Over the Night Horizon

by Kacey Ezell

  The gathered crowd turned to look at Remy, now an apoplectic shade of eggplant purple. Lucia stifled a small grin. The gravity of the situation threatened to be lost to the comedy that was Remy’s barely contained fury.

  “Did you, Matthias Elidon, serve as a Source at the docks?” Duke Delsarte looked directly at Lucia and Johannes standing together, at de Graaf with his arm around Lucia. Lucia clearly longed to run to him, happy to see her father after almost a month at sail. She held her place. Soon, they’d have their reunion.

  “I did, sir. I was a Source and Consort for Captain de Graaf primarily, though there were others, for over three years.” Matthias held onto the podium for stability as he hunched over, still weak from illness.

  “And you sold him out. Help us understand, as he stands with you now. It seems your former client has found forgiveness,” Remy said before the moderator, magistrate, or council could speak.

  “I did, at your request. And I stand with him at my side now, proud to serve as a Source for the Leeuwin. After all, you locked me in the cellar at home hoping I’d perish of fever. I didn’t bring shame on the Elidon name, you have. You drove your wife away. You asked me to set the fires and watch the warehouses burn! You ordered ships attacked! You plotted the blockade. You nearly murdered your only son! All for some sense of vengeance, to bring down the Delsarte Shipping Company. You evil, treacherous man. I’ll testify tonight and tomorrow against you, but I will not suffer for your crimes. There are witnesses, and I’ll die knowing justice was served!” Matthias spoke, building to a shout, and slumped against the podium, exhausted.

  Sister Amelia helped Matthias to a chair that had been brought close for the frail man. Matthias hunkered over, sobbing quietly as the room erupted, with everyone talking at once.

  At the magistrate’s nod, more constables marched in. Matthias looked up and sighed, stifling the rest of his tears. He struggled to his feet once more and waited for them, hands outstretched for the shackles. They walked past the podium and headed directly for Remy.

  “I’m innocent! You take the ravings of a delusional man over my word? How dare you. I’m innocent!” Remy roared, backing away from the constables as they approached. Fellow councilmen scrambled to block Remy’s exit from the room, clearing a path for the guards.

  Matthias watched as Remy was placed in iron handcuffs, yelling all the while, and asserting his innocence and indignance.

  “You’re no longer my son, not of the Elidon name. You’re a stranger to me. I disown you.” Remy stared with cold fury at Matthias.

  Tears tracked down Matthias’ gaunt face as the man he called father disowned him in front of the City Council.

  “He used to be a good man. I don’t know when that changed. I should have known better than to trust him. Twenty-six souls perished in that fire, and I can’t make amends,” Matthias said to Lucia, Amelia, Johannes, and Delsarte as they circled him in a protective huddle. Matthias shivered despite being dressed in a heavy winter cloak.

  “We must resume this trial later. There’s nothing to serve by making Mr. Elidon testify extensively in frail health.” The magistrate looked over at Matthias with a concerned glance.

  “We need to take him back to the Order so he can rest. I know there’s much to sort out. If he says he’s done, he’s done. Let the poor man recuperate first,” Sister Amelia replied.

  The racket in the Council Hall died down. Remy could be heard hollering out in the corridor, then quieting as he was led further away. Delsarte took his seat, wanting to embrace Lucia and Amelia in a hug.

  “Order in Council! Quiet!” The magistrate banged his gavel over the noise in the ordinarily sedate Council room. Boom! Boom! “Please take your seats!”

  The crowd hurried to their places and settled instantly.

  The same pair of burly constables returned to the room, Remy in tow. He wore shackles and a mulish expression. The magistrate gave him a long, threatening look. Elidon eventually looked away, momentarily cowed into behaving himself.

  “Matthias Elidon,” the magistrate said, turning to look at the young man, “are you willing to speak in front of me as magistrate for a few moments more before returning to the Eventides?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Matthias nodded and stood.

  “You’re not well, are you?”

  “No, ma’am. I didn’t catch the plague, though. My illness is of a different nature,” Matthias replied evasively.

  “Which impacted your thinking when Duke Elidon asked you to set the warehouse fire. What exactly was the nature of the illness? How is your recovery progressing?”

  Matthias drew in a breath, stood a bit straighter, and faced council, speaking as clearly and loudly as he could muster.

  “I am—I was a Source. I drank heavily, and I sold my blood and body on the docks for comfort and money. I barely ate. When my client appeared to abandon me, and my father—rather, Elidon—implored me to do these things to win his favor and be allowed home, I was sick, dying, and desperate. I’ll confess now that I set the dock fire, but I wasn’t fully of my own mind, yet I know I should have refused.”

  The gathered councilors murmured and quieted as the magistrate raised her hand to stall their questions. “Let the man speak his confession. Let me ask the questions.”

  “And now?”

  “I was taken back to my father’s estate and confined in a basement crypt, where I was denied food and care. It was our family’s loyal servants who summoned the Eventides and the constables, against my father’s wishes, to have me removed. The servants subsequently lost their jobs for saving my life. I’m under the care of the Eventides, and I’ll take the robes of the Order when they deem me well enough to be released from medical care. I give up my name, my claim to the Elidon lineage and fortunes, and will gratefully do penance if the Council allows,” Matthias pleaded, words he’d thought over carefully, as Sister Amelia told him what had happened while he lay recovering in the clinic.

  “Sit before you faint, Mr. Elidon.” The councilwoman gestured at the chair.

  “The fire, what was the intent?” the Judge asked.

  “I was encouraged to destroy the Delsarte warehouse, the NightShip docks, and the Source house. The fire spread much further and faster than I thought possible. I was delusional at the time, and I…” Matthias choked up on the words. “I can still hear the screaming. I tried to save people when I realized what had happened.”

  “And did you summon help?”

  “I did, then I went to the Leeuwin, Johannes de Graaf’s ship, where he tended to my injuries, unaware of what I’d done. I woke later to find Elidon at the docks, where he took me home. I—” Matthias started to confess to the jewel theft but thought better of it. No one knew about that. No one cared. “Elidon intended to use the fire and the plague as reason to blockade the ships and call for the expulsion of the Immortals and the Sources. It was a setup. He used me to keep his hands clean.” Matthias coughed, a wracking cough that left him gasping for air. Sister Amelia handed him a glass of water and rubbed his back as he wheezed.

  “Sister Amelia, what was the prognosis for Mr. Elidon when the Eventides first took him in?”

  Amelia took the speaker’s podium and continued to tend to Matthias.

  “He was dying. Malnourished, exhausted, fevered, sick from drink, and Sources do go through a period of suffering when no longer with their Immortal clients. He wasn’t well. Delusional, and unaware of where he was or what had happened. He had burns to his hands and feet. We’re tending to him at the Clinic, and he has a long recovery ahead, body, mind and soul.”

  “And if he’d stayed in Elidon Manor?”

  “He would have surely died within days if we hadn’t retrieved him. It took considerable effort to convince Lord Elidon to release Matthias to our care. He forbade his staff from allowing us in until I threatened to bring a constable. I’ve tended to Matthias during his stay, and he’s expressed great remorse for his actions. With care, he’ll recover, and I believe he
won’t be a risk to the city any further. We’d welcome him into the Order, if you see fit to release him to us,” Sister Amelia said, calm and assured, her hands folded on the podium before her, the picture of piety.

  “Thank you, Sister. Captain de Graaf, please take the podium,” the magistrate ordered.

  “The traitor himself! You took my wife, and now my son! What did we ever do to you that you destroyed all I had, you filthy Immortal beast?” Remy let his rage fly in a torrent of verbal abuse until the constables subdued him once more.

  De Graaf turned to Remy. “I did nothing. I never knew your wife, not in any capacity you’ve concocted in your mind. I surely knew your son, but that was the kindness he got in life when you cast him out. Perhaps I’m not the monster you think I am. Temper your words, sir. I’d hate for you to incriminate yourself further, though the evidence so far seems damning.”

  Remy stared a cold smile at de Graaf as the captain strode to the podium. De Graaf stared back, assured and equally as cold, as if daring Remy to further outbursts. De Graaf’s expression turned to amusement, a tiny upturn at the corners of his mouth, and mouthed to Remy, “The Emerald. I know.” De Graaf gestured at his own neck, either in threat or demonstration. Beads of sweat bloomed on Remy’s forehead.

  “Could the magistrate please ask Matthias Elidon about the Justinian Emerald he stole from Lucia Delsarte, and from me?” de Graaf asked. Remy sat bolt upright. Matthias let out a groan.

  “Matthias, can you answer? Are you able to speak once more before this assembled court?”

  Matthias rose to his feet, assisted by Sister Amelia, who had yet to leave his side. “Yes. I stole it from de Graaf’s quarters on the Leeuwin. I only stole the emerald and left the rest of the necklace. I had attempted to swipe the piece at a ball, but de Graaf intercepted me then. Only, at that time, I had no idea what it was. I merely thought it was pretty and expensive, and I could have used the money. Later, though, I pursued the piece at the insistence of Remy Elidon as payment for my acceptance back into the Elidon name. Regrettably I don’t have the emerald, but there’s a good chance Remy has it stashed at the Elidon Manor. I stole it just after setting the fires, while in De Graaf’s care. I searched Captain de Graaf’s cabin, snapped the emerald off the necklace, and turned myself in to my father’s care. I regret betraying my client and lover. In hindsight, I should have refused. De Graaf has been nothing but kind.”

  Remy leapt to his feet. “That emerald was my wife’s! To see it on the neck of a Delsarte, a Delsarte harlot no less, cozying up to the Immortals—I was setting things right. It belongs to me. It’s all I have left.”

  Matthias turned to face his father without a trace of fear on his face. He stared down Remy, a palpable rage in the younger Elidon’s eyes.

  “I’ll take that from you, then. You deserve nothing. I give permission as an Elidon to search the premises for the emerald, so it may be returned to its rightful owner,” Matthias replied. “You can have your name back when I get the emerald. I’ll relinquish any claim to the Elidon name if you give up the emerald.”

  Johannes de Graaf rose to stand next to Matthias. “I’ll take Matthias under my watch with the Eventides, and if you could kindly find the emerald, my esteemed client is eagerly awaiting its return.”

  The City Council room burst into another round of murmuring as the magistrate pondered the facts presented to her.

  “Without witnesses and evidence, I hesitate to make a call. We’ll reconvene in two nights, in consideration of the captain’s night-hours. Lord Elidon, I suggest you retain a legal aide. Matthias Elidon, you’ll be in the custody of Johannes de Graaf and the Eventides as they see fit. Where is the Leeuwin now?”

  “She’s at my estate outside the city, Magistrate,” Delsarte said, coming quickly to his feet. “Not more than an hour’s flight, I would imagine.” He glanced at de Graaf, who nodded.

  “De Graaf, summon the Leeuwin here. I’ll grant her access to the docks, and the Leeuwin will remain in port until I sign clearances for departure.” The magistrate doled out directions, barely looking in de Graaf’s direction.

  De Graaf pulled in a deep breath and tensed, and as he breathed out, he relaxed once more. “Thank you, Magistrate. My ship will be here by midday tomorrow.”

  * * *

  Lucia ran to her father’s side as the meeting adjourned. “I got the letter Mother wrote. I missed you so much, but it was the adventure of a lifetime. I want more.”

  Duke Delsarte and his wife embraced their daughter tightly. “We missed you. We need to talk some things out, and you can tell us of your trip.”

  “Go, reunite with your family,” de Graaf said. He stepped back as the Delsartes talked excitedly.

  * * *

  Lucia beckoned Johannes over after a few minutes. “You’re part of this. Come on. They missed you, too.”

  “I do have to find rooms before sunrise and get a message to the Estate,” de Graaf said as he joined the Delsartes.

  Edith Delsarte gestured de Graaf over. “Stay at the manor. The inns aren’t a safe place. Your ship is hours out. We have a guest room.”

  “Thank you, Madame. I’ll be a model guest.” De Graaf smiled as the two of them came to a silent understanding.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 23

  The next evening, de Graaf’s growing circle settled into the crew lounge aboard the Leeuwin. Delsarte, his wife and daughter, Sister Amelia, and de Graaf tucked into the food and drink the ship’s cook set before them. Matthias joined them, though he barely picked at his food. He didn’t speak.

  “Thank you, Johannes, for seeing to Lucia’s safety. I was beside myself with worry when she couldn’t get through the cordon.” Lucia’s mother broke the awkward silence. “I hated to cause such an imposition. At least that’s a thing of the past. Now that Remy claims he’s ‘cleansed the city,’ he’s allowed for movement to the docks again—only ocean ships, the Sources and Consorts fled on the NightShips, the ones who survived. We lost several Immortals in his purge, and most of the Sources fled rather than join the Eventides.”

  De Graaf smiled. “It was no imposition at all. We had a lovely journey, with a stopover in Paris each way. I have to do the run again to bring the emerald to the Buyer, to be rightly united with the necklace from whence it came. Lucia’s welcome aboard any time, as are you. You’re honored guests.”

  “Leaving again so soon, Lucia?” Edith Delsarte asked.

  “I’d like to go. I saw incredible libraries and museums, packed full of wonder. I went sightseeing in Paris with Marit. I think it might be wise for me to get away from here for a while. ‘Til things quiet down. Please?” Lucia offered hopefully, casting pleading eyes at her parents.

  Duke Delsarte stared down at his cup of tea and slumped his shoulders, relieved or perhaps fatigued.

  “We may have to relocate my business interests as it is. The damage to the city’s reputation remains to be assessed. The longer the blockade runs, the more we’ll simply be ignored as a port of call. Putting distance between us and Remy is also a very appealing option. I was considering it before the whole disaster, and maybe the fates have spoken. Further south, closer to the major shipping hubs. Remy may have done us a favor in his clueless way,” Duke Delsarte said, breaking the news.

  Lucia’s jaw dropped for a second. “Well. What of Amelia? I don’t want you to be here all alone.”

  “I may transfer to an Order closer to you. Change is good for the soul. While you were away, your father let me in on this idea of his, and I do like working with the Sources. Sorry, we’d hoped to discuss it before you got dashed away on the Leeuwin,” Amelia replied before turning to de Graaf. “Captain, I think it’s best if Matthias goes to a cabin to rest.”

  “Marit can show you to a spare cabin. One moment.” De Graaf rose and left the Delsartes at the table to assist Marit and Amelia.

  “I really would like to sail further. We stopped at the most amazing libraries and museums packed full of artifacts
, and I was able to peruse them briefly before we sailed on. It was everything I studied at University come to life,” Lucia restated her case, hoping against hope.

  Edith Delsarte glanced at her husband. “And you and de Graaf?”

  Lucia pursed her lips. “There’s something to discuss there, as well.”

  “We’ll see,” Duke Delsarte said. “No one is going anywhere for a few days, at least. Not until the court is settled.”

  Lucia returned to her suite in the Delsarte mansion. She paced around the room, contemplating what she might pack for further travel with de Graaf. A knot tightened in her stomach at the idea of not setting sail with her lover and his crew. There was no doubt in Lucia’s mind what she wanted—she longed to return to the Leeuwin and cast off the lines.

  * * *

  Two nights later, the full Council reconvened. Once again, the city’s magistrate took her place at the head of the room and rapped her gavel for order. The dull roar of the audience subsided, albeit slowly. Lucia took a quick look around the room. Marinport’s council chamber was absolutely packed to capacity. Spectators stood in the aisles of the viewing gallery when the seats filled up. Lucia glanced up at the faces pressed against every window. The outcome of this meeting would be known across town shortly after it had happened, but the echoes would be felt for generations to come.

  “Now then, ladies and gentlemen of the Council,” the magistrate said. Her voice rang sonorously over the crowd, stilling any remaining whispers. “Two days ago, some very serious charges were brought before this Council in a rather dramatic fashion. I’ve gone over my notes and the statements from witnesses. May I speak with Sister Amelia of the Eventide Order?”

  Amelia stood, clasping her hands in front of her blue and yellow robes. “Yes, Magistrate?”

  “You’ve been nominated to represent the Eventide Order in these proceedings, is that correct?”