Death of the Immortal King

by Sarah McCarthy

  They ate in silence for a few minutes. Lilianna listened to the birds in the trees and looked at the wildflowers. She stole a glance at him and found Aron watching her. He looked away.

  “You’re right, though,” he said suddenly.

  “About what?”

  “I don’t know anything about you. Please, tell me.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Where is your mother?”

  Her chest tightened.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have started with something else.”

  The bit of scone she’d been chewing was dry and solid in her mouth. She swallowed it with difficulty. “She died.”

  There was a long pause.

  Lilianna waited to see if he would ask, and she wondered whether she would answer, and if she did, whether she would tell the truth. Only Coralie knew the truth, even though the whole village guessed. She hated them for that. For knowing and doing nothing.

  “I’m sorry,” was all he said.

  She shrugged and played with the end of her hair, looking away.

  He cleared his throat. “Er, how about some easier questions? What kind of food do you like?”

  The tension in her chest eased. “These scones are pretty good.”

  He smiled. “And… what kinds of things make you happy?”

  Coralie, she thought. “Climbing trees. Swimming.”

  “I like swimming, too. When I’m on a long voyage I swim off the side of my boat. It’s terrifying. There’s no land in sight and I’m just a tiny little speck bobbing in water so deep I couldn’t hope to swim to the bottom of it.”

  “If it’s so terrifying, why do you do it?”

  “Because it’s an amazing feeling. Being that insignificant. There are things out there that could swallow me whole.”

  “Interesting.” And insane.

  He laughed. “No, really. Because that’s how things are anyway, right? We’re tiny and fragile and there is so much out of our control. But we never really feel that way. We live with these illusions.”

  “Must be terrible being a noble. All that illusion of being in control.”

  He laughed again.

  “But no,” she said. “I guess I can understand that.” She shivered. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting to feel more insignificant. Or the terror of being swallowed whole.

  She looked up again and found him watching her, warmth and curiosity in his eyes, and something in her stomach rearranged itself. She was afraid of what he was seeing in her face, so she changed the subject.

  “Thank you for the scones,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I’m still not convinced I should marry you.”

  “Of course.”

  “I can’t just decide to marry someone, just like that.”

  “Of course not.”

  She considered. “Will you do something for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t you want to know what it is first?”

  “No.” He grinned again, and she suppressed a smile.

  “OK. Well. I left something on the top of the ridge over there. There’s a pile of rocks over it. Will you go get it for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “There’s quite a bit of it. You’ll probably need to take several trips.”

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a cairn marking it. You’ll know it when you see it.”

  For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face and he bit his cheek. Had she gone too far? But, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, and his confidence was back. “All right. I’ll get it. Do you want me to bring it to you tonight?”

  “Keep it on your boat for me?”

  “I can do that.” He paused. “I mean, as long as it’s not a bunch of skunk corpses or something.”

  Lilianna burst out laughing. “What? Why would I have a secret cache of skunk corpses?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know you.”

  “If it was skunk corpses, what would you do?”

  “I don’t know, try to get some sort of air-tight oil cloth to wrap them in or something. It would depend on what you wanted them for. Maybe I could buy you new skunk corpses somewhere else.” He was laughing too, now.

  Lilianna felt warm, and more relaxed than she could remember being ever. “Well, good to know. I guess.” As strange as it was, this was seeming possible. Real. Something in her chest locked up, though. Coralie. She could never do this without Coralie. She didn’t want to be anywhere without her.

  “Aron?”

  “Hmm?”

  “If I do this—and I’m not saying I will—can I bring someone?”

  He straightened his fork on the table. “Of course.”

  Excitement rushed through her. “Don’t you want to know who?”

  He grinned at her and shrugged. “Nope.”

  She laughed. “Even if I was bringing another man?”

  “Can’t be that great of a man if you’re running away with me. I don’t mind some competition.”

  Again, that sense that something solid and safe was building in her chest distracted her. It was too frightening to look at fully. She wanted to say thank you, but it would be too hard. He might see what she was starting to feel. “OK,” Lilianna said.

  They paused, and his eyes went serious. She got the sense that he wanted to ask her something else, but Lilianna didn’t want to know what it was.

  “I should go,” she said, cutting him off before things got any more serious.

  The moment shifted and was gone. “Of course.” He nodded as they both stood up awkwardly. “I will attend to your business right away,” he added, bowing.

  Lilianna nodded, smiling in spite of herself, and walked quickly away.

  She heard the servants clearing the table behind her as she hurried down the path and through the trees. Would he simply have his servants do what she’d asked? She hoped not. He’d been out of breath on the path up, and she’d tried to make it sound as if he wouldn’t be able to carry everything that was there in her cache back on his own. Hopefully he’d take his servants with him.

  Her mind was whirling. As a way out, this was seeming like it might actually work.

  An image of Aron grinning flashed across her mind, and her heart gave a surprising, uncertain skip, but the image was immediately replaced by Coralie’s eyes the night before as she looked at her in the darkness.

  Lilianna ducked off the path, crouched down behind a clump of bushes, and listened. A few moments later, Aron and his servants came along. Aron was smiling and looking up into the sky. The two servants followed, not saying anything, just watching him. They didn’t look like they were afraid of him, or disliked him, but they did look curious.

  Once they were out of sight, she cut around the back way down to the beach, then walked along the shore until the docks were in sight. Eventually Aron and his servants appeared, bringing the table and supplies with them. They disappeared below deck; then Aron and one of the servants reappeared a few minutes later. Both Aron and the servant were carrying large leather satchels and walking sticks.

  Lilianna cursed under her breath, then considered what to do. She’d hoped he’d bring both servants, but she supposed that was too much to expect.

  She watched Aron and the servant until they’d turned up the main street of the village and were out of sight. Then she waited a few more minutes for good measure. It would take them all day to find her cache. No sense in rushing things now. They might realize they’d forgotten something and come back.

  Quietly as she could, Lilianna crept up the gangplank and onto the deck of Aron’s boat. She paused, listening, but only the slight creak of timbers and the lap of water as the boat rocked on the waves reached her ears.

  The deck was mostly empty, except for a few coils of rope and a cluster of barrels lashed against the main mast. It looked newly scrubbed. A small set of stairs led down into the darkened interior. Lilianna paused again at the top o
f these, listening. Maybe the other servant had left without her noticing. Or maybe he was asleep somewhere.

  She crept down into the darkness. It smelled worse than her father’s house down here. Saltier. Sicker.

  The stairs ended in a narrow hallway, with doors leading off both sides. Behind her, behind the stairs, was an open area stacked with barrels and crates. A thin layer of water sloshed back and forth over the floorboards. The only light came down through cracks in the deck above.

  Lilianna tried the first door. It was too dark to see much inside. The room was windowless, and the air was stale and thick, but she thought she saw something in the far corner and started towards it. She paused briefly, the image flashing across her mind of the door shutting behind her and her being trapped, locked in. She tried to ignore the thought and crossed through the darkness, moving silently over the rough floor. She reached in and felt the dark shape. Canvas. A hammock. The cloth felt damp, cold and stiff under her hands.

  A throat cleared behind her. Lilianna whirled around and saw a dark silhouette in the doorway. She tensed, ready to fight, ready to kick and punch her way past him to freedom.

  “Master said you might be stopping by.”

  Lilianna squinted, trying to see his expression. The man stepped towards her.

  “We don’t use this room. Much.”

  Lilianna edged to the side, her knees bent. She could almost see a path past him to the door. Her heart thudded in her chest.

  “I’ve unlocked the other rooms as well, would you like the lamps lit?”

  Lilianna stopped. “What?”

  “The master instructed me that you would be coming to look around. I don’t wish to presume, but I will light the lamps if you would prefer more light.”

  Lilianna straightened and blinked. “Yes. Light the lamps please.”

  The man retreated, and she heard his footsteps echoing down the passageway. He returned a few seconds later in a pool of light, carrying an oil lamp. He used a thin taper to light another lamp hanging on a hook in the center of the room. It sputtered to light and Lilianna looked around. It was an empty room, with soot-stained walls and greenish black mold in the corners. The cloth she had been stroking was an ancient moldy hammock. She stared at it, disgusted.

  “We should really throw that out,” the man said. “As I said, we don’t use this room. Would you like to see the others?”

  Lilianna nodded, taking a last look around. The servant handed her his lamp and took the newly lit one down from its hook.

  “Very well, then. This way.”

  He led her back under the stairs into the large open area.

  “This is the storage area.” He took up a broom that leaned against the wall and gave a few ineffectual sweeps at the water, then frowned. “You’re free to look around, although there’s not much here.”

  Lilianna pried the lid off a crate and held her lantern up. When she saw what was inside, she gasped and immediately dropped the lantern. It landed in the bilge water and winked out. The servant swept up behind her, snatching it off the ground and righting it before it spilled much oil.

  “Here, shall I?” he asked, holding his own lamp overhead so she could look. She glanced at him but saw only professionalism and helpfulness. Maybe a tiny bit of silent judgment. Something about the eyes.

  “Thank you.” She looked back into the box and almost gasped again, even though she knew what was there. Gold coins. Hundreds and hundreds of dirty gold coins. Slowly, watching the servant out of the corner of her eye to see if he would stop her, she reached a hand in and stirred. They clinked heavily against one another. She dug down, sliding them around, but as far as she could tell the whole crate was filled with gold. She picked up a coin and examined it. Coralie would know if it were real. She made eye contact with the servant. He looked back at her, his face a polite, unreadable mask. Slowly, she took the coin and put it in her pocket, but he didn’t say or do anything. They stared at each other a moment more. Slowly, she took another and put it in her pocket. The servant didn’t even blink.

  Then, the servant reached out, picked up a gold coin, still expressionless, and put one into his own pocket. They stared at each other. Weirdly, Lilianna wanted to tell him to put Aron’s money back, but that seemed hypocritical now.

  Lilianna replaced the lid on the crate. She pried off a few more. In some barrels there were onions and potatoes. Another crate held yet more gold coins.

  “How long was the voyage here?” Lilianna asked.

  “Four days, madam.”

  “This is a lot of supplies.”

  “Master de Tamley plans to travel on past here. Also, some of this he acquired on the way.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, we came across a ship floundering out at sea. It had been in a storm and was taking on water. We rescued the crew and managed to unload all their goods onto our boat. They were so grateful for us saving their lives that they let us keep their goods.”

  Lilianna looked at him suspiciously. That sounded like a polite way of saying they’d pirated someone’s cargo.

  “Aron of course wouldn’t hear of it. He payed them more than double what it was worth, just to give them the money to get themselves set up again.”

  “Really.” Her tone was flat, but the man missed it.

  “Of course, they wouldn’t hear of it. Tried to sneak off without it; but master de Tamley snuck the gold into their bags before they left.”

  “Right.”

  “Would you care to see the rest of the ship?”

  “Sure.”

  Lilianna followed him back down the hall. He showed her several more mostly empty rooms, then they came to a large state room at one end. This room was considerably cleaner than the rest. A large bed took up most of it, covered in thick wool comforters. A large brass-bound trunk sat against one wall, and against the other stood a small writing desk.

  “Master suggested you might like to ransack this room especially. Here is the key to the trunk.” He held out a large brass key. She lifted an eyebrow but took it.

  “So, how long have you worked for the de Tamleys?” she asked, crouching in front of the trunk and inserting the key.

  “Oh, I don’t work for the de Tamleys.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No.”

  “But don’t you work for Aron de Tamley?”

  His voice was quiet and sinister. “In some ways…yes. Recently.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. He blinked.

  “I apologize, have I made you uncomfortable? Master de Tamley says I tend to phrase things poorly.”

  She opened her mouth and shut it again. “Did you mean to imply you were secretly working for someone else?”

  He paused briefly before he answered. “Not at all.”

  “Then, yes, your tone was a bit off.”

  He blushed and ran a hand through his stringy dark hair, his face sallow in the lamplight. “I apologize. I can’t seem to stop doing that. Let me try again. I have been in Master de Tamley’s employ for three weeks now.”

  “Three weeks? That’s it?”

  “Yes.”

  “But, why did he hire you? Didn’t he already have servants?”

  “I would imagine he did. Perhaps…” he caught himself. “I am sure they are fine.”

  “Did you meet the rest of his family?”

  “No, no. I have never been to Tamloch.”

  “But…”

  “Three weeks ago, he encountered me begging on the streets of Wight. He suggested I might fit his requirements. My name is Gird.”

  “Lilianna. Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because I fear I am doing a poor job. It appears that master de Tamley has made you some sort of offer, perhaps similar to the one he made me. He is a good man and has given me a new life, and I would not want you to miss out on a similar opportunity simply because I am doing a poor job pretending to be a nobleman’s servant.”

  “Pretending? I m
ean, aren’t you a nobleman’s servant now?”

  The man rubbed his chin and looked down at the floor. “Technically, I suppose, yes.”

  “Is he actually a noble?”

  Gird stuck his tongue in his cheek and chewed on it thoughtfully before replying. “He certainly has enough money to be a noble.”

  “But…”

  “But, well, as you said, I do not know why he’d want to hire me. If he were who he says he is he’d have a retinue of better-trained servants already at his beck and call.”

  “Unless he ran away.”

  “He has a surprising amount of wealth if that is the case.”

  “It’s easier to take money than people,” Lilianna said.

  “True,” Gird conceded.

  “Or,” Lilianna continued, “maybe he just wanted a fresh start. New people. His own people. Rather than his parents’ people.”

  “I could understand that,” Gird said.

  Lilianna considered the room. “Did he let you search everything, too?”

  “The idea never occurred to me.”

  “Well, want to help?”

  Gird scratched his cheek. “I suppose I am curious.” He hooked the lamp onto the ceiling. “All right. Let us keep things orderly, though.”

  For the next hour they dug through Aron’s chest, rifled through his drawers, took the mattress off his bed and looked through all the cracks in the floorboards. There was a marked lack of anything personal. The desk held only random notes and scribblings, which Gird read aloud. There were no ledgers or documents of any kind, no letters or personal tokens. No nobleman’s seal, either. The trunk held several expensive items of clothing, more gold, and a pearl necklace. Nothing sinister and not a single weapon. Lilianna helped Gird put everything back and straighten up the room.

  “Hmm,” Gird said, when at last they’d finished.

  “I don’t feel like that answered anything,” Lilianna said. “But thank you for the help, and for showing me around.”

  “At your service, my lady.” Gird bowed low.

  “Hey, that was good; you’re better at this than you think.”

  Gird smiled.

  “Of course, I have probably even less experience than you do with servants.”

  “Until now, perhaps.”