In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords) (43 page)

There was a pause among everyone, before Wybert snorted. “‘Not much,’ he says. That seems rather complete, to me.”

Maelgyn frowned. “Just out of curiosity... has anything been heard about the situation in Poros?”

“Poros, your highness?” El’Athras repeated, frowning. “I don’t believe anyone mentioned anything, but then we haven’t been looking their way recently. I’ll make arrangements for a study of them, however.”

Maelgyn nodded. “Okay, now – can anyone think of anything else which needs to be discussed before we proceed?” There was silence. “Good. Let’s get started.”

Euleilla lounged in her hammock, remaining as comfortable as possible while shipbound. They’d not even had a full night on land before they were back on the ship, but there was a chance they’d make it to land some time that day. She certainly hoped so -- while both Maelgyn and Ruznak constantly doted upon her, she got the feeling that some of the ship’s crew were starting to get annoyed at her intrusion.

However, the journey hadn’t been all bad. Spending time with her foster father had been delightful, Maelgyn was always very attentive, and whenever the two of them were busy Sir Leno would try to entertain her by launching into discussions on magic. He was quite eager to learn more about the craft, which he had been forced to learn in secret most of his life, and she was just as interested in his own training regimen.

While there was much she had to teach him, he knew techniques she had never even thought possible -- ways to create lightning, or fire, using special alchemy powders; ways to defend yourself from magical attacks she had never contemplated; even ways to cook meals without a fire. She was learning a lot. Unfortunately, no matter how much she learned, or how much her husband and foster father would distract her, she couldn’t
quite
make herself forget she was on a ship.

Admiral Rudel had been by to see her from time to time, as well, but his visits always seemed quite awkward compared to those of the others. He, like most of the sailors, could not understand her inability to operate on a ship. She had heard whispers claiming that even the worst landsman would have developed sea legs in that span of time, but since her problem wasn’t really seasickness she could never get over it. She sincerely hoped they made landfall soon.

“Hey,” Maelgyn said, coming to her side. “How are you doing?”

She smiled in his direction. “Time for my daily exercise?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Let’s go for your walk.”

Carefully, she rolled out of the hammock and into his arms. “So,” she asked. “How much longer are we going to have to do this?”

“Well, we’re at Borden Island now,” Maelgyn explained. “So not much longer. We made landfall at the wrong point, so we’re going to have to go back out and circle a bit so we can make a proper landing undetected. Rudel thinks we’ll find the anchorage this evening, but according to your ‘gramps’ it looks more like we won’t get there until tomorrow morning.”

Euleilla restrained a smile from showing on her face -- something very unusual for her, as she usually preferred to
force
a smile at all times. “I don’t think my foster father would appreciate it if you called him ‘gramps.’”

“Why not?” Maelgyn joked. “You do!”

“Somehow, I suspect he wouldn’t tolerate it from anyone
but
me. It’s better for your health if you don’t.”

They walked along in companionable silence for a while, Maelgyn holding her close and steady as always during these strolls. It was a warm and comfortable way of dealing with her problems shipboard, and she suspected it kept the crew from thinking even worse of her.

Hello,
something suddenly whispered in her head.
Can you hear me?

Euleilla froze for a moment, attracting her husband’s attention, but shortly had an idea as to what was going on.
Hello?
she thought back.

Oh, Good,
it answered.
I was hoping my voice would be heard, soon. Hello, Euleilla!

“Euleilla?” Maelgyn asked cautiously.

“I’m okay,” she said. “Hold on.”

Are you Sekhar’s son?
she thought.

Daughter,
the voice answered.
I suppose -- truth be told, we don’t have genders. We do tend to assume the gender of whomever we are bonded with, however.

Do you have a name?

Actually, that’s what I was hoping to ask you about -- our bonded host typically names us, so I was hoping you would do that for me,
the
schlipf
requested.

Hmm,
Euleilla considered.
I’ll see what I can come up with.

Could you ask your lifemate to let my father know I’m doing okay? Except for the fact that you haven’t been very active, recently -- I grow a lot better when my host is moving around.

“Maelgyn, please let Sekhar know his daughter is doing well,” Euleilla relayed, before returning her attention back to the
schlipf.

I’m sorry I haven’t been more active,
she thought
. I can’t help it -- when I was young, I lost my eyesight. My magic has compensated, mostly, for this loss... but on a ship it doesn’t work effectively. It makes it difficult for me to do things in the environment we’re in now.

Oh! Well, I can’t really do my job as a weapon just yet, but I think I can help you there. I warn you that the way this works you’ll only be able to walk at your normal pace, at best, if you want to avoid everything. I can see your current surroundings clearly, but there’s a bit of a time delay when it comes to ‘showing’ it to you.

Suddenly, Euleilla felt something new in her senses. She didn’t know what it was, but there was some kind of tripping hazard nine paces in front of her. To her right, about three paces away, she could risk getting entangled. Someone who was not a threat stood immediately behind her, holding her, but there were others who did constitute minor threats moving all around.

“Oh... my...” she couldn’t help but gasp.

“Euleilla?” Maelgyn asked.

She shook her head. “My
schlipf
just lent me some of her senses so that I can move around... but it’s going to take some getting used to.” She smiled at him, allowing her magic to flare up and caress him as well. “Interestingly, the
schlipf
doesn’t think of you as a threat, though just about everyone else here is.”

“Even gram -- I mean, even Ruznak?”

She paused, and struck out her new sense, combined with her magic, to determine just where her foster father was and what he felt like. She frowned at the results.

“Actually... yes. Very slightly, but yes. Which makes no sense -- I know that gramps is no threat, so--”

He is not,
her
schlipf
intervened.
At least, not an intentional threat. But he may do things which could accidentally harm you.

And Maelgyn
? Euleilla asked.
Surely he could also ‘accidentally’ harm me, but you don’t see him as a threat.

Of course not
! the schlipf replied.
He would never harm you by intent, and father would prevent all of us from accidents. There is no threat, there -- not even from the unintentional.

Euleilla wasn’t entirely certain she agreed with the
schlipf
, but she didn’t have a convincing counter-argument.

So,
she began,
when do you think you’ll be sprouting?

Oh, not for some time now. I’ll warn you, beforehand -- the memories my father gave me tell me that it can be a little painful in the moment it happens.

Your father gave you memories?

Of course!
the
schlipf
exclaimed.
All of our kind are born with some memories from our parents. How else would I be able to talk with you?

Euleilla was surprised. She hadn’t even thought of that, but it made sense. “Hmm... interesting.” She said the last bit out loud without realizing it.

“What’s interesting?” Maelgyn asked.

“A
schlipf
is born with some memories gifted by its parent,” she explained. “Which is how mine can talk to me already.”

“Does yours have a name, yet?” Maelgyn asked.

“No... I’ll have to think of one.” She grinned up at him coyly. “You could help me find a name, you know.”

Maelgyn’s voice soured. “I’d rather not invite rumors of you being pregnant just yet, which would happen if anyone heard us pick out names together. We’re obligated to have children one day, you know, and the public is always anxious for such a ‘happy’ occurrence to come to pass.”

Euleilla considered him curiously. “If it wasn’t for the demands of royal life, would you want children?”

Maelgyn paused for a few moments before answering. “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t exactly appreciate the idea of it being a duty, but I’m not so against it that I fear it will become a burden.”

“I was never really sure if I wanted children, myself,” Euleilla mused. “But, as you said, it’s not something that feels like it will be a burden.”

“Yes, perhaps,” Maelgyn admitted. “I am not in any hurry, however. Anyway, with your new senses do you think you can take your walk without me?”

Euleilla thought about how to answer that for a moment. “Well... perhaps I could. I’d rather have your company, however.”

“I would, too,” he replied. The smile was obvious in his voice.

Maelgyn finally tore his eyes off his wife as she walked around the deck. She had said, once their normal walk was done, that she wanted to show people that she wasn’t “seasick” anymore. She figured the best way to do that was to walk around deck unaided, or at least unaided to all outside appearances. He was still concerned about her, however – he knew the extra senses her
schlipf
was granting her were very new, and that she probably wasn’t quite used to it yet. Until she demonstrated she was comfortable with it, he would keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself.

Thankfully, she was being very cautious as she walked. To someone who didn’t know better, she’d look like someone who was just getting over their seasickness, which fortunately meant fewer questions about her sudden recovery. However, her tentative movements warned him that at least some of his fears were not unfounded.

So, he kept watch over her even while talking with Rudel about... something he couldn’t really recall, as he hadn’t been paying attention. A commotion taking place below decks eventually was enough of a distraction for him to break his vigil and try to find out what was going on.

Silently vowing to make this as brief as possible so that he could go back to keeping an eye on his wife, Maelgyn descended to the lower decks of the ship. The sounds sorted themselves out into the clash of heavy steal and the forceful sounds of several people training in swordplay. However, as he discovered when he entered the room all the noise was coming from, much more than swords were being trained with.

“What’s going on in here?” he demanded, seeing El’Athras and Tur’Ba wielding absurdly large (for them) battle axes against Rykeifer and Sir Leno, neither of whom were armed. Wangdu and Onayari were standing at the side of the room, looking on with an unusual expression on his face that Maelgyn could not identify. It almost looked like an assassination attempt, though he could hardly believe it.

There was a brief pause as all four men in the center of the room stared each other down before El’Athras stepped back and slung the axe over his shoulders. Tur’Ba followed his lead, and then all five of them turned to the Sword Prince.

“I’m sorry we didn’t inform you, your highness,” Sir Leno explained. “Tur’Ba, here, was feeling rather bored, or so he says – there’s only so much a half-trained Dwarven servant such as he can do for someone like yourself, and... ahem, you were neglecting him a bit.”

Maelgyn flushed a bit at the rebuke, but nodded in agreement. The fact that the foursome were no longer actively fighting had allowed him to pause and take stock of the situation, so he figured he could be patient with their answer for the moment. “That’s true, I’m afraid. I apologize, Tur’Ba, but I’ve had other things on my mind, and quite honestly I’m not sure what to do with you. I wasn’t sure I’d have a use for you when El’Ba demanded I take you on, but—”

“But the old man can be mighty persuasive when he wants to be,” Tur’Ba finished for him. “I understand, your highness – and furthermore I can’t really say you’ve had much of a chance to do many of the things Pops asked of you – but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to go looking for something to do when you don’t need me.”

Maelgyn nodded. “I have no problem with that, but surely you don’t think killing my other advisors is an acceptable use of your time?”

Leno laughed at Maelgyn’s sarcasm. “I suppose it does look like that, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I know that isn’t really what you were trying to do,” Maelgyn agreed, “But what in the world were you doing? That certainly didn’t look like any kind of training exercise I’d ever seen!”