Call Of The Flame (Book 1) (10 page)

“We could step out to my carriage and discuss the
specifics.”  His voice almost echoed in Kyric’s mind, becoming hypnotic.  Break
the spell, he shouted to himself. 
Move
!

He found that he could bow.  Bowing deeply he broke the lock
that Morae’s stare had held.

“Another time, perhaps?” he said, finally able to breathe
again.  “I’m still unsure of my future.”

“Very well,” Morae said patiently, “another time.”

When Kyric looked up Morae was gone.  Aiyan faced him from
the other side of the tent, holding his locket in one hand.  He waved Kyric
over to his side.

“What did he do to you?”

“It was like the last time I looked at him, only not as
strong.  Kyric took a deep breath.  “He actually tried to recruit me into his
service.”  He felt sweat on his brow and reached for his handkerchief.  “I need
to stay away from him.”

“I’m surprised he’s exposing himself like this,” Aiyan
said.  “They usually stay far in the background as possible.  He must have had
compelling words for Princess Aerlyn.  She looks upset now, and Senator Ulium
isn’t making it any better.  Come along and watch my back while I speak with
her.”

Aiyan stopped a respectful distance from the princess and
waited for her nod, which she gave immediately.  As they approached Kyric could
hear Senator Ulium saying, “ — did not vote, the deadlock would give them a
fortnight to reconsider their greed.”  Ulium was old and lined and his skinny
arms flailed a bit when he spoke.

“And if they did not change their position?” she asked him.

“Then I and my faction will oppose them with all our influence.”

She looked to the military man, a navy captain Kyric
thought, then back to Ulium.  “Thank you, gentlemen.  We will speak again
tomorrow.”

Aiyan approached her as the other men turned away.  “Your
Highness.  You have met my squire, Kyric.”  Not knowing what to do, Kyric
bowed.

“I thought that knights with squires went out of style with
the joust,” Aerlyn said playfully.  “Do you polish his armor and curry his
horse, squire Kyric?”

He hadn’t expected her to address him, but after speaking to
Morae a princess wasn’t so frightening.  “I only follow him around out of
curiosity.  He must do his own chores.”

She laughed politely at the counter-play, and Aiyan chuckled
a little, just the right amount before continuing.  “I must compliment the
Princess.  The reception is lovely.”

She smiled somewhat sadly.  “You need not speak to me that
way.  I am a princess in name only.”

Aiyan acknowledged her with a curt bow of his head.  “I’ve
watched the politicians court you this evening.  They don’t do that with those
who are powerless.”

“For one brief moment I have a say in a government decision,
nothing more.”

“The Senate is deadlocked,” Aiyan said as if discussing the
weather, “and you have the power to break it.  Because the issue concerns more
wealth than can be counted, each faction pushes you to side with them using as
much fright as can be mustered.”

Aerlyn looked at him for a long moment.  “I see you keep up
with politics,” she said.  “The difference between the two sides has more to do
with method, timing and the division of spoils, than with what is right.  And
it is shaded by my own financial complications.  Lekon has offered me a share
in the company, if formed.  He has also offered to ruin my investments in the
cloth trade if I vote against him.  But my chief concern is what it will do to
my people.”

“A needless or unjust war is never good for any people,”
Aiyan said.

“I’ve been told that the Baskillian Empire would not go to
war over this, the alliance with Sevdin and the Syrolian states being the
deterrent.”

“Whoever said that is either misinformed or heavily invested
in war materials.”

Her eyes narrowed and Kyric could see calculation in them. 
“I am well aware that the four closest to Lekon own cannon foundries and
gunpowder factories.  But even Ulium says this, and he’s heavily invested in
peace.”

“Perhaps he has been blinded by the unbelievable wealth of
the spice trade.  It remains, however, that the Baskillian fleet is triple the
size of the alliance squadrons.”

Aerlyn stiffened a little.  “They have sailed against us
twice in the last century, and twice we have stopped them in the Straits of Terrula.”

“Princess, you are only repeating what your advisors have
told you.  What do you feel in your heart?”

She looked away.  “I feel threatened in a way I cannot
explain.”

Aiyan was silent for a moment.  The orchestra started a
waltz, and when Kyric glanced at the dance floor he nearly bit his lip.  Jela
was dancing with Stefin Vaust.

“What you feel are the secret forces at work here,” Aiyan
said to her.  “I need to tell you something of which I have no proof, Your
Highness, and I do not say this lightly.  Senator Lekon is but the puppet of
Kleon Morae.  And Morae is the agent of . . . a foreign power.  I cannot prove
this, but I swear it is true.”

Aerlyn stood wide-eyed in shock, but only for a moment.  “If
you have no proofs how do you know it?”

“I know it from the captain of Lekon’s trade galleon, the
one who has gone missing.  He possessed other proofs that are missing as well.”

“Do you think he was killed?”

Aiyan’s expression didn’t change.  “I’m sure of it.”

Aerlyn fanned herself lightly while she considered this.  “What
is your part in this, Sir Aiyan?  Who is your patron and who are your friends?”

“I have none, save those in the Order of the Flaming Blade.”

Aerlyn snapped her fan closed.  “Name one man in your order
that I know.  Name one aristocrat who can witness for you.”

“I cannot.”

“In which cities do you have chapterhouses?  Where do you
meet?”

“We have only one meeting place, the castle on Esaiya.”

“Esaiya . . . ”  She searched for the memory.  “Do you mean
Castle Island?  I thought that was an order of monks.”

“We circulate that story so we are left alone.  We are
warriors as much as any knight of old.”

“So why are you here telling me all this?”

“I have already said, Princess.  I am here to protect you
from them if you so wish it.  You have stood close to Morae.  What did you
feel?”

Aerlyn’s gaze turned dark.  “I felt that I stood at the edge
of a snake pit.  And I don’t — “ her voice caught and she had to swallow, “I
don’t like the way he looks at my son.”  She clutched her fan tightly with both
hands.  “I want to trust you, Sir Aiyan.  I — “

The lady in waiting that Kyric had seen with Eren and Kaelyn
had stopped in front of them.  She looked around with growing anxiety.

“Where are my children?” Aerlyn asked.

The lady began to panic.  “They said they were coming
directly here to stand with you.”

Kyric looked across the floor.  He couldn’t see the
children, but he noticed that Morae was waving Vaust over to him.

“Calm yourself,” said Aerlyn, “they’re probably hiding from
you.”  She gathered a handful of servants and sent them searching the length of
the floor.  A few minutes later they came back empty-handed.

Aerlyn turned back to the lady in waiting.  “Where did you
last see them?”

“We were looking at the birds.”

They all walked over to the birdcages together.  Peering
under the platform where the cages sat, Aiyan said, “There’s a tear in the tent
— they must have slipped out here.”

Morae watched from across the floor.  He whispered into
Vaust’s ear imperatively, and Vaust strode quickly to the entrance, breaking
into a trot as he went out.

Aiyan saw it.  To the princess he said, “Don’t worry.  I
will find them.”  To Kyric he said, “Come with me,” and he ran from the tent in
Vaust’s wake, running fast as a sprinter in his clumsy dress shoes.  Kyric
couldn’t run in them.  As soon as he was outside, he kicked them off and went
in pursuit of Aiyan.

Aiyan wove through the crowd at full speed, never so much as
brushing against anyone, adjusting his course to avoid obstacles before he
could even see them.  Kyric tried to keep up but soon collided with a juggler,
going down in a rain of wooden pins.  He was back up in an instant, but Aiyan
was already lost to him.

Wait
.  He didn’t have to chase Aiyan.  He knew where
the kids had gone.  Hauling the juggler to his feet with an apology he asked,
“Do you know where the pygmy elephant is kept?”

“Somewhere behind the big top,” the juggler answered shortly,
brushing himself off.  He pointed in the direction.

Kyric moved through the crowd as quickly as he could, coming
to the front of the darkened circus tent.  He circled around to the back side
to find what was once an open marketplace covered by a latticework roof.  Along
with rows of wooden crates lay rows of animal cages near the back flaps of the
tent, all in the glow of a dozen paper lamps suspended beneath the lattice. 
The smell of hay and manure lay thickly over the place.  He walked past bears,
lions — one must be Jazul’s Bruli — a chimpanzee, a pygmy rhino, and he turned
the corner to find Eren and Kaelyn in front of an elephant standing five feet
high.

He grinned with a little triumph saying, “Hi kids.  I
thought I would find you here.”

Eren frowned.  “You’re not supposed to call us kids.”

Kaelyn jumped up and down.  “Come look at the pygmy elephant,
Kyric.”

He walked over and squatted beside her.

“It’s not a baby,” she said.  “He’s full grown.”

“They live in the far south of Terrula,” Eren said, “where
it’s always warm.  What happened to your shoes?”

Kyric’s grin widened.  “They weren’t very comfortable.”

“My feet are tired,” Kaelyn said.  “May I take my shoes off
too?”

Kyric stood up.  “How about if I carry you back to the party
where you can sit down?”

She beamed at him.  “Okay.”

Suddenly Vaust stepped around the corner.  “There you are. 
Well, it seems we have found them.”

He sounded casual enough, but Kyric saw the sign of the
feral lie, the lie that bullies told so that they could get close enough to
hurt you.

“You can take the little girl, and I will accompany the prince,”
he said, taking two more steps.

Kyric stepped away from the children and crossed his arms
over his sash, letting his fingertips slide underneath, close to the pocket
pistols.

Vaust took one more step.  Kyric reached for a pistol at the
same time Vaust reached for his sword, but before Kyric could cock it, Vaust
leaped forward and lunged.  Kyric backpedaled, but too slowly, then Vaust’s
foot flew out from under him as he slipped on a bit of manure.  Kyric cocked
his pistol and aimed directly at Vaust’s head.  Anger came bubbling up like thick
black tar.

Vaust had recovered his balance at once and they now stood
only a few feet apart.  Kyric could see a thought passing behind Vaust’s eyes —
he was wondering if his sword arm was quicker than Kyric’s trigger finger. 
Then suddenly Aiyan was standing next to Vaust with the point of his sword
against his neck.

“Drop your sword or I will kill you this instant,” Aiyan
said softly.

Vaust did as he was told.  Aiyan seemed on the verge of
rage, and in the midst of decision.  He pressed the tip of his sword a bit
harder, and a trickle of blood ran down Vaust’s neck.  It was red blood.

“So many young ones join them willingly now,” Aiyan
whispered to himself.  He had said that the night they met.

“You can walk away,” Aiyan said, still whispering, “and know
that if it weren’t for those children standing there watching, you would
already be dead.”  He took his sword away from Vaust’s neck.  “But you may not
want to return to the party.  You’ve gotten blood on your collar.”

Vaust began walking away backward, looking at Aiyan.  He
paused for a moment and looked hard, as if seeing something he hadn’t seen
before.  For a moment Kyric thought Aiyan would change his mind and go at him
with the sword.  Instead he called to Vaust, “If I were you, I would go and
pray for redemption while I still could.  While my will was still my own.”

Vaust gave off a short bark of a laugh as he turned the
corner and was gone.

“We must return quickly,” Aiyan said.  “He’ll run straight
to Morae — and Morae could have followed us out for that matter.”  He sheathed
his sword quickly.  “What’s more, Vaust saw me.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was able sense my inner nature you might say.”

Aiyan took the pistol from Kyric and asked him to carry
Kaelyn.  He held it against his leg, still fully cocked, and grasped Eren by
the hand.  He led them through the cages and back around the circus tent and
into the fair.  Aiyan watched for danger in every parting of the crowd and
looked backward every few steps.

Princess Aerlyn stood outside the entryway waiting for
them.  She tried not to show any relief as she took her son’s hand from Aiyan,
but to Kyric it was plain.

Eren looked up at his mother.  “Sir Aiyan almost got into a
swordfight with the man who won the gold arrow.”

“Is that so?” Aerlyn said, looking at Aiyan.

“There would never have been a fight,” Aiyan said evenly. 
“Vaust tried to claim the honor of returning the children to you when it was
really Kyric who found them.  I simply told him that it was not to be.”

Aerlyn said nothing then, but held her head up and looked so
deeply into Aiyan that Kyric feared she would see all of his inner spirit laid
open.  The eye is a window and seeing passes each way.  Her spirit bloomed like
flowers in her eyes as she looked, and Aiyan breathed deeply of that fragrance.

“My knight errant,” she smiled.  “I believe custom states
that I must reward you with a token of my esteem.  Shall I give you a ribbon to
tie at the point of your lance?”

Aiyan smiled as well, but instead of counter-play he bowed
and answered her seriously.  “I ask only this:  One dance.”