The Child Prince (The Artifactor) (37 page)

Bel yelped as the parchment abruptly burst into flames and he dropped it, where it continued to burn on the hard stone floor. Within a moment, it curled into itself in a black, shriveled mess. Having fun, Sevana torched it again, burning even the ash away to a black smear.

Beaming at her, Bel sketched her a bow. “I thank you.”

“Anything else you need burned? No? Then let’s go, shall we, before we’re caught.”

They left early that morning, before the sun had properly risen, with a thick fog circling the mountain. After their late night adventures, Bellomi chose to curl up in a corner of the cloud skimmer and go right back to sleep. Sevana looked (unfairly) awake, so he didn’t worry about her navigating off course or falling asleep. In fact, she looked so perky that he suspected potions were somehow involved.

The air felt cold and misty, but under the cover of his blankets that didn’t bother him much. He fell asleep and slept soundly without stirring. When he finally did drag himself back into the waking world hours later, the sun was high up in the sky and burning brightly. A peek over the railing showed nothing but grassland as far as the eye could see, so they must be somewhere near the Sa Kao border. He shed the blankets, carefully folding them and putting them back into a cupboard before joining Sevana at the front.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” she greeted without turning her head.

“Good, err, afternoon.” He squinted up around the canopy at the sun. It hovered very close to the west horizon. “Was I really asleep for eight hours?”

“You needed it,” she responded with an unusual lack of sarcasm. “You’ve been sleeping on that bed too much. A few days of natural sleep without forced growth will do wonders for your body.”

That sounded…almost maternal, which just made it even odder coming from her mouth. But he’d noticed over the past few months of living with her that Sevana had gradually warmed up to him. She could be rude, sarcastic, and purposefully irritating, but if ever he needed help she was always the first to respond. Rather like a big sister, actually. For a woman that put up a show about preferring to be alone in her workroom, she possessed some very deep ties to people as well. In fact, it was a rare day that she wasn’t contacted by a friend or a family member.

Like everything else in the magical world, Sevana Warran could not be taken at face value. She had hidden layers to her and a deep, boundless nature that only a patient man could see. Bellomi smiled at the thought. It pleased him, for some reason, to know that she was not truly the hermit she portrayed.

“Your father isn’t really going to let you marry Hana, is he?”

Bellomi nearly fell over the railing. “W-w-what,” he spluttered. Where was this question coming from, so out of the blue?!

Sevana gave him an amused look, smug in her deduction. “Oh come now. Even a blind man wouldn’t have missed the exchange between you two yesterday. Especially after you strolled into the room hand in hand with Hana. You wouldn’t have done that unless you intended to take her back with you.”

Alright. Fine. Maybe he
had
been a little obvious about this. “To answer your question,” accusation? “as a matter of fact, he is.”

That, finally, caught her undivided attention. She rotated in the swivel chair so she could face him directly, brows quirked. “You don’t say. And how did you finagle that?”

“I didn’t have to. You do know, don’t you, that my family has a long history of marrying outside of our class?”

Her expression became sardonic. “I took the final exam on Windamere history and thereby have forgotten most of it. Remind me.”

“Oh, I could go back for several generations,” he assured her, fighting a smile. “I’ve had many great-grandmothers and grandfathers that were bankers, business owners, seamstresses, and even one that was a professional singer. There are only two requirements, really, for marrying into my family. One, you must be intelligent enough to keep up with the politics. Two, you have to have the social graces necessary to be a ruler. My mother was actually quite upset that Father dared to betroth me before I was of an age to voice an opinion in the matter. After all,
she
was a judge’s daughter.”

“Hooo.” Sevana’s mind whirled at high speeds behind her eyes. “So it has nothing to do with the betrothal agreement being a bad political maneuver on Aren’s part?”

“Well, it does a little,” Bellomi was forced to admit. “Although I blame that particular gaff on his advisors as well, as they’re supposed to help him catch mistakes like that. He does feel guilty about it. He also feels guilty about promising me to someone that I dislike. One of the understandings in our family is that we will do everything in our power to make this kingdom a thriving, happy place. But the reward that we have for doing so is being able to choose a partner that gives us personal happiness as well.”

“So your father really has no grounds to complain about Hana.”

“Not one,” Bellomi agreed with open satisfaction. “She meets the requirements perfectly.”

“Does she know all this?”

At that, he faltered. “Well…I plan to talk her into it. Soon.” Sevana started laughing outright. Scowling, he grumbled, “Cut me some slack, alright? I just barely got the woman to admit that she likes me!”

For some reason, that made her laugh even harder. Bellomi looked away in irritation. Why did he think, for even one second, that discussing this with Sevana would be a good idea? “To change the subject, where exactly is this Vash Village that we’re heading for?”

Sevana enjoyed her laugh and resumed navigating the skimmer before she leisurely responded, “It’s on the Kesly Islands, right before you properly enter the Dragon Sea.”

She’d said before that it was on the very southern tip of Sa Kao, and she’d apparently meant just that. Technically, the chain of small islands that ventured off the Kesly Islands belonged to Sa Kao. But no man alive would dare to truly claim a territory that had been occupied by dragons for centuries. Everyone understood that anything that was in the Dragon Sea belonged to the dragons. Period. “They’re brave people for living that close to dragons.”

“As I understand it, they’ve got a Deal worked out.” Sevana raised her wand and shot off a stream of clouds, giving the skimmer something to feed off of. “They can live and fish in peace without being disturbed as long as they stay out of the waters of the Dragon Sea. In return for staying in their territory, they will sometimes specially order and carry in goods that the dragons want.”

Bellomi blinked, more than astonished. Those were extremely generous terms, for a dragon. “How in the world did they manage to negotiate
that
?”

“I have no idea,” Sevana admitted with a shrug. “It’s been in place for generations, I know that much. Whoever brokered the deal must have been quite the negotiator.”

Understatement.
Vast
understatement. “Which is why you’re heading there? Because it’s a safe place for humans to stay?”

“Partially. Partially because I’ve been to the village several times before and I’m known there.”

Known there. Why would she be known in such a remote village…wait a minute… “By any chance, did you help the villagers procure some of those items the dragons wanted?”

“One of them was quite heavy. It was an absolute bear to transport.”

For a woman that had only been in business, really, for the past three years she certainly got around. “Do we have enough food on board to get us there?”

“We should.” Sevana indicated the compass and the windometer on the console in front of her. “We’re actually making excellent time and I don’t really have any plans to set down at night. Sa Kao…can be dangerous in parts.”

So said an Artifactor that could turn people to frogs. In her sleep. “Should we take turns navigating, then?”

Sevana quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you know
how
to navigate?”

“No,” he admitted with a charming smile. “But as we’ve previously discovered, you’re an amazing teacher.”

She rolled her eyes at that before waving him in closer. “I’ll set the wand to automatically produce a stream of clouds, I suppose. You’re certainly not going to be able to do that part of it. But sit here, good, and I’ll give you a crash course.”

In theory, navigation didn’t seem that complex. Sevana taught the basics within minutes. But it became more complex after he actually put that knowledge to practical use. He had to keep track of about three different navigational devices at the same time, all coordinated with the map in his hands. How Sevana could do this and still hold a conversation, he couldn’t imagine. Years of experience?

She kept tabs on him through the afternoon, offering corrections and advice here and there, but by nightfall, he’d gotten the hang of it. Sevana decided to take a quick nap and let him do a short solo flight. With the understanding (actually, it was more like dire threats) that he would wake her up instantly if he wasn’t sure of the direction, she curled up in a pile of blankets and went to sleep.

Bellomi guided the skimmer until midnight without mishap. Having earned conditional trust from the captain of the vessel, they continued a rotational schedule so that one would navigate and the other sleep, thereby cutting down their travel time by half. Instead of taking almost six days to reach Vash Village, it took a little over three. They arrived late in the afternoon, with the sun just starting to set on the horizon, turning the sky a multihued splash of pinks and blues and violets.

Sevana, not trusting him to land, took over navigating the skimmer into the village. Bellomi (just as thankful he didn’t have to worry about not crashing) instead watched over the railing as they approached. Vash Village didn’t quite look like the image he’d harbored in his head. It didn’t look like a tiny fishing village, but a thriving one that would rival Milby. In fact, it didn’t even set on the edge of the island’s coast as the other villages did, but resided a good mile inland. The whole of the village was constructed from very solid grey stone with brightly tiled roofs of every imaginable color, the streets paved with a mosaic of tile work that depicted different scenes, everything from fairytales to simple landscapes.

“This place is amazing. It’s like a piece of art.”

“Ah, that?” Sevana leaned forward in her chair, keeping a careful eye out as she maneuvered toward the outskirts of the village. “There’s a lot of artistic talent in the Vashs’. When they’re off-season, and not fishing or doing errands for the dragons, this is how they put their time to use. If you think the outside is impressive, wait until you see the
inside
.”

“If the village is this beautiful, why isn’t it more famous?” he objected.

“Simple. Lack of visitors.”

Ah. True. Very few people would venture this close to dragon territory without a life and death reason. He himself stood as a prime example to that.

People, of course, noticed the skimmer approaching and quite a few of them waved before heading over. Sevana must have a designated place to park as she didn’t hesitate or ask for directions before coming in to land on a flat area at the back of one of the larger buildings in the village. The meeting hall, perhaps? Regardless, she barely had the skimmer secured before the gate opened and people started climbing inside.

“Sevana!” a tall man with a thick white beard and skin as dark as obsidian boomed out. His mouth formed a slightly crooked smile with both his arms out in welcome. “You are welcome.”

“Vashti,” Sevana greeted and honestly seemed glad to see him, as she also extended both arms and clasped them with the other man’s. “I come without warning and thank you for the welcome.” The words sounded oddly formal as she said them.

“There is no warning between friends,” Vashti responded, also formally. Then he dropped his hands and swooped her up in a bear hug that made her squeak. “Now, little Sev, how are you doing?”

“Vashti, you lug, put me down!” she demanded breathlessly. Literally, as the hug had apparently squeezed the air out of her lungs.

Laughing, the big man dropped her. “You seem well.”

“I was until you tried to strangle me,” she complained. “And you, Vashbaen, don’t you
dare
do the same thing!”

Another man, shorter and rounder than Vashti, had been sneaking up from behind to apparently do just that. He looked a good two decades younger, putting him somewhere around forty or so. His eyes nearly disappeared from the force of his smile. “Sevana, we have not seen you all year! We missed you!”

“Pah!” with a snort, she turned and waved at Bellomi. “Vashti, Vashbaen, this is Bel. He is the reason we have come.”

Bel gave them a proper bow, not at all sure how to greet them in this culture. “Masters, I am glad to meet you.”

Vashbaen gave a nod back, but his eyes were scanning Bellomi from head to toe, obviously weighing him. To Vashti, he muttered, “He’s too young to be her lover, surely.”

“Sche,” Vashti hushed him. “At this point, young or old, we shouldn’t complain. Any man that would take her is a good man.”

“He’s my
client
,” Sevana informed them, arms crossed over her chest, toe tapping in an irritated rhythm. “He’s under a curse and we’re here to make a Deal with a dragon.”