Her Reputation (The Empire: Book 1)

by Laura R Cole

CHAPTER 2

  Rhys removed himself from his position against the wall, his every muscle aching. He tugged at the fine clothes irritably and tried to see what the fuss was all about. When he finally pushed through the crowd, earning him several sour looks and a jab in his sore ribs, he caught sight of the other ship.

  He let out a low whistle under his breath. To the best of his knowledge, there was no other vessel like the one they were on, which meant that this one wasn’t from around here. There had been rumors of sailors exploring the waters beyond, building bigger and sturdier boats for the rougher travel. But so far, none had returned having discovered anything.

  Apparently, these people had sped along their abilities and beaten any of Elaeld’s sailors to it. As their yacht drew closer, Rhys eyed the jewel-encrusted hull of the newcomer’s ship greedily. He wondered who these people were that they could so carelessly put such wealth into decorating an exploration vessel.

  The figurehead was that of a woman, draped in real jewels, and holding a gigantic ruby out in front of her as she crashed through the waves. The trim of the ship was painted gold, and appeared to be scattered with more jewels as well, if the sparkling in the sunlight was any indication.

  Rhys perked up. Just a few of those stones could clear up my debt with Jak, he thought. And if they have so many that they can plaster them on ships, they’ll hardly miss them. He normally didn’t drool over wealth quite this much, but with Jak on his back it made it suddenly much more appealing. He’d made the decision to borrow money from Jak rather than draw out the process when he’d realized that his goal was time-sensitive, but the effects of that decision were rather painful. Rhys shifted his weight off his sore ankle.

  He watched with everyone else as Queen Layna motioned that they would approach the visitor’s vessel. Rhys tried to determine whether or not he could get to the other ship undetected long enough to steal a stone or two. Seeing as how everyone’s attention was currently trained on the boat, however, it didn’t seem likely that he would get away with it. He’d have to be patient.

  Their yacht drew up alongside the other ship, not too close, but close enough that the occupants of each could see one another. A large party of people stood on the deck of their boat, waiting expectantly. When the yacht slowed to a stop, the apparent leader of the party made a motion towards a rowboat, obviously asking permission to come aboard the yacht.

  The man’s gaze was focused appropriately on the royal party for the permission, and Queen Layna glanced around at her peers, then nodded. The crowd watched with rapt attention as the other vessel’s crew readied a boat to transport them to the waiting yacht. Guards suddenly erupted out of the woodwork, streaming onto the main deck and making a corridor of empty space through the crowd from the boat’s docking position to the chamber where the royals would meet with the visitors.

  While most of the crowd pushed forward, trying to maneuver themselves closer to the corridor, Rhys headed out of the masses. He slipped along the back wall inconspicuously, and ducked under a table and out through the kitchen. Even the staff was pressed up against the glass of the doors, trying to catch a glimpse of the goings-on, and they didn’t notice him sneaking past. Rhys caught a glimpse of two people walking slowly down the corridor of people, and he increased his pace.

  Rhys was adept at inserting himself in places he wasn’t supposed to be, and always did his homework. He’d already scoped out the entire ship during construction, so knew right where to go. He squeezed his aching body between two pipes and snuck along the maintenance access to emerge directly above the royal cabin. He shoved his head as far out into the center as it could go, causing a painful tweak in his shoulder, so that he could see down into the room. It appeared that the strangers had just entered.

  Queen Layna glanced up, perhaps having heard his motion, and he froze. Her gaze seemed to focus directly on him and then through him before she turned her attention back to the two men in front of her. She had always seemed to uncannily know whenever he had snuck into Phoenix’s rooms at night to try and tempt her to mischief.

  The two men were dressed in fine robes, which seemed to hang with more weight than one would imagine, and each one’s neck was adorned with great chain necklaces. On these, were many bottles, ranging in size and shape, and all seeming to contain some sort of faintly glowing liquid. Both necklaces had a pendant in the middle, amidst the bottles, of a glowing green eye, much like the panther eye on the flag of the ship. Each man had leather belts strapped across their chest as well, once again decorated with bottles and containers of all sorts.

  Rhys mentally tallied the value of each man’s attire. His head spun with the wealth with which they were each adorned.

  They waited patiently for Queen Layna to speak. After a tense moment, she began. “Welcome to Elaeld,” she greeted them, holding out her hands in salutation. “I am Queen Layna, and this is my husband, King Gryffon.” She faced the Council members and motioned to each as she said his or her name. “First Advisor Aria,” she paused while the lady nodded, “and other members of the Triumvirate: Lord Frolkon and Master Banys. Lady Katya, Speaker of the Tribes.”

  Rhys slunk a little farther back into hiding as his mother stepped forward to acknowledge her announcement. The two strangers nodded to each, then the one on the left spoke. “I am Herald Siajan and this is Herald Kedum. We come as ambassadors for the great Empire of Tyekath and for her Illustrious Highness, Empress Morvanna.”

  “May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit to our land?” the Queen asked.

  “We are a vessel of exploration. We knew not that we would stumble upon another civilization, but now that we have done so, her Illustrious Highness has bid us to make introductions.”

  Queen Layna’s eyebrows rose slightly, and Rhys realized that having the ability to communicate at such a large distance would be quite a feat. No doubt these people had magic. Rhys had a small amount of talent himself, inherited from his mother, and he carefully opened himself to the power to use his magesight to see for himself. As his probes ran over the visitors, however, he felt nothing. He broke the connection and sat back on his heels in confusion. His instincts didn’t normally prove wrong.

  “We would be honored to have you stay with us at the royal palace for as long as you wish,” Queen Layna told them politely. “We will have much to discuss, I’d imagine. However, as this visit was completely unexpected, my people are sure to cause quite a stir when you pull onto shore. For that reason, I suggest that you stay on your ship until we are able to put together the necessary guards to safely transport you back to our palace.”

  Rhys smiled at her tactful way of telling them not to go anywhere until she was prepared to deal with them. Phoenix always said that her mother hated speaking in public and making speeches, but she seemed to be very good at it. Rhys glanced behind the Queen to where Dame Natalya was standing. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that her personal guard doubled as her speech-writer. She always had someone to prompt her when she needed it.

  The captain of the knights and the Queen’s personal guard, Dame Natalya, was famed for her speeches in the beginning of Queen Layna’s reign which had rallied the people to support the new monarch. Rhys knew that she continued in this capacity as well as performing her new duties as royal guard. He studied Natalya a moment. She must have been wholesomely pretty in her youth, though her features were beginning to show her age. Rhys caught a glimpse of Natalya’s sister, Alina, behind her, and he involuntarily shuddered. He didn’t know anyone who wasn’t put on edge by Lady Alina. She was always hovering in Natalya’s shadow, but was the opposite of her sister. Alina’s features were always hidden beneath the dark folds of her hood in contrast to Natalya’s very public persona.

  “That is most appreciated,” Herald Siajan acknowledged the offer.

  Both heralds bowed slightly to Queen Layna, taking her comment as a dismissal. Herald Siaja
n then clasped his hand around one of the vials at his neck. He loosed it from the chain and without warning smashed it onto the floor.

  Those present took surprised steps backwards as smoke billowed up from where the vial had broken, and the two men suddenly disappeared. Only Queen Layna, the King, and Rhys’s mother remained in place. Guards drew their weapons, but Layna shook her head negatively in Natalya’s direction who barked orders for them to be re-sheathed.

  Rhys was dumbstruck. He had just probed the two visitors himself and seen that they possessed no magic – not even enough to activate a charm. Either the heralds were so strong that they could completely mask their power from him, or the people of this new empire knew something about the power that Elaeld did not. Either was disconcerting. Rhys decided that perhaps it would be prudent to learn more about these visitors before contemplating stealing from them.

  He suddenly found himself transported into the midst of the people below, and his mother gave him a reproachful stare.

  Queen Layna was the one who spoke. “I trust you caught that entire conversation, Rhys?” she queried.

  He mumbled an unintelligible response. His mother cleared her throat pointedly. “Yes, Your Highness,” he answered.

  “Good,” she surprised him by saying. “I need you to go to Phoenix in her chambers and tell her what has transpired. She’s rather put out at having been ordered to stay in her room, but I couldn’t risk her, you understand.” Despite her lack of response to the strangers’ sudden disappearance, she looked rather shaken by the unexpected display. Rhys nodded. “I also want you to stay with her for the remainder of the party. I don’t want to cancel the rest of the day, but if something should go awry, I expect that you know every nook and cranny on this ship to whisk her away to safety, hmm?”

  She gave him a shrewd look, and he nodded again, a little sheepishly this time. Perhaps he hadn’t been as inconspicuous as he thought when he wandered the hallways during construction to learn their layout.

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  He bowed deeply to the Queen and avoided his mother’s glare, backing out of the doorway. When he arrived at Phoenix’s cabin, the guards immediately let him enter, and he found her pacing in front of the door.

  “What happened?” she asked him, not rudely, but bordering on irritable. She didn’t seem the least bit surprised to find him entering her rooms. She was hardly ever surprised, having the uncanny knack for understanding people better than they seemed to know themselves. No doubt, this fact made the arrival of these strange visitors all the more interesting to her. Rhys relayed all the information that he had observed and overheard while Phoenix listened intently.

  “And Mother is still insisting that we go along with this silly party while the strangers are moored here?” Rhys knew that speaking against her mother was something that Phoenix would never do publically or outside of trusted company. He would never repeat it.

  “We’re to continue on to Avonmora as planned,” he agreed. “Though I would expect that we’ll be quite a few guards lighter as we pass. No doubt the shorelines all along here will be crawling with guards and knights within the hour.”

  “I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out more then,” Phoenix said serenely, her usual calm demeanor replacing the rarely-seen annoyance.

  Though Rhys hated it, he had been raised in the courtly ways, and he put on his best behavior for Phoenix. “The cooks are probably chomping at the bit to cut the cake and show off their masterpiece. Shall we go relieve them of their misery?” He gallantly motioned towards the door, trying to block the pain the motion caused his injured ribs. He forced a smile, though he had the feeling it turned more into a pained grimace as he tried unsuccessfully to bow without reopening wounds.

  “Thank you, Rhys.”

  Phoenix took his arm gently and the two of them made their way back out among the gathered people. Most kept glancing past them, looking for signs of the two strange men who had been escorted to the royal chambers. When no one emerged after some time, they too turned their attention to the massive confection.

  Phoenix sliced the first piece and handed it out, then one of the servants took over the duty. She waved away a piece for herself and fulfilled her responsibility of playing hostess. Rhys drifted through the crowd with her, always close by, and kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. The only thing he saw was that Wren was now the one hugging the walls morosely. He had been in a good mood earlier in the party, and Rhys wondered what had changed. Rhys caught Phoenix surreptitiously glance in the sulking boy’s direction more than once, a sad look on her face. Rhys realized what must have occurred. He and Wren rarely ran in the same circles anymore, but he had seen him enough to have noticed the infatuation he had for the Princess. Perhaps today was the day he’d chosen to express those feelings to her. Bad luck.

  When the day finally wound down to a close, he was exhausted. He had been glued to Phoenix’s side until she was safely within the palace walls, and had only been allowed to return home long after the party was over. So much courtly behavior was beginning to make his head pound, although the rest of his body was beginning to feel a little better.

  He collapsed backwards onto his bed. He had almost drifted off in the uncomfortable position – his legs still dangling off the side – when there was a knock and Jayson entered.

  “You’d better get out of those clothes before you ruin them by sleeping in them,” he scolded. “Your mother would never let you live that one down.”

  Rhys groaned. “Yes, and she’s so pleased with me at the moment anyway.”

  “Oh?” Jayson asked innocently. “And why is that?”

  Rhys glowered at him, sitting up and attempting to disrobe. “Other than the obvious?” He gave Jayson a shrewd look, squinting through his black eye. “Well, I may have also been caught listening in on a conversation between the royals and the strangers.”

  Jayson gasped. “You didn’t!” He grabbed hold of the shirt that Rhys was struggling with and pulled it over his head. Unfortunately, this wrenched Rhys’s arms upwards painfully, and he couldn’t suppress a pained hiss.

  Jayson’s eyebrows lifted as he examined the extent of Rhys’s bruises. His whole side was a deep shade of purple and obviously swollen. “We should get a healer in here,” Jayson said, moving towards the door. Rhys stopped him.

  “No, no healer. My mother will probably forbid it anyway. She likes me to suffer.”

  “That’s not true,” Jayson refuted, but he moved back to the bed. He looked closer at the bruises and prodded Rhys’s ribs a bit. Rhys bit his lip to keep from complaining. “They’re likely broken,” he said finally, “but they’re still in place. You’ll just have to be gentle with them for a few weeks, and you’ll be fine.” He took a cloth off the bedside table and dipped it into the water basin, handing it to Rhys to cool his hurt ribs. Jayson left for a moment to rummage in the closet, returning with a chain attached to a gaudy pendant. “You know, if you’d had this on they would already be starting to knit back together.”

  “It doesn’t go with my outfit,” Rhys replied in his best imitation of the courtly women.

  Jayson set the pendant down on the bedside table. With its close proximity, Rhys could feel it as the healing charm began to work. It was attuned to him and he was supposed to wear it all the time, but it was much too bulky for most of his activities and he felt silly wearing it. Rhys was glad that Jayson had thought to dig it out as even though it wasn’t much, he did feel instant lessening of the pain.

  “So what did the strangers want?” Jayson asked.

  Rhys smiled despite the pain. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to contain your curiosity. Do you really want to know?” he asked, knowing the question would annoy Jayson, “even knowing I did something sneaky to get it? Wouldn’t that make you like an accomplice?”

  Jayson glared at him, obviously warring with himself, trying t
o ignore his interest in the matter. He finally decided that knowing was better than being stubborn and refusing to ask out of pride. “Yes, tell me.”

  Rhys beamed. “Well, they were dripping with jewelry…some sort of liquids and powders and whatnot in bottles on chains and in their clothes. And one of them used one of these to transport back onto their vessel. By smashing it on the floor. He had this vial of who-knows-what, and when it broke on the floor, all this smoke came out and the two men disappeared. That’s why they never came out of the royal chambers.”

  “Like a charm?”

  “Sort-of,” Rhys agreed, “but…” he grasped for a way to explain it, “different. I couldn’t even tell they were touching the power, and there wasn’t that ripple through the power you’d usually feel when a charm is activated. I don’t know how to describe it.”

  “Huh,” was Jayson’s only response. He had no talent of his own, so magic was magic to him. Rhys was still a bit mystified by the strange power these men held.

  “Where are they from?” Jayson folded the covers back so that Rhys could get comfortable underneath without pulling more strained muscles before going to stand by the end-table.

  “They called it Tyekath, ruled by the Empress Morvanna.”

  “How did we not know it existed? How big it is? What do they want?” Jayson fired off the three questions so quickly Rhys wouldn’t have had the chance to respond even if he had the answers. Jayson almost knocked over the candle he was picking up in his excitement.

  Rhys held up his hands. “Whoa, slow down. I don’t know. They’ll be coming to the palace soon. I expect we’ll find out more then. Basically the Queen told them not to go anywhere until she gives them an invite to the palace. Once they’re here, we’ll be able to ask lots of questions.” He snuggled down into the blankets.

  “I just hope they don’t practice dark magic,” Jayson said ominously, the candle he held casting eerie shadows across his face.

  Rhys covered up the fact that he rolled his eyes by closing them – and fell promptly asleep.