Ascendant

by Craig Alanson

  "Yes, that was, an, um, unfortunate misunderstanding. Which I have since corrected, by explaining to Captain Raddick." Captain Raddick, who learned that he had earned the displeasure of the crown princess, and left the castle as soon as he was able. Carlana had told Paedris that, so far, Ariana didn't know the army was officially searching for Koren as a deserter, Ariana only knew people were searching for the young man. And she certainly didn't know the secret order for Koren to be killed, if he had been captured by the enemy.

  "And if I find which priest told Koren he was cursed-"

  "Mother Furliss says it wasn't her, and I believe her." Paedris hastened to say. The priestess had been furious, and had told the wizard her suspicion that a certain worthless priest named Emil Gruch may be the culprit. Father Gruch was soon going to find himself reassigned to a miserable church in the Fethid swamp, where he would be too busy swatting mosquitos and worrying about snakes to do any more damage to the faithful. Which was still a better fate than what Paedris, in his anger, had wanted to do the wretched man.

  "Koren is not a jinx! He was there to save me, when the bear attacked. And he was there to make me move, exactly when the gargoyle fell. He is the opposite of a jinx."

  "I agree, Your Highness. While he has been good luck for you, and for me, and for Tarador, his own luck has been rather bad." Much of which is my own fault, Paedris added to himself, if I hadn't kept the truth from him. "Is this what you wished to talk about in private?"

  Ariana dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, not caring if the wizard saw her tears. "Partly, yes. I know you care about Koren, and I need to talk with someone else who does. Mother thinks he is nothing but trouble."

  "Your mother-"

  "Is sometimes a silly woman." Ariana declared forcefully. "I know she loves me, and thinks she's doing what is best for me, but she has no idea what she's doing. She was raised to be a wife, and a mother, she never expected to rule a country. She's driving General Magrane to distraction, and he's too loyal to say it, but she's a terrible Regent." After initially ordering the royal army to the capital after she heard about the raid in Longshire, she changed her mind and ordered General Magrane to the western border. Then after the discovery of an assassin in the castle, she had ordered the army back, even to the point of recalling royal troops that had been sent to reinforce the provinces, and allies in other countries, that were most threatened by Acedor. Even Duke Yarron, who had always been a strong supporter of the royal family, was grumbling about Carlana leaving Levanne province to fend for itself on the border. "If she keeps doing this, we're going to lose the few allies we have left. And the Regency Council could shift votes to making Duke Falco my Regent." Ariana shuddered at that thought. With Regin Falco as her Regent, a position that Duke had wanted since her father died, Ariana feared it would not be long before an unfortunate 'accident' happened to her.

  Paedris shifted uncomfortably in his chair. As court wizard, and a foreigner, he was forbidden from taking sides in any internal Taradoran politics, including matters of the Regency Council. Perhaps, especially decisions of the Regency Council, for that was where the Dukes and Duchesses most jealously guarded their power. Paedris had remained scrupulously neutral, but if Regin Falco was named Regent, Paedris did not see how he could remain silent. He did not trust the man, not at all. Until such a thing was about to happen, however, Paedris felt he needed to remain silent on the matter. For Paedris to interfere in the Regency Council would be to thrust Tarador into an outright civil war. "Your mother does what she thinks best." He responded carefully.

  "By trying to protect me, my mother is risking me never becoming queen, or not having much of a country left once I take the throne."

  "Hmm, well, I can't speak against-"

  "Yes you can. You can speak against the Regent, to me alone. I checked with the royal chancellor about the law on this. Mother is my Regent."

  Whatever the written law stated, Paedris knew the law mostly was whatever those in power said it was, and Carlana had the power. At the moment. This conversation was getting into dangerous territory, at a time when Tarador was threatened, and the wizard himself was not at full strength. Before Paedris could respond, Ariana continued her argument. "Lord Salva, I need to become queen, now. If I wait until my sixteenth birthday, that will be too late. Too late for me, and too late for Tarador. Our enemy will not sit idly by for another two years, while we argue and my mother does nothing."

  "The law-"

  "The law is whatever the Regency Council agrees to. Enough of the Dukes are afraid we're going to lose the war, soon, that I think I can push my mother aside. But, I will need your help. Can I count on your support and advice, Lord Salva?"

  Paedris should have taken some time to consider the crown princess' stunning proposal. He didn't need to. Ariana was ready, far more qualified at her young age to rule Tarador than her mother ever was. Seeing the young girl making such a momentous decision on her own, and acting so forcefully, to take the reins of great responsibility, swept away any doubts he may have had. He had been waiting for Ariana to take power, planning, wishing and hoping for that day, hoping it did not happen too late. Now, he could do something about it, and together, they could thwart the plans for the enemy. He cleared his throat, and announced "Your Highness, I have been waiting for this day, ever since your father died. Yes, you have my complete support. And, the gratitude of an old man. I should have suggested this to you, before we came to such a crisis."

  "Thank you, Lord Salva." Ariana said gravely, then the young girl in her broke through, and she leaped out of her chair to fling her arms around him and kiss his cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

  Paedris could feel the wetness of her tears on his cheek. He gently unwrapped her arms from around her, and looked her in the eyes. "And now, Your Highness, if you are going to be our queen, there is a very important secret you need to learn, about Koren Bladewell."

  That very same night, Koren held onto the ropes that led up to the mainmast of the ship, and looked down at the angrily foaming black water. Not actually down, for the ship was healing over so far that the crests of the waves were above him, and as he tried to make his way to the railing, a wave smashed him full in the face, he lost his grip on the rope, and was washed across the deck to be bashed against a stack of crates. As the ship healed over the other way, the water cascading off the deck pulled him along with it, and he tumbled, out of control, up against one of the holes the sailors called ‘scuppers’ where the water poured out over the side. Coughing and choking on seawater, Koren decided that nothing aboard a ship was easy, not even throwing yourself overboard.

  The ship rolled the other way again, and Koren let himself slide across the deck, splinters from the rough wood deck scratching his skin. He bumped against the rail, and scrambled up the railing, determined to dive overboard, before a wave threw him back, or he lost his nerve. A black wave loomed above him, gray foam curling to strike him down, as he pulled himself up onto the top of the railing, and took a deep breath.

  A breath that was knocked out of him, when a rough hand took hold of his shirt collar and yanked him back onto the deck, just as the wave broke over the railing and knocked him down. Once he recovered from being battered into the deck by the water, Koren was hauled to his feet by a large sailor named Alfonze. “What in the hell are you doing, you young fool? You could have fallen overboard!”

  “I was trying to!” Koren choked out the words, which only made him realize how very much he wanted to live.

  “Trying to-“ Alfonze was dumbfounded, as he pulled the young man he knew as ‘Kedrun’ up next to the mast, where they were safer from the waves breaking over the side. “Why would you want to go over the side, at night? You seasick?”

  Koren shook his head. Unlike the five other new crewmen, he had not gotten seasick during the week the ship had been sailing due south across the open sea, not even in the storm. “Jofer said this storm is going to sink the ship, and that one of us new men br
ought bad luck with us. It’s me, I’m a jinx! I brought this storm on us, and we’re all going to die as long as I’m aboard!”

  To Koren’s surprise, he saw Alfonze’s teeth shining with a broad smile. “A storm? You call this a storm, you stupid landlubber?” Alfonze roared with laughter. “This ain’t even a blow, nor not a squall. When we get into a storm, I’ll let you know, and there won’t be no mistaking it. And never listen to Jofer, that useless old idiot hasn’t learned a darned thing about sailing in all his long years. He sees mermaids around every shore, and there ain’t no such thing, mark my words.” Seeing Koren was not yet convinced, Alfonze pointed toward the bow of the ship. “Lookee there, you wooly-head. See the sky yonder is lighter? That’s moonlight, where this little cloudburst ends. We’ll be out of this in half a glass, and then you’ll be called on deck to clean up some of this mess. So no sense going below now to get out of these wet clothes, you come with me.” Koren held onto the big man as they climbed the stairs up to where two sailors were wrestling with the big wheel that steered the ship. “You see? If this were a storm, the cap’n hisself would be up here, instead of snoring away in his cabin. Storm?” Alfonze shook his head and laughed, and truly Koren could see that, although the ship still bobbed alarmingly on the waves, the crew had everything under control. “Yussaf, Renten, this young fool Kedrun here thinks this is a fearsome storm!”

  The two sailors laughed along with Alfonze. As Koren held tightly onto the railing at the top of the stairs, and squinted to see in the stinging seaspray, he peered ahead, to where he could now see the night sky truly was distinctly lighter. He may still be a jinx, trouble and doom for everyone around him, but not this night. Not this one night. And that gave him hope.