The Larion Senators e-3

by Rob Scott

  Ford gave her a half-hearted embrace in return.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, puzzled.

  ‘Now we need Steven.’

  PELLIA

  Jacrys bunched the blankets beneath his chin and watched as the sun rose over Pellia Harbour and a massive frigate made her way slowly towards a deep-water pier not far from the spy’s waterfront safe house. Two others remained moored on the inlet, and a convoy of flat-bottomed barges were waiting to transfer passengers and cargo ashore. Captain Thadrake, still in uniform, dozed in a chair near the smouldering fire.

  ‘Thadrake!’ Jacrys wheezed, coughing a constellation of crimson droplets onto the bedding.

  ‘Sir?’ Thadrake roused himself, adjusting his tunic as he said, ‘Sorry, sir; I must have drifted off.’

  ‘Of course you drifted off, Captain. It’s not yet dawn and all of Malakasia is sleeping.’

  ‘What can I get you, sir? Some cheese? Or there’s a bit of fruitOh, no, that’s right; you eat only bread and tecan for breakfast. I’ll run down and fetch us a fresh loaf and a couple of warm flagons. I’ll need a bit of copper, though. I spent a bit too much on last night’s dinner.’

  He was halfway to the door when Jacrys found the strength to call him back. ‘None of that, Captain, but come here, if you please,’ he asked.

  Thadrake dragged his chair over beside the cot Jacrys had chosen as his deathbed. ‘What is it, sir?’

  ‘Those ships, the frigates, how long have they been here?’

  ‘They arrived yesterday.’ He sliced a piece of cheese from the remains of the block standing on the little table and nibbled at one corner, then pointed. ‘Those two there have been offloading what looks to be a division of soldiers, I don’t know which corps, but I can find out when I go down for breakfast. They appear to be en route for Welstar Palace, just like the other vessels that have been running upriver since we arrived, sir. These frigates are too big to get to the military encampment so they’ve commandeered anything that floats – every available barge, schooner, even rowboats. I can’t think why Prince Malagon would need another division at the palace, but they’re here.’

  ‘It seems he’s still alive then,’ Jacrys muttered.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Thadrake paused. ‘There were rumours all over Orindale that he had died, or disappeared, maybe been taken prisoner, but from the looks of these curious troop movements the prince is very much alive and well and most likely back home.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Jacrys said, holding a bloodstained cloth near his mouth.

  ‘Anyway,’ Thadrake went on, ‘this frigate coming in must be hauling something other than just troops, because she’s about to tie up – maybe, if she’s come up from the south, from Praga, maybe it’s General Hollis. Who knows? And if they’re from the east, Falkan or Rona, well, it could be anyone. I didn’t hear anything about Prince Malagon calling General Oaklen home, but I’ve been out of touch.’

  Jacrys ignored him, continuing to stare out the window as the wooden giant eased its way alongside the pier. Finally, he whispered, ‘Captain, I need you to do me a favour.’

  ‘Of course, sir.’ Thadrake stood.

  ‘Take the money we have left, along with whatever you can find amongst my personal effects… I would like you to locate my father-’

  ‘Should I bring him here, sir?’

  ‘Don’t interrupt, Captain!’ Jacrys spasmed and started coughing. He rammed the stained kerchief into his mouth and bit down, breathing through his nose, until the shaking stopped. When he removed the cloth, soaked through with blood and phlegm, he repeated, ‘Find my father, give him the money and let him know where he can find me. Keep enough – a silver piece or two – to get yourself back to General Oaklen. Sell the fennaroot, keep whatever you get – consider it a bonus for a job well done.’

  When he was sure Jacrys had finished, he asked, ‘Sir, it may take me several days to locate your father. What if-?’

  ‘I don’t care,’ the spy whispered. ‘I don’t anticipate any meaningful reunion. I want my father, because I want him to give me my rites. He’ll know how and where.’ He paused for a while, then added, ‘Consider yourself dismissed, Captain. I wish you well.’

  It took just a few moments to gather together Jacrys’ scant belongings. Anything else before I go, sir?’ he asked, feeling rather strange about leaving, even though it was a direct order from a superior officer.

  ‘Please.’ The word felt strange on Jacrys’ tongue. ‘Stoke up the fire, and pour me a goblet of that wine we had last night, fill it up right to the brim.’

  Thadrake picked the chunks of wood most likely to burn longest, then passed Jacrys his wine. The dying man cradled the goblet with both hands and watched the frigate, which had tied up at the pier, where it was immediately set upon by a team of stevedores rolling a block-and-tackle crane amidships. A twin-masted ketch, a quick, shallow boat, came alongside and lashed on to the starboard rail. Opening their shallow hold, her crew waited for whatever cargo they were to haul upriver. ‘Must be someone special,’ Jacrys muttered, but Captain Thadrake was already gone.

  ‘Where are you going so early?’ Alen appeared in the open doorway across the hall.

  Hannah whirled. ‘Jesus! You scared me.’ She rested a hand against the wall and willed her heart to stop beating so fast.

  ‘Can’t sleep?’ Alen asked quietly.

  ‘Did you see those ships that came in yesterday?’ Hannah whispered. ‘One of them has finished offloading soldiers and now it’s heading in to the wharf. I want to go down there and see what’s happening.’ She didn’t want to wake Hoyt or Milla. ‘The tide’s about to turn; so unless they’re planning to stay all day, they’ll only be here until they can start upriver. That gives us about half an aven.’

  ‘Hold on a moment,’ he said, ‘and I’ll come along.’

  ‘You don’t have to; I’ll be fine. I just want to-’ She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. ‘Alen, what are you doing awake? It isn’t like you to be up this early.’

  ‘Something’s happening,’ he said, fussing with his clothes, ‘but I’m not sure what it is.’

  ‘Steven?’ Hannah tried to ignore the sudden lurch in her stomach.

  ‘It’s something – or someone, I should say. It’s not like the bark shipments. This is different.’

  ‘Then let’s go. Bring Milla in here with Hoyt; we’ll be back before either of them wakes up.’

  ‘How is he?’ Alen whispered once they’d tucked Milla into Hannah’s bed.

  ‘He needs antibiotics, penicillin or something – this voodoo horse-shit isn’t working.’

  ‘But he’ll sleep for now?’ Alen looked worried. ‘Yes, deeply, and the querlis poultices keep his fever down, at least for a while, anyway.’

  ‘Very well,’ Alen said. ‘Lead the way.’

  ‘This is a big gamble,’ Captain Ford said, ‘and I don’t like it.’ He followed Brexan and Garec through the twisting maze of Pellia’s side-streets; Gilmour trailed behind.

  ‘I agree,’ Garec said, ‘but I don’t think it’s one we can avoid.’ He kept a look-out for morning patrols.

  ‘We need to find a healer, now,’ the captain said for the third or fourth time.

  ‘I understand that,’ Garec replied, also for the third or fourth time, ‘and we will.’ He carried his bow and quivers wrapped in a length of sailcloth, draped over his shoulder, effectively camouflaging the weapons.

  ‘Out here, on the wharf? Come on, Garec, you know as well as I that-’

  Garec stopped and took Ford’s arm, allowing Brexan to push on to the next corner alone. She checked the cross-street then motioned the others forward.

  ‘Captain, right now, they’re both resting,’ Garec said, ‘and they’re both as comfortable as we can make them. Pel and Kellin are with them, and they will stay there until we get back. We watched those frigates closely last night, all night, and none of us saw them unloading cargo; it was all soldiers. Now one of them is making its way to the pier a
nd we have to assume that’s Mark, and we have to assume he has the table with him. We’ll find someplace to sit for a while; I’ll buy you breakfast. We’ll wait a bit, and we’ll watch. If he has the table, we’ll hit him with whatever we can, try to knock him off balance while we steal it, break it, drop it to the bottom of the harbour; I don’t know quite what, but we have to try something – and right now, we have to do it alone.’

  ‘Without Steven.’

  ‘You’ve seen Steven,’ Garec said, trying not to sound as exasperated as he was. ‘He’s in no shape to help us. And from what I understand, if the table is closed, Mark isn’t nearly as powerful.’

  ‘So what exactly do we do? I don’t like confrontations on dry land, Garec; they make me nervous. Why don’t we bring the Morning Star around the marina? She’s no good to us over there; we can take Mark out as soon as he shows his face; you can hit him from two hundred paces and Gilmour can blast that table to shards.’

  ‘Unfortunately for your plan, I think we need the table intact,’ Gilmour said quietly. ‘And as much as I would like us to find a healer and hurry back to the ship, we must first find out what Mark is doing. If he ties up at the pier and makes no move to unload the table, then yes, we need to hit him – who knows what he might do this close to Welstar Palace? He flooded Orindale just to stop us; he might destroy all of Pellia in his attempts to stop us pursuing him upriver. But I don’t think that’ll be the case; I’m betting the next round that he’s bringing it to shore. It’s heavy, so maybe he needs a crane. Maybe he doesn’t want to risk an accident in the water. He’s obviously in a hurry and dropping the table overboard would delay him here for a few days, maybe a Moon.’

  Pale and sweaty, Gilmour looked like a man on a head-on collision course with Fate. Losing Steven had been an unanticipated blow, and Captain Ford worried that the Larion Senator would soon see the rest of his strategy begin to unravel as well. He checked that his knife was loose in its sheath and joined the others as they hurried after Brexan.

  ‘How much further?’ he asked when she was within earshot.

  ‘Not far,’ Brexan said quietly. ‘A few more blocks, and we’ll be back on the river. It’s still early, but the wharf’s going to be busy in just a little while.’

  ‘That’s fine with me,’ Garec said. ‘It’s a lot easier to get lost in a crowd, and we all know the way back to the Morning Star. So if things come apart, don’t wait around, just get back to the ship, as quickly and as quietly as possible.’

  Ford had paid to moor the brig-sloop in a small marina just south of the city wharf. They had been lucky crossing the Welstar River, for most of the Malakasian capital had turned its attention north to Mark’s mini-fleet. With the help of Steven’s camouflage spell, the Morning Star had passed through the barge traffic with little more than a wave from the flat-bottomed river-runners. But now, not sure what the four of them could do against the might of the Larion spell table, Captain Ford wished they had remained onboard; at least there they could escape. His little brig-sloop would easily outrun the prince’s barge fleet and be quickly out of reach of the deep-keeled frigates.

  ‘It’s cold,’ he grumbled aloud.

  Garec looked around. ‘I said I’ll buy you breakfast, just as soon as we get in sight of that fat wooden bitch. I’ll find you a nice tavern and buy you anything you want.’

  ‘I want a healer for Marrin,’ he complained.

  ‘Soon enough, Captain,’ Garec said.

  As if reading their minds, Brexan stopped behind a shipwright’s workshop. ‘There it is,’ she said.

  ‘Excellent work, my dear,’ Gilmour said, moving past her into the road running along the top of the wharf. Here, the city was wide awake, with dockers and stevedores bustling about and customs officers and shipping merchants reviewing manifests and inventory lists. A group of beggars huddled around a small fire someone had kindled on the cobblestones, and a trio of drunken sailors sang, off-colour and out of tune, as they stumbled towards their waiting ship. As the sun rose behind them, it lit up the Falkan frigate, even larger than they had imagined, which creaked and groaned alongside the deep-water pier. A team of workers rolled a wooden block-and-tackle crane out to greet her the moment she was made fast.

  ‘Look at that,’ Captain Ford muttered, ‘there’s a ketch coming up to starboard. Rutting whores, I should have thought of that.’

  ‘Of what?’ Garec whispered. He had been distracted by a Malakasian officer approaching through the early morning mist that hung over the slowly brightening docks. ‘Did you think we could sail up and have them load the table straight into the Morning Star? That’s an interesting thought, my friend, but I’m afraid there are quite enough innovative ways to die out here today without going looking for any others.’

  ‘No, but the ketch answers Gilmour’s question.’

  ‘How’s that?’ Brexan, noticing the officer now, moved into the crowd gathering to watch the great ship take shape in the rising sun. She slouched under her cloak, trying to become invisible.

  ‘What’s with her?’ Ford whispered, then turned to the officer and said, ‘Good morning, Captain. Impressive sight, isn’t she?’

  The Malakasian, a young man, looked around the wharf, then whispered, ‘You lot interested in a bit of fennaroot?’

  ‘Root?’ Captain Ford said, surprised. ‘Thank you, Captain, but no. We don’t get paid until our captain signs the manifest; so for now, fennaroot is a bit out of our price range. We were looking for a decent place to get some breakfast, however.’

  Thadrake frowned. ‘Can’t help, I’m afraid,’ he said curtly, and moved off without giving them another glance.

  Garec watched him go. ‘Well, he seemed nice, didn’t he? You can come back now, Brexan.’

  ‘You all right?’ the captain asked her.

  ‘I know him,’ Brexan whispered. ‘He was the officer leading the searches in Orindale. I don’t know what he’s doing up here.’

  ‘Who cares?’ Garec grimaced. ‘He’s a sour one, anyway. I hope his wife beats him up for wearing her underclothes!’

  Captain Ford laughed for the first time all morning. ‘So are we planning to just stand here all day or can we get some food now?’

  ‘You were telling us how that little ship there-’

  ‘The ketch.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Brexan said, ‘the ketch, then: so how does that answer Gilmour’s question?’

  ‘We may actually be too late.’

  ‘How’s that?’ Garec asked. ‘That crane’s only just rolling in, so they can’t have offloaded the table yet.’

  ‘Right, but we’re at about low tide, and I’m surprised the captain of that beast dared to bring her in here at all.’

  Gilmour said, ‘I’m quite sure Mark is making all the decisions aboard that ship, Captain Ford.’

  ‘All right, so that makes sense, then. With the tide about to turn, he’ll probably move that table onto that little twin-master and ride the incoming water halfway to Welstar Palace.’

  ‘What?’ Garec blanched. ‘So we need to move now! I have to find a place to make a shot, someplace out of sight from the frontage-’

  ‘No,’ Gilmour cut him off, ‘we’re all right. They’re not going to move it yet.’ He had taken a few steps towards the pier and was staring into the frigate’s rigging, where sailors moved to and fro, as confident aloft as they were on the ground.

  ‘How do you know?’ Brexan asked.

  ‘Because Mark knows I’m here.’

  ‘Oh rutters – what do we do? He could be opening the table right now. We’ve got to get out of here, get back to the Morning Star -’ Captain Ford was ready to run; the others looked willing to join him.

  ‘No,’ Gilmour said again, ‘we have some time.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because he’s looking for Steven.’

  ‘So… what then?’ Garec said.

  Gilmour broke from his trance. Grinning, he said, ‘Garec, I think you promised the good capt
ain some breakfast.’

  Captain Ford, suddenly pale, muttered, ‘I’m not sure I’m hungry, thanks.’

  ‘He’s here,’ Redrick whispered. ‘I can smell him, Blackford. I can smell his stench from across the city, but how they survived the tanbak, I haven’t a clue.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Blackford replied, unwilling to say anything else, in case it might cost him his life.

  ‘He’s over there somewhere, on the wharf, probably watching us right now… okay, this is fucking odd: I can’t get a whiff-’ Redrick squinted as the sun crested the rooftops, blinding him. ‘Ah, no matter. He’ll show himself. It’s just a matter of time, and he’ll come. He has to.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Blackford repeated, ‘and in the meantime, sir, is there anything I can do?’

  Redrick hesitated, as if considering his options, then said, ‘Yes, Captain Blackford, I would like the cargo in my cabin prepared for transfer right away. A river-runner will be coming alongside in a few moments. Make certain they lash themselves amidships. When they’re prepared, and the crane is secure, lash on to the crate; then find me. Do not move it without me, Blackford. I want to be ready to sail with the incoming tide. That gives both of us about half an aven. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ The weary officer shook with equal parts fear and cold and exhaustion.

  ‘Until then, I’m going to do a bit of hunting.’ Redrick paused to shout orders to the men preparing the block-and-tackle to transfer the spell table for its journey upriver. Blackford stood on the quarterdeck long enough to see Redrick meander down the gangplank. Then, literally quaking, he summoned what remained of his courage and hurried towards the main cabin. ‘I’ve got to find that stone,’ he whispered to the gods of the Northern Forest. ‘Please, please let it be in there.’

  ‘Which one is he?’ Brexan asked, sipping a welcome mug of hot tecan.

  ‘It’s impossible to say.’ Gilmour peered through the tavern windows. They had got lucky and found a cafe open early for the dock workers. ‘The whole pier is reverberating with Larion magic, and that means the table is still there, somewhere on that ship. But right now I can’t pinpoint Mark, other than to know for certain that he’s here, very close now.’