Fire of the Soul

by Speer, Flora

  “I would think little of the matter, too, except for one small detail,” Garit said. “My grandmother is concerned about my two half-brothers. I can’t discern any special reason why, but she seems quite certain that they are in some danger. She has even mentioned that I should apply to Dyfrig to be made Lord of Kinath, which I most emphatically do not want.”

  “Does Lady Elgida know something we don’t, or is she depending on her female intuition?” Durand asked. “Or is she possessed of the Power?”

  “Not she. The only member of my family who has any Power is my Aunt Adana.”

  “Since we are sailing together,” Durand said, slowing his pace, “I’ll talk with Lady Elgida and try to learn anything she may know that she hasn’t told you. For my own information, I’d like to know what Sir Mallory’s true purpose is and whether he had anything to do with King Audemer’s death last year, or with the recent unrest in Chandelar. We can’t allow Chandelar and the Dominion to become partners. Such an alliance would signal the end of Sapaudia as an independent country and, soon after, the end of Morenia, too. I needn’t tell you what will happen to Kantia then.”

  “You’d best leave me now,” Garit said as they reached the cross-street. “We’ll not meet again until we are aboard ship. As we agreed in Calean, I told Captain Pyrsig that we’ve met at court a few times, but are only slight acquaintances.”

  Without another word, Durand moved into the side street and Garit continued on his course, heading for the inn where Anders awaited him. Garit, Durand, and Anders had laid their plans before leaving Calean City, but all three were experienced enough in secret missions to know that plans seldom unfolded as intended. Accidents, alterations in the plans of other people, even weather conditions could force revisions and lead to very different outcomes from the original intentions.

  As Garit had told Durand, they knew little about Sir Mallory, except that he had appeared on the Northern Border of Kantia out of nowhere and had quickly become an important member of Dyfrig’s closest circle. Garit’s long years at the Sapaudian court had taught him that ambitious men were drawn to royal power as iron was drawn to a lodestone – and ambitious men often left destruction in their wakes. He’d lost his one love because of a man’s unscrupulous ambition. He’d have to take care not to lose his grandmother or his half-brothers to a similar character flaw.

  Lady Elgida’s party left Saumar the day after Garit departed. In the interval, Lady Elgida had chosen as her temporary seneschal a middle-aged household knight who had been with her for years. She then proceeded to lay so many instructions and prohibitions on him that Calia pitied the poor man and was sure he was grateful to bid farewell to the mistress of Saumar Manor.

  The man-at-arms whom Garit had sent met them on the road and urged them to hasten, since The Kantian Queen was due to sail as soon as Lady Elgida reached Port Moren. The ship proved to be as large a vessel as Lady Elgida had demanded. It was clean, its wooden deck scrubbed and polished until it fairly shone, and the ropes were neatly coiled and ready to hand when needed. Beyond the harbor the sea lay calm and dark blue.

  Calia experienced an unanticipated lifting of her heart at the sight of the ship and the water. She was delighted with all she saw, and she’d have been eager to start the voyage, if only they weren’t heading to Kinath and a meeting with Mallory.

  Lady Elgida took Garit’s arm and they walked together up the narrow, unrailed gangplank and onto the ship, the elderly woman asking questions all the way. Calia followed them.

  The master of The Kantian Queen waited at the head of the gangplank. Captain Pyrsig looked to Calia very like a pirate with his suntanned face, his blue tunic, green hose, and bright red boots. His curly red hair and untrimmed beard blew wildly in the sea breeze, adding to the appearance of an outlaw of the sea as she had imagined such a man to be from stories she had heard as a girl. Unlike the pirates in those tales, Captain Pyrsig wasn’t fearsome at all. In fact, the corners of his eyes crinkled with good humor when he smiled.

  “Welcome, my lady,” the captain said, bowing over Lady Elgida’s hand, “I’m honored to have ye aboard. I envision a smooth passage to Kantia.”

  “I should hope so after what my grandson tells me you are charging us for passage,” Lady Elgida snapped. “I will expect our food to be decently cooked, too.”

  When she turned away from him, Captain Pyrsig grinned at Calia and then winked at her. Despite her serious reservations about the voyage, it was all she could do not to burst into laughter. Some previously unexamined corner of her soul responded to the sense of freedom so cheerfully expressed by a man who was unconstrained by any rules save his own. For just a moment Calia tried to imagine how it would feel to be that free, until Lady Elgida took Garit’s arm again and gestured to Calia to follow them below. Then all the restrictions of her uncertain position returned, enjoining her to bow her head meekly and obey.

  “Your Captain Pyrsig is an unrepentant scoundrel,” Lady Elgida said to Garit as they went down a wooden ladder to a lower deck.

  “He’s also a fine sailor,” Garit assured her. “The Kantian Queen is so seaworthy that I’ve traveled on her more times than I can count.”

  “I see.” Lady Elgida sounded as if she was considering more than the captain’s qualifications or his ship’s seaworthiness. “I daresay he sails on the occasional secret mission for the king.”

  “Not at the moment,” Garit told her, dismissing the possibility with a shrug. “Captain Pyrsig has agreed to set us ashore on the beach just below Kinath Castle. Then he will sail on to Kerun City to take on some cargo before returning to the cliffs of Kinath. I told him we’ll leave from there when we’ve completed our business in Kantia, because we have no idea where King Dyfrig will be, or where Fenella and her husband are, either. We can always change that plan, if necessary.”

  “It’s entirely possible that the king will be holding court at Kerun and that Belai and Kinen will be attending the queen there,” Lady Elgida said. “We will just have to wait and see.”

  Calia, listening to them, could only hope and trust that their luck would hold until they were safely gone from Kantia and on their way home again. Until Garit was safe from Mallory. But she didn’t think it likely that they’d all come away unscathed. Her brief moments of pleasure on deck had ended abruptly. Now she felt as if an invisible hand was clutching at her heart, squeezing all hope of peace and contentment out of her.

  She reminded herself again that she had enjoyed two happy years with Lady Elgida. For an illegitimate girl that was more than enough to ask of any lifetime. She owed her benefactress complete devotion and she had to believe that Lady Elgida would do nothing rash that would put Garit into life-threatening danger.

  And yet...Lady Elgida did not know Mallory. Which meant that Calia was going to have to do whatever was needed to protect both Garit and his grandmother. She did, after all, have a pact with Garit that they had sealed very solidly with not one, but two kisses.

  “Our room is clean,” Mairne whispered to Calia an hour after they all boarded The Kantian Queen. “I didn’t expect that. But I do worry about Lady Elgida climbing up and down the ladder to reach the deck, especially in rough weather.”

  “I heard you,” Lady Elgida informed her. “I do assure you, Mairne, I am not so old that I can’t climb a short ladder. If the sea turns rough, the captain will insist that we all remain below, anyway, so we won’t be washed overboard. No captain wants to lose a noble passenger. By the way, rooms on a ship are properly referred to as cabins.”

  “Yes, my lady. I will remember.”

  Mairne spoke meekly enough, but Calia noticed the sparkle in her dark eyes and understood that Mairne saw the voyage as a great adventure as well as an opportunity to spend more time with Anders. Mairne seemed to have no sense of danger.

  Calia acknowledged a spurt of envy within her own bosom before she pushed the feeling aside as unworthy, knowing it had more to do with Mairne’s freedom to love where and whom she chose t
han with the girl’s situation in life.

  Chapter 7

  Shortly after the women were settled into their cabin Lady Elgida decided that she wanted to rest for a time.

  “I’m sure you will find it very interesting to watch the land slipping away,” she said to Calia and Mairne. “You may go above to the deck. Wear your cloaks, for the sea winds can be cold at this time of year. Be wary of the sailors. Take care not to fall overboard.”

  This last instruction was uttered in so dry a tone that Calia looked sharply at Lady Elgida. The older woman was shaking her head in unconcealed displeasure with Mairne, who had already left the cabin they all were to share.

  It was not a large room. Four bunks built two and two, one above the other, against opposite walls with a narrow walking space between, a small table bolted to the deck below a single porthole, and a few hooks on the back of the door for clothing were all the furnishings. The wicker hampers that held the clothing they’d need during the trip, including their soap, towels, and hairbrushes, were lashed at the foot of the bunks to keep them in place. The remainder of their baggage was stored in the hold.

  Mairne had located the chamber pot in a closed cabinet at the bottom of the table. A covered pitcher of water sat in a basin atop the table, which had a raised railing around its edges to prevent both clay vessels from sliding off with the motion of the ship.

  So far as Calia could tell the straw mattresses were free of vermin, and Mairne had immediately spread their own blankets and quilts on the bunks.

  “Foolish girl,” Lady Elgida murmured, sitting down on one of the bunks. “She’s left her cloak behind.”

  “I’ll take it to her.” Calia fastened the clasp of her own cloak before taking Mairne’s from the hook. “My lady, are you sure you don’t want company?”

  “We rose unusually early this morning, and I am no longer used to riding for hours at a time,” Lady Elgida said. “I intend to stretch out my bones in peace before the sea begins tossing us about. Go on, Calia, go on deck, and do watch over Mairne. She is much too taken with the surly charms of my grandson’s squire. A heedless girl can ruin herself over a man before she’s fairly out of childhood. I’m glad you are more sensible.”

  Lady Elgida had been unfastening her shoes as she spoke and now she laid herself down on the bunk, stretching her legs as she’d said she would, and closing her eyes.

  Calia watched her for a few moments, marveling that the elderly lady thought she was sensible. But then, Lady Elgida hadn’t been nearby to see her companion alone with Garit. She hadn’t been in the hall at Saumar Manor when Garit kissed her.

  “Leave,” Lady Elgida commanded without opening her eyes. “I cannot sleep with you staring at me.”

  “I beg your pardon, my lady.” Once again, Calia obeyed.

  As Calia came on deck she found The Kantian Queen was almost ready to depart. After quickly handing Mairne’s cloak to her, Calia found a spot from which she could watch the neat, efficient methods of the sailors without interfering with what they were doing. She observed the action through the eyes of one who was unfamiliar with the ways of life and work at sea and she found the sights and sounds so engrossing that for a short time she forgot all of her forebodings over what would happen after they reached Kantia.

  A group of burly men on the dock unfastened the ropes that had secured the ship to the land, then flung the ropes to the sailors waiting on board. A few moments sufficed for the sailors to coil the ropes in place on the deck, where they’d be at hand when they were needed again. Meanwhile, on Captain Pyrsig’s shouted order a small sail was unfurled to catch the wind and slowly the ship began to move. After they were well away from the dock more sails were added to the first and their speed increased.

  At that point Calia moved to a place by the rail from where she could see what was happening on both ship and land while at the same time keeping a watchful eye on Mairne, who stood near the bow of the ship, laughing and talking with Anders.

  To Calia’s gaze the shoreline appeared to be slipping away, although she knew that was an illusion. The ship was coasting along in a slow, gliding motion. Then they were around the end of the breakwater, out of the harbor and into the open sea, where the smooth glide was replaced by a rocking sensation. The wind caught at Calia’s hair, whipping loose a long strand from her tidy braid.

  “We are fortunate to leave on so calm a day,” Garit said from directly behind her.

  She turned to him and the piece of hair blew across her face. Garit caught it and tucked it behind her ear. His fingers rested against her cheek for a heartbeat or two before he withdrew them.

  “Lady Elgida is resting,” Calia informed him, rather unnecessarily, but she could think of nothing else to say that would make sense. Garit’s close presence left her breathless and feeling a bit confused.

  “I’m glad to hear it. You had a long ride from Saumar.” Garit’s face was solemn. “My grandmother likes to think she is still a young woman. You and I know she is not. I’m sure you will see to her care.”

  “I promised I would,” Calia said, trying her best to appear annoyed that he’d think he needed to remind her of their agreement. Her effort failed. Instead of sounding clear-witted and slightly irritated, she sounded soft and dreamy.

  Angry with herself for being so weak just when she needed to be strong, she stiffened her spine and squared her shoulders. While she attempted to think of a clever retort to Garit’s patronizing remark Captain Pyrsig shouted an order. The ship heeled over as it changed direction and headed north. Calia stumbled and began to slide along the deck. Garit flung out his arm and caught her around the waist, pulling her to his side.

  “You’ll be wise to keep one hand on the rail until you are used to the ship’s motion,” he said.

  “I can see what a good idea that is,” she agreed as the deck slanted in another direction. “Is travel by ship always so unbalanced?”

  “This is just a slight swell, but you are accustomed to walking on solid land,” he pointed out. “By the time we reach Kinath, you’ll think the land is moving and the ship is steady.”

  “How long will that be?”

  “It depends on the wind and the weather. The voyage usually takes five or six days, unless a storm blows us off course.”

  Before Calia could think of an adequate response to the notion of a storm at sea, Mairne’s laughter disrupted her thoughts. With Garit’s arm still around her waist and keeping one of her hands on the rail to steady herself, she turned to see Mairne being held in a similar fashion by Anders, who stood with legs braced wide and one of his own hands gripping a taut rope that led upward to the sails. Garit saw the direction of her gaze.

  “You needn’t worry about him,” Garit told her. “Anders knows that I am his best hope of becoming a knight. He wants that accolade badly, so he’ll never do anything that will give me cause to dismiss him. That means he will respect all women, whether noble ladies or peasant lasses. Anders may not always keep his hands to himself, but he’ll do no more than kiss and touch.”

  “Kisses and touches can break a girl’s heart,” Calia snapped at him before she paused to think.

  “I’ve a feeling Mairne knows how to protect her own heart,” Garit said, looking at her now and no longer at Mairne.

  “Who is that squire of yours?” she asked, hoping to divert her thoughts from the warm expression in his eyes. She’d never before met a man who could make her want to melt into his arms like butter on a warm day, while knowing at the same time that she ought to run as far from him as she could. But then, she had never before known a man whose one love had been murdered by her own father. To her relief, Garit glanced away from her and toward the couple standing by the rail just a few feet away.

  “Anders was born and raised at Kinath Castle,” he said. “His mother was one of my mother’s companions and a distant cousin to her. I am certain that Anders is my half-brother.”

  “Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say
to that. She wasn’t shocked by his words. Illegitimate children were born every day, as she had been. And Mallory. And Anders.

  Mallory had told her more than once that in times past bastardy hadn’t mattered. In those long-ago days, illegitimate offspring could inherit from either a father or a mother. But in recent years new, stricter rules had been promulgated and enforced. Now, parents must be legally wed in the presence of at least two witnesses and the marriage must be blessed by a priest or a mage before the children of a union were considered legitimate and could inherit. Mallory declared the new rules were unfair. After all, wasn’t Gundolam the Great, who had forged the Dominion out of a few warring tribes, a bastard? Mallory had more than once demanded of his little sister.

  Calia couldn’t bear to think about Mallory for another instant, so she made herself pay more careful attention to what Garit was telling her. His story was both sad and fascinating.

  “My mother died of a wasting disease,” Garit said. “It was a long, slow death and for the last few months of her life she was in such severe pain that even the strongest herbal syrups weren’t helpful. She couldn’t be a true wife when she was so ill. My father cared deeply for her, but as she weakened and he realized she’d never recover, he fell into a state of despair. Judging by the date of Anders’s birth, he was conceived shortly before or immediately after my mother died.

  “I cannot blame my father, for I know too well what anguish and heartbreak can do to a man. I am sure my mother, if she knew of the affair, would not have begrudged him an hour or two of comfort. Perhaps she did know.” He lapsed into silence.

  “So then,” Calia said after he’d been quiet for a time, “you and Anders grew up together? That’s how you came to be such close friends? For I can see that you are close.”

  “Close as brothers, you mean?” His tone was wryly amused. “No, by the time Anders was born I was thirteen years old and about to be sent to Nozay Manor in southern Sapaudia to become a squire and train for knighthood. I left Kinath the day after my mother’s funeral. When I returned, just before my knighting, Anders was ten years old. By then his mother had married and moved to Morenia and my father was betrothed to marry Lady Fenella. She did not like the boy, I think because she guessed who his father was. She didn’t like me much, either.