Priestess of the Eggstone (18 page)

“They are calling,” Jasyn said, breaking the tense silence. “Wide beam broadcast. The Sessimoniss are demanding the return of the Eggstone and the one who stole it. They’re using your name, Jerimon.” She flipped a switch sending the call over the speakers.

“Give us back the Eggstone and the human who has stolen it. Jerimon Pai must pay.”

She flipped it off. “It’s repeating.”

“I’m trying to return it,” Jerimon said.

“Give me the radio,” Lady Rina said. Jasyn slid off the headset. Lady Rina settled it on her white hair. “How do I use this?”

“Just speak,” Jasyn said, flipping switches. “It’s set to broadcast and receive.”

“This is Lady Delarina Duessa of the Swan.” She spoke loudly, with exact precision. “You will cease harassing us. Your Eggstone will be returned.” She pulled off the headset, handing it to Jasyn. She smiled with smug satisfaction. “That should take care of things.”

“The Patrol are calling for us to stop,” Jasyn announced. “The Sessimoniss have stopped transmitting.”

“They’re accelerating,” Jerimon said.

Lady Rina calmly returned to her seat.

“Jump point,” I said as I engaged the hyperdrive.

Chapter Fifteen

I shut down the sublights and swiveled my seat to face the lounge. “I hope they aren’t waiting for us at Besht.”

“They think we’re going to Tebros,” Jasyn said.

“That’s illegal!” Jerimon protested.

I couldn’t find words to express what I thought of that comment. Lady Rina did it much better with one raised eyebrow. I’d play cards with her but the only deck she had was her weird one for fortune telling.

“They won’t believe you’re innocent now,” I told Lady Rina.

“I doubt they ever did. I can always claim that I was duped by the three of you. I’m an old lady, my sanity can always be questioned.” I felt sorry for whoever finally caught us. “It is time to plan. What do we know so far? Dace?” She looked at me expectantly.

“We’ve told you everything,” I said.

“Yes, Jerimon took a stone that didn’t belong to him and now the Sessimoniss want it back, but he sold it and now it’s on Besht, we hope. Do I have it straight?” She speared me with her steely gaze. I flinched. “Why are the Patrol after you? I don’t believe you ever explained that fully. I made some inquiries on Herifon.”

“I told you before about Belliff. There isn’t anything else.” I folded my arms. I wasn’t about to admit that some high-ranking person in the Patrol undercover wanted me to work for him and had me followed everywhere I went. That wasn’t any of her business.

“You are lying,” she said flatly. “This is not just about smuggling for Belliff. Why is the Patrol hunting you in particular?”

“It has absolutely nothing to do with this mess.” I locked glares with Lady Rina, determined not to say anything more. Her eyebrows slowly rose. I wilted under the force of her stare, but kept my mouth stubbornly shut.

She frowned. “Well, what will we do when we reach Besht? The Patrol will figure out our destination before very long, despite Jasyn’s efforts.”

“We look for Kile Wells,” Jerimon said.

“And beat him with a stick until he gives us the Eggstone,” I muttered.

“How will you find him?” Lady Rina asked. “We don’t have time to question every indigent in the markets. You must learn to plan, Jerimon. As soon as we reach normal space, you will fetch me. I have contacts that can locate Kile Wells quickly. The Family is strong there.” She looked at Jasyn and Jerimon in turn. That word had claimed all of their attention. “You are both Gypsies. It’s past time that you knew what that means.”

“They disowned us, when they disowned our parents,” Jasyn said, her tone bitter.

“It was a mistake, at least that has always been my position,” Lady Rina said. “Your mother and father were forbidden to marry. They came from clans that had been separated by feud for over a thousand years. The two of them broke alliances when they married. Neither family wanted a possible traitor in their midst so they disowned them both. I protested to the Council. They couldn’t disown me or they would have. I was too powerful. I still am, though I’ve chosen to distance myself from the Council and Family politics.

“I kept an eye on your parents, and you, for years. It is past time for the Family to step forward and do what they can for you as penance for a decision made in ignorance and stupidity thirty years past.” She looked at me, head cocked, shrewdly evaluating. “You are not Family, although that could be arranged.” She glanced at Jerimon, who blushed. “Where Jerimon has involved you, the Family is obligated to help. I will have to see what I can do about your other troubles. Perhaps Caid’s praise will carry weight with the Council. He thinks highly of you. He said you could have been a great engineer, except you were misled into becoming a pilot. High praise indeed from him.” She stood, brushing her skirt smooth. “It is past time we called in the Family. As soon as we reach Besht, I will find your information.” She swept elegantly from the lounge, trailed by her shadow, Estelle.

The three of us looked at each other.

“She seems to have taken care of everything,” Jasyn said with an edge of resentment in her voice.

“Were you really working with Caid all the time or just avoiding me?” Jerimon demanded.

“Yes and yes. You’ve got first watch. I’m going to try to get what sleep I can before Caid decides something else needs to be fixed.” I left without looking behind me. Jerimon was getting on my nerves and Lady Rina’s not-so-veiled hints at romance weren’t helping.

Caid didn’t let me sleep long. He’d found plants for the hydroponics and wanted them planted. I spent hours crawling around the units plugging the last leaks while he set the seedlings. I had sticky green stuff in my hair from the growing fluid. Smears of it ran down the front of my shipsuit. I wiped a trickle off my cheek while I waited to make sure the leak was fixed.

Jerimon sauntered in as I finished wiping green from the pipe. “What are those?” He pointed at a packet with green sprouts showing out the top.

Caid handed the packet to Jerimon. “Strawberries. You plant them along here. Like this.” He showed Jerimon how to thread the seedling in the planter and insert it into the nutrient pipe.

Jerimon threaded a plant carefully into the next planter. Caid grunted his approval and picked up a different packet, this one of seeds. Jerimon threaded another strawberry plant into the pipe.

Later, at the next meal, Jerimon enthusiastically told Jasyn all about the hydroponics. She pretended polite interest. Lady Rina beamed, proud that he’d finally obtained a real interest in something. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore it. I hated those pipes, the stinky slimy mess I’d been crawling through, and the smell of rotting algae that still clung to my hair. My knuckles were scraped raw. Just being a pilot was very tempting. Pilots rarely had to crawl through muck or bang up their knuckles on stubborn bolts.

Lady Rina touched my hair, puzzled. “Why is your hair green?”

It was still sticky despite my washing it six times that afternoon. “Algae,” I said, hoping it wasn’t permanent.

“There’s another leak in the auxiliary tank,” Caid said. “That back connector slipped loose.”

“Jerimon can fix it.” I took another bite of casserole. Estelle worked wonders with frozen food.

“But your hair’s already green,” Jerimon said.

“It’s your turn to crawl around in the muck.”

“But you do such a good job of it.”

“I have watch.”

“I’ll take it for you,” Jerimon said, looking so innocent and sincere I wanted to barf.

“You need to learn, since you’re so interested in hydroponics.” I kicked him under the table.

He grimaced, bending down to rub his shin.

“Children,” Lady Rina chided. “No fighting at dinner.” I swear she was trying to hide a grin, although with her poker face I wasn’t sure.

Caid stood, clapping Jerimon on the shoulder. “Dace is right. It’s your turn to learn.”

I smiled sweetly. “Enjoy yourself.”

His look said he’d get even at the first opportunity.

Lady Rina raised her eyebrow. “I believe you are on watch now?”

I wasn’t, not for another three hours, but I nodded and parked myself in front of the controls.

Nothing happened for hours. The ship ran beautifully. Lady Rina and Jasyn played a dice game. Estelle did the dishes then sat quietly twisting yarn into long strips with a hooked needle. Eventually they went to bed, leaving me yawning and trying to stay awake. I dozed off for a while, but nothing went wrong. I was stiff, cramped from sleeping in the chair, and grumpy when they showed up for breakfast the next morning. I collected mine and took it to my cabin to eat. I fell asleep almost as soon as I lay down on the bunk.

I woke late in the day, feeling much better. Space travel has its moments, mostly of pure boredom. I did my exercises and showered again, scrubbing my head until it hurt. My hair was still slightly green when I came out. I took my comb and tried to make my hair do what Jasyn had done. I was only partly successful, but it still looked better than it usually did. I pulled on one of Lady Rina’s burgundy and blue uniforms and eyed myself in the mirror. If I let my hair grow a bit, I thought, pulling at it, then maybe I could comb it to one side.

The door opened. Jasyn watched me, one eyebrow raised, just like Lady Rina. I flushed and dropped my hands. She grinned.

“I have some face creams you can try, if you like.”

“I’m fine.” I tried to keep the edge out of my voice. I failed.

Her grin widened. “I came to see if you were awake. We’ve got two hours to Besht.” She tilted her head to one side. “Caid says you don’t have to help with the plants anymore. Jerimon has a softer touch.”

“Good, Jerimon can have them.” I silently hoped his hair was completely green with slime.

Jerimon’s hair was perfect, as usual, slightly disheveled with a curl hanging down over his eyes. He looked pleased with himself as I joined him at the table.

“I give up. Why isn’t your hair green? Why don’t you look like you’ve been crawling in pipes all day? I bet you didn’t bang your knuckles once.”

“Yours is only slightly green now. I like it.” Jerimon brushed his hand over my head. I knocked it away.

Lady Rina watched us, radiating approval. I lost my appetite, until Estelle placed a steaming dish on the table. I forgot everything else when I tasted it. I rolled it over my tongue, creamy smooth sauce with a bite to it that only made the creaminess more intense. Tiny crunchy things exploded with cool flavors. The chewy pieces had a flavor all their own.

“What is this?” I asked Estelle.

She glanced at Lady Rina, then at me. “Mother’s recipe.”

“I can’t place the spices,” I said as I took another bite. “There’s a hint of nutmeg.”

Estelle looked surprised.

“I wanted to trade in spices. I was working on setting up a route.” I looked down at my plate, biting my lip. Before Dadilan, before I got mixed up with the Patrol. Before my ship was destroyed.

“And we’re going to do it,” Jasyn said. “After we take care of our current mess, we’re going to get a ship and get rich.” She raised her cup. “Here’s to the future.”

We all chimed in, even Estelle.

“Perhaps I could provide you a stake,” Lady Rina said as we all started eating again. “I have plenty of money and little enough to spend it on.”

“I thought it was Family money,” Jerimon said.

“Not all of it. I’ve invested on my own for quite a few years now.” She chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “The Family does encourage trade. You could fly a Family ship.”

“We were disowned,” Jasyn said. “I want my own ship. I want to say where we fly, what cargo we carry. I don’t want the Family to dictate what we do.”

I heard echoes of my own desires and nodded in agreement.

Lady Rina seemed proud. “Well spoken. I think it would be advantageous to have someone who isn’t under Council control out there. You could be my eyes.”

“No,” Jasyn said. “We would be happy to send you reports, but we decide where to go.”

“Of course, dear.” Lady Rina patted Jasyn’s hand. “The three of you would be flying the ship. Together.”

We were interrupted by the reentry warning. I swallowed my last bite along with my unspoken comment about old ladies and matchmaking.

The Swan glided gracefully into normal space, living up to her name. Besht was a major crossroad between the outer worlds and the rich inner worlds. All of my life had been spent in the fringe and the outer worlds. This was the closest I’d ever come to the fabled inner worlds. Besht had more traffic in an hour than the places I’d ever been had in an entire day.

Lady Rina placed a call as soon as the turbulence of our down jump cleared. I only heard part of it, steering the ship through the mess of traffic took my entire concentration. I heard her mention Kile Wells, the dealer in odd collectibles. She got into a heated discussion with the person on the other end about Family and status. About that time, she moved her conversation to the other side of the lounge. She spent another ten minutes arguing before cutting the contact. She said nothing when she took her seat again, but her face was set in a nasty scowl.

We had a busy hour piloting the ship in and docking her at one of the five orbiting stations. The moment we received clearance, Lady Rina left, Estelle trailing behind.

“What now?” I asked.

“We wait,” Jasyn answered.

“We go get supplies,” I said, checking the fuel status.

“What do we need besides fuel?”

“You don’t leave until Lady Rina returns,” Caid said, appearing at the top of the stairs. I didn’t argue with him. The odds against winning were too high.

We spent an hour making a list. We checked everything, toiletries to spare charges for the handlights on board. I even peeked into Lady Rina’s cabin before losing my nerve and deciding if she needed anything, she would get it herself. Her presence was strong, even when she wasn’t there.

She returned with Estelle and an older man. He was short with dark hair, dressed in an elegant suit, and an angry scowl. Lady Rina cut off his protests with an abrupt wave of her hand. “The man you are looking for works for a company in Lueden. Here are directions and shuttle tickets.” She handed me a paper. “You and Jerimon have twelve hours. No more.”