Deceptions (Ascendant Book 3)

by Craig Alanson

  Paedris was taken aback. He could not argue with the logic of the man’s argument, but he had considered the possibility that no ship captain would accept a risky charter, and he had a plan. “I will buy your ship, then.” Paedris offered.

  Mwazo grabbed the other wizard’s arm and pulled Paedris close to whisper “Buy his ship? We can’t afford to buy a ship.”

  “We don’t have to,” Paedris patted his friend’s hand. “The royal factor will buy it for us.”

  “You are sure of that?”

  “I am sure that we have little choice.” He raised his voice. “Your ship is the Lady Hildegard? She is in good condition?” Paedris had viewed the ship through a spyglass that morning; the Hildegard was riding at anchor near the mouth of the harbor. From shore, he could see her sails were neatly furled, her yardarms square, rigging taut and any painted areas freshly attended to. That only told him what his landlubber’s eye could see of the ship’s exterior, at a distance. Rumor in the port held the Hildegard was a good ship, well maintained by her remaining crew. Some sailors in the town, bitter about being stuck ashore with no prospects for paying work, laughed that the Lady Hildegard was too well maintained; that her crew were wasting their time as their ship slowly rotted at anchor from disuse.

  “Good condition, aye,” Reed sat up straighter in his chair as he spoke, throwing his shoulders back with pride. “She will have a mild coating of weed on her bottom by now, I’ll not lie to you, but less than any other ship in the harbor.” The ship’s bottom had been thoroughly scraped in the South Isles before her last voyage, and Reed knew the other ships in the harbor had been swinging idly at anchor for months while barnacles, weeds and other denizens of the sea took root on their hulls.”

  “That is not good. We will need speed for our voyage,” Paedris declared.

  “This harbor has no careenage,” Reed said, then at the potential customer’s raised eyebrow, he explained. “A place where the ship can be run aground and heeled over so her bottom can be scraped. This is a good harbor because the water is deep. I need a shallow, sandy beach to careen the ship.”

  “Is there anything you can do here?” Paedris inquired, knowing nothing of ocean-going ships.

  Reed rubbed the back of his neck. “I can heel her over somewhat in the harbor, get the sides near the waterline. Then we can pass a line under her bottom, work in front to back,” he used landlubber terms for his customer. “That will remove the worst of it. Most of it.” He was not looking forward to such a complicated operation. And his crew would not look forward to the hard work. On the other hand, he reflected, the hard work would keep the crew busy. And preparing the ship to go back to sea would be good for the crew’s morale.

  Maybe he should clean his ship’s hull whether he reached a deal with the mysterious customer or not. A ship ready for sea at a moment’s notice was likely to get any business available in the harbor, if there was any business available. Reed was still surprised by the wizard’s offer. “You really want to buy my ship?”

  “I am willing to buy your ship, since you refuse to charter her to me, under my terms. If she survives to return, then you can have her free and clear again, as your property.”

  Reed and Alfonze shared a look. While it sounded like a tremendously good deal on the surface, it was too good a deal. Both sailors knew such generous terms meant their customer did not expect the good ship to be coming back from wherever they wished to take her. Alfonze leaned toward his captain to speak quietly. “You’ve had the Hildegard for years, Captain. She’s family to you. Would you really sell her?”

  “You think she is happy laying at anchor, while her timbers slowly fall victim to dry rot? Better she goes out of this world doing the work she loves.” Turning back to the customer, Reed asked for a price. The two men haggled while their companions sat silent, observing.

  “I must say, Captain,” Paedris softly hit the table with a fist in frustration. “You ask a very dear price for a ship with no other prospect of employment.” He knew even the royal factor in the port had a limit to the amount of credit he could extend, for the finances of Tarador were already stretched to the limit by the war.

  “And you, sir, offer salvage prices for a seaworthy ship.”

  “Her seaworthiness means nothing if she is fated to sink at anchor,” Paedris noted.

  “She will be at sea again soon enough, when this war is over,” Reed answered hotly, insulted by the lowball offer for his beloved ship. “I’ll not have you put her on the bottom of the ocean without just compensation.”

  “This war will end with our defeat,” the other customer said in a low voice, speaking aloud for the first time, “if we fail in our mission.”

  That remark made Captain Reed lean forward and look more closely at the two customers. He gasped. “You are- you are Lord Salva! And you must be,” he searched his memory for rumors he had heard since returning from the South Isles. With a snap of his fingers, he announced “Lord Mwazo,” after seeing the dark skin of the other wizard’s hands.

  “You are remarkably casual about meeting a pair of powerful wizards,” Paedris said unhappily.

  “It is not every day the court wizard of Tarador asks for my help,” Reed’s bravado was belied by his body tensing in the chair. “Now I see why you wished to meet here.”

  “We require discretion,” Paedris explained. “As my friend, as Lord Mwazo said, our mission is of the utmost importance.”

  “But the Royal Army has just won a tremendous victory,” Reed protested. Rumor had it wizards were vital to Tarador’s success in that battle, he would not insult the court wizard by mentioning that rumor.

  Lord Salva shook his head sadly. “Only a temporary halt to the enemy’s inevitable advance into Tarador, I fear. True victory in this war will not be achieved by the Royal Army.” At his side, Lord Mwazo removed his hood and nodded. “There you have it, then,” Paedris held his hands out in a gesture of supplication. “Lord Mwazo and I have a mission vital to the war effort, and it is possible your ship will not be returning.”

  “Your ship,” Reed corrected the wizard. “She will be yours, if we can agree on a price.” He leaned over and whispered something to Alfonze, and the two sailors had a quiet but animated discussion. “Lord Salva,” Reed cleared his throat. “You say Tarador is in mortal danger?” That ran contrary to rumors in the port town, where confidence was finally returning after news of the smashing victory at the Kaltzen Pass. Many beached sailors were beginning to hope of going to sea again, though knowing it might still take much time before merchants were willing to risk their cargoes in waters still menaced by pirates. A victory on land did not always imply success at sea.

  “Yes. Tarador, the world, has never been in greater danger than now,” Paedris hoped the vehemence of his words would help persuade the reluctant sea captain to part with his precious ship. “Do you think Lord Mwazo and I would undertake a hazardous journey, if we were not truly desperate? This is our last hope, for survival of Tarador.”

  “You are a businessman, Captain Reed,” Mwazo leaned forward, jutting out his chin. “Think on this: if we purchase your good ship, and Lord Salva and I succeed, you will have coins in your pocket and can buy a new ship. If you refuse to sell your ship and we cannot continue our journey, all the ships in the harbor will be worth nothing because Tarador will fall. Viewed purely as a business proposition, if you prefer, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by dealing with us.”

  “Aha,” Reed was not yet convinced. “The coins you pay for my ship will not buy a new ship for me if you succeed, for restoring seagoing commerce will cause prices to increase. And a dead man cannot spend coins, no matter how heavily they lay in his pockets. Please tell me, Your Lordships, what will happen to us if we do not agree to your terms?”

  Paedris sat back in his chair, beginning to relax. Captain Reed would not have asked that question, unless he had made up his mind what to do. Mwazo rubbed a thumb on the table, in a gesture the two wizards had p
lanned. “We will choose another ship. A ship not as good as yours, not as swift. Our mission will be placed at risk, and Tarador will be less likely to survive. And your pockets will be lighter, while your ship swings idly at anchor.”

  “No, Lord Salva, I meant,” he pointed a finger to his chest, then Alfonze. “What will happen to us if we refuse to sell our ship to you?”

  “Oh,” Paedris sometimes forgot that most people he dealt with were not wizards. “You will, forget this conversation,” he said simply, with a nod to Cecil. “You must understand, we cannot risk the enemy learning we intend to journey by sea, so your memories will be adjusted. It is painless and will not damage you permanently, I assure you.”

  “Such assurance is not necessary, Paedris,” Mwazo declared quietly. “Captain Reed has decided to sell his ship to us, and not only as a business transaction. He wants to make a difference in the war.”

  “How do you know that?” Reed demanded.

  “Because,” Paedris noted the captain did not deny what Mwazo had said, “we are after all, wizards, you know.”

  The negotiation went on for only another quarter hour before wizards and merchant captain agreed on a price for the ship, most of the sticking points were about what items could be taken off the ship, and what items needed to remain aboard for the voyage. Storm canvas and anchors could be removed, to lighten the ship. Reed was free to sell such unneeded equipment separately from the price of the ship, to sweeten the deal for him.

  “We are agreed then,” Paedris expressed relief.

  “Yes,” Reed nodded. “Lord Salva, I suggest you come aboard the, your, ship in the morning, where we can discuss details.”

  “Details? What, details such as?”

  “For one, master wizard, you now have a ship.” Reed looked to Alfonze and the two experienced sailors shared a smile. “You will need a crew.”

  After the sailors left the room, the two wizards sat silently for a moment, each lost in his own thoughts. Paedris slowly sipped wine while he wondered and worried about Madame Chu, who was slipping across the Fasse into enemy territory again to stir up trouble. She had barely recovered from her ordeal of lending Paedris her power to pull down the Gates of the Mountains, and Paedris had wanted Wing to accompany the crown princess back to the capital city, where Wing would hopefully be far from the fighting and relatively safe. Instead, because she knew that with Paedris and Cecil headed for the sea, she was the most powerful wizard available to the Royal Army, she was placing herself in great danger. And Paedris felt his heart going with her. While they had recovered in the Royal Army hospital tent near the Kaltzen Pass, the two wizards had time to speak privately, a rare opportunity they each had been seeking since fate had brought them back together. Words were whispered, fingers lingered interlaced as they held hands across the space between their hospital cots. Promises were made, promises neither of them expected to be kept, because keeping such promises required a hope for the future they were both too wise to indulge in.

  “You are thinking of Wing,” Cecil said quietly, refilling his friend’s wine goblet.

  Paedris looked at the other wizard sharply. “You were reading my-”

  “No,” Cecil replied with a shrug.

  “Oh,” Paedris felt shame he had accused Cecil of invading his privacy without permission. “Am I that obvious?”

  “No one gets that look on their face unless they are thinking of someone they love very much,” Cecil stated softly. “Paedris, is it wise to, to-” he searched for a kind way to speak his mind.

  “To think of her, to dream a life with Wing, when neither of us expect to live long enough to see each other again? Yes, Cecil. Especially now, it is important to imagine a better future, to give us hope.” He raised his wine glass for a toast. “To Wing, wherever she is now.”

  Cecil raised his glass and drank, thinking to himself that Paedris could contact Madame Chu if he wished, although doing so took considerable energy, and the two of them might want privacy.

  He drained the last of the small wine bottle into his own goblet and swirled the liquid as he had seen Paedris do. Lord Mwazo was not a wine expert like his friend, but he knew what he liked, and the wine was excellent. Perhaps Lord Salva was right. Perhaps, now, with defeat almost certain and death inevitable, now was the best of all times to enjoy and appreciate the pleasures of life. Wine. Friendship. Love. Even a love doomed by circumstance.

  Paedris returned the discussion to a less intimate subject. “Tell me, Cecil, how were you able to sway the good captain’s mind so quickly? I did not detect a spell being cast. Are my powers slipping?” He asked only half-jokingly.

  “Your powers are unmatched, but I did nothing, I didn’t have to. Captain Reed is a man of honor; he fears for Tarador and wishes to do something other than watch his ship rot at anchor. Paedris,” Cecil said with a faraway look as he sipped the last drops of wine, “did we just buy a ship?”

  “Yes,” Paedris enjoyed a chance to smile. “I think we did. I intended no more than a charter, but as we both know this will be a one-way voyage for the ship, I feel better being honest about it. Besides, legally we are not buying anything. The royal government is purchasing the Lady Hildegard, so she will technically be owned by the sovereign.”

  “Interesting,” Cecil chuckled. “Princess Ariana bought a ship she will never see.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Captain Reed sent a boat to collect the two wizards, for he trusted the men he hand-picked to row the boat, and did not want rumors of wizards coming aboard his ship. If the wizards hired a boat from the port, they would certainly be recognized, for the disguises they chose were laughable. Reed arranged for his boat to meet the wizards at an empty warehouse that stood atop pilings reaching out over the harbor. The boat went under the warehouse, where the two wizards were able to walk down stairs and board the boat unseen. With the port languishing dormant for months, any activity was sure to attract attention, and the boat picking up two people and rowing hard for the Hildegard had many people on shore peering through glasses to see what was going on. As the pair of wizards had donned hooded cloaks when they climbed unsteadily into the boat, the curiosity of people ashore would have to remain unsatisfied.

  Reed should not have been surprised that both wizards climbed nimbly up the ropes to the ship’s deck, although neither of them appeared to have enjoyed the boat’s passage across waves that were being tossed by a freshening wind blowing straight from the sea. “Are you well, Lord Salva?” Reed asked while suppressing the grin he was feeling inside.

  “I have never enjoyed sea voyages,” Paedris admitted, breathing deeply to quell his rebellious stomach. Though there were spells and potions to cope with seasickness, Paedris did not wish to appear so weak as to need magical assistance simply to travel out into the harbor. He looked over Reed’s shoulder to the open sea beyond the harbor’s mouth, where foaming whitecaps were crashing against each other. “I will be fine. Where can we talk, Captain?”

  “Come to the, well, I guess now it is your cabin,” that time Reed did allow himself a grin. He led the wizards below deck to the owner’s cabin, which was located in the stern next to his own cabin. As it had been many years since the Lady Hildegard had an owner aboard who was not also her captain, the owner’s cabin had long been converted into two smaller cabins for senior ship’s officers. Reed had the cabin’s partitions torn out to restore the space to its original spaciousness, which still felt cramped to the wizards. The cabin did have a skylight to let sunlight and a fresh breeze into the enclosed space, and windows spanned the rear wall. The tall Lord Mwazo had to be careful not to knock his head on a large wooden beam that cut across the cabins’ ceiling, but otherwise he was pleased enough with the cabin. After all, he and Paedris did not intend to be aboard the ship for a long voyage.

  Sitting down at a table, Reed poured wine for the wizards. “Your Lordships, we can speak safely here. You now own the ship,” he patted a chest pocket, in which he had the official papers th
at had been delivered only shortly before the wizards boarded the ship’s boat. How the wizards had gotten the official royal factor to move so quickly must have been magic, or a miracle. It was only within the past hour that the Lady Hildegard officially belonged to the royal government; a late-night message from Paedris to the royal factor in the port town had been returned with a disbelieving note. Even considering the bargain price of the ship, the royal factor was flabbergasted he was being asked to use precious wartime royal treasury funds to buy a merchant ship, when the harbor was fairly choked with ships slowly rotting because ships were useless during the piracy crisis.

  Lord Salva’s reply note, written early that morning in language more polite than he wanted, made it clear the royal factor was not being requested to purchase a ship, he was being ordered to purchase a ship, and if the man wished to discuss the matter further with the immensely powerful wizard he should take a boat out to the Lady Hildegard and continue the conversation face to face.

  The factor’s next note stated funds from the royal treasury were being made available immediately, and ownership of the Hildegard would be transferred to the royal government by the end of the morning. And that it was not necessary for the court wizard to trouble himself thinking about the royal factor at all. Please.

  “Where are we bound for?” Reed asked over a sip of wine. Drinking wine so early was unusual, but so was the situation. Offering tea to the wizards would not do for such a special occasion. “I must know in order to staff and provision the ship.”

  “Have you guessed?” Paedris asked while sipping the surprisingly good wine.

  “Guessed? Why would you want me to guess?” Reed did not understand the point of the master wizard’s question.

  The sailor Alfonze tilted his head and had a thoughtful expression, so Paedris gestured for him to speak. “Because if we can guess the wizards’ intentions, others who are less friendly can also guess where you are going?”