Inheritance (27 page)

“That was a good fight,” he said admiringly. “They were better than I thought they would be.”

“Who were they?” Lynan asked.

“More mercenaries. When they saw you and Jenrosa alone out here, they probably thought they’d have themselves a little easy money, and perhaps some fun with the woman.”

“Will there be more?”

“Almost certainly. They were probably a scouting party out to find a place to camp for their company, probably half a day behind. We’ll have to hide these corpses and get moving.”

There was a sound behind them and both men turned quickly, swords raised.

“You could have kept one for me,” Ager said. He was accompanied by an exhausted looking Jenrosa.

“They were too eager,” Kumul said matter-of-factry.

“You’re wounded,” Ager observed, pointing to the big man’s bloody arm.

“Kumul!” Lynan exclaimed in concern. He assumed the blood had belonged to one of the dead mercenaries. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I did,” Kumul replied. “I said ”That was a good fight,‘ and then I said…“

“That isn’t what I meant.” Lynan could not hide the exasperation in his voice.

“It isn’t serious, your Highness, or I would have mentioned it.” He looked up at Ager. “I was a mite slow. My side’s still a little stiff.”

“You may not think it’s serious, but you won’t be lifting a sword for a few days,” Ager said, carefully examining Kumul’s wounded arm. “Lynan, go to a sword bush by our camp and take Kumul with you. Pick some of the leaves and bruise them between your hands, then rub them vigorously into Kumul’s wound.”

Kumul turned white. “Oh, no. I’ve had that done this to me before, when I received a cut to my left leg, and I still remember the pain!”

“And you still have your left leg. Now go with Lynan.” Ager turned to Jenrosa. “And you need to rest. We’ll have to move on as soon as it’s dark, and you’ll need all your strength.” He surveyed the four corpses. “At least now we’ll all have swords.”

“They’ll have had horses,” Kumul said. “We can’t use them ourselves if we want to remain unnoticed, but we can’t leave them wandering around here.”

“I’ll lead them a couple of leagues farther up the trail,” Ager said. “Now go.”

The three moved off as ordered. Lynan remembered the first mercenary, still alive but unconscious. He turned to warn Ager, in time to see him lift the head of the mercenary in question, stick the point of his dagger in the man’s throat and pull it with a savage stroke. There was a tearing sound, a great gush of blood, and that was it. Ager looked up and for a moment locked eyes with Lynan, and for the first time the prince saw loathing and pain in them.

Shivering, Lynan turned around again.

Areava was woken early by a messenger from Dejanus. He had someone in the Royal Guard’s office with information concerning Prince Lynan. In no mood to suffer the new constable alone, she had Olio roused as well. Dejanus’ guest, sitting on a stool and looking exhausted and sorry for himself, was a man dressed in the livery of a naval officer; the long red stripe on his jerkin’s sleeves indicated the rank of captain.

When the queen and her brother arrived, the captain stood up so quickly the stool toppled over. He managed a salute. Areava could see that he was terrified. What had Dejanus been saying to him?

“Your Majesty, this is Captain Rykor of the
Revenant
, one of the ships sent after Grapnel Moorice’s
Seaspray”
Dejanus told her. He looked at the captain with barely disguised contempt. “He has a tale for you.”

Areava nodded for Rykor to tell his story. In a nervous voice he told Areava and Olio about a small boat that had fled from his ship the previous day, and which had been wrecked against the rocky cliffs north of Kendra. His description of the events was sparse but left out nothing.

“How many did you say were in the boat?” Areava asked the captain when he was finished. She glanced at Dejanus standing behind the captain like a nemesis, brooding and threatening. For a moment Areava herself felt threatened by his presence, but then she heard Olio’s steady breathing behind her and she felt safer.

Captain Rykor swallowed, cast his gaze down to his feet. “Four, Your Majesty. Three men and a woman.”

“Did you recognize any of them?”

“Not as such, Your Majesty. But the largest one had the build and look of the const… I mean… of Kumul Alarn.” He cast a frightened glance toward the new constable. “We were never close enough to see their faces.”

“And there were no survivors,” Dejanus said, a statement and not a question.

“No,” Rykor confirmed. “We waited for several minutes. No one survived. There were no bodies. The undertow there is horrific. If they are not… well, eaten… one or two of the bodies might wash up on the shores of Aman or Lurisia in the next few days.”

Areava sighed deeply.

“How did you find the b-b-boat?” Olio asked. “I thought you were sent after the
Seaspray
?”

“Three warships were sent out, Your Highness,” Rykor answered. “Besides my own
Revenant
, there were
Moonlighter
and
Windsnapper
. My ship was out last, and my lookout saw kestrels above a boat northwest of our position, though he saw no actual boat at that time. I knew that both
Moonlighter
and
Windsnapper
each had the necessary speed to catch
Seaspray
, so I decided to follow the new sighting, just in case.”

“As well you did,” Olio said gently.

Areava nodded to Dejanus, who tapped Rykor on the shoulder. The captain saluted the queen and left.

“I want patrols increased along that coast, both by sea and by land. If any bodies resurface or are washed up on the shore, I want them returned immediately to Kendra for identification.”

Dejanus nodded. “It may be hard to recognize any remains, Your Majesty. Thrown against those rocks, and what with the sharks and other creatures… well…”

“Nonetheless,” Areava insisted, “I want it done. Is there any word from the captains of the other two ships?”

Dejanus looked dejected. “They lost the
Seaspray
, Your Majesty. She went too far out to sea. There was a fog, some shoals…” His voice trailed off.

Areava nodded stiffly, turned on her heel and left, not waiting to see Dejanus salute her. Olio followed her.

“I had hoped it would all be over by this morning,” Areava said dully.

“It m-m-may b-b-be all over. I don’t think anyone could survive b-b-being thrown into the sea so close to the rocks near those cliffs.”

“And what of the conspiracy?” the queen wondered aloud. “Without Lynan or one of the others, we may never know who else was involved.”

“And it may never m-m-matter. If Lynan and Kumul were both involved in B-B-Berayma’s death, then they were almost certainly the ringleaders. Who else could have been? And without them, any other conspirators aren’t likely to b-b-be a threat.”

“
If
Lynan and Kumul were involved? You still doubt it?”

Olio shrugged. “The evidence against them is overwhelming, I admit, but it is entirely circumstantial. Think, sister: if the conspiracy was set against you or m-m-me as well as B-B-Berayma, do you think either of us would be here now to talk about it? Poor B-B-Berayma was the target, not the whole royal family. And if that is the case, what profit did Lynan gain from the king’s m-m-murder?”

Areava nodded. “Perhaps he argued with Berayma on the night.”

She stopped suddenly and looked up, wide-eyed.

“What’s wrong?” Olio asked.

Areava had just remembered her conversation with Lynan on the south gallery only a few hours before Berayma’s murder. She had consciously tried to suggest to Lynan that Berayma supported her approach. What if Lynan had confronted Berayma about it that night? What if in anger and frustration and confusion Lynan had lashed out, killing Berayma?

It was my fault
, she told herself, then shook her head fiercely.
No. If Lynan went that far, it was his own base nature, not my words, that drove him
.

Olio looked on, bemused, wondering why her expression was so bleak one second and then so angry the next. “Sister?”

“Perhaps he argued with Berayma on the night,” Areava repeated.

They resumed walking. After a moment Areava continued, “We may never know. Of most concern to me is the loss of the Key of Union.” She looked down at the two keys that now hung around her own neck. “I do not know what power the Keys hold, but I fear that the loss of even one Key will weaken them.”

There was the sound of footsteps running behind them. Areava looked over her shoulder to see Harman scurrying after them, his writing implements and pads tucked under one arm.

“So soon, old friend?” Areava called out to him.

“The business of the kingdom waits for no man or woman, your Majesty,” Harman replied, catching up with them. “Not even the queen herself.”

“Tell me, was it always like this for my mother?”

“Always, Your Majesty.”

“How did she live so long?”

Harman smiled slightly. “I think she actually grew to enjoy it.”

“That is something I will never do, I think,” Areava said wistfully.

“Give it time,” Olio said in her ear. “You are more like our m-m—mother than you think.”

Dejanus left his office in high spirits. When he passed a patrol of the Royal Guards that forgot to salute him as constable, he merely reminded them of their duty.
They will learn
, he told himself.

Captain Rykor, whether he knew it or not, had lifted from Dejanus’ mind his greatest fear: that Lynan would be captured alive. Exactly how much the young prince knew of Dejanus and Orkid’s part in Berayma’s murder he did not know, but his predecessor Kumul was certainly clever enough to have figured out most of it, and was sure to have told Lynan. Now that both Lynan and Kumul were dead, however, Dejanus was secure in his new position.

At last I am safe
, he thought.

Ever since Orkid had discovered his betrayal of Grenda Lear during the Slaver War, Dejanus had lived in fear of being exposed to Usharna, but from the moment he had pierced Berayma’s throat with Lynan’s dagger he had as much against Orkid as the chancellor had against him.

He stopped for a moment, frowning. And what of the deal with Orkid? For helping with the assassination of Berayma, the chancellor had promised to ensure he was made constable… and yet… and yet Orkid’s expression had seemed particularly displeased when Areava had announced Dejanus’s elevation at the first meeting of the executive council.

The constable shook his head. There was nothing the chancellor could do. If Dejanus was brought down, then Orkid would come down with him. And now that Lynan and Kumul were dead, no one except the pair of them knew the whole truth about Berayma’s death.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and for the first time in his life knew he no longer had to look over his shoulder to the past. Only the future mattered now.

Amemun held up his glass to the light, admiring the color of the fine red Storian wine. He sipped it carefully, enjoying its full body and woody aroma.

“We have nothing like this back home,” he said.

Orkid offered his friend a smile and drank from his own glass. “Trade is one of the things we will improve. Usharna was loath to surrender the crown’s monopoly on luxury goods such as wine; it added so much to her revenue. I could never make her understand how reducing restrictions would increase the flow of commerce and so increase her revenue in the long term.”

“She was shortsighted, then.”

Orkid shook his head. “In some ways perhaps. She could be hidebound, with monopolies for example, but in other things she was remarkably progressive. After all, she made me chancellor, the first citizen of the kingdom not from Kendra itself to hold such high office.”

“To our benefit,” Amemun said without irony.

“To the benefit of Grenda Lear as a whole,” Orkid pointed out without pride.

“As your brother, the noble Marin, foresaw all those decades ago when you were first sent to Usharna’s court.”

Orkid nodded. “Aye. Farseeing, indeed.”

“What of our co-conspirator? Do you think he will cause you trouble?”

Orkid shrugged. “I had hoped to tie Dejanus to me even more closely, but Areava announced his promotion without consulting me. From her point of view it was the right thing to do, but regrettably it happened before I could suggest it to her myself. Dejanus is not the most brilliant man I’ve ever met, but he’s not stupid. Knowing that I was working on his behalf would have confirmed our relationship.”

“But you have a hold on him anyway. His secret past is enough to ensure his obedience, surely?”

“Perhaps. But don’t forget Dejanus now has a hold on me as well. We are like two great bears with their mouths around each other’s throat.”

“So how do you intend to proceed to the second part of the plan?” Amemun asked.

“Sendarus has been doing most of the work unwittingly for us, but it may require a little prompting on our part. The people will soon be demanding Areava provide an heir, especially after the events of the last few days. And fortunately for Aman, King Marin’s son is available.”

“And if the queen marries him, a day will come when the kingdom will be ruled by someone with the blood of both Kendra and Aman.” Amemun grinned into his glass. “A pity your brother had no daughter. Then Berayma could have lived.”

Orkid shook his head. “No. His closeness to the Twenty Houses meant he would never have married outside of them. Areava was our only chance.”

“And what of Olio, and that Harnan fellow?”

“I thought I knew Olio. He was always such an inoffensive boy, lurking timidly in the background, but I did not give enough credit to the relationship between him and his sister. She has needed his strength since Berayma’s death, and he has provided it without hesitation. I must work on him, bring him around, make him trust me as much as his sister does.

“And Harnan is so devoted to his duties he does not always see what is going on around him. He and I have always worked well together. I see no reason for that to change.”