Retribution (Drakenfeld 2) (47 page)

‘We may have come from different backgrounds,’ I added, ‘in reaching our conclusions on the matter.’

‘If you had seen what I had seen,’ Leana said, ‘you would not think much of this. Now.’ Leana marched over to the young princess and gently but firmly hauled her off the bed, and patted her down as if she was plumping up a cushion. ‘You need to sleep. We will tell you all about the case tomorrow. But sleep while we clean up this corpse.’

‘I’m not sure I can sleep,’ Nambu whispered, staring guiltily at the corpse.

‘You will,’ Leana said. ‘I am proud of you. Look at you, a warrior princess. You are like me.’

It wasn’t exactly a smile on Nambu’s face, but she no longer appeared to be quite as sad. Moments later she shuffled off into her bedroom, and closed the door behind her.

‘A warrior princess,’ I said, ‘just like you.’

‘Let us speak no more of the past.’

‘Familiar territory, then,’ I said. I lit another candle and moved over to the corpse to make a closer inspection. Whoever this was he must have acquired inside information from deep inside the queen’s circle to know where to find her. I noticed that the man’s black shirt had become untucked in his fall, and that the small of his back was revealed. Something strange there – an unusual shape for clothing – caught my eye. Lifting the material back revealed a small tattoo of the sickle and star.

‘Oh,’ I muttered.

‘What is it?’ Leana crouched down alongside me to get a better look.

‘This tiny symbol is of the Rukrid clan. Sulma Tan had pointed out their heraldry at the games. He must be a member of that family. We must notify the queen immediately.’

Leana stood up and moved to the door. ‘I would not like to be in the Rukrid clan come the morning. I will go back to alert the staff. You stay here and comfort Nambu.’

All of those involved in the murders had now been caught in the night-time raids conducted by the ruthlessly efficient soldiers of Kuvash. Each of the suspects had been sleeping in their bed, unaware of their fate. Now they were deep within the city’s gaols, a secret of the state.

We decided not to take Nambu with us to Evum. It was too dangerous – even though nowhere was safe for the princess. Disappointed not to travel, and to have to spend more time in her old quarters, she appeared to understand the reason. Her maturity impressed me greatly.

‘How long do you think it will take?’ Nambu asked.

‘Sulma Tan said about ten hours, depending on whether or not the wind is behind us, and how easy it is to find the place.’

‘Do they know where to find the island though?’

‘The map we found is detailed enough, apparently. Our captains suggest we arrive just before dawn tomorrow, when our approach cannot easily be seen. It is best if you remain safe with your mother for the moment. Now, forgive me, princess, for I must sail soon.’

Nambu tilted her head in a way that reminded me of the queen, and acknowledged her understanding.

The sea does not agree with me. I have never enjoyed a journey on a ship, not even a short one. Whatever I have done to offend the gods, it must have been something truly awful. Every time a ship slips from its moorings and into unstable waters, my stomach lurches and I cannot seem to find a solid stance. Often I can be found nursing my woes below deck for the duration of a voyage. Leana would frequently ridicule me – and I think she often enjoyed trips across water simply because she could laugh at me. However, I had grown used to being sick at sea.

But late that morning, as the trireme sailed at speed, the sails snagging tight in the wind and the oars cutting through the deep water, I did not
fully loathe
the experience.

This was indeed a first. My stomach did not lurch. My legs were stable.

This was no coincidence as I knew at once the reason. There, in my pocket, were two rings containing the mineral that had been mined on Evum. The mineral which had, so far, managed to stave off my seizures, and which had hastened my recovery from a thorough beating. I wondered if the mineral’s properties had been responsible for the strange behaviour of the bishop’s remains, but I put such ridiculous thoughts out of my mind. All I knew was that the mineral had changed me somehow. It had enhanced me.

even Leana was surprised. ‘Lucan, you have not emptied your stomach of its contents yet. Why is this?’

I shrugged, knowing she would quickly dismiss my thoughts. Yet, Sojun had also confirmed the stone’s special properties, so I could not be completely insane in possessing such thoughts.

‘Perhaps I am finally getting used to the sea,’ I called back.

‘Spirits save me. That day has finally come.’

For several hours we cut through the sea, the captain confident that we would locate our destination. We had several men on lookout, each of them keenly scrutinizing the distance for signs of the island. Sixty soldiers and whatever crew we had on these ships would, I hoped, be enough. Though I did not know what would await us.

During the trip I wished I could have brought prisoners with me to interview, especially Brell. From what Sulma Tan had told me, Brell was a key figure in the series of murders. He would have been the one to identify the victims’ movements. He would have briefed the others on the best way to capture the likes of Lydia Marinus and Grendor of the Cape. But instead everyone remained back in Kuvash, in a cell somewhere in the bowels of the royal palace.

If I had brought any of them with me, would they have been able to guide us around Evum? It might have been possible that their hatred of what went on there, or the journey back to their past, would provoke something. It could be considered cruel to bring them back to their place of childhood desolation – where their innocence had first been lost. They were better off right now out of sight, out of the way of this operation. With them facing execution for their crimes, what I didn’t want was for one of them to hurl themselves overboard. I hoped that my instructions for there to be a constant suicide watch were not unheeded.

I felt relief at having brought the murders to a close, yet filled with foreboding about our journey.

As I conversed with Sulma Tan before sunset, gripping the balustrade and looking down to regard the hypnotic rhythm of the oars, it became apparent there was a more pressing issue in her mind.

‘When I spoke to her last night,’ Sulma Tan said, ‘the queen did not seem overly disturbed that children were being used to mine for a mineral – nor that the mineral existed. She was little disturbed by the fact that her eunuch was involved in the killings.’

‘What did disturb her then?’

‘Mostly three things now. The first being the fact that she has tried to bring enlightenment to Koton and this represents a failure. The old ways still endure.’

‘Do you think she was being honest by claiming to know nothing about it?’

‘I do – because I, too, knew nothing. If anyone should have heard of such crimes, then it should have been me. She must wait to see what we report back from Evum. Then she’ll want me to assess exactly who was caught up in this affair. There will be an internal investigation as to how the queen did not know what went on and why there was an island missing from her maps. She was upset by her lack of control.’

‘But not upset with you, surely? You helped bring this to her attention and resolve the issues.’

‘This may be so, but a queen cannot know everything, and—’

‘This is a queen who likes to know everything.’

‘You speak bluntly.’ She glanced at me with uncertainty before looking out to sea.

There was something about the water that – in my stable state – I could begin to appreciate. One could clear one’s mind by regarding the churn of the waters, the rhythm of the sea.

I shrugged at her comment. ‘What was the third issue that disturbed her – the Rukrid clan’s attempts on Nambu?’

‘Yes. A queen can be mortally wounded by such things, for it erodes that most important quality: trust. Who in her circle was working with the family? Why were they trying to kill Nambu – to prevent the family line from continuing? She now has that to worry about as well. She placed Nambu with you because you would have no agendas.’

‘What does she intend to do?’

‘The less you know of that,’ Sulma Tan replied, ‘the better.’

Figures rushed about the main deck. Sails had changed direction and the oars had slowed. The weather was calm and the orange sun was starting to dip below the horizon. Our three ships were now drifting through calm waters, though not out of control. Up ahead on the horizon was an island with a series of cliffs.

‘What’s going on?’ I called across the deck.

The captain of our ship, a young, slender man who had spent many days in the open sun, approached us in a sense of urgency. Somehow he had made a naval officer’s uniform seem rather scruffy, and I hoped this was no omen for a disastrous mission. ‘We think that’s the island, sir.’

I looked to Sulma Tan, who looked at me and then back to him. ‘Are you certain?’

‘If the charts are right and my goddess is smiling on us then aye, that’s Evum.’

Was my goddess smiling on me, though? The tension was heavy in the air. The investigation had come this far. Relief was just a short distance away.

‘What is your plan, captain?’ asked Sulma Tan.

The captain scratched his head. ‘Depends how you want to play your hand, my lady,’ he grunted. ‘Got the cover of darkness to find somewhere to come ashore. I say give it two hours, until it’s dark, and make our way there.’

‘Sensible suggestions, captain,’ she replied, and turned to me. ‘Until darkness falls.’

The captain, to his credit, brought no bad omens. True to his word, as soon as the sky was indigo, he gave the orders for the ships to steer towards the island. The wind was loud enough to obscure the sound of the oars breaking the water as we made our way stealthily along the coast.

Evum was no more than a mile long. Unlikely to have been overlooked by naval cartographers, but it was an easy oversight if Grendor maintained any influence over the task. The lack of its existence on any map probably explained why Sojun’s embittered gang never returned. It would have been difficult to find. Far easier to take revenge in the city.

Little lights of what looked like cottages could be perceived further inland, and smoke from several chimneys – or some sparking structure of an industrial nature. The island did not appear equipped for defending itself. No battlements stood stark against the stars that glittered up behind. It was possible there were small lookout points nestled into the cliffside, but in the dark it was difficult to know. The captain had tasked several men with scrutinizing the shores though none of them seemed concerned.

By midnight we had found a small bay on the north side of Evum, no more than two hundred feet wide, surrounded by dunes, enough to form a natural shelter. By the luck of the gods we did not strike any rocks as we steered carefully into the small inlet. The captain gave the order for a plank to be lowered and there would be a short walk where we would have to wade through waist-high water.

Soldiers headed out almost simultaneously from the three ships. Their orders were to stay together. Leana, Sulma Tan and myself then waded ashore together, raising our belongings above our heads as we moved though the still-warm waters. On the beach we attempted to dry ourselves.

The surf gently licked along the shoreline and a sharp, vegetative tang filled the air. There were no lights, no shapes against the starlight other than the grasses.

A gibbous moon was directly overhead, making our progress visible to others. But it also illuminated the way as we moved behind the spearhead of soldiers advancing along the beach. Only then did I notice two archers cautiously scanning the shoreline, covering our path.

We ascended the dunes, towards long grasses, and after consulting briefly with the captain the scouting group went on ahead, investigating a passage through a small gorge. I worried that they could be prime targets for snipers up above, but again the place looked to be undefended.