“Oh,” she said in a small voice, frightened and confused. She turned her back to him and crouched down. “Will you unbutton it for me?” she asked as she grabbed her hair and raised her thick brown mane off her neck.
Marco grabbed the two sides of the opening on the dress and hastily tore them open.
“Marco!” Rhen protested.
“We have to hurry,” he explained. “Raise your arms,” he told her, and he pulled the gown straight up and over her head, then tossed it aside.
“And my petticoats too?” the nervous duchess asked, starting to pull them down from her waist.
“No, you can keep them,” Marco told her. He looked at the slanted wooden beams below, then carefully stepped down on them.
“Come down. Come carefully,” he warned Rhen as he guided her feet to positions they could step on. He descended part way, and then she followed him down, until they reached the water inside the hull. The ship moved again, and a timber fell from the upper decks, plummeting directly towards them. Desperately, Marco raised his right hand and engaged his powers of sorcery, heedless of Rhen’s presence. His hand touched the falling beam and easily tossed it aside.
“How did you do that?” the duchess asked in awestruck wonder.
“Come on,” Marco said. “We have to get out of this danger.” He lay down in the water. “Now climb on top of my back,” he directed her, “and hold onto my shoulders.”
To her credit, Rhen did as told, even in the midst of the rapidly degenerating situation, and Marco felt her weight as she settled into position.
“Hold on,” he instructed as he took his first strokes. “Hold on very tightly.”
Marco carefully worked his way through the debris inside the ship, sometime pulling them around wooden beams, sometimes stroking, until they reached the hole in the hull. A wave washed up into Marco’s face as he squinted against the bright sunlight that was multiplied and coruscated by the waters all around them.
They were immediately among the shallow waters of the reef, and Marco wallowed uncertainly as he tried to maintain Rhen and himself above the water while avoiding the sharp pieces of coral that protruded from below.
“You did it! We’re safe!” Rhen was ready to celebrate.
“Only safe from the ship falling in on us,” Marco corrected her. He saw a small pile of coral stones that rose above the water level, and headed towards the spot. “We still need to figure out where the others are.”
Rhen scrambled off his back and climbed up onto the rocks, as Marco took a momentary seat in the surf to catch his breath. After several deep gulps of air, he stood, and climbed up to stand by Rhen, then stared intently at the wreck of the ship. “Do you see anyone left on the deck?” he asked. There was no sign of the lifeboats that had been tied to the ship’s sides.
“There’s no sign of anyone,” Rhen answered. “We’re all alone, aren’t we?” her voice was tremulous as she considered their isolation.
“Not for long,” Marco told her. He looked in the opposite direction, hoping to catch sight of the island that the lookout had spotted.
“They probably all went to the island. We’ll have to get there and catch up to them,” he said confidently.
“Why would they leave without us?” Rhen asked, looking up into his face.
“I don’t know, my duchess,” he answered, hoping to cheer her up. “But we’ll surprise them when we find them.”
“You believe that, don’t you?” Rhen asked, still searching his face. “You have a way for us to get back to them. There’s nothing you don’t think you can do, is there?
“And you may be right! You’re doing impossible things! How did you throw that beam aside? You fought all those Corsairs! You’ve been injured over and over again, and you’re already healthy and healed. Who are you really Marco?” she asked.
“And why is the princess’s name etched on the back of your torq?” she asked the last question with more intensity.
Marco sat down slowly, so that he looked up at Rhen.
“A dream told me that I would have three great loves,” he said softly, so quietly that Rhen sat down next to him in order to hear him. “And I knew the first two women, and I married them both, in a way,” he gave a gentle smile, suddenly reflective, caught off-guard by Rhen’s observations,
“Mirra was the great love of my life, and I shouldn’t love another woman now. But that name was there, haunting me – Ellersbine. And now I’ve met her,” he told Rhen, looking at her directly, their eyes locking.
“She’s a good person it seems, but I don’t think I feel love for her. Sympathy, yes. I want to help her and protect her, but I don’t love her. And I don’t know what to expect – the torq has her name etched there as my next great love, and yet I don’t love her. I’ve just met her,” he said.
“The fact that she’s a princess and you’re just a soldier, that doesn’t occur to you to be a barrier to love does it?” Rhen asked. “It shouldn’t, because you’re no ordinary soldier. You’re no ordinary man. I don’t know who you are, or what you are, Marco.”
They sat in silence for a long pause. “Aren’t you going to tell me?” Rhen asked. “Won’t you tell me who you are?”
“My duchess,” Marco answered. “Two years ago. Maybe three now, I was just an apprentice – not a very good one – working in a shop, and living a very ordinary life. And then something happened, everything changed, and I’ve been challenged by a world I do not understand ever since.
“I’ve been lucky, and had some things work in my favor. And now I’m here on this pile of rocks with you, and I want to get us both to safety, and I want you to know that I will protect you,” Marco told her earnestly.
“That was quite a pretty little speech, Marco,” Rhen told him. “It didn’t really tell me a great deal, but it seemed genuine and heartfelt. You’re hiding something, but I can tell that it’s nothing involving me. And as long as you’re really sincere and don’t mean to hurt Ellersbine, then I’ll trust you. Do you expect to hurt Ellersbine?” she asked.
“No Rhen, I don’t want to hurt her. I like her, and I’m supposed to love her, but I’ll try very hard not to hurt her,” he answered.
“Alright then,” Rhen seemed satisfied with the answer. “So where do we go from here?” The sun was starting to set, and the duchess didn’t wish to spend the night on the small pile of rocks.
“We need to figure out which direction to go to find the island, and then we need to get there,” Marco stated, as he crawled down the rocks to the water’s edge, then stepped down further. There was no point in hiding any of his unusual abilities from Rhen, he realized, and speaking to dolphins was perhaps the most easily explained of all his traits.
He lowered his face into the water, and began to speak in the language of his swimming companions. “This is Marco two-legs, a human friend of dolphins and merpeople. I and a friend need help to swim. Dolphin friends, can you help a friend in need?” he called out loudly, paused, and then repeated the question.
He rose from the water and looked out around the reef, looking for any arrivals, then looked up at Rhen, who was studying him through slitted eyes.
“What were you just doing?” she asked.
“I was calling for help,” he answered. “We need some way to find the island and get there, so I called to the dolphins to see if any will help us.”
“Dolphins?” Rhen asked. “Dolphins? You can talk to dolphins too?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Marco couldn’t resist asking, then grinned to show the humor he intended.
Just then there was a squawk nearby, and Marco saw a dolphin’s grinning head rising from the waters.
“Who calls for a friend?” the dolphin asked.
Marco waded towards the creature, stopping several yards short of contact. “My name is Marco. I called for a friend to lend aid,” he explained.
“How astonishing,” the dolphin said, adding a word Marco didn’t understand. “I’ve heard of human being
s taught to speak, but never seen it before. Where did you learn this? Are there others like you?”
“I started to learn from a merboy, then learned more from a dolphin in the western waters,” Marco answered.
“That explains the accent, a little,” the dolphin responded. “I’ve heard about you. You are a friend of?” he left the question dangling.
“Kieweeooee,” Marco answered promptly.
“The princess; yes, you are the one I’ve heard of. You’ve fought against evil in the waters,” the dolphin commented. “I am Riptide.”
“Riptide, it is a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for responding. I am still trying to fight the evil, in the water and on land too. My friend and I need to go to a land close by. Is there one? We think we may meet friends there.”
“Not far beyond this coral playground there is a place of not water,” the dolphin affirmed. “It is very close by.”
“Would you pull us through the water to help us get there quickly, as a friend of a friend?” Marco made his formal request.
“As a friend of a friend, I am happy to assist you,” Riptide replied.
“Rhen, come down here. The dolphin said he’d take us to the island,” Marco waved to his companion, and watched her scramble down to join him.
Together, they held hands as they gingerly stepped out into deeper water, then grabbed hold of the patient dolphin as he waited in the water.
“Hold on to his fin,” Marco instructed. “This will be easy.”
“Will you hold on to me?” Rhen asked, seeking reassurance.
Marco linked his arm through hers, and smiled, then informed Riptide they were ready.
The journey was erratic at first as their guide moved around the obstructions of the reef, always staying on the surface, but after several minutes they broke into clear water, and two minutes later the island came into view on the horizon.
Five minutes later they were in the surf that rolled up onto the island beach. “Thank you, friend Riptide,” Marco told the dolphin. “I am in your debt.”
“If you say so,” Riptide answered. “It was so small an action that it hardly bears remembering. Good luck in your battles against the evil ones.” And with that, the dolphin rolled to the side and smoothly swam back out to sea.
Marco looked at Rhen who had walked up onto the beach and looked at Marco. “I can’t believe how easy you make the impossible seem,” the duchess told him. “Can you arrange for me to have a new gown?” she asked.
“Only if it’s packed away in one of the lifeboats,” Marco answered. “Speaking of which, we ought to get going to find our friends,” he told Rhen, and started slowly walking along the beach as the sun set in the western sky.
Shortly after dusk they spotted a trio of bonfires burning ahead, and they hastened their steps as they approached. They picked out the others before anyone realized they had arrived.
“There’s the princess, with the count and the colonel and the captain of the ship and some others,” Rhen pointed to the same group around one bonfire that had drawn Marco’s attention.
They walked directly to the fire, drawing shouts of exclamation as they were recognized by others, who thronged towards them, slapping Marco on the back.
“Does anyone have a jacket to lend to the Duchess Rhen?” Marco asked, and was pleased when Captain Fyld walked up to them and handed his own jacket to the embarrassed woman.
“We’re glad to see you among us!” Fyld said. “Varsen said that you had gone on an earlier life boat, and then you weren’t here when the last boat arrived. Is the prince coming with you?” he asked.
“The prince is dead,” Rhen said promptly, looking at Marco. “He died on the ship. We were trapped below deck, and Marco got us out through a hole in the hull.” There were murmurs of disbelief and loss at the news of the prince’s death.
“Welcome back,” Fyld repeated. “You need to go reinforce the princess, before those two overwhelm her,” he pointed at the small group that was straining to see through the darkness to see what the ruckus was.
Marco took Rhen’s hand and pulled her authoritatively forward with him.
“I could have stayed and talked to the nice captain while you went and killed the two villains,” she mildly protested.
“The princess will be pleased to have her friend back,” Marco answered.
“I know. I really intended to join you,” she admitted, just before they became identifiable in the light of the bonfire they approached.
“Rhen!” Ellersbine spoke with gladness. “I thought you were dead!”
“I would have been, if I hadn’t been with Marco,” she answered as they hugged one another tightly.
“Marco,” the princess smiled wistfully over Rhen’s shoulder at him, and extended one hand to briefly touch his. “I’m so glad to have you back with us. I know we all are,” she spoke more firmly.
“I am here to serve you, my princess,” Marco said, then bowed on one knee. “I am sorry to report that your father is dead. We did not bring his body from the ship, but Duchess Rhen has his signet ring for you,” he said, and Rhen promptly slipped the large piece of jewelry from her finger and gave it to Ellersbine.
“Well, we’re all glad to have you here to serve our needs,” Count Argen said in an ungracious tone.
“I am here to serve the princess,” Marco said forcefully. He felt the girl’s look of vulnerability, a result of the news of the loss of her father’s death, made him want to shelter her from any further harm.
“As the princess’s fiancé, I am entitled to receive your allegiance, which I should have held all along,” Argen said stoutly.
“The princess is my liege,” Marco replied. “I’ll go find food for the duchess and me,” he said abruptly as he stood. “If your highness permits?”
“Of course, of course,” Ellersbine agreed, in a broken voice.
“And I’ll talk to the men to make sure I can still count on them,” he looked at Varsen significantly, to assure that the officer caught the drift of Marco’s comment, his assertion that the troops would follow him, not the officer. He walked away, and went back through the darkness to one of the other bonfires.
“Is there anything available to eat?” Marco asked. He looked back at the other fire, and saw that Rhen and Ellersbine were embracing each other, as the duchess consoled the princess over the death of her father, and Marco felt an upwelling of sympathy for the princess. The young lady had become engaged to a man who Marco was convinced she did not love; she had become engaged to help protect her father, who was now dead, while she was left with Argen. Her father was dead, she was stranded on an island, and there were few things going right for her at the moment.
“I’d like to have something to take back to the duchess too,” Marco added, as a soldier handed him a plate with a small portion of food. He accepted the second plate, then returned to the tense group that stood in two segments.
“Here you are my lady,” Marco presented the plate of food to Rhen and then ate his own meal. Afterwards he circulated among the soldiers and sailors, listening to them talk about the evacuation from the ship, and vaguely answering questions about his own escape with Rhen. Within an hour’s time he was confident that the soldiers would support him if a showdown with Argen or Varsen were to arise.
The next morning, he and Fyld and Hearst went to the area under the trees where the nobles had camped.
“What is our plan for getting off the island?” Marco asked the ship’s captain.
“We’re going to send out three lifeboats,” the captain answered. “One to go south towards shore, to try to get a rescue mission, and the other two to go west into the shipping lanes to try to catch the attention of the other two ships we left Athens with.
“We don’t know if they’re anywhere in the vicinity, but for the next few days they’re our best hope for rescue,” he explained.
By the middle of the morning the three lifeboats had been pushed out into the sea and rowed o
ut of sight, and the rest of the survivors settled in to a long period of waiting for something to happen. And on the third day on the island, something did happen; two large ships appeared and dropped their sails as they anchored just beyond the wreckage of the Corsair ship that had smashed into the reef around the island. The two lifeboats in the sea had found their quarry.
The day was spent using all the small boats from both ships to ferry the shipwreck survivors out to the waiting vessels. Marco found that he was assigned to the ship that the nobles were not going to, as were many of those soldiers closest to him. The princess accepted his bow silently, while Rhen hugged him impulsively. “We’ll miss you; we’ll see you back on shore,” she told him, and then the nobles were gone, Argen and Varsen looking smugly victorious as they reasserted their positions and authority among the crew and soldiers of the new ships.
Life aboard the rescuing ships was crowded, as the soldiers already on board made room for the newcomers who squeezed in among them. When the voyage ended two days later as they arrived at Tripool, everyone was relieved to depart from the ships, and move on to the next uncertain step in their journey.
Chapter 12
Tripool was a dusty, dry city set in a harbor that was fed by the turbid waters of the Ruritan River. The group of freed war prisoners that disembarked from the two ships was less than two hundred people. While the ship that Marco and the others had sailed in had encountered so many calamitous adventures, the other two ships had suffered nothing until they had picked up the survivors of the first, and virtually all the losses had come from the shipwrecked group.
Colonel Varsen had asserted his command over the soldiers on the ship he had sailed on, and he took command of the overall contingent when they were reunited at Tripool. Marco was briefly in the company of the princess as Varsen ordered people into the positions he called for.
“Thank you,” Ellersbine told Marco in a low voice, not looking directly at him.
“You’re welcome, your highness,” he answered. “For what?” he asked after a pause, feeling oddly pleased to be with her again.
The Southern Trail (Book 4) Page 11
