A Crown Imperiled (13 page)

Lady Gabriella was less chatty than the Princess, but she was pleasant. Hal noticed that Ty seemed very taken with the tall lady-in-waiting, which wasn’t difficult to understand. She was stunning once you accepted that she was not the usual, dainty lady of the court. From the way she looked, Hal reckoned she was a trained fighter, and her role was more than that of a simple companion. Franciezka had most certainly hand-selected her to act as Stephané’s bodyguard. She was a woman of few words, content to let the other three banter as much as they wished, apparently comfortable with silence. Hal watched how she moved with economy, her eyes always glancing around, even in these closed quarters, in case a threat should suddenly appear.

Now they waited. Within the hour they should be sighting Kesh’s picket ships, on blockade against any ship bound for the Kingdom of the Isles ports. The captain had taken a deliberately slow tack so they would reach the point of inspection after dark. He wanted bored, tired Keshian sailors inspecting his cargo.

Hal smiled nervously. ‘I’ve never liked waiting,’ he admitted.

Stephané grinned. ‘And I’ve never had to wait for anything.’

Ty laughed. ‘The baby daughter with three older brothers? And a princess, to boot? Of course you never did!’

All eyes turned to Gabriella who shrugged as if waiting was no issue for her. ‘It will take the same amount of time however we feel about it. We might as well rest while we can.’ She sat up slightly and glanced out at the falling light through the rear windows of the cabin. ‘I suspect soon things will get exciting enough.’

There came a knock at the cabin door and the captain opened it gently – last time, he had banged it into the back of Hal’s head. ‘It’s time,’ he said. ‘Stand aside, please.’ He moved to the small chest under the tiny table, opened it and put a sack inside. ‘If they find nothing to confiscate, they get suspicious. Something slightly illicit, such as a sack of Dream . . . ?’ He smiled as he closed the chest.

Ty grinned. ‘Illegal in Roldem—’

‘And the Isles,’ interrupted Hal.

‘—but not in Kesh,’ finished the captain. The mildly hallucinogenic drug was made from the oil of a common plant in both Kingdoms.

‘And the next ship might benefit from a less alert crew,’ offered the captain. Then, losing his smile, he said, ‘Come with me.’

They gathered up the sack of food and the water skins and followed him. They had been expecting to go deep into the hold of the ship and be secreted somewhere among the cargo, but instead they were taken mere steps, into the captain’s cabin. It was easily three times the size of the second officer’s quarters, and Hal glanced around feeling a little envious.

‘Help me,’ said the captain, indicating that the two young men should grab the other end of the large bed set hard against the starboard bulkhead. It was a standard looking affair with a six foot long bunk set above two rows of double drawers, in which the captain’s personal belongings would be placed. They lifted the mattress and bed board easily, so they carried it away a few feet, and placed it on the deck. ‘Now the tricky part,’ said the captain. ‘The drawers have to come out in a certain order. That one, first,’ he said, pointing to the upper left one.

As Hal pulled it out and lifted it, he heard a tiny click.

‘Now that one,’ said the captain, pointing at the lower right. Ty pulled it out and a second click was heard. Then came the upper right, and lower left, and when all four drawers were sitting on the deck, the captain reached down into the now empty space where his bed had rested and pulled up on a well concealed removable section of floor. The board was hinged, six feet wide and three feet deep. ‘You’ve got a tight fit, but if you wiggle down in there, you can lie side by side with your heads under the bed. Be careful not to knock the supports for the drawers out of kilter – have to get them back in place.’ He glanced and said, ‘I think you lads on either side, in case we get to rolling a bit – it’ll make it easier on the ladies.’ He motioned to the Princess and Lady Gabriella. ‘You first, ladies.’

Both women in turn stepped over the front of the empty drawer front and wiggled to get down in the empty smuggler’s hold.

‘Now you lads,’ said the captain.

Hal and Ty clambered over the low barrier, avoiding the supports for the drawers as they moved between the girls and the walls. Hal was embarrassed to discover he had no room to move and was pressed hard against the Princess. He muttered an apology as the captain lowered the flooring over their heads, only to find a slender finger pressed against his lips. ‘I don’t mind, really,’ she whispered. The drawers were replaced and they found themselves in darkness.

A few moments passed by with Hal being painfully aware of the contact between them. As well as being the most beautiful young woman he had ever encountered, she was wonderful company. He had got to the point where at least once an hour he had to remind himself that she was unobtainable, and his only reasonable course of action was to be a gentleman and her friend. But now, with the scent of her hair in his nostrils somehow blanking out the wretched aroma of bilge water below them, he was finding that very difficult.

He wondered how much of this was due to being confined and not wanting to be overwhelmed with a sense of vulnerability. Damn it, he thought to himself, it was Martin who was the introspective one who let this sort of business slow him down. Thinking of Martin, he let his thoughts wander to his father and brother, to his mother and Lady Bethany and all those back home. He wondered how they were and prayed silently that they were safe and well.

Everyone lay silently, listening to any sounds from above. At last faint voices could be heard, though the words were unintelligible. In the dark Hal could only sense Lady Gabriella and Ty, though he knew they were only a hand’s span away. The only reason the situation didn’t become embarrassing was the sense of risk and danger. The part of his mind not achingly aware of the Princess pressed hard against him was attempting to picture what was taking place on deck, the conversation between the captain and whoever the Keshians sent aboard to inspect the ship. Would it be a quick, cursory inspection, or would they be crawling over the ship from topmast to bilge, eventually pulling out the drawers above them?

And for how long? He was feeling slight cramps from the awkward position in which he found himself and the air was growing close. He knew that should they be discovered he would be unable to leap to his feet to defend the Princess.

In short Harold conDoin, unknown to himself the new Duke of Crydee, was feeling something he had never experienced before in his life: helplessness. And he didn’t care for it one bit. Time had become meaningless and it felt as if he had been motionless for hours, not minutes.

Suddenly the sound of the drawers being removed intruded upon his thoughts. Then up came the floor and for a second the light was blinding.

‘Out you come,’ said the captain and Hal reached up and took the extended hand. He almost groaned from the stiffness in his shoulders, back, and legs and was glad for the help up. He pulled Ty out and in turn they helped the Princess and Lady Gabriella out of the cramped hiding hole. ‘No troubles, then?’ asked Hal.

‘No,’ said the captain. ‘This one took to haggling a bit longer than usual on the price of the “fine” for the bag of Dream, and I didn’t want to make him suspicious by agreeing too quickly to the “fee” for safe passage. It may be Lady Franciezka’s gold I’m bribing him with, but I had to act as if it was my own.’

‘You bribed him?’

‘Not a ship leaving Roldem gets past that Keshian picket without a hefty bribe, sir.’ The captain grinned. ‘It’s why I think the Kingdom wins the war at sea. Less corruption, you see, almost as hide-bound as Roldem’s fleet; comes from being island kingdoms, I expect. If I tried to bribe a Kingdom picket captain, well, I’d be clapped in irons and my ship impounded straight away.’ He glanced at the ladies as they adjusted crumpled clothing and said, ‘I’d wait a bit, but soon you’ll be free to come up on deck and get some air.’

Ty said, ‘We need it.’

‘It was a bit close in there,’ said the Princess. She glanced at Hal and gave him a small smile.

Lady Gabriella shot Ty an appraising look. ‘You didn’t seem to mind.’

Ty had the good grace to flush. ‘Lady, I assure you’

‘No insult, sir,’ she said with a slightly mocking tone. ‘You were as much a gentleman as the circumstances allowed.’ Then she added,
sotto voce
, ‘Which wasn’t much.’

Hal laughed. ‘She’s onto you, Ty.’

Shaking his head Ty said, ‘Apparently so. Anyone thirsty besides me?’

When affirmative replies were voiced, he said, ‘I’ll see about getting something to drink, wine perhaps if they have it?’

‘On this ship?’ said Hal. ‘Spirits most likely, or ale, but I’ll settle for fresh water.’ He indicated the almost depleted water skins.

‘As will I,’ said Stephané.

Ty stepped out of the cabin and was back inside moments later. ‘Sailor says he’ll fetch us something.’

An awkward silence followed as the four waited. The two young men had had various encounters with young woman in their day, but neither had been forced into such familiarity with ladies of rank. Now that the immediate danger was past, Hal was profoundly aware of just how close he had been to the Princess. Silently he cursed to himself; did her skin have to be that soft? He forced himself to take a breath and studied the object of his affection. She seemed lost in her own thoughts; or perhaps she was avoiding eye contact.

Something similar seemed to be going on with Lady Gabriella and Ty, though Hal thought she seemed amused by Ty’s awkwardness rather than embarrassed.

It was hard to judge. Even after all this time in close quarters, Hal knew next to nothing about her. She was a big woman, but there was nothing about her plump or soft. Her face was classically beautiful, with her brown eyes and a nose that was straight and delicate, her mouth occasionally revealing a stunning smile. In her leather travel togs, she looked as if she’d fit right in at Crydee, and Hal could imagine her riding next to Bethany on the hunt.

Thinking of Bethany he realized he had barely spared her a thought, or at least no more than he had his brothers and parents, since coming east. He missed Crydee, and worried how his family fared now that war had come, but he felt no more for Bethany than before he had left the West. She was nothing like the Princess, who was everything he expected in a court lady: more, she was his perfect image of a princess.

What Hal found remarkable about Stephané was that she was tough; not strong in an overt fashion, in the way Bethany or Gabriella were, but she had a subtle toughness, a resilience, an ability to face threat quietly and with dignity, rather than crumbling before what must certainly be the most terrifying experience of her life. The most eligible woman in the Sea of Kingdoms, the most sought-after bride in recent history, she had been spirited from her home in the middle of the night, away from her family for the first time in her life, hidden from men determined to capture her and use her for their own political ends, risking dangers undreamed of in her life, yet here she sat, quietly chatting, composed and showing glimpses of humour, and calm.

Hal realized he was falling desperately in love with her.

He buried such emotions deep inside. His father had always expected him to marry Bethany, but had often talked of political marriages for Martin and Brendan. This much Hal knew: his wife, if it wasn’t Bethany, would be a woman who gained some political advantage for Crydee, and the marriage would be a benefit to the Kingdom as a whole, or at least the Western Realm. And in this time of war, who knew what that might mean? But if it was Bethany, it would be a woman he loved already, even if it was as a sister, and one who would prove to be worthy of all the devotion he could provide. He closed his eyes a second and tried to will his mind away from his true feelings.

Moments later, the door to the cabin opened and the captain stuck his head in. ‘It’s time.’

They rose and followed him up to the main deck.

The departure went quickly and quietly. A dinghy rigged with a sail was already halfway over the side by the time they had reached the deck and a rope ladder was thrown down. Ty and Hal were first over the side, followed by the Princess and Lady Gabriella. The captain had pointed the heading and Hal and Ty fixed their position by the early morning stars and shoved off.

The sail had proven problematic as the boat tended to drift to port, but as they were aiming for a long stretch of Kingdom coastline, a slight deviation from their course shouldn’t be a problem. Either side of the Kingdom city of Ran would be acceptable, and should they spy the harbour, all the better.

There was little conversation as the women huddled under a great cloak provided by the captain against the night’s chill. The two young men were intent upon keeping their course as the sun rose and when it did they thought they could see land.

Hal pointed to a brown smudge to the north west and said, ‘Head for that!’

Ty nodded. If Hal was correct that smudge would be cooking fires from a coastal town or even the port of Ran. The wind rose with the morning sun, a spanking breeze but from the north-west, forcing them to tack on some very long reaches. Hal sat at the tiller with Lady Gabriella and the Princess sitting on the windward side of the boat, while Ty waited in the bow ready to haul on the sheet to trim the single sail. Each time they shifted course, Hal had to duck his head under the wide swinging boom while the girls ducked down and waited, then shifted to the opposite side of the dinghy.

The coast grew progressively closer each time they swung to the north, but as they were almost sailing into the teeth of the wind it made for slow going. Two hours after sunrise, Ty shouted, ‘Sails, off to port!’

Ty risked standing for a moment, then sat down again and said, ‘That can’t be the Keshian picket. We haven’t sailed that far.’

Ty shielded his face from the low sun. Finally he said, ‘I see red sails!’

‘Oh, bloody hell,’ said Hal. ‘Pirates.’