The Ship of Tears_The Legend of the Nine_Part One Read online

  She patted his neck again. “Good boy,” she said. “You keep an eye out.”

  Again, Trapper gave a short bark.

  Here, where the marsh thinned out, and the ground hardened, Elspeth could almost think she was back in Albergeddy. Indeed, were it not for the city’s white wall and the ten towers crowding the horizon, this area of Eiras could easily be mistaken for northern Ealdihain. Even the mountain that gave the city its name looked similar to the Monacdaire. Looking at it, Elspeth felt a twinge of homesickness. She had to smile at that. All those years wishing she could leave Albergeddy, and here she was feeling homesick.

  Elspeth knew it was not the village she was missing; it was the simpler times, a time when she did not spend each morning waiting for a ship full of palace guards she knew would never come. Back then, all her worries had amounted to winning the archery tourney at Spring Feast. Would her life ever be that simple again? And if it could, would she really want to go back?

  Such a lot had happened over the past eight months. Among other things, she had ridden on a dragon, fought in a battle, met a village full of talking wolves, and killed a man – more than one man, if she were being honest. Of it all, she would not miss the fighting. Which was ironic, as joining the palace guard was nine parts the reason why she had left Albergeddy in the first place.

  Still, there was one undeniable benefit to having left Albergeddy; had she stayed, she likely would have never fallen in love with Gialyn.

  That thought made her smile. Back home, she had barely given the guardsman’s son a second look. It had taken almost dying, and more than a few rescues, before she had seen Gialyn for the man he was; a brave, quiet man with a heart of pure gold. No, she could not go home. Home was not there anymore – home was wherever Gialyn was.

  That made her laugh. “Shame, then, that he is on the other side of the world,” she whispered, and Trapper whined.

  “I know, boy,” she said, scratching behind Trapper’s ear. “I’ve still got you.”

  * * *

  The main dining room was busy when Trapper led Elspeth into the room through the kitchens of the Blue Tower. One of the cooks admonished her for letting a dog come through that way, but Elspeth ignored the woman. It wasn’t as though she could have told Trapper to wait outside; these days, if the tower guards did not defend a room, Trapper went where she went. Which was all for the good; Elspeth did not like leaving him on his own.

  Princess Olivia was sitting at one of the tables by the big windows with Anooni and Lieutenant Nini. Olivia only gave Elspeth a quick glance, then turned back to her soup. They had not been talking much of late.

  Elspeth sat next to Jak, Anooni opposite, Olivia to pale girl’s right.

  Without asking what she wanted – the way things were, you got what you were given – a serving girl plonked a bowl of soup and a small piece of bread down in front of her. Elspeth thanked the girl, then looked down at the bowl before giving the contents a tentative sniff.

  “Cabbage,” Nini said, voice flat.

  “At least it’s not onion,” Anooni added.

  Elspeth shrugged. “Could be worse,” she said, thinking about the snapper fish.

  She started to eat. The soup was thin, and there was no salt or pepper in it, or anything that looked remotely solid: little more than coloured water, really. But at least the bread seemed fresh. Which was unusual; normally, they served what was left of yesterday’s bread for breakfast.

  Dragging his spoon through his half-eaten soup, Nini nodded his agreement. “Yes, I suppose it could be worse,” he said, “but I would give my left arm for a good steak. Much more of this, and I’ll be joining the folk guarding the harbour road. Winter or not, at least they get fresh fish.”

  Absently, Elspeth wondered why the lieutenant was once again eating with them. She had not seen him on his rounds, but he always seemed to arrive at the dining hall either just before or just after Elspeth did. Other than that, she had not seen him anywhere around the grounds – at least not in the tower. Was he still with the guards? He was wearing his uniform; so she supposed he must be. Maybe he was working in the city. But if that were true, how was it he always found them at meal times?

  Nini – he had asked to be called Jak, but Elspeth still thought of him as Nini – looked tired. Elspeth knew he had been having problems with his commanding officer, but were things bad enough to keep him up nights? There had been arguments over guard placement, Elspeth knew, and Nini had complained over the living conditions for the new recruits. Some had said, with all his talk of rosters and shorter shifts, that Lieutenant Nini was angling for a promotion. Elspeth did not think any of that were true. If anything, she had expected him to leave the guards, not seek more responsibility. Still, he certainly appeared to have his hands full.

  Then again, maybe his tired look had nothing to do with Captain Belish or his duties. After what had happened in the Barrowstone chamber, she would not blame Nini for having a few sleepless nights.

  That thought made Elspeth wonder if Bar’deth was still on the island. The black raic had caused much of the recent rioting. He had done it to create a diversion, allowing him to steal a Barrow shard from under their noses. Which, according to Elucia, meant Bar’deth now had a splinter of rock from all three of the Earthen Godstones: the Arcstone, the Rainstone, and the Barrowstone. Now that task was done, would the one-time Cren woodsman take the shards to Sek the Black? He was supposedly working for the black dragon. If so, Bar’deth would be on the mainland by now, or maybe across the see in Atria or Marmany.

  Good riddance, Elspeth thought. As long as he isn’t anywhere around here.

  Not for the first time, she wondered why Sek needed the shards. Wasn’t Gialyn working with the black dragon now? If so, Sek would have Gialyn’s shards.

  She shook off that idea. She did not want to think about Gialyn working with the Gaw Dragons.

  “How’s Chiney,” Anooni asked, conversationally.

  “He’s fine,” Elspeth said. “Still fishing. He asked after you. I told him you were busy with tower stuff.”

  Anooni laughed. “Did he try giving you one of those—”

  “Not while I’m eating,” Elspeth said, raising her hand.

  “What’s all this?” Nini said.

  “Nothing,” Elspeth said.

  “He keeps trying to give us snapper fish,” Anooni said. “Horrible little things. They looked like half-dead toads, only without the legs.”

  “Sounds delightful,” Nini said, and Elspeth put down her spoon.

  She chewed at her bread, trying to shift the image of the snapper Chiney had offered her from her mind.

  “Nothing delightful about them,” she said. “Foul little creatures.”

  Nini laughed. “I don’t know why you keep talking to the man. Lark says he is crazy, dragging up the gods know what from the canal and cooking it. It’s a wonder he’s not dead. If you insist on going down there, you should take the east road. You can see the canal easily enough and stay away from the dock.

  Elspeth nodded. “I was thinking that very thing not forty minutes ago.”

  There was silence for a while, then Anooni said, “Quiet down there, is it? The docks, I mean. I saw the wagons coming back through the gate. Most were only half full.”

  Anooni was another one who had gotten into the habit of taking her meals at the same time. Chiney had been right about her; she was a pale little girl. And quiet; although she had been getting more and more talkative over the past couple of weeks. Most of that was down to Elucia, Elspeth knew. Having a real Seer in the tower was well overdue, apparently. Anyway, as far as the Circle of Twelve were concerned, Anooni was quite the popular young lady. Almost as popular as Olivia was – and she was a princess as well as being one of the Twelve.

  “Yes, it’s very quiet,” Elspeth said. “Only one barge this morning, and that was from Toya.”

  “Nothing from the mainland?” Anooni asked.

  “Nope, not a thing from Bailryn. Not
even a skim—”

  Olivia slammed her spoon down on the table. “Oh, for the… There you go again. Why don’t you just come out with it? Why don’t you just blame me for everything?”

  Elspeth blinked at the princess’s tirade. “Blame you? I didn’t say anything of the sort. Honestly, Olivia, sometimes I just don’t know what you are talking about.”

  That was not precisely true; they had often argued about the lack of support from Bailryn, especially the conspicuous lack of ships and soldiers.

  Elspeth went on, “I wasn’t talking about the other thing. I merely said—”

  “You merely said,” Olivia chided. “Odd how you can merely say something in such a loud voice, Elspeth.”

  “I wasn’t talking about—”

  “Yes, you were. I’ve told you a hundred times; it isn’t my fault. I sent the message, didn’t I? I told my brother about Zill and Tyrell and the witches, didn’t I? What more do you expect me to do? I’m not the queen. But do you stop with the accusation? No! Every chance you get, you throw it all in my face. Like I can do anything about it. It may have escaped your attention, Elspeth Tanner, but I am two hundred leagues from the palace. And even were I there, Vierdan would not listen to my arguments.”

  Nini raised his hands. “Thinks it’s time I was on duty.” He pushed his chair out to stand.

  “No, I’ll go,” Elspeth said. “All this gruel, I suddenly have a foul taste in my mouth.”

  She pushed her chair away, ready to stand. Trapper, who had been whimpering, was already on his feet, ready to leave.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Olivia said. “We are going to have this out right here.”

  The lieutenant backed up a step.

  “Oh, sit down, Nini,” Olivia said, waving at the lieutenant’s chair. “This won’t take long. I just want to hear how Elspeth thinks I can change my brother's mind. How I can force the king to send a fleet when he has enemies on all sides banging down the gates.”

  “He doesn’t have enemies banging down the—”

  “And how would you know? When you’re not sulking, your pinning over Gialyn. Really, Elspeth, it’s a wonder you can get up in the morning.”

  Elspeth bit her lip. Yes, she had argued with Olivia before, but this was… This was too much.

  “You promised,” Elspeth almost whispered. “You promised Taomi. You promised Madam Olpany. You promised Juran. Remember him, do you? You said you would not leave those women to suffer.”

  And so did I, she added for herself. I promised Taomi, too.

  And wasn’t that what was really bothering her; that without Olivia’s resources, she was helpless with no way of keeping that promise?

  “Yes, well, that was before Brea loosed fifty thousand Karakin from their prison. We have bigger fish to fry, Elspeth. My brother has a kingdom to protect.”

  “The Karakin are half a world away,” Elspeth said, louder, almost shouting. The rest of the dining hall went quiet. Trapper was growling, maybe at the mention of Karakin. Softer, Elspeth added, “Zill and Tyrell are two days to the north. We can rescue those women while the Karakin are still on Bly. They are no danger to anyone while they remain on the—”

  “How do you know they are still on the island? You have no proof of that. For all we know, they could have Travelled to Aleras. Ash’mael is a demon, remember? He is quite capable of creating a portal.”

  Elspeth opened her mouth to speak, but Olivia carried on right over her.

  “Kalidhain, Eiras, Fael, Barath; nowhere is safe. For the god’s sake, Elspeth, they could be attacking Beugeddy this very minute.”

  Elspeth swallowed hard at the thought of Karakin attacking Ealdihain. Beugeddy was a short march from Albergeddy. Her grandparents lived there. Her friends. Gods, for all she knew, her parents could have decided to go home. Everyone she loved, barring Gialyn, could be in danger.

  But she did not think that were true. For one thing, portals could not cross the ocean, not big ones, and there would be no taking fifty thousand Karakin through Arenthenia. Or the Cisterns, for that matter – the Ulroch would not allow it; they would sooner destroy the gateways.

  No, the spirit wolves were still on the island, and would be until Ash’mael figured out a way of carrying them across the Hidden Sea.

  But telling Olivia all that was a waste of time; the princess would not give an inch. To her mind, the Karakin were already banging on the palace door.

  “This argument is pointless,” Elspeth said. “We’ve been through it all before, and all we do is go around in circles. We both want things that will never happen. I don’t blame y—”

  Olivia slammed her hand down on the table. Standing, she kicked the chair out the way, very nearly hitting Trapper, and stormed out.

  Elspeth sighed heavily. “Well, that didn’t go very well, did it?”

  “She’s just frustrated,” Anooni said. “She promised those people, and now she has to break that promise. She’s arguing with you because she’s angry at herself.”

  Elspeth smiled at the little woman. She had a knack of soothing a rough mood. Pity she had not tried a few minutes earlier.

  “I know,” Elspeth said. “I just wish she did not choose me as her wiping post.”

  “I’ll go talk to her,” Anooni said, and she stood up. After petting Trapper, and kissing him on the head – to which he gave her a big lick on the cheek – she went off in search of Olivia.

  Elspeth turned back to her soup – her cold soup.

  Nini had stayed. He was picking at his bread. After dropping most of it into his half-empty bowl, he put it on the floor for Trapper to eat. The big dog gave it one sniff and backed away.

  “Anooni is right,” Nini said, “she’s only angry at you because you were there. You heard her make those promises, and now she feels the shame of it every time she sees you.”

  “She isn’t the only one who promised,” Elspeth snapped.

  She remembered the deck of the Swallow, of holding Taomi’s body in her arms. That promise was the last thing she had said to her friend. “I’ll come back,” she had said. “I’ll come back and free the witches.” That thought brought a bitter taste to her mouth. All right that Olivia had someone to shout out, what about her? Who could Elspeth blame for her broken promise?

  “I know you are trying to help, Jak, but can we just leave it? If I have to keep rolling that memory over in my mind, I think I might be sick.”

  Jak smiled. “Of course. Sorry.”

  Elspeth smiled back. “It’s not your fault. If anyone is to blame…”

  She left the thought unspoken.

  No, she could not blame Brea; this was Ash’mael’s doing. He had tricked Brea into releasing the Karakin, or so Elucia had said. And besides, Brea was not the one who had broken her promise. Quite the opposite, in fact. Yes, she had made a terrible mistake, but at least the Oracle had done something, not just sat about waiting for others to do her job.

  “I think I’ll go back to bed,” she told Jak. “I’m not on duty until this evening, and my head hurts.”

  Jak nodded. “Later, then. I’ll see you at supper time.”

  Elspeth patted the lieutenant on the arm. Yes, she would see him at supper time. And maybe, by then, Olivia would have calmed down enough to just talk to her. They could not keep arguing like this; it was not doing anyone any good. Least of all Olivia.

  “Until later,” she repeated, and followed Trapper out into the hall.

  Her room was cold; not least, because her small window would not close properly. Elspeth sat on the narrow bed and patted the mattress beside her. Trapper immediately jumped up. He was far too big for the bed, but he was warm, which, at that moment, was more important than having enough room to move.

  “What do you think, boy?” she said. “We are all crazy, aren’t we? Arguing among ourselves when we should be working together.”

  Trapper, who had managed to lay with his bum hanging off the bed, made a noise that sounded like agreement. Again, he gave her
an almost human look of sympathy.

  Elspeth lay her head on the pillow and hugged him close. “You’re a good boy,” she said. “You don’t shout at me.”

  Before Trapper could make another whine of agreement, Elspeth was asleep.

  CHAPTER 3

  What Elucia Wants

  Elspeth woke to someone tapping on her door. The knock was almost ghost-like. Had Trapper not been there and raised his head at the noise, Elspeth might have carried on sleeping

  “Who is it?” she asked, voice thick with sleep.

  Late afternoon sun was still pouring through the small window of Elspeth’s tiny room; she was not late for her shift, so this wasn’t Chrissa coming to wake her up – and were she late, Chrissa would not be tapping quietly.

  The door opened, and a tall, extremely thin woman poked her head into the room. She was one of the initiates, Elspeth realised, but could not remember the woman’s name.

  “Yes. What is it?”

  “I’m here for Elspeth Tanner,” the woman said.

  “That’s me.” Elspeth twisted onto her side and swung her feet down off the bed. “What can I do for you? Is it third bell already?”

  The woman gave one sharp shake of the head. “No, ma’am, it is not third bell. Madam Elucia wishes to speak with you. Now.”

  Ma’am? Elspeth thought. Then she said, “Now? I’m off to work soon. Tell her I’ll—”

  The thin woman made a strangled noise in her throat. “I can’t go back without you,” she said. “Lady Elucia, she told me to escort you to her rooms. I have to escort you to her rooms.”

  She was rubbing her hands together and staring at the floor, an almost frantic look in her eye. Another one of the new girls, Elspeth thought. Eager to please and scared to death of Elucia.

  Elspeth sighed. “Oh, very well. Give me a minute to wash my face.”

  Five minutes later, they were in the Blue Tower, walking up the stairs to Elucia’s new apartments – she had moved out of her old rooms onto the tenth floor; easier to guard, so the new general had said.