Perilous Travels (The Southern Continent Series Book 2)

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Where are you taking us then?” Grange asked.

  “There’s a little valley across this hill, and there are a lot of houses there. We’ll go to a clifftop that looks across the valley. You should reach most of them from there,” the man told them.

  The walk took just five minutes more, and the trio stopped at a large stone shelf that was forty feet above the level of the valley floor. Grange looked out and saw a dozen and a half hovels scattered about.

  “How many people live on the island?” Grange asked.

  “There’s no good count. I’d say three or four score,” the guard told him.

  “So this isn’t all of them?” Grange asked to confirm what seemed likely.

  “This may be half, if they’re all here,” the guard agreed. “I’m going back to the dock. Come back when you’re ready; just follow this path.”

  The guard left them, and Grange and Grace looked out at the homes scattered among the trees. “How well can you use your wand to make our voices carry?” Grange asked. “Could you cover the whole island?”

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t know how big it is. But I can spread our voice farther than this valley, easily,” she added. She reached for her familiar wand, and muttered her incantation, then touched the wand to her throat and Grange’s flute.

  “Let’s do a love song to start,” Grace suggested, as Grange rolled his eyes.

  They began with a ballad, then performed a dance tune. As they did, Grange saw faces peering from windows and doorways, though no one came out into the open.

  “Tell them we’re here at the Queen’s request, and we’ll put on a performance for them,” Grange asked Grace to explain.

  She gave an artful explanation of their music and their foreign roots, without discussing the healing aspect, other than to call their music magical.

  The duo performed two Kilau songs, then a song from Palmland. As they did, people began to come out into the open, leaving their homes and assembling in a small clearing close to the bottom of the rise where Grace and Grange stood.

  Grange shuddered with compassion at the sight of the people who lived on the island. Most were discolored or disfigured, and Grace began to weep as she sang. She leaned against Grange and turned her head against his chest as her voice was magically projected out towards the audience for song after song after song.

  “That’s our last song, but perhaps,” Grace finally told the audience. She turned and looked up at Grange, who knew what she wanted to say, and nodded in agreement. “We’ll hope to come back to sing to you again within the next few days.”

  She pulled her wand out and touched it to her throat, then to Grange’s flute, then she walked rapidly up the trail as a smattering of applause rose from the valley floor.

  Grange followed after her, and found her vomiting at the base of a tree, one hand propped against the trunk to steady herself. He rubbed his hand comfortingly along her spine and across her shoulders until she stood and wiped her mouth.

  “Those poor people,” she said.

  “We’re going to make it better for them,” he promised. He placed his arm around her shoulder and together they walked back down the hill to the dock, where their boat waited.

  “We’ll come back here in a few days,” Grange told the guard who watched them enter the boat, then watched the boat push away from the island.

  The trip back to the city was silent. “That island is a depressing place,” their guide said, the only words that were spoken until the rowers were navigating through the harbor and talking about their strokes.

  Grange and Grace thanked them and the guide, then left the harbor and returned to the embassy, where they spoke to Bartar.

  “You didn’t tell us what the disease is like,” Grace said accusingly.

  “I don’t know what it’s like. I just know the palace wanted you to visit it to demonstrate your healing talents. I’m told that an aunt from the queen’s childhood is quarantined on the island, so Her Majesty has a particular and personal interest in knowing if your magical music can really cure listeners,” the Palmland nobleman said.

  “We already agreed we want to go back soon, to perform again. It’s not an easy place to make our music work for the lepers,” Grange told him.

  “If your music does show that it can work even on the worst disease known in Kilau,” Bartar began.

  “It will work,” Grace said fervently.

  “Then we will have demonstrated our value very favorably to the Queen, and we’ll be better able to carry out our negotiations over trade. Her minister has already shown a more receptive face just because of the music you played at the dance the other night,” Bartar said. “And if Grange is as close to the newly returned duchess as it seems, we’ll have another negotiating advantage.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Grange muttered low under his breath.

  “Do you have anything scheduled for us this evening?” Grace asked. “If not, Astel and I are going to visit a few parties.”

  “There’s nothing on the schedule tonight, but tomorrow there’s a reception at the home of an important trader, Asloe, and we should all go to it,” Bartar said.

  “I met his daughter, Asper, at the palace dance,” Grange exclaimed. “She was there with her grandfather. Her father didn’t go to the dance.”

  “He is not considered to be a friend to our cause; I’ve learned he has his own trading arrangement that serves him quite well without us becoming competitors,” Bartar explained. “We need to develop a relationship with him.”

  “It sounds like Grange is the perfect one to do that,” Grace grinned maliciously.

  “Well, all of you go off and have fun tonight, and we’ll plan to talk more tomorrow before we go out. If those two are going to parties, I assume you’ll go back and do more work at your armory?” Bartar asked Grange.

  “I’m going to stop by there,” Grange carefully hedged.

  The two wizards left Bartar and went up to their respective rooms, and soon after, they each left the embassy to go their own ways. Grange watched from the roof as Astel and Grace left. He changed into another new outfit of clothing he had found waiting in his room, one with green and white colors, then he left a few minutes later, on his way to the armory to meet Jadie and Casey for his first night of exploring the parties of Kilau.

  The two young women were waiting impatiently for him at the armory. “We were ready to leave,” Casey told him with a crooked smile, “but Jadie said we ought to wait just five minutes more.”

  “Now that you’re here, let’s get going,” Jadie said. Without further comment, she took his hand and began to tug him down the street.

  “Where are we going?” Grange asked.

  “Three places,” Casey answered. “We’re going to dinner at my home, because my family doesn’t believe I’ve met a light-skinned foreigner, and they want to see what you look like,” the girl laughed.

  Her family provided to be prosperous business people who owned a comfortable house. Grange was treated respectfully and was questioned a great deal about his life in Palmland, as well as his life in Waters End. Casey’s brother joined the trio, as they left after the light dinner and rode a rented carriage towards the further of the two parties.

  “We can walk back to the other party on the way home,” Jadie explained.

  The first stop was a large estate home in the less densely settled suburbs of the city, just as the sun began to descend towards the horizon.

  The mansion had a formal ball room, where a quintet played music to dance by, as several couples enjoyed themselves doing just that.

  “Come and dance with me Grange,” Casey tugged on his arm. “You move so fluidly with your sword – let me see how you move to the music.”

  Grange grinned at the girl, as her brother and Jadie moved ahead of the pair to the dance floor, then he allowed her to take him out to the open space and join the movement of couples around the perimeter of the room. The dance steps were unfamili
ar, and Grange focused intently on his feet, Casey’s feet, and the feet of the other men who were dancing, as he tried to grasp the rhythm of the dance.

  When the song ended he quickly stepped away from the dance floor.

  “Come back Grange – you did wonderfully out there,” Casey implored him.

  The first notes of the next song began.

  “This is a slow dance; won’t you dance with me, please?” she pleaded. She looked him in the eyes, then placed her hands on either side of his face. “Grange,” she begged, “my old boyfriend is watching us, and I want him to know that I can go out with other men. I want him to think that someone as exotic as you would dance with me.”

  “You want to make him jealous?” Grange asked. He liked the girl, and wanted to do a favor for her – she had a sense of humor, and she was attractive. She had been a good competitor at the armory early in the morning.

  “If that’s what you want,” he gently grasped her hands with his, lowering them from his cheeks and held on to them as he walked onto the dance floor with her. The other couples were embracing in intimate hugs as they danced, and Grange gave a jump as Casey’s hands circled around his waist and began to drop.

  “Go ahead and squeeze me,” she whispered in his ear. “Corne will be jealous. He used to say this was our song.”

  “Is he wearing a red robe and a green hat?” Grange whispered in reply.

  “Yes. How did you know?” she murmured as they flowed with the other dancers, moving at the slowest of speeds with their bodies pressed against one another.

  “He’s walking directly towards us,” Grange answered. He rotated their positions so that she could see the man striding towards them.

  “Kiss me,” Casey said.

  “What?” Grange asked in shocked disbelief.

  He felt her hands slide up his back, then press against the back of his head, bringing their lips together.

  “Casey! Stop it, please! You’re making a spectacle,” a man’s voice was behind Grange, who raised his head.

  “Grange! What are you doing? Who is this?” he was even more startled to hear another voice call from off to the side.

  He turned to find Astel watching him, holding two cups of some beverage, and then he turned further to see the man in the red robe standing nearby with an angry, sour expression on his face.

  “Casey, you’re better than this,” the man said, then added in a very low voice, “especially to this song. Come talk to me, please.”

  She removed her hands from Grange, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t go far; I might need you again,” she told him.

  “Who is that, Grange?” Astel asked as he came over to Grange.

  “She’s someone I met at the armory,” Grange answered.

  “You can pick up girls at the armory?” Astel asked, impressed.

  Grange looked over at where Casey and Corne were talking intensely with one another. “Maybe not successfully,” he said wryly. “That’s her old boyfriend.”

  Jadie and Casey’s brother finished their dance and came over to join the pair on the periphery of the dance floor.

  “Who’s this, Grange? Another foreigner?” Jadie asked.

  Grange made introductions among the others, just before Grace joined the group.

  “I wondered what was keeping you, Astel,” she said as she accepted the cup he handed her. “Grange, what happened to going to the armory?” she asked slyly.

  “Oh, we met at the armory,” Jadie said innocently. “Twice today and yesterday too, of course.”

  Grace cocked her head in surprise, as Casey left Corne and returned to the gathering. She slipped next to Grange and gently tugged his arm.

  “We missed that dance, but let’s have another one, can we?” she asked.

  Grange saw Grace’s raised eyebrow at the bold proposition. “Yes, I’ve been waiting,” Grange smiled, and the two of them slipped away from the others.

  They stood out on the floor as the first notes of the next song began.

  “I know this song,” Grange spoke to himself more than to the pretty young lady he was with.

  “Everyone does – oh, but you’re not from here are you? How do you know it?” Casey asked as they started to move.

  “I played it at several engagements at Waters End – that’s the village I lived in for a few weeks before coming here,” Grange explained.

  “Played – what do you mean?” the girl asked.

  “I know how to play a flute, and when I got to the village they didn’t have a musician, so I played their music for them while I was there,” he told her.

  “And you know how to play this song? I want to hear you play it!” she wheedled him, as her golden, light brown eyes sparkled.

  “I didn’t bring my flute with me,” Grange protested. “But tomorrow morning I’ll play for you, after practice. How would that work?”

  “Morning practice? Again?” Casey laughed. “You must think you’re pretty special to make us get up early two days in a row!”

  “I can hardly wait to see if you’ll go three!” he grinned back, and they laughed and chatted as they circled the room to the band’s notes.

  When the song ended, they found Jadie standing alone. “Your friends from Palmland went off,” she told Grange, “and your brother left to dance with a prettier girl he knows,” she said accusingly to Casey.

  “We should just go to the other party then,” Casey proposed. The three accordingly floated out of the mansion and began to walk along the road towards the center of the city.

  “Does this happen often, going out to several parties at night?” Grange asked his companions.

  “This is a slow night,” Jadie answered.

  “We’re only going to two tonight,” Casey added.

  “Everyone goes out to parties at night – everyone except you, apparently,” Jadie said.

  “And us,” Casey added. “We’re going to have to curtail our fun if he keeps expecting us to practice swords at the crack of dawn!”

  “I thought he’d skip morning practice tomorrow since we’ve got him out tonight,” Jadie protested.

  “No, he says he’s going to practice and play music for us tomorrow. He’s a musician!” Casey told her friend.

  “You’re telling me that the man who must sleep with his sword by his side also is a musician?” Jadie asked with feigned shock.

  “He claims he is,” Casey answered.

  “You just need to be at the armory tomorrow at the crack of dawn to find out,” Grange told them.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to get up so early, but I just can’t wait that long,” Jadie told him. “Can’t you play for us tonight?”

  “I don’t have my flute with me,” Grange said.

  “What if we go back to your home and you can play for us there?” Casey suggested.

  “But what about your parties?” Grange asked, certain that the girls were not serious.

  “We can stop in at Sangel’s party on the way to say hello, then walk right out,” Casey answered promptly, with Jadie in agreement.

  They walked for ten minutes to reach the next party, one held in a city townhouse. There was no music and no dancing, only numerous rooms and gardens that were filled with people engaged in conversations. The boisterous conversations often quieted when the two visitors brought the fair-skinned Grange to join any particular group, as the members studied his unconventional appearance. Many had heard of the Palmland delegation in general, but few had heard of Grange in particular, other than those who had been at the dance in the palace when Grange had first arrived.

  He said little, and let his eyes wander among the attendees, hoping to run into Shaylee. He twice thought he spotted her, but found out he was wrong, to his disappointment. He missed both her and her mother. The two women were his connection to the comfortable village he had called home for several weeks, a place that had felt like home. And Shaylee was more than just a reminder; a piece of his heart had been left in her poc
ket he realized, as he longed to see her again.

  When Jadie and Casey led him away from the party, the failure to see Shaylee was the only regret he felt. The atmosphere inside the second party was more gossipy and inquisitive than the first party, in the absence of dancing and music as alternative activities

  They walked through the city to reach the embassy, and Grange led them inside.

  Gats greeted them at the door with a twinkle in his eye at the sight of the two women accompanying Grange.

  “You have guests, my lord?” he asked.

  “We are going to go upstairs so that I can play some music for them,” Grange explained. “They don’t believe I can play the flute.”

  “We’ve all enjoyed hearing your music, my lord. I’m sure the ladies will as well,” Gats said. “Watch the steps in the dark,” he warned, looking up at where there were only a pair of candles burning at the second floor staircase.

  Grange thought momentarily about using his wizard abilities to form glowing lights, then dismissed the prospect. The girls would only see it as showing off, he decided, or they might be intimidated.

  They climbed up to the second floor, then to the third. As they started towards the fourth floor, Jadie called out.

  “Where are you taking us, to the roof?” she asked.

  “Actually,” Grange grinned in the dim light, “I am going to take you to the roof. It’s the best place in the house at night, with the stars overhead and the city spread out all around,” he told them enthusiastically. “I sleep up there.”

  The two girls stopped two steps below Grange. “Are you serious?” Casey asked.

  “I think he’s serious!” Jadie replied.

  “Who goes on roofs?” Jadie asked.

  “Grange does, apparently,” Casey answered. “Does anything about him surprise you anymore?”

  “Just come up and listen and have fun,” Grange said. “It’s safe,” he reassured them.

  The girls looked at each other, then stepped up the remaining steps to the third floor landing.

  “Just one more floor,” Grange encouraged them, and he led them up to the top of the building, and into his room.