The Salamander Prince

by S R Nulton

  My eyes followed them as they moved toward a popular looking inn. It seemed they were going to lunch.

  “How’s the food there?” I asked the farmer’s daughter who was selling their late-spring produce.

  She looked up and blinked. The heat had apparently almost put her to sleep. “Oh, it’s really good. You should try their meat pies. They’re my favorite.”

  I smiled. She was bored out of her mind, but still managed to answer the question without attitude. That deserved a reward. “Perfect. I’ll go there for lunch then. But first, I’d like to buy everything you have left.” It wasn’t all that much and just slightly more than what we needed. Normally I spread my purchases out to share with many people, but she deserved to go home early and enjoy the rest of her day.

  “Oh, and if you deliver it to my ship, I’ll add in some extra funds.”

  Her jaw dropped as I took out slightly more money than she would have charged. “That’s too much, miss.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You gave me information. I need to pay you back.” I gave her quick directions to the ship and money for delivery before heading over to the inn. It was time for lunch, after all.

  ~

  I don’t care how nice the inns you’ve been to are; they all start to look the same sooner or later. Every single one has a large room with tables and benches or chairs. There is usually a bar and a swinging door to the kitchen. Stairs will be visible on one side of the room, leading to the second floor and rooms for rent. The only real difference is whether the owner cares or not. The owner of the Broken Troll clearly did.

  Everything was clean looking, from the glass windows to the wooden tables. The bar blocked the entrance to the kitchen and the proprietor stood behind it, serving flagons of ale while keeping an eye on the room at large and his servers specifically. Any hint of disrespect and he would be over there in a flash to remind you who owned the establishment.

  The room was well lit and full of regular patrons, all laughing and joking around. No one broke anything and almost every one of them bussed their tables after finishing, letting the servers wipe them down quickly before the next group sat. Oh, and the food smelled heavenly!

  The hand of soldiers I’d followed in had taken a seat near the bar at what seemed to be the only table large enough for all of them. Lucky for me, there was a seat at the bar top that was open and close enough to hear them, even over all the noise of the other customers.

  “What will it be?” the owner asked as I sat down.

  “A meat pie and some milk if you have it.”

  He eyed me carefully before nodding and walking away. I had no idea why, but I got the idea that he was giving me his approval. Probably for not wasting his time with a silly order of something they couldn’t possibly carry. Like chocolate soufflés. I’d heard a lady order that one time at an inn about a day’s ride from Crysallia. I hadn’t known whether to laugh at the joke or inquire after her mental health. There was no way that the oven was precise enough to make a soufflé, let alone one with such a costly ingredient as chocolate.

  The food came quickly and was amazing. The crust was buttery and flakey and the filling was spiced to perfection. I even got my cup of milk to help sooth my burned tongue when I tried to eat too fast.

  It also gave me a fantastic excuse to linger over the food and listen to my chatty neighbors.

  “Why did we have to get assigned to this boring city? There’s nothing to do and no reason for them to pass through here,” complained one of the men as he stabbed at his stew.

  “You know why. We look similar enough to blend in better. And it doesn’t matter how interesting the city is, you wouldn’t be enjoying it anyway,” replied the leader in a bored tone. They’d obviously gone over that same argument a time or two. “Anyway, this is a straight connection to both the land and sea routes that they might use.”

  “Yeah,” quipped another. “If they went east and if they survived and if they decided to come back. Captain, this felt wrong from the very beginning. They deserve our loyalty, not to be hunted.”

  “We are following orders to get them home safely. In no way does that mean we are disloyal to them.”

  Another of the men snorted. “Yeah, because we all know that the Prince Regent is so full of kind thoughts toward the twins. Be realistic, we all know that completing this mission is essentially treason.”

  I frowned. Why would following a royal’s orders be equal to treason?

  “We just need to do our jobs and hope that we don’t catch sight of them before we are recalled. We just have to stick it out until the winter solstice. That’s all.” It sounded like even the captain wasn’t on board with their task. That didn’t bode well for my husband and brother-in-law.

  The other men grunted in agreement and said nothing for a while. “Sir, how are we even expected to capture a frog and a salamander? I mean, when I heard the orders the first time, I thought it would be obvious because they were reported to be so much bigger than the real things, but still. Animals like that blend in well and have no cause to come into the cities.”

  “Ah, but the Regent is expecting that one of them will meet his bride soon and need to bring her back. A woman with a salamander or a frog is going to stand out and going to need to buy supplies on such a trip.”

  A new voice joined in, belonging to one of the two soldiers who hadn’t spoken. “But what if both of them marry? Or even just one of them does, but before they reach the capital? Then what?”

  That made the captain pause. “They can’t, I don’t think. At least, none of the past kings have. Of course, none of the other kings ever had to find his bride while looking like an animal. Let’s just hope that the princes are successful and that we don’t see them anytime soon.”

  My head spun and I tuned them out as they paid and left. Nothing else they said had been all that important.

  They were being hunted in every city and town that the Prince Regent could think of.

  They were next in line to the throne of Shessat.

  I was married to a prince.

  Not sure how I felt about that.

  ~

  There was no reason to return to the ship quickly anymore, not with the knowledge I’d gained during lunch. Not all the soldiers were motivated; some were just following orders that they didn’t actually agree with. We had met the more aggressive ones already, but I had a feeling that the closer we got to the capital, the less loyal they would be to the Regent. He seemed to feel that the princes would find their brides far from the capital and would be easier to catch when they had just found us.

  He probably also wanted to keep a close eye on the ones who disagreed with his methods.

  Purchasing the last of our goods was an experience in multitasking. I didn’t want to chance us stopping at any more ports. It was far too dangerous. Safer to buy extra and travel straight through, even if we did hit storms while rounding the tip of Crechel.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time I arrived back at the boat and my husband was absolutely furious. I could tell because there were little footprints scorched into the deck from his furious pacing. It was kind of cute, actually, like a pattern burned into my deck.

  “Where have you been? I thought this was supposed to be a quick trip!” He was smoking a bit, but no fire had appeared yet. His shouts did draw the rest of the group over.

  “I saw some more of those soldiers who’ve been trying to track you. I followed them to an inn and listened in while I ate lunch.”

  His blue and orange eyes bugged out, which was quite a feat considering how large they were already, and his body seemed to glow a bit. “Why would you put yourself in that sort of danger?”

  I shook my head. “There was no danger. I blended in with the rest of the diners and they thought nothing of it. I did find out that they aren’t really tracking us. They have been deployed like a net to try and catch us when we stop by a city. It will be pretty easy to avoid them if we just keep sailing.”

>   Jeshu shook his head while the others processed the information.

  “We still need to stop in Perim. I have an old friend there who may be able to help us.”

  I blinked at him but decided not to fight. He was already upset and I didn’t want to blurt out what I’d discovered and have something go wrong. I had never enjoyed biting my tongue, but it was a necessary skill to possess.

  Stone was the one to save us all from more awkwardness. “Grace, could we chat after we get out to sea?”

  I nodded. “Sure. It looks like everything is here, so we can cast off anytime.” That seemed to be the cue everyone was looking for. Yew untied the ship and closed the gate in the railing as I moved to the helm and navigated us out to sea before setting the controls. Then I moved toward the bow to speak with my brother-in-law.

  “What did you need?” I asked as I sat beside the giant frog.

  He said nothing for a few minutes. Finally, he began. “Thank you for protecting Fire.”

  That took me aback. I didn’t think that was what he was going to say.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You protected him from himself. He’s different now. He listens to what you have to say instead of blazing forward. I don’t think you know how dangerous that has been in the past.” He eyed me before blinking. “Or maybe you do. Still, he’s softer now. I like it.”

  I smiled. It was always nice to know that others saw the impact you had made on the person who’d impacted you the most.

  “He’s changed me too. He saves me from myself and my fears. It’s only fair.”

  Stone croaked out a laugh. “Don’t we all. You got him to stay when he wanted to go. Not only that, when you stayed out longer than expected, he didn’t demand we go out after you. He has been good at separating emotions from logic when dealing with business, much better than me, but he has always been bad at it when it comes to family. He loves us, but he doesn’t trust us to take care of ourselves most of the time.”

  I thought about it and realized he was almost right. “Except he let you go looking for a wife on your own. He trusted that you would be safe traveling your own path, that you would be able to accomplish your goal and come back to him. He trusts you, Stone. He trusts you to protect both yourself and your wife. The question is, do you trust yourself?”

  Did you know frogs dropped their jaws when surprised? I didn’t either. I think it has to do with the combination of the instincts to grab things with his tongue and his human mind that caused it, but it looked pretty funny.

  “How did you know?”

  “Easy. He told me about falling into the ruins. He blamed his impetuousness and pride. You two are very similar in many aspects, including how you process things. You probably blamed yourself for not being there and stopped trusting your decisions over his. My sister had the same problem for a while before she got too busy with her children to think of anything other than surviving.”

  He didn’t say anything, but sat there, staring at the clouds building in the distance.

  “He knew the man who attacked him. Fire trusted the man to lead him back out. My brother had even been told that I was the one who sent help.” Stone sighed out a croak. “He blames his pride, but he also worries about trusting the wrong person, just as I worry that I won’t be able to protect Thyme when troubles come. We each of us fear failing.”

  I worried my lip. The implications weren’t pleasant, but I held the trust Jeshu had given me that afternoon close to my heart. He had trusted me to be safe and get the supplies without an escort. It had to be a good sign.

  It was close to sunset when I stood up, trying to rid myself of the edgy feeling that had been growing stronger all day.

  “Come on. A storm is coming and we have things to do before that.”

  Chapter 9: Cloudy Weather

  That was the first of a group of storms that hit the Barrier Sea. I say ‘group’, but it was more like when one started to die down, another joined in to try and sink my ship. The trip from Stonesford to Perim usually took between two to three weeks. My ship could do it faster. Except in a storm(s). Storms blowing off the open ocean at the tail end of spring were savage and these were worse.

  “Are you kidding me?!” I screamed over the pounding winds.

  “What?” asked Yew in genuine concern. His snark had disappeared about three days in and he was not happy about my emotional outbursts. By that point he pretty much knew what was coming.

  I frowned down at my enchantments. “One of the converters blew. Again.”

  Yew groaned and the glowing enchantment I’d set up showed his resigned expression. It was the fourth time that such a thing had occurred. The first time was when we were in the straights about a day out of Stonesford. The sudden loss of power was nothing compared to feeling the surges and winds full force while having to correct the steering so that we didn’t get crushed against the cliffs. Apparently the loss of power crashed the navigation system, but I had since fixed that little problem.

  While Yew complained, all I could think was that we were lucky to have an extra converter to attach. We only had one more to spare and there seemed to be no end in sight. The storm systems had been battering us for nearly two weeks and my enchantments were going to have to work even harder to keep us going forward. The storms had reversed the usual currents and if we weren’t careful we would end up on the coast near the Great Desert.

  “On the bright side, at least it’s night and one of the others can help,” I offered. It wasn’t much comfort to the large man. As the bodyguard, he felt it his responsibility to be the one hanging over the side of the boat and attaching the new charm.

  Yew shook his head and stalked away. “Stone! We have another one to fix.”

  “Seriously? Again?”

  Jeshu stumbled his way over to me, barely able to walk a straight line with the ship rolling as it was. When he finally reached me, he brushed a hand over my hair, slicking it back so I could see better in the wind.

  “Hey, are you feeling okay?” His eyes were tight and his stance loose, looking to move at any moment.

  “Yeah honey, I’m just tired. It’s a lot of work maintaining these things without adding any extra power. Plus, the nausea. I think that was mainly the smell of bacon though.” I’d had my first real bout of morning sickness earlier that day and wasn’t all that pleased. Apparently bacon was evil. Who knew?

  “Don’t push yourself to hard. I don’t want you getting sick. You’re too important and the baby will be making things harder for a while. I just don’t want to lose you.”

  I smiled. “You won’t. Now go help your brother dangle Yew off the side of the ship in an incredibly dangerous storm while I see what else I may have stored away that would help.”

  He grinned back and ran off to do as I’d asked. As soon as he had his back turned I lost my smile. I didn’t want to worry everyone, but things were not looking good.

  We were losing power rapidly, fighting against both the currents and the winds. At the rate my enchantments were being hit, we would begin to lose structural integrity within another week. Thyme had to be put on bed rest because her morning sickness was so bad, although I had a feeling that it was less the baby’s fault and more the storm’s. Either way, she’d lost a lot of weight and Stone was about ready to have a conniption it if she didn’t start eating again. Even more fun, Yew had been injured twice and almost lost at sea when we had to make repairs during daylight. I’m pretty strong, but the storm was very nearly stronger.

  What really worried me, though, was that if we didn’t get a break soon, my magic was going to react without my choosing. That was what happened when the elements portion of an enchanter’s magic gets boosted. The marriage ceremony hadn’t worked quite the way that we thought. It was a mixing of powers, we knew that, but it hadn’t just raised us to the top capacity for the other’s power range. It was like we had combined everything, doubled it, and then split that between the two of us. My powers had exploded in s
cale and I hadn’t been able to find out where the boundaries were yet. Jeshu hadn’t realized what that would mean for us and I had only slightly understood.

  The thing was it wasn’t just my fire-calling that had been boosted. It was all the elements. What made everything worse was that the converters were set up to send me all the extra the power and I couldn’t stop that without causing a total burnout and making us all drown. I was constantly absorbing the loose energy and had been unable to use it. It was building rapidly, though I’d only become aware of it a few days before. Power build-up was never a good thing. In fact, it was a very dangerous thing.

  I stumbled my way down to the hold of the ship, desperately searching for something to help. I had to have crafted something that would be useful. But I hadn’t. I always dreamed of traveling but I rarely did so I didn’t make much to help me while away from home. There had never been a point. Suddenly there was.

  Another burst of wind hit the ship but the convertors were fully up again. I curled into a ball and tried not to cry as more magic was siphoned into my already overwhelmed reserve.

  Hold it together. It will pass. Just hold it together a bit longer.

  What felt like hours later, the pain finally subsided leaving me feeling bloated and uncomfortable. I glanced around one more time and sighed before going back to the galley.

  “I just wish they would stop. She can’t take much more of this,” Stone said as I reached the room. I stopped and listened.

  “I know,” Jeshu replied. “Thyme will pull through though. It’s Grace I’m worried about. I have a feeling that she’s worse off than she’s telling me. I’m selfishly glad that she doesn’t feel as sick as Thyme does, but…”