The Ancient Ones (The Legacy Trilogy Book 3) (35 page)

‘Then if that is all, please excuse us, Your Majesty,’ Samuel continued, sounding overtly courteous—quite out of character. ‘I am sure you have much to do in your cabin and we have the mundane details of the sortie to discuss.’

Leopold shrugged and pushed back his chair to stand. Everything would be easier if they did not insist on seeking his permission. They had never bothered before; why start now?

He returned to his room filled with annoyance. Much to do in his cabin, indeed!

****

It had grown late and Salu and Toby were fast asleep, now competing to see who could snore in the loudest, most irritating and exaggerated fashion. Leopold had whiled away the hours polishing his sword and choosing his clothes for their planned excursion. As he was getting set on readying for bed, Samuel appeared at his door, opening it wide and leaning in.

‘I don’t know why I bother locking it,’ Leopold told him.

‘It was locked?’ Samuel responded, feigning surprise.

‘What do you want?’

‘A word, if I may, Leopold.’

‘Come in,’ he said, but the magician was already through the doorway before he spoke. ‘Why are we persisting with all this nonsense, if you already know the Ancient One is not here?’ He had forgone adding Magician or Samuel to anything he said; all it did was get him into trouble. The less he said to the magician, the better. ‘Should we not be off as quickly as we can and go find this Poltamir? I want to be done with this infernal quest so I can get back home and organise a hangman to string you up.’ Samuel showed no mirth at the statement. ‘I’m joking about the last part, of course,’ Leopold was forced to amend, reminding himself of his previous thoughts: the less said the better.

‘In truth, I have some business here,’ Samuel stated. ‘I would see what happened to the Circle of Eyes in these parts. I doubt they have been idle all these years, but I have my own plans for them. If Pradmet is not a member of the Circle, someone close to him certainly will be. The Circle always keeps close to those in power. I don’t want to mess around in the dens and marketplaces looking for contacts. Better we go straight to the source.’

‘So what will you do with these agents? Turn them into Truthseekers? Ask them to revolt?’

The magician gave Leopold a doubting glance. ‘There is no need of Truthseekers in Koia, Leopold. Magic has never been allowed to take root here. I will take care of any Eudan magicians we may meet, and the Koians should eventually take care of the rest. As for revolution, I will leave such events to Lady Wind. We do not have the time to meddle in politics. I am sure she has suitable plans.’

‘How do you know?’

‘She is a cunning and resourceful woman, Leopold. She has not mentioned as much, but I know she has events plotted out for her nation, just as she plotted our course here across the oceans. Do you remember when she told Phoenix she would free Empress Moon?’

‘I do,’ Leopold said.

‘She lied.’

‘Why would she do that?’ Leopold felt a tinge of intrigue.

‘Empress Moon was not as benevolent a ruler as her subjects fool themselves into believing. She used the powers of their unwitting god to keep tabs on her empire, observing the people’s thoughts and dreams. If Empress Moon wasn’t entirely pleased with what her citizens were thinking, swift action was taken. I get the feeling that if the Eudans had not succeeding in overthrowing the government, the Koian people would have done it themselves. With their god gone, Empress Moon lost her most powerful weapon. Repression and subjugation have a way of making people unhappy. No. What I want from my agents is the location of their Temple of Shadows. There will be one here somewhere.’

‘What would you want with a temple?’ Leopold asked with interest.

‘The temples are sanctuaries: repositories of all the magical artefacts and knowledge gathered by the Circle. I will destroy it.’

‘May I ask why, or is that assuming you actually have some reasoning for such things?’

‘Because when I am finished,’ the magician told him, ‘I want nothing of a magical nature left upon the world. They are hangovers from a time before. We no longer have need of such things. Such power only causes conflict.’

‘There will always be conflict, with or without magical relics,’ Leopold said flatly.

‘True, Leopold, but the stakes will not be so high. Magic is honey to beasts and demons. It draws them closer and it makes them ravenous.’

‘Is that why you destroyed the tower in Cintar? I assumed you were just mad, or throwing a fit.’

‘It is,’ Samuel said with a solemn nod. ‘The Mage Tower was saturated with magic, a tool of slovenly Order bureaucrats who wanted to reach the heights with minimal effort. Better to remove it and do without. There is little magic left in Cintar now to attract Poltamir’s wrath. Perhaps the people will still be alive when we return. Who knows? They could be lucky.’

Leopold considered it for a moment, realising the truth of it, wondering if their cause was already lost. Everyone in the city could have been butchered by fiends the very same day they left, and they would never know.

‘I want to ask you: why do you want me along? Do you still trust me when I have sworn to avenge what you did to my father?’

‘Of course I trust you, Leopold. I trust you to behave in the manner of all people: that you will act spontaneously and erratically because of your youth; that you will act pettily and jealously because you are royalty; that you will act in ignorance, because you were raised in isolation; that you will act selfishly, because you are merely human; and that of course you will harbour vengeance towards me, because you believe I killed your father.

‘There is little you could do to surprise me, Leopold, except to be perfect, and I would certainly not expect that of anyone—not you and least of all myself. Yes, I do want you to accompany me. You are safer nowhere more than with me and if all this comes off—if by some miracle we are successful—Turia will need a leader.

‘I thought I would never hear myself say it, but the Turian Empire is the best chance the people of Amandia have. If it survives, that tiny clot of civilisation will do much to restore order to the entire continent. My final reason: the place you can do least damage is with me. We still need this ship, and the last thing I want is you burning it down or setting the crew to riot while I am absent.’

‘Oh. So once again it all boils down to what you need.’

‘Of course it does, Leopold. Did you expect any different?’

Leopold’s spirits fell. ‘Is anything you do genuine? Is anything for anyone besides yourself?’

The magician looked confused. ‘Everything I do is genuine. I am trying to save the world, Leopold. How could that be for myself?’

‘I get the feeling you would sacrifice us all if it meant saving your son.’

‘I would be a fool not to,’ stated Samuel.

Leopold scoffed at this, leaving the magician to continue his explanation.

‘Let me put it this way, Leopold, given that you are so quick to judge and so slow to think. If my son were to perish, the result would be much worse than anything you could imagine.’ He paused, gathering his thoughts. ‘Did your mother ever tell you I once walked fair across Amandia to find you; that I pulled you from the maw of a beast that was about to devour you, and placed you back into her desperate arms?’

‘She did,’ Leopold admitted, ‘but that was a different magician called Samuel—the one from my childhood. The one I met seems nothing like that man.’

‘The one you met has much more to contend with. Which reminds me: Jessicah will also be coming with us, so I don’t want you making trouble for her.’

‘Is that wise? Is it necessary?’

‘Yes on both counts. I need to keep a close eye on her. You are the only one who knows her secret, Leopold. Rei is growing stronger and Jessicah is in grave danger. There is little I can do to prevent it, except to keep her from harm.’

‘I understand.’ Despite the magician’s uncanny ability to read thoughts, it seemed he had not gleaned all Leopold’s secrets just yet, or else, he had simply chosen not to reveal it. ‘You love her, don’t you?’ he asked.

‘Jessicah? Of course I do,’ Samuel responded. ‘As much as I can still feel love. To me, she is as perfect as any person can be. I know my vision is distorted, and that my feelings for her have no logical basis, but she was the only thing I cherished as a child that still survives. She was the only one who had faith in me. She saw me through the hard times after my family’s death. She is my saviour, and I will be ever thankful that she exists.’

‘You’re not jealous of her and Captain Orrell?’ Leopold asked.

‘Not at all. I am very glad. She is my cousin, remember, Leopold. Even if it is true that she is not my cousin in blood, she is my cousin up here.’ He tapped his head. ‘I wish them all the best. I could not think of a better man to court her.’

The statement irked Leopold. Was he not a suitable enough man for her? ‘And what about these two?’ Leopold asked, gesturing to the sleeping boy and old man on their bunks. ‘Will they be coming with us, also?’

‘Not this time,’ Samuel said. ‘Our party is already larger than I would prefer and those two pests are the last thing I need. We could never cover up their oddities or keep them from roaming. I am only putting up with Lady Wind’s company because I share her dislike for Empress Moon.’

‘Why is that? It’s not like you to bear grudges.’

The magician missed the sarcasm in Leopold’s voice entirely. ‘Suffice to say, long ago she hurt someone I cared for.’

‘I note our new Koian passengers have been having trouble getting their needs known to the crew. Will you not enable everyone to understand what they say? Can you not cast the same spell on the crew that you used on me?’

‘They will make do, Leopold. I am purposefully keeping the women isolated from the crew. These sailors are a lusty bunch at the best of times. It would cause more trouble than it’s worth if they could suddenly communicate with our pretty guests. When the time comes, those who need to speak with them, will. Now, you need your rest. I will leave you to sleep.’

‘What about you, Samuel?’ Leopold asked, shifting about, preparing to lie down once again. ‘Don’t you ever rest?’

‘Of course I do.’ With that, the magician turned and quietly let himself out. As his boot steps faded along the timber hall, the lock on Leopold’s door clicked quietly and slid itself back into place.

****

It would take them a few more days to reach the city and they crawled past Spring, the last of The Four Seasons, on an overcast afternoon. It was the largest of the sacred islands, a rugged length of inhospitable mountains, sheer grey cliffs rising from the sea.

Instead of jungle, the island was covered with millions upon millions of seabirds. Clouds of them wheeled in the air, following each other, crafting overlapping circles and spirals beneath the grey sky. Every inch of cliff-face was pocked with their nests, the stone stained white beneath from countless seasons of their leavings spilling down. The birds screamed and called in a deafening throng, diving down into the sea after fish and turning their stubby, black-and-white heads sideways as they hovered in the wind or floated on the waves, observing the Farstride and its crew with curiosity.

Phoenix knew the waters well and kept them on course. From that point, the archipelago began in earnest, with dozens of small islands visible at any time, and apparently it would continue like that all the way to the coast.

The crew was pushed to the edge of madness by the overbearing humidity and the sudden torrential showers that dropped from sullen skies without warning and ceased just as quickly. The water that fell was warm and gave no relief from the heat. The crew had begun calling it ‘the bathwater of the gods’.

Thunder shook the heavens each afternoon and Leopold could not remember hearing anything so loud in his life. There was little lightning to accompany it, as if even the clouds could not help but rumble and complain about the heat, letting out their interrupted downpours to emphasise the matter. At least the rain did wash away the clammy sweat, and the crew smelled decidedly better—outdoors at least; beneath the decks the humidity was creating all sorts of unsavoury fragrances.

Men dripped with perspiration and most crew went shirtless as they saw to their duties. There was little point in wearing clothes, for they became drenched with sweat in moments—sweat that would not evaporate and likewise did nothing to cool one down.

****

Leopold was bored as usual. It had been a long time since he had bothered climbing amongst the sails. He had learnt everything there was to learn and could work the ropes better than most of the crew—if he wished to. With this heat, he certainly did not wish to exert himself and spent his time lying on his bed fanning himself and grumbling, praying that Samuel would not appear to set him to further meaningless chores.

About the only things that could rouse his interest enough to make him venture outside were when the thunder called (for he found its skybound rumbling fascinating), or when he thought he might have a chance of seeing the Koian women. They had proved especially evasive—at Lady Wind’s direct instructions so he had heard—and made only fleeting appearances on deck.

On this occasion, boredom proved to be the deciding factor and, stalking outside, Leopold peered disdainfully at the swollen grey sky above and set about finding someone for a bout of swordplay. He dreaded the weather, but he had come to dislike the monotony even more.

He finally found a man by the name of Ferl who, despite obviously despising practice with Leopold, put up with it without complaint, being the good Turian he was. Furthermore, Ferl allowed Leopold to get the better of him, which made him one of Leopold’s favourites.

They dispensed with drills at Leopold’s insistence and went straight to duelling, batting their practice weapons together loudly upon the main deck.

Leopold drew off his shirt and tossed it aside, his lean body glistening with sweat. The small crowd of onlookers cheered to see their Emperor getting the better of his partner, with poor Ferl pouring with perspiration in his hot uniform and looking decidedly uncomfortable. While Commander Riggadardian was indifferent about the crew working bare chested, he would absolutely not permit his officers to do the same.