Sourcethief (Book 3) (11 page)

Brannis poured himself a cup of the tea, finding it
similar in flavor to the Krangan brew that Kyrus was fond of. Soria declined.
She sat stiffly on the edge of her high-backed chair with hands folded in her
lap.

"You look puzzled," Brannis said.

"It's ... not what I expected." She looked
down at her own dress, recently purchased from a Takalish tailor. "I feel
overdressed." She switched to a whisper. "And I feel naked with
neither of us armed."

"Acardia is unlike other places. King Gorden is
loved because he rules Acardia well, not because he displays the kingdom's
wealth in his palace."

"I could not have put it better."

Brannis and Soria both turned—neither had heard
anyone approach. King Gorden stood in the doorway wearing a starched blue
housecoat bearing the royal crest. He was a shriveled man, gaunt of face and
limb—the look one gets when extreme age hollows the fat and muscle behind a
once-vigorous frame. His age had robbed him of neither his posture nor his
hair, which was pulled back and gathered in a white horsetail at his neck. He
gave Brannis an appraising look.

"Remarkable likeness," King Gorden
pronounced. "I should say that artist friend of yours had quite the
eye." The king addressed himself over his shoulder. Brannis tried to
follow his look out into the hall.

"Indeed, Your Majesty," a familiar voice
agreed. Brannis's face lit up. "If I might introduce Expert Kyrus
Hinterdale, my former apprentice." Davin Chartler stepped in behind King
Gorden, beaming to match Brannis's smile.

"Your Majesty, I ... well ..."

"It is quite all right, Expert Kyrus. Lord
Harwick is a dear friend of mine and has explained everything. The use of an
alias is—regrettably—prudent, but quite unnecessary here," the king said.
He stepped aside to allow Davin to pass. The portly older scribe ambled into the
room and crushed Brannis in a hug.

"My boy, my boy, I worried so! That nasty
business about witchcraft, rumors of pirates ..."

"Davin, I can only imagine what you must have
thought of me."

"That you had been caught up in some
unfortunate nonsense? That I fretted daily on your behalf? That I told anyone
who brought it up it was some dreadful misunderstanding? That about covers the
gamut."

"Davin, this is Soria. She is my ..."

"Betrothed," Soria said, filling in the
word for Brannis. "We've been telling folks we're already married."

"Charmed, my dear. I had once despaired of
Kyrus ever finding a good woman. It seems he just needed to be chased off for a
few months," Davin said with a wink.

King Gorden reached into a pocket in his housecoat,
retrieving a pocket-clock on a gold chain. He flipped the cover with a
practiced ease and glanced within.

"It would appear that our dinner should be
arriving at table presently. Mrs. Averstrom is a punctual woman, and she does
not take kindly to her stews cooling uneaten. Let us adjourn this reunion to
the dining room."

The short walk to dinner took them through more of
the pleasant—but modestly furnished—home of Acardia's monarch. Brannis had
spent so much time in the halls of the imperial palace in Kadris that he had a
difficult time even thinking of the building as a palace at all.

They sat down just as a plump, grey-haired woman was
setting out bowls of steaming stew from a tray. The king made no ceremony of
the meal, and his spoon took to the broth within moments of sitting down. As
Mrs. Averstrom poured the wine, the others followed suit. The stew was simple
but well-seasoned, tasting strongly of carrot and potato with bits of minced
pork; the wine was a local vintage from just outside Golis.

"So Kyrus, you must tell us all about your
adventures since you left Acardia," Davin said. "I imagine there are
tales to tell. You look hale and stronger than I have ever seen you—and you
brought back your future bride! Do enlighten us."

Brannis shifted in his seat. Lying to his old friend
felt underhanded, but the truth needed a bit of bending before it could be fit
into Kyrus's role.

"Well, much of what you have heard is probably
true, with the exception of extreme embellishment. I was tried for witchcraft,
though I assure you I am no witch," Brannis said, managing a smile.

"Grammatically speaking, you couldn't possibly
be," Davin agreed. "Witch is the feminine term."

"I was also kidnapped by pirates who believed
the rumors that I was. They thought to convince me to use my dark powers for their
own ends, and assumed I would do so out of gratitude for being saved. Of
course, I had neither the disposition nor the occult powers they sought."

"It must have been ghastly," Davin said.

"Well, aside from being surrounded by the a
class of men better suited to populating dungeons than running about free, I
cannot complain too loudly. Superstition put a bit of fear in them about what I
might do, so I was unharassed. I got to see Marker's Point—"

"Which is where we met," Soria
interrupted, smiling at him. He knew her well enough to recognize her signal.
She wanted to divert his narrative.
Good. I was unsure how to work you into
the story anyway.
"He looked so out of place there. It was comical.
Kheshi and Feru are most commonly spoken there, and Kyrus did not know where to
find fellow Acardians."

"I found the prettiest translator you could
imagine," Brannis said, picking up the thread where her story seemed to be
leading.

"I got rid of her though, and took the job
myself," Soria said, drawing chuckles from even King Gorden. It faded in
and out of his notice, so accustomed he was growing to her accent, but she was
not trying to hide her Kheshi drawl.

"So you parted ways in Marker's Point,
then?" the king asked.

"No, Your Majesty. The pirates still had thoughts
of making use of me, and took me with them when they set sail. I was not yet of
a mind to cross them, either by hiding or defying them, but that meant I had no
time to say goodbye to Soria."'

"I searched for him and finally realized that
he must have been taken by Captain Zayne once more," Soria said.
How do
I believe a thing this girl says? She has me believing her, and I know what
truly happened.
"So I waited for Zayne's ship to return, since
Marker's Point is a friendly port for pirates. I figured it had to return—and
return it did—but no sign of Kyrus."

"Gracious, Kyrus, where had you gotten off
to?" Davin asked.

"Well, it was on that leg of my journey that
Captain Zayne and his men finally decided I was not the witch they had hoped
for. They were superstitious enough to maroon me at least, instead of just
throwing me in the Katamic."

"Sounds like the beginning of an entertaining
memoir. Perhaps you should write your own story, Expert Kyrus, rather than
copying those of others," King Gorden suggested with a nod.

"Where did they leave you?" Davin asked.

"An island in a tiny tropical chain, two days'
sailing past hopelessly lost," Brannis said. "The natives and the
pirates referred to it as Denku Appa, but I have yet to see it listed on any
map."

"How did you get back?"

"I went looking for him," Soria said,
smiling in Brannis's direction. "I had the means to hire a ship, and to
buy the location of Kyrus's island from one of the pirate's crewmen."

"Well Kyrus, it looks as if you were caught,
more than you did any catching with Miss Soria," Davin remarked.

"You have no idea ..."

The conversation wound its way through less
dangerous topics from there, and Brannis only had to keep answering from
Kyrus's memories to construct a plausible story. Not having to impersonate both
Kyrus and Erund was a welcome relief.

Soria had clearly charmed Davin, and King Gorden,
though more reserved, seemed to find her pleasant as well. To Brannis's
surprise, the meal was no more than fresh bread and as much stew as he liked.
The king's tastes were simple, and his guests partook similarly.

"Expert Davin, if you would be so kind as to
show Miss Soria about the palace, I would like to speak to Expert Hinterdale in
private.”

Both Davin and Soria seemed surprised by the turn of
events. Brannis was as well, but with different reason.
I wonder just how
much Lord Harwick said in his letters.
As Davin escorted Soria from the
dining room, she gave an inquiring look over her shoulder, to which Brannis
nodded in reassurance.

The king stood from his seat at the head of the
table, and reseated himself across from Brannis. He brought his wine glass with
him; it had recently been refilled by Mrs. Avertrom whom he gave leave to
retire for the evening.

"So, your curiosity must be a swarm of bees within
your head by now," King Gorden said. He looked Brannis dead on. Brannis
felt like the king was waiting for him to give away some secret in his eyes.

"Flock of songbirds perhaps, Your
Majesty," Brannis replied.

"Your friend Davin is an excellent scribe. His
work is exemplary, his wit is sharp. He was only ever intended to be a
temporary stand-in however."

"Oh?" Brannis tried to gain ground on the
king, to see where he was going before he got there. It was not the direction
his thoughts had first run when Davin and Soria were sent away.

"Yes, I had wanted you to take over as my
personal scribe," King Gorden said. Brannis realized his mouth had opened
without issuing a sound. "I had to separate the two of you, of course, so
you could build the prestige necessary to keep me from seeming the senile old
monarch for appointing you."

"Thank you, your majesty. If I might ask, what
did I do to gain your interest?"

"It was on the advice of my former scribe,
Expert Oriedel Conniton. He was the one who said I should seek to employ
you."

"But why?"Brannis asked.

"Possibly because you have the audacity to
question a king?" King Gorden said. A wry smile graced the old monarch's
face as Brannis felt himself flush. "It is a quality that few enough have,
even in this age of the people. Prince Jathan realizes that he will never rule
as my heir—he’ll become just a lord with a fancier title. Still, too many
people treat me as if I had some special wisdom, some power that made my
thoughts worthy of carrying the power of law."

"But sire, you are wise. Everyone is agreed.
Even people in foreign lands speak well of you."

"If people realized what 'wise' meant, they
would throw it about with less abandon. I am merely prudent and cautious. I am
a diplomat at heart. That is what folk confuse with wisdom."

"Diplomacy requires wisdom," Brannis
argued.
Well, not Rashan's sort.

"Wisdom aids, yes, but diplomacy is the art of
mixing lies and truth to best advantage. When lies result in peace and open
trade, few worry over them. You would make a good diplomat yourself, though not
nearly the diplomat that Miss Soria would be."

"Oh, I would caution against making her an
ambassador. She has quite a temper, and I doubt she would keep it in check long
if she knows she is being lied ... to ..." Brannis trailed off, realizing
the implication of the king's comment about his diplomatic skills.
What does
he know?

"Lord Harwick has told me a great deal,
including several things that you left out of your tale," King Gorden
said. He paused as if to give Brannis time to squirm.

"Well, brevity seemed more appropriate for
dinner conversation ..."

"Come now, Sir Brannis, I know more than
that," King Gorden said in awkward Kadrin.

"So you ... are ... So who else are you?"
Brannis asked, switching from Acardian to Kadrin, mid-sentence.

"Oh, no one, actually. I seem to have acquired
a number of advisors over the years who have acted in two worlds," King
Gorden said, reverting to his more fluent Acardian. "I had been hoping to
add another. I hear that you are rather well-connected in the other world, and
a native as well."

"You know about that?"

"Lord Harwick purports to keep little from me.
I know better of course, but of the other world there is little need to keep
secrets. You are not, in fact, Expert Kyrus Hinterdale, but came here through a
feat of mighty magic."

"So you wanted me for another twinborn
advisor?"

"Oh yes, that is the word I was searching for.
Lord Harwick seldom uses the term."

"Did Expert Oriedel know that I was twinborn
when he recommended me?"

"He claimed he had reason to suspect, but he
was not certain."

"What made him suspect? At the time Expert
Davin was summoned away to your service, I did not know myself."

"Well," King Gorden said, "you might
have to ask him yourself. I do not know. He left word with Expert Davin that
you ought to visit him, should you have the chance. Lord Harwick's name was
given as a second, in the event that you did not make your visit before his
demise."

"I think I shall do just that."