The girl laughed. ‘You’re the first to call me that,’ she said lightly as the wagon rolled through the gate.
Erik strained to hear what was said next, but the voices were drowned out in the sounds of celebration. Soon he could tell that Kitty was safely through the gate and beyond the scrutiny of the guards. He waited another full minute, half expecting the sound of alarm to be raised. But all he heard was the city at play, and he forced himself to take a slow, deep breath, then turned back toward the palace. He decided his best course of action was to be seen around, and should anyone ask about Kitty, make up some plausible excuse, that she was in another room, or off visiting the jakes. There would be enough traffic through the palace that he might get through the entire evening without anyone asking after her.
As Erik vanished into the crowd, two figures who had been hiding in the shadows across the street emerged. Dash turned to his brother and said, ‘I’ll follow the girl.’
‘Why bother? We know she’s heading either for Avery’s estates or to Ravensburg. Those are the only places he’d send her.’
‘Because Grandfather wants to know,’ said Dash to Jimmy.
Jimmy shrugged. ‘Very well, but you’re going to miss the height of the celebration.’
Dash said, ‘It’s not the first time I’ve missed out on some fun because of Grandfather. If Father asks about me, make up some excuse. If the girl’s bound for Ravensburg, I won’t be back for a week.’
Jimmy nodded and slipped into the crowd. His younger brother turned and made his way through the gate, keeping sight of the distant hay wagon.
The next day dawned on two fleets locked in combat, skirmishing in the pre-dawn gloom. They had caught sight of each other as the darkness had lightened in the hours before the sun finally climbed into the sky. Now, as the sun lay still hidden behind the distant mountains, yet illuminated the morning, the battle was almost decided. Nicholas cursed and shouted, ‘Order Belfors and his three to sail to windward! They’re attempting to hold us into the coast!’
A signalman high above shouted, ‘Aye, aye. Admiral!’ and began waving signal flags. He soon shouted back, ‘Orders acknowledged, Admiral!’
The battle was going badly. If he lost any more ships, Nicholas was going to have to withdraw, and while he had no doubt he could outsail his opponent, the failure of his plan put a sour taste in his mouth.
Of all his father’s sons, Nicholas was the most like him when it came to achieving a stated goal, and he had intended to maul the Emerald Queen’s fleet. She knew the Far Coast well enough to understand that the risk to her fleet would come down the coast from Tulan. Nicholas’s only hope for some benefit to his Kingdom came from the hope that James’s plan was working and flotillas from Kesh and Queg were hitting the fleet as well.
It rankled him that he was only engaging warships, without even sighting the troop convoy, and the sole comfort that afforded him was the thought that should either the Quegans or Keshians intercept this fleet, there were that many fewer guardians to protect it.
Seeing no benefit in dying or taking his command with him, Nicholas shouted, ‘Word to the fleet! Withdraw!’
A red banner was run up while the lookout frantically signaled orders. Two ships were engaged in boarding actions and could not withdraw safely.
Nicholas weighed his options and ordered them left to fend for themselves. Each of his ships was rigged with a dozen barrels of fire oil down below, and if they were taken, the captains were ordered to put them to the torch, in the hope they’d take along an enemy ship grappled alongside as well as deny them a Kingdom prize.
The fleet off the Far Coast were the best deep-water sailors in the world, and their ships the most nimble. As soon as the order was relayed, like a finely practiced team the ships turned up wind and took a following reach, disengaging themselves from the slower ships of Novindus design. A few of the war galleys could stay with the Kingdom ships for a short burst but as the slaves below became exhausted, they were no match for the Kingdom warships.
Nicholas saw his fleet moving away successfully, and said, ‘Captain Reeves, what’s the count?’
His second in command, the son of the Baron of Carse and a lifelong sailor, was officially the captain of the Royal Dragon, though he knew he would never give orders as long as the Admiral was aboard. He said, ‘Seven of the enemy sunk, three burning, five more severely damaged.’ Both men wore the duty uniform of the Kingdom Fleet - blue jackets and white trousers, newly instituted by Patrick’s order - but even the Prince of Krondor couldn’t make Nicholas wear the new fore-and-aft hats the Eastern Fleet wore. He instead affected a broad-brimmed black hat with a very faded red plume, a legacy from his first voyage as a boy with the legendary Amos Trask. No man who sailed in the fleet made sport of that hat.
‘And of our own?’