A Lotus for the Regent (5 page)

The caravels,
flying the Losiengare flags depicting three grey deer drinking from a blue
stream on a green field, came about and fled. The galleon, flying the Kimereth
flag of a silver fish on a blue field, reloaded their ballistae and pursued.
And then Kamen's heart sank into his stomach. The Losiengare were not fleeing
farther out to sea; they were heading straight for Arinport.

“
They're making a run for it,” Kamen said, “hoping to find protection
here.”

Ruben was at
his elbow. “Orders?”

Kamen had only
a moment to weigh all his options, size up the tactical situation, and
extrapolate how his decision would affect the precarious political situations
among the many vying nations, not only among the Ausir across the sea but also
the Fihdal and Vadal to the north.

“
Pull up anchor. We cannot let those caravels reach the harbor.”

“
Aye aye.” Ruben cried out his commands, and the crew hopped to work.
They were underway in minutes.

The Losiengare
were almost at the sea wall when the
Aramina
, every bit the size of a
galleon though of different design, met them and barred their way. Through the
spyglass Kamen spotted the Ausir sailors. He had never spent any considerable
amount of time among them, so he still found their appearance striking. They
all had horns, some sleek, some branching, some black, some brown, and a very
few gold. Their faces were longer than humans', and their ears rose in high
points that stuck out of their long hair. They had always struck Kamen as
majestic, magical beings, but now they scurried around their ships, screaming
orders, putting out fires, and plugging holes, like any harried Sunjaa sailor
might.

High whistling
filled the air, and Kamen caught sight of the smoky trails in the sky.
"Incoming!" Incendiaries fired from the Kimereth ship splashed not
far from the
Aramina
. Some ripped through a caravel's sails and set the
mast alight. One missile struck a Losiengare ship directly in its rudder,
shattering the aft bulkhead. The Ausir on that ship cried out in panic. Kamen
watched through the spyglass as Ausir sailors on fire like torches flailed and
jumped into the sea, only to disappear beneath the waves, their charred bodies
never seen again. Another volley. The fiery missiles sailed over Kamen's ship,
and he ducked. But nothing hit them. He heard another explosion, and then
screams came from the harbor. Kamen jumped to his feet and looked back toward
Arinport. The Ausir ballistae had struck a waterfront home. Black smoke
billowed from its windows, and flames licked its walls, blackening them.

“
Sail right for that galleon, Captain. I've had enough of this.”

Ruben saluted
and gave the order. The
Aramina
turned and bore down on the Kimereth
warship. Kamen was taking a terrible risk, but he had no choice. The Kimereth
seemed intent on destroying the Losiengare ships, and if the fighting continued
unchecked, Arinport would pay the price. He had to position himself close
enough to the galleon to force it to stand down. Kamen was confident that the Ausir,
ravaged by their own internal war, would not want to pick a fight with a united
Sunjaa people, a nation engaged in no wars that had a navy that rivaled the old
glory of the Ausir one.

The Losiengare
caravel that had been struck was sinking, but there was nothing Kamen could do
about it. This was not his war. Pulling the Losiengare survivors aboard might
be seen by the Kimereth as a clear sign of Arinport's favor for one side and
reason enough to declare war. Kamen was balanced on a rope, and he knew that
the slightest breeze would blow him overboard. He had to tread carefully.

Once the
Aramina
was directly between the Kimereth and Losiengare, the assault
ceased. No more fiery projectiles. The Losiengare sailed on towards Arinport,
but Kamen instructed the first mate to send mirrored signals back to the
patrolling ships to bar their entrance. He would give no safe haven to either
side; he would not get pulled into a foreign civil war, and he would show the
Ausir that the Sunjaa were not a people to be taken advantage of.

The Kimereth
Ausir were irate, and they screamed out across the water at Kamen. He could not
understand them, and he wished Darien's concubine, Saerileth, were with him.
She was a Lotus, trained in languages, among other things. Kamen climbed up to
the quarterdeck so that the Ausir might have a better view of him. He cried out
to get their attention, and then he pointed up at the flag that flew from his
main mast: a snake eating its own tail, the crest of the Ur-Ahnok House, the
royal line of the Sunjaa. This caused the Ausir to calm somewhat, but then they
pointed off toward Arinport's harbor and began screaming again.

Kamen held his
hands out before him, palms forward, in a gesture of patience, hoping that the
Ausir would understand that he wanted them to wait. He smiled and made wide
eyes and tried to give every non-verbal assurance. The Ausir looked at him and
then back to the harbor. Sunjaa ships had mobilized enough now to blockade the
harbor, and the Losiengare were obliged to put back out to sea. The Kimereth
looked back at Kamen, their expressions grateful yet calculating. Kamen just
kept smiling and turned his hands over in a wrist pivot so that his palms were
skyward, his fingers spread apart. A sign of indulgence. He did not want the
Kimereth to suspect anything.

The galleon
captain, a tall Ausir with long brown hair and high, branching, black horns,
stared at Kamen for many moments before nodding and turning back to his crew.
He barked orders that Kamen could only guess meant to pursue. But they would
not get away so easily. The Kimereth had brought their war into Arinport's
waters, and someone had to answer for that. The Sunjaa would be bullied by no
one.

The Kimereth
brought their ship around and pointed their bowsprit south. If they reached the
Losiengare, they would destroy them. As a strong wind filled the galleon's
sails, cruising Sunjaa warships turned to cut the Ausir off. Kamen watched
everything through his spyglass, and he saw the Kimereth captain whirl around
to look at him, hate filling his eyes. Did the Ausir see him from that
distance? How far was their vision?

Kamen gave the
order to close the distance as two other Sunjaa ships came up alongside the
Ausir galleon. He had caught the Kimereth, but how could he explain his actions
to them?

“
I've picked up a bit of Ausir, Kamen.” Ruben rolled the heels of his
hands together. “Not much, mind, but what with their war, I've had my run-ins
with them.”

“
Then by Abrexa's River, tell them that I shall not permit them to
sail after their foes. I'll have none of their war here.”

Ruben nodded.
“Will do.”

How well Ruben
conveyed his decision Kamen did not know, but he guessed it was rude at best.
Kamen preferred a bit more subtlety in breaking bad news to people, but the
situation was what it was. He had to make the best of it. Besides, he had four
warships to their one, and he was sure the Kimereth could not sink them all,
even if they wanted to.

“
Tell them to turn north. After that, I don't care.”

Ruben stuttered
over a few incomprehensible words, and the Kimereth captain went berserk. Kamen
almost thought he saw the Ausir's eyes flash red—proper red—in his wrath. If
Kamen did not control the situation, people were going to die. He needed to
talk to the Ausir. If only Saerileth were here.

Saerileth. The
Dimadan, where the Lotuses lived.

Kamen whirled
Ruben around. "The Zenji."

"Sire?"

"The
Dimadan isn't far from here. Tell them we'll all sail there and talk."

Ruben studied
Kamen's face and then thumbed back toward Arinport. "Why not talk to them
here?"

"And bring
two bloodthirsty rival Ausir houses under my roof? No, thanks. Besides, we need
neutral ground." There were no diplomatic relations between the Sunjaa and
the Ausir.

Ruben squinted
back across the water toward the galleon. "They ain't going to want to
go."

Kamen pointed
up at the flag of the Ur-Ahnok House. "Tell them King Jahen commands
it."

Ruben cleared
his throat, licked his lips, and called out to the Kimereth ship. As he
stumbled through his message, the Ausir captain's face morphed from rage to
disbelief, and he bent his baleful gaze on Kamen. He must have guessed that
Kamen was the one in charge, and his next act would be based on his appraisal
of the man. Kamen crossed his arms over his muscular chest. He lowered his chin
and let his eyelids fall halfway across his eyes. His expression grew taut
under the Ausir's stare, but Kamen did not break. He neither smiled nor
frowned. He just waited.

The Ausir said
one word to Ruben, and after a long pause, he pointed south and added something
else.

"He
agrees," Kamen said, guessing, "but he wants the Losiengare to be
made to come, too."

Ruben nodded.
"Yep."

"Send two
warships to intercept and escort the caravels to the Dimadan." Kamen
turned on his heel and flashed Ruben a wide grin. "We'll all sail like
one, big, happy fleet to see the Zenji."

****

Night's veil
blanketed the sky when the Sunjaa and Ausir ships anchored off the wide,
shallow bay of the Dimadan. The distant, forest-covered mountains of the
island, mysterious masses of shadow, rose into the darkness, and between the
foothills and the beach the lights of fires and lanterns dotted the landscape,
evidence of the Zenji city. Heavy clouds invisible in the gloom blotted out the
moons, and little could be seen. Kamen and Ruben lowered away in a small boat
and rowed toward land. When they arrived, they found the Kimereth captain—along
with some of his sailors—there waiting for them. Their eyes glowed in the
darkness, and though it surprised Kamen, he retained his composure.

"Not a word
about the eyes," he whispered through the side of his mouth to Ruben.

The two Sunjaa
stomped across the wet sand to where the Kimereth stood and waited with smirks
on their faces. What was so funny?

The Kimereth
captain looked up. "When Kerolebos and Kerolindos hide, Men do not
see." He spoke in the Fihdal tongue. He had let Kamen gesture and talk
through a translator like an idiot. Kamen would not forget it.

The Sunjaa Regent
smiled. "This is the Dimadan, home of the Zenji people. Doubtless they have
news of our arrival. Someone will be here soon."

The Ausir
captain's lip curled. By stating the obvious, Kamen had reminded him of his
current situation and how he would not even be standing here if Kamen had not
forced him to.

Kamen's winning
smile did not break, not even when voices alerted him to the approach of
others. Sunjaa sailors came with Losiengare representatives in tow. They
carried their three-deer banner with them.

Kamen shook his
head, and what he knew was going to happen happened. The Kimereth drew their
swords.

"Really?"
Kamen asked, turning back to the Kimereth. "You'd spill blood in a land
that is not your own, among people you do not know. Do you not know what the
Zenji would do to you?"

"And what is
that?" The Kimereth captain spat his words.

Kamen shrugged.
"I don't know, but I wouldn't want to find out. Put your swords away.
We're here to talk. You're the ones who brought your fight to Arinport. Are you
ready to rouse King Jahen's anger?"

The Ausir captain
laughed. "Nay. We would seek alliance with the Sunjaa."

"As would
we," a Losiengare said. Kamen guessed he was the captain of one of the two
surviving caravels.

"There will
be no talk of alliance until you put your swords away, Kimereth, and you store
your banner back on your ship, Losiengare."

Kamen's knowledge
of Ausir noble heraldry clearly surprised them.

"The Sunjaa
Crown does not negotiate with posturing factions." Kamen's words were a
jab into the Ausir pride, for they, too, had once been a strong, united people.

After a few grumbles
and other Ausir mutterings that Kamen assumed were curses, the Ausir backed
down just in time for the arrival of a Zenji delegation carrying lanterns on
long poles. It was headed by none other than the Lotus Guildmaster himself. He
wore a fine, quilted waistcoat against the night's chill.

"Would that
moonslight brought you here, Regent." The Guildmaster spoke to him in the
Sunjaa tongue. "You are most welcome." He bowed low, and all his
slaves and attendants did so, as well. Once he rose from his greeting, his gaze
traveled from one group of Ausir to the other and then back to Kamen.
"What brings the
Aramina
to port?" The question was mere
courtesy.

"These gentle
soldiers require lodging for the night." Kamen indicated the Ausir
sailors. "And I, too, would like to taste the fruits of your legendary
hospitality."

The Guildmaster
bowed again, but in his eyes Kamen could see his avarice. The Zenji attached a
steep price to their hospitality, but it was worth it. They bred Lotuses, the
finest companions with whom a man—or woman—could ever hope to spend an evening.
The Guildmaster's eyes narrowed as he looked over his guests. He was
calculating what these Ausir could pay.