Jalia Prevails (Book 5) (29 page)

“Good enough,” Dor snapped irritably. “I am Prince Dor and my father is the King of Dalk. I know you have three thousand three hundred and sixty swords onboard this boat that you are planning to sell to Gally Sorn. I am here to make you a better offer.”

“You seem to be very well informed,” Tonas replied without batting an eyelid. “Do you also know the price that these swords have been purchased for?”

“No, but whatever Gally Sorn is paying you, I will guarantee to pay more.”

“That is a big guarantee when you do not know what you are guaranteeing. The price for the swords is twenty thousand pieces of gold, much more than a king’s ransom. Are you certain your father can afford to pay more? And then there is the matter of honor,” Tonas continued. “Lady Sorn has put down a significant deposit on the swords and I am honor bound to sell them to her.”

“Do you honestly believe she will pay you?” Dor asked in disgust. “She has already had your father killed along with most of your trading partners. Do you think she would hesitate for a moment if killing you will save her money?”

“You are mistaken,” Tonas said evenly. “My father simply caught a chill at Boathaven and sent me on to complete the deal while he recovers.”

“I watched the crossbow bolt cut him down from the platform on the funnel. I suppose the bolt may have made him shiver as it pierced his heart.”

“You have exceptional night vision and are extremely well informed,” Tonas said without rancor. “However, I see no reason to change the arrangements that have been made.”

“Then let common sense be your guide,” Dor offered. “This boat is docking in Dalk and there is no way that my father will allow those swords to reach Tallis. If you don’t deal with me now then my father will ensure you have nothing to deal with later.”

Tonas patted Dor on the shoulder as one might commiserate with a comrade who has suffered a misfortune.

“Then there is no need for us to have this conversation,” Tonas said quietly as he guided Dor from his cabin. “Let what will happen, happen, and do not concern yourself with the business of mere traders.”

Before Dor knew what was happening, he found he was out in the corridor. Jant and Mal behind him.

“Do call again when we reach Slarn,” Tonas said with a smile as he closed the door on the Prince and his men.

“Was that wise, Tonas?” Wilf asked as soon as the door was closed. “He is a prince and things may still go wrong with our plans.”

“Kalenda of Jenver has promised us the full price of the swords and it is to her we will deliver them,” Tonas said emphatically. “That will punish the bitch Sorn and avenge my father’s death.”

“But he was right,” Tred pointed out. “There is no way that King Gillan will let the sword leave Dalk. We could end up with nothing.”

“Kalenda promised assistance in her letter. She said that there were people onboard who will ensure we are not stopped by Sorn and that there is a plan for the swords to get to Jenver. I am the leader of this group now my father is dead and I plan to honor his memory by delivering the swords to the woman he loved.”

The Steam Dragon’s horn sounded loudly making the Denger brothers jump.

“That will be the encounter with the Speedy Star,” Tonas said happily. “There may be a further message from Kalenda to my father. We should go on deck so we can collect it before the good Captain has a chance to open it.”

“You do not trust Captain Toren?” Wilf asked.

“He is tupping the Sorn bitch nightly. How can we possibly trust him?”

Nin was having a hard time on his first day back at work. He had been up since dawn and his wounds ached terribly. Captain Toren had, with casual sadism, assigned Nin to keep the Steam Dragon’s firebox filled with wood. It was backbreaking work at the best of times. Fortunately, Jerin Malder had been doing most of the work.

“Sit down and have a rest,” Jerin suggested as Nin staggered and fell, bouncing the log he had been carrying across the room.

“If the Captain sees me doing that I shall end up over the barrel again.”

“Hah, the Captain won’t be down here while there’s a good head of steam,” Jerin said laughing. “Believe me; none of the officers come down here for fear of having to do some real work.”

“I don’t know how you manage it all on your own,” Nin confessed. “When is Yan returning to work?”

“Our chief stoker has been laid up in his cabin ever since your friend Daniel hit him in the jaw. Broke it in two places, according to that healer, Jak Venjer. Your dad’s been mashing up all Yan’s food into tiny little pieces ever since, because he can’t chew.” Jerin spat into the flames to check how hot the firebox was and nodded his head at the sizzling result.

“It must be so hard to do it all on your own.”

“It’s just about the same as with Yan, except that now I don’t have to pay attention to his orders or listen to him moan about how he should be an officer. I prefer it like this and shall be sorry when he returns. Your friend Daniel did me a big favor, let me tell you.”

Nin got to his feet and picked up the fallen log.

“Put it down boy. The fire’s plenty hot enough as it is,” Jerin ordered and Nin gratefully put the log down. “I hear you have found yourself a pretty little girl?”

“Her name’s Hala,” Nin said. He was blushing as he spoke, but it was invisible in the glow from the fire.

“We could do with more women on the Dragon,” Jerin said thoughtfully. “The Speedy Star is almost even with men and women, what with Mela as its captain. Are you giving it good to her, boy?”

“She won’t go all the way. Says she’s too young for it,” Nin found himself saying with something approaching horror. He couldn’t believe he was being so honest. They hardly knew each other; for all that they had been on the boat together since the day Nin was born.

“That’s a woman’s right, boy. My dad always said that to take advantage of a woman, you have to persuade her it was her idea in the first place.”

“How do you do that?” Nin asked eagerly.

“Damned if I know. The old man was always saying stuff like that, but he wasn’t much good at giving examples. What would she do if she did come onboard to live?”

“I don’t know,” Nin confessed. “She’s good with a knife and a sword.”

“Not much use for those skills on a boat, boy. She ain’t born to this life. Maybe you should spend more time thinking about that and less on getting your gear greased.”

The Steam Dragon’s horn sounded through the hull of the boat and Nin started to rise. Jerin waved him to sit again.

“Stokers don’t get to go up top to see the boats cross. We have to make sure that there’s plenty of steam in case the Captain needs to do a fancy maneuver or two. Best pick up that log and throw it into the box, just in case”

Up on the bridge, Captain Toren stared into the distance up the river.

“There she is, Seb. Is she slowing down?”

“Looks like it Captain. Mela Tanton isn’t the kind of captain that makes mistakes.”

“None of us are,” Captain Toren replied. “I’ve written messages to her and Len on the Flying Kite to bypass Wegnar until the Boat Company Board can make a ruling.”

“There are bound to be some of her passengers unhappy at that decision,” Seb pointed out.

“It’s in the rules they accepted when they bought their passage. The company’s boats don’t stop anywhere they have been attacked,” Toren replied calmly.

“If Mela’s boat is as filled with refugees as Len’s was, she’ll have her hands full with passengers screaming they need to go to their relatives at Wegnar.”

“That’s why we captains get paid so much.”

 
“I heard it was because you were all blackmailing the Board Members,” Seb said smiling.

“Well, that does help,” Toren said and smiled back.

Daniel and Don joined Hala and Cara at the railings, looking out for the Speedy Star to pass by. Daniel turned to Hala.

“Since your boyfriend doesn’t seem to be here to ask, do you know what’s going to happen?” he asked.

“Normally the only messages delivered are those from Slarn so the boats can charge past each other like they did last time. The passengers’ messages are just a courtesy service. The system was created so that the Boat Company could pass new instructions to its Captains. According to Nin, Captain Toren has to tell the sister boats about what happened at Wegnar, so he will have sounded his horn in a special signal to the Speedy Star.”

“How will they exchange messages then?” Don asked. “Do they launch one of those massive rowing boats we carry?”

“I don’t think so. Those boats are only for emergencies. I think they use the things they used last time,” Hala explained doubtfully. Nin had been too worried about starting work to explain in detail.

As Hala indicated, the boom was swung out from the Steam Dragon, only this time it already held a mail sack. The Speedy star was approaching slowly, just drifting down at the river’s natural flow. Captain Toren was running the Dragon’s engines enough to hold the Steam Dragon stationary relative to the river’s bank.

As the boats drew level the engines of the Speedy Star started up, but they must have been running in reverse because vast amounts of water churned from the boat’s rear and it slowed down even more.

Steering in reverse must be difficult because the Speedy Star started to slide towards them. Captain Toren used the engines to pull the Steam Dragon away from the other boat. While this was going on, the woman in the cage on the Speedy Star swung her boom over to try and pick up the bag the Steam Dragon’s operator was holding for her.

Both boats swayed from side to side alarmingly and drifted across the river as the operation continued. Daniel began to wonder if they were going to hit the bank or possibly get stuck in the mud.

Now they were close, Daniel saw the Speedy Star was as packed with passengers as the Flying Kite had been. Mother’s held tight to children as they watched the boats dance across the river. The kids burst into a round of applause as the bag from the Steam Dragon was caught and recovered by the operator on the Speedy Star.

Seconds later an identical mail bag was being swung out for the Steam Dragon’s man to catch. He was either very good or lucky because he caught it first time and swung it over the deck.

Two seconds after he had caught the bag the Speedy Star’s engines stopped and then restarted, this time going the right way. The two captains waved farewells and Daniel saw that the captain on the Speedy Star was a woman.

“That was fun!” Cara said, lifting Hala into the air and spinning her around. Hala laughed, as she was put back on the deck as gentle as a feather.

“Don’t think I’m picking you up and spinning you round,” Daniel told Don, who grinned in reply.

16.
      
Betrayals

Dor waited impatiently for Jant to decode the letter from the Speedy Star. It irritated Dor no end that his father Gilan trusted Jant more than his own son. All the messages were addressed to Jant and only Jant could decipher them.

Mal picked at his fingernails with the point of his knife and ignored the others. Jant would not let Dor look over his shoulder for fear he would work out how to decode the messages. As a result, Dor paced the other side of the room from one wall to the other. Mal looked up and gave a barking laugh at his charge’s impatience.

Jant put away his codebook in the inside pocket of his jerkin. Both the book and the pocket were small. The pocket fastened with a string, and much to Dor’s annoyance, Jant spent what seemed like an age fastening it up.

“So what does my father say this time,” Dor snarled. “Am I to be bound, gagged and locked in my cabin until this boat is safely docked in Dalk?”

“That would be for a very long time, my lord. It appears that the harbor at Dalk has been badly damaged by a fire and the Boat Company has decided the Steam Dragon shall dock in Tallis.”

“Docking in Tallis?” Dor cried in horror. “Then all is lost. King Oto will take possession of the swords and then the throne of Slarn. This is a disaster.”

“Perhaps not, my lord,” Jant continued. “Your father writes that he has reached a pact with Queen Kalenda. Dalk and Jenver forces will gather at the harbor and take the swords from King Oto. Kalenda and your father have been unable to reach an agreement as to what will happen next, so he instructs you to purchase the swords from Hadon Mallow to give him leverage in the negotiations.” Jant paused. “It is worth remembering that his majesty is still unaware of what happened at the Boathaven docks.”

“Hadon or Tonas, what does it matter? Tonas will not deal with us, you have seen that yourself. I have failed my father before I even begin.” Dor sat down and put his head in his hands.

 
“I do not understand what is motivating Tonas,” Jant said, thinking aloud. “I cannot believe he would willingly sell their swords to Gally Sorn. He must know she arranged his father’s death.”

“Perhaps he is happier without his father?” Mal suggested unexpectedly. It was unusual for him to offer an opinion.

“He has certainly inherited his father’s arrogance,” Dor snapped. “Whatever Tonas’s plans are, they do not seem to involve us. I have failed.”

“Now, now, your highness,” Jant said in a soothing voice. “We have not played this game to its conclusion, and much may happen still.”

Halad al’Faran read his letter for a second time before screwing it up and throwing over the side. He misjudged the wind and the letter bounced against the hull of the boat, almost returning to the deck before it finally flew away and landed in the boat’s churning wake.

Halad controlled his breathing with difficulty. He was not an assassin and what he had been ordered to do was horrible and frightening. If he could have chosen to run he would have done so, but the Steam Dragon was heading to Tallis, taking Halad into the arms of his master. He had no choice. He had to do as he had been ordered.

Halad took out his handkerchief and wiped away bitter tears. The orders said to do it before the boat entered Slarn. That meant he had only a little time. He didn’t have to do it tonight. He might even wait until tomorrow or the morning of the day after that. Halad knew he would have to gather his strength and resolve. Murder was not in his nature, but he had no choice, he must do what he had been instructed.

Cara’s words about her future life with Nin kept repeating themselves over and over in Hala’s mind. What would she do if she stayed? She had no skills that were useful on a boat. She couldn’t even cook. The slaves had done all that at Taldon’s Fort and Daniel had been doing the cooking ever since. She could find vegetables in a forest and hunt for food, but the Steam Dragon wasn’t a forest, it was a big steel tavern gliding through the water.

Hala wasn’t ready to become Nin’s mistress. She was still twelve though she would be thirteen soon. Perhaps she was already thirteen, as she had largely lost track of the time since she started upon this adventure by following Jalia and Daniel with a view to killing them.

Hala grew angrier as she walked deep into the bowels of the boat. She had arranged to meet Nin in the boiler room that morning. The morning seemed like weeks ago. How could she have trusted Nin to look after her when he couldn’t even look after himself? Hala felt such a fool as she opened the boiler room door.

Jerin laughed when he saw Hala approach and suggested that she and Nin take their tryst into the corridor.

“But don’t start doing it out there. You never know when an officer might walk by,” he called after them.

“I hate it when adults talk about us doing sexual things,” Hala complained. “Did you have to tell every single member of the crew what we have been doing?”

“I didn’t,” Nin argued, but even he could hear the guilt in his voice.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hala said decisively. “I am leaving the Steam Dragon with Jalia and Daniel when we reach Slarn.”

Nin’s mouth fell open in shock. “But we have three days yet. Why do you have to decide now? What have I done wrong?”

“What you have done, Nin, is nothing,” Hala continued, her anger building up a head of steam that would have not been out of place in the boat’s boiler. “You have not even considered what I would do if I stayed onboard. Do you think that all I want is to clean up passengers rubbish and spread my legs for you at night? Is that all you think I am worth?”

“No, yes… I don’t know,” Nin floundered. “Isn’t our love as important to you as it is to me?”

“My life is important to me,” Hala said as tears started to flow. “And all you’ve done is wreck it even more.”

Nin tried to put his arm around her, but Hala shook him away. “I’m going back to Jalia and Daniel. I never want to see you again.”

Hala fled down the corridor, stumbling because her tears blinded her. Eventually she found a storeroom where she could weep to her hearts content without being seen.

Sala Rotiln returned to her suite with a letter clutched close to her bosom. She had recognized King Oto’s writing on the envelope and knew it must be important if he had bothered to write to her personally. She hoped that Captain Toren and his First Mate were not familiar with the King’s hand. It would be a disaster if either of them had recognized it when they handed it to her.

With shaking fingers, she tore the plain wax seal and opened up the folded parchment. The King had been thoughtful enough not to place his mark on the wax, at the least.

‘
Dear Lady Sala’
, the letter began.
‘I need to make you aware that the Steam Dragon is not going to dock at Dalk, but will head east to Tallis. While at first glance this might seem like good news, in point of fact, it is little short of a disaster.’

‘The Boat Company has accused the throne of being complicit in the attack on their facilities in Dalk harbor. If the harbor at Jenver was not in the process of being renovated, they would have sent the Steam Dragon there, as it is they have had no choice but to send it to Tallis and of course, all fingers of blame are pointing at me.’

‘There are rumors that Jenver and Dalk plan retaliation. It is likely they have heard about the swords and are determined to stop Tallis from getting them. Indeed, I wish that I had never agreed to this mad scheme in the first place. The Triums, after all, are brother states all bound by the walls of Slarn and what do we gain in a war against each other?’

‘My greatest fear is that Gally Sorn is working for my brother, Maximus. He has refused to speak to me of late and I am sure he plans something, though what that something might be, is beyond my divination.’

‘I had hoped to negotiate with King Gilan for safe transfer of the swords from Dalk, perhaps in exchange for a reasonable number of them for his own Trium’s protection. It is worth remembering that only we possess the hilts that will turn these swords into useable weapons. As it is, neither Jenver nor Dalk will talk to us.’

‘In any event, the harbor in Tallis will be safe from Maximus. It is essential that Gally Sorn completes the purchase of the swords from Hadon Mallow so that we have ownership when the Steam Dragon docks.’

‘However, you must watch Gally Sorn carefully and seek help from Captain Toren and his crew if she does anything that might lead to Maximus owning the swords. I know that this is not an easy task I place on your delicate shoulders, but you are the only person I can ask it of.’

‘You do great service to the Trium of Tallis and We shall never forget it.
’

Sala looked at Oto’s sprawling signature in which he made up for the lack of length in his name by stretching each letter near to breaking point. She hugged the letter to her heart. She would not let the King down. She would watch Gally Sorn like a hawk.

Captain Toren stood at the stern of his ship watching the waters churn behind it. As before, there was a man hidden, crouching down to avoid detection by either crew or passengers.

“The Steam Dragon is to berth at Tallis and not at Dalk as planned,” Toren told the listening man.

“I know that for myself now,” the man said bitterly. “How long have you been keeping that key piece of information from me?”

“It was necessary to keep it secret until we left Bratin. This is the first opportunity I have had to tell you,” Captain Toren replied evenly.

To the Captain’s surprise, the man stood and faced him.

“I think you are working for the Sorn woman and have betrayed Dalk in the process,” the man revealed as Jant told him.

“I have betrayed nobody. My first loyalty is to the Boat Company as I told you from the outset. Beyond that, I have given you information you could not have obtained without me.”

“If anything happens to Prince Dor as a result of this, I shall kill you,” Jant shouted.

“Is there a problem, Captain?” Seb Halder asked as he walked into sight along the companionway. “I wanted to ask you about how docking at Tallis changes our timetable and I heard shouting.”

“It is nothing, Seb,” Captain Toren said as he strode to the man and walked back with him towards the bridge. “Nothing at all.”

Tonas looked at the short message he received and decoded. ‘He will come to you’.

He passed it over to the Denger brothers, who scratched at their heads and looked puzzled. There was a knock at the door.

Tonas opened it to reveal Jak Venjer. Jak drew back his hood and entered the room.

“Gentlemen, I have the privilege to be the Queen of Slarn’s representative on this boat and I believe you are expecting me?”

“She’s not the Queen of Slarn yet,” Tred Denger muttered.

“But she will be once the swords are safely in her hands,” Jak said with quiet confidence.

“And how are we going to ensure that?” Tonas asked. “Is she planning to invade Dalk?”

“No, because this boat is going to Tallis,” Jak told them to general astonishment. “Queen Kalenda has made a pact with King Gilan of Dalk and they will invade the harbor and take charge of the dock. With a bill of sale from you to Queen Kalenda, no one will be able to dispute her ownership or try to stop her from taking her property to Jenver.”

“I will write out the bill now,” Tonas said.

“Tonas,” Tred interrupted. “It is not usual to prepare a bill until money has changed hands.”

“I am hardly carrying twenty thousand pieces of gold on me,” Jak said and held out his hands. “However, I can assure you that Queen Kalenda will be ready with the full asking price at the dock.”

“Then we will give you your bill of sale on the dock,” Wilf said firmly. “There are three partners in this enterprise and while I would much sooner that Queen Kalenda have the swords than Gally Sorn, my brother and I are determined that someone will pay us for them first.”

Jak looked angrily at the three men, but it was clear that two of them were determined not to complete the deal there and then.

“Very well, we shall finish this at the docks,” Jak stated bleakly and walked from the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Was that wise?” Tonas asked. “She is a queen after all and can surely be trusted.”