Markan Throne

  Kytra walked with folded arms and her good earpoint tucked into its ear. She had no more enjoyed having the Gift used on her than Neptarik enjoyed having it used around him.

  Kelanus faced the road again. The sooner he got this over and done with, the better.

  ***

  As Tahena had said, the road led to Pensdren. Kytra nodded to herself as her ship recognized where they were. There was not much to it. Houses, a large inn and a temple with a graveyard behind huddled along the land side of the road. A dilapidated quay jutted into the river, the road clearly a mixed blessing for the small town.

  The road ended at a large timber yard directly opposite the quay. Beyond, it degenerated into a rutted dirt track. Pilings stuck out of the water here and there, to show the quay used to be bigger. A ramp led into the muddy water of the river beside it. Long wagons like those that passed them on the road stood inside the yard, while the noise made from converting trees into timber assaulted the whole town.

  On the other side of the river, two abandoned and partly submerged barges squatted on the riverbed. Kytra looked at them with sad, pitying eyes.

  "They used to put the timbers on barges like those and float them downriver," said the ship's sylph. "Where they were picked up by larger ships. But not since they built the road."

  "What trouble led to the road?" asked Kelanus.

  "Pirates," replied Kytra. "The Shograt finished them."

  Pensdren's fields and pasture ran uphill on one side of the town, while the forest hemmed in the other side, running further upriver and out of sight. Kelanus saw a large area where tree seedlings had been planted out, with sylphs tending them.

  As the forest provided the great timbers used for building ships, it seemed sensible to have nurseries like this. Now he had seen one, he spotted several more.

  The single street looked empty for most still worked in the fields or the timber yard, children included. Only a handful of older men and women sat in their sun porches, or chatted with friends over fence or hedge.

  A smattering of sylphs swept pathways, washed laundry, or worked at other chores. All eyes turned to the strangers and the two sylphs quickly gathered more of their race, eager to learn about the newcomers.

  "Neptarik gets more than his fair share of attention," remarked Tahena, as breeding female sylphs gathered around the scout. "Looks like there aren't many male sylphs here, either."

  "Probably asleep or working," grunted Kelanus, who thought it was hardly Neptarik's fault female sylphs found him attractive. "Perhaps these are unmarried girls."

  Tahena looked unconvinced.

  They halted before the inn, with closed doors and shuttered windows.

  "Too early." Kelanus restrained a groan. "What do we do in a flyspeck like this?"

  "Try to find Ranallic Eydren," replied Tahena, securing her horse to a hitching post.

  "Let's get accommodation arranged." Kelanus hammered on the inn door a few times with his clenched fist, to no avail. "They can't all be asleep."

  "You're wasting your time," said an old man, before Kelanus could bang on the door again. "Larna Eydren is never in at this time of day. And her sylph is deaf." He leaned on the fence that protected the inn grounds from the road and gave them a toothless smile.

  "Is he the innkeeper?" asked Kelanus. He wondered why Tahena rolled her eyes in exasperation.

  "He?" The old man looked surprised.

  "Innkeepers are women in the south," Tahena hissed at Kelanus.

  "All right." Kelanus gave her a how-was-I-supposed-to-know expression, while Kytra giggled. "Where might I find Larna Eydren? We need somewhere to sleep and this seems to be the only place."

  "Unless you enjoy sleeping under the stars, it is." The old man nodded towards the temple. "She'll be over there with her father."

  "Thank you." Kelanus turned to the sylphs. "You stay here, while Tahena and I try to arrange rooms."

  "Se bata."

  Kelanus all but dragged Tahena away from the sylphs and the inn. "Did you hear the name? Eydren. Eydren! How can she be a relative though? And she's with her father. I wonder..."

  Tahena tried not to laugh at his exuberance. "Let's find them first. The good news for you is that in these parts, all children take their father's family name."

  "They do?" Kelanus looked startled. "What an odd custom."

  "I seem to remember somebody warning Neptarik not to mock others' customs." Tahena sniffed in disapproval. "Especially when relying on their goodwill. Besides, as you say, they might not be related."

  Kelanus sniffed. "As I recall, it was to do with others' beliefs."

  "Not that much difference," retorted Tahena.

  The temple presented a modest front, hardly surprising given its location, but familiar as a shrine dedicated to Siranva. Its doors stood open, so worshipers could enter and pray any time of day or night, but nobody was inside. They had time to register the simple altar and beautiful paintings – Tahena said some depicted ilven – before withdrawing to the glaring heat of the far south.

  "Let's try the graveyard," suggested Kelanus.

  All seemed equally deserted among the headstones, until a short, middle-aged woman abruptly stood and dusted down her long dress. A leather cord held black hair, streaked gray and white, away from her face, and her dark slanted eyes held curiosity as Kelanus and Tahena approached.

  "Can I help you?" she asked.

  Kelanus smiled. "We're looking for the innkeeper," he replied.

  "You've just found her," replied the woman. "I'm Larna Eydren. Did Hiron send you here? He usually does when strangers knock on my door."

  "If Hiron's an old man leaning on your fence, then yes."

  Larna gave a dazzling warm smile that made the others smile back. "He's one of my best customers. What can I do for you?"

  "We'd like rooms for two humans and two sylphs for tonight and possibly tomorrow night, together with stabling for two horses."

  "I can provide that," replied the innkeeper.

  "We were told you were with your father," remarked Tahena, quietly.

  "Yes." She patted the headstone. "He's under here."

  "I see. I'm sorry."

  Larna's face lit with her smile again. "Don't be; he's been gone twenty-three years. Nearly twenty-four."

  "I am Tahena Mithon," continued the other southern woman. "This is Kelanus Butros."

  Kelanus walked around the headstone and his eyes widened. Tahena caught his expression, but said nothing.

  "Pleased to meet you both." Larna looked closely into Tahena's face. "Yours is a local name. Well, not from all that far away."

  "A long story."

  "And you are a northerner." Larna smiled at Kelanus. "I expect to hear some interesting tales over a mug later."

  She led the visitors back towards the inn and nodded to the old man who had given directions. "Thank you Hiron."

  Hiron straightened. "Opening early today?" he asked.

  "At my usual time," she replied. She turned to her visitors. "If you lead your horses down that alley, you'll come to the stables. I'm afraid my ostler is in the next valley, doing some smithying. Oh, hello!"

  The sylphs detached themselves from the inn wall, until now unnoticed as they sat so still on their heels. More introductions were made. Tahena and Kytra entered the inn, while Neptarik followed Kelanus.

  "How is the ship's sylph coming along?" asked the human.

  "Very shy," replied the sylph, "but getting used to me."

  "Still frightened of me?"

  Neptarik helped secure one of the animals and brushed it down quickly. "She'll get better," he said, eventually. His voice held doubt.

  Inside, Larna showed them to their rooms; each boasted a single bed and a sleeping pallet for a sylph. Kytra was relieved to hear that she would share Tahena's room.

  In the other room, Neptarik watched Kelanus slip a small portrait of the man he knew as Ranallic Eydren into a pocket. After meeting in the corridor outside the rooms, all fo
ur returned downstairs. An infertile smiled and gestured silently. Moments later, they joined Larna in her living room, where Neptarik and Kytra crouched unobtrusively to one side.

  From other rooms, they heard serving girls clinking glasses and the cook clattering about in the kitchen. The inn was getting ready to open. The silent sylph, earpoints unnaturally still, pattered in with alovak and began serving it.

  Larna said nothing to the sylph, but smiled at her. "Ullan is deaf," she explained. "Waste of time speaking to her. She rarely makes any noise. Having said that, she understands more than you might think."

  Tahena looked at the sylph and a small frown furrowed her brow.

  Larna changed the subject. "What brings you to Pensdren?"

  "To search for a man's roots," replied Kelanus. "Or perhaps his beginnings. A man who has twice had me removed from my position to fill it himself."

  "Sounds like jealousy." Larna smiled to take the sting from her words.

  "I'm a professional soldier," retorted Kelanus. "I fought for Branad Vintner and supported the pursuit of his claim to the Throne of Marka. I rose to the rank of General and replaced Mikhan Annada as Field Commander. Under me was a brilliant mercenary soldier – a southerner – who rose through the ranks quickly and became my Third General after swinging a battle in our favor. Twelve months later, he accused me of murdering sylphs. There was never a trial, though there were sylphs who swore that I'd tried to kill them, but the rumor cost me my job.

  "Of course, I went over to the other side – or one of them. I joined Marcus Vintner, who needed a good commander, and quickly swung the war his way. Then, this year, Branad and Marcus Vintner met in battle and Branad was defeated, ending his claim. Once again, my accuser stood a step below me."

  "Are you guilty of murdering sylphs?" asked Larna. She spread her hands defensively in response to the glare Kelanus directed at her. "Obviously not, or you wouldn't tell me."

  "Within days of his defeat, Branad Vintner renounced his claim to the Throne and was murdered the same night. Accusing fingers pointed my way, directed by the same man, and I found myself arrested again."

  "Rivals always hate each other." Larna shrugged. "Perhaps this Marcus Vintner settled his rival and used you to take the blame."

  Kelanus shook his head. "Branad had renounced his claim to the Throne, so he was of greater value to Marcus alive. How else could he keep two factions behind him? Everybody believed it was me settling an old score, but they never realized what I might lose by murdering a man I had always respected."

  "Hadn't he ended your service with him?"

  "Branad had little choice but to act as he did." Kelanus leaned forward. "But who stood to gain most by having me out of the way? Yet again?"

  "And you believe this man is from around here?"

  "Yes."

  "Does he have a name?"

  "He does." Kelanus and Tahena exchanged a quick look. "He calls himself Ranallic Eydren."

  The innkeeper sat silently for a few moments and a small muscle twitched in her cheek. She spoke so quietly her human companions strained to hear it. "My father was Ranallic Eydren."

  Kelanus looked apologetic. "I saw the name on the headstone."

  Larna's eyes bored into him. "When he left the sea, Father came here, married a local girl and became the local tracker and hunter, while Mother cared for the inn." Her eyes flickered. "That's him."

  Kelanus and Tahena looked at the portrait. "Definitely not the man I know as Ranallic Eydren," rumbled Kelanus.

  However, Kytra nodded in recognition.

  "My father was murdered," continued Larna. "You said the man who wears my father's name as his own accused you of murdering sylphs. Just murder?"

  Tahena's eyes widened. "Just?" she spluttered.

  "I think you know what I mean." Larna's words were directed at Kelanus, even though she answered Tahena.

  Kelanus twisted his mouth in distaste. "No," he replied. He heard faint sounds from other people moving about and the clatter of the main door being pinned back. A low hubbub of voices indicated the inn had opened for evening trade. "There were no details in the accusations, but I know they were mutilated before they died."

  Larna regarded Kelanus from over the top of steepled fingers. "Some years back, we had a spate of sylphs being killed. The murderer chose only males, never females and never infertiles. The killer liked to mutilate and then leave the poor creature to bleed to death."

  Tahena gasped. Neptarik winced and shifted uncomfortably on his heels. Only Kytra appeared unmoved.

  "My father suspected for some time who was responsible and eventually caught his apprentice in the act. The whole village knew my father's suspicions, but that did not save him from becoming a victim. Nor, for that matter, the sylph. We never found out or understood why. The apprentice deserved to die for his crimes against the sylphs, never mind my father."

  Kelanus and Tahena exchanged another glance. "Was the apprentice put to death?"

  Tahena already knew the answer to her question.

  "He fled."

  "The man we know as Ranallic Eydren is in his early forties," said Kelanus. "And your father died almost a quarter of a century ago?"

  "If we're talking about the same man, he would be forty-two now," said Larna. "We've not forgotten Ellas Panir. The warrant for his execution is still in force."

  "Oh?" Kelanus's eyes widened.

  "You display your ignorance again," remarked Tahena. "A trial can be held without a defendant in Hejiller."

  "He was tried, found guilty and sentenced in his absence," added Larna.

  Kelanus's fingers closed around the small portrait and he pulled it free. "This is the man of whom we speak."

  Larna's face tightened as she inspected the portrait Kelanus passed to her. "Older," she muttered, "but that's definitely Ellas Panir."

  "But how could he make people and sylphs believe he was me when he committed his crimes?" asked Kelanus. "Did anything else strange ever happen around him?"

  Larna shook her head. "Not that I recall."

  "If he had the Father's Gift," put in Tahena, "it would have manifested itself before he murdered your father."

  "Nothing to suggest that. Certainly not when he lived here."

  "He must have learned after leaving," said Tahena. "Which means his skill is sorcery."

  "What skill?" asked Larna.

  "I think that Ra – um, Ellas, is a shapeshifter," replied Tahena. "The Father's Gift is granted and manifests itself when a child is still young. Sorcery is sought out by its practitioners and is demonically inspired, although not all sorcerers are necessarily evil. Not to begin, but sorcery corrupts its practitioners."

  "Ellas Panir is definitely evil."

  Kelanus's smile did not touch his eyes. "Not for much longer."

  Kytra glanced at Kelanus and, if anything, her wariness of him increased. Neptarik gave her a reassuring smile.

  Larna nodded. "If you execute that warrant, I'll be ever in your debt."

  "No you won't." Kelanus" pale blue eyes turned colder and harder. "What I do to Ranallic – or Ellas Panir if you prefer – will be mostly for myself. Seeing justice done is an added bonus."

  "May I be excused?" asked Neptarik, suddenly.

  Kelanus nodded and the two sylphs rose smoothly to their feet to leave the room. Kytra's good earpoint twitched once as the door closed quietly behind them.

  "Why have we left?" asked the ship's sylph.

  Neptarik grinned, but said nothing as he led the infertile sylph up the stairs and to his room, where he pulled free his lucky scarf and some coin.

  "That is stealing!" Kytra's eyes were like saucers and her earpoint stood bolt upright. "We will be in trouble! We will –"

  "My money," protested the other, winding the scarf around his head. "Let us see what people do for fun here."

  "Are we allowed?"

  "Nobody said we cannot."

  The ship's sylph remained unconvinced as her companion led her do
wnstairs and into the public bar. Twelve large tables had long benches down either side. Two serving girls waited on with ale and hot food, keeping the men at the tables fed and watered.

  Despite the heat, most wore furs and woolens, and bacca smoke curled lazily into the air from many pipes. Several games of cards were going on and the room sounded full of good-natured raucousness.

  "Do not like this," muttered the smaller sylph. "Do not like this, do not like this, do not –"

  "Shush!" cautioned Neptarik.

  "Look!" called out a rough voice. "Here's the lad who's set the girls' tongues a-wagging!"

  Another man turned to Neptarik. "My Nirrin's been begging me to see your owner so she can mate with you."

  "We could have you worn out in less than an hour."

  "Wish the human girls would look at me the same way sylph girls look at you."

  There was much laughter and Neptarik grinned. He recognized friendly banter, not much different from ribbings he used to get from soldiers. Moments later, he joined a table, while Kytra stood shyly behind him.

  "Ale, lad? Sure your owner won't mind?"

  "My owner is not here."

  The man laughed and moments later a mug of ale was thrust at Neptarik.

  "What about your shy friend?"

  Kytra shrank back and shook her head.

  "Word is the outlander you rode in with is a General," continued the man, after giving Kytra a reassuring wink. "What drags you all down here? Looking for a dead man, I hear."

  Neptarik glanced quickly at the serving girls and shrugged. "I am just a sylph," he replied, licking a mustache of ale from his upper lip. Larna's helpers obviously listened at doors. He must warn Kelanus and Tahena to exercise discretion. Later. "I am not told everything. If they say go there, then I go."

  "Of course." The man patted the sylph's shoulder.

  "You've come from Marka?" asked another man.

  Neptarik nodded and took another swig of ale.

  "Is it true," continued the same man, "that they've put a sylph on the Throne there?"

  "Yes," replied Neptarik, "it is." He grinned. "May I join your game? I have coin and want to win more."

  The human men exchanged a look before nodding.

  Behind, Kytra sighed and shook her head. Nevertheless, both sylph and ship remembered the crew playing cards for money and she applauded as Neptarik began to make coin.

  By the time Kelanus and Tahena finally finished their discussion with Larna, the scout had a tidy amount. Of course, Tahena expressed disgust at the gambling and quickly whisked Kytra away to bed. Kelanus admired the sylph's skill and stayed to watch. Of course, the villagers assumed he was Neptarik's owner and inundated him with requests for his sylph to sleep with the many available and nubile young sylph girls.