Markan Throne

  "Majesty, you should not have come," he said, shaking his head sadly.

  Zenepha's mouth dropped open as the City Guardsmen within the hall turned on the men of his personal guard; moments later, two were dead and three disarmed. Djerana pushed her hands over her mouth but could not prevent a horrified scream.

  "All right." Lanas turned, a sword appearing in his hand. "Against one wall. Move!"

  Not everybody moved. The nine senators of Lanas's inner sanctum, the nine men Zenepha had allowed the former Senate Leader to choose himself, stood firmly behind the Principal Chancellor. Zenepha blinked in surprise when he saw that Senator Maben, who had always stood for Hingast, was among the prisoners, while Senator Taylon, who demanded a Republic, stood with Lanas.

  Zenepha refused to be cowed. "Senator Lanas," he began, "I hope you can explain this treason."

  ***

  Sergeant Ryen called out the evening roster at the North Gate command post. Scout after scout received his detail and, now dismissed, melted away to his task. One of the many Sergeants involved in training the new scouts, Ryen had proved himself firm, yet very fair. Forgiving of errors and rarely raising his voice, every sylph felt any failure somehow let him down. He had become a father figure to many of the former beggars who were now scouts, and more than one hoped he might offer them a collar.

  Before long, only Janin remained. Ryen gave him a knowing look.

  "Off you go," said the human. "You've already been given your task."

  "Se bata." Janin knew better than to question how his owner had managed to get her own way; she had doubtless used her influence to ensure he kept the task she had given him.

  He hoped for an easy night as he watched the command post where Zenepha attended a meeting. The whistles warning of imminent attack reached his ears, but he waited patiently.

  Realizing Zenepha was about to leave the command post, he stiffened. Moments later, the Emperor sat in the armored carriage and headed towards Senate Square.

  Strange. Janin knew Zenepha usually stayed with the soldiers at the walls during an attack. He walked quickly out of sight as the carriage left. Heeding Sandev's warning to be discreet, he ran along a parallel road, avoiding the risk of being spotted trailing the carriage.

  This street was not one of Marka's wealthiest, but the scout had long since accepted that riches and poverty often lived side by side. He deftly avoided small shadows on the paved road that would emit a noxious odor should he step on them; a moment later, fear and panic welled.

  Managing to restrain his squeal, he dodged the worst of the dust as the two buildings collapsed in the next street. He hoped nobody was hurt, then felt a flash of terror as he wondered if Zenepha had been caught in the rubble. Fright vanished when he glimpsed the carriage once again. He reached the final corner and paused.

  He waited until the Emperor entered the coronation building before he ambled carefully across Senate Square. He made no effort to conceal himself, but the guards failed to spot him until he climbed the steps to the coronation building.

  "Halt!"

  Janin failed to recognize the guard's accent, but obviously not of Marka. Nothing wrong in that; the city was very cosmopolitan, but the voice sounded familiar. Unimportant, compared with his task.

  "I have a message for His Majesty," he squeaked, hardly able to contain his fear. His earpoints twitched and he prayed fervently to the Father that this guard did not understand the significance of sylph ear movements.

  The guard was still suspicious. "This is supposed to be a secret session. How do you know he's here?"

  "He has just arrived from the command center," replied the sylph. "I must speak with him."

  "He cannot be disturbed."

  "Se alut batut." Janin added a hint of a whine, trying to wheedle his way in.

  The guards exchanged a look, as if to say that one more or less made no difference, before the first man nodded. "In you go then."

  Janin had never been in this building before and didn't know his way around. He first entered the Senate and this probably saved his life. The deserted room almost spooked him, but sound floated down from the public gallery and the scout looked for a way up to it. He grinned when he discovered the stairway to the gallery and moments later, poked his head slightly above the balustrade so he could see into Coronation Hall. Instinct rather than reason suggested he might like to move carefully.

  His eyes widened when he saw the prisoners and only just stopped a gasp when he spotted corpses on the floor. It would never do to get caught now. This was why Sandev had asked him to keep an eye on His Majesty! Message; he must whistle a message.

  The guards outside must be part of it, so he doubted if he could leave as easily as he had entered. Roof, he must get to the roof. He moved as silently as possible out of the public gallery and back to the mezzanine, looking for another stairway leading up.

  He climbed two more floors before seeing he could go no further. There was no way up onto the roof from inside. Of course, humans in Marka had roofs to keep out rainwater and tended to resent cutting holes in them. Nothing for it but the window.

  Swinging out of the nearest, Janin glanced down, realizing just how far up he had come. Strangely, it looked to be a longer drop down than it appeared when staring up at the roof from the ground. He got both hands on the ironwork above the window and thanked the Father that sylphs were much lighter than humans.

  He scrabbled for a hold with his feet, then pulled himself onto the wall, rolled over the top and landed with a soft thud in the stone gutter. It still held a good deal of heat from the day. He shook his head and blinked several times, adjusting to the dark. Thankfully, his sylphic eyesight easily penetrated the shadows on the roof and he made his way toward the ridge tiles carefully. He could not fall far from here, at worst to the gutter. The wall tops would prevent a longer fall to certain injury or worse below. Not that he feared falling; sylphs were nimble as alley cats. He swung one leg across the ridge and took a deep breath.

  The ferocity of the attack had faded a little, green fire still landed in the city, but no more rocks were being hurled in. He began to whistle to all within range that Zenepha was a prisoner in the Coronation Hall. Acknowledgments came before his whistle got repeated.

  Moments later, another urgent message replaced it.

  The warning whistle came from Kestan's wild sylphs outside the city, a sighting report that enemy soldiers poured around the walls to the South Gate. Scouts all around repeated the whistle. Even Janin repeated it, but he soon returned to his original report. The Emperor was a prisoner. He struggled to his feet as he saw shadowy figures running along the main road, keeping to the shadows, probably invisible to human observers, but not to Janin. His mouth dried as he recognized a trick of Petan's walk.

  He formed yet another whistle, this one a warning to the depleted defenders of the South Gate.

  ***

  Marlen's pale blue eyes flashed as he ran through yet another guardsman at the South Gate. Around and behind, more men fought and killed Markan soldiers, giving and expecting no quarter. Petan, together with the men who had been concealed around the city, had finally come out of hiding to break open the South Gate. This had always been the plan for ending the siege.

  His archers scythed down everybody on the walls, including a couple of sylphs who tried to whistle a warning.

  Another sylph appeared, dodging and weaving his way through the attack. Marlen's sword blurred in the air, the blow not giving the unfortunate scout time to scream. He expected to see more scouts, but the creatures were neither warriors nor stupid. They had either run away or made themselves scarce once Marlen's attack began. Or perhaps been sent away with most of the other soldiers.

  Marlen was certain that his presence had already been whistled everywhere. Hence the defensive maneuver of destroying two buildings to slow down any Markan rally.

  Petan and a few others, to huge cheering from outside, swung the gates open and Hingast's men swarmed into
the city. More archers entered first, firing at everything that moved with a deadly hail of crossbow bolts, followed by longbow arrows. The attackers increased their hold on the city as more and more men poured through the gate.

  Hingast and Dervra entered with Marshal Janost and Kanad Tanur, though Marlen knew the civilian only by reputation. Hingast glanced down at the corpses; his gaze lingered a little longer on the dead sylph, but they held no more pity than for the dead humans.

  "Your Majesty." Marlen bowed to Dervra, but Hingast assumed otherwise. "The sylph pretend Emperor is secure within the coronation building."

  Hingast smiled. "Excellent. Let us go there immediately." He turned to his companions. "I do not even have to hunt him down." His voice held a hint of disappointment, but the rest of his emotion was pure satisfaction.

  ***

  Chapter 23

  A General Once More

  "We draw closer to him every day. He's waiting for you."

  Tahena and Kelanus stood together in the eyes of the ship. They stared at the dark smudge on the horizon that Tefric assured them was Cadister. The ship had found a good wind and spray arced away from her bow as she cut her way through the waves. None came over the rail; only rarely under sail did they "ship a green", as Cloudy termed it. Another vessel – a fishing boat out of Cadister – stood across their path, but her intentions were not yet known. The smaller boat struggled through the rough waves, unlike the considerably larger Flying Cloud.

  Their journey home had proved uneventful, the only surprising moment coming when Kytra smiled and nodded to Kelanus. Forced out of her shell by interacting with Flying Cloud's officers as well as her own, she had to speak sometimes. Even so, the sylph with the permanently damaged earpoint rarely said much, but Kelanus was privately overjoyed that she no longer regarded every human male with round eyes as a threat.

  Tahena's efforts to heal Kytra's earpoint were less than successful. It had more movement now, for which the sylph was grateful, but could still hardly be described as maneuverable. The sylph had masked most of her distaste at having the Gift used on her but, sadly for the healer, the damage had been left too long. Tahena doubted if any touch-header could do much more to help.

  The two ship sylphs spent a lot of time together, which was hardly surprising as both sylphs and life elementals were firm friends. One had much to learn from the other, both in handling a ship the size and complexity of Flying Cloud, and about the waters further north. The elemental inhabiting Kytra had not been in northern waters for more than a century and though she remembered some, much fine detail had been forgotten.

  When the ship sylphs were not together, Cloudy joined Neptarik or Tefric. Kytra spent her time learning more about those destined to crew her next ship. She bonded very well with Kaniko, the Sailing Master destined for the new Velvet Moon, and already furiously defended her people against the more experienced Flying Cloud's company.

  The officers and men had initially struggled with unfamiliar methods of sailing and were completely alien to the concept of rowing a ship of this size, but they were fast learners and already excelled in many skills. They even had a thing or two to teach their new colleagues.

  Neptarik, already a firm member of the many card schools in operation aboard Flying Cloud, also joined those the newcomers set up, making new friends among the southern crew. Much to Tahena's disgust, the small sack in which the scout kept his winnings soon grew too full for the drawstrings to tie up properly. The scout pestered one of the sailmakers to make him a new one, offering a fat silver coin in payment.

  And yet, even the least bright could see Neptarik's unhappiness. He almost mutinied when he realized the ship would not call at Beshar. Despite everything Cloudy said to persuade him otherwise, he remained convinced that his owner's body was buried in Beshar. Prone to long periods of gloomy introspection, the scout had crossed to Kelanus to say something more than once, only to change his mind at the last moment.

  Now, Neptarik stood further along the ship from Kelanus and Tahena, staring at the waves.

  "Is it me, or can I smell autumn in the air?"

  Neptarik looked up as Grenard, Flying Cloud's Master's Mate, joined him at the rail.

  "It is colder," agreed the sylph.

  "Perhaps autumn has come early this year; it does sometimes."

  The sylph shrugged and waggled his earpoints. There was nothing to be said, so he said nothing, in customary sylph fashion.

  "Or perhaps we feel it more easily, returning from a warmer climate." Grenard smiled. "Perhaps it is that. I know the first crops will be harvested about now."

  Neptarik grinned. Crops were harvested later in the year in Calcan; though his adopted home city lay no further north than Marka, Calcan's climate differed, as it stood on the coast. Cadister and Marka harvested two crops in good years, Calcan just one.

  Having failed to get much of a reaction, Grenard tried a different tack. "Looking forward to getting your feet on the dry again? You've held your courage well; most sylphs hate being away from the land."

  Neptarik's polite smile widened. "Yes, I look forward to land again."

  Grenard kept his eye on the fishing vessel stood directly in their path. He turned to the helmsman, but had no need to say anything.

  Flying Cloud altered course just enough to avoid the nets trawling behind the fisherman and Neptarik, his attention turned outboard, now spotted several more boats dotted about.

  Small figures aboard the other ship waved to Flying Cloud and the scout thought he recognized the yellow-clad sylph on the fishing vessel. The rude creature who liked poking her tongue at other sylphs.

  Flying Cloud returned to her original course and Neptarik glanced landward again. He could now see Cadister quite clearly.

  "We're nearly there," he remarked.

  Grenard nodded. "I hope to speak to you before you leave the ship. But now we all have work to do."

  Tahena and Kelanus picked their way aft along the rowing platform, collecting Neptarik on the way. They climbed the short ladder to the poop deck, where Mate Steffin smiled and nodded to them.

  Kelanus had paid Steffin for their passage; the Second Mate acted as purser, part of his duties. The two ship sylphs were there and Cloudy looked at their luggage with sad eyes as boys brought it up from below. Her gaze lingered on Neptarik as Cadister loomed.

  The sylph scout nodded and his earpoints gave a twitch. Both wore a slight smile. Neither said a word, but Tahena sensed rather a lot passed between them in that moment. The two ship sylphs then took the wheel as the crew trotted to their stations, ready to bring the ship alongside. The crew were doubled up, thanks to the southerners who stood shoulder to shoulder with their opposite numbers in the northern crew.

  Neptarik watched Kelanus take a couple of deep breaths and cock an eyebrow at Tahena.

  "He's close," said the southern woman. "Very, very close."

  Kelanus nodded. He already knew who "he" was.

  A forest of masts marked Cadister's harbor, where most of the fishing vessels were secured for the day. One or two deep sea traders boasted poles that towered far above anything the fishing boats could manage. As before, the harbor bustled with activity. They were still too far out to make out individuals, but he saw ships' yards in use loading or discharging cargo. A couple of the crew hoisted flags, the same flags repeated at the end of the jetty, with more of a different color and boasting different shapes beneath them.

  "Outer Jetty, Berth Three," said Cloudy, though neither Neptarik nor his companions understood that the place where the ship should come alongside had just been allocated to them. "That'll please those due shore leave, it is the furthest one out."

  Tefric managed a small chuckle. "Ideal for coming alongside," he replied.

  Neptarik's sharp eyes picked out a tall man, dressed in brown, who already hurried towards their berth. "Kelanus-ya!" he hissed and nodded towards Sallis ti Ath.

  "All right." The General managed a smile for the scout. "Thank
you."

  Neptarik's traveling companions had eyes only for ti Ath, but the scout watched everything. Kelanus's hunter came to a halt beside the workers readying the gangway with its peculiar tower. Moments later, the sylph stiffened as he saw a second man duck quickly out of sight. A dark-haired man, just short of his fortieth year. One who wore a sword and looked like he knew how to use it. A huge grin bloomed. His earpoints shot bolt upright and twitched.

  Tahena stared at this overt display of happiness as the scout began to hum some nameless – and probably tuneless – ditty, something he had not done since leaving Beshar. Her attention returned to Sallis ti Ath as the ship slowly came alongside. Suddenly anxious to see the ship secured, Neptarik already headed for the rowing platform, leaving his bag behind.

  Kelanus stared glumly at Sallis ti Ath. "I suppose we'd better get this over with," he muttered, as dockmen threw securing lines for the tower. He watched the men secure the gangplank and his voice rose. "What's that sylph up to?"

  It seemed that Neptarik had completely forgotten ship and companions in his eagerness to get ashore. Ignoring warning shouts from crew and dockmen, he leapt the short distance from the rowing platform to the tower before it was secured and scrambled down it. The moment his feet touched the jetty, he hared along it, voice raised.

  Tasks done, Cloudy stood beside Kelanus. "Your friend waits for you," she said, silvery gray eyes neutral as she regarded the tall man on the jetty. "I wish you luck, Kelanus-ya."

  The General smiled at the ship's sylph. "I'm sure things will work out."

  He and Tahena shook hands with the ship's sylph, Captain Liffen and Sailing Master Tefric. Kelanus felt surprisingly nervous as he began his slow descent from Flying Cloud to the jetty. Tahena grumbled from somewhere above him about lazy sylphs who couldn't be bothered carrying their own luggage. The General smiled, ready to have a quiet word with the scout when he reappeared. At the bottom of the tower he turned to meet the penetrating gaze of Sallis ti Ath.

  "Kelanus Arus Butros?"