by Guy Antibes
“More Pestlans would be killed if we joined you. Your clean little coup is now an impossibility?”
Asem nodded. “I don’t want to try it twice, if that is what you mean.”
“What is in it for the Pestlans who risk their lives?”
“A country rid of the capricious rule of Harl Crustwillow,” Kulara said. She looked at Valanna. “Remember, Valanna would be the Queen.”
“It’s no longer a secret that you are in line for Harl’s throne, but we don’t want a puppet ruler. You still are King Marom’s wife, aren’t you?”
Valanna took a deep breath. “You won’t get a puppet. Warish, even under Marom’s rule is more prosperous than what Harl has done to Pestle. Taxes are much lower and the people are more free. When I fled to Balbaam in the fall, I listened to Pestlans on the way, and some of them actually looked forward to Marom’s rule, even if it meant deposing King Harl.”
“I believe you believe what you say, but what if Marom puts his foot down?”
“How?” Valanna said. She looked over at Asem. “He has enough forces to protect Warish, but not to occupy Pestle. If he put his foot down demanding something that was not in the best interests of Pestle, I would refuse. What could he do?”
Esmera leaned forward. “You are serious, aren’t you?”
Valanna pressed her lips together, feeling a surge of emotion and a shortness of breath. “I am. Please don’t ask me what else I would do.”
Esmera swiveled to Asem. “And you are here to support Valanna as Queen?”
“I am. I can be loyal to her and to King Marom.”
“Until you can’t,” Esmera said.
Kulara grasped Asem’s upper arm. “His children are held hostage,” she said. “He will support Valanna as long as they are safe.”
“Let’s keep them safe, then,” Esmera said. “I’m hungry. Would you like an early lunch? I missed breakfast.” She rose from her seat and led them to a secluded corner of the near-empty dining room.
“Are there resources elsewhere that can assist?” Asem said.
“There are. I’ll have to reason with them. That’s not an impossible thing to do. We should talk of other things. We can meet here again tomorrow night, since you can come and go without passing through any number of King Harl’s thugs sprinkled around the streets of my establishment.”
~
The next night, Esmera showed Valanna, Asem, and Kulara to a private dining room. The angry man wasn’t present, but two men, that didn’t look like merchants, had joined with the other two they had met before.
“We can progress to names,” Esmera said. “You have met Garold Pinhappy and Reece Killwhistle.” She pointed to the two who looked like merchants. “May I present Danson Axlewood and Billian Joistfinger. Consider Danson and Billian as field men in our group.”
Valanna smiled at the men when Esmera introduced Asem, Kulara, and her. Danson and Billion were men with military bearing, ‘field men’ as Esmera had called them.
“Reece and Garold have seen the documents verifying that Valanna is the daughter of King Harl’s cousin and is the first in line for the Pestlan throne. Her father was apprentice to the Court Magician. She is also the fifth wife of Marom, King of Warish,” Esmera said.
The merchants nodded, but it seemed that the revelation unsettled the two military men.
“I only have the best interests of Pestle at heart. I am a magician as my father was, and if I rule, the ban on magic will be eliminated. That ban served the interests of Warish, but not Pestle. Warish does not have designs on taking over every aspect of Pestlan life; indeed, it doesn’t meddle with Warishian life to this day. Taxes are lower, and people thrive in my country.”
“Like Pestle, a generation ago,” Reece said. The man looked at his companions. “I have given this much thought. A Queen Valanna will remove the Vashtans from power, with the promise that Warish lightly influences Pestlan affairs.”
“A common defense and a modest payment of tribute,” Valanna said. “That tribute would be much less than the burden of taxes that King Harl has levied on Pestlan citizens.”
Esmera sat down at the table with them. “I heard that the University of Pestle was closing due to a new education tax that Harl established just yesterday.”
The men shouted various exclamations at the news.
Asem said, “I am a cousin of King Marom and escorted Valanna during her time serving in the Santasian civil war. I can vouch for what she has said.”
“That’s right,” Danson Axlewood said. “I heard that you were instrumental to the Loyalist’s victory.”
“The instrumental one was Trak Bluntwithe, one of your own, but he had to flee Pestle because he is a powerful magician. He defeated the revolution’s leader, a Black Master of the Santasian Magician’s Guild, and that stopped most of the fighting,” Valanna said. “I did my part.”
“A ruler who understands what war is all about,” Danson said, nodding his head and grinning.
Valanna grimaced. “What ‘war is all about’ changes from perspective to perspective. I’ve been through battles and still detest the loss of life, needful or not.”
Danson looked pleased by her retort and gave her a curt bow with his head.
Servers brought in drinks and snacks and then left them alone.
Asem rose after visibly suffering through the poor quality wine that Esmera served. “We have ten magicians to fight the Vashtans and those loyal to King Harl. That is not enough on its own. In order to effectively depose the current king, we need more people. That is why we are meeting.”
Reece rubbed his hands and began to explain what the nascent rebellion had already done to prepare. He didn’t reveal hard numbers or specific locations, but Valanna realized that King Marom’s long war would have quickly failed without the commitment of a number of Warish troops entering Pestle to put down Esmera’s rebellion.
She looked at Asem after Reece sat down. About all Asem could do was clear his throat and compliment the other men in the room for their efforts.
Kulara put her hand on Asem’s. “My husband put it well enough. I fought in the Santasian civil war as he did. Our actions were not well received by King Marom, and he currently holds two of our children as hostages in Balbaam.” Valanna noticed Asem put his hand over his wife’s as Kulara continued. “However, Asem is here to make sure a friendlier outcome happens in Pestle. I think we can do that by coming to amenable terms over the next few days on what a new Pestle would look like.”
Valanna felt the need to say something. “If you want to think of it as a treaty, please do.”
The rest of the meeting consisted of discussions centered around how Valanna would rule. She hadn’t really given the prospect much thought, but as they talked, Valanna found that she already had formed definite opinions on would benefit Pestle and not harm Warish in any way. She realized that King Marom’s capriciousness could result in forcing her to do something in bad faith, but she couldn’t worry about something she didn’t know.
The men and Esmera left the room before the three Warishians teleported back to their house. Valanna gratefully went to bed.
In the morning, she descended the stairs to see Henrig sitting in the parlor.
“I have some bad news,” he said. “Snively, your friend, has been dragged off to the palace dungeons.”
~~~
Chapter Fourteen
~
Trak and Lia stayed one more day at the inn. They bought new clothes in the town and wore those while their others were properly washed. The snow had passed, and the sun dried up the paved road that led from the pass all the way to Zamiel.
The Western Toryans didn’t hide their capital city like their brethren east of the mountains. With a more open attitude towards foreigners, Trak could now see why more Toryans fought in the Kandannan army. He always thought Tembul’s people would rather die than fight with another army. After their experience in Coriasku, Trak didn’t know what motivated the innkeeper and his friends to w
aylay them. Was it patriotism or sheer greed? If they were motivated by greed, then someone had to have offered a reward for them. Either way, they would have to continue to be vigilant.
“Let’s walk for a bit,” Lia said. She turned around and stood, pointing her face to the mid-morning sun.
Trak took one of her bags so that Lia could swing her arms. He had never seen her so carefree. The smile on her face was quite genuine, now that he knew her better. He would let her enjoy the freedom as long as she could, since once she bore the mantle of Princess and maybe Queen again, the freedom would disappear.
“There are towns and villages all along this road for travelers. Unless we are identified, we can eat and sleep like normal people,” Lia said. She took her bags back, and strolled along the road, careful to miss the animal refuse spread around the pavement. “These are my people.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve never realized it before, until I came through Torya with you. I feel a bit ashamed.”
“Probably you should be,” Trak said. “You can always modify your behavior starting with the present.”
“Let’s buy a floater,” Lia said. There were a few for sale by a couple standing by the roadway.
“Suits me if we are going to walk for awhile.” Trak paid the man and loaded their bags. “Will you?”
Lia smiled at him. “Thank you.” She posed quite gracefully and the floater lifted up two and a half feet above surface of the payment.
Trak let the trailing arm down so it would drag on the pavement and put a loop around the end of the lead. He slipped it through his arm and onto his shoulder, like he had seen plenty of times during his stays in Torya, and they continued their walk.
“Isn’t that better?” Lia said.
Trak nodded. “Your pose is much better than mine ever could be.” He realized that he had never thought to put the floater pose in his manuscript. He wondered what Valanna had ever done with it? He hoped Marom hadn’t seized it. That man couldn’t be trusted to behave in a normal way.
“A cloud has passed over your face.”
Trak swatted her comment away. “I was thinking of King Marom. It still makes me mad what he did.”
“It will always sting. There are things my father did to me, and words that he said that will stay with me forever.” She frowned, but then brightened up. “At least I have you all to myself.” She threaded her arm through his and held him close to her, as they continued on their way.
Trak reluctantly agreed to be led. His travels through her domain would be contentious if Valanna had joined them. He doubted that Lia would be so open if another woman shared Trak with her. The notion of being shared by two women struck Trak as odd. He thought that his circumstances had not been conducive to a romantic relationship with a woman, but here he strolled with Lia, who looked like she didn’t have a problem in the world. She pointed out little discoveries as they walked now by themselves between merchants and other travelers.
Trak noticed Santasian spoken, so it appeared that relations with Kandanna had eased enough to re-open trading between the two countries. Opening up the Dianzan Pass to the south would still take some time, and Trak remembered the lights on both sides of that pass. The Eastern and Western Toryans didn’t seem to have made peace with each other.
“Why don’t we end our day a bit early and resume our walking tomorrow for a bit before we start teleporting again?” Lia said.
“Fine with me. So we bought a floater to use for a single day?”
Lia shook her head, her hair swishing in the light breeze. “We can teleport it with our bags.”
Trak had to admit he could do that as long as they were headed towards open spaces. He smiled back. “Sounds like a good enough plan for now.”
~
Trak chose an inn where there were Santasians staying. He brought up a pan of water for Lia’s sore feet. He surmised that the day’s trek might have been the longest she had ever walked in her life.
“I’ll go down and bring up some food,” he said once he spelled the water to the right temperature. “If your feet are too sore, there is enough room to ride in the floater, you know.”
She splashed water on her bare legs. “I do know, but I had so much fun looking at people and the countryside.”
Where did this woman come from? She certainly wasn’t the same person that demanded an inn on their trip out of Beniko. Lia had to have been lurking beneath all of that disdain all along. It just took some time for the shell to soften, he guessed.
She splashed water on him, making Trak back up into the wall of their tiny room. He would sleep on the floor again, but Trak didn’t mind.
“I’ll be back,” he said. He wondered what would be on the menu. The Toryan food he had eaten on both sides of the mountains wouldn’t stand up to Santasian cuisine.
He descended the stairs and scanned the main room of the inn, recognizing two men seated at one of the windows. He debated not approaching, but decided he had to talk to them.
Trak stood silently behind Sirul until Tembul looked up and spit out the beer in his mouth. “Trak!”
Sirul turned around and knocked over his chair, putting his arms around his friend.
“How did you get here?” Trak said.
“Just arrived,” Tembul said. “We traveled using a flyer. We thought you might have arrived in Zamiel, but this is an inn frequented by Santasians, so we thought you might pass through here. Where is the Princess?”
Trak sat down to join them. “She’s soaking her feet in our room.”
“Your room?” Sirul asked. “You are sharing?”
Trak nodded. “We found that masquerading as a couple made it easier to explain. She was just fine with it after we were abducted in the town of Coriasku.”
“Abducted!” Sirul said.
“Please keep your voice down,” Trak said. “That’s why I’m wearing this hat. Blond hair makes it plain I’m a foreigner.”
“It does,” Tembul said, smiling. “You teleported your way to freedom?”
“They had us tied up on a floater. I turned it into a flyer, and then took care of our abductors. One of them contributed to the Princess Pullia’s cause.” He pointed to his knit hat.
Tembul took another sip from his mug. “So you’ve taken your time, eh?”
“I didn’t think it prudent to arrive in Zamiel with the princess without knowing what’s going on in Western Torya. It hasn’t hurt her to see how the people live either.”
“Better you than me,” Sirul said, shivering.
“We’ll join forces tomorrow?” Tembul said.
“I’ll let Lia know.”
“So she continued to let you call her that?” Tembul said.
“No slip-ups that way, if the wrong ears hear.”
~
Trak knocked on the door. Lia unlocked it and let him in.
“What took you so long?” She examined the stew and bread. “They didn’t cook that in the last bit.”
“We have a pair of travelers to join us.”
Lia frowned. “Let me guess. Tembul.”
Trak smiled. “And Sirul.”
She narrowed her eyes. The good humor had left her face. “He won’t like that, and I won’t either. I don’t trust him.”
“Why not?” Trak said. They had never talked about Sirul before.
“He wasn’t friendly with our family, and that includes my father, as well as my uncle.” She hunched her shoulders and wiped her eyes. “I didn’t want to think about Zamiel yet. We still have to confront my uncle, the king.”
“Isn’t that why we are coming in from the—”
“They could very well be expecting us to travel over the Lizanti Pass, won’t they?” Lia said. “Tembul did.”
“I’m sorry,” Trak said. “I didn’t think.”
Lia’s laughter had disappeared. “We will join them for breakfast tomorrow?”
Trak nodded. “They brought a flyer. Maybe we will head back south.” He felt his neck and cheeks get hot from
blushing. Trak had though he was so smart coming from the north. It only helped if their abductors in the town of Coriasku sent messages to others along the way to Zamiel. His interlude with Lia was very, very nice while it lasted. Catching up to Tembul here would be better than being captured along the road later.
Trak didn’t say much after that. He sat on top of his blankets on the floor while he waited for the eventual snoring from Lia, castigating himself for muddled thinking. He didn’t look forward to the morning, so it took him longer than expected to drift off.
~
All four of them piled their gear onto Trak’s floater. Tembul took them into the woods where he had hidden the flyer.
“How far to Zamiel?” Trak asked Lia, while he secured the floater to Tembul’s craft.
Sirul sat on the far side of the flyer. He had only grunted a greeting in the morning, and Lia looked at him while she answered. “Thirty leagues? Four or five days on the road at the speed we were walking yesterday.”
They could probably be walking the streets of Zamiel tomorrow, but Trak wasn’t sure they were ready.
“Did you learn anything last night after I left you?”
“My Kandannan isn’t very good,” Tembul said. “Sirul and I switched roles from the ones we had in Bennin. Sirul was lousy at Benninese. This time I just listened while he talked. Sirul?”
Sirul puffed up his chest a bit at the compliment. “The Kandannans have withdrawn from Torya, but that hasn’t strengthened the king’s position. I told a Toryan from Zamiel that I had just been released after a year in an enemy camp. There are still Western Toryans in camps, you know.”
“Yes, yes,” Tembul said impatiently. “Tell them what you told me.”
“Even with the withdrawal of the Vashtans, factions have developed in our country. They are Separatist, pro-east, pro-Kandannan, and pro-monarchist. From what I can gather, my uncle only gains power from the monarchists, which makes me happy.”
“Am I a pro-monarchist?” Lia said. Her temperament had stiffened as Sirul talked, and she ended by putting her fists to her hips.
“That is hard to say. You aren’t happy with your uncle, are you?”
