to her we will deliver them,” Tonas said emphatically. “That will punish the bitch Sorn and avenge my father’s death.”
“But he was right,” Tred pointed out. “There is no way that King Gillan will let the sword leave Dalk. We could end up with nothing.”
“Kalenda promised assistance in her letter. She said that there were people onboard who will ensure we are not stopped by Sorn and that there is a plan for the swords to get to Jenver. I am the leader of this group now my father is dead and I plan to honor his memory by delivering the swords to the woman he loved.”
The Steam Dragon’s horn sounded loudly making the Denger brothers jump.
“That will be the encounter with the Speedy Star,” Tonas said happily. “There may be a further message from Kalenda to my father. We should go on deck so we can collect it before the good Captain has a chance to open it.”
“You do not trust Captain Toren?” Wilf asked.
“He is tupping the Sorn bitch nightly. How can we possibly trust him?”
Nin was having a hard time on his first day back at work. He had been up since dawn and his wounds ached terribly. Captain Toren had, with casual sadism, assigned Nin to keep the Steam Dragon’s firebox filled with wood. It was backbreaking work at the best of times. Fortunately, Jerin Malder had been doing most of the work.
“Sit down and have a rest,” Jerin suggested as Nin staggered and fell, bouncing the log he had been carrying across the room.
“If the Captain sees me doing that I shall end up over the barrel again.”
“Hah, the Captain won’t be down here while there’s a good head of steam,” Jerin said laughing. “Believe me; none of the officers come down here for fear of having to do some real work.”
“I don’t know how you manage it all on your own,” Nin confessed. “When is Yan returning to work?”
“Our chief stoker has been laid up in his cabin ever since your friend Daniel hit him in the jaw. Broke it in two places, according to that healer, Jak Venjer. Your dad’s been mashing up all Yan’s food into tiny little pieces ever since, because he can’t chew.” Jerin spat into the flames to check how hot the firebox was and nodded his head at the sizzling result.
“It must be so hard to do it all on your own.”
“It’s just about the same as with Yan, except that now I don’t have to pay attention to his orders or listen to him moan about how he should be an officer. I prefer it like this and shall be sorry when he returns. Your friend Daniel did me a big favor, let me tell you.”
Nin got to his feet and picked up the fallen log.
“Put it down boy. The fire’s plenty hot enough as it is,” Jerin ordered and Nin gratefully put the log down. “I hear you have found yourself a pretty little girl?”
“Her name’s Hala,” Nin said. He was blushing as he spoke, but it was invisible in the glow from the fire.
“We could do with more women on the Dragon,” Jerin said thoughtfully. “The Speedy Star is almost even with men and women, what with Mela as its captain. Are you giving it good to her, boy?”
“She won’t go all the way. Says she’s too young for it,” Nin found himself saying with something approaching horror. He couldn’t believe he was being so honest. They hardly knew each other; for all that they had been on the boat together since the day Nin was born.
“That’s a woman’s right, boy. My dad always said that to take advantage of a woman, you have to persuade her it was her idea in the first place.”
“How do you do that?” Nin asked eagerly.
“Damned if I know. The old man was always saying stuff like that, but he wasn’t much good at giving examples. What would she do if she did come onboard to live?”
“I don’t know,” Nin confessed. “She’s good with a knife and a sword.”
“Not much use for those skills on a boat, boy. She ain’t born to this life. Maybe you should spend more time thinking about that and less on getting your gear greased.”
The Steam Dragon’s horn sounded through the hull of the boat and Nin started to rise. Jerin waved him to sit again.
“Stokers don’t get to go up top to see the boats cross. We have to make sure that there’s plenty of steam in case the Captain needs to do a fancy maneuver or two. Best pick up that log and throw it into the box, just in case”
Up on the bridge, Captain Toren stared into the distance up the river.
“There she is, Seb. Is she slowing down?”
“Looks like it Captain. Mela Tanton isn’t the kind of captain that makes mistakes.”
“None of us are,” Captain Toren replied. “I’ve written messages to her and Len on the Flying Kite to bypass Wegnar until the Boat Company Board can make a ruling.”
“There are bound to be some of her passengers unhappy at that decision,” Seb pointed out.
“It’s in the rules they accepted when they bought their passage. The company’s boats don’t stop anywhere they have been attacked,” Toren replied calmly.
“If Mela’s boat is as filled with refugees as Len’s was, she’ll have her hands full with passengers screaming they need to go to their relatives at Wegnar.”
“That’s why we captains get paid so much.”
“I heard it was because you were all blackmailing the Board Members,” Seb said smiling.
“Well, that does help,” Toren said and smiled back.
Daniel and Don joined Hala and Cara at the railings, looking out for the Speedy Star to pass by. Daniel turned to Hala.
“Since your boyfriend doesn’t seem to be here to ask, do you know what’s going to happen?” he asked.
“Normally the only messages delivered are those from Slarn so the boats can charge past each other like they did last time. The passengers’ messages are just a courtesy service. The system was created so that the Boat Company could pass new instructions to its Captains. According to Nin, Captain Toren has to tell the sister boats about what happened at Wegnar, so he will have sounded his horn in a special signal to the Speedy Star.”
“How will they exchange messages then?” Don asked. “Do they launch one of those massive rowing boats we carry?”
“I don’t think so. Those boats are only for emergencies. I think they use the things they used last time,” Hala explained doubtfully. Nin had been too worried about starting work to explain in detail.
As Hala indicated, the boom was swung out from the Steam Dragon, only this time it already held a mail sack. The Speedy star was approaching slowly, just drifting down at the river’s natural flow. Captain Toren was running the Dragon’s engines enough to hold the Steam Dragon stationary relative to the river’s bank.
As the boats drew level the engines of the Speedy Star started up, but they must have been running in reverse because vast amounts of water churned from the boat’s rear and it slowed down even more.
Steering in reverse must be difficult because the Speedy Star started to slide towards them. Captain Toren used the engines to pull the Steam Dragon away from the other boat. While this was going on, the woman in the cage on the Speedy Star swung her boom over to try and pick up the bag the Steam Dragon’s operator was holding for her.
Both boats swayed from side to side alarmingly and drifted across the river as the operation continued. Daniel began to wonder if they were going to hit the bank or possibly get stuck in the mud.
Now they were close, Daniel saw the Speedy Star was as packed with passengers as the Flying Kite had been. Mother’s held tight to children as they watched the boats dance across the river. The kids burst into a round of applause as the bag from the Steam Dragon was caught and recovered by the operator on the Speedy Star.
Seconds later an identical mail bag was being swung out for the Steam Dragon’s man to catch. He was either very good or lucky because he caught it first time and swung it over the deck.
Two seconds after he had caught the bag the Speedy Star’s engines stopped and then restarted, this time going the right way. The two captains waved farewells and Daniel saw that the captain on the Speedy Star was a woman.
“That was fun!” Cara said, lifting Hala into the air and spinning her around. Hala laughed, as she was put back on the deck as gentle as a feather.
“Don’t think I’m picking you up and spinning you round,” Daniel told Don, who grinned in reply.
16. Betrayals
Dor waited impatiently for Jant to decode the letter from the Speedy Star. It irritated Dor no end that his father Gilan trusted Jant more than his own son. All the messages were addressed to Jant and only Jant could decipher them.
Mal picked at his fingernails with the point of his knife and ignored the others. Jant would not let Dor look over his shoulder for fear he would work out how to decode the messages. As a result, Dor paced the other side of the room from one wall to the other. Mal looked up and gave a barking laugh at his charge’s impatience.
Jant put away his codebook in the inside pocket of his jerkin. Both the book and the pocket were small. The pocket fastened with a string, and much to Dor’s annoyance, Jant spent what seemed like an age fastening it up.
“So what does my father say this time,” Dor snarled. “Am I to be bound, gagged and locked in my cabin until this boat is safely docked in Dalk?”
“That would be for a very long time, my lord. It appears that the harbor at Dalk has been badly damaged by a fire and the Boat Company has decided the Steam Dragon shall dock in Tallis.”
“Docking in Tallis?” Dor cried in horror. “Then all is lost. King Oto will take possession of the swords and then the throne of Slarn. This is a disaster.”
“Perhaps not, my lord,” Jant continued. “Your father writes that he has reached a pact with Queen Kalenda. Dalk and Jenver forces will gather at the harbor and take the swords from King Oto. Kalenda and your father have been unable to reach an agreement as to what will happen next, so he instructs you to purchase the swords from Hadon Mallow to give him leverage in the negotiations.” Jant paused. “It is worth remembering that his majesty is still unaware of what happened at the Boathaven docks.”
