Jalia Prevails (Book 5)

by John Booth

  Cara and Don leapt up from the table and drew their swords, causing several of Maximus’s men to face them. Across the room, Dor’s face contorted in indecision and then he drew his sword. Jant and Mal took up fighting positions to the left and right of him. The tension in the room was so great that it could be tasted in the air.

  Maximus looked at Gally with disbelief written on his face. He could not imagine what events on the journey had driven Gally into such insane actions. When Tonas Mallow and the Denger brothers stood up and drew their swords Maximus knew he had to bring this nonsense to an end before his plans collapsed in chaos.

  Maximus strode over to Gally and planted him body between Gally and Hala so that Gally had no choice but to look at him. Gally had a wild demented look in her eyes that gave Maximus pause for thought.

  “Hand me your knife,” he said much more gently that he had planned. He continued in the same soft coaxing manner. “If you kill the boy, I will have no choice but to have my men kill you. This purchase has to be legal, remember?”

  The insanity slowly faded from Gally’s eyes and she lowered her knife. Nin grabbed at his bleeding throat and staggered towards Maximus. Maximus moved to one side to allow the boy to fall into Hala’s waiting arms.

  “Everybody in this room, put down your swords,” Maximus commanded. “That includes my men. This is a direct order; put your swords away now!”

  As Maximus’s men reluctantly sheathed their swords, the passengers relaxed and let their swords point towards the floor.

  “You don’t understand,” Gally mumbled weakly as Maximus carefully took the knife from her hand. “You don’t understand how dangerous those two are.”

  “But I do understand what cowards they are. They are undoubtedly hiding somewhere on this boat, quivering in fear. Let them continue to shiver in peace; I have a purchase to complete,” Maximus said, derision in his voice. “I thought better of you, Gally. This journey has clearly exhausted you and robbed you of your judgment.”

  Maximus turned towards Hala. “Is the boy unharmed?”

  “He’ll survive,” Hala said quietly, moving Nin behind her and placing her hand on the dagger at her belt. Maximus noted her actions with approval. This girl will grow up to be quite a warrior, he thought.

  Maximus nodded to her and walked towards the table where Tonas and the Denger Brothers were once again sat, having put away their swords.

  “You have brought your swords to Slarn at the bidding of Lady Sorn and as you can see, Gally Sorn works for me. I would like to close the deal. The agreed price was twenty thousand pieces of gold, I believe?”

  Maximus motioned to one of his men and seconds later two soldiers entered the room carrying a heavy wooden chest. The men struggled with its weight and were unable to carry it more than a few feet at a time. When they reached Tonas’s table they lowered it to the floor with sighs of relief. Maximus produced a key from his jacket pocket, unlocked the chest and lifted its lid. There was a collective gasp from the passengers at the sight of so much glittering gold.

  “You only have to pay half of the asking price,” Gally said quietly from behind Maximus. “They have not delivered the full quantity of swords as was agreed.”

  “Wrong, my lady,” Tonas said loudly and angrily. “All three thousand six hundred and sixty swords are stowed away in the hold. It cost my father’s life to get the last of them out of Boathaven, but get them out we did.”

  Gally hissed in anger.

  “Make out the bill of sale to Maximus Tallis,” Maximus instructed Tonas. “You may count the money while we I take the swords. Honor will be satisfied on all sides.”

  “It looks like you have lost your commission,” Alin Bredan said in a whisper as he and Sila Klint watched the transaction taking place.

  “Alin, you are always so negative. What I see is that my new business partners have just come into a great deal of collateral, which will come in useful to me over the coming months.”

  “They agreed to your partnership offer?” Bredan asked in surprise.

  “Of course they did. How are three men such as them ever going to get so much money back to Telmar? It will be much better for them to invest it here with me. They know that I am famous for keeping my word and that I will bring them a handsome return on their investment.”

  Tonal, Wilf and Tred got down onto their hands and knees. They lifted handfuls of coins from the chest and counted them before putting them on the table. Maximus invited Gally to take his arm and they walked from room, leaving most of their guards behind. It was clear that no one was going to be allowed to leave the dining room until the swords were safely on the barge.

  Hal Patin made his way to his Captain’s side and the two held a whispered conversation. Whatever was said between them, it appeared to cheer Hal up no end.

  Maximus strode into the hold. Two of his guards held up their lanterns so he could see the impressive pile of bags in the hold’s center.

  “Finally, I will have the means to take control of Slarn and end this madness. I shall start a new order in which only my descendants become Kings of Slarn.” Maximus rubbed his hands together in glee.

  “You should check the bags, Maximus,” Gally advised from a little way behind him.

  “Jaliscia, tip the bag on the top of the pile over when Maximus approaches it,” Jalia whispered to her ring from her hiding place. The bag was the one that had never been down to the ballast hold.

  Maximus bent down to lift one of the bags at the outer edge of the pile and the bag from the top fell towards him, swords spilling out as it fell.

  Maximus picked up one of the swords. He touched its edge and felt the keenness of its blade. Even without a hilt, Maximus could tell he was holding an exquisitely balanced sword.

  “Made by a master craftsman,” he said softly in a voice full of admiration. “If the rest of the swords are as good as this one you have procured me a bargain, my dear.”

  He gathered up the fallen swords and put them back in their bag carefully. They were sharp enough to cut an unwary hand. He quickly opened three bags at random from the pile and looked inside them. He saw swords in each one. He knew enough not to stick his hand into a bag and root around.

  “They are all here.”

  “Count the bags as your men move them. Each bag contains twenty-five swords. If the men notice that any bag feels light they should check inside and count the swords,” Gally suggested, still angry that Tonas had defeated her.

  “As you wish, my dear. I, for one, am more than satisfied with my purchase.”

  Maximus stepped back from the bags and his men formed a human chain to take the swords from the hold and onto the waiting barge.

  Several hours later his men retreated from the dining room as Maximus gave the order to leave. All the bags were onboard the barge, which now sat low in the water. Its waterline was only a few inches from deck.

  Jalia and Daniel left the storage locker. They crept along the corridor and then up to the main deck. They watched Gally and Maximus climb over the side and slide down ropes onto the deck of the barge.

  “They will go back to the harbor they came from,” Daniel said with satisfaction. They watched the barge move away. The two leaned out on the safety rail and peered into the evening gloom.

  “That isn’t very far,” Jalia pointed out. “The entrance is less than thousand feet from here.”

  “But they have to do it against the flow of the river and that barge is laden with all that weight. There will be plenty of time for our plan to work. Give your ring the command,” Daniel suggested in a whisper.

  Jalia spoke to her ring. Nothing obvious happened, but Jalia smiled as the ring gave her finger a sudden pulse of warmth to tell her that the job was done.

  “It is done,” Jalia said more loudly than she intended.

  “Exactly what is done?” Seb asked from just behind them. Jalia turned and found that the deck of the Steam Dragon was filling with the passengers from the dining room who h
ad made their way out to watch the barge make good its escape.

  “Watch and learn,” Daniel said without turning. It was getting dark, but there was still enough light to see the barge as its oarsmen struggled against the current to row the barge into the harbor.

  The barge had had to move out into the center of the river to be able to turn and was some way downriver of the Steam Dragon.

  “They are sitting very low in the water,” Hal commented from beside Jalia. Seb had taken a position alongside Daniel.

  “A good few inches lower than they were when they left the ‘Dragon a few minutes ago,” Daniel said with satisfaction.

  “Really?” Seb said in surprise, “But that would mean that they are…”

  The shouts carrying across the river told them that the crew onboard the barge had also noticed the problem.

  “This is the really interesting bit,” Jalia said. She was almost purring with pleasure. “They have a choice. If they keep the swords they will sink, but will Maximus allow them to throw away his dream of power?”

  “That is just plain cruel,” Don said from behind them. “You never mentioned this part of the plan.”

  “They do like to keep their little secrets,” Hala agreed as she pushed a way under the crowd to emerge between Jalia and Daniel with Nin besides her. Nin held a handkerchief tight to his throat. “This is why you had to hide.”

  Onboard the barge, matters had come to a head. There was a great deal of arguing and then they heard a series of splashes as some of the bags were thrown over the side.

  “At least Maximus has had the sense to keep his oarsmen at work,” Seb commented, thinking like the professional sailor he was. “I’m impressed at the way you managed to cut a hole in that barge that still gives them a chance to make it back into the harbor, if they can get rid of those bags fast enough.”

  “That was more by luck than judgment,” Jalia said. “We didn’t want them to sink close enough to the Steam Dragon to think about coming back here.”

  The tempo of splashes increased as the barge neared the harbor mouth. As far as they could tell, the barge’s height above water had not changed in the last few minutes, but it was still perilously close to sinking.

  The barge slid out of sight into the harbor just as the splashes stopped.

  “That must mean they have run out of bags,” Daniel said. He turned to leave, but Seb stood in his way.

  “I think it’s about time you let me in on the rest of your plan,” Seb said in a voice that brooked no argument.

  23. Resolution

  Gally dragged Maximus from the water onto the steps of the quay. She was shivering with cold and exhaustion. Maximus could not swim and had come close to drowning. She had dragged him the remaining thirty feet that separated barge from dock when it went under. They had been pulled under by the suction the barge generated as it sank and she had been lucky to find him again when they surfaced.

  Maximus groaned and managed to drag himself further up the steps before putting a hand out to Gally. It had taken him immense effort not to panic as cold water covered him, knowing that Gally was his only hope of survival as he could not swim.

  He judged from the fact that they were the only people on the steps that neither could his men. There were sounds of desperate splashing in, but even as he listened the sounds ceased and all he could hear was his and Gally’s ragged breathing and the gentle lap of the river against the quay.

  Gally took his proffered hand and they climbed the steps until they stood at the top dripping water onto the dock.

  “Not one of my most successful enterprises,” Maximus said cheerfully as they shivered.

  “It was Dare and Degar,” Gally shouted angrily. “Somehow, they did this to us.”

  “Nonsense, my dear. It was my own fault for not buying a more river-worthy craft. The swords were too heavy for it and we sprang a leak. I have never heard you talk as irrationally as you do about those people, if they even exist.”

  “You have never faced them; and one day I shall be proved right,” Gally said stubbornly. “I shall kill them if it is the last thing I do.”

  “Well, that must wait for another day. I have carts waiting nearby and one of them will be sufficient to get us back to my house. You will have to come with me and go into hiding. Once your father finds out what has happened we will have to watch our backs for a while.”

  Gally stared at Maximus in astonishment. “Aren’t you upset or angry? Three dozen of your men are floating face down in the river; you have paid twenty thousand pieces of gold for nothing while over a year of planning has come to naught?”

  “There is no use crying over spilt milk,” Maximus said implacably. “We are still alive and I am still a prince and a very rich man. There will be other days to realize my dreams.”

  Maximus led Gally through the dock to where his men waited.

  “I am sorry to hear that Captain Toren is dead,” Daniel said as he sipped at his tea. “He was a good man.” Seb Halder and Hal Patin tilted their heads in agreement.

  All the conspirators had followed Seb and Daniel back to the Captain’s cabin. Cara and Don were half sitting, half leaning on the Captain’s writing desk while Hala nursed Nin on the floor. The handkerchief she wrapped around his neck was still worrying dripping blood. Daniel sat in the most comfortable armchair in the room while Jalia leaned over the back of it from behind him.

  Seb explained to Daniel and Jalia what had happened in the dining room and explained the deaths of Captain Toren, Lady Rotiln and Halad along with Gally Sorn’s revenge killing of Jak Venjer.

  “I’m sorry,” Jalia told Hala. “We believed the dining room was the safest place for you and we didn’t know you would have Nin with you. Had we been in that room there would have been many more dead and our plan would have failed.”

  “Daniel, could you take a look at Nin’s throat? The bleeding isn’t stopping,” Hala asked rather plaintively.

  Nin’s face was as white as a sheet and he trembled as Hala helped him over to where Daniel sat. Daniel tried to remember how he was thinking when he had touched Cara’s throats a few weeks ago.

  He reached over and put his hand on Nin’s chin to lift it higher. He felt the world flash white in front of him and felt terribly weak. Jalia put her hand onto his shoulder to hold him upright and Daniel felt energy flow through Jalia’s hand into his own. He looked up to Jalia who looked down at him anxiously.

  Daniel surreptitiously glanced around the room to see if anyone else had noticed anything. Hala still looked anxious and Nin had new color in his face, but apart from that, everyone else was lost in their thoughts.

  “Sometimes little blood vessels cut in the neck can cause the loss of a lot of blood,” Daniel said cheerfully and inaccurately. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there is nothing much to see.” He unwound the blood soaked handkerchief and examined Nin’s neck. Dried blood covered the boy’s skin, but there was no longer evidence of a wound, though there were several red lines on his skin.

  “Take him back to our cabin and clean him up,” Jalia suggested to Hala. “Wrap another handkerchief around his neck when you’ve finished, to protect it.”

  “I feel much better now,” Nin said weakly, smiling warmly at Daniel.

  “The power of the mind is a wonderful thing,” Daniel replied. “Sometimes people can help heal themselves just by believing they will heal.”

  Hala led Nin out of the room. She had just worked out what Daniel had done and didn’t want to give his secret away.

  “We know about the swords you have hidden in the ballast. Now that I have told you what happened in the dining room, perhaps you would be willing to reveal your full plan?” Seb asked.

  “Our plan was to steal two of your small boats, taking one to the harbor at Jenver and the other to Dalk,” Daniel explained. “We were going to put a third of the remaining swords on each boat leaving the remaining third for Tallis.”

  “I take it that you plan to extract a hi
gh price from their majesties for the swords?” Seb continued.

  “They were to be a gift,” Jalia said. “Tonas has his money for the swords and I will not have blood on my hands by selling them. Besides, the purpose of this game of sleight of hand was to destroy Gally Sorn, not to make money out of it.”

  “If all the Triums have the means to cause massive casualties, perhaps they will choose to refrain,” Daniel suggested hopefully.

  “I believe that all three leaders are in a standoff just outside Tallis harbor. Why not just divide the swords up when we dock?” Hal Pantin asked.

  “You could try that,” Daniel admitted. “But one of the Triums might be tempted to take all the swords and start a fight. On the other hand, if Queen Kalenda and King Gilan find that a large quantity of swords has arrived at their docks and is currently unguarded, that might give them motivation to leave.”

  “Daniel has a very sneaky mind,” Jalia said admiringly.

  “Did you really believe that you could get the swords into our lifeboats without us noticing?” Seb asked.

  “Did you believe that we could steal the swords from the hold in the first place?”

  Seb laughed and shook his head. “I saw you doing it and I still don’t believe it. Your plan is a good one and I think we should carry it through. My crew will load the boats and they will leave at first light. It will be my crew to take them though.”

  “Perhaps there are people onboard that might want to go with one or the other of the boats,” Daniel suggested.

  “Then why don’t we ask them?” Seb asked cheerfully.

  “A thousand swords,” Dor said incredulously. “And you want to give them to Dalk?”

  “More or less,” Jalia replied, grinning, “I’m not splitting bags so you will get a thousand and eight swords in forty eight bags. Maybe we should donate the spare bags to the Boat Company?”