The only living kidnapper, the man who had opened the door, was hauled to his feet by Frostel, who had the man’s arms twisted painfully behind his back. Sandun stood facing the kidnapper with his sword’s tip pressed to the man’s throat.
“Fire toad Boethy’s bully boys, come for his daughter,” the man said with shaking resignation. “If you only knew the crimes he’d committed. I should have killed the girl as soon as we brought her here. But no, these fools wanted the money. Back pay, owed them from the campaign.”
Padan appeared and reported, “I can’t find anyone else, but one of the beds was warm.” Just as he said this, Ven came in, dragging a man with an arrow still piercing his thigh.
“This one tried to escape over the rooftops, but Basil brought him down to earth,” Ven said coldly. “He is still alive, for the moment.”
“Where is Olef? Alina is here,” Ako said. Indeed, Alina was out of her cage and leaning on Lathe, with only a thin blanket covering her naked body.
“Is this all of them?” Lathe asked her gently.
“Yes, I only saw six,” Alina replied with a tremor in her voice.
“I’ll bring Olef,” Ven said and left the room.
“Since all the kidnappers died in the struggle, we are just about done here,” Sir Ako said to Lathe with an edge to his voice. Lathe, with his dagger in his hand, approached the man being held by Frostel and cut the kidnapper’s throat open with a swift slash. Frostel threw the dying man to the floor. Lathe then lifted the last kidnapper’s head up by his greasy hair and cut his throat as well. The smell of hot blood filled the room.
Olef came in, stepping over the pools of blood on the floor as though she was avoiding puddles of water, and helped Alina put on clean clothes.
“Should we summon a carriage for you, Lady Boethy?” Sir Ako asked the girl once she was dressed.
“A carriage? On New Year’s Day? No chance of that. I can walk, but I’d like to go home now,” Alina replied with a tight voice, as though she was barely holding back tears.
“We are going to the embassy first and then the palace, at your father’s request,” Ako told her.
“That will be fine,” Alina replied. As she walked to the door, she paused and looked at the body of the man who Lathe had killed first. “I’m glad they are all dead. Thank you for killing them, Lathe. This one, especially. He was cruel to me.”
Lathe nodded grimly and then unfolded a large piece of red silk to cover her head.
“I see,” Alina said quietly. “No one will know I was ever here. Does anyone know I was…kidnapped?”
Lathe shook his head. “Only us, your family, and the arch-governor.”
Alina let out a long sigh. “That is…remarkable, although I heard them talking,” she continued, looking down at the bodies of the dead men. “They were confused. They didn’t know what was going on, why there was no response from my father. Now I understand. That’s why I’m going to the palace.”
Alina drew herself up and looked around at the knights. Then she bowed to each one of them. “I thank you all for my rescue. With good fortune, this will never be spoken of again. Someday, perhaps, I may be able to repay you.”
Sir Ako said to her, “The Knights of Serica accept your thanks. Your father is our brother in battle, and it is an honor for us to help him.”
With that, they departed the house, Alina and Olef walking together, surrounded by the knights. Frostel, however, stayed behind and signaled to Sir Ako that he wanted a private word.
“I will return to the Seven Stars by a different route,” Frostel told him. “It is best if none make the connection between the Seven Stars Temple and these dead men. People will know the Knights of Serica rescued a lady, and they will think you knights have hidden powers to ferret out criminals. They will not wonder how you knew of the kidnappers’ hideout.”
“Why go back to the Seven Stars and not the Rowan Horse?” Sir Ako asked.
“The old priest of Lord Mairen has much knowledge, which he has offered to impart to me. Since I will be living here in Tokolas and setting up my new school, having the support of both temples is best. I would not have come to the Seven Stars Temple had it not been for your need, and so I must thank you.”
Sir Ako chuckled grimly and slapped Frostel’s shoulder. “You were the one who did all the work. We would have accomplished nothing without you. People will think we have hidden powers, but that is completely wrong.”
“Not as wrong as you might think, Sir Ako,” Frostel replied carefully. “People, like Brinolf, had knowledge, but they could not or would not act because their knowledge came with obligations. You are, almost uniquely, free to act. An unbound man in Serica is very rare. Nearly everyone here is hemmed in by webs of obligation and duty: to family, to clan, to their guild, to their temple. I once thought myself the freest man in Serica, but you are my equal.”
“I’m a married man, Blue Frostel, weighed down by chains of gold,” Sir Ako said with a smile. “Very lovely chains, I dare say, but don’t talk to me about freedom. Thank you again, my friend. The war minister will know how much you helped him, as will Alina.”
Outside, Sir Ako caught up with his knights and Sandun.
“Well done, Sir Ako,” Sandun said appreciatively. “How did you know the inner door would be barred?”
“There are a few houses in Seopolis that are not what they seem from the outside,” Sir Ako told him conspiratorially. “One of the perks of winning the grand tournament is being invited to such houses, on occasion. When Squire Hikki told me the building was once used for gambling, I suspected the inner door.”
“Gambling houses in Seopolis? Really?” Sandun seemed honestly surprised. “In taverns, and in shacks out on the docks, sure. I’ve been to a few. But in large houses? On the big streets? Under the noses of the king’s guards and the justices of the peace?”
Sir Ako nodded. “There are worlds within worlds, Sir Sandun. I doubt any man knows even half of what goes on in Seopolis. Here in Tokolas, an even larger city, I expect there are a thousand things taking place that we will never learn of.”
Back at the embassy, word was sent to Valo Peli, and the war minister rode up half an hour later. He met his daughter in private.
Sir Ako, newly dressed and bathed, came down to the library to find Lathe idly leafing through one of the books. “Now are you going to ask the war minister for Alina’s hand in marriage?” Sir Ako said.
Lathe stared back at him and then sighed. “No, that’s not how this will play out. Nothing has changed between us. She will marry Governor Vellen, as has been arranged.” Resignation colored his words.
“Nothing has changed? How do you know? Have you asked her?”
“I don’t have to ask. She told me months ago: I think of you as an older brother, Lathe, and so I could never marry you. When I met her, I thought she was the prettiest girl ever. I often wondered why my master picked me, if not to marry his daughter. In Serica, people usually say that marriages are destined for two people. If people do have a destiny, then whoever is in charge has no sense of justice.”
“Sho’Ash teaches us there is no destiny and no fate, Lathe. All of us must choose our own path and our own acts. We are responsible for our choices—no one else.”
“You are right, Lord Commander. I knew that. I suppose I’ve always known that. Every man and woman is free to make their own choices. Alina has made her choice, and while it’s not what I wanted, I have to live with it. I am very happy to have saved her, even if…” For a moment he was silent, but then he put on a new face. “Well, enough about that. Maybe no woman can match Alina’s charms, but there are so many women who are eager to try.”
Chapter Eight
Sailing the Sukanea River
That evening, at the New Year dinner, Lord Vaina showed off a brand-new set of twenty-four bronze bells. Four robed men played an odd
piece of music with no discernable melody, although the bells themselves were beautiful, gleaming like gold in the lamplight. Lord Vaina explained that this set of bells had been commissioned to celebrate his victory over the Kitran at the Battle of Devek. “It’s a modest set, and even so, absurdly expensive. But it was a glorious victory, and I trust my descendants will remember what I did for them.”
Then he lifted a large cup and formally welcomed in the New Year. The assembled guests toasted Lord Vaina in return. The wine was strong, the food delicious, and everyone seemed buoyant and cheerful.
Afterward, Lord Vaina’s wives Ituka and Iela performed a beautiful dance together, accompanied by the finest musicians in the city of Tokolas. The two women wore lovely silk dresses with very long sleeves, somewhat reminding Sandun of Miri’s wedding outfit. Ituka and Iela danced and spun around together in a complex duet that surprised him. Back home in Hepedion, dances were communal activities, usually with ten to twenty young men and women dancing with shifting partners in a time-honored manner. Sometimes the dances were just for the women as a group, with each woman trying to perform the same steps exactly. However, in the dance by Lord Vaina’s wives, the two women rarely copied each other; instead, their graceful gestures were complementary, and the dance had a form and structure that hinted at things like flowing water or petals drifting down from flowering trees. Sandun had never seen anything like it before.
Arch-governor Vaina (he had officially assumed the new title on this, the first day of the Year of the Turtle) gave each of the women a necklace of shimmering gold beads mixed with lustrous freshwater pearls. Sandun, with Miri at his side, formally presented to Lord Vaina the book of the design drawings for the Shila warship. Lord Vaina, initially puzzled by the gift, became more excited as he looked through the plans and listened to Miri as she extolled the virtues of her father’s warship.
“An armor-covered boat, like a turtle, but fast, and stable in the water? Amazing! I would never have guessed such a ship was possible.” Lord Vaina paged through the book again and then called over his old friend, Sinki Vereb, the man responsible for building Kunhalvar’s navy. Sinki received the book from Lord Vaina and flipped through it with rapidly blinking eyes, occasionally sipping from the icy fruit-juice-and-alcohol concoction that was a special treat at this New Year celebration.
Sinki closed the book with snap. “This looks straightforward to build,” he said. “If you say the word, we could have fifty built before midsummer. The crew of these boats is tiny; no archers and no ballistae. How many marines would you put on one of these boats? Two or three, no more. All these ships do is ram other boats and then row away. What a remarkably strange idea for naval warfare. I’d like to build one of these, just to see how it works. This design came from Shila, yes? By all accounts, they have some skill in shipbuilding.”
“Yes, this is from Sandun’s wife,” Lord Vaina replied. “How fast can you make a demonstration model? What if you put your best work crew on it?”
“My best team? Well, I’d guess three weeks’ time. Most of them are home now, visiting family.”
“If they finish in two weeks, I’ll give them two months’ pay as a bonus,” Lord Vaina said expansively.
Sinki looked surprised. “Two months’ bonus? For that money, you can bet they will do it. But, Jori, old friend, I thought you were running out of silver?”
“Maybe not. We shall see,” Lord Vaina said with an impish grin.
“My lord, you act like a stray horse has just wandered into your stable with saddlebags loaded with coin.”
“Maybe…” Lord Vaina drew out the word in an exaggerated fashion. Sandun had to resist the urge to laugh, as Lord Vaina had a most comical expression on his face.
“All right, Arch-governor. Don’t tell me. I’ll just keep building boats until we get orders to stop. We have lots of lumber; the new administrator in Hutinin, that scholar from the Great Sage Temple, he certainly solved the wood shortage.”
Lord Vaina then sauntered over to find Sir Ako in conversation with Valo Peli. As Sandun expected, Ako was describing Alina’s rescue.
Valo Peli turned to Sandun and bowed. “Advisor Sandun, this very grateful man must thank you and Sir Ako for your success in rescuing my daughter. These last days have been trying for my wife and myself, but now that Alina is returned to us, we can all breathe again. It pains me to tell you that no record of your laudatory deeds this day will be written. Tivadin, minister of justice, has informed me that the bodies of the six gang members will be buried tomorrow, and the investigation is already complete. The evidence shows they were killed by a rival gang who fought bitterly for their turf. No further inquiry is warranted under such circumstances. This is, of course, a total lie.”
Sandun could not understand why this information had to remain a state secret. Back in Kelten, Sandun had never heard of kidnapping a woman for ransom. Instead, a wealthy woman was occasionally kidnapped and forced to marry her abductor. In practice, this was a form of semilegal theft because her new husband would then have a claim to control his new wife’s estate. Sometimes these forced marriages lasted, but more often than not they were declared illegitimate by the chancellor’s court, and the penalties were severe. But the fact that a kidnapping had taken place was common knowledge and food for talk at the pubs in Tebispoli, After all, how else could the kidnapper be brought to justice?
Alina’s abduction seemed to have been motivated by a straightforward desire for ransom. Thus, Alina was not at fault; she was a completely innocent victim. Yet by concealing the kidnapping and by not alerting the city watch or the local magistrates, Valo Peli had made the case less likely to be resolved.
Sandun knew Valo Peli had a brilliant mind and a wealth of experience. Further, the other Serice who knew about the kidnapping apparently agreed with Valo Peli’s strategy of pretending that nothing had happened. But it didn’t make sense to Sandun. Now that the girl was rescued and the kidnappers all were dead, why shouldn’t the Keltens’ deeds be made known? Sandun had played almost no role in the affair, but he was proud of Sir Ako. The people of Tokolas should know that the Knights of Serica were performing good deeds. Besides, wouldn’t talking about it discourage other criminals from attempting future kidnappings?
Sandun decided to speak his mind: “Valo Peli, my friend, now that this is over, I think it only fair that the people of Tokolas learn the truth: that Sir Ako and his knights rescued your daughter and killed the kidnappers. It is to their credit that they accomplished this despite significant difficulties. I don’t understand why this story must be buried, never to be talked about.”
Sir Ako made to protest that such recognition was unnecessary, while Valo Peli and Lord Vaina looked at each other with expressions that indicated they knew what they were doing was wrong, but it couldn’t be helped.
“As she is my daughter, I owe you both an explanation,” Valo Peli said. Then he paused for a short while before continuing. “Most simply, if news of Alina’s kidnapping were to reach Sasuvi, Governor Vellen would certainly call off the marriage. This would cause great suffering to my wife and, I think, to my daughter as well. You are right, of course, that the Knights of Serica performed a laudable deed, one that they can justly be proud of. My debt to you continues to grow such that I cannot hope to ever repay it. But this must remain a secret.”
Lord Vaina nodded vigorously.
“I don’t see the connection.” Sandun replied. “What does Alina being kidnapped and then rescued have to do with her marriage?”
Lord Vaina spoke with an air of exasperation. “Apparently, in Kelten things are different, so I will spell it out for you. If a young woman is kidnapped for more than a day, everyone will assume that she is no longer a virgin. No man in Vellen’s position would take a young woman as his primary wife who was not a virgin. It simply wouldn’t be done. Everyone in Serica knows this.”
“The same is true in Shila,
Arch-governor,” Miri said.
“No doubt,” Lord Vaina replied with a slight nod to Sandun’s wife. With that said, the arch-governor switched to a different topic. “As this is the New Year and I am the ruler of two provinces, I am giving gifts to all my loyal friends and allies. However, I am at a loss as what I can give the Knights of Serica. Do you have something you wish? A fitting reward for all your heroic deeds of the previous year?”
“I do, yes,” Sir Ako said. Lord Vaina gestured for him to continue. “The Knights of Serica are expanding. We will, I think, outgrow the Kelten embassy, and I would very much like to have one of the lesser monasteries that you are closing. As the Knights of Serica are a holy order, I do not think it would be amiss if we were to take over a place formerly dedicated to the worship of Eston.”
Sandun suddenly knew what should happen. A vision came to him so clearly that he nearly lost his balance and had to steady himself by holding on to Miri’s arm. In his vision, he saw Stead Half Cliff’s halls illuminated with lights. He saw two knights standing guard outside the doorway with a great banner of the burning tower hanging on the cliff above them.
“I have another idea, my lord,” Sandun said earnestly. “There is a small village about one hundred tik east of Jupelos in the hills called Olitik and an even smaller hamlet called Essebeg north of that. Give us the lands around those villages. That will be the future home of the Knights of Serica.”
Sir Ako, his face tinged with red from all the liquor had had consumed, chuckled. “Essebeg—pine beer, beautiful lake, and wild boar to hunt. Splendid idea, Sandun!”
Lord Vaina said, “Very well. I remember you knights rode there and defeated a column of Kitran raiders. I am certain the people of the region will welcome the Knights of Serica as their new rulers. Right now, that is a very good location, since it is on my border and raiders continue to plague the region. However, it will take a year to build a decent fort. It’s not an immediate solution to your overcrowding problem. I wonder if Olitik reminded you of your homeland?”
The Flame Iris Temple Page 20