Dragonspeaker Chronicles Box Set

by Patty Jansen

  The man surveyed the ship full of ragtag women with suspicious eyes and then looked at the pursuing ship which burned back in the canal. The smoke hung close to the ground, but the silhouettes of men running from the wreck to another ship were visible.

  “What is this, then?” the estate master asked. His voice sounded as haughty as that of Adalbert Verdonck himself. He turned to Henrik because apparently one could not possibly talk to a woman.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you,” Henrik said. “We’re a group of women, children and a few men who have fled from Saardam, and we are looking for a safe place. We won’t stay long.”

  “Yes, you will be staying long. We will have to clear the canal first.”

  “We can help with that.”

  The man sniffed. “What help are women going to be? Where did you come from anyway? How did you get that ship?”

  A clear female voice said, “I will explain everything.”

  Madame Sabine.

  The man stiffened. His face twisted into a snarl. “I doubt my lord will consider you a welcome guest here.”

  “Did you hear me ask to be your guest?”

  He gave her a hard stare, and she stared back.

  “Is your master home?” Her voice was ice cold.

  “Not yet. I expect him home later today. He will send all of you on your way with your stolen ship, I have no doubt.”

  “Man, have a bit of common decency,” Henrik said. “We’re refugees, mostly women and children. Allow us to stay here while we help you clear the canal.”

  “My master will have the final word about that.”

  “Let’s wait for that, then.” Under his breath, Henrik said, “No matter how stuck up Adalbert is, he’s twice the human being you are.”

  Nellie stifled a chuckle.

  The man said nothing further, and Gisele and Koby put out the gangplank, ignoring him while he looked on from the shore.

  The flames of the ship in the canal were dying because the wreckage sank further and further into the water. It was clear that the pursuers had fled in another vessel.

  So they didn’t like getting close to the Verdonck estate, huh?

  Because the women had planned for a longer journey, there was plenty of food aboard the ship. Agatha and Mina suggested that they cook a meal, and Nellie walked along the deck to collect firewood.

  The men on the jetty left.

  “That won’t be the last we’ve seen of them,” Henrik said. “The old Verdonck had a habit of employing obstinate, distrusting characters. They travelled with him, but whenever he was at the palace, they would never come inside.”

  “As it turned out, they had good reasons,” Madame Sabine said, referring to her lover’s poisoning.

  Maybe, but Nellie wasn’t comfortable discussing it any further with Madame Sabine present. It became ever clearer that she had been working for someone else or in some other capacity. Was she her husband’s victim, or evil in disguise? It was hard to tell.

  For the next while, they busied themselves with cooking the midday meal and looking after the weakest and the ill. Jantien’s children were well behaved and carried bowls of Agatha’s thick soup to everyone and then back to the kitchen for cleaning. Standing at the door to the galley, Nellie did a quick headcount. Not including Yolande the shopkeeper, who had not reacted well to imprisonment and being dunked in the harbour and was coughing, they numbered thirty-four. Wim was also not well, but at least he was out of bed, if looking old and frail.

  Brother Martinus, the monk who had accidentally come on the journey, had ensconced himself in the study room.

  Nellie met with Gisele and Henrik on the top deck after they finished eating. Gisele had found a map of this section of the river in the wheelhouse. She spread it out over the bench.

  She pointed. “This is where we are.”

  They weren’t far from the corner called the Bend, where the water flowed faster, where the river was a little narrower than other places and where, when the water was low, one could cross on a horse that was a strong swimmer.

  Lord Verdonck’s estate was marked on the map with all its orchards, two driveways and several sheds and staff houses. Apparently, a road from the other side of the estate led to the main road to the city. It went through an area of forest and more buildings on the other side.

  “What are these?” Nellie asked.

  “A nunnery,” Gisele said. “They have extensive farms and they sell their produce to the traders who come past on the road. They’re not far from the road, as you can see.”

  Nellie knew little about the villages that were on the road, other than that some of them had tolls for people to pass through and maintained the roads in return. She knew that people complained about the tolls a lot, and that Lord Verdonck’s estate had something to do with it.

  She had never heard of the nunnery, but that wasn’t surprising. The church was run by men, and if the monks were poor, the nuns were even worse off. The most important function they had was to look after fallen girls who had illegitimate children or other problems that caused the parents to put them in the nunnery, or no parents at all.

  “The estate is quite big,” Gisele said.

  Yes, Lord Verdonck was considered one of the rich citizens of the country. “So, what are we going to do? I don’t think we can stay here.”

  “That will depend on the lord’s mood, I guess,” Gisele said.

  “I don’t think we should stay here,” Henrik said. “Adalbert will not rest until he has found out who poisoned his father. If he doesn’t get any answers that satisfy him, he will demand that his loans to the Regent be repaid, or he’ll withhold his produce. He could starve the city if he wanted to. This estate is going to be the focus of a lot of attention and violence. I don’t think we want to be in the middle of all that. As far as I’ve seen, we’re nowhere near strong enough to undertake any kind of plan, and we need to be safe for the winter so we can gather strength.”

  Nellie said, “But if guards are on the river, then we can’t keep going, and I don’t want to go up the Rede River because no one there can help us.”

  “I was thinking we might offer to work as farmhands.”

  “But we know nothing about farming.”

  “We have a good number of healthy workers.”

  “Who wants women to work on their farms? If there is even any work, because it’s winter.”

  Gisele said, “The nuns won’t mind that we’re mostly women.”

  Nellie looked at Gisele. She hadn’t considered that, and it made perfect sense.

  She was about to say something, when she heard the clop-clop of a horse’s hooves and a man said, “Hello.”

  While they had been talking, the man had come down the path from the house. This time, Nellie recognised the young Lord Verdonck.

  “Well met, my Lord,” she said.

  He narrowed his eyes and squinted up at her on the deck of the ship. “Aren’t you the same maid who came into our room at the palace?”

  “I am.”

  He gave a dry chuckle. “The one accused of killing my father.”

  Nellie shuddered. “I thought they were blaming the dragon.”

  “Yes, but failing a dragon, a maid will do. You made the most daring escape from the city. With the monks’ boat, too.” Did he sound bemused?

  “We have all the refugees here, my Lord, but we ran into some problems, and we came in here.”

  He snorted. “Call the problems by their names. Pirates. Filthy, uncivilised, murdering, raping pirates. Never travel upriver from here alone.”

  His eyes went to another part of the ship, and his face turned dark. “What is she doing here?”

  Madame Sabine had come to the deck. She stood with her chin in the air.

  “Her husband was going to drown her.”

  “Good riddance. The cheating harlot.”

  “Adalbert, my dear, always so welcoming,” Madame Sabine said.

  “If there is anyone I hold resp
onsible for the death of my father, it’s you and that husband of yours. Cheating two-timers. These people are welcome to stay here.” He made a gesture at the boat. “But you are not. In fact, I want you to remove all your rubbish from my sheds, or I will burn it.”

  “You wouldn’t dare. You know how much your father invested in it. He’d be rolling in his grave.”

  “My father was a good man, but his delusion about you knew no boundaries.”

  Nellie said, “Please, all we ask is to be allowed to be moored here for a short time until we can clear the canal, and then we will leave.”

  “Hmph. Where will you go?”

  “I have family in Stellem.”

  “That’s around The Bend. I can’t allow you to go there. There are rogues all along that stretch of the river. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I’d sent you into trouble.” Madame Sabine was obviously another matter. “I don’t want to leave any of this group behind. We’re few enough as it is. We risked our lives to rescue these people from certain death and it wouldn’t be right to abandon them.” That included Madame Sabine.

  He snorted. “Hmph.” And then he said nothing for a while and snorted again. “Very well. You can use the barn.”

  “Thank you very much,” Nellie said.

  She expected a protest from Madame Sabine, but none came.

  He continued, “But I still want her gone as soon as possible. I will look for other options, and I also want to see both of you at the house for dinner.”

  “Me?” Nellie met Henrik’s eyes. “Us?”

  “You heard me. I’ll send my housekeeper. Be ready.”

  He turned around and made his way back to the house with one of the guards, while he left the other to show Nellie to the barn.

  Nellie watched him with a feeling of astonishment. “Why would he want to see me? I’m not a noble lady.”

  “Why do you always talk yourself down?”

  “It’s true. I’m just a kitchen maid. Why would he want to see me?”

  “You have a lot of experience and what you’ve done is astonishing. He would be stupid not to want to talk with you. In the city, with all the other nobles, people have their own groups of influence. In the country, anyone can be a friend or an enemy, and you have to make sure you know where everyone stands.”

  True, but it still disturbed her. She didn’t like to be put in a position where she had to speak for other people.

  Nellie and Henrik went with the guard to the barn, a building visible from the deck of the ship. They walked along a tree-lined lane with fallow fields on both sides. The guard said that, in summer, the estate would grow wheat and barley here.

  Barn was too humble a word for the solid stone building at the end of the lane. It didn’t look like any animals had ever slept there, but instead it was a building for storing hay and other produce. Bales of raw wool lay stacked in the main room, and one of the smaller rooms in the building held a weaving loom and two spinning wheels.

  The guard told them that the estate kept sheep and goats for shearing, and a few of the workers’ wives would spin wool and weave fabrics.

  Nellie was reminded that this was possibly the richest family outside the city, and from the way the man spoke, it was clear that people were proud to be part of it.

  The space where they could sleep was dry and comfortable. It held a small stove used by the weavers, hay to sleep in and a rainwater barrel outside.

  Nellie said they could cook aboard the ship, but the guard showed them into another room which had a complete kitchen with rows of tables. A stack of wood lay next to the fireplace, pots and pans stood on the shelves, spoons hung on a rack above the stove and shelves contained jars and pots with stoppers of the type Dora used in the kitchen for sugar and salt.

  “The fruit-pickers use this room in autumn,” the man said. “You should still find some of their supplies on the shelves. They haven’t been gone long.”

  “Thank you so much,” Nellie said again, and she meant it.

  He left, and Nellie and Henrik walked back along the lane to the ship.

  “Do you know what his disagreement is with Madame Sabine?” Nellie asked.

  “They don’t like each other,” Henrik said. “That’s all I know.”

  “I’d like to know if there is a reason other than that they don’t get along. What’s this ‘stuff’ he was talking about that he was going to burn?”

  Henrik shrugged. “At the palace, she spent a lot of time in her room and going out after dark. The guards told each other lots of rumours about what she did, but none of them were ever proven true.”

  Ever since she had gone into Madame Sabine’s room, Nellie had wondered where Madame Sabine stood and what her motivation was for stealing the dragon. She had never asked, because it was not her place and because she wouldn’t have trusted the answer. But the time was coming when she would need to know. She didn’t look forward to the discussion.

  Chapter 4

  BACK AT THE SHIP, Nellie and Henrik told the women to collect everything they needed and come with them to the barn.

  Nellie kept a close eye on Madame Sabine. She didn’t know what to think anymore. From any other noblewoman, she would have expected a protest, but again it didn’t come.

  Madame Sabine simply collected what meagre possessions she still had and then went to the kitchen to ask Agatha whether she needed to carry anything. Agatha gave her a stack of bowls, with the words, “I don’t know if there is enough kitchenware.”

  Agatha then raised her eyebrows at Nellie while Madame Sabine left the kitchen. She mouthed, What’s up with her?

  Strangely, Nellie had the feeling that Agatha was happier if Madame Sabine made silly demands and argued with her.

  They walked from the ship along the lane in a long file. Some children had been asleep and were cranky at having been woken up to brave the cold air.

  The day had turned overcast and dreary. Everyone was tired. It could just be that no one had energy to argue because they realised they’d gone from one difficult situation to the next. Nellie wanted to speak to Madame Sabine, but people kept asking her questions.

  First, Gisele wanted to know what the guard had said. “Did he want us to work for accommodation?” she asked.

  “He didn’t say. I said we would stay for a few days. It seems he doesn’t want us to stay at the estate while his father’s former lover is in our group. And I’m not sure if she is worth our protection.”

  “Madame Sabine has been quite good at hiding her real identity. She is not your average noblewoman.”

  “I figured as much. Have you known her long?”

  “Known of her, yes, but I don’t know much about her. She keeps her history private. I will tell you the few things I do know.”

  “You’ve known her for a while through the Science Guild, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, but even there she rarely talks about her history or anything that might let us know about her family or other activities. She says she comes to the meetings because she wants to foster business, but it’s a particular type of business she’s after.”

  “That would be magical business?”

  “No, but something fairly close to it. Let me start at the beginning. This is what I know to be true: Madame Sabine is a cousin of the Lurezian king. Her mother was cast out from the royal family when she left her husband. This is very much frowned upon in the Belaman Church, but he was a cheater. Even after she had confronted him with evidence several times, he did not mend his ways. In that particular marriage, her mother was also the most powerful one. Her husband had come from a minor noble family who had sought to marry up. But in marrying Madame Sabine’s mother, the man had not bargained for her strong personality and her interests.”

  “I am guessing it is these interests that all this is about?”

  “That is correct. Her mother was interested in the sciences. Madame Sabine is interested in ways to make people fly.”

  Nellie laughed. “People can
’t fly. They are not birds.” Unless they’re sitting on top of a dragon.

  “I know, but the time of people trying to fly by jumping off mountains with wings strapped to their arms is over. Many people now make a giant structure called a balloon out of fabric, fill it with hot air or gas and tie a basket to the bottom. Those will fly short distances. They will fly further once all the problems with keeping the hot air inside the bladder have been solved.”

  “I’ve never heard of that. Have you seen this?”

  “I have, once. I was with the monks at the wedding of Prince Pascal of Lurezia. He’s the king’s youngest son, a lout and miscreant.”

  “Like Casper?” Nellie said. She had never heard of Prince Pascal.

  “Much worse, because he’s older. Anyway, he likes extravagant things, so the king had invited a group of balloonists to show their flight. They took off and almost landed in the palace pond. Everyone was so drunk that they all tried to get into the basket, and a big brawl started because one of the guests said that the flying balloon was trickery. The problem is that this type of thing is not yet very reliable, and one of the reasons that Madame Sabine comes to the Science Guild is to find ways to make these balloons fly in the direction we want them to go. She’s interested in everything the men report, and often asks them to come and work for her later.”

  Nellie now realised something else. Madame Sabine had been interested in the dragon not because he was magic, but because he could fly. “But whatever is the use of flying? It’s a frivolous thing for the rich people to spend their money on, but why spend so much effort on it?”

  Gisele shook her head. “Not so frivolous. A part of the Lurezian army is looking at building these balloons. That way they can fly over an enemy city or a camp and drop things on them from the air where arrows can’t reach them.”

  By the Triune.

  Nellie felt cold. Part of why she had been so disturbed by Madame Sabine’s actions was that she had never looked like a noblewoman with refined ways. Madame Sabine had always reminded her of a soldier.

  She was a soldier. She was a Lurezian spy.