“Xander, I presume?” Brennus inquired.
“Yes, Captain,” Xander answered.
“You don’t need to play the soldier with me, boy,” Brennus informed him. “I’m not Thalassan military, just a man trying to make a living.”
“Oh.” Xander scratched the back of his neck. “I guess I just figured because Prince Daemyn had you take me you would be a fellow soldier.”
“I used to be,” Brennus explained. “Daemyn took a liking to me in those days. That was over a dozen years ago though so he must have only been fifteen or sixteen. Anyway, he still finds me useful enough to pay a bit for my services.”
Xander’s attention was drawn away from the aged captain to a young woman moving about the ship. She was supervising the stocking of salted meat below deck. Every so often she would look to the castle and get a surge of energy to get her work done as though she had something to prove. Her hair was short but that did not take away from how striking she was. Much too pretty to be working on a transport ship, Xander thought. She must have nowhere else to go.
“She’s off limits,” Brennus announced suddenly.
“Is she your woman?” Xander asked.
“No,” Brennus answered. “She deserves a good man, though. I’ll find her someone eventually, but for now she’s a good worker.”
“I believe it,” he replied and turned away to take a final look at the castle before setting off. “How long will it be before we reach Triton?”
“Nightfall tomorrow,” Brennus answered. Xander began to walk below deck to inspect where he would be bunking when the captain called again. “Soldier!”
Xander turned about and raised his eyebrows in question.
“Take that mail off. Should we run into a squall the last thing you’ll want is thirty pounds of iron pulling you into the deep.”
* *
“So you did not attend any type of academy?” the constable inquired. He lounged in a gilded chair in the meeting room typically reserved for diplomacy. Xander sat opposite him in a chair slightly less lavish, but he still marveled at the comfort. Even Roselyn’s seats weren’t this nice.
“No,” Xander admitted. “I went to the basic training Thalassan Military requires.”
Most guardsmen never attended an academy, however it was not unheard of for some to save their earnings for a chance to learn from former captains and even noblemen in the hopes that their training would eventually earn advancement. Typically they were content living on their monthly pay, in Xander’s experience, with the hope that one day they should marry and move out of the barracks and onto happier lives in the city with military wages.
“Can you read?” Constable Aldous asked. Puzzlement etched his lined features.
Xander felt uncomfortable in spite of his chair. “No, sir, I cannot.”
“That’s something we shall have to take care of then,” Aldous stated. “I do not have a single man among my watchmen that is uneducated. Do you at least know your numbers?”
“I know the alphabet and all my numbers,” Xander replied enthusiastically. “And I know addition and subtraction to the satisfaction of my superiors in Pontos.”
His commander folded his hands. “You seem to grasp things well enough; though I must admit I am a little disappointed. However, Prince Daemyn requested your transfer specifically and I assume he knows what he’s doing in regards to you and your qualifications.”
“If you think there’s someone better…”
“It does not matter what I think,” Aldous said. “You’re my tenth watchman now.”
“I’ll do my best to prove myself,” Xander declared.
“That’s not the kind of thing I wish to hear, Xander,” Aldous reprimanded. “It’s the kind of thing I wish to see.”
“Aye sir,” Xander said. He stood to salute and his commander returned the motion.
As he made his way to the door, Aldous piped up again. “One last thing, before you depart. Where did you stand in the rankings of those in your training?”
“Fourth at sharpshooting with rifles,” Xander said, “third with a pistol. I was seventh in swordsmanship, nineteenth with the spear, and eighty-seventh with an ax. I graduated alongside ninety-six other men.”
Aldous nodded. “We’ll be sure to keep you away from the axes then. You’re dismissed for now. Be here tomorrow at dawn.”
Xander nodded briskly and realized that only gave him a few hours to sleep. He walked back out into Triton’s night to find the town dead silent. It was depressing enough to be in a town with a population of some twelve hundred men and women, but even more so when everyone was asleep. The only noise came from the tavern and from the sound of it Xander figured there were only three or four patrons in there. He made his way down a dirt road towards the northern part of the isle. He only had to walk a hundred yards before he came to the house with the same number as his key, two thirteen.
The watchman entered his house quietly as if his sound would wake someone, and shut the door behind him with a soft click. Inside it was more than he could ever dream of owning. There was a sitting room when one first walked into the residence, with a short wall separating it from the kitchen. Connected to the kitchen was a door Xander opened to reveal a spacious closet and pantry. He closed that door and opened another connected to the sitting room to find his bedchamber with yet another door leading to a latrine. Xander nearly whooped for joy when he saw how big his room was. His heart was bursting and in that moment he felt he could have kissed Daemyn for his kindness.
Overall, his abode was fairly humble and slightly smaller than Roselyn’s living quarters, but it was the biggest space he had ever had just for himself. There was no bed so Xander had to sleep on the floor of his bedchamber, which was difficult because it was made of pine boarding, but somehow through all the enthusiasm sleep came to overwhelm Triton’s newest citizen.
* * *
Xander stood impatiently at the door to the massive building. He wanted to go inside to look at the sleeping infants but he was instructed to wait outside and so he reluctantly obeyed. There was a woman named Sophia who was to instruct him on another duty this day. It had been two weeks since Xander had set foot on Triton’s fine sands and with each day things got a bit easier. His heart healed a little more from Roselyn’s callous reception of his feelings. The daily tasks Constable Aldous assigned him were beginning to feel more habitual and less like strange additions to his day.
The hardest job to feel comfortable in was actually being above certain soldiers. All forty guardsmen were required to show Xander and the other nine watchmen respect, but more specifically there were four guards that reported to him directly. He had to ensure that they completed their rounds every day and if there was an issue within the town that was out of their control he was meant to solve it. There were also training sessions each morning that lasted about an hour to ensure no one gained rust on their weapons, or their skills with them.
“I am sorry to keep you waiting,” an older brunette woman said as she emerged from the grand nursery. “You must be Xander. I am Sophia. I take care of Gaia’s orphans.”
“I thank you, then,” Xander said genuinely, “for I am one.”
Sophia smiled at that. “It warms my heart to see that you have grown up strong. Shall we get to your duty?”
“Certainly,” Xander replied.
They walked from the nursery down the main street of Triton. Where the sands of the beach ended, several farms began that stretched towards the town. Those were the main source of Triton’s food stores. They provided the livestock and crops that could sustain Triton for months if they were ever cut off from trade. Sophia led him near the beach to where the rickety dock of Triton stood.
There was only one boat there, if it could even be called that. It was a raggedy dinghy with three oars a side, kept topside down on the beach to prevent rot. The real boats, cogs and ships, would not be any stationed there for a week and with them would come all the bustle that Triton
ever knows. The only sounds heard that day were those of the gulls flying overhead mingled with the waves lapping along the sand.
“This is where you shall stand,” Sophia instructed. “The job is more of a custom than it is a necessity, but customs help to define us do they not?”
Xander smiled. He liked this older woman. She had an air about her that made him want to give her a hug. “I suppose they do,” he agreed.
“You do not have to aid in unloading the infants,” Sophia continued. “All you have to do is supervise the transport of the babies from the Gaian ship to the wagons. Then follow those as they deliver the children to my nursery.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Xander said with a shrug.
“Aidan did not share that view, evidently,” Sophia said. “There is an immense amount of patience required to deal with around forty infants at the same time. They can make a good deal of noise.”
“I’ll be fine,” Xander promised. “Is that all that’s required of me today?”
“Constable Aldous has told me of your lack of education,” Sophia stated to Xander’s embarrassment. “My house is just beside the nursery building, number one sixty-five. Be there at dusk, and bring a positive attitude. A good soldier should know how to read.”
“Is that more of a necessity than a custom?” Xander inquired, only half joking.
Sophia grinned. “I suppose it is.”
Xander told Sophia he would see her at dusk and then excused himself to his other duties. He walked from the eastern beach down the main street of Triton but turned north on a separate road when he passed the town’s lone tavern, The Blue Dolphin. Xander was quickly learning that Triton’s beauty relied on its simplicity. The town’s homes and buildings were mostly established along two main roads that crossed one another at the center of the isle where the embassy was located. He already knew of a few small alleyways serving as shortcuts branching off those roads. These side streets went between a few homes and large establishments that housed multiple residents who could only afford smaller cheaper rooms. At the end of each of the large streets were the watchtowers. There were four in total that stretched into the sky three times higher than a normal residency. The western and southern towers stopped short of the rest of Triton’s stretch, but from their vantage points they could see anyone coming from any direction.
Xander could see the northern watchtower now and he stopped only briefly to exchange salutes with a scowling Aidan. Aidan had been a watchman for far too long and was a perfect example of how small town life drove men into a droll attitude that kept them from enjoying simple pleasures. Xander had often noted how clean the air smelled on Triton compared to Pontos. Pontos may have had a level of beauty about it that he would never forget, but it was still a large city and with that came the smells of thousands of latrine pits and smog in the wintertime from multiple hearths. These smells hung over the large island, but that’s the price one pays to live in a bustling civilization.
The sun was high when he came to the tower. Despite the weight of his armor as well as the sword and pistol he carried, Xander climbed the stairs with ease. His breath never quickened before he reached the top and he knew that was a result of the morning bouts he had with sword and shield. He smiled in the realization that he was getting into condition and wished for a heartbeat that Roselyn could see him now. Four guardsmen were already at the tower’s top waiting for their officer. They turned away from the view of the ocean when he stepped onto the top level. They saluted as he entered and he returned the motion hurriedly.
“Reports?” Xander asked, looking from one face to the next.
“My report is that my ass is sore,” Victor griped. He had fallen in weapons training and landed on his backside to the laughter of his comrades. It had taken Xander eight days to get back into the habit of using his weapon, but his sword arm was quickly returning over the past week and thus he pressed his men hard in the mornings.
“Real reports,” Xander scolded the guardsman.
Victor looked abashed, or as abashed as the blasé nineteen-year-old could look, but shook his head to say there was nothing to report. Marcus and George followed suit, while Murchadh waited his turn.
“Jed believes one of his maids has been stealing from his inn,” Murchadh began. “I was thinking we should question the girl today and search her residence.”
“That’s a bit of an invasion,” Xander replied. “However, should you wish I can go with you to her living quarters and question her while you casually have a look around.”
“I hoped you’d say that,” Murchadh said.
“Do not open any of her drawers or cabinets, but if something looks expensive for a maid’s pay then bring it to my attention,” Xander said. He looked around at the others. They were bored. “Is there nothing else?”
“This is Triton,” Victor declared. “Hardly anything happens here worth noting and half the time it’s in someone’s imagination. The past year I have been here it has always been the same. Every few months Jed puts forth a claim that someone is stealing his coin when the simple fact is that he doesn’t have enough business to make any money.”
“Aye,” Xander conceded. “How does the man get by?”
Victor shrugged. “His inn and the tavern were both passed down to him by his late grandfather, so they’re bought and paid for. He makes a little here and there with the food he serves, but other than that his main revenue comes every month from Prince Daemyn when he stays a few days in town. He stays at the Trident Inn so he won’t have to share space with any of the Gaians when they’re in town. That’s why Jed is like the reverse of a woman. He’s happy one week of the month and on the rag the other three.”
The men laughed and when it died Xander remained smiling thinking of Daemyn. He was always trying to help the commoners. Xander was sure being away from the Gaians was the main reason the prince would choose to stay in an inn bed, but there was underlying kindness in these motives as well. Xander dismissed three of his men but kept Murchadh and together they went to speak with Jed’s maid.
She was a young woman, called Edith, with red hair cropped short and a pale face flecked with dark freckles. Edith did not seem to understand why the Guard was questioning her but when she realized what she had been accused of her sweet manner transformed into a chaos of cursing. Murchadh found nothing implicating theft in her home and Xander and he left actually wondering how she could live off her meager pay at all. Xander knew that as a maid she belonged to the lower class of Thalassa’s working citizens, and he placed her at probably earning three silver coins a week. Depending on what her rent was that would be a hard amount to live on.
He was making twice that on Pontos, and living in the barracks while sharing the free food in Roselyn’s room was the only reason he had been able to save fifty silvers before he had left. A guardsman was still part of the lower class, above maids and pot scrubbers to be sure, but still only making enough to get by with a simple life. Things were much easier now, as in one day he had received a house and his pay had increased from six silvers a week to ten and some change, which was a good thing because those fifty saved coins were being depleted. The house was bought and paid for but he had to purchase food from Triton’s market to stock his pantry. There was also the cost of furnishing the house with cheap seating and the straw-stuffed mattress he had bought on his second day as a citizen of Triton.
With his new title there would be an overflow of silver that would not place Xander among Thalassa’s wealthy but it was more than he ever dreamed of making. His friendship with Prince Daemyn had shoved him into Thalassa’s middle class. The man above him, Aldous, made nearly seventeen silvers weekly and for the first time in his life Xander did not find that out of reach. He was lowborn, but a good worker and with plenty of life still in him to prove worthy to lead more than just four men.
The sun was descending at the point Xander dismissed Murchadh for the remainder of the day. They could quell Jed’s nonsense the followi
ng morning. With relief, Murchadh threw a quick salute and hurried off to the large building where he shared residency with two other soldiers. Xander inhaled deeply and walked to house one sixty-five. It was time to begin his education.
The Captain’s Daughter
Ana smiled down at the squirming baby she held delicately against her chest. I can’t imagine any mother looking at you with disgust, pretty one, she thought with bitterness. It wasn’t just the image of this child being cast aside due to a lack of certain abilities, but in Ana’s case because she was ripped from her own mother’s arms since she possessed them. She continued to smile upon the small girl swaddled in wool and giggled as the infant wrapped her little pink fingers around Ana’s own.
Ana noticed that the babe wished for sleep as she listened carefully to her slightly jumbled thoughts. She rocked steadily back and forth, humming a sailor’s tune of love lost at sea. She had first heard that particular song as a child living part of the time on her father’s ship. Why don’t the boys sing anymore?
She paced the small holding chamber on her father’s vessel that housed the thirty-four Thalassan babes traveling to Triton that month. The sea was rough that day and the children were much fussier than during the last few days of the trip. Ana was glad they would be arriving at Triton in the morning. It was at least comforting to pass the infants to her mother at the well-equipped nursery on the island. It had been a long three weeks since she had last said goodbye to her Thalassan mother and was grateful that they would be spending a week together in the warm sun.
There was a feeling of darkness that abruptly slid into her mind and back out as fast as it had come. Ana’s shoulders tensed under a shiver and she glanced around at the children, but no sound arose. She looked over her shoulder and saw a man standing at the foot of the stairs with one hand on the wall. Just the feeling of being watched, she thought with another shiver to dispel the first. His thoughts were sporadic and his shadowed eyes flicked toward her when he noticed the invasion.
Severance (The Sovereign Book 1) Page 7
