Chapter 6
It was dark when the ship finally docked in Almont. After returning Gisele to her embassy in Faliska La’un, there’d been nothing to do but head home to report their findings. Gisele had tried to persuade them to stay for a few days’ holiday, but with a long ocean crossing ahead of them they’d been keen to join the first available ship.
At the port they rented a small hand-cart for their cases, and loaded it quickly before picking out an indirect route through the streets and back to the Association’s headquarters. You could never be too careful.
Mikhail was on watch, and came running down to meet them at the gate. “Success?” he asked once they were safely within their own grounds.
“Sort of,” Eleanor said, her feet crunching on the frozen grass of the lawns. The frosts had come early this year. “It’s been quite an eventful trip. We’ll tell you all about it tomorrow; right now, I just need to sleep in a proper bed.”
“You’ll have to choose your new rooms – I’m opposite Mack, and there are a couple more spaces along that corridor if you want to join us.”
“I will need to be near the apothecary,” Daniel said. “I will be spending a lot of time there. The last months have been an interesting diversion, but there are many questions only I can answer.”
“Not that you think much of yourself,” Eleanor teased, but he just looked puzzled.
“Eleanor? They’re nice rooms – little suites with your own sitting room, dining room, whatever.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Daniel caught her arm, and spoke quietly so that Mikhail wouldn’t hear over the rattling of the cart wheels. “Do you not wish to share my room?”
The question surprised her. “I think it might be better for us to have our own space. Don’t you think?”
“I have liked spending time with you.”
“Yeah. Me too. But sometimes I just want to shut the door and be on my own.” After weeks of being forced to share a space all day and night on the ship, she couldn’t wait to have a room of her own again, but she thought it might be insensitive to say as much. Besides, it was time to start extricating herself from this accidental relationship.
“Okay.” He dropped her arm and picked up his trunk from the cart.
“Really?”
“It is fine. I need to go this way.” He waved towards the apothecary.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“What was that about?” Mikhail asked as he turned the cart towards the building where his rooms were.
“Oh, it’s nothing. You know me and Daniel are always bickering.”
“You’re like an old married couple,” he said, and she laughed. He had no idea that they’d almost forgotten to switch their bangles back to their unmarried state, remembering half a mile from home, just in time to avoid an awkward scene.
Mikhail showed Eleanor where his rooms were, which turned out to be on the same corridor as Ivan. She picked one of the empty suites for herself and deposited her bags there.
“Do you know where they’ve put the rest of our things?”
Mikhail shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll be around somewhere. You’ve got everything you need for tonight, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I’ve been living out of this bag for long enough. Another night won’t hurt.”
They said goodnight with promises to catch up properly the next morning, but instead of going to bed Eleanor marched straight up to Ivan’s door. There were things that had been bothering her since before she and Daniel sailed north, and she didn’t want to wait longer than she had to for answers.
“Who is it?” he asked when she knocked.
“Eleanor.”
A moment later he opened the door, looking sleepy and ruffled, fastening his shirt as he stood there. “Did you just get back? It’s late.”
“I know. Can I come in?”
He nodded and stepped back. “Did your trip go well?”
“Can we skip the small talk? I need to know whether you told Jorge to kill me.”
He sank onto the sofa, suddenly looking older and more tired than she’d ever seen him. “Would you really expect me to tell you if I did?”
“No, but I’d like to believe I have some skills.” She sat beside him and studied his face. “Look me in the eye and tell me that it was nothing to do with you.”
“It had nothing to do with me.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, relaxing back into the cushions. “I didn’t really think you’d be so stupid, but I had to check.”
“Well, what else would you think? I take it you overheard us in the practice hall. I found your stars... I should’ve put two and two together when you started acting so strangely.”
“I didn’t mean to listen, you know. Not that first time.”
“There were other times?” He sounded amused, and she blushed.
“I tried quite hard to find out what you were plotting.”
“Well you wouldn’t have got far, I only gave him the same advice I gave you – become the best that you can be, and the rest will fall into place. I only tried to help him improve. I had no idea he’d decide the best way to win was to eliminate the competition.”
“It could’ve worked, if he’d been a bit more subtle in the attempt. It probably is the most straightforward way to win a contest like that.”
Ivan raised an eyebrow. “It’s not quite what they had in mind when they came up with the rules.”
“No, I’m sure no-one planned for the students to start murdering one another. Anyway, I’m sorry for getting you up. I just had to know.”
“I can understand that. Would you like a drink while you’re here? I’m sure you haven’t stocked your room yet – where are you, by the way?”
“Three doors that way.” She pointed at the wall.
“Ah, then you’ve no excuse not to stay.” He threw a fresh log onto the fire and prodded the glowing embers back into life. “Wine or spring nectar?”
“Don’t you want to get back to bed?”
“I’d much rather hear about your adventures. The first mission’s always the most exciting, especially if you’re a long way from home.”
“Well, if you’re sure – wait just one moment. I’ve got something in my pack that you might like.”
She went back to her room and returned moments later with an almost-black bottle.
“Faliska’s famous Burning Death,” she announced, presenting the bottle with a dramatic flourish. “Have you got some glasses?”
“Of course. What is that?”
“Something I drank far too much of in Faliska.” She cut the heavy wax seal away with her hunting knife, and prised out the cork. “I had to bring some back.”
He shuffled his tools to make space for two glasses on the table, and she poured out cautious measures.
“I’m not being stingy, but you might not want much. This stuff makes you do crazy things.”
“It sounds like you had fun, then.”
“Everything we expected, plus an extra kidnap...” She smiled. “Yeah, we had a lot of fun out there.”
“Kidnap?”
“There was a minor official in the Diplomatic Corps who stuck her nose in where she shouldn’t have, got on the wrong side of the Tarasanka embassy guards, and got herself swept off to Taraska.”
“Are you sure someone like that was worth rescuing?”
“It wasn’t her fault, and we couldn’t give them chance to interrogate her. She happened to know me from school, so she worked out there was something odd going on, but Daniel wasn’t happy to trust her with the truth. We put her in a position where she felt she had to investigate us.”
“Well, that’s a lesson for you right there – don’t let Daniel get in the way of your judgement.”
“Yeah, everything would’ve been that much easier if I’d gone on my own.” She thought of the way Daniel’s face had fallen when she’d said she didn’t want to live with him, and promptly chang
ed the subject. “So what have we missed? We didn’t get to hear much news from the Empire.”
“Not much of any importance. Rebel attacks are getting a bit more common, but not much more successful. And the Empress is looking at pushing into the southern mountains again.”
“We heard a rumour of that last year. Has there been some more movement?”
“She’s sending a small advance party – just a few soldiers – to check whether the lower slopes have frozen over yet. Once we get a positive on that, we’ll put a group together to go and make contact.”
“Everyone acts like the mountain men are immortal or something. No, I don’t mean immortal, that’s the wrong word.” Eleanor took another mouthful of her drink, grimacing as the alcohol bit her throat. “I think I meant invulnerable. Like we can’t hurt them. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t think anyone really thinks that, but it’s all a bit of a mystery. Attacks have failed in the past, even when we’ve sent the whole army.”
“That’s the bit I don’t understand. Do we know why?”
“No-one quite knows where they got their skills. They’re surprisingly well trained, well armed, and well organised for an uncivilized culture out in the wilds of nowhere – and the Imperial armies aren’t exactly on top form these days. Anyway, we’re prepared for them to exceed our expectations, so it’s nothing to worry about.”
Revolution (Chronicles of Charanthe #2) Page 13