Malspire (32 page)

I must have dozed off again for I was awoken by the sound of a key in the cell door. It was attempted in silence but the slightest clink was enough to arouse me. This was it. Here comes the assassin to finish the job. I did not move, half welcoming the cut that would end my pain, hoping it would not hurt much, and be quick. The door opened and three men dressed in black, with black soot on their faces rushed in like shadows in the moonlight. One stayed by the door as the other two jumped on me. I said nothing and just closed my eyes. There was no fight left in me, no will to continue. Self-pity, how I hated it, and yet here it had me in its grip. The men put a foul tasting rag into my mouth, and then tied a gag tight. This was followed by a musty smelling cloth bag over the head. All went pitch black. They tied my hands behind my back.

Instead of finishing me here on the spot, I was lifted roughly to my feet by the arms and dragged from the cell. They did not say a word. I complied and began to walk with them assuming I was to be taken to a more suitable place for the crime, or perhaps Pavantu wanted to torture me in a secret place. We must have passed guards, but nothing was said. Once I thought I heard a man snoring. Pushed up a flight of steps, we finally exited the building into the night via what I presumed was a back entrance. Still without a word passing between us, the men then bundled me onto the back of a cart and I felt a canvas dragged over me. It smelled of tar. I was alone, but heard a voice and the cart began to move. The splintered wood cut and chafed as the cart bounced along the coddled road, so I rolled onto my back and waited.

After some turns and bruising bumps, the cart went onto a wooden road. We must be in the harbour, I realised. Perhaps on a pier. The cart stopped and I could just make out a muffled voice. The canvas was pulled aside and I was then dragged to my feet. There was a sea breeze on my wrists. Was I going to be bled here and thrown to the fish? Someone pushed me and my foot found no solid ground. I began to fall, hearing the sucking water below me. I groaned, but did not fall. The man held my arm and steadied me. Then hands took my legs and I found that I was being guided down some wooden steps, and then placed in a boat. Of course, better to do it out to sea where my body could be weighed down and lost forever.

Soon we were rowing out into the silent night. I guessed there were two oarsmen. They did not say a word. I also suspected a third passenger but could not be sure. They rowed for no more than ten minutes before man handling me into another boat. It rocked and felt smaller and when it set off, I felt but a single rower. Was this my executioner? My heart raced. My short life held no interest which I found odd. Surely there must be something there that I would want to cling onto. The drinking, whores, gambling and fighting? The scorn and ignorance of those around me. Then Ajator and Veinara flashed before my eyes. Of course I had a reason to live. It was my duty to find Ajator if there was any chance that he was alive, and should he not be, then his wife, Veinara must be seen to. She would now be lost and alone without Ajator. It was my duty to aid and comfort her. Did I have a hope of winning her back? Selfish to the end, but it had sparked a flame. Suddenly I did not want to die. Now at the end I wanted to fight and felt frustrated and impotent, but at least I was angry and that was a living emotion, not the apathy I had been dwelling in.

I tugged at the tight ropes holding my hands. Could the boatman see this? The rope was well tied but there was an end I could reach with my fingers. I pulled and twisted. The rope loosened a little, but not enough to get my hands free. I continued working it. Where would Ajator go? Ardalrion was the obvious answer, but there the agents of the Empire would be seeking him. Still, there are places both Ajator and I know of that are hidden. Father would not help him though. The old duke spoke often of loyalty and oaths. His oaths to the Emperor would bind him even to the end of his own son if required. Why did he not take Veinara with him? Perhaps there was no time. Perhaps he thought father would be better able to protect her. Where would Ajator go? The ropes were loosening. It cut and hurt but perhaps I could get a hand free.

All of a sudden there was a bump as the small boat hit what I guessed was a larger boat. A hand reached out and to my surprise turned me and cut the rope. My hands were free. Cautiously I removed the hood. It was still very dark. I untied the gag.

"Where am I?" I said to the hooded figure sitting in the little rowing boat.

The man whose face I could not see simply pointed up and I now realised that we were alongside a vast curved wall of wood and iron. Looking up and along, I saw that we were hidden in the shadows of the War Tempest. The boatman was holding a rope ladder and again pointed his finger. I tentatively took hold of the ladder and began to climb. It was hard work, but soon I came to an open hatch where a naval officer was waiting with a ready hand to help me aboard.

"Welcome aboard the War Tempest, Lord Ardalrion."

I nodded, too confused to question anything.

"Please follow me, my lord."

Both the officer and I had to duck as we went into the bowels of the ship. The only light was from a small lantern the officer held. Soon we came to a ladder which led to another tunnel like corridor which led to what seemed like a dead end, but the officer pushed through what I now saw was a close fitting door into a well lit room. A secret door. I straightened up as best I could and looked around. It was not just any room but a bedroom, and there before me stood High Admiral Lord Villor who bowed as I blinked in the light of the lanterns.

"Barron Villor?"

"Please forgive the secrecy, my lord," said Villor. "We had to make certain there was no question of your being seen taken here."

I now dared to hope that I was not going to die after all. Had I been saved, but why? "You have rescued me?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

Villor seemed a little confused by this question, but finally said, "The Ardalrion fleet is sworn to the House of Ardalrion. You are the son of our duke and lord admiral. There seems to be an assumption that your servants would stand by while our own are put in prison. This is not so."

The relief nearly made my knees buckle. Of course. I was not just any captain, nor lord. I was an Ardalrion. Perhaps the least of them, but still an Ardalrion. Once, long ago, we were kings. Then more questions arose. "What of my father's wishes and the Emperor's"

"Your father has said nothing in regards to yourself. His orders were to continue the war. As for the Emperor, I serve Ardalrion first. Without clear orders in your regards I must fall back on the oaths given to your family. It is my duty to fight for you unless your father tells me otherwise. I think your father knows this. He is in a position of conflicting loyalties."

"So you acted on what you presume my father wants. This way his loyalty cannot be questioned should the Emperor's spies intercept any communications. I see now why he often spoke so highly of you, High Admiral."

The High Admiral nodded. "I have for days now been trying to secure your release, but my hand was forced when I received word that your life was in imminent danger. It would not have done to use force so a plan was devised to release you in secret. I think your father would have approved as long as there is no proof that it was I and allies who authored your escape."

"Allies?"

"It is complicated, my lord, but you must go now before you are missed. The boatman will tell you more. Return via the escape tunnel and he will take you to your ship and explain along the way."

"My ship? My crew?"

"Yes. They have been reminded of their oaths and are clear on the fact that they are now on a mission for the duchy. They seem very loyal to you."

"What of Ajator now? Will you seek him out?"

"I have commanded the Ardalrion fleet to watch for him. We will do him no harm unless your father orders otherwise, even be it the wish of the Emperor himself. We are loyal to the duchy first."

"That is good to know."

"Your father however has made it clear that should Ajator not present himself to give account of his actions, he will be cast out."

I nodded. My father would be a broken man by now, but he will never be an oath breaker. He, like Ajator, has always been and always will be loyal to the Empire even at the expense of his heir.

Lord Villor then turned to a side desk and took up a small chest which he handed to me. "Gold, my lord. Your father cannot support you now, nor can the Navy openly help your cause."

"I understand," I said taking the chest. "Where do you think Ajator can be found?"

"I do not know. Talk to the boatman. He may be able to shed more light on the matter."

"Thank you, Lord Villor. Your loyalty will not be forgotten."

"Lord Ardalrion," said Villor "I have no doubt that the Young Lord is loyal to the Emperor and that his name will be cleansed in due course, but you I have had the honour of fighting alongside. I admit that when I first saw you, I did not think much of you. Then you warned us of the rebel fleet, you secured a trap for them, and you probably saved this very ship from destruction. My loyalty is not only oath sworn, but earned."

I did not know what to say. To hear such a man as Lord Villor say these words was somehow unreal. It was something I would imagine Ajator hearing, but these words were for me. I felt honoured and yet somehow dishonest. How could Villor say this about a coward, a cripple, a failure? I simply nodded, then turned back to the officer who accompanied me back to the secret hatch. Down below waited the small boat and its hooded boatman. I was keen to find out more about him after Villor's words. This boatman was probably one of the allies he had referred to. As I took my place at the back of the boat, the boatman shoved off and began to pull again.

"Who are you?" I said.

The boatman paused in his duty to pull his hood back.

"Pavantu!" I was shocked to see the very man who had arrested me.

Pavantu smiled and began to pull the oars again. "My lord."

"One minute you place me under arrest and threaten my life, the next you aid me in my escape."

He chuckled, and then said, “Forgive me. I had to place you under arrest. As for the threat, it was only the heat of the moment. You hit hard and I lost my temper. You see? We have more in common than you would like to admit."

I nodded. I had attacked the man after all, and knew well that my temper sometimes prevailed.

After a short silence, Pavantu said, "A pity about Mister Sudlas."

"You knew him?" I was surprised but sudden realisation dawned on me. "He was your man!"

Pavantu smiled ruefully. "He was. He was meant to watch you - not go and be a hero and sacrifice himself. Pity. He was a friend from an old life."

"I'm sorry to hear that. He was a good man"

The spy nodded.

"I’ve mentioned before that I see a big puzzle with many missing pieces, Malspire. They are coming together bit by bit. Have you ever put a puzzle together?” said Pavantu, dismissing his moment of melancholy.

“Of course I have.”

“Then you understand that it is impossible to tell what the final picture will be, but with a little imagination you can dream up all sorts of images, and I have a very good imagination, Malspire. In fact I would say that I have rather run away with this puzzle and dreamt up a bit of a nightmare.”

“Go on.”

“I think your brother may have found himself in the eye of a storm."

"Tell me what you know, Pavantu. Tell me why my brother is accused of treason and I'm locked away. Why?"

"I locked you away because I was ordered to lock you away. Believe it or not, I did not want to, but I had no choice, although I had a good mind to let you rot in there after the beating you gave me." He paused then said, "Let me tell you of the puzzle. I have been watching the rebels for years now. They have grown in power as the Western Fleet has been stripped. I thought it odd that the Empire should commit so many resources to the ragtag beastman invasion and not the threat of rebellion and so I had people look into it. Not Secret Servant people but others from my old life."

"What did you find out?"

"Not much, but the fact that I had taken an interest was like shaking a hornet's nest. There have been agents in Umuron. Not my people but Secret Servants all the same. This was followed by my loyalty being questioned as yours has. I am careful in such things however and never could any man find a way to prove or even find evidence of such. There is none. When this failed, the assassins came. They came to clean me away. I have become a danger to someone."

I suddenly thought of the encounter I had had with the strange man who had put a double-barrelled pistol to my forehead, the first time Sudlas had saved my life.

Pavantu seemed to guess my thoughts and said: "I believe you met one of them. The man you picked a fight with some time ago."

"I remember." I remembered the dead body of the man, crushed and tortured to death. So Pavantu was his target and Pavantu had killed him.

"My man, Mister Crurt had his way with the poor fellow. Crurt is thorough in his work."

So Crurt had vented his anger. In a cruel world, the cruellest rules and Crurt was a cruel man. What did this make his master, Pavantu, and what of Balegrim? Of course High Admiral Villor was not cruel as far as I could tell. My father was not a cruel man and he was a duke, yet what did this mean for the future? Would such men eventually be wiped out?