Jalia Prevails (Book 5) (38 page)

23.
      
Resolution

Gally dragged Maximus from the water onto the steps of the quay. She was shivering with cold and exhaustion. Maximus could not swim and had come close to drowning. She had dragged him the remaining thirty feet that separated barge from dock when it went under. They had been pulled under by the suction the barge generated as it sank and she had been lucky to find him again when they surfaced.

Maximus groaned and managed to drag himself further up the steps before putting a hand out to Gally. It had taken him immense effort not to panic as cold water covered him, knowing that Gally was his only hope of survival as he could not swim.

He judged from the fact that they were the only people on the steps that neither could his men. There were sounds of desperate splashing in, but even as he listened the sounds ceased and all he could hear was his and Gally’s ragged breathing and the gentle lap of the river against the quay.

Gally took his proffered hand and they climbed the steps until they stood at the top dripping water onto the dock.

“Not one of my most successful enterprises,” Maximus said cheerfully as they shivered.

“It was Dare and Degar,” Gally shouted angrily. “Somehow, they did this to us.”

“Nonsense, my dear. It was my own fault for not buying a more river-worthy craft. The swords were too heavy for it and we sprang a leak. I have never heard you talk as irrationally as you do about those people, if they even exist.”

“You have never faced them; and one day I shall be proved right,” Gally said stubbornly. “I shall kill them if it is the last thing I do.”

“Well, that must wait for another day. I have carts waiting nearby and one of them will be sufficient to get us back to my house. You will have to come with me and go into hiding. Once your father finds out what has happened we will have to watch our backs for a while.”

Gally stared at Maximus in astonishment. “Aren’t you upset or angry? Three dozen of your men are floating face down in the river; you have paid twenty thousand pieces of gold for nothing while over a year of planning has come to naught?”

“There is no use crying over spilt milk,” Maximus said implacably. “We are still alive and I am still a prince and a very rich man. There will be other days to realize my dreams.”

Maximus led Gally through the dock to where his men waited.

“I am sorry to hear that Captain Toren is dead,” Daniel said as he sipped at his tea. “He was a good man.” Seb Halder and Hal Patin tilted their heads in agreement.

All the conspirators had followed Seb and Daniel back to the Captain’s cabin. Cara and Don were half sitting, half leaning on the Captain’s writing desk while Hala nursed Nin on the floor. The handkerchief she wrapped around his neck was still worrying dripping blood. Daniel sat in the most comfortable armchair in the room while Jalia leaned over the back of it from behind him.

Seb explained to Daniel and Jalia what had happened in the dining room and explained the deaths of Captain Toren, Lady Rotiln and Halad along with Gally Sorn’s revenge killing of Jak Venjer.

“I’m sorry,” Jalia told Hala. “We believed the dining room was the safest place for you and we didn’t know you would have Nin with you. Had we been in that room there would have been many more dead and our plan would have failed.”

“Daniel, could you take a look at Nin’s throat? The bleeding isn’t stopping,” Hala asked rather plaintively.

Nin’s face was as white as a sheet and he trembled as Hala helped him over to where Daniel sat. Daniel tried to remember how he was thinking when he had touched Cara’s throats a few weeks ago.

He reached over and put his hand on Nin’s chin to lift it higher. He felt the world flash white in front of him and felt terribly weak. Jalia put her hand onto his shoulder to hold him upright and Daniel felt energy flow through Jalia’s hand into his own. He looked up to Jalia who looked down at him anxiously.

Daniel surreptitiously glanced around the room to see if anyone else had noticed anything. Hala still looked anxious and Nin had new color in his face, but apart from that, everyone else was lost in their thoughts.

“Sometimes little blood vessels cut in the neck can cause the loss of a lot of blood,” Daniel said cheerfully and inaccurately. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there is nothing much to see.” He unwound the blood soaked handkerchief and examined Nin’s neck. Dried blood covered the boy’s skin, but there was no longer evidence of a wound, though there were several red lines on his skin.

“Take him back to our cabin and clean him up,” Jalia suggested to Hala. “Wrap another handkerchief around his neck when you’ve finished, to protect it.”

“I feel much better now,” Nin said weakly, smiling warmly at Daniel.

“The power of the mind is a wonderful thing,” Daniel replied. “Sometimes people can help heal themselves just by believing they will heal.”

Hala led Nin out of the room. She had just worked out what Daniel had done and didn’t want to give his secret away.

“We know about the swords you have hidden in the ballast. Now that I have told you what happened in the dining room, perhaps you would be willing to reveal your full plan?” Seb asked.

“Our plan was to steal two of your small boats, taking one to the harbor at Jenver and the other to Dalk,” Daniel explained. “We were going to put a third of the remaining swords on each boat leaving the remaining third for Tallis.”

“I take it that you plan to extract a high price from their majesties for the swords?” Seb continued.

“They were to be a gift,” Jalia said. “Tonas has his money for the swords and I will not have blood on my hands by selling them. Besides, the purpose of this game of sleight of hand was to destroy Gally Sorn, not to make money out of it.”

“If all the Triums have the means to cause massive casualties, perhaps they will choose to refrain,” Daniel suggested hopefully.

“I believe that all three leaders are in a standoff just outside Tallis harbor. Why not just divide the swords up when we dock?” Hal Pantin asked.

“You could try that,” Daniel admitted. “But one of the Triums might be tempted to take all the swords and start a fight. On the other hand, if Queen Kalenda and King Gilan find that a large quantity of swords has arrived at their docks and is currently unguarded, that might give them motivation to leave.”

“Daniel has a very sneaky mind,” Jalia said admiringly.

“Did you really believe that you could get the swords into our lifeboats without us noticing?” Seb asked.

“Did you believe that we could steal the swords from the hold in the first place?”

Seb laughed and shook his head. “I saw you doing it and I
still
don’t believe it. Your plan is a good one and I think we should carry it through. My crew will load the boats and they will leave at first light. It will be my crew to take them though.”

“Perhaps there are people onboard that might want to go with one or the other of the boats,” Daniel suggested.

“Then why don’t we ask them?” Seb asked cheerfully.

 
“A thousand swords,” Dor said incredulously. “And you want to give them to Dalk?”

“More or less,” Jalia replied, grinning, “I’m not splitting bags so you will get a thousand and eight swords in forty eight bags. Maybe we should donate the spare bags to the Boat Company?”

“What Prince Doran was trying to say is that we accept your gracious offer of the swords and we will accompany them back to Dalk,” Jant announced. His prince was having trouble closing his mouth so he felt it best to accept on his behalf. Minutes before they had been celebrating Maximus’s loss of the swords, now they had something even better to celebrate.”

Prince Doran was ushered out of the Captain’s cabin and Tonas, Wilf and Tred were invited in. There was some surprise when Sila Klint insisted on coming into the cabin with them.

“I need to tell you two something,” Sila said facing Jalia and Daniel squarely. “My name is Klint not Glan and I was once a member of the Mine Owners Association.”

Daniel sighed and rooted in his purse for a gold coin. He solemnly handed it to Jalia who took it from him with a smirk of triumph on her face.

“We were pretty sure that was who you were,” Jalia told Sila. “After all, we heard you fled Telmar in a sailing ship and there aren’t that many places to go. It seemed unlikely that there were two women called Sila to a large sailing ship. And then there was the heavy bag of gold you brought over with you.”

“I have no plans to attack you,” Sila continued. She was surprised by Jalia and Daniel’s unconcern.

“We figured that out as well,” Daniel said wearily. “Provided you don’t take up slavery again, we have no interest in you.”

“I inherited the slaves when I won the mines in a game of fade,” Sila said with a grin. “It was just how they worked. Can I ask you what the coin was about?”

“I bet Daniel that you would tell us who you were before we reached port,” Jalia said. “I understand women who risk their lives to hold onto their last bag of gold. I’m a little like that myself.”

“I am in a partnership with Tonas, Wilf and Tred and anything you have to say to them should include me. But I didn’t want to deal with you under false pretenses.”

“We are delivering a thousand swords to Jenver in one of the Steam Dragon’s lifeboats and we thought these three would like to go along,” Daniel explained.

“The same swords that Maximus purchased I take it?” Sila asked them, a look of admiration on her face.

“Some of them,” Jalia admitted. “Each Trium are going to get a third of those that remain.”

“It is a good way off the Steam Dragon with all our money,” Tonas said, to supportive nods from Wilf and Tred. “And following your suggestions has proved to be a good way to stay alive.”

“It has been a true pleasure meeting you,” Sila said, bowing. “If you plan to stay here, I shall expect to hear great things of you.”

Jalia grinned back at Sila, but said nothing to her of their future plans.

Getting the lifeboats ready and off the Steam Dragon proved an easy task with the Dragon’s crew doing most of the work. Nobody slept that night and by morning, the boats were loaded up and ready to go.

“This solves the problem of how we were going to get our horses back from the Dragon after we left on the boats,” Cara told Jalia. “Leaving Hala to look after them was never satisfactory.”

“Daniel’s plans have a way of sorting themselves out as.” Jalia leant out over the safety railing to watch the second boat let go its lines and its crew pull the boat away.

“Do you think there will be any trouble when we dock?”

“Let Daniel worry about the diplomacy,” Jalia said as the Steam Dragon’s engines began to pulse into life. “He can be quite good at it when he want to be.”

Daniel was up on the bridge with Seb and Hal as the Steam Dragon loosed its mooring and began to make its way upriver. As the massive boat began to turn to face the harbor entrance, a number of floating bodies in the dock became visible.

“It looks as though the barge didn’t quite make it all the way into dock,” Daniel said tonelessly.

“Do you think Lady Sorn and Maximus survived?” Hal asked as Seb inched the Steam Dragon forward.

Daniel shrugged.

The sunken barge was visible in the clear waters of the docks. Hal shouted instructions from the bow to Seb who steered the Steam Dragon safely passed the wreck. They pulled alongside the dock where a delegation waited to greet them.

Before the gangway was extended, Daniel went to the side of the boat and shouted down to the people on the dock. There were three groups of heavily armed guards down there, not to mention the ones he assumed were their leaders by their clothes.

“We had a visit last night by Maximus Tallis and his men. He and Gally Sorn had arranged to remove the swords and load them onto the barge that is lying at the bottom of the harbor over there.”

Daniel noted the reactions of the leaders, all of whom looked outraged and a little worried.

“However, the swords did not go down with the barge and this morning one third of them was dispatched to Jenver while another third of them went to Dalk.”

There was consternation among the royalty.

“Those swords might need a little more protection than we sent. Prince Doran is with the Dalk consignment while the Jenver consignment has Tonas Mallow to guard it. Certain people present might want to go and sort that out.”