Jalia Prevails (Book 5) (14 page)

Kend closed the door on her.

Cara giggled and flopped exhausted onto the floor of the barn.

“You are the best, Daniel al’Degar. I would never have believed that any man could teach me something new,” she said in delight, rolling onto her side to stare at him.

“Glad to be of some small service.” Daniel replied. He lay exhausted against bales of hay. “Do you think you will get a chance to use this new skill in the future?”

“When the time comes, I truly expect I will. Thank you sweet Daniel,” Cara moved closer to Daniel and kissed him on the cheek.

“Then let us put out these lanterns and get back to the Steam Dragon. Jalia may have won all the townsfolk’s money by now and be on her way back.”

“I suppose you have taught this to Jalia as well,” Cara asked.

“You could say that, Cara. You certainly could.”

8.
          
Revenge

Tonas and the Denger brothers sat at their usual table for breakfast. Apart from the small form of Rolf Wanor cleaning the tables, the dining room was empty. Wilf and Tred were anxious to know what was in the message that Tonas received the previous day. It was written in a code that Hadon had created and Tonas had promised to decode it for them overnight.

“Well?” Wilf asked impatiently. He had trimmed his beard almost to stubble that morning and looked younger and meaner as a result.

“Can I not even break my bread before I tell you?” Tonas asked. He enjoyed the power that came with his father’s position and deeply regretted that he only had the Denger brothers to lord it over.

Tred frowned severely and Tonas decided he had pushed the men far enough.

“It was from my father’s alternate buyer in Slarn. That person informs me that we have friends onboard who will assist us when the time is right. Obviously the contact thinks that my father is still alive and some of the message was incomprehensible as it relied on his personal knowledge.”

“We might understand it, if you read it to us,” Wilf offered.

“Unless you were privy to my father’s bedroom secrets I would doubt that very much,” Tonas replied, his face reddening at the thought of the things he had read. “The message suggests that all three royal families may take a hand.”

“Just what we need,” Tred offered gloomily. “Three sets of Slarn royalty fighting over the swords. I should have stuck to selling horses. I understood the horse trade.”

 
“I cannot change the words on the parchment just because you do not like what they say, my lord,” Jant spat out angrily. He and Dor had been locked in this argument since the previous evening and had made no progress. Nothing could change until they either received another message from Gilan or reached Slarn where Dor could argue it out with his father in person. Mal sat listening to the two men shout at each other in amused silence while he honed the edge of his knife to razor sharpness.

“He wants me to give up the fight and let Gally Sorn give the swords to the house of Tallis. We don’t even know which Tallis brother she means to give them too. It could even be Maximus,” Dor said angrily. It was the same point he had been making last night.

“With respect, my lord, what your father has ordered is that you take no unnecessary risks. He believes that the swords are not worth your life, which they are not,” Jant explained in exasperation.

“It doesn’t say ‘no unnecessary risks’ in the letter, it says ‘take no risks at all’,” Dor pointed out. “It also says; ‘Don’t leave the boat at Wegnar, don’t leave the boat at Bretin, don’t go anywhere near Gally Sorn, don’t trust anyone but you two’. The only thing that surprises me is that my dear father doesn’t send me instructions on when to breathe in and out.”

“You know what happened to Jared,” Jant pointed out. “He was most certainly murdered by the Sorn’s”

“Fifteen years ago, Jant. We cannot be afraid to act simply because the Sorn’s killed one of us in the past.”

“He was your brother and the heir.”

“I was a child when he died and father still has Petric regardless of what happens to me. Petric has three children and two of them are boys, so the line of succession is safe.”

“Perhaps your father is concerned for you,” Jant offered. Dor snorted at the idea. His father had been treating him like an idiot his whole life. It was hardly likely he cared what happened to him.

“I will not allow Gally Sorn to give the swords to the house of Tallis. I would sooner die,” Dor said quietly.

“As my lord wishes.” Jant gave up on the argument. Mal looked up and gave Jant a reassuring smile.

Captain Gil Toren, First Mate Seb Halder and Bosun Hal Patin sat at a table on the bridge. A number of letters lay scattered across the table.

“I still cannot believe that any of the Triums would dare to attack the Boat Company,” Hal said for the eighth time.

“The worse thing is we don’t know which one of them did it,” Seb threw in.

“I cannot see it being Tallis or Jenver, therefore logically it must be Dalk,” Toren offered.

“Gilan Dalk attacking anybody is difficult to believe; Dalk attacking the Boat Company is ludicrous,” Hal opined. Neither of the men disagreed with him. Still the letter was clear. The Boat Company’s headquarters in the harbor in Dalk had been ransacked and an attempt made to burn it down. The Magician King’s buildings resisted burning and the attempt had failed.

“Perhaps somebody wanted us to take the Steam Dragon to the harbor in Tallis,” Seb suggested.

“You think Tallis has something to do with this?” Captain Toren asked.

“We are transporting goods for Gally Sorn and anything to do with the Sorn’s is suspicious, Captain. The Sorn’s are supporters of the house of Tallis, I would remind you,” Seb pointed out.

“It is an action much more in keeping with Deren Sorn than any of the royal families,” the Captain admitted reluctantly.

“There is nothing I would not suspect Deren Sorn of doing,” Hal stated firmly. “We should assume he is behind it. The only other conceivable suspect is Maximus Tallis.”

“Whoever is behind it, our orders are clear. We shall dock in Tallis and not in Dalk,” the Captain said as he gathered up the letters.

“Deren Sorn wins again,” Seb Halder muttered.

“Nobody has won anything yet. The Boat Company has not survived for a thousand years by letting itself be trampled over,” Captain Toren pointed out.

 
“Are you sure you are up to going to breakfast?” Hala asked Nin anxiously. She had seen his pain as he carefully put on his shirt.

“The Captain says I can eat with the passengers until I am recovered, if you want me to,” Nin replied. “That is a great honor to bestow and I am going to take full advantage of it.”

“I don’t know…”

Nin grinned at her. “Think how much it will annoy Yan. Father says he is still incapable of working in the boiler room. I need to prove to him and the rest of the crew that I am stronger than he is.”

Hala grinned at the boy. “I suppose so. But if Daniel or Jalia has to carry you back, you can forget getting any pain relief for a few days.”

Gally Sorn strolled into the Keeper’s Breakfast Room as if she owned the place. Jalka stood at the other end of the room by a candle-heated trolley, putting scrambled egg onto her plate. If there were any more guests in the palace then they had not turned up, nor was there any sign of Jalka’s husband.

“What a beautiful morning,” Gally said to her sister cheerfully. “I could almost put our father right out of my mind on a day like this.”

Jalka turned, revealing a severely bruised eye. “Sadly for me, this is not a morning I can easily put my husband out of my mind,” she replied with a wry smile on her face.

“Tib did that to you?” Gally said in shock. “It wasn’t because of what we were doing earlier was it?

“No, my sister; it was nothing at all to do with you. He came home last night in a towering rage. Apparently, he was caught cheating at cards at his club, or should I say, his former club.”

“He wasn’t as good at cheating as you thought?” Gally enquired.

“I suspect he was as good as usual. I have never been able to spot him and you know how intensive our training was.”

“I remember all too painfully,” Gally stated and winced at the painful memory. “Then how was he caught?”

“Some woman going under the pseudonym of Jalia al’Dare humiliated him. She cheated rather better than Tib and then revealed his cheating in front of his friends.”

“That was probably the real Jalia al’Dare,” Gally said thoughtfully. “She and Daniel al’Degar are traveling on the Steam Dragon.”

“Both of them?” Jalka clapped her hands together at the thought of two heroes in town. “How utterly delightful. Is the al’Degar man any good in bed?”

“He looks as though he might be. However, we are not on good enough terms to find out, as they claim I have their possessions and they want them back. They will want in vain, as the items in question are hidden where they will never think to look.”

“This is not one of father’s plans is it? I wondered why you were angry, but if he has hired those two as mercenaries I can see why you would be so upset.”

“No, it’s not that,” Gally said as she poured out a glass of fruit juice. “Father insists we pay the traders the full value for the swords when we arrive at Slarn. And after I spent so much effort whittling their numbers down.”

“Oh, you haven’t killed Hadon have you? I always had a soft spot for Hadon Mallow. I imagined he would be very thrusting, if you know what I mean.” Jalka smiled as she recalled certain daydreams.

“He was, painfully thrusting in fact,” Gally said dismissively. “He is one of the traders missing and I presume he is dead.”

“Father is concerned that Maximus is overreaching himself,” Jalka said returning to the perennial subject of their father. “And any battle for the throne involving Oto Tallis will surely take forever as he is such a hopeless drip. Father is probably working to ensure adequate supplies for Tallis in the long term.”

“If he would only deal with Maximus we could finish this war in days.”

“Maximus is too volatile. I trust you are not dealing with him?” Jalka asked sharply. “Father will have you whipped for months if you were ever to be so foolish.”

“That would be better than ending up married to Tib Prentice.”

“Yes, I tend to agree with you,” Jalka agreed. “He was the punishment meted out when I did not enamor Uncle Gal.” Jalka sighed. “It is Jalia al’Dare who should be worried today. Tib will kill her before the Steam Dragon leaves.”

“And you had a successful night at the card tables?” Daniel enquired of Jalia as they sat down for breakfast.

“For the third and final time, Daniel, I had a wonderful time. I won a lot of money and today I will win even more,” Jalia said with exasperation clear in her voice. Daniel had been quizzing her since the moment they woke about what happened the night before.

“And nobody in this town is upset or seeking to have you strung up from the nearest tree?” Daniel persisted.

“No, they are not, Daniel. Everybody involved last night applauded my consummate skills and they are all looking forward to our return match tonight. Are you satisfied now?”

“Well, I suppose it had to happen someday,” Daniel said with a heartfelt sigh. “You are finally losing your touch.”

Jalia punched him none too gently on the arm. While Daniel was rubbing the pain out of it, Jalia tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the door where Nin and Hala had just entered the room.

“It looks like every step is agony for him,” Daniel remarked. “I would have thought another few days in bed would have been better for him.”

“Yes, but you are just an ill-educated farm boy, Nin is a sailor. They are obviously made of sterner stuff.”

Daniel stood and pulled out chairs for the children as they approached. Jalia put her cloak over Nin’s chair so that his back would be protected from its hard wooden frame.

“I’m just going over to get Nin’s breakfast,” Hala said excitedly and ran to the serving area.

“Welcome back, Nin,” Jalia said giving the boy a warm smile.

Nin winced as he sat and then again as he leaned backwards. “The Captain said I could join the passengers for meals.”

Jalia and Daniel waited until Hala brought the children’s food before they began to eat again.

“Hala told me you asked why the Keeper is called the Keeper,” Nin said looking at Daniel.

“It’s all something to do with some stupid coin,” Jalia said dismissively.

Nin’s face fell as he realized Jalia had already heard the story.

“Tell me, Nin. I haven’t heard a thing about it,” Daniel prompted.

“It’s the most valuable object in Wegnar,” Nin began eagerly. “If it ever gets stolen, all the important people better run for the hills before the working folk kill them.”

“Surely that can’t be true?” Jalia asked, a glimmer appearing in her eyes.

“It is,” Nin insisted. “The Keeper is so scared of rumors that the coin has been stolen that he allows viewings of it every day in the vaults, to prove to the populace that it’s still there.”