Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) (13 page)

"Your price still seems to be a bit steep." The greasy looking man complained in a whiney tone. "I'll be forced to raise my prices to cover the costs of shipping."

Captain Harper shrugged uncaringly. "If you want the Fearless Lady to carry your goods north, and guarantee that they arrive complete and undamaged, then you have to pay..." He glanced up and saw Damion and the others standing there watching him in amusement. "Damion! Raven!" He gave out a great laugh of delight, then leapt to his feet and hurried around the table to greet his old friends. "What are you all doing here in Sierra? Shouldn't you be looking after things in Sevria?"

"Actually, we're looking for you." Damion chuckled in amusement. "We were hoping to secure the services of the Fearless Lady, if she were available. A matter of some urgency has come to our attention, and we need a dependable ship with an experienced captain to make sure that we arrive safely."

"Look no further, my friends!" Captain Harper proclaimed in a grand tone. "The Fearless Lady stands ready to assist you!"

"Wait a minute!" The greasy looking fellow protested in an outraged tone. "I thought we were negotiating here! I have six wagons full of furs that need to reach the northern continent before the prices fall!"

"You should have thought about that when you started arguing about the price." The old sailor told him bluntly, returning to his seat. "Now the Fearless Lady has obligations to fulfill. If your furs are still here when I return, maybe we can work out an arrangement. Until then," He shrugged helplessly, then pointed towards the tavern door.

The greasy looking man stared at him in disbelief for a long moment, then jumped up from his seat and stormed away muttering to himself.

"Come join me, my friends." Captain Harper gestured for the companions to take a seat. "We can have a few drinks and discuss the details of your trip." He flagged down a passing barmaid and ordered food and drinks for everyone, then turned to stare at Damion with an expectant expression. "So what's this urgent matter that you spoke of?"

"A serious matter has been brought before us that requires our immediate attention." Raven told him as she took her seat. "It will require a bit of discretion on your part. We would not want to embarrass those requesting aid by publicly trumpeting their troubles to everyone."

"Not to worry. I'm nothing, if not discreet." Captain Harper smiled. "I know a few secrets that I won't even tell myself!" He paused as the barmaid returned carrying a large tray laden with food and drink, then once everyone had a platter of food and a mug of ale, he shooed her away and looked back to Damion. "So," His voice dropped until it wasn't much more than a whisper. "I'm guessing that this journey you wish to undertake somehow involves your elven friends here."

Damion glanced over to Delilah and Brody, who had both drawn their hoods up to conceal their features. "It does indeed." He confirmed with a nod. "The elven queen has asked for our assistance in certain matters of a delicate nature."

"Do you mean the blood elves?"

Brody's jaw dropped open in surprise. "How do you know about the blood elves?"

Captain Harper shrugged. "I hear things. There have been a lot of rumors floating around that there is some major trouble brewing on the Elven Island. Several elves have even fled the island to avoid the bloodshed altogether. You know that it must be fairly serious if elves are willing to abandon their ancestral home and risk being banished."

"You're remarkably well informed." Brody murmured with a troubled frown. "We have attempted to keep that knowledge from being spread."

"Sailors are usually the first to know when something has happened in the world. That's how news gets spread to different continents." The old captain let out a barking laugh. "We tend to gossip like fishwives when we finally make port after a long voyage. I guess being stuck on a ship with the same people for months on end makes a man desire the company of strangers."

"Have you met any of these elves that fled from the island?" Delilah asked, her expression hard. "Have you spoken with any of them yourself?"

"I haven't spoken with any, no," The extravagant old sailor shook his head. "but there
were
a couple of elves hanging around town recently. They came in on a merchant vessel a few days ago. The captain mentioned finding them half dead, twenty miles off the coast of the Elven Island, floating along in a homemade dingy."

"Where are they now?" Brody asked, his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Who knows? They may still be drifting around town somewhere, but they have probably moved on." He took a long drink from his tankard. "So when would you like to make sail?"

"As soon as we can." Shirk answered with a sour grumble. "The quicker we get to the Elven Island and get this business settled, the quicker we can return to Sevria."

"What's the hurry?"

"You mean other than the fact that the blood elves are slaughtering Petra's faithful while we sit here?" The old bandit asked mildly.

"What's the matter, Shirk?" Captain Harper chuckled. "You sound as irritable as a dragon who has gotten his tail stuck in a bear trap."

"He's just upset that we interrupted his romantic rendezvous with my daughter, and forced him to join us on this trip." Damarius told the old captain, causing Shirk to gulp guiltily and look away.

"Is that right?" Captain Harper laughed, pounding the table in amusement. "I thought that something was going on between those two, but I wasn't certain." He gave Shirk a leering smile.

"I was thinking that we could leave with the morning tide." Damion suggested, using his dagger to spear a sausage, then stuffing it into his mouth with a hungry sigh. "That should give your crew enough time to stock the ship before we set off."

"That should be fine." Captain Harper agreed with a nod. "That should give me plenty of time to get everything in order here, and round my crew up. They tend to spread out through the city once we make port, and sometimes it takes me a while to locate them all again."

"Tomorrow morning it is, then." Damion nodded, stuffing another sausage into his mouth. "How long will it take to reach the island?"

"Three weeks or so, if I were to guess. This will be my first trip to the ancestral home of the elves, although I have a vague idea of where it is. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate." Captain Harper looked around the table, then frowned. "Where's little Leia?"

"We left her in charge of Sevria." Damion told him with a wry smile. "We figured it was about time that she learned what it takes to run the city. It'll become her responsibility one day, after all."

"You left a child in charge of an entire city?" The old captain burst out laughing again. "Are you insane? You'll be lucky to find a building still standing when you finally return!"

"It shouldn't be
that
bad." The huge warrior disagreed. "We discussed everything that would be expected of her, and she grew up watching her mother and I as we ran the city. I think she can handle it. Besides, Sly and Aunt Skie are still there to guide her, and help her keep from making too many mistakes."

"You had better hope you're right." The extravagant old captain told him, still chuckling in amusement. "She has her father's temper, and considering her gifts, she could get into some serious trouble if she gets angry."

"Leia understands what is expected of her, and why we needed to leave her behind." Raven informed him tartly. "She won't do anything that she isn't supposed to. And besides, what kind of trouble can she get into with Lady Skie and Sly watching over her?"

Chapter 6

"I still can't believe that they left me behind." Leia complained sourly as she, Slither, and Lady Skie made their way to her father's office for her first day of running the castle. "They get to go running off to a tropical island, while I'm stuck here taking care of their responsibilities. Talk about unfair!"

"They will eventually become your responsibilities." Lady Skie reminded her calmly. "It's time that you learn what it's going to take to keep things running smoothly around here."

"What about breakfast? Aren't we going to eat before we get started?"

"I've already told the servants to bring our breakfast to your father's office so we may eat while we work. We have a lot to do today, and it's going to take you a little time to get used to everything. It's best if we get right at it."

They soon reached the large chamber that Damion used as his office.

Leia dropped into one of the soft chairs that surrounded the large table that dominated the room, then turned to stare at Lady Skie expectantly. "What's first?"

"We should start with going over the castle reserves and find out what was used over the winter, and what will need replacing."

She handed a long parchment to Leia, who quickly scanned it and frowned. "It looks like we used up a significant amount of the reserves." The young girl murmured. "There's really not much left."

"That's not good." Lady Skie looked worried. "It's going to take quite a bit of the castle treasury to replace everything."

"How much could it possibly be?"

"More than you might think." Lady Skie told her. "That is the estimated cost of replacing everything." She pointed to a large figure at the bottom of the parchment.

Leia's jaw dropped open in shock. "This can't be right!"

Lady Skie took the parchment back and quickly scanned it over. "It looks right to me. It takes a lot of food to feed an entire city, and we're coming off of a long winter." She glanced at the list again, then frowned. "The treasury is running a bit low at the moment. We may end up being forced to raise the taxes."

"Won't that upset everyone?"

Lady Skie nodded. "That it will, but I don't think we have much of a choice in the matter. We need to have the funds to pay for the work crews, not to mention the castle servants and guards. They don't all work for free, you know." She sighed heavily. "That's one of the drawbacks to being in charge. You often have to make decisions that will make you unpopular. But that's the price you pay when you become a leader. You are expected to make the hard decisions that others cannot, or will not, make themselves." She sighed. "It can often be difficult to balance the budget. The income from the taxes on the caravans barely cover the costs of repairing and patrolling the trade road. The rest comes from the local businesses. I don't like the idea of putting even more of a strain on our citizens, but I don't see how we can avoid it."

"Let me see that list again." Leia read the list more carefully this time. "Well, we can always take the pork, venison, and poultry off of the list."

"Then what will we use for fresh meat?"

"These mountains are literally teeming with deer, and pheasant, and turkey, and wild pigs." The young girl told her reasonably. "We can just send some people out hunting. They should be able to replenish our supplies in just a few weeks."

"We don't have anyone that we can spare," Lady Skie sighed regretfully. "and we don't have enough funds to hire anyone."

"Slither and I will do it then. We already spend quite a bit of time out in the forest when he's teaching me how to move through the shadows in silence. It shouldn't be too difficult to add in a bit of hunting."

"I don't know." Lady Skie murmured in a doubtful tone. "That is a rather large order to fill, and you won't really have a lot of time for hunting after spending most of your day running the castle."

"I'll make time." Leia told her in a tone eerily similar to the tone that her father used when he had come to a decision. "We can't afford to spend the coin for fresh meat, but I'm not willing to raise the taxes on our own people either. If Slither and I gather the meat ourselves, then that will save us a significant amount of gold."

"We will still need fruits, vegetables, and various sundries to replace what we have used." Lady Skie reminded the young girl, her expression still skeptical. "That may be difficult given it is still so early in the season."

"We can get seeds, though," Leia told her. "and there is a large empty field just outside of the city walls that would be perfect for planting a large garden. It may not produce everything that we need, but it should help."

"That's not a bad idea." Lady Skie murmured thoughtfully. "We can have one of the work crews tend to it. It shouldn't take too much time out of their normal work schedules, and we've been meaning to have them clear that field anyway." She gave Leia an approving nod. "That should be enough to keep us from being forced to raise the taxes. Good work, little one."

A pair of servants hurried into the room carrying several large trays of food, followed closely by Sly, who looked as though he were still half asleep.

"Late night?" Lady Skie asked him in a disapproving tone.

"No later than usual." Sly grunted, dropping into a chair with a weary sigh. "I've been trying to secure enough honey to make another batch of ale. Slither believes that it may be the final ingredient that I need to create the perfect brew."

"Well, you've already missed our little Leia's first accomplishment as head of the castle. She's figured out a way to lower the costs of replenishing the reserves that we used over the winter. She wants to plant a large garden in the field across from the city battlements to help cut the costs of replenishing the castle stores. She's also planning on trying to provide the meat herself."

"That's not a bad plan." The scruffy little man told Leia approvingly as he poured himself a large goblet of spiced wine. "Our little valley is low enough to provide a suitable growing season, and the land is fertile enough."

"What else do we have to do today?" Leia asked, stuffing a piece of sizzling bacon into her mouth hungrily.

They spent the next several hours going through numerous letters and trade proposals sent from virtually every corner of the world, most of which were not even worth considering, though each of them required an official response. Then, once they were finally finished with the responses, one of the castle servants led a pair of merchants into the office.