Jalia Prevails (Book 5) (19 page)

11.
      
Plots

“How can you live like this?” Nin asked Hala. They were sitting together in the dining room eating breakfast. Very few of the passengers had bothered to get up that morning, having had their sleep disturbed by Tib’s men. However, the Steam Dragon and its crew worked to a strict schedule and mere inconveniences like being held captive by armed men were not sufficient to disturb it.

“What do you mean?” Hala asked, bemused by the question.

“How can you be part of Jalia and Daniel’s life? You’ve been with them what…, three or four weeks and barely a day goes by when they aren’t killing somebody, or risking your life with theirs. How can you stand it?”

“It’s not that bad,” Hala protested. “No one was killed yesterday were they?”

“Dad told me that Jalia killed one of the guards holding the Captain and First Mate captive.”

“Then he deserved it.”

“He was only there because Jalia stole the Five Gem Coin!” Nin shouted.

“Be quiet,” Hala hissed furiously. “Nobody knows that but us, and beside which, I don’t think those men could even have known the Coin was gone by then. Jalia didn’t arrive back until after they were on the boat.”

“I’m sorry,” Nin whispered, embarrassed that he had shouted a secret. He looked around the room and was relieved to see that they were alone. “The point is, if you stay with them you’ll end up dead and I don’t want that.”

Hala thought about the crossbow bolt she had taken saving Jalia, and that she was only alive because Daniel had healed her. She acknowledged to herself that Nin had a point. Jalia and Daniel had told her the same thing. Being around them was dangerous, but she had no one else, and she knew they cared about her.

“They are my family now, and they are so much better than the life I lived before. I grew up with people being killed in front of me for sport…” Hala trailed off as she found tears rolling down her face.

Nin took her hand and squeezed it gently. “You don’t have to live like this anymore. Stay on the Dragon with me and Dad. I’m sure the Captain will sign you on as crew if we ask him.”

“I don’t know, Nin. We’ve only known each other a few days.”

“You don’t have to make a decision now. It’s over a week until we reach Slarn. Assuming we ever reach Slarn with Jalia and Daniel onboard.”

“Of course we will.” Hala laughed “Do you think that any force in the universe can stop those two from getting somewhere once they have set their minds on it?”

It was past noon when Sila Klint and Alin Bredan walked into the dining room. Sila had been busy during their stay in Wegnar and was dressed much more sensibly than when she had been rescued. Gone were the reams of silk and in its place were leather trousers and jerkin, both immaculately cut to a fit that looked as though she had been poured into them. On her belt was a stiletto knife in an elegant scabbard, positioned on her left hand side to be drawn by her right hand.

“Go to the traders,” she told Alin curtly. “I will join you there shortly.”

As Bredan walked over a little uncertainly to where Tonas sat with the Denger brothers, Sila went to the far corner of the room where Dor, Jant and Mal had just stood up from their table to leave. Ignoring Jant and Mal, Sila strode up to Dor and slapped him so hard in the face she knocked him down onto one knee.

Jant and Mal reached for their swords, but were stopped dead by Sila’s words.

“Pull a sword on me and it won’t be put back until one of us is dead.”

Sila certainty gave them pause. After all, she had not stabbed Dor, but simply hit him open handed. It did not merit a death. Worse, it was not clear who would die. Dor pressed his hand against his stinging cheek and looked up at Sila in sheer astonishment.

“You do not attempt to blackmail my secretary and you cannot blackmail me. Is that clear Prince Dor Dalk, youngest son of Gilan Dalk and currently third in line to the Dalk Trium?”

“I only asked for Bredan to be prepared to help, should I call on him,” Dor told her, trying hard to keep tears of pain from his eyes. Sila had struck him very hard.

“And do not lie. It does not become a Prince of the Trium.” Sila paused and looked at Jant and Mal. “I do not know why you are on the Dragon with your retinue, slinking around like rats, nor do I care. There is no enmity between Jalia al’Dare and myself. Those times are past. If you reveal who I am to her it will make this journey a little more uncomfortable for me, but that is all. However, your father would lock you in his dungeon if he finds out you had been stupid enough to try and blackmail me.”

Sila stalked away, Jant put out his hand to help Dor, but Dor knocked it away. He got to his feet and walked out of the room so fast it looked much as though he was running. Jant and Mal rushed after him as soon as they got over their surprise.

Alin Bredan was standing nervously by where the three traders sat. He had mumbled words of greeting and they stared at him, wondering what he wanted. When Sila arrived, the Denger brothers looked at her as if for the first time. Both suddenly leapt to their feet as if a snake had bitten their backsides.

“We did not recognize you before, my Lady,” Tred said as if he was a little boy talking to his teacher.

“We never moved in the same circles,” Sila replied, smiling kindly at him. “You are Tred Denger and this is your brother Wilf, is it not?”

“Yes, my lady,” Wilf piped up ingratiatingly.

“And you are Tonas Mallow,” Sila said with utter certainty. “The resemblance to your father is startling. I must say that I am surprised he has trusted you on a venture this far from Telmar.”

“Tonas, this is the Lady Sila Klint,” Wilf whispered urgently.

“My father met with an unfortunate accident a few days ago, my lady. What was once his business is now mine,” Tonas said uncertainly. “I thought you gave your name as Glan when rescued from the sailing ship.”

“Sometimes you do not seek the notoriety that your own name can give you. There are places I could think of where the Mallow name should not be spoken too loudly. It is the price of being in trade.”

“Your fortunes have certainly suffered a decline in recent time,” Tonas said somewhat tactlessly.

“Yes, but fortunes come and go, it is part of the game we play. Now what game brings three of Telmar’s most successful traders on this journey to Slarn?” Sila sat and all three men looked at her uncomfortably.

Daniel and Jalia got up in time for the evening meal. As she got out of her bunk, Jalia sniffed loudly in Daniel’s direction and he grinned at her. She was determined not to give him the satisfaction of any outward sign of pain.

Jalia knew she deserved what she had got from him. She had broken their one firm agreement by going off to steal from the vault without telling him, and had put both their lives in danger as a result.

“Can I see this coin?” Daniel asked politely. It was Jalia’s and this would be the one and only time he would ask. If she refused him, he would never ask her again, what was Jalia’s was hers to keep. Jalia found the coin in her pocket, still wrapped in her handkerchief from the night before and dropped both into his hand.

She watched over his shoulder as Daniel took the coin from the handkerchief and held it up into the light. In daylight, the five gem stones glowed rather than blinded, but it was still impressive. The coin was etched with a picture in its center on the side they were looking at. The picture showed an impossible building built over three rivers on a tripod of stone arches. Daniel flipped the coin over and revealed an abstract picture of circles with marks inside them.

Daniel ran his finger lightly over the surface of the coin.

“You said that one of the gems burnt you in the vault?” he asked.

Jalia held up a finger in response, it had a small blister at its tip.

“Because all the gems are cold,” Daniel told her. He flipped the coin to her. Jalia caught it and cautiously ran her finger over the coin. As Daniel had pointed out, they gave off no heat at all

“They were burning hot before.”

“The coin didn’t want you to steal it from the vault,” Daniel said thoughtfully, “I wonder what changed its mind?”

“Perhaps it had no choice?” Jalia offered. All magic seemed to be in some way alive, but trying to figure out what it desired was difficult to say the least.

“Perhaps.”

When Jalia and Daniel entered the dining room, they saw Hala and Nin sitting with Cara and Don. The group had pulled two tables together so there was space for Daniel and Jalia on either side. Jalia went to sit between Cara and Hala while Daniel ended up sitting between Nin and Don.

Before they could do more than say hello to each other, Gally Sorn appeared before them, looming over the table with her hands on her hips.

“I want to thank you,” she said. “You have destroyed Tib Prentice, wrecked his reputation among his friends and set the Boat Company at his throat. If my sister were here, she would thank you too. I am in your debt.”

“You could return our dagger and ring,” Daniel suggested, but Gally simply smiled and walked away.

“Who’s her sister?” Jalia asked.

“Tib Prentice’s wife,” Nin told them. “Dad told me that Gally’s father, Deren Sorn, married his eldest daughter to Tib Prentice because it gave him some control over Wegnar.”

“Poor woman,” Jalia said with some feeling. From what she had seen of Tib Prentice she could sympathize with any woman forced into a marriage with him. “But I don’t see how that would give her father any control over what Tib does.”

“They have a five year old son who is being educated in Slarn and lives with Deren,” Nin explained. The others nodded in sudden understanding. The boy was a hostage.

“I don’t understand what Gally meant by causing Tib trouble with the Boat Company,” Daniel mused. “I suppose Captain Toren will report that they searched the Steam Dragon.”

“No more stream boats will dock at Wegnar,” Nin said excitedly. “That’s why we pass messages on the river rather than picking them up at the next port. Captain Toren will pass the word to the Speedy Star and they will not dock at Wegnar. They will pass the word onto the Flying Kite and neither will they.

“No Boat Company vessel will dock there, possibly for years. Captain Toren will speak to the Shareholders when we get to Slarn and they will decide how many months or years will go by before they approach Wegnar about resuming trade.

Even then, they will use a rowing boat from one of the boats to negotiate. Wegnar will have to pay a massive fine to the Boat Company if they want our boats to return. We don’t let anyone mess with our boats. The Mine Owners tried it in Telmar and we haven’t been there in years.” Nin spoke with enormous pride in his voice.

“Doesn’t doing that affect Boat Company profits?” Don asked.

“The Boat Company takes the long view,” Nin said with satisfaction. “Nobody messes with our boats or crew without being punished for it.”

“I am annoyed with you, Daniel,” Don said in an offended tone. “You wake my sister up to take part in one of your adventures and leave me here, playing with myself. I thought we had become friends?”

“We are friends, Don, but you lacked the necessary equipment to get us past the guards. Did Cara not explain exactly how we did it?” Daniel asked innocently. On the other side of the table, Cara’s face slowly turned a bright shade of red.

“You should be coming to your sister’s rescue, Don,” Jalia said. “Daniel made your sister strip down to a pair of knickers to satisfy his perverted sense of humor. He has done the same to me many times, I can tell you. He claims they are part of cunning plans, but I have my doubts that it is anything more than a chance to see a girl’s charms.”

“Should I be ready to defend my sister’s honor, Daniel?” Don asked. It was obvious to him that things had changed dramatically between Jalia and Cara as they were acting like the best of friends.

“I swear I never touched her. Though I will admit to a certain amount of looking,” Daniel replied, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“And lusting,” Jalia piped up, “He never mentions the lusting, but believe me when I tell you it will have been there.”

“Men are all the same,” Cara said piously, “They have only one thing on their minds.”

“True Cara; and they are all a disappointment in the end,” Jalia said. The two women smiled at each other in satisfaction at having scored all the points in the conversation.