A story that he hasn’t told, up to now, Evan thought. And that gave him an opportunity.
“The good news is that Jenna is very much alive,” he said. “In fact, I just saw her on the coast, near Chalk Cliffs.”
“Chalk Cliffs,” the healer repeated. Hope flickered in his eyes for a moment. “Why would she be in Chalk Cliffs, and how would she get there?”
“Apparently, Chalk Cliffs is the place to be,” Evan said. “We did not have a long conversation, because she was accompanied by a large and surly dragon. They flew off together.”
The hope in the healer’s eyes was crowded off by disbelief and hostility. He shook his head, dismissing Evan, and turned to the queen. “So. What story is this pirate telling you?”
The wolf queen folded her arms, as if to fend off lies from pirates and errant sons. “He says he came to warn us about an empress from across the Indio who may be planning to attack the Realms. He claimed that the entire east coast was at risk.”
“Interesting,” the healer said. “Just a few weeks ago, he was in Ardenscourt, negotiating with the king, and claiming to be the empress’s representative.”
The look in the wolf queen’s eyes was a familiar one—one Evan had seen on the healer too many times. He resisted the impulse to protect his throat.
Just then, Shadow Dancer gripped the healer’s arm. “Speaks to Horses,” he said. “What does this Jenna look like?”
Speaks to Horses? Evan thought. How many names can one person have? I’m a slacker next to him.
It took the healer a moment or two to tear himself away from the argument. He turned to the uplander and said, “Her hair was wavy, metallic-looking, streaked with copper, and she had golden eyes.”
Evan noticed that he used the past tense. He doesn’t believe me, he thought.
“A girl approached me in Middlesea,” Shadow said. “She wanted some leatherwork done. She said her name was Riley, but, from your description, it sounds like the same person.”
Now the healer’s full attention was on Shadow. “Riley? That was Jenna’s friend when she was little. She sometimes used that name herself.” He looked from Shadow to Evan and back to the uplander. “What kind of leatherwork?”
“She had drawn a pattern for it, but it was like nothing I’d seen before. It was a harness, but it was huge, and oddly shaped. She claimed she rode the gryphons and elyphants in the circus and needed new gear for a growing gryphon. Sparrow made it, and Riley picked it up in Fortress Rocks.”
“When was that?”
“A few weeks ago. I was on my way back from Arden.”
Evan was beginning to feel a bit superfluous, which was fine with him. The reception was apparently over, and the room had emptied out during their conversation. He began to edge away, but the queen noticed, and raised her hand to stop him.
“Captain Strangward,” she said. “We need to continue this conversation in a more private place, after I have spoken to my son, and to Shadow Dancer, and collected more information. I hope you will understand that we’ll need to confine you and your crew to your quarters under guard until we can sort out truth from lies.” Her jaw tightened, her eyes as hard and brilliant as emeralds. “Do know that if you came here intending to lead us into some sort of trap, I will deal with you with a hard hand.”
Evan could sense Brody stiffening behind him. Evan knew that his crewman wanted them to try to fight their way out before the healer shared his story and the upland queen ordered their execution. What Brody didn’t understand was that there was nowhere to run. Evan and his handful of Stormborn couldn’t keep on sailing while Celestine conquered the rest of the world. Even a pirate needs a port, eventually.
He needed to make a stand and somehow convince the wolf queen that they shared a common enemy. If she ordered him beheaded or incinerated (if he had to choose, he hoped for the former), it would likely be better than whatever Celestine had planned for him. It was some small consolation that, from the looks of things, the wolf queen intended to deal with her son with a hard hand as well.
So he stood, forcing his muscles to relax, meeting the gaze of anyone who chose to look at him. “I understand, Your Majesty,” he said. “But I beg you to move quickly. Once Celestine gains a foothold in the Realms . . .” He trailed off, because he could see that the queen was being distracted by a commotion at the door—raised voices, and a small crowd of bluejackets milling about.
“See what that’s about, Captain Byrne,” the queen snapped. Turning to another one of her guards, she said, “Clear everyone else out of the room. I think this party is over, anyway, and we don’t need a lot of tongues wagging before we get this sorted out.”
Captain Byrne wavered, as if unsure whether to leave the queen in Evan’s company to investigate. Finally, he crossed the room to the door as the room emptied.
Moments later, he returned, accompanied by a travel-worn soldier, who was still muddied from the road. She was a woman, but she dwarfed nearly everyone else in the room.
“Corporal Talbot!” the queen said. “What are you doing here?” A look of hope dawned in her eyes. “Did—did Captain Gray come back with you?” She looked past the newcomer as if she expected this Captain Gray to be right behind.
“Your Majesty,” the soldier said, saluting, her expression haggard and grim. “I bring bad news from Chalk Cliffs. After a fierce battle, the city has fallen.”
Queen Raisa went pale, her green eyes wide. “Chalk Cliffs . . . has fallen? But . . . how did this happen?”
“We were caught between an army from the west and warships from seaward. And clearly there were traitors within the walls that opened the gates to them.”
The queen glanced at Evan, then back to the distraught soldier. “An army? Was it Arden or—?”
Talbot shook her head. “They sailed for someone called Empress Celestine, and they fought like—like demons. Even if we hadn’t been massively outnumbered, they were all but impossible to kill.”
Evan’s heart sank like a stone. This was exactly the disaster he’d hoped to prevent. It was little solace that the empress’s arrival lent credence to his warning.
Queen Raisa straightened, clenched her fists, and lifted her chin. “What about survivors?”
Talbot hung her head, as if ashamed to be among them. “A small group of us took a boat out of the water gate, and we managed to get out of the bay and down the shoreline a bit. But one of the enemy ships gave chase and ran us down.”
“Captain Gray?” the queen said, her voice flat.
Talbot looked around, as if to see who was within earshot. “We need to speak privately, Your Majesty.”
23
KINGS AND PAWNS
Hal’s few days at home were less than satisfying. None of the people he wanted to see were there, and the familiar surroundings only brought back memories of what he stood to lose. His mother had always taken great pride in her gardens. Now the borders were blurred, overrun by thistle, the flowers blown and gone to seed.
At the center stood the massive spreading white oak, symbol of their house. Legend said that it predated the Breaking and the Montaigne line of kings. His little sister Harper used to lurk within its branches to avoid her scripture tutor and to intercept her brothers on their way to adventures outside the walls. Eventually, she talked the blacksmith’s boy into setting iron bars into the wall of the back garden so that she could engineer her own escapes.
No doubt, even now, she was scheming to escape her current predicament.
Wait for me, Harper, Hal thought. He would not rest until he’d got them back.