The Dagger of Trust

by Chris Willrich

  "What about you?"

  "Don't worry about us, Gideon!" Viridia called. "We'll board that ship if we have to! But if we fall, you have to carry on."

  "What am I supposed to tell Ozrif?"

  "Tell him I'll always be looking out for him, Gideon."

  "There's no time for this!" said Sebastian. "Gideon, you must use your voice. Not just your bardic voice, but your Andoren voice. Find your love for this country, for I know it's still there. Let it light your words. Sway the people of Bellis. Tell them you'll take command, and that they needn't fear abandonment in this emergency. Taldor will take care of them!"

  "What?!" Merrigail said.

  "You understand me, Gideon. You said it yourself: Andorens love freedom, hating outside control. But they've also rejected self-control. Thus the fog finds them easy prey. You saw it on Hawkslight and you've seen it here in Bellis. You're one of them, but you're different. You've been tempered by the mother civilization. You can take control. I've already sent word to forces up the Verduran Fork. They'll join with the River Guard to secure order here in Bellis."

  "No!" Merrigail yelled. "You speak of invasion!"

  "A temporary measure, Commander! Or would you prefer your people suffer and die?"

  "Cheliax offered us the same choice, years ago! You know our answer."

  Viridia shouted, "And now Cheliax may be attacking again, Merrigail. Taldor is a friend! Don't turn away a friend's help!"

  "Perhaps they're right, Merrigail," Corvine said gently. "Things are out of control here. And we've seen that a bardic voice can sway things. If Gideon is trusted by both Taldans and Andorens..."

  Waxbill was chuckling.

  "It's too neat." Merrigail looked directly at Gideon. "Too tidy. Don't you see? Or perhaps you do. Perhaps you've always been leading us to this point."

  Ghost-images and remembered voices seemed to swirl around Gideon, and not just because of the fog. He thought he glimpsed the bog strider, out of sight amid the bushes by the wharf.

  We have known of you since the fog first afflicted this place ...Since her voice touched you ...

  I sensed herthoughts, Gideon ...don't trust ...

  You really don't know ...you're Taldan government, then ...

  Human motives can be as hidden as shoals and bars beneath the surface of a river ...Take care you do not trust appearances ...

  And a twin of Captain Tambour whose face is covered in scars, and who wears a cape formed of fog. At his side stands a spectral elven woman who rather resembles him ...

  The lullaby the frothers sang. My mother used to sing it ...

  It's my business to know things ...your fog encounter as a child, losing your own brother ...

  I wasn't strong enough to protect what I loved. So now I protect Taldor instead ...

  "I've always known you have great potential, Gideon!" Sebastian was saying. "This is your moment! The fates of Taldor and Andoran ride on your shoulders! Your voice can make history!"

  "But not because of me!" Gideon shouted back. "Not because of me at all! Because of the fog. Because I've always been linked to the fog. That's why you recruited me. That's why you've taken me here. You're the puppetmaster."

  Sebastian was silent. Viridia stared at him.

  "But it's more than that," Gideon went on, following the river of intuition to its end. "Somehow this is your doing, and your family's! You know too much about what happened in my childhood. You hinted it was your Lion Blade resources that gave you that information. But you learned it from someone close to you. You recognized the frothers' lullaby."

  Gideon heard it in his memory, as he had aboard the Mendevian ship.

  Moon and stars are gathered bright

  At the coming of the night.

  "But the voice that haunts me, the voice of the fog—it sings the same tune." He recalled the voice he'd heard near the stone bridge in Bellis:

  Frost and fate are gathered here

  At the turning of the year.

  "I know a lot of tunes, Sebastian. I've never heard that one anywhere but on the crusader ship—and from the fog. Your mother sang it to you, you said. The voice I hear in my head—it's her, isn't it?"

  It wouldn't have held up in an Andoren court. It was all supposition, intuition. But Gideon could tell his words struck deep.

  "Is this true, Sebastian?" Corvine demanded.

  "It's true," Merrigail said. "Gideon speaks true. I see it in the captain's face—"

  "It didn't have to be this way." Sebastian's voice had lost its fire, gone winter-bleak. "Events kept spiraling out of control. Xeritian's meddling. Gideon's investigation. Merrigail. The fog itself, always yanking the leash like a mad dog. Killing my crew and driving us to this confrontation. I tried to keep you on board..."

  "Oh, Sebastian," Corvine said.

  "If things had gone by the original plan, I could have involved Gideon at the right time, when everything was ready. He'd have been forced to see the logic of it. Everyone would have. But it seems only I can save Taldor. So be it."

  "Sebastian!" Gideon called. "Whatever it is you've gotten yourself into, you can turn away from it. You have friends."

  "Friends?" Sebastian's laugh was bitter. "Do you think the Lion Blades will forgive this little unauthorized operation? Dominicus Rell? No, there's only one way forward."

  "No," Viridia said.

  "I swear," said Sebastian, an icy pride entering his voice, "I swear on my mother's grave that I'll restore Taldor's future. With or without any of you."

  "The future," chuckled Waxbill, sitting cross-legged upon the dock, laughing at fog and flame.

  "Captain?" First Mate Adebeyo was saying. The crew was beginning to gather around Sebastian.

  "Gideon! I've told you the truth. This is your last chance. If you don't sway the mob, it will tear you apart!"

  There was silence on the Sellen, save for the crackling flames.

  Then a voice rose up.

  From the Falls of Norgortha

  To the Aspodells' bright spires

  To the surf by Augustana

  Let our freedom light its fires.

  The voice was Corvine's.

  The crowd released a long sigh, and wavered upon their feet, as something in the patriotic Andoren song reminded them who they were.

  A new voice joined Corvine's from the deck of Riposte—Viridia's.

  From the silent woods of Darkmoon

  To the bells of Oregent

  Hear the song of our free union

  And let no more knees be bent.

  The crowd began to waver and disperse, as if awakening from a dream. The two Taldan women continued singing, and now Merrigail, tears in her eyes, joined them, and Gideon too.

  From the mountains of the Five Kings

  To the southern margin's strand

  To the Andoshen's beginnings

  All the gods have blessed our land.

  The Eagle Knight's voice was rough, but Gideon thought he heard in Merrigail's tones both love of country and perhaps the sorrow of loving unwisely. It was a combination worthy of a bard. Those of Riposte's crew on the pier began humming, though they did not share the words.

  I will wander it forever

  From Triela to Aspo Bay

  I will honor freedom's splendor

  I will wander because I may.

  The people of Bellis wandered from the wharf in a daze, the song on their lips. There was still froth, still muttering, still a sense of violence ready to break free. But for now it was quiescent.

  "There's your union between Taldor and Andoran!" Gideon called out, and his words were for more than Sebastian's ears. "A union of peace and good cheer!"

  "Captain Tambour," called out Adebeyo, his voice sad but resolute. "It's my duty to arrest you on the charge of treason. Mister Grizzendell, shackle the captain."

  "I have a higher duty, Adebeyo—all of you!" Sebastian's voice had recovered some of its earlier fire. "Taldor is doomed to decline, unless someone makes a bold stro
ke. Join me, and instead of privateers, history will judge you heroes!"

  There was silence from Sebastian's crew.

  Adebeyo said, "May the gods have mercy on you, sir. You're under arrest. Mister Grizzendell—"

  "And on us all." Sebastian bowed his head, looking the model of proud acquiescence.

  Thus the violence that followed took his crew by surprise.

  With a snarl, he drew his cutlass, in the process knocking Viridia overboard. He slashed at Adebeyo, who reeled backward, and jabbed at Grizzendell, who'd tried and failed to rescue Viridia, and now dangled at the edge himself.

  The peg-legged sailor Favian bravely rushed Sebastian, only to be cut down by Bosun Zethril.

  Beside Gideon, Tyndron growled in rage.

  As the melee commenced, the ghost ship resumed battle, spreading fire all over Riposte, launching skeletons among the demoralized crew.

  Gideon couldn't use the sound-blast spell, for it might strike down those aboard Riposte who were loyal to Taldor—as opposed to Sebastian's vision for Taldor. But it occurred to him the spell for manipulating rope operated at an absurdly long range.

  "Haul Away for Arcadia" on his mind, he ordered a line to trip Sebastian.

  It worked, to a degree. Sebastian failed to run Adebeyo through. Zethril was forced to defend the captain rather than finish off Grizzendell.

  "Zethril!" Corvine yelled, and Gideon recognized her spell for banishing hostile magic.

  The elf looked up, startled, then laughed and cut down the one-eyed sailor Jarin, who'd attempted a running tackle.

  "He has no enchantment upon him, that one," said Tyndron, his hand trembling upon his sword's hilt. "Zethril's been a bad sort from the beginning."

  "Viridia!" Merrigail reminded them. "Her leg was injured. She might drown!"

  "I'll help her," Gideon said, and dove in.

  It was perhaps a foolish gesture, but Gideon's emotions churned crazily within him. Storm outside, storm inside. He'd lost enough friends already; Viridia would not be another one.

  In the end, he was almost the one who needed rescuing. A blazing mast fell nearby. He dove underwater and emerged to see Riposte entirely ablaze, its remaining sails shooting flames high up into the night. Gideon's body shivered from the river even as his face stung from the blaze.

  Sebastian Tambour now perched upon Demonwake, or what Gideon's eyes still insisted was the ghost ship. He saw nothing of Captain Crookwing, but Zethril stood beside Sebastian.

  So did the image of Desdimira.

  "And so it ends!" Sebastian called to the shore. "I expect no forgiveness. Farewell!"

  Demonwake was devoured by the bank of greenish fog.

  "Viridia!" Gideon searched frantically and didn't see her. But he did notice Quartermaster Grizzendell woozily gripping the burning mast beside him. He got hold of the gnome and began kicking toward the pier. "Viridia!"

  "I have her," came a chirping voice.

  Gideon looked to his right and saw the bog strider walking upon the water, some combination of enchantment and lightweight build letting it behave as a much smaller insect. Viridia was unconscious in its arms.

  "She is breathing. Do not fear."

  "Get ashore!" called out Adebeyo from elsewhere in the dark. Somehow the first mate had survived battle and shipwreck. Cold anger coiled within his voice. "There's bloody work ahead."

  The fog vanished, and Sebastian's new command with it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Intermission (with Monsters)

  Bellis's citizens had returned, this time not with murderous intent but with a thousand questions. Merrigail held them off as best she could, while the bog strider stood a stone's throw away on the surface of the waters, ready to flee.

  "What's happened?"

  "Who are you?"

  "Why's Mister Waxbill with you?"

  To that last, Merrigail said, "He's assisting us with our investigation."

  Some brought blankets and spare clothes for Gideon, Viridia, Adebeyo, and Grizzendell. Others set out in boats searching for more survivors of Riposte's destruction.

  There were none.

  Corvine gave her healing draught to Viridia, and soon the exhausted dancer was looking more her usual self, though full of grim resolve.

  "He betrayed us." Viridia's eyes flickered with the flames that still sent sparks over the Sellen, for even a doomed ship takes time to burn. "He betrayed us all."

  "He must not see it that way," Gideon said, staring at the pyre of the ship. "He's always dreamed of restoring Taldor's glory. I just never believed he'd start a war."

  "It can't be him alone, Gideon," Corvine said. "He spoke of reinforcements."

  Gideon made himself say it: "Regardless, Sebastian Tambour is a traitor. He's a danger to two countries that I love. He must be stopped."

  "I'm with you. It's personal."

  Viridia nodded.

  Grizzendell, shivering beneath a blanket, said, "I'll come with you, through the Gate of Aroden, round the Eye of Abendego, and beyond the Horn of Droon if need be. I'll sail down the Styx itself to find Captain Tambour. Let him be a blackguard, a wizard, a bloody privateer, a spy, an assassin—I paid it no mind. But he's slaughtered his own crew, who were loyal. Burned his fine ship that always steered him true. Even a mutineer's better than that. And mutineers hang."

  Adebeyo, his wound freshly bound and draped in an ill-fitting cloak, said, "The quartermaster speaks for me as well. There will be an accounting." He raised a dagger. "This I claimed from the figurehead of Riposte, so that she herself may slay her destroyer. I'm in."

  "And I," said Asta, with her arm yet in a sling.

  "And I," said Dymphna.

  "Aye," said Tyndron.

  The merchant sailors Hammerton and Briar consulted with each other in low tones. They surprised Gideon when Hammerton said, "We're with you," and Briar gave a sharp nod. "If Commander Hannison is," Hammerton added.

  "I am," she said, joining them. "Even if I'm without a command."

  "They're all dead?" Dymphna said, no hope in her voice.

  "Yes. I'm sorry, sailor. Jandor had grown fond of you, too."

  Dymphna's hands shook. "Then I'll not hide this anymore." She pulled from under her black garb an amulet, a golden ankh with a representation of the sun within the loop. "Sarenrae bless the dead. Bless Jandor and Drayper. Bless Jarin and Lunette, Kendrigan and Crallak, Favian and Krypt. Bless those of the River Guard who joined us at Arenway, for to my shame I did not learn all their names. Now, Taldans, arrest me for my religion if you must."

  "I saw and heard nothing," Gideon said.

  "I don't believe we're in Taldor," Viridia said, "are we?"

  "No," said Corvine.

  Adebeyo said, "At any rate, we'll swear to the Grand Prince himself that you prayed to Abadar or Desna just now. Yes?" His crewmates nodded.

  "I'd offer sanctuary," Merrigail said, "but I don't think you'll need it."

  "Thank you," Dymphna said. "All of you."

  "Speaking of sanctuary," Gideon said, "we need to rest. And plan."

  Through all of this, the bog strider had given no sign of hearing. But now it walked back across the waters, until it stood just off the pier.

  "You will come to Tok-Tshka," it said for the second time. "What you landwalkers might call the Evernest. There we will consider."

  "Where is the Evernest?" asked Gideon.

  "It lies in the deep places of the treeweave," said the bog strider, gesturing across the Sellen.

  "Beg pardon," said Grizzendell, "but we've got no ship."

  Merrigail said, "I suppose I can procure a boat."

  In response, a peculiar chirping emitted from the bog strider.

  "Don't know what to say to that," said Grizzendell.

  "I have summoned aid," said the bog strider. "Wait."

  "All right," said Gideon. "We wait. Merrigail, if you can, please procure food, weapons, and traveling gear. I think we're rather poorly supplied at the moment. Corvin
e, you might go with her. You're a good negotiator."

  "I better go, too," said the quartermaster. "It's my job." Grizzendell gave the bog strider a look suggesting he'd also be happy for an excuse to get distance from the bug-person.

  As the supply team departed, Gideon turned to the entity in the water. "I don't wish to call you 'you,' or 'bog strider.' How might we refer to you?"

  The bog strider said, "My kind are the Ses'h. My personal name is Lsst'tok."

  "Lsst'tok?"

  "That is sufficiently correct."

  "Lsst'tok. I know a lot about the peoples of this region. How is it that I know nothing of you?"

  "We are of the places where water and plant intermingle. We know what we know. We do not hunger for more, nor claim the drier or wetter places beyond our ken. It is enough. We see that for other kinds it is different. You war endlessly for prizes we do not understand. So we stay far away from you, close to what belongs to us, and to which we belong."

  "Yet your people know me."

  "It was she who became our seer-queen who found you by the river long ago, who considered killing you and who guarded you instead."

  Gideon shivered. "Why did she consider killing me?"

  "I do not wish to say more here. Soon we will come to the Evernest."

  After a time, Corvine, Grizzendell, and Merrigail returned with full packs. Gideon asked, "When does help arrive?"

  "It is already here. They merely waited until my final signal. Now that you are all gathered..." Lsst'tok chirped.

  In the last dying flames of Riposte, a mass of shadows moved from the Taldan shore onto the surface of the Sellen.

  Gideon Gull considered himself a man of the world, a broad-minded sort able to dwell in any nation, among any race, and deal fairly with all. Chelaxians, Qadirans, dwarves, elves—he kept an open mind about them all, if sometimes a closed purse.

  But the march of fifty Ses'h across the waters was a sight of a different order. The wall of insectile shapes advancing across the Sellen touched something old and deep in his brain, something that could only respond with thoughts like run far away, and kill them with fire.

  "Sweet Desna," Viridia said.

  "Mangy mutts of all the gods," said Grizzendell.