The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (46 page)

His scrutiny led him to look at the sword on Toman's hip and wondered, "If he planned to trade, why does your husband have a sword?"

Leaning closer to the official, Xerese said in a quieter tone, "Though I would hardly wish to brag about my looks, wouldn't you carry a sword to protect your wife? He used to be a soldier, so my husband can look intimidating and make sailors who have been away from port too long think twice about trying anything."

"You could be in trouble with this many men just because of your beauty, but I would think any husband lucky enough to have such a pretty bride like you would want to protect you and probably brag about you too," he agreed. "Will you be staying in Marta long? Perhaps I could invite you to dinner while you are here?"

His eyes strayed to Toman, though the guard hadn't changed his stance at all in spite of the proposition. "The both of you, of course. You are correct. I think that you make a much better merchant, though your husband might influence some deals also."

Still smiling at him like she would a lesser lord at court as he sucked up to her to get to her mother or the king, Xerese replied, "We still have a little coin left to try and beg for another ride towards the west. I noticed there are other ships here, so we will probably start by asking first. Perhaps if there is no help for us, we could visit with you. Would your wife not mind added visitors?"

The man laughed and shook his head. "Oh, I am not married, but I can have my cook make something for us if you come. Just catch me at the harbormaster's offices before five and I can show you to my home."

His eyes lifted from her dark blue eyes towards the guard looming over them as they talked. He didn't give up on his attempt to bring her home, but looked nervously at her fake husband before nodding.

Seemingly satisfied for now, the man gathered up his soldiers after giving Nywal an official letter of acceptance to dock. The captain looked relieved, though his eyes still strayed to the red flags flying on the ships nearby.

Guided by Toman towards the door leading to the stairs to their room, Xerese let him lead her away from the deck. When they were away from listening ears, the big man said, "You managed to lie pretty convincingly. I would almost believe that you were a merchant's wife, the type of wife who actually runs the business for her husband while he is the face of the company."

"What do you mean, my husband?" the girl asked moving to press her hands against his stomach as she leaned close. "It is obvious that you would be too gruff to make a good businessman. Let your wife do what she can to influence your deals for you."

She felt him tense and noticed the solid muscle in surprise, but it was Toman who pulled back lifting her hands away by using her wrists. He was gentle but firm.

"You shouldn't, Xerie."

"Shouldn't what? We agreed that we would pretend to be a husband and wife. I am just being a good wife, aren't I?" she giggled and turned to pick up her bag. There were only her clothes and a flask for water left. They had eaten the last of the food in her pack a day before and there was only a little left in Toman's bag now also.

"You are being a tease. Even that official fell for it. You shouldn't flaunt yourself that way. It isn't very ladylike," he disciplined her with his disapproving tone.

Frowning at him, the girl replied, "These clothes don't fit well and you know it. Stop complaining. It got him to keep from asking you more questions. You can barely lie to sleep, let alone to make anyone believe you. If you don't at least pretend that you like me, no one is going to believe that we are husband and wife."

Pulling back in surprise, Toman countered, "I like you."

Rolling her eyes at him, the girl moved closer pretending to seduce him as she placed her right hand on his chest letting her fingers creep up slowly. Her left pressed against his stomach between them again and she cooed, "But you don't act like it, at least not in the way a husband should with his wife. If you were sleeping with me, I think that you would look at me a bit differently."

"My-my lady," he stammered looking worried.

Pushing back, Xerese smiled as she looked up at him. She retreated towards the bag sitting on her bunk. "Xerie, you need to call me Xerie. If you keep acting like you are my guard and calling me that, no one will believe us. You and I both know that is likely to be more trouble than if everyone believes that we are married."

She paused and looked at her hand before chuckling. "He never thought to ask why we don't have rings."

"Some countries don't use them as a symbol," Toman replied as he slowly eased his posture. The guard took her bag after picking up his also. "A husband should probably offer to carry his wife's bag, I suppose."

Xerese grinned as she laughed. "Now you are getting it."

Chapter 25- A Question of Immortality

Annalicia touched her forehead with her hand wishing the ache would go away. After leaving Gerid's island a week early, they had kept an eye on the compass in her cousin's possession. They had half expected the Dark One to try attacking the island again, but that had never happened. It was at least part of why the immortal had originally told them he needed a month of preparation before leaving his home of over one hundred seventy-five years.

The compass had been used to track the aura associated with items that Gerid had used for a time. It had, of course, eventually brought them to the island with the man on it as well.

Now Darterian used it as it had originally been created, finding portals.

He had discovered the remnants of another portal as they left the unmapped island. The signal was to the west and, in an attempt to protect the Grimnal's people, Darterian and Sebastian carefully observed its relation to their position. When it became obvious that it wasn't on one of the allied island nations, the Sea Dragon led its new companion, the Carnivore, to a massive island raised from the sea during the Cataclysm.

Litsarin was a landmass perhaps a little larger than Malaiy in size, but it had been settled by a relatively small population during the last two centuries. The western side had been claimed by the nation of Sileoth, itself broken from the mainland to become a massive island with a large population. Sileoth needed more land for its growing population.

While the western side being reclaimed by Sileoth's wizards made sense, the east had a handful of towns that had been well established as well. Though there were other smaller island nations nearby, most of the towns didn't seem to be expansions of those. It led to many questions among Sebastian and his wizards.

Banosh was the first town they had visited. There was an old portal lingering just outside of Banosh. While Sebastian and Darterian led a small contingent through the town to close the gate permanently, Annalicia had taken Reynolvan and Captain Delfren along to the local mayor. Using some of the remaining items stored for trade in their hold as an excuse it was the job of the young royal to try and find out if there was any other remaining traces of the Dark One or his people.

The old gate was likely a bridge between the Dark One's capitol and Litsarin, but it was old enough that they didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Anna spoke with the mayor and was ready to throttle him with her bare hands by the time their brief meeting ended. She offered a contract between her father's company on the behalf of Malaiy and Banosh. She had sailors carrying pearls and the popular perfumes created in her country to show the man, but he didn't seem to care.

Trying other options to open the door, even slightly, continued to meet repeated refusals, until the lady gave up and left.

It had been so frustrating that Annalicia had made the mistake of drinking a mug or two of the local ale. Being petite, the girl should have stopped with just a few sips of the alcoholic drink; but her frustration and the extra time waiting to meet with Sebastian had led to more sips. Anna didn't even truly remember the second mug being switched with the old, but by the time Sebastian returned she was likely already a bit drunk.

She remembered slapping Reynolvan when he disrespected Sebastian. Her relationship with the young mage and his companions was stronger than the one between the lady and the wizards from her country now. They were all older and had been so overprotective as to be stifling. She couldn't even remember exactly what Reynolvan had said that had made her slap him.

Blushing at the thought, the wizard held a small bottle in her hand as she knocked on the door located below deck. A man's voice called out sounding a bit groggy before the door opened.

"My lady?" Liam asked as his face went from looking miserable to surprise. "What brings you here? I mean, is there something that I can do for you?"

The light wasn't great below decks, but the girl thought he looked pretty green. Liam and Collin had both been suffering from seasickness from the first day. Even after two months of sailing off and on, the two men were nearly almost always in their rooms suffering while at sea.

"I was looking through my things and found something that might help you actually... and Collin too," Anna amended quickly. Though she had tried to keep a bit of a barrier between this wizard and herself, the girl had liked him for quite awhile. Their connection had strengthened uncomfortably when she had worked to save his life from the curse of the plants on that island, but Liam was rarely around her until the Sea Dragon remained docked waiting for Gerid.

Lifting the bottle, she shook it with a smile on her lips and said, "Yara has tried giving you seasickness pills made by the healers in Hala, but nothing has made you two any better. My cousin Xerese was seasick a lot too, but these pills helped a bit. Maybe they will work better for you two."

His eyes looked at the bottle hopefully before returning to her almond shaped green eyes. "Well, I would try just about anything for a respite from this awful stomach of mine. I bet Collin would say the same thing, but at least he has Nara to nurse him."

He chuckled at the thought. Collin and Nara were one of the couples formed within the group that were obvious to see, though the two seemed to think that they had hidden their romantic longings for each other well. Strangely the two had only seemed able to confuse each other initially. Sebastian and Yara had tried to hide their relationship as well, but the two were so inseparable that they were no less obvious. Unlike the wizard couple, however, the mage and his healer only tried to hide their love from people like the wizard Maura, who could make Yara's life miserable once they returned home.

"You don't have a girlfriend, Liam?" she asked curiously.

"Not really, though I met one of my sister's friends at the tournament. If we weren't wizards, maybe she would have been the one," the taller man said in a tone that Annalicia thought could be called wistful. He was nearly a foot taller than the girl, so it was hard for her to see his eyes look towards the ceiling above her.

"What does being a wizard have to do with it? By the way, can I come in? I can give you the pills if you have some water inside."

The first question wasn't that dangerous to ask, the second made her blush slightly. If Reynolvan or one of the other wizards had caught her, they would have been appalled even if her reasoning was innocent.

"Um, sure, come in. There's a canister in the sling by the bed. Sebastian came up with the thing so there would be water nearby without having to worry about it falling off of a table or something."

He backed away and sat looking exhausted on his bed, a lower bunk which was one of two in the room he shared. His roommate was likely on deck or at dinner. She was pretty sure that he shared the room with one of the battle mages.

Feeling more like a servant than a healer as she found the canister and poured some of the water into a glass held in a box locked to the wall, Annalicia brought him the glass and offered two of the pills to the wizard.

He took the glass from her hand, and quickly tossed the pills into his mouth. As the man washed down the tablets, Annalicia used her magic to strengthen the light coming from the lantern in its bracket on the wall. Turning back to the wizard, the girl released the catch holding one of the chairs to a table built into the wall.

As she sat, Annalicia crossed her legs as the ladies were taught to do. Her hands settled on her top knee and the girl noted the edge of her hem held in place by her fingers. The skirt was only to her knees, a comfortable length on warm days, but such short skirts weren't considered ladylike in the royal court. Her blouse was sleeveless and too short to full cover her stomach above the top of her skirt, though seated it settled very close to the darker blue cloth circling her waist.

His eyebrows raised slightly in question.

"I thought that I would wait a little while with you. You know, just to make sure if it works for you. Xerese never fully felt that they did enough. She wasn't as ill as you and Collin have been, but my cousin complained... often."

He chuckled. "If it only lessens the feeling, I will make sure to thank you again. Your cousin should have tried the voyage without them. I bet she would have appreciated them more once she discovered how bad it could really be."

"I am a bit surprised that Yara couldn't do more to help you," she confessed. "She is a healer after all and Sebastian has that magic also."