Chapter 32
Eleanor and Daniel returned to the academy in good spirits, filled with excitement and relief, unable to stop talking through their narrow escape. Dawn was breaking as they reached the academy's courtyard.
"Do you think we're supposed to report to someone?" Eleanor asked. "Or should we try to get some sleep?"
"I will not be sleeping," Daniel said. "There is too much thinking to do. But perhaps we could make a drink before we try too hard to report back."
They went up to the common room and put the kettle on the stove, keeping quiet so as not to disturb the others from their sleep. The water hadn't even boiled, however, before their peace was broken by a loud knocking. Sebastien and Mikhail both emerged half-dressed from their rooms, bleary-eyed, to see what was happening as Eleanor opened the door.
"Eleanor, Daniel," Andreas said. "Follow me. Your colleague has just returned, and he has some very serious allegations."
There was nothing in his tone to allow argument so the two students followed in silence, not daring to ask what allegations he was talking about.
Andreas led them into the council chamber, where a group of stony-faced men sat around a large oak table. Eleanor recognised some of the same faces from the previous time she'd been brought before the council; some were now more familiar from their time in the academy, others she hadn't seen before, and still others were missing. When she managed to catch Laban's eye he sent her a brief smile in greeting but made no open acknowledgement of her, and she wondered if he'd always be too afraid to acknowledge his part in her training. Ivan was carefully avoiding her gaze altogether.
"The students," Andreas said shortly, and gave a small bow before backing off to stand by the door.
"Thank you," Ragal said. He turned to Eleanor and Daniel. "I speak for the council in this matter. Do you know why you are here?"
Eleanor began "Andreas said..." but Daniel cut her off with a sharp "No."
"Your colleague Jorge has just returned from his attempt on the third mission," Ragal said. "He has given us some cause for concern, claiming that the two of you have been working together, and that you drugged him to ensure he could not succeed. What do you have to say in your defence?"
"I administered a soporific," Daniel said, "but Jorge was in no danger of completing the mission first. He was merely about to kill Eleanor."
"Merely?" she cried, and instantly regretted the outburst. Ragal was looking expectantly at her, eyebrows raised, clearly waiting for her version of the story. "Jorge attacked me," she confirmed. "If Daniel hadn't interfered, he wouldn't have made it back here to tell tales."
"I do not see that he can complain," Daniel said. "We even carried him out of the embassy. He was in no danger."
"Self-defence is reasonable, we have precedent for that," Ragal said. "What of the other charge?"
"What other charge?" Eleanor asked.
"Collusion."
She glowered at Daniel; this was all his fault. If he hadn't tried to help her, she wouldn't be standing here accused of cheating. But then, she reminded herself, softening, if they hadn't worked together against the guards then maybe neither of them would still be alive. And he was the only one who'd spotted the trap.
"Is it collusion that we both came back?" she demanded, emboldened by the memory. "Is it wrong, in your eyes, that we decided it was better to co-operate and succeed, than to fight each other and fail? Isn't it better that we helped each other?"
"It's unconventional."
"That may be," Daniel said softly, "but how can you say it is wrong?"
"There will be a vote of the council," Ragal decreed. "If you uphold Jorge's complaint, raise your left hand. If you support the defendants, raise your right hand."
Hands went up one by one; it was a close call.
Once he'd counted and re-counted, Ragal turned back to Eleanor and Daniel. "You are cleared," he told them. "I assume you have returned with the plans?"
Eleanor reached under her clothes and pulled out the papers.
"Today's result would appear to be a draw. Since you were each on six points already, with one victory each from the earlier rounds, we have a tie. You may decide between you who will join the council. If you cannot agree, you may fight."
Eleanor glanced at Daniel, their eyes locked briefly, and then both spoke at once.
"I will stand aside," said Daniel, at the same moment as Eleanor said, "We both deserve it."
"Eleanor has done more to earn this," Daniel said. "She has killed three guards to get us out of the embassy, and she was first to reach the plans. I am willing to stand aside."
Eleanor shook her head. "I won't let you do that. But I won't give up my right, either."
"You would prefer to fight?" Laban's voice was filled with cool astonishment.
The familiar sound of his voice reassured her even though he spoke coldly. Her resolve strengthened and she reached for her knife, the one he'd left for her all those years ago. It seemed appropriate. And let the others read what they would into the fact that she carried one knife with Laban's design instead of her own; it was too late for them to decide she didn't belong here.
The blade glinted as it flashed through the air, coming to a juddering halt in the table less than half a finger's width from Laban's resting hands. He looked up in surprise but she thought she caught a hint of approval in his eyes – it had, after all, been a very good shot.
"I will not fight," she said. "The council is being stupid. The fact that we're both here proves that Daniel and I are well-matched. We're both more than capable of inflicting a deadly blow if you demand it. Why would you choose two dead candidates over two live additions to the council? Give us both what we've earned."
"Impossible," Ragal said shortly, but Eleanor could see admiration creeping into the faces of many around the table. There would be another vote, she guessed, and that meant they needed more than half the room to agree.
"You changed the rules after last year's fiasco." She stared straight at Ivan as she spoke, selecting her words carefully to echo what he'd said to Jorge. She could never prove any sort of conspiracy, of course, but she hoped she wouldn't have to try. It should be enough to plant the possibility in his mind. "Last year, you decided none of your graduates were up to scratch. Allow yourselves a little common sense and one of us can fill last year's space."
She met Daniel's eyes again and she knew they were both struggling not to smile. It was hard to imagine how the council could argue against her.
Ragal looked down, apparently studying the backs of his hands. "We will vote," he said at last. "Does anyone have any questions first?"
Silence.
"If you agree to the girl's suggestion, raise your left hand. If you do not, raise your right."
Hands went up around the room; it was painfully close. Ivan hesitated, looking around at the others, then slowly lifted his left hand.
Ragal shrugged, not willing or able to contradict the will of the council. "Very well, then. Take your seats."
Eleanor shot a triumphant look at Daniel as they sat in two of the vacant chairs.
"As is traditional," Ragal continued, "your first duty is to nominate one of the new graduates to take care of this year's incoming students."
Eleanor and Daniel both said "Sebastien" at the same time, then looked at each other in surprise.
"He will be a good model for them," Daniel said.
Eleanor nodded. "And he won't scare them too much."
"Very well. You can inform him yourselves. The next issue is that of your first mission. There is work that needs doing in Faliska. We'd planned that to be the first task for our newest member of the council, but we couldn't have anticipated this outcome. However, I think it's possible that you could travel together, if you were amenable."
They glanced at one another. "Okay."
"Your graduation dinner is tonight, of course, but you should plan to sail with the tide tomorrow evening. First, though, I expect you'll want
some food, and probably sleep. You'll be briefed over lunch tomorrow."
With the meeting over they went down to breakfast on a high, jubilant from the day's second victory. Jorge wasn't at the table, though the way the room fell silent when they entered suggested the story might have got around.
Eleanor and Daniel sat together at one end of the table. They felt strangely distant from the rest of the students, more than the one or two empty seats which actually separated them. Something had changed during the night.
"Our last meal in the academy," Eleanor said, suddenly overcome with nostalgia. It felt a little bit like leaving school, but without the uncertainty. This time, they knew exactly what was coming next. "We're all done studying."
"There is always more to learn," Daniel said.
"Of course, but it'll be different now. I don't have to pretend to be competent with apothecary any more, I can just ask you."
"If you must."
She leaned in towards him so the others wouldn't overhear, then whispered, "But when are you going to tell the council what you suspect about those plans? You can't let them act on false information."
"There will be time tomorrow. I did not wish to complicate matters while we had yet to establish the result."
"Don't you think it was all too easy?"
"What do you mean?"
"The embassy."
"It did not seem so easy to me."
"We walked out of there." Eleanor helped herself to another sausage, ravenous after the night's exertions. "If they'd set all that up to trap us, why would they let us leave so easily?"
"You killed three of them. They could not have planned for that."
"Yeah, but if we hadn't needed to carry Jorge, we could've just gone out a different way."
"Tell me what you are thinking."
"Maybe they didn't just want us to go in. Maybe they wanted us to come out, with those papers."
Daniel shrugged. 'We will examine the plans tomorrow."
"But..."
"There is no sense in wasting our time with guesses."
Eleanor turned back to her food. She supposed he was right, but they'd given the plans to the council, and she didn't want to have to wait a whole day to find out if she was right. But it wasn't worth arguing about. She went straight to bed after they'd finished breakfast, with only a brief diversion to scrub the night's camouflage from her face. If she was going to be awake to enjoy the graduation dinner that evening, she needed to force herself to sleep despite the way the night's events kept replaying themselves behind her eyelids.
Daniel also went to his room, though he still claimed he wouldn't be able to rest. Eleanor suspected he might change his mind about that if he'd just get into bed.
She packed her weapons and tools into a travelling case as she undressed, ready for the next day's journey. Then, she slept.
She woke in the mid-afternoon, and there was no sign of any of the others when she peered out into the common room, so she finished her packing and then jogged across to the lake to use up some of the time before dinner.
As she completed her circuit and returned to her room, memories of previous dinners ran through her mind. This time, she was quite sure, Ivan wouldn't come to escort her. Whether or not he'd been involved in Jorge's decision to attack her – something she'd need to find out later – the outcome was exactly the opposite of what he'd wanted. And at some point he'd have questions about her accidental eavesdropping, but that wouldn't be tonight. She remembered his words from before the previous banquet: this night was for her to enjoy, there'd be more than enough time for politics later. The sentiment seemed equally applicable tonight.
She pulled all the fine clothes out of her closet and considered her options. She'd only worn her green dress so far – and as much as she loved it, it felt like time for a change. After a moment's deliberation, she settled on a dramatic black gown with an intricately beaded bodice.
All the students would be going across for the dinner. Eleanor wondered if she could avoid talking to Jorge and his Venncastle friends. She'd spent enough time with the Venncastle lads to know that, collectively, subtlety wasn't their strongest attribute – but she didn't want to spend her graduation dinner defending herself against second-hand allegations. If she could just avoid them tonight and tomorrow then she'd be off to Faliska with Daniel, and they'd have time to lose interest.
She brushed her hair straight and dabbed a little oil so that her lips glistened when she pouted into the mirror. She had to look perfect for her victory celebration. As she studied her face she realised how completely she'd become accustomed to her misshaped nose and her now-fading scars; she couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when her changed features had stopped horrifying her, but now every mark was just a part of her history. And maybe a stranger who'd never known how she used to look would simply assume she was born with that kink in the bridge of her nose.
Daniel and Sebastien were already in the common room when she stepped out; both were dressed in fine tunics of bright embroidered silk, Daniel in blue, Sebastien in red.
"Well, you clean up nicely!" Sebastien said as she came to join them, and she realised he hadn't seen her in a dress since the previous year's graduation night.
"You don't look so bad yourself. Are we waiting for Mikhail?"
"We were waiting for you," Daniel said, rapping sharply on Mikhail's door. "Mikhail is ready."
As they walked across to the banqueting hall they talked about various matters of no importance, carefully avoiding any mention of the fact that it had been months since they'd spoken. Apparently the sequence of events which had pushed her and Daniel into co-operating had also been enough to absolve her. Maybe it was enough, in the eyes of the others, that Daniel seemed to have forgiven her. Well, she wasn't going to spoil the evening by talking about it.
In the hall, Daniel and Eleanor were waved across to where the rest of the council were sitting, while Mikhail and Sebastien were at the student table for the final time. Eleanor found herself seated between Bill, who grunted his congratulations, and a man she'd never met before, who shook her hand and introduced himself as Dek. From a few seats further down, Laban caught her eye and smiled as she took her place. As she helped herself to soup and a large glass of wine, for the first time since the morning's successes she felt herself swelling with pride at her achievement. So many of those around her had doubted she should even be at the academy, in the beginning; now, there could be no question she'd proved her worth.
After six courses and seemingly endless small-talk Eleanor left the table alone, hoping to creep away unnoticed while the others were still engrossed in the evening's celebrations. She'd made her appearance, and now she wanted some time alone to collect her thoughts. But Raf called out to her as she started along the path into the woods; he must've followed her from the hall.
"Ellie!"
She turned. "Oh. Hi."
"You don't sound thrilled." He looked hurt.
"I was preoccupied," she said. "I've had a hard day. I'm tired."
"I'll walk with you," he offered, and she knew there was no way to shake him off without hurting his feelings. "I won't keep you up – I just wanted to hear what happened."
"Didn't Jorge tell you?"
"Well, he told us his version. What – you think I'm automatically going to side with him? Is that what this is about?"
"What what is about?" she asked, exasperated. "I already told you, I'm tired."
"You're angry. Do you really think I'd just take his word over yours?"
She stopped walking and looked up at him, trying to read his face. "Venncastle loyalty, right?"
"Ellie! After what we went through together, you've earned just as much of my loyalty as anyone from school! If you don't know that..." He shrugged. "I don't know what to say."
"Then don't bother," she snapped, and turned to walk away, but he caught her elbow.
"Don't storm off. I want to hear your side of the story."
"He
tried to kill me," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. "What more do you need to know?"
Raf's face shifted instantly into a look of pure rage. "I'll kill him!"
"You'll do nothing of the kind." She rested her hand on his arm. "We'll deal with it in council. I'll make sure he doesn't get off lightly."
He relaxed a little. "At least you got your council seat. How did they resolve the draw?"
"Well, Daniel offered to stand aside, but I wasn't going to let him."
"That's the silliest thing you've ever said," he laughed. "I'm glad you changed your mind."
She glared at him. "I didn't change my mind. I just insisted we should both have seats."
"You did what?"
"You heard me." She turned to start walking again, and this time he matched her pace.
"But – why?"
"Why not? It was the right thing to do."
"You just said he offered to stand aside. Why would you turn that down?"
"It would've been all wrong. He deserves it too."
"If he's stupid enough to offer–"
"Daniel's not stupid," she interrupted.
Raf laughed again, and she found herself wanting to slap him.
"I thought you hated him?"
"Well, he's an arrogant jerk." Like you, she added silently, still fuming. "But he's not stupid. And he deserves a seat on that council just as much as I do."
"You might both deserve it, but you needed it more. You've got more to prove."
"Because I'm a woman?" she asked, hoping her voice didn't betray the fury bubbling beneath the surface. How could he, of all people, say such a thing?
"Exactly."
"If that's what you think," she said, fighting back tears, "then you can think about it on your own. And if you've got an apology for me by the time I get back, I might just about be ready to hear it!"
She started to run, determined that he wouldn't reach out and stop her this time.
He called after her: "I didn't mean it like that, Ellie, you know I didn't. You know I don't think that! Ellie, wait!"
But she was in no mood for listening. She sprinted to the building and up to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her and jamming the chair under the handle so there was no way he could come in. It wasn't long before he caught up; he pounded at the door and called out to her, but she just buried her head under the pillow and tried to block out the noise.
Eleanor had almost finished packing when the messenger came to summon them. Daniel was already sitting in the common room, his cases stacked neatly by his chair.
"Albert will see you in the council chamber now," the messenger said, then left them without further instructions.
"Raf was here," Daniel said as they started to walk.
"What?"
"He was waiting when we got in last night."
Eleanor rolled her eyes. She'd just assumed he'd gone back to his own room once he'd stopped banging on her door, but evidently not.
"I am amazed he was not afraid to show his face, now we have all seen proof of the treachery of Venncastle."
Eleanor pressed her lips together. It was almost instinctive to jump to Raf's defence whenever Daniel complained about Venncastle, but now she didn't feel like defending him. So what if he hadn't known exactly what Jorge was planning? They were all the same.
"He said he was waiting for you," Daniel continued. "We made him leave. He will not trouble you again."
"Well, he's hardly going to follow us to Faliska."
She knocked at the door of the council chamber, and waited.
"Come in," Albert said. He was poring over a set of maps at one end of the table. "You don't have to wait to be asked, now you've graduated. Get some lunch, and then I'll show you where we need you to go."
Eleanor helped herself to a sandwich and went to look over Albert's shoulder.
"This is Faliska," he said, waving his hand across a huge swathe of the map. "I'm sure you can see why it's important to us."
"Taraska," Eleanor said. The city-state was nestled into a corner of Faliska's coastline.
"Precisely."
"It is a vast country," Daniel said.
"Three or four times the area of the Empire, we think, but most of it is empty desert. Almost every settlement is along this stretch of coast."
Eleanor picked up one of the larger scale maps of the area around Taraska. "But we're going to the capital of Faliska?"
"You'll take the boat to Faliska La'un in the first instance, yes. You'll be travelling with the Charanthe trade delegation, but at some point you'll probably need to break off and go further afield. No-one's quite sure what Taraska is planning, but we've reports of strange activity in the border regions."
"Our cover is to be traders?" Daniel asked. "But what are we to trade?"
"Well, the trade delegation are going out to negotiate new treaties. We set up one space for a weapons envoy, but we'll need a second trade area to account for Eleanor. Something where you know enough to be convincing."
"I could do cloth," Eleanor said. It was the only thing she remembered the smugglers selling in Taraska.
"That's one of the real ones, I'm afraid."
"What are the others?"
"Gold and medicine."
"Ummm, then what about fish?"
Albert nodded. "That should be fine. Of course, neither of you will have the authority to actually agree any trades, but that shouldn't be a problem."
"And what will be our identities? Do you have new bangles for us?"
"Oh, Faliska's friendly enough. You should be safe to travel under your real names for this one."
Daniel looked unconvinced. "We should not be using our real identities for this kind of work."
"You'll be fine. It's not as if your identities mean anything to them. Now, we've put together a pack of notes for you to read on the boat – you'll have plenty of time. And obviously you'll make sure to lose the papers overboard before you get anywhere near Faliskan waters."
"And what if we encounter pirates?"
"The brief is coded – the pirates wouldn't get anything from it."
"The Magra aren't going to bother about a few scraps of paper anyhow," Eleanor said. "They're only interested in collecting their tax."
Albert stared at her. "Tax?"
"That's how they see it. If you want to pass through their waters, they want their cut. But they don't care what business we've got in Faliska."
"Well, that's all you really need to know. Take as long as you need to study the maps, and the boat will leave with this evening's tide. You need to leave everything tidy – we'll need your rooms for the new students before you get back."
Albert got to his feet to leave, and Eleanor elbowed Daniel so hard that he dropped his plate. He bent to the floor to pick up the pieces, leaving Eleanor to deal with Albert's surprise.
"Before you go, there's a message we'd like to pass to the council," she said, glaring at the top of Daniel's head as he continued to clear the floor meticulously. "Daniel has a theory about those plans we got from the Tarasanka embassy."
"Oh?"
"He thought it was all a bit easy... we wondered whether the plans were some kind of trap."
Daniel got to his feet, hands full of pottery fragments. "Do not act without considering their intentions."
"We'll bear that in mind," Albert said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach."
"Fish?" Daniel asked as the door swung closed behind him. "How can you be envoy for fish?"
"Well, I spent so long on boats, fishing for my supper–"
"I do not mean that you lack the knowledge. But fish is not traded. It could not be."
"Well, that's what makes it perfect – we're not supposed to agree any trades. That'll make my job easy."
She turned back to the maps and they spent a little longer committing the details to memory, then went to finish packing their things. It was strange to imagine that some other students would be living in t
heir rooms by the time they returned to the Empire.
As their cart trundled towards the port, Eleanor ran through her story again and again in her mind. Fish envoy. Now there was an assignment she never would have imagined for herself.
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Rebellion (Chronicles of Charanthe #1) Page 32