Jalia Prevails (Book 5)

by John Booth

  “Hadon or Tonas, what does it matter? Tonas will not deal with us, you have seen that yourself. I have failed my father before I even begin.” Dor sat down and put his head in his hands.

  “I do not understand what is motivating Tonas,” Jant said, thinking aloud. “I cannot believe he would willingly sell their swords to Gally Sorn. He must know she arranged his father’s death.”

  “Perhaps he is happier without his father?” Mal suggested unexpectedly. It was unusual for him to offer an opinion.

  “He has certainly inherited his father’s arrogance,” Dor snapped. “Whatever Tonas’s plans are, they do not seem to involve us. I have failed.”

  “Now, now, your highness,” Jant said in a soothing voice. “We have not played this game to its conclusion, and much may happen still.”

  Halad al’Faran read his letter for a second time before screwing it up and throwing over the side. He misjudged the wind and the letter bounced against the hull of the boat, almost returning to the deck before it finally flew away and landed in the boat’s churning wake.

  Halad controlled his breathing with difficulty. He was not an assassin and what he had been ordered to do was horrible and frightening. If he could have chosen to run he would have done so, but the Steam Dragon was heading to Tallis, taking Halad into the arms of his master. He had no choice. He had to do as he had been ordered.

  Halad took out his handkerchief and wiped away bitter tears. The orders said to do it before the boat entered Slarn. That meant he had only a little time. He didn’t have to do it tonight. He might even wait until tomorrow or the morning of the day after that. Halad knew he would have to gather his strength and resolve. Murder was not in his nature, but he had no choice, he must do what he had been instructed.

  Cara’s words about her future life with Nin kept repeating themselves over and over in Hala’s mind. What would she do if she stayed? She had no skills that were useful on a boat. She couldn’t even cook. The slaves had done all that at Taldon’s Fort and Daniel had been doing the cooking ever since. She could find vegetables in a forest and hunt for food, but the Steam Dragon wasn’t a forest, it was a big steel tavern gliding through the water.

  Hala wasn’t ready to become Nin’s mistress. She was still twelve though she would be thirteen soon. Perhaps she was already thirteen, as she had largely lost track of the time since she started upon this adventure by following Jalia and Daniel with a view to killing them.

  Hala grew angrier as she walked deep into the bowels of the boat. She had arranged to meet Nin in the boiler room that morning. The morning seemed like weeks ago. How could she have trusted Nin to look after her when he couldn’t even look after himself? Hala felt such a fool as she opened the boiler room door.

  Jerin laughed when he saw Hala approach and suggested that she and Nin take their tryst into the corridor.

  “But don’t start doing it out there. You never know when an officer might walk by,” he called after them.

  “I hate it when adults talk about us doing sexual things,” Hala complained. “Did you have to tell every single member of the crew what we have been doing?”

  “I didn’t,” Nin argued, but even he could hear the guilt in his voice.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hala said decisively. “I am leaving the Steam Dragon with Jalia and Daniel when we reach Slarn.”

  Nin’s mouth fell open in shock. “But we have three days yet. Why do you have to decide now? What have I done wrong?”

  “What you have done, Nin, is nothing,” Hala continued, her anger building up a head of steam that would have not been out of place in the boat’s boiler. “You have not even considered what I would do if I stayed onboard. Do you think that all I want is to clean up passengers rubbish and spread my legs for you at night? Is that all you think I am worth?”

  “No, yes… I don’t know,” Nin floundered. “Isn’t our love as important to you as it is to me?”

  “My life is important to me,” Hala said as tears started to flow. “And all you’ve done is wreck it even more.”

  Nin tried to put his arm around her, but Hala shook him away. “I’m going back to Jalia and Daniel. I never want to see you again.”

  Hala fled down the corridor, stumbling because her tears blinded her. Eventually she found a storeroom where she could weep to her hearts content without being seen.

  Sala Rotiln returned to her suite with a letter clutched close to her bosom. She had recognized King Oto’s writing on the envelope and knew it must be important if he had bothered to write to her personally. She hoped that Captain Toren and his First Mate were not familiar with the King’s hand. It would be a disaster if either of them had recognized it when they handed it to her.

  With shaking fingers, she tore the plain wax seal and opened up the folded parchment. The King had been thoughtful enough not to place his mark on the wax, at the least.

  ‘Dear Lady Sala’, the letter began. ‘I need to make you aware that the Steam Dragon is not going to dock at Dalk, but will head east to Tallis. While at first glance this might seem like good news, in point of fact, it is little short of a disaster.’

  ‘The Boat Company has accused the throne of being complicit in the attack on their facilities in Dalk harbor. If the harbor at Jenver was not in the process of being renovated, they would have sent the Steam Dragon there, as it is they have had no choice but to send it to Tallis and of course, all fingers of blame are pointing at me.’

  ‘There are rumors that Jenver and Dalk plan retaliation. It is likely they have heard about the swords and are determined to stop Tallis from getting them. Indeed, I wish that I had never agreed to this mad scheme in the first place. The Triums, after all, are brother states all bound by the walls of Slarn and what do we gain in a war against each other?’

  ‘My greatest fear is that Gally Sorn is working for my brother, Maximus. He has refused to speak to me of late and I am sure he plans something, though what that something might be, is beyond my divination.’

  ‘I had hoped to negotiate with King Gilan for safe transfer of the swords from Dalk, perhaps in exchange for a reasonable number of them for his own Trium’s protection. It is worth remembering that only we possess the hilts that will turn these swords into useable weapons. As it is, neither Jenver nor Dalk will talk to us.’

  ‘In any event, the harbor in Tallis will be safe from Maximus. It is essential that Gally Sorn completes the purchase of the swords from Hadon Mallow so that we have ownership when the Steam Dragon docks.’

  ‘However, you must watch Gally Sorn carefully and seek help from Captain Toren and his crew if she does anything that might lead to Maximus owning the swords. I know that this is not an easy task I place on your delicate shoulders, but you are the only person I can ask it of.’

  ‘You do great service to the Trium of Tallis and We shall never forget it.’

  Sala looked at Oto’s sprawling signature in which he made up for the lack of length in his name by stretching each letter near to breaking point. She hugged the letter to her heart. She would not let the King down. She would watch Gally Sorn like a hawk.

  Captain Toren stood at the stern of his ship watching the waters churn behind it. As before, there was a man hidden, crouching down to avoid detection by either crew or passengers.

  “The Steam Dragon is to berth at Tallis and not at Dalk as planned,” Toren told the listening man.

  “I know that for myself now,” the man said bitterly. “How long have you been keeping that key piece of information from me?”

  “It was necessary to keep it secret until we left Bratin. This is the first opportunity I have had to tell you,” Captain Toren replied evenly.

  To the Captain’s surprise, the man stood and faced him.

  “I think you are working for the Sorn woman and have betrayed Dalk in the process,” the man revealed as Jant told him.

  “I have betrayed nobody. My first loyalty is to the Boat Company as I told you from the outset. Beyond that, I ha
ve given you information you could not have obtained without me.”

  “If anything happens to Prince Dor as a result of this, I shall kill you,” Jant shouted.

  “Is there a problem, Captain?” Seb Halder asked as he walked into sight along the companionway. “I wanted to ask you about how docking at Tallis changes our timetable and I heard shouting.”

  “It is nothing, Seb,” Captain Toren said as he strode to the man and walked back with him towards the bridge. “Nothing at all.”

  Tonas looked at the short message he received and decoded. ‘He will come to you’.

  He passed it over to the Denger brothers, who scratched at their heads and looked puzzled. There was a knock at the door.

  Tonas opened it to reveal Jak Venjer. Jak drew back his hood and entered the room.

  “Gentlemen, I have the privilege to be the Queen of Slarn’s representative on this boat and I believe you are expecting me?”

  “She’s not the Queen of Slarn yet,” Tred Denger muttered.

  “But she will be once the swords are safely in her hands,” Jak said with quiet confidence.

  “And how are we going to ensure that?” Tonas asked. “Is she planning to invade Dalk?”

  “No, because this boat is going to Tallis,” Jak told them to general astonishment. “Queen Kalenda has made a pact with King Gilan of Dalk and they will invade the harbor and take charge of the dock. With a bill of sale from you to Queen Kalenda, no one will be able to dispute her ownership or try to stop her from taking her property to Jenver.”

  “I will write out the bill now,” Tonas said.

  “Tonas,” Tred interrupted. “It is not usual to prepare a bill until money has changed hands.”

  “I am hardly carrying twenty thousand pieces of gold on me,” Jak said and held out his hands. “However, I can assure you that Queen Kalenda will be ready with the full asking price at the dock.”

  “Then we will give you your bill of sale on the dock,” Wilf said firmly. “There are three partners in this enterprise and while I would much sooner that Queen Kalenda have the swords than Gally Sorn, my brother and I are determined that someone will pay us for them first.”

  Jak looked angrily at the three men, but it was clear that two of them were determined not to complete the deal there and then.

  “Very well, we shall finish this at the docks,” Jak stated bleakly and walked from the room, slamming the door behind him.

  “Was that wise?” Tonas asked. “She is a queen after all and can surely be trusted.”

  “When you get as old as us. boy,” Tred said in a confidential tone. “You will learn that kings and queens are the least trustworthy of people.”

  Daniel walked into a room that dripped water from every wall. Jalia was standing in the center of the room with a smirk on her very dirty face.

  “I take it you have made this invisible ink revealer?” he asked.

  “Of course, I was the best alchemist the guild never knew it had.”

  “Since you are in a category of one; I cannot challenge the truth of that.”

  Jalia held up the scent bottle, it was almost full of a clear liquid.

  “I had to dilute it with water once I distilled it. I didn’t want to burn a hole in the paper,” she said, grinning.

  “The evening meal is about to start. Why don’t you explain what the messages said during the meal?”

  “But Daniel, I said I would wait until you got back before I read them,” Jalia said, presenting a picture of hurt innocence.

  “I take it that you have memorized the messages, so you can leave the evidence here?”

  “Naturally. Well, I had to test the solution didn’t I? And while I was testing the messages it seemed a waste not to read them as well.”

  Daniel awoke with a start and tried to work out what had disturbed his sleep. Daniel had developed the ability to sleep through a thunderstorm, but wake at the sound a stealthy boot makes when it touches the ground. It wasn’t something threatening he heard because if it had been, he would have been out of the bunk as he woke.

  He heard the sound again and recognized it for what it was. Hala was sobbing quietly into her pillow on the bunk above his own.

  “It isn’t too late to change your mind,” Daniel said softly. “Nin will still be waiting if you do.”

  “I’m sorry, Daniel,” Hala said miserably. “I didn’t mean to wake you, but when I woke up on my own I felt so alone.”

  “Are you willing to tell me what happened?” Daniel asked. Hala had turned up at the dining room the previous night, but left almost immediately. All they managed to get from her before she left for their cabin was that she and Nin had broken up.

  “Did Nin do something to you? Did he hurt you?” Daniel asked when he received no response to his question.

  “No,” Hala said quickly, worried that Daniel might do something to Nin. “It’s just that I was so looking forward to joining the boat.”

  “Do you want me to speak to Captain Toren?” Daniel suggested, “I’m sure he could find some way for you to stay.”

  Hala sobbed into her pillow more loudly than she had before.

  “Typical of a man to open up his mouth and put his foot right in it,” Jalia said from her own bunk. She slid to the floor and stepped to the washbasin. “Hala is upset because there is no future for her on this boat; she has none of the required skills.”

  Hala looked up from her pillow in astonishment. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Because I am brilliant, intuitive and I am a woman,” Jalia said smugly. She stuck her tongue out at Daniel, who shook his head in disbelief. “And also because I asked Cara, who was feeling more than a little guilty over what she told you earlier in the day.”

  “It was true though,” Hala said gloomily. “I’m glad she pointed it out to me before I committed my life. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life washing dishes and clearing tables.”

  “There are worse places the crew have to clean,” Daniel pointed out.

  “Every time he opens his mouth, something worse comes out,” Jalia said in disgust as Hala burst into tears yet again. “Daniel, could you stay out of this for a little while?”

  Daniel shrugged and started to get dressed. Jalia walked over to their bunks and Daniel got out of her way as she used his bed to step up to Hala’s bunk.

  “I’ll bet the thought of finding you something decent to do onboard never occurred to him?” Jalia asked as she put an arm over Hala’s shoulders.

  Hala nodded between sobs.

  “He’s just a male, Hala. None of them have any brains to speak of and they tend to use that little thing dangling between their legs in place of them.”

  Hala giggled between sobs and Daniel snorted in disgust from the other side of the room.

  “But there are lots of trades you can take up onboard a boat like this. The Captain of the Speedy Star is a woman, for instance. I don’t suppose she came onboard fully trained, do you? I doubt she even dreamed of becoming a captain when she was your age.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Hala said, sitting up. “I expect you have to buy an apprenticeship, and I don’t have any money.”

  “Why don’t you go and talk to the Bosun, Hal Patin?” Jalia suggested. “Ask him what trades the Boat Company trains people in and how you go about signing up for one. Don’t worry about money. Money is easy to win from small brained men who think they are good at fade. I do it all the time.”

  Hala’s face brightened at the prospect of doing something positive.

  “Do you think it is too early to go now?” she asked.

  “They work strange hours on boats, so he may well be up and about. Why don’t you go up to the bridge and enquire.”

  Hala was opening the cabin door before she remembered she was naked. “I’d better get dressed first,” she said and stepped about the cabin at a great pace. She ran out of the door less than five minutes later.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t
tell her to go naked,” Daniel said as the door slammed closed. “To give her an edge with men who can only think with their dangly bits.”

  “I had to get her out of the room somehow,” Jalia said sternly. “We still haven’t come up with a plan to solve the Gally Sorn problem.”

  Daniel’s mouth dropped open. He probably knew Jalia better than anyone alive and he couldn’t have told anyone whether Jalia had just been nice to Hala for Hala’s sake or simply wanted her out of the room. Jalia was an enigma wrapped up in a mystery.

  “We all agreed last night,” Jalia said impatiently. “If Hala’s knows what is going to happen she might tell Nin, regardless of whether she is upset with him or not. Nin is a member of the crew and he would have to tell the Captain.”

  Jalia had a great deal of fun the previous night recounting what was on the four sheets of paper. They turned out to be torrid love letters from Maximus to Gally. That fact alone had made them worth stealing as far as Jalia was concerned.

  Maximus, it turned out, was one of those men who liked to spell out in graphic detail how he planned to pleasure his lover. Cara found herself choking on a vegetable when Jalia described one such promise.

  “Yes, that exactly how Gally will sound doing it,” Jalia had told her as she patted Cara’s back. Unfortunately, her comment started Don choking and spluttering as well.

  But the real prize she found was a description of the plan to get the swords off the boat. Jalia’s near perfect memory coupled with her amusing rendition of how she thought Maximus must talk, had been the highlight of the evening. It was lucky they were sitting far from anyone else in the dining room so no one could overhear them.

  ‘Gally-puss my love, I am going to set fire to the Boat Company buildings in Dalk harbor some days before your return. The opposition will suspect Oto of doing it, of course, but the Boat Company will have no choice but to move the docking of the Steam Dragon to Tallis.’