The ocean was a strange thing to Froi. He wasn’t much of an adventurer; he had discovered that about himself only after he was settled in Lumatere. He would have been happy to stay and never leave the confines of Lord August’s farm if he’d had the choice. Finnikin and Isaboe were different. Despite how ugly the world had been to them, they had both experienced the freedom of an open road for most of their life in exile. If his queen and her king had the chance, he knew they’d escape together to see the land on their terms.
The Ocean of Skuldenore would have made their heads spin.
They arrived late afternoon and Froi had been surprised at just how close the underground community of Trist was to the port capital. Not even half a day’s ride. He thought of the collegiati and the feast of sights that would meet them once they escaped the confines of their safe prison.
Gargarin found them a room in a sea merchant’s cottage high above the city. The town steps down to the port of Sebastabol lay outside their lodging and Froi questioned whether it was a good idea for Gargarin to attempt the steep climb.
‘We’re better off at an inn down below,’ Froi said.
Gargarin shook his head. ‘I want Lirah to have the view.’
Their room was on the top floor and it had a balcony that indeed afforded them a spectacular view over the rooftops, the bustling port and the ocean beyond. It seemed to stretch out forever and Froi heard Lirah’s gasp as she stared out at it. Gargarin stood behind her, his good arm around her body, his head close to hers.
‘Did I not promise to show you the ocean one day?’ he said softly, tenderly.
‘Nineteen years is worth the wait,’ she responded, her voice filled with emotion.
It only served to remind Froi that Lirah and Gargarin had been imprisoned a long time and most of their hopes of freedom had come from books. Stories, he thought. All they created was a yearning for faraway places.
He stayed inside, not wanting to intrude. Watching their intimacy made him feel awkward. He was born out of that intimacy and all Froi’s life he had believed he’d come from something sordid. He had greater difficulty understanding the reality of this strange love than accepting the nightmare he had grown up believing to be truth.
‘Don’t you want to see it?’ Gargarin said, stepping aside to make room. So Froi joined them, because he wanted to be part of the contentment between the two. He could see that much like Paladozza, the townspeople of the port city of Sebastabol lived in dwellings built from quarried stone rather than carved out of caves. But he could also see they were being spied on by at least one man disguised as a peddler, and another two outside a baker’s house.
‘We have company,’ he said.
Gargarin sighed. ‘People can’t seem to keep away from us,’ he said. ‘How many are we talking about?’
‘Three. Not in uniform, but definitely soldiers. What’s the Provincaro’s security like?’
‘Extensive. I’d be surprised if he hadn’t sent out a welcoming party.’ Gargarin sounded more bored than annoyed. ‘The Provincaro was always torn between thinking I was a spy for the King, and wanting to move me into the residence as his advisor.’
Gargarin stepped inside and Froi followed.
‘We’re going to have to pay a visit,’ Gargarin said.
‘Whatever you say.’
Now Gargarin looked truly irritated.
‘No, I mean it,’ Froi said. ‘I’m not trying to challenge you. Whatever you say.’
Lirah joined them inside and Froi watched Gargarin send her a look that he couldn’t quite work out.
‘What?’ Froi asked, angry.
Gargarin didn’t respond. He collected his cloak and staff. ‘Lirah, you stay here,’ he said. ‘Froi will come with me. Don’t let anyone in. If we fail to return, you wait a day and then make your way back to the Priests and find Arjuro.’
‘Why wouldn’t you return?’ she asked sharply.
‘Because this is Charyn,’ Gargarin said, bitterness lacing his words. ‘People go and buy a loaf of bread and don’t come back.’
He pressed a kiss to her mouth.
‘If he returns wounded, I won’t be happy,’ Lirah said, and Froi didn’t know whether she was speaking of him or Gargarin.
If not for the annoyance of being followed, Froi would have enjoyed Gargarin’s lessons about tacking and winds and the moon and the sun and the spring tide.
‘Can you just hold that thought?’ he told Gargarin, pushing him into an alleyway and waiting for the right time before his hand shot out to grab the throat of their pursuer, pressing the man against the stone wall beside Gargarin.
‘Is there something we can help you with?’ Froi asked politely.
‘The Provincaro requests your presence,’ the man wheezed.
‘Well, what a coincidence,’ Gargarin said. ‘We were just going to visit him.’
‘Yes,’ Froi said. ‘Tell your friends to come along and join us. The more, the merrier.’
The Provincaro’s man hesitated, opened his mouth to deny the presence of the others, but then seemed to change his mind and made a signal. In no time, four other men joined them.
‘Five of them?’ Gargarin asked Froi. ‘You said there were only three. You’re slipping in your old age.’
Froi shrugged and they continued walking.
‘Where was I?’
‘Neap tides.’
‘Ah yes, the neap tides …’
The Provincaro’s fort was perched at the end of a long stone pier that jutted out to sea. Froi could see it was a treacherous coastline and could not understand anyone’s desire to leave dry land.
‘Sagra! You’d be a fool to sail out there,’ he said.
‘It’s a life of uncertainty for the sailors,’ Gargarin said. ‘There’s been many a wreck against those rocks.’
A good deterrent for those planning to attack Sebastabol from sea.
By the time Froi and Gargarin reached the entrance, a welcoming party that included De Lancey and his guards was waiting there for them.
‘Any news?’ De Lancey asked urgently. ‘Do you know where she is?’ he demanded of Froi. Was there accusation in his voice?
Froi looked away. He had been dreading this meeting and hadn’t expected to see the Provincaro of Paladozza so soon.
‘We’ll find her,’ Gargarin said. He eyed De Lancey suspiciously. ‘You made no mention of this meeting with the Provincari when I was in Paladozza.’
De Lancey waved a hand of irritation. ‘Gargarin, don’t pick a fight. I’m annoyed enough with all of you,’ he said. ‘How did you know I was here anyway?’ he added.
‘We’re not in Sebastabol for you, De Lancey. We’re here to pass on a message from the Priests of Trist, who aren’t too happy about such a gathering taking place without them.’
De Lancey ushered them in and they followed him up a set of winding steps.
‘This is a Provincari’s meeting, last I was told,’ De Lancey argued. ‘Since when do the Priests make decisions in this kingdom, Gargarin?’
‘Since when do the Provincari?’ Gargarin responded.
De Lancey reached the top of the steps, staring down at them both. ‘Since we don’t have a king, and our princess has disappeared carrying the possible heir!’
Froi stiffened, knowing he wasn’t mistaken in hearing an accusation.
‘I hope this means you’re combining your armies,’ Gargarin said.
De Lancey hesitated and shook his head.
‘It just means we’re finding common ground,’ he replied. ‘And you’re here at the right time. They were overjoyed to hear you had been sighted.’
They walked down a long torchlit passageway, from which Froi could see a short walkway leading into another section of the residence.
‘Just agree to everything they say, Gargarin,’ De Lancey said softly. ‘We need to be unanimous about matters and you seem to be the only thing we agree upon.’
‘Is Grij here with you?’ Froi asked quietly.
/> De Lancey shook his head. ‘I’ve sent him and Tippideaux to … a safe house. We’re going to ground in Paladozza. Bestiano is desperate to find Quintana and with the help of Nebia’s army, he may just do so.’ De Lancey’s expression was bleak. ‘Did you know the Belegonians are on our doorstep, Gar? I thought you were travelling to the border to strike up a deal.’
‘Things changed,’ Gargarin said. ‘But for now Lumatere, at least, is not a threat to us. I can’t speak for the future, but their immediate plan is not to invade from the north.’
They stepped inside a large hall that afforded them a view of the ocean from three sides of the room. In its centre was a long bench that sat at least eight people. The individual guards of each province stood close to their Provincaro, watching suspiciously for any threat from another. At the head of the table was an older man with skin weathered by the sea, who was presumably the Provincaro of Sebastabol. He stood and walked towards them, extending a hand to Gargarin.
‘It’s as if we conjured you up, Gargarin,’ he said. The man’s eyes rested on Froi.
‘Is this the Lumateran impostor?’ the man asked. ‘How could he have ever passed as a Sebastabolion?’
‘How could a Sebastabolion lastborn betray the mother of our cursebreaker?’ Gargarin asked in return.
The Provincaro’s mouth was a thin line of anger.
‘Olivier no longer exists for us. He will never have a place here again and his entire family has been banished. He has a price on his head, and if he shows his face there’ll be a noose to greet him.’
Froi wasn’t expecting to hear such a definitive punishment. It made his stomach lurch regardless of how he felt about Olivier of Sebastabol.
‘Who is he really?’ the Provincaro asked Gargarin, indicating Froi with a toss of his head.
‘Froi of the Lumateran Flatlands,’ Gargarin replied without missing a beat. ‘He’s my personal guard, if you must know. But from a Lumateran perspective, he was sent as a spy, so until we can get him back to his people we’re going to have to keep him safe.’
Part of it was truth and part a lie. Gargarin’s purpose, however, was unclear. Why was it so important to Gargarin that the Provincari knew Froi was a Lumateran?
The Provincaro was studying Gargarin suspiciously. ‘And you trust him?’
‘He does me a favour. I do him a favour,’ Gargarin said. ‘It’s a good arrangement.’
The Provincaro indicated the room. Froi recognised one or two faces, and then he froze at the same time Gargarin spoke.
‘What’s he doing here?’ Gargarin demanded. ‘He’s not a Provincaro.’
Vinzenzo of Avanosh was sitting smugly beside Orlanda of Jidia. Froi had met him in Paladozza and hadn’t trusted him from the moment the man arrived with his family and nephew, Feliciano. Avanosh was an island off Charyn and Sorel, considered neutral despite being part of Charyn long ago. When the Avanosh lot had come with talk of Feliciano being Quintana’s Consort and rumours the island was aligned with the kingdom of Sorel, Froi had decided to escape with Quintana.
‘In these times of turmoil, we all agree that Avanosh has much to offer Charyn,’ Vinzenzo of Avanosh said. ‘I’m afraid we didn’t get to meet in Paladozza, Gargarin. You were ill, I hear.’
Vinzenzo looked around the table. ‘Yes, I do recall the dead King’s Serker whore mentioned it.’
There was whispering among those sitting around the table and Froi watched Gargarin’s hand clench his staff.
‘Sit, Gargarin,’ De Lancey ordered.
Froi wasn’t invited to sit, so he waited for a signal from Gargarin, who merely handed him the staff. Froi took it and went to stand beside one of De Lancey’s guards by the entrance.
‘We’re here to make decisions about the new Charyn,’ the Provincaro of Sebastabol said, once he was seated again. ‘A new Charyn that will exist, both if a king is born and if she gives birth to a girl child –’
‘Her Majesty Quintana of Charyn,’ Gargarin interrupted.
They all looked at him questioningly.
‘She is the Queen,’ Gargarin continued. ‘She was married to Tariq of Lascow, the heir. So it’s best that we refer to her as the Queen of Charyn. I stressed that to Orlanda and De Lancey when we were guests in their provinces.’
The Provincari looked uncomfortable and Froi watched them find each other’s eyes across the table.
The Provincaro of Sebastabol cleared his throat. ‘What’s important is that we decide –’
‘What’s important,’ Gargarin interrupted again, ‘is that Quintana of Charyn is acknowledged as the Queen. She is carrying the cursebreaker and possibly our future King.’
‘Regardless of her title, she has no power,’ Orlanda of Jidia said.
‘Move on,’ one of the other men ordered gruffly. It could only have been the Provincaro of Alonso. Phaedra’s father. Grief-stricken and bitter.
Froi watched Gargarin push back his chair and stand, slightly unbalanced on his feet. Froi reached him and handed him his staff.
‘Then my time here is wasted,’ Gargarin said.
There was dismay from most occupants of the room.
‘What are you doing, Gargarin?’
‘Sit, sit.’
Gargarin shook his head. ‘I’m here to pass on a message from the Priests of Trist who believe that they have a role in the new Charyn. It would be to your best advantage to include them. The people of Charyn will want the Oracle’s godshouse reopened and working alongside whoever is in the palace. That is my duty done. But if you would like me to stay to discuss the new Charyn, which will exist after the Queen of Charyn gives birth to the cursebreaker, then I will stay.’
Everyone nodded, except Vinzenzo of Avanosh.
‘But only if Quintana of Charyn is acknowledged as the Queen,’ Gargarin continued. ‘Are you writing that down, scribe? We have a Queen and regardless of how powerless she is, that is her title. It will be the title her people will become used to and a strange thing happens when people become used to good things. They forget who she was in the past and get used to who she will be in the future. The mother of the King. The first mother of Charyn. Trust me, gentlemen, and Orlanda, if Quintana of Charyn survives, she will be the new Charyn. She will have the people of the Citavita eating out of her hands. One hand anyway. The other will be holding the cursebreaker, a reminder that he or she has ended eighteen years of barren misery.’
He swayed, not having taken his staff, and Froi placed Gargarin’s arm around his shoulder to prop him up.
‘You want to make a good king?’ Gargarin asked. ‘One of sound mind? One who knows he was loved so he can love his people in return? One who understands justice and the sacrifice of those who came before him? Then treat his mother as a queen.’
Froi watched the others, his heart pounding with a truth he had never acknowledged before.
He loved Gargarin of Abroi. Never more than this moment.
No one spoke.
The Provincaro of Sebastabol cleared his throat. ‘I want us to make a good king.’
‘As do I,’ De Lancey said.
‘As we all do,’ Orlanda said.
Gargarin waited for everyone’s agreement.
‘Then allow Quintana of Charyn to raise her child. Acknowledge her as the Queen until her son takes a bride. Teach the people of Charyn that there is order in that palace … not what we have experienced for the last three generations, where kings either refused to wed the mother of their children or did as they pleased. We need Belegonia and Osteria and Lumatere and every other kingdom to look up to our throne and see dignity and a new order.’
Gargarin held out his hand for his staff and Froi gave it to him.
‘When you have something to offer the future of this kingdom,’ Gargarin said. ‘I may just agree to be who you want me to be.’
‘What are you truly hoping to achieve here?’ Froi asked quietly as they made their way out of the residence.
‘That they give us an army to go search f
or her,’ Gargarin said. ‘What are your thoughts?’
‘You’re right,’ Froi said.
Gargarin stopped, his stare hard. ‘Why am I right all of a sudden, Froi?’
Froi didn’t know how to respond.
‘What now?’ he mumbled instead.
‘Let’s take Lirah out for a treat.’
Sebastabol wasn’t as pretty a city as Paladozza. It was seedier and filthier in parts, but Froi liked the winding cobblestoned paths and the liveliness of it all. Despite the blistering cold, the sea breeze was invigorating, and he could almost taste the salt on his tongue as they walked along the shore. The port was bustling as men lugged merchandise off ships.
‘We were obsessed,’ Gargarin said, holding Lirah close to him for warmth as they sat on the shore. ‘Arjuro and I. We were convinced we’d live a life at sea. We’d build ourselves a boat and head off into the beyond.’ He grinned at them. ‘The closest we came was Arjuro drawing it all on the walls of our hovel.’
‘I was on a boat on the straits once,’ Froi said, looking out to where men were carrying willow pots of strange-looking orange sea creatures from one of the barges.
Lirah and Gargarin seemed surprised.
‘Yes, yes. Good times, indeed. I spent most of the trip with my head over the side vomiting.’ Froi nodded. ‘True. And then we came round the straits and travelled upriver into Yutlind Sud and the spirit warriors attacked and killed our crew and wounded Finn, who would have died if it wasn’t for Isaboe … well, Evanjalin. She begged for his life.’ Froi sighed. ‘I miss those days.’
‘What a ridiculous story,’ Lirah said.
‘It’s true!’ he laughed.
They stood among the fishermen, watching them store the writhing eels in barrels of salt. One of the men held out a basket of strange shells to them and Gargarin took a handful and broke one open, slurping the slug-like substance down his throat. Froi nearly gagged to watch him. Gargarin offered one to Lirah, who seemed just as disgusted.
‘It’s an ormer,’ he said, laughing. ‘The look on both your faces is priceless. Go on,’ he said, offering one to Froi.
‘I’d rather eat dirt.’
Gargarin laughed again, and there was something so normal about them all being together.
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