Fire of the Soul (9 page)

“Never say so.” Durand slowed his steady
pace. “Shall we consider that arrangement good fortune, or
bad?”

“Don’t stop here, and don’t look directly at
me,” Garit warned. “Three men just turned onto this street from a
side alley.” Even as he spoke, Garit could see the advice was
unnecessary.

The men coming toward them were talking among
themselves, gesturing and laughing as they discussed the charms of
a tavern wench in loud voices. Still, they could have been
dissembling. Garit and Durand fell silent until the three had
passed by and continued on to the docks.

“What do you know about your new stepfather?”
Durand asked when it was again relatively safe to speak.

“His name is Mallory and he joined Dyfrig’s
company while Dyfrig was still Prince of the Northern Border. To
all appearances, he is just one of the group of young nobles who
are making their fortunes as Dyfrig’s friends. And like others in
that group, he seems to have had no past before he reached the
Northern Border.”

“Interesting, but probably not significant
for us.” Durand took a step away from Garit, preparing to turn into
a cross street. “As you said, Dyfrig has a large group of similar
men gathered about him.”

“I would think little of the matter, too,
except for one small detail,” Garit said. “My grandmother is
concerned about my two half-brothers. I can’t discern any special
reason why, but she seems quite certain that they are in some
danger. She has even mentioned that I should apply to Dyfrig to be
made Lord of Kinath, which I most emphatically do not want.”

“Does Lady Elgida know something we don’t, or
is she depending on her female intuition?” Durand asked. “Or is she
possessed of the Power?”

“Not she. The only member of my family who
has any Power is my Aunt Adana.”

“Since we are sailing together,” Durand said,
slowing his pace, “I’ll talk with Lady Elgida and try to learn
anything she may know that she hasn’t told you. For my own
information, I’d like to know what Sir Mallory’s true purpose is
and whether he had anything to do with King Audemer’s death last
year, or with the recent unrest in Chandelar. We can’t allow
Chandelar and the Dominion to become partners. Such an alliance
would signal the end of Sapaudia as an independent country and,
soon after, the end of Morenia, too. I needn’t tell you what will
happen to Kantia then.”

“You’d best leave me now,” Garit said as they
reached the cross-street. “We’ll not meet again until we are aboard
ship. As we agreed in Calean, I told Captain Pyrsig that we’ve met
at court a few times, but are only slight acquaintances.”

Without another word, Durand moved into the
side street and Garit continued on his course, heading for the inn
where Anders awaited him. Garit, Durand, and Anders had laid their
plans before leaving Calean City, but all three were experienced
enough in secret missions to know that plans seldom unfolded as
intended. Accidents, alterations in the plans of other people, even
weather conditions could force revisions and lead to very different
outcomes from the original intentions.

As Garit had told Durand, they knew little
about Sir Mallory, except that he had appeared on the Northern
Border of Kantia out of nowhere and had quickly become an important
member of Dyfrig’s closest circle. Garit’s long years at the
Sapaudian court had taught him that ambitious men were drawn to
royal power as iron was drawn to a lodestone – and ambitious men
often left destruction in their wakes. He’d lost his one love
because of a man’s unscrupulous ambition. He’d have to take care
not to lose his grandmother or his half-brothers to a similar
character flaw.

Lady Elgida’s party left Saumar the day after
Garit departed. In the interval, Lady Elgida had chosen as her
temporary seneschal a middle-aged household knight who had been
with her for years. She then proceeded to lay so many instructions
and prohibitions on him that Calia pitied the poor man and was sure
he was grateful to bid farewell to the mistress of Saumar
Manor.

The man-at-arms whom Garit had sent met them
on the road and urged them to hasten, since
The Kantian
Queen
was due to sail as soon as Lady Elgida reached Port
Moren. The ship proved to be as large a vessel as Lady Elgida had
demanded. It was clean, its wooden deck scrubbed and polished until
it fairly shone, and the ropes were neatly coiled and ready to hand
when needed. Beyond the harbor the sea lay calm and dark blue.

Calia experienced an unanticipated lifting of
her heart at the sight of the ship and the water. She was delighted
with all she saw, and she’d have been eager to start the voyage, if
only they weren’t heading to Kinath and a meeting with Mallory.

Lady Elgida took Garit’s arm and they walked
together up the narrow, unrailed gangplank and onto the ship, the
elderly woman asking questions all the way. Calia followed
them.

The master of
The Kantian Queen
waited
at the head of the gangplank. Captain Pyrsig looked to Calia very
like a pirate with his suntanned face, his blue tunic, green hose,
and bright red boots. His curly red hair and untrimmed beard blew
wildly in the sea breeze, adding to the appearance of an outlaw of
the sea as she had imagined such a man to be from stories she had
heard as a girl. Unlike the pirates in those tales, Captain Pyrsig
wasn’t fearsome at all. In fact, the corners of his eyes crinkled
with good humor when he smiled.

“Welcome, my lady,” the captain said, bowing
over Lady Elgida’s hand, “I’m honored to have ye aboard. I envision
a smooth passage to Kantia.”

“I should hope so after what my grandson
tells me you are charging us for passage,” Lady Elgida snapped. “I
will expect our food to be decently cooked, too.”

When she turned away from him, Captain Pyrsig
grinned at Calia and then winked at her. Despite her serious
reservations about the voyage, it was all she could do not to burst
into laughter. Some previously unexamined corner of her soul
responded to the sense of freedom so cheerfully expressed by a man
who was unconstrained by any rules save his own. For just a moment
Calia tried to imagine how it would feel to be that free, until
Lady Elgida took Garit’s arm again and gestured to Calia to follow
them below. Then all the restrictions of her uncertain position
returned, enjoining her to bow her head meekly and obey.

“Your Captain Pyrsig is an unrepentant
scoundrel,” Lady Elgida said to Garit as they went down a wooden
ladder to a lower deck.

“He’s also a fine sailor,” Garit assured her.
“
The Kantian Queen
is so seaworthy that I’ve traveled on her
more times than I can count.”

“I see.” Lady Elgida sounded as if she was
considering more than the captain’s qualifications or his ship’s
seaworthiness. “I daresay he sails on the occasional secret mission
for the king.”

“Not at the moment,” Garit told her,
dismissing the possibility with a shrug. “Captain Pyrsig has agreed
to set us ashore on the beach just below Kinath Castle. Then he
will sail on to Kerun City to take on some cargo before returning
to the cliffs of Kinath. I told him we’ll leave from there when
we’ve completed our business in Kantia, because we have no idea
where King Dyfrig will be, or where Fenella and her husband are,
either. We can always change that plan, if necessary.”

“It’s entirely possible that the king will be
holding court at Kerun and that Belai and Kinen will be attending
the queen there,” Lady Elgida said. “We will just have to wait and
see.”

Calia, listening to them, could only hope and
trust that their luck would hold until they were safely gone from
Kantia and on their way home again. Until Garit was safe from
Mallory. But she didn’t think it likely that they’d all come away
unscathed. Her brief moments of pleasure on deck had ended
abruptly. Now she felt as if an invisible hand was clutching at her
heart, squeezing all hope of peace and contentment out of her.

She reminded herself again that she had
enjoyed two happy years with Lady Elgida. For an illegitimate girl
that was more than enough to ask of any lifetime. She owed her
benefactress complete devotion and she had to believe that Lady
Elgida would do nothing rash that would put Garit into
life-threatening danger.

And yet...Lady Elgida did not know Mallory.
Which meant that Calia was going to have to do whatever was needed
to protect both Garit and his grandmother. She did, after all, have
a pact with Garit that they had sealed very solidly with not one,
but two kisses.

“Our room is clean,” Mairne whispered to
Calia an hour after they all boarded
The Kantian Queen
. “I
didn’t expect that. But I do worry about Lady Elgida climbing up
and down the ladder to reach the deck, especially in rough
weather.”

“I heard you,” Lady Elgida informed her. “I
do assure you, Mairne, I am not so old that I can’t climb a short
ladder. If the sea turns rough, the captain will insist that we all
remain below, anyway, so we won’t be washed overboard. No captain
wants to lose a noble passenger. By the way, rooms on a ship are
properly referred to as cabins.”

“Yes, my lady. I will remember.”

Mairne spoke meekly enough, but Calia noticed
the sparkle in her dark eyes and understood that Mairne saw the
voyage as a great adventure as well as an opportunity to spend more
time with Anders. Mairne seemed to have no sense of danger.

Calia acknowledged a spurt of envy within her
own bosom before she pushed the feeling aside as unworthy, knowing
it had more to do with Mairne’s freedom to love where and whom she
chose than with the girl’s situation in life.

Shortly after the women were settled into
their cabin Lady Elgida decided that she wanted to rest for a
time.

“I’m sure you will find it very interesting
to watch the land slipping away,” she said to Calia and Mairne.
“You may go above to the deck. Wear your cloaks, for the sea winds
can be cold at this time of year. Be wary of the sailors. Take care
not to fall overboard.”

This last instruction was uttered in so dry a
tone that Calia looked sharply at Lady Elgida. The older woman was
shaking her head in unconcealed displeasure with Mairne, who had
already left the cabin they all were to share.

It was not a large room. Four bunks built two
and two, one above the other, against opposite walls with a narrow
walking space between, a small table bolted to the deck below a
single porthole, and a few hooks on the back of the door for
clothing were all the furnishings. The wicker hampers that held the
clothing they’d need during the trip, including their soap, towels,
and hairbrushes, were lashed at the foot of the bunks to keep them
in place. The remainder of their baggage was stored in the
hold.

Mairne had located the chamber pot in a
closed cabinet at the bottom of the table. A covered pitcher of
water sat in a basin atop the table, which had a raised railing
around its edges to prevent both clay vessels from sliding off with
the motion of the ship.

So far as Calia could tell the straw
mattresses were free of vermin, and Mairne had immediately spread
their own blankets and quilts on the bunks.

“Foolish girl,” Lady Elgida murmured, sitting
down on one of the bunks. “She’s left her cloak behind.”

“I’ll take it to her.” Calia fastened the
clasp of her own cloak before taking Mairne’s from the hook. “My
lady, are you sure you don’t want company?”

“We rose unusually early this morning, and I
am no longer used to riding for hours at a time,” Lady Elgida said.
“I intend to stretch out my bones in peace before the sea begins
tossing us about. Go on, Calia, go on deck, and do watch over
Mairne. She is much too taken with the surly charms of my
grandson’s squire. A heedless girl can ruin herself over a man
before she’s fairly out of childhood. I’m glad you are more
sensible.”

Lady Elgida had been unfastening her shoes as
she spoke and now she laid herself down on the bunk, stretching her
legs as she’d said she would, and closing her eyes.

Calia watched her for a few moments,
marveling that the elderly lady thought
she
was sensible.
But then, Lady Elgida hadn’t been nearby to see her companion alone
with Garit. She hadn’t been in the hall at Saumar Manor when Garit
kissed her.

“Leave,” Lady Elgida commanded without
opening her eyes. “I cannot sleep with you staring at me.”

“I beg your pardon, my lady.” Once again,
Calia obeyed.

As Calia came on deck she found
The
Kantian Queen
was almost ready to depart. After quickly handing
Mairne’s cloak to her, Calia found a spot from which she could
watch the neat, efficient methods of the sailors without
interfering with what they were doing. She observed the action
through the eyes of one who was unfamiliar with the ways of life
and work at sea and she found the sights and sounds so engrossing
that for a short time she forgot all of her forebodings over what
would happen after they reached Kantia.

A group of burly men on the dock unfastened
the ropes that had secured the ship to the land, then flung the
ropes to the sailors waiting on board. A few moments sufficed for
the sailors to coil the ropes in place on the deck, where they’d be
at hand when they were needed again. Meanwhile, on Captain Pyrsig’s
shouted order a small sail was unfurled to catch the wind and
slowly the ship began to move. After they were well away from the
dock more sails were added to the first and their speed
increased.

At that point Calia moved to a place by the
rail from where she could see what was happening on both ship and
land while at the same time keeping a watchful eye on Mairne, who
stood near the bow of the ship, laughing and talking with
Anders.