Kingmaker (The Dragon Corsairs)

by Margaret Weis

  “Armed with such weapons, our ships will be invincible,” said Grimm, regarding the king with unbounded admiration.

  “Let us hope so. What do you have to report?” Ullr asked with an air of nonchalance.

  “Our own forces, which Smythe so obligingly hires as mercenaries, are now established in Fort Upton, Port Fahey, Glenham Castle, Kerrington, and the naval base at Whithaven, as well as the palace. They await only your signal to attack their Freyan comrades and officers and take control.”

  “Excellent,” said Ullr. “In this pouch you will find your orders in regard to Wellinsport.”

  “The Freyans paying for their own destruction, an ingenious plan, sir, as I have said before.” Grimm took the pouch and tucked it into his coat. “I commend you.”

  Ullr smiled again, appreciative of the compliment. “You will, of course, destroy these documents once you have read them. And now, if there is nothing more—”

  “There is something more, sir,” said Grimm. “Smythe has arrested His Grace, Phillip Masterson, and locked him in Offdom Tower. Is Your Majesty aware that this duke works as an agent for Sir Henry Wallace?”

  “What of it?” Ullr asked contemptuously. “The duke is, as you say, locked up in Offdom Tower and Wallace is dead.”

  “His death cannot be confirmed, sir,” Grimm warned.

  “He has vanished. You yourself said you could not find him,” said Ullr.

  “The very fact that I cannot find him concerns me, sir,” Grimm said insistently. “And if Wallace is dead, his agent is very much alive. The duke is said to be close to King Thomas, who heeds his advice. Even behind bars, Masterson remains a threat.”

  Ullr shrugged. “Then remove him. The prison guards are loyal Guundarans. They will assist you. How do you plan to go about it?”

  The baron reflected. “Masterson once foiled a delicate plot of mine and very nearly got me killed. I know of a remarkable poison that can be slipped into his wine. Masterson will linger in agony for days and die a most excruciatingly painful death. I owe him that.”

  “As you will,” said Ullr. “But do not kill him until after you have returned from the Aligoes. The king might become suspicious, and I want nothing to interfere with our plans to invade Freya.”

  Thomas gave an audible gasp.

  Baron Grimm glanced around, frowning. “Did you hear something, sir?”

  Thomas froze, afraid to breathe.

  “A log broke apart in the fireplace,” said Ullr. “You are unaccountably jumpy these days, Baron.”

  “One does not plot an invasion every day, sir,” said the baron. “Have you decided on a date, sir?”

  “Hallen Day, which celebrates a notable Freyan naval victory over the Rosians. All Freya will be observing the holiday, most notably the navy. I hear the young king plans a grand naval review. Crowds will gather at the docks, the navy’s ships will be on display.…”

  Baron Grimm chuckled. “What is it the Freyans say? Something about sitting ducks in a barrel?”

  King Ullr smiled and downed his drink.

  Thomas could not stand to hear any more. He was enraged and appalled by what he had heard already and he did not trust himself to stand by quietly and listen to them plot to invade his country and murder his friend. He switched on the dark lantern, but the light did little good, for he was half-blind with fury. He stumbled and groped his way down the hall until he fetched up against the door to the closet.

  Tasting blood in his mouth, he realized he had bitten through his lip, and he pressed his forehead against the cold stone, drew in deep breaths until he felt calmer. He shuddered with dread when he considered how close he had come to refusing to spy on Ullr out of some misguided sense of honor.

  Thomas remained in the darkness of the passage until he had stopped shaking with rage. He returned to his chamber and, once inside, poured a brandy with a trembling hand and drank it in a gulp.

  He had two immediate concerns: saving his country and saving Phillip. He could not rid himself of the terrible image of his friend drinking poison, falling horribly ill, and dying in agony.

  He couldn’t allow Phillip to remain there another moment, and he made up his mind to go immediately to the tower to order the guards to free his friend, when he finally listened to the voice of reason shouting in his head.

  The guards were loyal Guundarans—that is, they were loyal to Guundar, not to him. They would probably refuse to obey him and then hasten to report to King Ullr or Smythe or both. Ullr would wonder how Thomas had found out about the plot to kill Phillip and he would have his suite of rooms searched and discover the holes in the eyes of the portrait. Thomas’s ability to spy on him would come to an end, and he needed to know more about Ullr’s plans to invade Freya and seize Wellinsport.

  “Pip warned me about him. The countess warned me,” said Thomas. “Ullr hardly speaks of me, and when he does it is to dismiss me as nothing but a callow, feckless youth. Which is precisely what I am!”

  He drank another brandy and turned his thoughts to the other alarming information he had gathered: a black ship armed with a green-beam gun was going to attack the Dragon Brigade. And Ullr was refitting five of his ships with more green-beam guns.

  “I should tell someone, warn someone. I should send someone to do something!” Thomas said, frustrated.

  You need Henry, Sir Richard had once told him. Phillip had told him the same thing.

  “Wallace is no friend to me, but I don’t need a friend,” Thomas reflected. “I need someone who has the knowledge, the means, and the ability to help me save Phillip and our country.”

  The question was, how to reach Henry Wallace? According to the baron, the spymaster had vanished.

  Thomas retrieved the newspaper with the Captain Kate story from its hiding place in the desk and reread the sentence that spoke about Jennings.

  “‘Captain Kate can use Jennings to send a message to her friends.’”

  Her friends had to include Wallace.

  Thomas had no choice. He would now have to trust Jennings—trust him with his life and the lives of his people.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Kate had never been one to sit idle. As a little girl, she had sailed the world on board her father’s ship, calling no one place home. Each new day had brought her a fresh adventure.

  After her father’s death, Kate’s life as a wrecker in the Aligoes had been difficult and dangerous, but it had suited her restless nature. When she was not salvaging wrecked cargo, she was flying with Dalgren or refitting her ship, serving drinks at the Perky Parrot or dodging Greenstreet’s henchmen.

  During rare moments of peace and quiet, she had dreamed of joining the Dragon Brigade or making her fortune as a privateer and restoring her childhood home, Barwich Manor, to its former glory. She had eagerly risen from her bed every morning with myriad dreams and schemes in her head.

  This morning she rose from her bed in Amelia’s house with her head filled with plans and schemes to free Phillip and rescue Thomas. Or rather, she was filled with hopes of freeing Phillip and rescuing Thomas. As yet, she and Sophia had not formed a viable plan.

  Amelia had tried without success to find out what had become of Sir Henry. She had contacted her underworld sources, made the rounds of the hospitals, and even been so bold as to inquire at his house.

  He had apparently vanished.

  “We have no choice,” Amelia said to Kate and Sophia. “We must let His Majesty know that we have abandoned the plan to sneak into the palace.”

  Kate and Sophia exchanged glances.

  “You promised us to wait until tomorrow morning, Miss Amelia,” said Kate.

  Amelia eyed the two of them. “You young ladies are up to something. Very well. A promise is words engraved upon the soul, as Mrs. Ridgeway often taught us.”

  That morning, when Amelia shut herself up in her office to write, Kate and Sophia sat down at the kitchen table to work on their plan, disappointing Bandit, who had thought they were going to eat. />
  “We know how to sneak into the palace,” said Kate. “We know the secret door to the secret passage.”

  “But I am not sure we could find our way around once we are inside the passages,” said Sophia. “We took an awful lot of twists and turns.”

  “I have been thinking. Perhaps we won’t need to use the passages,” said Kate. “We still have the maids’ uniforms. The palace employs hundreds of maids. Odds are no one would notice us. Once we are inside, you know where to find the Rose Room.”

  Sophia was dubious. “I’m not certain—”

  Kate ignored her protest. “You know. So here’s my plan. I came up with it last night. We will send a message in Amelia’s next story to Thomas, telling him we will meet him in the Rose Room. He will take us to Offdom Tower where we will set Pip free. We will meet Dalgren on the palace grounds and he will fly all four of us to Barwich Manor. We will be safe there until we can find a way to leave Freya.”

  “Oh, Kate,” said Sophia, regarding her unhappily.

  Kate sighed and ran her hand through her curls. “You think I am being silly and impractical, although you are too polite to tell me. None of this will work. It’s nothing but a dream.”

  “Fight for your dreams,” said Sophia unexpectedly.

  Kate looked at her, startled.

  “You told me that Stephano de Guichen said that to you when you were a little girl,” Sophia explained. “Maybe we should fight, find a way to make this work—”

  They were interrupted by Bandit, who let out a yelp, leaped to his feet, and raced out of the kitchen. They could hear him in the entry hall, barking wildly. The next moment, a knock sounded on the door.

  “Sir Henry!” Kate exclaimed.

  She jumped up so fast, her skirt caught in the chair and swept it over. Sophia hurried out into the hall, calling for Amelia, who had also heard Bandit and was running out of her office.

  The person was still knocking. Bandit was jumping at the door, scratching at it with his paws. Kate was about to yank it open, when she remembered that they were housing a fugitive.

  “Sophia! Bandit! Kitchen!” Kate ordered.

  Sophia caught hold of the dog and ran back to the kitchen.

  “Look out the window first,” said Amelia, arriving breathlessly.

  Kate went to one of the two narrow windows that stood on either side of the door. She parted the curtain to peep outside.

  “Oh, my God. It’s a Freyan army officer! Warn Sophia—” Kate stopped, looked more closely, then gave a relieved sigh. “No! Wait! I know this man. It’s Corporal Jennings!”

  She flung open the door.

  “Corporal! Thank God, you are alive! Please, come inside.”

  “I am very much alive,” said Jennings, mystified. “Did you think I was dead?”

  “We heard a pistol shot after you helped us escape and we feared the worst,” Kate explained.

  Jennings smiled. “Fortunately, I managed to survive my encounter with the notorious Captain Kate, though I fear I did make the false claim that you shot me, Captain.”

  Kate laughed and introduced Amelia, who advanced to shake hands.

  “Welcome, sir,” said Amelia. “I want to add my thanks for saving Kate and Sophia. They are both very dear to me. Come into the kitchen, have some tea.”

  “Thank you, no, ma’am,” said the corporal. “This is not a social call. My time is limited. His Majesty sent me with a message for Sir Henry Wallace. Can you tell me where to find him? The matter is of extreme urgency.”

  Kate and Amelia looked at each other in concern.

  “We would be glad to, sir, but we ourselves do not know where to find Sir Henry,” Amelia replied. “The day before yesterday, his secretary, Mr. Sloan, came to tell us that His Lordship had met with an accident.”

  Jennings was dismayed. “You have no idea how to reach Sir Henry?”

  “I have no idea if Sir Henry is even still alive,” said Amelia gravely. “What message do you carry from the king?”

  Jennings appeared uncertain about delivering it, but he didn’t seem to know what else to do. “His Majesty has discovered that an agent of King Ullr’s, Baron Rupert Grimm, is planning to murder King Thomas’s friend, Phillip Masterson. King Ullr also intends—”

  Sophia gasped. “Phillip! Oh, dear God! No!” She had heard Kate say Jennings’ name and come out to see what was going on. Hearing the news, she paled and dropped Bandit, who landed on the floor with an indignant yelp. Jennings was distressed.

  “Forgive me, Your Highness,” he said, bowing. “I did not mean for you to overhear.”

  “Do not worry, my dear,” said Amelia, giving Sophia a reassuring pat on her shoulder. “I know you and Kate have been plotting. I am sure you will think of something. And now, carry on, sir. What else do you know?”

  “His Majesty has acquired the information Sir Henry requested regarding King Ullr and his designs upon our country. His Majesty needs to speak to His Lordship urgently.”

  Amelia sighed and shook her head.

  “We cannot let them murder Phillip!” Sophia said, recovering from her momentary weakness. “Corporal Jennings, you saved our lives. Can’t you do something to free Phillip from prison?”

  “I am sorry, I cannot, ma’am,” said Jennings. “His Majesty has ordered me to travel to Rosia to report what he has learned to the countess. She must speak to King Renaud, do all she can to try to prevent this disastrous war.”

  “And we must do all we can,” said Kate decisively. “How was Sir Henry going to communicate with the king?”

  “An advertisement in the Agony column, Captain,” Jennings replied. “A single word: ‘Yes.’ Sir Henry was to convey his instructions to His Majesty in one of Miss Nettleship’s stories.”

  Kate and Sophia exchanged glances. Kate picked up Bandit, who had been sniffing the corporal’s boots. Sophia gave Jennings her hand.

  “Thank you for coming, Corporal,” she said. “I hope you have a safe journey. Please give the countess my love.”

  Amelia opened the door. “Good-bye, Corporal.”

  “Godspeed,” said Kate.

  Jennings understood perfectly well what they contemplated, and he was appalled. “Your Highness, Captain Kate, I beg of you! Please do not consider taking any action yourselves. Smythe is searching for you! If you return to the palace, you will be in great danger!”

  “You need have no fear for me, sir,” said Sophia. “I was raised by the Countess de Marjolaine.”

  Jennings looked to Amelia for help, but she only shook her head. “You had best be on your way, young man. The journey to Rosia is a long one.”

  Jennings still hesitated, unwilling to leave.

  “You are dismissed, Corporal,” said Sophia with a smile.

  Jennings was forced to retreat. He bowed and Amelia shut the door on him.

  “I will place the ad in the Gazette,” she said. “You two make a fresh pot of tea. We’re going to need it.”

  By that afternoon, they had devised a plan.

  Kate rose early the next morning and went to visit the palace, armed with a sketchbook and a box of pencils. The palace was a popular subject for artists, and no one paid attention to her.

  She approached one of the gardeners, who was wrapping the ornamental fir trees in burlap to stop the deer from eating them.

  “Which of these buildings is Offdom Tower?” Kate asked. “My art teacher has assigned us to do studies of the architecture.”

  The gardener pointed out a building in the interior of the palace compound that stood some distance from the palace itself and looked very dark and forbidding.

  “I am afraid you can’t see much of it from this side of the palace walls, miss,” said the gardener.

  “Is there any way I can get closer?” Kate asked.

  “By getting yourself arrested, miss,” said the gardener with a smirk.

  Kate looked up into the sky. “What a delightful little boat. Is that used for sightseeing?”

  �
��No, miss,” said the gardener, rolling his eyes. “That there is a patrol boat, keeping watch for Rosian scum.”

  “Rosians!” Kate gasped. “Oh, dear! I hope His Majesty is safe from those fiends! How does the boat protect the king when it’s so far away from him?”

  The gardener was pleased to show off his knowledge and happy to take a break from his work. Kate heard all she wanted about the patrol boats, most of which she already knew, for she had investigated them when she had thought she and Dalgren might encounter them.

  She thanked the gardener and left him to go back to his work, then walked about the grounds until she found a vantage point that provided her with a view of the top of the tower. She made a few drawings of the exterior. Noting several windows at the very top, she wondered if those belonged to Phillip’s cell.

  Having seen all she could of Offdom Tower, she noted the numbers of guards placed at the various entrances to the palace and again observed the rounds made by the patrol boats, to make sure nothing in their routine had changed. Kate closed her sketchbook and returned to Amelia’s house to report.

  “There are two boats that take turns guarding the palace. The boat on duty sails in a figure eight formation above the palace grounds. It takes about an hour to make a full sweep of the grounds. Each boat is armed with two eighteen-pound carronades and six swivel guns. The only time the boat lands is when the crew changes shifts, and that is every twelve hours. The boat lands on the roof of the palace.”

  “I feel sorry for those poor sailors,” said Sophia. “I cannot imagine anything more boring, doing the same thing over and over, day and night.”

  “Which means they will be lax in their duties,” said Amelia.