The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus

by Wigboldy,Donald

  Without much surprise, the man with the ledger looked towards her and could easily tell that the lady was no sailor.

  "You have passengers?" he as much asked as stated the obvious.

  "Just the two," Captain Nywal stated. There was sweat on his forehead due to the unusual amount of prying questions. "They joined at Adeer."

  "And they are from here?" the man questioned looking first at the captain and then over his shoulder at Xerese.

  Captain Nywal frowned and replied, "Not as far as I know. They paid for a ride to here. That's about all I know."

  While the captain had taken a lot of time to talk with the girl, a bit of a novelty with the otherwise male crew around them, they had limited what they revealed about their background. He did know that they were working their way home after a shipwreck to the east. They had also been forced to admit that they were from Malaiy, since the origins of their slight accents were figured out by the well traveled captain.

  Ignoring Nywal, the official walked towards the girl and her protector. Two of the soldiers moved to guard the man, though seeing the imposing looking Toman standing just before her made them look nervous.

  "And what business do you have in Marta and where are you from?" he demanded looking towards Xerese.

  "We were shipwrecked to the east and have been working our way home," Toman stated without embellishment. Their accents weren't that of the locals most likely, so the man would figure out that they were not from Tseult pretty easily. They had minimized the lies given along the way and limiting the amount of facts passed along helped keep them from saying things that could contradict their story.

  "Oh, and what ship was that? A girl like this doesn't usually sail on the ocean unless she is rich or important. Though she is interesting looking, I have a hard time of believing that she is either. What made you go for an ocean voyage?"

  Xerese moved forward playing at being tentative. Her fingers gingerly gripped Toman's arm and she did her best to look like she was in love with the large guardsman. "My husband decided to try his hand at shipping. We found a ship willing to give us space for cargo and room for the trip. It was called the Zephyr, but it couldn't outrun the storm. We were lucky to survive."

  "A husband and wife just happened to be lucky enough to survive when the rest of your ship sank?" the man questioned looking skeptical.

  Shrugging at him as if his distrust didn't register or bother her, Xerese replied, "We don't really know if anyone else survived. The ship might have survived to limp to land, but we were washed overboard when the mast was struck. I don't think that it survived though. There was so much debris.

  "My husband pulled me onto some of the wreckage and luckily we floated to land by the next day. The captain must have tried to get closer to the mainland looking for shelter. It's possible someone else made it, but we never saw anyone else."

  Still looking unconvinced completely, he asked, "What was your cargo then?"

  "Does it matter?" Xerese asked pretending to be shocked that he would ask. "We lost everything! If not for gifts from some nice people along the way, we would still be walking in rags leagues to the east." Her hand moved to the opening in the buttons where the dress was too tight to close intentionally and added, "We haven't even been able to afford to buy new clothes! Only a donation from some new friends gave us enough gold for the trip on the Taramist. I wouldn't dress like this if we could afford to buy a proper dress or two, but we've had to use what little money we could get for food and a couple ships that could only take us a short way at a time."

  The man's eyes had slipped from her face to look at her cleavage in distraction, but her attempt to make him forget his questions didn't prevent him from asking another. "Why did you travel with your husband if it was his decision to trade?"

  Xerese pretended to be caught off guard by his question before releasing a charming giggle as she smiled. "Well, he has a mind for business, but is rather intimidating to look at, don't you think? My husband isn't always the most delicate with his words, so I went along to help bargain for a better profit."

  Continuing to do her best to win the man over with her charm, the girl moved in a way to draw his eye. Her top continued to war with her smiling face for where he looked. "Would you rather discuss business with him or me?"

  The official looked up at her face again and laughed. "Well, I suppose that you have a point as long as you are dealing with a male merchant anyway." He titled his head as the man had an epiphany adding, "Some women might prefer it as well. You certainly would be unlikely to frighten them."

  His scrutiny led him to look at the sword on Toman's hip and wondered, "If he planned to trade, why does your husband have a sword?"

  Leaning closer to the official, Xerese said in a quieter tone, "Though I would hardly wish to brag about my looks, wouldn't you carry a sword to protect your wife? He used to be a soldier, so my husband can look intimidating and make sailors who have been away from port too long think twice about trying anything."

  "You could be in trouble with this many men just because of your beauty, but I would think any husband lucky enough to have such a pretty bride like you would want to protect you and probably brag about you too," he agreed. "Will you be staying in Marta long? Perhaps I could invite you to dinner while you are here?"

  His eyes strayed to Toman, though the guard hadn't changed his stance at all in spite of the proposition. "The both of you, of course. You are correct. I think that you make a much better merchant, though your husband might influence some deals also."

  Still smiling at him like she would a lesser lord at court as he sucked up to her to get to her mother or the king, Xerese replied, "We still have a little coin left to try and beg for another ride towards the west. I noticed there are other ships here, so we will probably start by asking first. Perhaps if there is no help for us, we could visit with you. Would your wife not mind added visitors?"

  The man laughed and shook his head. "Oh, I am not married, but I can have my cook make something for us if you come. Just catch me at the harbormaster's offices before five and I can show you to my home."

  His eyes lifted from her dark blue eyes towards the guard looming over them as they talked. He didn't give up on his attempt to bring her home, but looked nervously at her fake husband before nodding.

  Seemingly satisfied for now, the man gathered up his soldiers after giving Nywal an official letter of acceptance to dock. The captain looked relieved, though his eyes still strayed to the red flags flying on the ships nearby.

  Guided by Toman towards the door leading to the stairs to their room, Xerese let him lead her away from the deck. When they were away from listening ears, the big man said, "You managed to lie pretty convincingly. I would almost believe that you were a merchant's wife, the type of wife who actually runs the business for her husband while he is the face of the company."

  "What do you mean, my husband?" the girl asked moving to press her hands against his stomach as she leaned close. "It is obvious that you would be too gruff to make a good businessman. Let your wife do what she can to influence your deals for you."

  She felt him tense and noticed the solid muscle in surprise, but it was Toman who pulled back lifting her hands away by using her wrists. He was gentle but firm.

  "You shouldn't, Xerie."

  "Shouldn't what? We agreed that we would pretend to be a husband and wife. I am just being a good wife, aren't I?" she giggled and turned to pick up her bag. There were only her clothes and a flask for water left. They had eaten the last of the food in her pack a day before and there was only a little left in Toman's bag now also.

  "You are being a tease. Even that official fell for it. You shouldn't flaunt yourself that way. It isn't very ladylike," he disciplined her with his disapproving tone.

  Frowning at him, the girl replied, "These clothes don't fit well and you know it. Stop complaining. It got him to keep from asking you more questions. You can barely lie to sleep, let alone to make anyone be
lieve you. If you don't at least pretend that you like me, no one is going to believe that we are husband and wife."

  Pulling back in surprise, Toman countered, "I like you."

  Rolling her eyes at him, the girl moved closer pretending to seduce him as she placed her right hand on his chest letting her fingers creep up slowly. Her left pressed against his stomach between them again and she cooed, "But you don't act like it, at least not in the way a husband should with his wife. If you were sleeping with me, I think that you would look at me a bit differently."

  "My-my lady," he stammered looking worried.

  Pushing back, Xerese smiled as she looked up at him. She retreated towards the bag sitting on her bunk. "Xerie, you need to call me Xerie. If you keep acting like you are my guard and calling me that, no one will believe us. You and I both know that is likely to be more trouble than if everyone believes that we are married."

  She paused and looked at her hand before chuckling. "He never thought to ask why we don't have rings."

  "Some countries don't use them as a symbol," Toman replied as he slowly eased his posture. The guard took her bag after picking up his also. "A husband should probably offer to carry his wife's bag, I suppose."

  Xerese grinned as she laughed. "Now you are getting it."

  Chapter 25- A Question of Immortality

  Annalicia touched her forehead with her hand wishing the ache would go away. After leaving Gerid's island a week early, they had kept an eye on the compass in her cousin's possession. They had half expected the Dark One to try attacking the island again, but that had never happened. It was at least part of why the immortal had originally told them he needed a month of preparation before leaving his home of over one hundred seventy-five years.

  The compass had been used to track the aura associated with items that Gerid had used for a time. It had, of course, eventually brought them to the island with the man on it as well.

  Now Darterian used it as it had originally been created, finding portals.

  He had discovered the remnants of another portal as they left the unmapped island. The signal was to the west and, in an attempt to protect the Grimnal's people, Darterian and Sebastian carefully observed its relation to their position. When it became obvious that it wasn't on one of the allied island nations, the Sea Dragon led its new companion, the Carnivore, to a massive island raised from the sea during the Cataclysm.

  Litsarin was a landmass perhaps a little larger than Malaiy in size, but it had been settled by a relatively small population during the last two centuries. The western side had been claimed by the nation of Sileoth, itself broken from the mainland to become a massive island with a large population. Sileoth needed more land for its growing population.

  While the western side being reclaimed by Sileoth's wizards made sense, the east had a handful of towns that had been well established as well. Though there were other smaller island nations nearby, most of the towns didn't seem to be expansions of those. It led to many questions among Sebastian and his wizards.

  Banosh was the first town they had visited. There was an old portal lingering just outside of Banosh. While Sebastian and Darterian led a small contingent through the town to close the gate permanently, Annalicia had taken Reynolvan and Captain Delfren along to the local mayor. Using some of the remaining items stored for trade in their hold as an excuse it was the job of the young royal to try and find out if there was any other remaining traces of the Dark One or his people.

  The old gate was likely a bridge between the Dark One's capitol and Litsarin, but it was old enough that they didn't want to jump to conclusions.

  Anna spoke with the mayor and was ready to throttle him with her bare hands by the time their brief meeting ended. She offered a contract between her father's company on the behalf of Malaiy and Banosh. She had sailors carrying pearls and the popular perfumes created in her country to show the man, but he didn't seem to care.

  Trying other options to open the door, even slightly, continued to meet repeated refusals, until the lady gave up and left.

  It had been so frustrating that Annalicia had made the mistake of drinking a mug or two of the local ale. Being petite, the girl should have stopped with just a few sips of the alcoholic drink; but her frustration and the extra time waiting to meet with Sebastian had led to more sips. Anna didn't even truly remember the second mug being switched with the old, but by the time Sebastian returned she was likely already a bit drunk.

  She remembered slapping Reynolvan when he disrespected Sebastian. Her relationship with the young mage and his companions was stronger than the one between the lady and the wizards from her country now. They were all older and had been so overprotective as to be stifling. She couldn't even remember exactly what Reynolvan had said that had made her slap him.

  Blushing at the thought, the wizard held a small bottle in her hand as she knocked on the door located below deck. A man's voice called out sounding a bit groggy before the door opened.

  "My lady?" Liam asked as his face went from looking miserable to surprise. "What brings you here? I mean, is there something that I can do for you?"

  The light wasn't great below decks, but the girl thought he looked pretty green. Liam and Collin had both been suffering from seasickness from the first day. Even after two months of sailing off and on, the two men were nearly almost always in their rooms suffering while at sea.

  "I was looking through my things and found something that might help you actually... and Collin too," Anna amended quickly. Though she had tried to keep a bit of a barrier between this wizard and herself, the girl had liked him for quite awhile. Their connection had strengthened uncomfortably when she had worked to save his life from the curse of the plants on that island, but Liam was rarely around her until the Sea Dragon remained docked waiting for Gerid.

  Lifting the bottle, she shook it with a smile on her lips and said, "Yara has tried giving you seasickness pills made by the healers in Hala, but nothing has made you two any better. My cousin Xerese was seasick a lot too, but these pills helped a bit. Maybe they will work better for you two."

  His eyes looked at the bottle hopefully before returning to her almond shaped green eyes. "Well, I would try just about anything for a respite from this awful stomach of mine. I bet Collin would say the same thing, but at least he has Nara to nurse him."

  He chuckled at the thought. Collin and Nara were one of the couples formed within the group that were obvious to see, though the two seemed to think that they had hidden their romantic longings for each other well. Strangely the two had only seemed able to confuse each other initially. Sebastian and Yara had tried to hide their relationship as well, but the two were so inseparable that they were no less obvious. Unlike the wizard couple, however, the mage and his healer only tried to hide their love from people like the wizard Maura, who could make Yara's life miserable once they returned home.

  "You don't have a girlfriend, Liam?" she asked curiously.

  "Not really, though I met one of my sister's friends at the tournament. If we weren't wizards, maybe she would have been the one," the taller man said in a tone that Annalicia thought could be called wistful. He was nearly a foot taller than the girl, so it was hard for her to see his eyes look towards the ceiling above her.

  "What does being a wizard have to do with it? By the way, can I come in? I can give you the pills if you have some water inside."

  The first question wasn't that dangerous to ask, the second made her blush slightly. If Reynolvan or one of the other wizards had caught her, they would have been appalled even if her reasoning was innocent.

  "Um, sure, come in. There's a canister in the sling by the bed. Sebastian came up with the thing so there would be water nearby without having to worry about it falling off of a table or something."

  He backed away and sat looking exhausted on his bed, a lower bunk which was one of two in the room he shared. His roommate was likely on deck or at dinner. She was pretty sure that he shared the room with
one of the battle mages.

  Feeling more like a servant than a healer as she found the canister and poured some of the water into a glass held in a box locked to the wall, Annalicia brought him the glass and offered two of the pills to the wizard.

  He took the glass from her hand, and quickly tossed the pills into his mouth. As the man washed down the tablets, Annalicia used her magic to strengthen the light coming from the lantern in its bracket on the wall. Turning back to the wizard, the girl released the catch holding one of the chairs to a table built into the wall.

  As she sat, Annalicia crossed her legs as the ladies were taught to do. Her hands settled on her top knee and the girl noted the edge of her hem held in place by her fingers. The skirt was only to her knees, a comfortable length on warm days, but such short skirts weren't considered ladylike in the royal court. Her blouse was sleeveless and too short to full cover her stomach above the top of her skirt, though seated it settled very close to the darker blue cloth circling her waist.

  His eyebrows raised slightly in question.

  "I thought that I would wait a little while with you. You know, just to make sure if it works for you. Xerese never fully felt that they did enough. She wasn't as ill as you and Collin have been, but my cousin complained... often."

  He chuckled. "If it only lessens the feeling, I will make sure to thank you again. Your cousin should have tried the voyage without them. I bet she would have appreciated them more once she discovered how bad it could really be."

  "I am a bit surprised that Yara couldn't do more to help you," she confessed. "She is a healer after all and Sebastian has that magic also."

  Shrugging, the tall, blonde haired wizard replied, "Yara warned him not to try using magic to get rid of it. When they use their magic; they not only send the spell into us, but they share what a person feels."