Markan Throne

  The kitchens were full of human and sylph workers, most preparing food, others cleaning utensils or clearing out fireplaces before laying fresh fires. A couple of skinny human boys washed the tiled floors, while three more washed down the tiled walls.

  He stared at the sylph in front of him, her eyes sparkling. Recognition dawned. "Saxin!"

  She grinned. In the same gang of beggars, she had looked after him when he was smaller. That all seemed a thousand seasons ago. A different life.

  "You belong to the army now?" he asked. He glanced at her silver collar, but saw none of the mysterious squiggles and lines that marked human writing.

  "Sort of. Was going to a farm, but now I cannot leave the city. So I work here instead. You?"

  "Learning to be a scout." Janin grinned. "Do they know it is foolish to leave you near food?"

  Saxin giggled, then looked concerned. "Were you involved in the fight?"

  Janin nodded. "At the South Gate." He did not add the fighting had been fiercest and bloodiest there. He had seen corpses before, but what he'd witnessed today sickened him. Despite the urge to flee, he had not. His had survived the battle with his honor intact, as one of the professional sylph scouts had put it. "Not nice."

  Saxin looked sympathetic. "I hear some ran away."

  Janin grimaced at the reminder.

  The partly trained scouts who stood firm had earned the respect of their more experienced colleagues. His thoughts returned to those who had disgraced themselves. At the very least, they would be cast out of the scout corps and suffer the further indignity of cut rations when returned to their owners.

  He knew their selfish actions might have caused a general panic, but he felt some pity for them. No sylph should be expected to put up with war.

  However, discipline kept soldiers and scouts alive in battle.

  "Not me," he said.

  One of the human cooks plumped down beside the sylphs.

  "You may go whenever you wish," the man said to Janin. "You're not under punishment." He turned to Saxin and pointed a finger. "But you are here to work."

  The infertile grinned and returned to her task, though she kept glancing back at her friend.

  Janin shrugged. "I'd rather be here," he replied.

  "Well, there are enough potatoes peeled," continued the cook, unabashed. "I've got a few ready, if you fancy a quick bite."

  Janin's eyes lit as his beggar instincts leapt to life: never turn down free food. Especially with Saxin near. Then he remembered. "Thank you donenya, but it is wrong for me to take rations meant for another."

  The cook laughed and gently thumped the sylph on the back. "You are a good sylph. Sandev is your owner, yes?"

  Janin nodded, aware that not only Saxin had stopped work to stare at him. One of the kitchen assistants now gave him a considering look. It might mean nothing, but the sylph carefully noted the woman's face, just in case.

  "Don't know him," continued the cook, beaming jovially. "But he's a very lucky man to have a grafter like you."

  "Woman," corrected Janin, grinning. "He is a she."

  The cook laughed again. "Come on lad, you look hungry. Let's get you fed, you've earned it." The man's eyes almost disappeared as he smiled.

  "Is that all right?" The sylph still sounded unsure.

  "Put it this way," continued the cook. "The evening meal for the sylph scouts is finished. You missed it, so you can either eat with us, or go without. Myself, I hate to see anyone go hungry who works for me voluntarily. You've earned your keep, lad. And I'm sure you'd like to chat with your friend some more."

  Janin nodded and smiled. He just wished that the kitchen assistant who had overheard his owner's name would stop staring at him.

  ***

  Chapter 19

  Hejiller

  Cloudy entered the passengers' cabin and smiled shyly at its occupants. Tahena smiled brightly back and Kelanus nodded. Despite the good wind, heat haze danced everywhere, but the cabin stayed cool thanks to drapes set against most of the windows. Stayed relatively cool, anyway. Water ran down the windows as half the crew kept the deck above wet, preventing the merciless sun from drying and distorting the planks.

  The ship was days from Hejiller, ahead of schedule and in no hurry, though Cloudy warned a calm lay ahead. Emplar tea chests filled the holds, to be sold in Hejiller. The bacca they bought there would pay for the entire voyage when sold in Cadister.

  "May I come through?" asked the ship's sylph, in her soft voice.

  "Of course." Tahena smiled again. "He wants your company."

  The sylph nodded her thanks and climbed onto the sternwalk. Wrapped in misery, Neptarik sat with his legs dangling above the ship's wake and his head resting against the middle bar of the safety rail.

  After leaving Beshar, Kelanus and Tahena dared not leave the sylph alone for days, fearing he might throw himself into the sea. Thankfully, that dreadful prospect grew less likely as time passed. If he planned suicide, it would have happened by now. In a rare fit of temper, the sylph told his companions that suicide was unlikely while his mother lived.

  As Cloudy stepped onto the walkway, the scout turned his head and gave her a small smile, earpoints twitching up before sagging again.

  "Morning," he said, voice flat.

  "Ilpewa," she replied, making the most of the opportunity to practice her native tongue.

  At least she always got a greeting, together with that smile and twitch from his earpoints. Not even Kelanus or Tahena got more. Neptarik blamed nobody other than Sallis ti Ath for his owner's death, but he could not shake off his depression.

  Not that Cloudy believed Balnus died in Beshar.

  "Tell me again," begged Neptarik. "What the ship said."

  Smiling, she plumped down beside him. Tempted to hug him close, she sensed he might resent that. "The ship says your master did not die. She can tell the difference. He has faded from her awareness, because he is no longer on her decks. If you would let me..."

  Neptarik glanced warily at the other's raised open hand and his eyes narrowed. From the first she had wanted to touch him again, to prove she told no lies. He had resisted and always refused before now. Looking into her eyes for a long moment, he finally relented.

  "All right." He closed his eyes as Cloudy rested her hand on his forehead. He let the ship in.

  His eyes opened. This felt very different from his last contact with the ship, as if he entered the ship's world, rather than she his. An emerald-eyed creature smiled at him, auburn hair tumbling halfway down her back. That hair framed a delicate face with a pretty button nose, yet those eyes exuded determination. She knew her own mind. And knew what was best for him.

  "Alvanya." He had always wanted to meet an ilven and here one stood before him. He inclined his head in respect.

  She smiled. "Not yet, Neptarik. But this is how I see myself."

  "You are beautiful," he complimented her. He felt awe, but supposed he would if an ilven confronted him anyway. So this was the ship's dream.

  "I see how you charm my sylph." The ship's smile broadened. "I dread what will happen when you leave my decks. She – we – will miss you."

  Neptarik stared. "She has feelings like that? But she is an infertile!"

  Irritation flared in those emerald eyes and the ship stamped a foot. "So that means she's not allowed emotions? I know sylphs are boneheads where your infertiles are concerned, but I thought you were more tolerant than that."

  "Sorry, sorry." He immediately gave way. He had no wish to anger the ship, or more particularly the life elemental that inhabited Cloudy. Especially as some form of that elemental stood in front of him.

  "Come here."

  He obeyed, somehow aware that the other could force him to do nothing. He suspected he could break away from this contact if he wanted. Part of him did want to; he neither understood what happened here nor how it could be possible. He should be frightened by this experience, but he felt no emotion other than calm. The ilven that the ship wo
uld become stared at him. Her hand touched his forehead.

  He grew aware of being the ship. Of every living creature aboard, more aware than ever before in his life. Cloudy had to put up with this all the time!

  "I have lost three members of my company in my years as this vessel," said the ship. "One fell from my rigging and I knew he was gone in moments. Another got stabbed in a brawl ashore and I knew immediately he was dead. The third died after two days ill ashore and, though my awareness of him began to fade the moment he left my decks, I still knew the precise moment of his death."

  As the ship spoke, she shared her feelings with him. Neptarik felt the sudden severance of the first two, and a gradual fading to an abrupt end of the third.

  The ship continued. "It took five days for my awareness of Balnus to fade. I offer no assurance concerning his welfare since, but he lived at least until then. Sallis ti Ath did not kill him."

  Neptarik felt nothing more than a gentle fading as she spoke of his owner. It was as she told him. When the ship stood back, he blinked and drew in a ragged breath. He would be crying next!

  "Now do you believe me?" asked the ship.

  "I want to believe you," he replied. "You have helped me feel better, but I want my owner back before I can be really certain."

  "I understand your pain. I feel your pain."

  "How?" The sylph stared. "I mean no offense, but you are not really... alive."

  Those beautiful eyes narrowed. "I have been eight ships and inhabited seventeen sylphs. Cloudy is my eighteenth, and I hope my last. The sense of loss after the death of each is the nearest I come to physical pain. But it is still not easy. What you feel is a sense of loss; a life elemental senses loss, the same as any other living creature. I still miss every one of those sylphs." She scowled at him. "And I am alive."

  "Of course you are." He did not know why he did it, but he hugged the small ilven before him.

  She pulled away first, but he sensed her pleased reaction. "Now I really know why my sylph has fallen in love with you."

  Neptarik blinked, again aware of the salt sea and the furious sun scorching the deck on which he sat. The heat already felt uncomfortable on his bare legs, despite being tanned. His eyes focused on Cloudy as her hand fell away from his forehead.

  "Did you share any of that?" he asked her.

  Cloudy shook her head. "She shuts me out when she wants. I could push in, but I respect private moments, as she does with me. What she said is between you and her, I swear."

  "The ilven she wants to become is beautiful. She showed me so much just then. More than I thought she ever would."

  The other smiled, pleased. "Yes, she will be amazing." She changed the subject. "We will be in a calm tomorrow and the day after. Will you swim with me?" Her gaze bored into him for a moment, before flickering down and away. Her earpoints gave a violent twitch.

  Neptarik nodded. "Of course I will."

  In his mind, he heard an echo of the ship. "My sylph has fallen in love with you." He hoped the ship would not get jealous.

  ***

  "Not only is he falling further behind, but I don't believe he's even chasing us." Tahena shook her head in amazement. "So unlike him."

  Reflections from the sea danced across the deckhead, adding light to the airy cabin. Despite being cooler than the rest of the ship, the cabin still grew uncomfortably warm. The open windows on the shady, undraped side failed to admit anything more than a breath of air.

  Kelanus stared at the southlander. "He has given up?"

  She snorted. "Sallis ti Ath never gives up. Only thought of another way. You don't escape that easily."

  The General stroked his chin and wondered. "The ship believes that Balnus is still alive. Perhaps he is ti Ath's prisoner, or has somehow managed to persuade him that I am not a threat."

  "More likely he now knows you intend to return from the south and no longer sees any point chasing you."

  "Can he find us like you can find him?"

  "No idea. To be honest, I suspect not. His talent is in seeing where those he chases have been."

  "A bit of a gamble."

  Tahena smiled. "Sometimes a gamble must be taken. Given your profession, I'm sure you already know that."

  Kelanus suddenly changed the subject. "Looking forward to getting home?"

  "It is so long since I was there, it's hardly home." Tahena's smile became wistful, with a hint of regret about something forever gone. "We have missed the spring blossoms, which is a pity for they are so beautiful. My parents' house has twenty blossom trees; I loved to play beneath them as a child."

  "My childhood home is a much colder place," chuckled Kelanus. "We had eight fruit trees, sheltered from the Aboras by the nearest forest. Snow lay on the ground six months of the year and there were patches all year round where the sun didn't reach. In midwinter the only daylight came an hour or two either side of noon, or from the sky lights."

  "Aboras?"

  "The north wind. Blows off the icelands and brings winter. There are only two seasons in Frodger: cold and freezing."

  Tahena laughed. "Breed tough people where you come from."

  "Not so soft yourself."

  "I've changed my mind about going home, Kelanus. I want to see this through. With you."

  His pale blue eyes locked onto hers for a moment. So that was the way the land lay. He smiled. "I'll need all the help I can get when we return to Marka. And it might still end in my execution."

  "Don't say that!" Her voice was unintentionally sharp, but she made no move to moderate it. "Never say that. We will return with the evidence we need. Sandev would never have sent us here unless there is something we can use."

  "Doesn't it bother you that I seek evidence against one of your countrymen?"

  Tahena considered the question. "In Verdin Vintner's army there is a whole section of southlander mercenary troops."

  "Good fighters."

  "Of course. But have you noticed they don't like Ranallic? You don't like Ranallic; Mikhan doesn't like Ranallic. It's the man who is disliked, not where he is from. There is something about General Ranallic that breeds distrust and dislike."

  "Such as besmirching the names of innocent men."

  "That has always happened in politics." Tahena smiled. "This is different. There's something about Ranallic that puts people's hackles up, something they somehow sense about him that worries them."

  "Well, with Siranva's help and a little luck, we shall soon discover the truth." Kelanus's smile was not altogether pleasant. "Soon."

  Tahena looked concerned for the first time. She hoped that the man before her did not surrender to hate and allow it to consume him. It might be too late to worry about that now.

  ***

  Neptarik finally left the cabin for the upper deck. Tanned a darker blue thanks to his time sat on the walkway, he had not left the confines of the passengers' cabin and walkway since losing his owner. Not even in the Imperial Republic or Emplar. Not that he wanted to set foot ashore in the Imperial Republic. Even Cloudy said sylphs were not very well treated there.

  He received pleasantries and warm smiles. The card players among the crew looked pleased to see him. Cloudy flashed her lopsided grin and waved from her place at the wheel. Tefric nodded, then returned his attention to the compass card where he repaired something in the binnacle. Neptarik found a quiet corner on the quarterdeck and settled on the planking to watch everything.

  He admired Cloudy at the wheel, holding the ship steady on her course, attention split between the sails and what lay ahead. There were lookouts of course: one at the masthead, one in the eyes of the ship and one staring over the ship's rule-straight wake. Remembering his own clumsy efforts at the wheel, Neptarik felt a twinge of envy for this sylph, so clearly a sailor. Perhaps she might not make a good scout; he could take consolation from that. This was her element, but he suspected she might struggle to compete with him ashore.

  "Excuse please, Neptarik."

  The sylph sc
rambled to his feet and bowed his head to the man who approached with a bucket of salt water and a broom. He had forgotten that the strong sun meant that the decks must be kept wet. He was in the way.

  "Apologies." He moved away to let the sailor do his job. He leaned against the bulwark on the opposite side of the ship, ready to move if needed.

  Fourth Mate Naltor had the watch. The relatively inexperienced young officer probably shared his watch with the Sailing Master so the latter could keep his eye on him. Neptarik doubted the need; the weather looked as though it would spring no surprises.

  The scout stared at the sea, where the waves seemed slightly more subdued than he recalled. The fresh wind still ruffled his lengthening hair. His attention returned to Cloudy.

  "You sure it will be calm tomorrow?" he called.

  Cloudy didn't even look around. "Look at the sea," she replied. "The wind drops already, if slowly."

  "We might even have to out oars," chuckled Tefric, having finished fiddling about with the compass card.

  "Do not even think about it." A warning note crept into the sylph's voice. "I want my swim and so do most of the crew." She sniffed. "We have plenty of time before the High Festival." She made minor adjustments with the wheel even as she spoke, instinctively meeting each yaw of the ship's head. The movement seemed almost absentminded, as if she had no need to think about her steering.

  "High Festival?" echoed Neptarik.

  "The real beginning of summer in Hejiller," replied the other sylph. "I will not say too much or I will spoil it for you. But it is fun."

  "Except for those who must stay aboard," added Tefric.

  "You do insist." Cloudy laughed. "And the others who stay are volunteers."

  "Married men who cannot trust themselves when surrounded by intoxicated, willing women," Tefric pointed out.

  "Intoxicated?" Already Neptarik liked the sound of the High Festival. "Ale? Beer?"

  "They call it Crozo," explained the Sailing Master. "Bad for sylphs."

  Cloudy giggled.

  The male sylph managed a smile. He hoped Kelanus allowed them to stay in Hejiller long enough to enjoy this festival. "Sounds the very stuff for sylphs," he retorted.