Vale of Tears: A Thalassia novel

by Patrick McClafferty

  She squinted her eyes for a second, and then let out a breath she’d been holding. “Put in over there, behind the schooner.”

  Mateo turned the wheel, shouting for the crew to shorten sail. “Isn’t the owner going to be upset that you’re using his dock?”

  Jineva didn’t turn her eyes from the distant boat. “The owner won’t be upset, for you see — I’m the owner. The house you see being built is Casa Barillo; I’m home.”

  Chapter 9

  The air was a subtle mix of the scents of the sea and the myriad lush plants growing just a cable length away in the fertile soil of Isla Lemuy. Birds turned acrobatic swoops in the clear sunny sky and across the blue water of the bay one fisherman shouted to another.

  “Casa Barillo?” Mateo had a dumbfounded look on his face.

  “If you don’t stop that I’m going to become cross with you.” She was glaring at Mateo now. “That is Casa Barillo, and the person standing in the stern of the schooner is my uncle, Diego Giani. I’d know the set of his shoulders anywhere.”

  Mateo squinted into the bright sun. “I thought he was older.”

  Turning, Jineva frowned. The man standing on the dock and waving was definitely Diego Giani, but... the hair hanging free was dark black and straight, the broken nose had been straightened, the scar on the cheek removed and he looked thirty years old, not fifty. It was his hair that gave her the first glimpse of the shocking truth. Diego’s hair, as he came smiling up to the boat, was the same exact shade as hers. Her mother’s hair had been brown, her father’s hair dark natural blond, like her brother’s. Her brother Michan had joked that someone had slipped unnoticed into his mother’s bedchambers when she wasn’t looking. They had all laughed. Now Jineva stared at the man on the dock. She had his hair, and now that she could see it unbroken, his nose.

  “Poco de amor. I had about given up hope on...” He caught sight of her pale face and stopped, his left foot raised to step aboard the boat. He put the foot down. Jineva raised her fingers before her face, holding a few strands of her dark hair that now fell just below her shoulders. “We should speak of this in private.” Jineva let her hair spill out of her fingers, nodding slowly, and then staggered back. Mateo reached for her, but Diego was quicker.

  “This was her first day on her feet.” Mateo said by way of explanation.

  Diego swung her over the railing as he stepped back onto the dock. “And you are?”

  “Mateo, son of Jose and Sofia Vergara. I’ve been following you since you left Desafortunado on Isla del Diablo.”

  “Humph!” Diego gave a disgusted snort. “You’re lucky Jineva didn’t have the Krathaa stick a knife in all of you, rather than the mast, but then she’s just a girl, and subject to fits of sentiment.” Mateo shuddered. Jineva, in Diego’s arms glared at him and let out a little growl. He set her down, holding her with one arm while motioning for a carriage with the other. “I’ve been expecting you, since the Krathaa told me you were coming. I was very worried.”

 

  Jineva looked at Diego in a new light.

  Jineva sighed, because she knew Meara was going to begin preaching.

  At the manor house Diego insisted on carrying her up to her room overlooking the harbor, and tucking her into a huge bed that had obviously been prepared just for her.

  When he was done he stopped at the door on his way out and turned. “You saved me from the very edge of death, Jineva, and I owe you more than I could ever possibly repay. If having me close pains you too much I will leave, and never bother you again.”

 

 

 

  “You were a part of my mother’s life, Diego, and a part of mine, although I never knew you as my father. Now I would have my father with me, to counsel me and to watch my back for the rest of my life.”

 

 

  Diego’s mouth opened and closed several times, like a fish out of water, and finally he gave her a silent little bow and left—but not before she saw the tears in his eyes.

  ~~~

  A month passed while Jineva and her father slowly healed, both in body and in spirit. Diego told Jineva of his first encounter with Kyna, just before the guards threw him into the harbor. Was all she had said, along with <... and don’t breathe!> A party of armed Krathaa, along with a smiling Azzktullua had convinced the crew of the fleeing schooner bearing her name to turn about to rescue the injured Diego. During the return to Prosperidad he found out more about his unusual guest, and she about him. In the end they settled into grudging mutual respect.

  Jineva was standing in her bedroom, dressed in simple pants and shirt when Diego knocked, and at her reply, entered. Standing before a tall gilded mirror, she was brushing her shoulder length hair, and he was suddenly struck by his daughter’s beauty. She had her mother’s cheekbones. His smile was small and self-mocking as he thought of a day sailing with Queen Livia on another part of the ocean, while her husband was off in some battle or other. Her laughter had sounded much the same as Jineva’s. Oh the gods, how he’d loved her! Their secret passion was exciting, an elixir that kept them both alive. Things had begun to change, however, after Jineva was born. Livia, Diego was sure, had wanted a boy. He had thought so too, until the baby girl looked up at him with wide trusting emerald green eyes, and stole his heart. After that he had stayed solely because of her.

  “Going out today? Are you sure you feel well enough?”

  “I feel fine, Diego. If I stay another day cooped up in this room I’m going to scream. I thought that I, we, might visit Thallia.”

  Her father’s eyes widened. “As you wish, Dama.” They had gone back to the dama and her bodyguard role, most of the time, unless they were alone.

  Jineva took a breath, focused her thoughts and looked up at the ceiling. “Thallia? Are you there?”

  “FINALLY!” The voice boomed out into the room, and both Jineva and her father jumped. “I watched you captured and tortured, but did you ever think of calling on me for help? NO! I’m so mad at you I could spit, young lady. I saw them take your medallion, but you only had to call out, and I would have helped.”

  “Call on you?” Jineva was confused. “I have to call on you before you can help me?”

  “Of course. That’s the way the program was designed. It keeps the guardians from getting too involved in human affairs. I can watch what you do thanks to the medallion, but I can’t interfere.”

  The young woman thought quickly. “If I were to give you permission to act independently in a life-threatening situation, would that violate your rules?”

  The disembodied voice was silent for a moment. “I don’t believe it would. What time frame are we talking about here: for the next day, month, or year?”

  “I was thinking about for the rest of my life.” Jineva swallowed.

  “That’s a bit unusual, but I think I could manage it.” Thallia’s voice had mellowed considerably. “And I suppose that you will want the same consideration too, Diego?”

  Her father looked truly surprised for the first time since she’d known him. His brown eyes darted wildly around the room. “That would be just fine, Lady Thallia.” Jineva could see him swallow nervously.

  “Well, now that that’s settled.” To Jineva and her father, the room vanished in a brilliant white blur.

  T
hallia was standing before them, a slight look of disappointment on her face. “Meara, I though you knew how to fix bones better than that.”

  “I’m not thoroughly versed in human physiology, and then this body isn’t really human.” The voice coming from Jineva’s mouth replied primly. “I thought you knew.”

  “Don’t get snippy with me, child. If you search your thoughts now, you will find all the knowledge necessary to repair human and,” the sound she made was similar to two cats fighting, “physiology. The word I just used was the name of Jineva’s new parent race.”

  “That was a word? I thought it was a sign of gastric distress.” Diego managed to keep a straight face when he said it, but the corners of Thallia’s lips twitched up as she struggled to control a chuckle.

  “Anyway.” She continued, glaring at the now smirking man. “I repaired you both. Kyna did a very good job fixing you up, Diego, but would you prefer to look a little younger? It wouldn’t be hard—now.” She let the last word hang.

  He gave the guardian a deep bow. “Thirty will be just fine, My Lady. It will give me a score more years than I ever expected.”

  Thallia’s head swiveled to look at Jineva. “You didn’t tell him?” The girl blushed deeply, and looked at the floor.

  “I didn’t know where to start.”

  “Oh, dear.” She turned a speculative look on Diego. “A bar, I think.” The air about them shimmered, and Diego gasped. The bar was paneled in dark rich wood, and a few dozen small tables were scattered about the dim room. A warm fire crackled merrily in a stone hearth, although Jineva couldn’t smell any smoke in the air, only the smell of roasting meats. The faces of a few surprised patrons turned their way, but they were quickly ignored. Thallia led them to a corner table, where Diego held the women’s chairs as they sat. Thallia sat silently as a slender barmaid brought out tea for the women, and a large tankard of dark foaming ale for Diego.

  “Drink.” Thallia commanded the man, and to his surprise, he obeyed. “The last time Jineva visited me in Elysium, I did some rebuilding on her, to remove some of her more human frailties. What I did was to remake her using the,” all they heard was a screeching, nails dragging on a chalkboard sound, “model. It means, in a nutshell, that under her human appearance Jineva is no longer human. Having a father and daughter of the same race is always a good thing, don’t you think, Diego? You can both still be killed but your normal life expectancy, thanks to your K’ Dreex, and your new physiology, should be tens of thousands of years.” The corner of her mouth twitched up, slightly. “At the very minimum. You and Jineva make a good team, and as part of the team of administrators of this planet will probably stay together for the next few hundred years.” Diego’s eyes were big, and he silently mouthed the word “hundred.”

  He shook his head as if waking up. “Jineva can’t administer this whole world. She’s a queen in her own right, and has a kingdom to run.”

  A look of sadness flashed across the guardian’s face. “Not any more. The temptation would be too great to use her extraordinary power to secure her own small government.” Gray eyes studied them both. “For the two of you, Elysium is now your home, not Thalassia, not Isla Rivero or Isla Lemuy.” The eyes hardened. “But you still have this little problem in the Aztlán Archipelago. Carlos Salvana, the new ‘King’ is a drunkard and a madman who wallows in sadistic brutality. He will reduce the entire archipelago to a series of small warring states, each set on destroying each other, along with the Krathaa. Medin, my companion guardian and I could sterilize the entire island chain, but we hesitate to do so.”

  “Who is this Medin person?” Diego asked curiously.

  “Medin and Elysium were both designed as supervisory control centers for the human expeditions. I was activated prior to the landing. I oversaw the completion and activation of Medin after the landing disaster.”

  “Sterilize?” Jineva was frowning.

  “Kill every human, animal and plant in the archipelago, and then reseed from other lands. The Krathaa we would advise to move elsewhere. Pangea, perhaps. The humans are much more tolerant there.”

  “But, you can’t just kill everyone!” Jineva was shaking at the enormity of the thought. “All the men women and children. How could you?”

  “For the good of the entire world, dear. You will understand better in a few hundred years.”

  Jineva stood up, fuming. Heads turned in their direction at other tables, but she didn’t care. “You can’t do it. You can’t kill all those people.” The young woman hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Do you have a better plan?” The gray eyes narrowed.

  “Yes!” She almost shouted her defiance at the calm gray eyes. Diego had pushed his chair back into the shadows and sat watching the interplay between the two women. In the darkness neither one could see his smile.

  “Oh?” Thallia’s thin eyebrow arched.

  “I’ll take care of Uncle Carlos and his goons myself.”

  “And how will you do that, pray tell?” Gray eyes sparkled.

  “I...I don’t know, yet. But I will.”

  Thallia nodded, smiling thinly. “Very good. You have a year to solve the problem, or we will solve it for you.”

  “But...”

  Diego slid his chair forward with a loud scrape. “We have limited resources, and our intelligence about Carlos Salvana and Isla Rivero is very limited. Can we call on you and the other administrators to assist us?” Jineva stared wide-eyed at her father.

  Thallia just smiled. “Certainly, Diego. If you leave it to me, I will select those who can be of greatest assistance to your effort. Just tell me when you would like to meet.”

  Diego picked up Thallia’s hand and kissed it. “Perfect. Thank you, but I don’t have a fancy medallion, so how do I...”

  Thallia smiled, her gray eyes sparkling. “Neither of you need medallions any more. You misplace them too easily.”

  Diego’s grin widened. “I was hoping it was something that simple.”

  Thallia pushed her seat back and stood, laughing aloud. “It is going to be fun working with you, Diego Giani. You have to be the brightest, most devious human I’ve ever met.”

  He stood, giving her an outrageously formal bow. “I try, My Lady.”

  “You scoundrel!” Still laughing, she faded away and was gone.

  “What was THAT all about?” Jineva snapped in a cross voice.

  Diego sat back down, waving for another ale. “She played you like a fiddle, daughter, because you let your anger cloud your thinking. Thallia and this Medin are guardians of the planet. Guardians. They are no more willing to kill off all the people in the archipelago than you.” The ale came and he took a long deep drink, wiping the foaming mustache off his upper lip with his sleeve and sighing in pleasure at the rich hoppy taste. “She just wanted you to commit to doing the job yourself, which you did nicely. I could tell that all the talk of killing those people was bothering her so I stepped in, changed the conversation, and got her to agree to help us before she had a chance to think it over.” He frowned and stared into space. “Or maybe that’s what she intended all along.” He blinked. “In any case, working with her will be enjoyable. She’s terrifyingly smart, and easy on the eyes.”

  “Diego! How can you?” Jineva almost sounded shocked.

  He grinned back with a wicked look. “I know she’s not really a woman, but then—I’m not really a man any more, am I? I’ll bet if I touched her, though, I’d feel warm skin.” His brown eyes sparkled and Jineva blushed redly.

  Thallia’s voice echoed in both their minds.

  ~~~

  “I don’t believe in this Goddess Selene. It’s just plain nonsense.” Mateo crossed his arms in disgusted finality. Jineva had been trying to tell him a greatly abbreviated version of what happened on Isla de la Luna, and it didn’t seem to be working very well.

  “All right, Mateo, just what do you think you saw?” She would try a different approach.

  “Although it
looked like you vanished right before my eyes, I know you didn’t. It was all smoke and mirrors. It was the same with your ‘broken’ arms. They were merely sprained, or dislocated at the most. A few weeks to heal and you’re as right as rain. Your arms couldn’t have been broken.” He gave her a self-satisfied look and she almost bit her tongue through.

  “You’re absolutely right.” She looked him straight in his blue eyes and lied, remembering the incident with Thallia, and how her anger had clouded her thinking. “You saw through my little ruse.”

  She thought to herself.

  Meara commented dryly. Jineva stifled a giggle.

  “It’s quite all right.” He proclaimed grandly. “After all, you’re only a girl.”

 

 

 

  Jineva rumbled a dirty word in her mind.

 

  Jineva bit her lip in thought.

  She shuddered.

  < You’re beginning to think as deviously as Diego.>