The Emerald Storm (25 page)

“I wasn’t threatening you, I was—”

He cut her off. “I’m joking, milady.”

Amilia scowled then pulled a parchment off her desk, crumpled it into a ball and threw it at him. “Honestly, I don’t know why I hired you.”

“Clearly not for my comedic sense.”

Amilia gathered a pile of parchments, a quill, and bottle of ink and headed for the door. “I’m going to be working from Modina’s room today. If you need me look for me there.”

“Of course,” he said as she left the room.

Not far down the hall, Amilia saw Anne walking buy with a tray of food. “Anne!” she called, rushing toward her. “I told you to stay with the empress!”

“Yes, milady but…”

“But what?”

“The empress asked me to fetch her breakfast.”

A cold chill shot up Amilia’s spine. The empress
told
her. “Has the empress ever spoken to you before?”

Anne shook her head on the verge of tears. “No, milady, I was very honored. She even knew my name!”

Amilia dropped what she was holding and raced for the stairs. On any other day, she would not risk attracting attention by running through the halls, but today she did not care. The need to reach Modina was overwhelming. The closer she got, the more Amilia’s heart pounded in fear for what she would find. Nimbus was right; perhaps more than he knew. Modina was not stupid, and her mind filled with the many terrible possibilities. Reaching the door, she pushed Gerald aside and burst into the empress’s room. She steeled herself but what she saw was beyond her wildest imaginings.

Modina and Ella sat together on the empress’s bed, hand-in-hand chatting.

Amilia stood shocked. Both glanced up as she entered. Ella’s face was fearful, but Modina’s expression was calm as usual, as if expecting her.

“Ella?” Amilia exclaimed. “What are you doing—”

“Gerald,” Modina interrupted, “from now on, no one, and I mean
no one
, is to enter without my say so. Understood?”

“Of course, Your Eminence.” Gerald looked down guiltily.

Modina waved her hand. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t tell you. Now please close the door.”

Hbowed and drew the door shut.

Amilia meanwhile stood silent, her mouth agape, but no words came out.

“Sit down before you fall down, Amilia. I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Arista, the Princess of Melengar.”

Amilia tried to make sense out of the senselessness. “No, Modina, this is Ella—a scullery maid. What’s going on?” Amilia asked desperately. “I thought—I thought you might be—” her eyes went to the broken pitcher and shards of mirrored glass scattered across the corner of the room.

“I know what you thought.” The empress said looking toward the window. “That’s another reason you should be welcoming Arista. If I hadn’t seen her in the courtyard and realized—well—anyway, I want you two to be friends.”

Amilia’s mind was still whirling. Modina appeared more lucid than ever and yet she made no sense. Maybe she only sounded rational. Maybe the empress had cracked altogether. At any moment, she might introduce Red the wolfhound from the kitchen as the Ambassador of Lanksteer.

“Modina, I know you think this girl is a princess, but just a week ago you also thought you were dead and buried remember?”

“Are you saying you think I’m crazy?”

“No, no, I just…”

“Lady Amilia,” Ella spoke for the first time, “my name is Arista Essendon, and I
am
the Princess of Melengar. Your empress isn’t crazy. She and I are old friends.”

Amilia stood staring at the two of them, confused. Were they both insane? How could—oh sweet Maribor! It’s her! The long fingernails, the way she met Amilia’s stare, the bold inquiries about the empress. Ella was the Witch of Melengar! “Get away from her,” Amilia yelled.

“Amilia, calm down.”

“She’s been posing as a maid to get to you.”

“Arista’s not here to harm me. You’re not, are you?” she asked Ella, who shook her head. “There, you see. Now come here and join us. We have much to do.”

“Thrace,” Ella spoke, looking nervously at Modina but the empress raised a hand to stop her.

“The both of you need to trust me,” Modina said.

Amilia shook her head. “But how can I? Why should I? This—this woman—”

“Because,” the empress interrupted, “we have to help Arista.”

Amilia would have laughed at the absurdity if Modina did not look so serious. In all the time she took care of her, Amilia never saw her so focused, so clear-eyed. She felt out of her element. The hazy Modina was gone, but she was still speaking nonsense. She had to make her understand, for her own good. “Modina, guards are looking for this woman. They’ve been combing the city for days.”

“That’s why she is going to stay here. It’s the safest place. Not even the regents will look for her in my bedroom. And it will make helping her that much easier.”

“Help her? Help her with what?” Amilia was nearly at the end of her own sanity just trying to follow this absurd conversation.

“We’re going to help her find Degan Gaunt, the true Heir of Novron.”

The port of Dagastan surprised first time visitors from Avryn, who
thought of everywhere else was less civilized or cultured. Calis was generally held, by those who had never been there, to be a crude, ramshackle collection of tribal bands living in mud or wooden huts within a dense and mysterious jungle. It shocked most when they first laid eyes on the massive domes and elegant spires rising along the coast. The city was astonishingly large and well developed. Stone and gray brick buildings sat densely packed on a graduated hillside rising from the elegant harbor that put Aquesta’s wooden docks to shame. Here, four long carved stone piers stretched into the bay, along which stately towers rose at regular intervals, facilitating the needs of the bustling trade center. Masts of more thampress iundred ships lined the harbor, nearly all of them exotic merchant vessels.

Hadrian remembered the city the moment it came into view. The heat of the ancient stones, the spice-scented streets, the exotic women—all memories of an impetuous youth that he preferred to forget. He had left the east behind without regret and it was not without reservations that he found himself returning.

No bells rang in the towers along the harbor as they entered, no alarm signaled as the blood red sails of their Dacca-built tartane entered port. Merely a pilot boat issued out and hailed them at their approach.

“En dil dual lon duclim?” the pilot called to them.

“I can’t understand you,” Wesley replied.

“Vaat ez dee name of your vessel? And dee name of dee captain?” the pilot repeated.

“Oh, ah—it doesn’t have a name I’m afraid, but my name is Wesley Belstrad.”

The pilot jotted something on a hand held tablet frowning. “Vere ez you outing from?”

“We are the remaining crew of the
Emerald Storm
, Her Imperial Majesty’s vessel out from the capital city of Aquesta.”

“Vaat ez your bidness ’ere and ’ow long staying vill you be?”

“We are making a delivery. I am not certain how long it will take.”

The pilot finished asking questions and indicated they should follow him to a berth. Another official was waiting on the dock and asked Wesley to sign several forms before allowing anyone to set foot on land.

“According to Seward’s orders we are to contact a Mister Dilladrum. I will go ashore and try to locate him,” Wesley announced. “Mister Deminthal you and Seaman Staul will accompany me. Hadrian you will be in charge here until my return. See to it that the stores are secured and the ship buttoned down.”

“Aye, sir.” Hadrian saluted and the three disembarked and disappeared into the maze of streets.

“Wonderful luck we’ve had in picking up survivors, eh?” Hadrian mentioned to Royce as he met his partner on the raised aft deck of the ship.

The others remained at the waist or the bow, staring in fascination at the port around them. There was a lot to take in. Unusual sounds drifted from the urban landscape. The jangle of bells, the ringing of a gong, shouts of merchants in a strange musical language, and above it all the haunting voice of a man singing in the distance.

Dockworkers moved cargo to and from ships. Most were dressed in robes of vertical stripes, their skin a tawny brown, their faces bearded. Bolts of shimmering silks and sheer cloth waited to be loaded, as did urns of incense and pots of fragrant oil whose scents drifted on the harbor breeze. The stone masonry of the buildings was impressive. Impressive designs of flowers and geometric shapes adorned nearly all the constructions. Domes were the most prolific of the architectural styles, some inlaid in gold, others in silver, or colorful tiles. The larger buildings displayed multiple domes, all featuring a central spire pointing skyward.

It was the first time in three days they had the opportunity to speak alone. “I thought you showed great restraint and was impressed with your diplomatic solution to our little civil war,” Hadrian told Royce.

“I’m just watching your back, like Gwen asked.” Royce took a seat on a thick pile of netted ropes.

“It was a stroke of brilliance appointing Wesley,” Hadrian remarked. “I wish I had thought of it. I like that boy. Did you see the way he picked Staul and Wyatt to go with him? Wyatt knows the docks and Staul knows the language and possibly the city. Perfectly sensible choices, but they’re also the two who would make the most trouble out of his sight. He’s a lot more like his brother than he thinks. It’s a shame they were born in Chadwick. Ballentyne doesn’t deserve them.”

“It’s not looking good, you know that, right?” Royce asked. “What with the weapons and Merrick’s payment going down with the
Storm
and everyone in charge now dead, I don’t see where we go from here.”

Hadrian took a seat on the railing beside Royce. Water lapped against the wooden hull of the tartane and seagulls cried overhead.

“But we still have Merrick’s orders and that letter. What did it say?”

“I didn’t read it.”

“Weren’t you the one who called me stupid because—”

“I never had a chance. Wyatt grabbed the orders first, and then there was this little incident with a burning ship and lots of swimming. Now Wesley has them and he’s hardly slept. I’ve not had an opportunity.”

“Then we’ll have to stick to that letter until you either get a chance to take a peek or we solve this riddle. I mean, what is the empire doing sending weapons to Calis when they need them to fight the Nationalists?”

“Maybe bribing Calis to join the fight on their side?”

Hadrian shook his head. “Rhenydd could beat Calis in a war all by itself. There’s no organization down here, no central authority, just a bunch of competing warlords. The whole place is corrupt and they constantly fight each other. There is no way Merrick could convince enough leaders to go fight for the New Empire—most of these warlords have never even heard of Avryn. And what’s with the elves? What were they doing with them?”

“I have to admit, I’d like to know that myself,” Royce said.

Hadrian’s glance followed Thranic as he came topside and laid among the excess canvas at the bow, his hood pulled down to block the light, his arms folded across his chest. He almost looked like a corpse in need of a coffin.

Hadrian gestured toward the sentinel. “So, what’s going on between you and Thranic anyway? He appears to
really
hate you—even more than most people.”

Royce did not look in his direction. He sat nonchalantly, pretending to ignore the world as if they were the only two aboard. “Funny thing that. I never met him, never heard of him until this voyage, and yet I know him rather well, and he knows me.”

“Thank you, Mister Esrahaddon. Can you provide me with perhaps a more cryptic answer?”

Royce smiled. “I see why he does it now. It’s rather fun. I’m also surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Figured what out?”

“Our boy Thranic has a nasty little secret. It’s what makes him so unpleasant and at the same time so dangerous. He would have killed Wyatt, might even given you a surprise or two. With Staul added to the mix, and Defoe slinking about, it wasn’t a battle I felt confident in winning, even if I didn’t have Gwen’s voice echoing in my head.”

“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

“What would be the fun in that? This will give you something to do. You can try to guess, and I can amuse myself by insulting your intelligence. I wouldn’t take too long though. Thranic is going to die soon.”

Wesley returned and trotted up the gangway to address them. “I want volunteers to accompany me, Sentinel Thranic, Mister Bulard, Doctor Levy, and Seaman Staul inland. We will be traveling deep into the Calian jungles. The journey will not be without significant risks so I won’t order anyone to follow me who doesn’t want to go. Those who choose to stay behind can remain with the ship and upon my return, we will sail for home where you will receive your pay.”

“Where in the jungle are you headed, Mister Wesley?” Banner asked.

“I must deliver a letter to Erandabon Gile, who I am informed is a warlord of some note in these parts. I have met with Mister Dilladrum, who has been awaiting our arrival and has a caravan prepared and ready to escort us. Gile’s fortress, however, is deep in the jungles and contact with the Ba Ran Ghazel is likely. Now, who is with me?”

Hadrian, who was one of the first to raise his hand, found it strange he was among the majority. Wyatt and Poe didsurprise him but even Jacob and Grady joined in after seeing the others. Only Greig and Banner abstained.

“I see,” Wesley said with a note of surprise as well. “All right then, Banner, I’ll leave you in charge of the ship.

“What are we to do while yer gone, sir?” Banner asked.

“Nothing,” he told them. “Just stay with the ship and out of the city. Don’t cause any trouble.”

Banner smiled gleefully at Greig. “So, we can just sleep all day if we want?”

“I don’t care what you do as long as you protect the ship and don’t embarrass the empire.”

Both of them could hardly contain their delight. “I’ll bet the rest ’o you are wishing you hadn’t raised your hands now.”