by John Booth
“Nin has been teaching you quite a lot, hasn’t he?” Jalia asked with a smirk on her face. “So tell us, Hala; what exactly is a Keeper?”
“The town of Wegnar is ruled by its Keeper. It’s the same as being a king as far as I can tell.”
“And what exactly does he keep?” Daniel asked.
Hala looked puzzled. “I never thought to ask Nin that,” she admitted.
The canal entered the town of Wegnar two miles later. The town appeared to have been carved from a single piece of white stone. The buildings were three and four stories high and formed large blocks. They had steeply angled roofs, as was the fashion in the north. Daniel believed this had something to do with dealing with snow, a substance rarely seen in the cities of Bagdor or Delbon.
Eventually, they entered a half mile wide and perfectly circular lake. It looked as though the white stone had been carved into an enormous cup. The cup had gently sloping sides providing a sandy beach. There were many small sailing boats on the lake and even a few rowing boats.
“Nin says the lake is teaming with fish,” Hala told them, glad to have something interesting to say.
A long jetty stuck out into the lake and it was this that the Steam Dragon pulled alongside. As with everything else they had seen in this town, the jetty was made out of white stone.
“I think this stone was once molded like mortar,” Daniel remarked. “It looks as if it was carved from a single piece, but that surely isn’t possible.”
“They certainly used a lot of it,” Jalia noted as she looked around her.
“It’s used mainly around the lake, according to Nin,” Hala said. “The people of Wegnar want to be able to look out across the lake and so all these buildings were constructed around it. Beyond the buildings are farmers’ fields and woodland interspersed with houses, much like everywhere else.”
By the time, the crew tied up the Dragon to the jetty it was close to sunset. Hala told them that she going to spend the evening with Nin and would eat in his cabin. Daniel gave Jalia a significant look and she grinned.
“Well I am going to arrange for our horses and donkeys to spend some time out of the hold so they can get some exercise,” Daniel said. “If there is some land available that they can graze on I will take them to it until tomorrow, Jerd hates being cooped up for long periods.”
“A man and his strange love of donkeys,” Jalia said sarcastically. “There may be laws against such things in northern towns.”
“I take it that you will be out looking for a game of fade?”
Fade was Jalia’s favorite card game.
“We are staying for two nights. So I will line up the suckers tonight and on the second night I will take them for every penny they have,”
“Don’t get an angry mob chasing you until tomorrow night,” Daniel warned. “I am not leaving either the horses or the donkeys behind simply because you take pleasure in upsetting people.”
Jalia took on a look of innocence mixed with feigned shock and outrage. “Me? When do I ever cause trouble?”
“If I started listing all the times right now, the boat would have sailed before I finished.”
Gally Sorn had read the letter from her father a dozen times and still could not believe what he had written. She paced her bedroom trying not to scream out in anger and frustration. Gally had been the one overseeing this mission from the start. It had been she who first thought to procure swords from Telmar. It had been Gally who had come up with the ingenious idea of contract terms so onerous that there was an excellent chance that they would end up paying only a fraction of what the swords were worth.
When Hadon Mallow had managed to complete the full order against all expectations, it was Gally who had found a way to rob him and his consortium of their final payment. In the end, it had been her special relationship with her uncle that had deprived Hadon Mallow and many of the other traders of their lives. And now, after all that work, her father demanded capitulation. It was intolerable.
Gally picked up the sheet of parchment and read the relevant passage one final time.
‘I have decided that the Temarian traders have uses beyond the delivery of the swords. I am therefore ensuring that full payment will be available when you arrive at Slarn. Under no circumstances are you to interfere with, or harm them, in any way.’
It didn’t matter to Gally that her father would never see the swords or make the payment. It was the principle of the thing; as he truly believed he was in control of the deal. Gally knew she would have to obey him in case things went wrong with Maximus’s plan. She took comfort in the fact that full payment for the swords would be unnecessary, as the last batch of the swords were still in storage in Boathaven.
Her father could think he was cutting any deal he wanted; the swords on the Steam Dragon were not destined for him.
Gally had made an important deal of her own that her father knew nothing about. She intended to be the head of the Sorn family very soon and the swords were merely a stepping stone on that path.
She looked out of the window and saw that the Steam Dragon had docked. Gally smiled with pleasure at the thought of visiting her older sister. They could compare notes on the things their father had made them do, and she was certain that Jalka would commiserate with her over the letter. The thought of giving all that money to the traders irked her almost beyond endurance.
7. An Evening in Wegnar
Ferd made a rude noise at Daniel when he descended to the hold for the passengers’ livestock.
“Sorry I haven’t visited you so far, Ferd,” he apologized. “I’ve been unconscious for a lot of the journey.”
Ferd was not impressed with his explanation and tried to bite him. Daniel pulled his hand away as he was used to the nature of his irascible donkey. The other donkeys and their horses were delighted to see him and showed how eager they were to be out and free of their swaying prison.
Less than a half an hour later he walked them from the jetty into the town. He had been told that there was a patch of grazing land to the west of the town that the Boat Company owned and which could be used by passengers’ livestock. It was not unusual for owners to demand a better place for their animals when the boat was docked. Daniel obtained directions from Hal Patin. Patin was the Steam Dragon’s Bosun and proved remarkably sanguine about their previous encounter on the bridge.
“I’m happy that Nin is still among us,” he had said, shaking Daniel’s hand vigorously. Daniel felt that in some strange way he had bonded with the Bosun and that they were now friends.
The directions proved to be easy to follow and the key Patin provided unlocked the Boat Company’s barn at the side of the field. Daniel had just finished grooming the horses when he heard the sound of approaching hooves.
“The Bosun told us we could find you here,” Cara said as she got down from Lightning. Don, who arrived with her, also dismounted and the three of them walked into the barn.
“It’s a cruelty to leave any of the horses in the hold,” Don explained. “We were taking out our horses to give them some exercise when the Bosun told us you had come here. It seemed the ideal spot to take our horses too.”
“Don,” Cara said eagerly. “I know you want to look around Wegnar tonight. Why don’t you do that while I sort out the horses? We can’t leave Daniel to do it all on his own and I can look around the town tomorrow.”
Don frowned, but he decided not to disagree. The sun had set but it was not fully dark by any means. Both Blade and Anvil were in the evening sky. Some people claimed that when both moons were full in the night sky that it made people do foolish things. As far as Don was concerned, it just made it a lot easier to see where you were going. He shrugged at his sister, said goodbye to Daniel and started walking back into town.
“Now then,” Cara said in an over-bright voice to Daniel. “What do you want me to do first? I’m more than willing to do absolutely anything you want of me.”
Jalia walked along the main street of Wegnar
feeling excited. She loved to gamble, it was the next best thing after stealing or fighting. Typical of a northern town, Wegnar had a lot of taverns. As it was a sultry night, all of the window shutters were open to cool the buildings and she could hear a great deal of singing, shouting, and laughter as she walked down the center of the street. Jalia heard cries of passion coming from the upper windows of the taverns. Wegnar could be mistaken for any northern town in that respect.
What she did not hear were the specific sounds she was seeking. The chink of coins dropping onto a table and the other sounds associated with a high stakes game of skill and chance.
She reached a building that had the look of a bank or perhaps of a palace. Unlike the taverns, there was no singing or shouting coming from it. Almost imperceptible and at the limits of Jalia’s hearing, she heard the sounds she craved.
The building had two imposing stone pillars on either side of its massive double doors. Jalia pulled first one and then the other handle, but the doors were locked. There was a large iron knocker on the left hand door, its end shaped to resemble that of a coin with five equidistant holes in it. Jalia lifted the knocker and brought it crashing down. The sound must have still been audible on the Steam Dragon, it was so loud.
There followed the sounds of bolts being drawn and then the left hand door opened a crack. A thin faced man wearing some sort of uniform stared down at her snootily.
“We are not looking for ladies of the night at the moment and I must say we prefer the ones with larger breasts.”
Jalia resisted the sudden urge to kill the man and smiled warmly.
“I am a traveler from the Steam Dragon. I’m looking for a high stakes game of chance and could not help but overhear such things going on inside this building.”
“This is a gentleman’s club and it does not welcome itinerants without references who happen to wash up at our door,” the man replied. He might have continued in a similar vein but the knife that materialized at his throat gave him pause. Jalia and the servant moved in perfect synchronicity as she stepped into the anteroom and he stepped back.
“What exactly is going on here?” a short fat man demanded. The guards at his sides took one look at Jalia’s knife at the servant’s throat and drew their swords.
“I am seeking a place willing to let me lose my hard earned coin in a game of chance,” Jalia told him, her knife disappearing so fast he blinked, unsure now that she had been holding a knife in the first place. Jalia rattled a large moneybag tied to her belt.
The guards moved towards her with their swords drawn. They had noted the speed with which she moved her knife, just as they noticed the way her sword was slung across her back. When Jalia smiled disarmingly at them, it just increased their suspicions.
“Stop, stop I say,” the fat man commanded. “I am the Keeper of Wegnar and I am also partial to games of chance. Who might I be addressing?”
“My name is Jalia al’Dare. You might have heard of me?”
Whether the Keeper had or not, his two guards had. They stepped a pace back from Jalia while keeping their swords at the ready.
Captain Toren watched Gally ride along the jetty and into Wegnar. He watched from the walkway around the bridge, his elbows on the cold steel rails. Besides him, Jak Venjer stood impassively in his hooded cloak.
“She’s riding off to visit her sister, I expect,” the Captain remarked.
“The Sorn family have their grubby little fingers in every pie of every town along this stretch of river,” Jak replied. “Most times, I think they are a canker in our society that needs burning out with red hot steel, but in Jalka’s case I must admit that I have some sympathy. Imagine being made to marry a man like Tib Prentice just for the sale of another family alliance.”
“You do not think she married for love?” Captain Toren asked straight faced, though his eyes were twinkling.
Jak snorted in derision. Then he turned towards Toren and spoke quietly and seriously.
“Kalenda send her best regards. I trust that you can still remember whose side you are on?”
“How can you question me?” Toren replied in an outraged whisper.
“Easily. You are bedding Gally Sorn almost every night and do not think that I am unaware of your other activities.”
Captain Toren thought that it was most unfair that Jak Venjer always wore his hood. It meant you could never see his eyes while he could watch yours. Toren was almost certain that Jak’s comment was a stab in the dark to see how he would react, but almost is not the same as certain.
“I bed Sorn for the cause,” Toren whispered fiercely. “I am loyal to Kalenda and her lawful right to take the throne as Queen of Slarn, just as I am loyal to the Boat Company. If you knew how much effort keeping that Sorn woman satisfied takes me, you would not doubt me for a second.”
It was impossible to deduce what Jak’s reaction to that comment was, as all Captain Toren saw was the man’s hood, stiff, black, and unwavering.
“There are several factions interested in possessing the swords. Whoever owns them will be in a strong position to take over the city, though it can probably not be held for long. Even within a faction, such as the House of Tallis, there is more than one player in the game.”
“You believe Maximus Tallis will seek to overthrow his brother?” Toren asked in surprise. He knew Maximus was an ambitious man, but he had not considered for a second that he might also be disloyal to his elder brother.
“I believe Maximus is aiming to take the Throne. He might be happy to leave Oto as the ruler of Tallis beneath him,” Jak stated coldly. “It is vital that the swords end up in Kalenda’s possession and should you obstruct that path in any way, you will feel the steel of my sword, Captain.”
“You know where my loyalties lie,” Captain Toren answered equally coldly.
Gally rode up to the Keeper’s Palace as though she owned the place. Massive wrought iron gates blocked her way, as did the high stone walls on either side of them. The guards recognized her and opened the gate wide enough for her to ride into the Palace grounds.
The Palace was a vast two story square building with a large central courtyard. At each of its four corners, elegant circular towers pierced the sky, rising sixty or seventy feet into the air. Gally paid the architecture no heed as she rode through an archway to bring her into the central courtyard where the gardens and the entrance to the vault lay. She knew this Palace well, having spent months within it over the years.
The true wonder of the Palace was buried deep in its underground vaults. Only reachable from an unassuming low stone building that sat squat and unattractive in the center of the courtyard. So important were the contents of that vault to the future of the town that the common folk of Wegnar were allowed to visit it every single day.
Many would visit often to reassure themselves that the Five Gem Coin was still there, and that its endless light still shone forth. To Gally Sorn this was no longer amusing; she found local superstitions particularly boring.
She pulled hard on her horse’s reins, bringing the beast to a stop in front of the steps that led to the Palace doors. As she dismounted, a groom, who had been waiting on the off chance of such an occurrence, took the reins from her hand and led her horse to the stables. Another servant opened a grand door to grant her access to the Palace.
“Your sister, the Lady Jalka Prentice, is in the Royal Reception Room, my lady,” a servant told Gally as she strode into the main corridor through the building. “Would Lady Sorn be requiring any refreshments?”
“We will call if we need you for anything,” Gally said curtly and the servant withdrew discreetly.
Gally’s boots clicked on the tiled floors and the sound echoed down the corridor as she strode through the palace. Grand paintings and tapestries hung on the walls, but she paid them no mind. She pushed the doors wide of the Grand Reception Room and strode inside.
“Gally. How wonderful to see you,” an immaculately dressed woman said from the other side of t
he room.
Jalka Prentice, wife of the Keeper of Wegnar, was five years older than Gally, though it would be clear to anyone that the two were sisters. However, where Gally still had the look of a girl, Jalka had stronger cheekbones and the haughty manner of a woman grown. Jalka had always looked mature, even as a child. This had been particularly irritating for her father’s political ambitions, as his brother much preferred young girls to women, the younger the better.
“Jalka you are prettier than ever,” Gally enthused, opening her arms as she walked towards her sister so that they could embrace. “But I swear you have put on weight in the months since I last visited.”
Jalka frowned as she put down her glass and met her sister’s warm embrace. “If you were married to Tib Prentice, Keeper of Wegnar and all round creep, you too might be tempted to eat a little too much.”
“Has he been particularly annoying since I was here last?” Gally asked sympathetically. She kissed her sister lightly on both cheeks before planting a more lingering and sensuous kiss on her mouth.
“He has grown bored with whipping the younger slave girls, though he still thinks I do not know about that vice. Now he fancies himself the greatest fade player the world has ever seen. All he ever does in bed is talk about how he won this hand or that.”
“I would have thought that would be relief,” Gally said cheekily and Jalka laughed.
“Well it is, my dear. But what you have to understand is that my husband cheats at cards just as much as he cheats on me. He is not a good player at all, but he has found that an extra high card or two up his sleeve serves the same purpose and is easier to learn how to do.”