The Captive

by Paul Lauritsen

  “Do you see this becoming a major issue, Sebast?” Cevet asked quietly.

  Sebast shrugged uncertainly. “Maybe. If anything, I see it becoming an issue for us.” He looked around at the others. “Our parents will pressure us one way or the other.”

  “It’s not their choice,” Delan said, rolling his eyes. “I like being a regent. It involves fewer stuffy meetings with stuffy nobles who are entirely too full of their own importance.”

  “Maybe that’s why they rarely eat much at feasts and such,” Knet interjected, grinning impishly.

  “For now, let’s not let on that any of you has a preference one way or the other,” Relam decided. “That way, the Assembly can’t take a side against us on the issue.”

  “And they can hardly criticize us for not being able to decide,” Cevet observed. “Not being able to decide on things is the Assembly’s main contribution to society.”

  The lordlings laughed at this, and so did Relam. The young king felt his spirits lift as he looked around the table. They were discussing business, yes, but they were all friends here. Supporting each other and working towards a common goal. It was so different from the grueling hours he had been spending alone in his study or sequestered with Clemon.

  “Well, I guess we’ll just keep an eye on it going forward,” Sebast was saying, shuffling through his notes. “The next thing I wanted to discuss is related to my region.”

  “Is it related to bandit activity?” Knet interjected. “I’ve been having issues with that in my region as well.

  “The desert, right?” Jatt asked.

  “The Sabashrin and its surrounding lands, yes,” Knet confirmed. “Anyway, you remember the reports that the desert marauders were becoming more active, Relam? Well, instead of a trade caravan or a group of travelers, they hit a small village!”

  “Anyone hurt?” Relam asked sharply, all business now.

  “Still waiting on the final casualty report,” Knet replied, “But early indications are the marauders weren’t interested in killing, just looting. They did burn a building or two.”

  “Unless the village just rolled over and surrendered their wealth, I’d bet there were casualties,” Sebast observed. “People don’t just give away their money to any rover with a sword.”

  “Not usually,” Knet agreed. “In any event, there’s no doubt the marauders are steadily ramping up their activities. They’re getting bolder, but not larger so their ambitions can’t go too far beyond raids like this. And all they’re really doing is drawing attention to themselves with larger scale, obvious hits. It doesn’t make any tactical sense.”

  “Unless someone is paying you to do it,” Cevet broke in.

  Knet nodded grimly. “There is that, of course.”

  “Any other rogue groups that are getting unusually aggressive?” Relam asked.

  Sebast shrugged. “The miners’ revolts aren’t getting any better in Mizzran. Could be connected, I suppose.”

  “Clemon briefed you on the miners?”

  Sebast rolled his eyes. “Of course. I know more about the Mizzran region and its politics and history than I ever wanted to. But the whole thing still doesn’t make logical sense. Both sides have to realize the situation is stalemated. The only way forward is to meet and discuss matters, but the nobility is content to keep executing miners and the miners are content to keep blowing things up. Meanwhile, they’re both losing money, and the miners are losing lives.”

  “See if you can get a hold of a couple of their leaders for a meeting,” Relam suggested. “On both sides. Might be that one side or the other has been trying to schedule the meetings but the other is refusing to meet.”

  “And if either side is refusing a meeting, there might be a reason behind it,” Sebast agreed. “I’ll see what I can find out. In addition to the miners, there’s been a series of raids on rafts along the Ranil River.”

  “I’ve been hearing about those from Clemon too,” Relam muttered. “His emphasis has always been on trade, as you know. Any suspects in that case yet?”

  “Not yet,” Sebast replied. “But, the timing – ”

  “ – raises a lot of questions,” Relam agreed. “Things may be heating up. We all need to stay vigilant. It may be time to see if Khollo will return for a bit and look into some things for us.”

  “He can’t,” Delan said dismissively. “He set sail across the Southern Sea just a few days ago.”

  “Set sail?” Relam asked, baffled. “He has a dragon, Delan.”

  “Dragons can’t carry five,” the lordling replied. “He has four Keeper candidates with him apparently. The Lord of Narne sent a message to me to pass on to you, Relam.”

  “I’m regent over that area!” Sebast said indignantly.

  Delan nodded. “That’s what I told him too. He apologized for the mix up and will report to you from now on.”

  “Good,” Sebast said, satisfied with this news.

  “So the Keepers can’t be reached?” Relam asked, just to be sure.

  “Not for a while. They set sail for points unknown, enough provisions for several weeks at sea. They’re on a fast ship too, so it’s unlikely anyone could catch up to them.”

  “It doesn’t send the right message anyway,” Relam decided, “Using a dragon to intimidate groups that are causing trouble. Suppressing problems doesn’t help anybody. We need to solve them or eliminate them. Knet, work with the lord of Jalakash to get a raiding party together. I want those desert marauders rounded up and captured. Sebast, keep working on the miners and Mizzran. Cevet, anything happening up north?”

  “Not really,” the Thius heir replied, “Just a lot of snow and timber workers.”

  “Jatt? The plains?”

  “They’re fine.”

  “Delan?”

  The Laurencian heir frowned. “The South is quiet, for now. No vertaga sightings or conflict to speak of. Some of the villagers are filtering back into the Renlor Basin.”

  “Keep a watchful eye on events there,” Relam warned. “If we’ve learned anything from the first two wars, it’s that the vertaga will attempt to consolidate the lands closest to the mountains first.”

  “And Ishkabur,” Delan grunted.

  “And Ishkabur,” Relam agreed, nodding. “Anything else?”

  “One more update,” Cevet said. His announcement was met with mock groans from Sebast and Delan, who had thought the meeting over. “I’m still working on the uprising from this side, trying to identify the higher ups. I’ve got tails on several members of supremacist houses now, including some of their staff and servants. Nothing so far, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.”

  “Any we should know about?” Relam asked.

  “Not yet,” Cevet said again. “But I will let all of you know as soon as there are.”

  “Good. Then I think that’s everything,” Relam said. He stood and so did the other lordlings. “Same time, same place next week?”

  “Works for me,” Sebast said, shrugging. “I don’t have much on my schedule right now.”

  “Me either,” Knet agreed. “It’s been nice to have something to do.”

  “Something meaningful,” Sebast added, glancing back at Relam. “I mean, we’re not having the impact of a king, but we’re still helping and it feels . . . good.”

  Relam grinned. “It feels good for me too, Sebast. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” He looked around the room as a thought struck him. “You know, we need to spend more time together outside of just meetings and such. I hardly see you except when we’re working.”

  “That’s because you’re always working,” Delan pointed out, smirking slightly.

  “True,” Relam agreed ruefully. “But, I can take some time each week to step away from being king. In fact, it would be quite welcome. Any ideas?”

  Sebast shrugged. “We’ve been meeting at Master Agath’s training ground on the fifth day of every week, just to be sure we don’t get rusty.”

  Relam brightened. “Sounds fun.
Mind if I join you this week? We can come back here for food after.”

  “That,” Cevet said, “Is an invitation nobody can refuse. A free meal from the world renowned palace staff? I’ll spar with you whenever you want!”

  The young king laughed. “Fifth day of the week it is. What time do you – ?”

  “Bright and early,” Cevet interrupted, grinning.

  “Some things never change,” Knet agreed. “It just feels . . . right, somehow.”

  “And Tar’s always happy to see us,” Delan added. “Sometimes we do demonstrations for his students. And sometimes he spars with us for demonstrations.”

  “How do those go?”

  “They’re humbling,” Sebast said with a laugh. “There are few men who know their way around a sword like Tar.”

  “But he never humiliates us,” Knet observed. “Master Agath knows where to draw the line.”

  Relam nodded thoughtfully. He looked around the council room, remembering when they had all six been cadets, not a king and his regents. At the time, Relam never would have believed they could work together, or that they would all be friends with Tar. And yet, here they were. A strong and unified team.

  “Well, I’m off,” Delan announced, stretching. “Time to see if Lord Piralt of Narne has left me any more messages.”

  “He better not have,” Sebast said, following the Laurencian heir out. “You’ll give them to me if he has?”

  “Obviously. I don’t need his problems on top of the rest of the southern region.”

  Jatt and Knet left next, arguing about a recent practice bout, leaving Relam and Cevet alone in the council room. The Thius heir sighed heavily and leaned forward, resting his arms on the back of a chair.

  “You look exhausted,” Relam observed.

  Cevet shrugged. “I’ve been putting in some late nights chasing down leads and meeting with my eyes and ears. Narin’s been helping as much as he can, but he’s got the Citadel to run as well.”

  “Is he working that angle from the inside?”

  “As well as he can. Sadly, it doesn’t look like D’Arnlo wrote down a list of his co-conspirators anywhere.”

  “Well, ask him to keep working at it,” Relam said. “Has the kingdom always been this way, Cevet?” he asked after a moment’s silence.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Fractured, nobles struggling for power, undermining the king, sowing dissension, all of that?”

  The lordling frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Maybe. I mean, until recently, we didn’t bother ourselves with politics or the business of governing the world. Our days were filled with training, first with Agath, then with D’Arnlo.”

  “I just thought you might have a better feel for it,” Relam said, shrugging, “Since your father was Head of the Assembly and the High Council.”

  Cevet’s face tightened slightly. “No,” he said carefully, “I never saw this sort of corruption and deceit in the Assembly. Not until that day at the Citadel.”

  Relam nodded, understanding. “Me either. And now it’s one of our biggest problems. We have no experience with this sort of thing, Cevet. We’re in over our heads, whether we admit it or not. We can guess at what’s going on, we can investigate outlaw bands and try to capture them, get them to talk. But if they don’t talk? If our opponents are skilled enough to shake our eyes and ears or deceive them altogether? Unless we learn how to play this game, and play it well, our enemies will run circles around us and pick us off at their leisure.”

  “Which is why I trust no one,” Cevet replied sternly. “That’s one lesson you could learn from, Relam.”

  “What?”

  “Come on,” the lordling said, rolling his eyes. “We both know you trust people too easily. You believe in all of the lordlings now, who used to be your worst enemies. You trust those two new members of your guard – the ones from the South – though they have little real experience to speak of. And they’re younger than both of us. And,” Cevet continued, holding up a hand to ward off Relam’s protests for a moment longer, “You trust the Keepers, Khollo and his dragon. What have they done to earn your trust? Taken the name of an ancient and supposedly honorable legacy no one had ever heard of?”

  “You weren’t at Dun Carryl,” Relam said quietly, remembering that day. “Cevet, you didn’t fight through the battle. I did. I was on the front lines. All around me was death, slaughter. There were thousands of vertaga, an endless horde of monsters bent on destroying us. We were surrounded and cut off from retreat, by our own design. That’s how we drew them out. I remember a sky thick with arrows, and a canyon watered with the blood of man and beast.”

  Relam took a shaky breath. It had been a while since he thought back to the battle in such detail. “I saw the fallen,” he continued, voice shaking, “I saw men ripped apart and cut down, and every moment I fought I knew I could be next. It was chaos, Cevet. Chaos and death on a scale I never dreamed of.

  “And in the middle of it all, I saw those two youths, Sermas and Hern, fight with incredible ingenuity and skill. I saw heroism from those of low rank, and cowardice from their commanders. And I saw the Keepers. They won the day, Cevet. They protected our archers, then joined me on the front lines and slaughtered their way through the army. They gave us an opportunity to retreat, then nearly died themselves trying to bring down the mountain. It took hours for us to dig Kanin out of the rubble from the avalanche, and even then he was badly wounded. They had to camp in the mountains for more than a month before they could travel.”

  Cevet nodded. “I understand, Relam. But that battle . . . the Keepers weren’t necessarily fighting for you. You just happened to be on the same side. Khollo was from the West Bank, remember, and he fought the vertaga before anyone knew about the dragon.”

  “The Keepers are trustworthy.”

  “What have they done since the war?” Cevet demanded. “Have they been transparent in their dealings, put down rebellions like the miners’ revolt, ensured peace spread throughout the kingdom? No, they retreated to some place none of us can reach and were gone for months with no word at all. Then they’re back, but only briefly, snatching up young people across the kingdom.”

  “I’ll have you know that Khollo asked permission to search for candidates,” Relam pointed out.

  “A formality,” Cevet said dismissively. “As if anyone would argue with someone riding a dragon.”

  “I would,” Relam growled, “If I believed them in the wrong, or if they threatened my people. I trust the Keepers, Cevet, but I am not as blind as you seem to think I am.”

  “Then stop thinking of the Keepers as the first solution to every problem!”

  “I don’t think they’re the solution to everything,” Relam replied, “But they have their uses. They are mobile, powerful, and awe-inspiring. We would be fools not to take advantage of those qualities when we can. And there are some situations they are uniquely suited for, situations where we could not hope to match their success with more conventional means.”

  Cevet scowled. “And if, someday, they fail you?” he asked. “What will you do then?”

  Relam clenched his jaw. “Cevet, there’s one thing you should never doubt,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “If something or someone threatens my people, then I will see them destroyed, dragon or no dragon.”

  Chapter 16:

  The Voyage

  It was a full four days before everyone’s stomachs were settled enough to consider beginning training. During that time the young Keepers, Khollo included, spent most of their time either huddled against one of the ship’s rails or curled up in their hammock below deck. The sailors watched the entire affair with ill-concealed amusement, as they were totally unaffected by the movement of the ship and the waves.

  Logically, Khollo understood there was nothing to be nervous or even remotely worried about. Eralm was a skilled captain, the Southern Star a worthy vessel, and the seas had been almost tranquil to this point. Yet still his
stomach rebelled, endlessly, and he was reduced to doing very little and talking even less.

  He wasn’t sure what changed on the fourth day. Maybe his stomach finally became accustomed to the constant rocking of the ship. Maybe he finally learned there really was nothing to be afraid of. Or maybe it was just the sort of thing that faded with time. In any event, throughout the fourth day Khollo steadily grew more confident, and the seasickness dwindled until it had all but left him and was little more than an unpleasant memory.

  On the morning of the fifth day, Khollo woke in his gently-swaying hammock and felt almost refreshed. Grinning at the sense of well-being that welled up in him, the young Keeper stretched and climbed out of the hammock, dropping to the floor of the small cabin he had been assigned. He straightened his clothes and hair, then quickly made his way above decks to find Eralm.

  The sailors were already hard at work, the day shift having just taken over for the night crew. Apparently it was cleaning day, for under the pleasantly warm gaze of the sun the crew had broken out buckets and brushes and were busying themselves cleaning the decks, railings, mast, and any other surface they could reach. A small group was repairing some frayed areas of the rigging that weren’t being used at the moment, sealing the replacement ropes with a generous coating of tar.

  Eralm waved to Khollo, grinning cheerfully as the young Keeper approached the helm. “Ah, have you land-dwellers finally got your sea legs under you?”

  “Maybe,” Khollo said ruefully. “Is that going to happen every time I get on a ship, or – ?”

  “Every time,” Eralm replied, nodding wisely. “For whatever reason you land-dwellers never do get the hang of traveling by sea. I don’t understand it myself.”

  “Then I’m flying from now on,” Khollo announced, gazing off to the south. “Once I get back to Kanin, anyway.”

  The captain shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ve always loved the sea. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

  “Clearly you’ve never tried flying,” Khollo muttered, still gazing to the south.

  The captain chuckled. “Lad, I think you’re the only human who has. The rest of us, excepting your four seasick friends below, won’t ever experience such a thing.”