Exile's Return (19 page)

“Why?”

“Two men came in here as brazen as can be and walked up the stairs without so much as a by-your-leave. I heard noises and got halfway up the stairs to investigate when I heard screams…” He shook his head frantically. “Well, I’ve sailed and fought and traveled…but, man, I’ve heard nothing like that in forty years. I don’t know what happened to your manservant, but something dreadful has occurred and you’d best see to it. I’ve already sent a street boy for the constables.”

Kaspar felt fear sweeping over him and knew he had only minutes to keep the ring on before the madness came. He pulled Karbara upstairs and entered his room. The Talnoy stood in the corner where he had left him, the chest still at his feet, but otherwise the room looked like an abattoir. Blood splattered the walls and floors, soaking completely through the blankets on the bed. Two men, or what was left of them, were piled on the floor. It was hard to recognize much that was human about them, as it appeared they had been methodically pulled apart, limb from limb. Two heads lay nearby, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Karbara gave a whimper and fainted.

Kaspar shook his head. He slipped off the ring, and felt the approaching madness vanish. He took a deep breath. He would wait as long as possible before slipping it back on. He hoped the constables in this city were as slow to respond as they were in other places, for he needed an hour or more to pass before he could put the ring on again.

An hour passed, and Karbara stirred. Kaspar looked around and decided it was better to have the little would-be thief unconscious for a while longer, so he knelt and delivered a swift blow behind the man’s ear. Karbara flopped once and fell silent.

Kaspar heard voices from below, and knew that even if the constables were slow in coming, the news of some problem in the room were spreading through the common room, and shortly would be the topic of street gossip in the neighborhood.

Taking a deep breath, Kaspar put the ring back on and instantly felt a small discomfort. He knew he must make straight to the ship and get the Talnoy out of sight. He went to the Talnoy and put his hand on its shoulder. “Manservant!” The creature’s appearance changed instantly. “Pick up the chest and follow me. Say nothing to anyone unless I command it.”

The creature bent over and shouldered the small chest effortlessly. He didn’t have a spot of blood on him, and Kaspar realized the manservant disguise was an illusion, not a costume that could be splattered with gore. Unless he ordered it.

Kaspar turned and walked out of the room. At the bottom of the stairs, a few local men had gathered and were whispering as Kaspar and the Talnoy descended. Kaspar took out ten gold coins and handed them to the alehouse owner. “My friend passed out. Take a deep breath before you go in there. This is for the trouble of cleaning up and for telling the constables that I’ve left by the south gate if they ask, instead of the west gate. Sorry for the trouble, but they were thieves.”

The owner took the coins without a word.

Kaspar led the Talnoy down to the docks and boarded the
Western Princess
. Captain Berganda said, “I thought I wouldn’t see you for another couple of days.”

“Change of plans. We’re staying aboard, and if anyone asks, you’ve never seen us.”

“Understood,” said the large man. “You’re the owner.”

“Where’s our cabin?”

“Well, I haven’t moved out of the captain’s cabin yet…”

“Stay there. Is there another?”

“Small one near mine. I’ll have a boy show you.” He shouted for a cabin boy and when the youngster appeared, he instructed him to take Kaspar and the Talnoy to the cabin.

Kaspar told the boy that he’d eat in the cabin tonight, and as soon as the door closed, he pulled the ring off. Kaspar felt anxious and didn’t know if it had been the ring or his concern about it, or worry he might be apprehended before he reached the docks. Unless the constables in this city were rigorous beyond his experience of such local officials, his roundabout route to the docks would have them seeking him through the south or western gates.

Kaspar sat on the lower bunk. There was another above him, but he made the Talnoy stand in the corner, next to the chest. Kaspar then settled in for two long, boring days of waiting until they departed Sulth.

No mention of the bloodshed at the alehouse reached Kaspar before they departed. If the captain or the crew had any concerns about his reasons for hiding in the cabin, they kept them to themselves. Finally, on the third morning, they got underway.

Kaspar waited until they were clear of the harbor and came up on deck. Captain Berganda said, “You’re the owner, but once we’ve weighed anchor, I’m master.”

“Understood,” said Kaspar with a nod.

“If your course doesn’t set us sailing off the edge of the world or into some monster’s maw, we should be seeing your homeland in three months or less.”

“If the gods want us to,” said Kaspar with an ironic note.

“I always make an offering before leaving,” said Berganda. “I don’t know if it does any good to have those priests praying for a safe voyage, but it can’t hurt.”

“No,” said Kaspar, “Prayer can’t hurt. Who knows, they might even listen now and again, right?”

“Oh, they listen all the time,” said the seaman. “And they answer prayers. It’s just that most often the answer is ‘no.’”

Kaspar nodded, and couldn’t find a reason to disagree.

He looked at the distant shore as they sailed south by southwest down the Bay of Sulth. It would be a long, and he hoped uneventful, voyage.

Kaspar watched the sea, the choppy waves sending spindrift dancing in the late afternoon sunlight. They had put forty-five days between the ship and Novindus. Kaspar had never felt any affection for the sea, but he had been aboard many ships voyaging from city to city as ruler of Olasko.

The
Western Princess
was a well-run little ship, and the crew knew their tasks. There was none of the iron discipline found on military ships, rather it had more of a family feel. These men had sailed with their captain for years, some of them for their entire adult lives.

Kaspar had fallen into a routine, mostly out of boredom, that began each day with his exercising on the deck. He would draw his sword and go through a vigorous workout, at first to the amusement of the crew, then to silent approval as his skills were shown. He would strip to his trousers and swing his blade for an hour, ignoring the weather unless it was blowing so fiercely he couldn’t stand on deck. Then he would douse himself with a bucket of sea water, which was as close to a bath as he was going to get until they reached land.

Now they were on the westward leg. Kaspar stood quietly, thinking, letting his eyes rest on the constant surge of the sea. He had pondered his next move, for Kalkin was right about Talwin Hawkins. Though it was nearly a year since the battle of Opardum, Tal was likely to draw his sword and start carving Kaspar up before he could get out three words. Kaspar had an idea of what he was going to do, but he hadn’t worked out the details yet.

“Captain!” came a shout from the lookout above.

“What is it?” shouted the captain.

“I don’t know…something…off to starboard.”

Kaspar had been on the port rail, so he crossed the ship. In the distance an enormous shimmering circle hung in the air.

“What in the name of the gods?” muttered a seaman, while others made protective signs.

The hair on the back of Kaspar’s neck stood up. He didn’t know if it was the few minutes spent on Kosridi, the time he had spent with the Talnoy, or just an intuitive moment, but he knew this was a rend in space, a rift as Kalkin had called it.

Suddenly water started pouring from the circle into the sea, brackish, dark, and stinking of sulfur as the wind carried its reek toward the ship. “Come to port!” shouted the Captain. “I don’t know what that thing is, but we’re showing it our stern!”

Sailors jumped to obey, while Kaspar watched in mute fascination as water from that lightless world poured into the Blue Sea. Where it struck the sea, the water roiled and sputtered, throwing up steam and smoke, as flickers of energy danced along the foamy edges. Then abruptly a head appeared in the circle, a monster of that ocean’s deep unlike any mythical sea monster or real danger on Midkemia. It was black, and the head looked as if it was armored, sunlight gleaming off its hide. To Kaspar it appeared to be some sort of giant eel, with amber eyes that glowed in the lowering sun. The head had a crest of sweptback spikes as if to protect it from even larger predators—if that was remotely possible. Kaspar could hardly believe the size of the thing. It was already thirty feet out of the rift and more of it was coming, and it was getting bigger at the girth, so not even half of the creature was through. It could swallow this ship in three or four bites!

“Gods preserve us!” shouted the lookout.

The creature’s fins came through, and Kaspar reckoned it must be over a hundred feet long! Men began calling out the names of gods and begging for mercy, as the creature was now looking at them and attempting to come through the rift faster.

Then abruptly the rift vanished, and a shock of wind was accompanied by the sound of distant thunder. Severed in two, the creature hung in mid-air, its eyes glazing over. It thrashed as it fell, spraying black-red blood everywhere. Then it plunged into the sea below, vanishing beneath the foam.

Suddenly it was as if the incident had only been imagined, for any sign of the event had gone, the creature vanishing below the waves, and the empty sky showing no signs of the rift.

Kaspar looked around. Ashen-faced sailors muttered prayers and clung to lines and rails, until the Captain’s voice shouted for them to be about their duties.

Kaspar glanced at Captain Berganda, and their eyes locked across the gulf between them. For an instant the Captain’s gaze seemed accusing, as if he sensed somehow that this terrible vision was linked to Kaspar being aboard the ship. Then he turned his attention to his ship and the moment was lost.

Kaspar looked around and knew that by the time they reached Olasko, the crew would be arguing over what it was they had seen, and the tale would become another bit of seaman’s lore.

But Kaspar knew that what he had seen had been no vision. And he knew what it heralded. He heard a voice in his mind. He didn’t know if it was his own recognition of what he had seen, or Kalkin whispering one last warning into his ear, but in his mind the words formed, “Time is short.”

The lookout shouted.

“Land ho!” he cried, as Kaspar and Captain Berganda stood on the quarterdeck.

“Just where you said we’d be, and on the very day, too,” said the Captain.

“I got my instructions from a very high source,” said Kaspar, trying to find humor wherever he could. Since seeing the alien sea creature, he knew two of Kalkin’s warnings to be true: the Talnoy was a magnet for the rifts and those on the other side would dominate this world swiftly. No matter what else occurred, he had to warn those in a position to do something about it. He had to find the Conclave of Shadows, even if it meant his death.

Not a selfless man by nature, Kaspar had come to realize that if those creatures invaded Midkemia, no one would survive, no matter how high born, where they hid, or what their skill with weapons. Eventually all would be slaughtered, either in the war, or as entertainment for those heartless beings. So his survival became secondary to those he cared about, even if there were only a handful. He found it odd there were so few of them: his sister, Natalia, and Jojanna and her son Jorgen, and in an odd way, the families of the men who had died on the ill-fated expedition that had begun all this. But even without them, it seemed impossible to consider standing idly by and watching the world of his birth be destroyed.

Kaspar shouted to the lookout. “What do you see?”

“Islands! Hundreds of ’em from the look of it.”

“Turn north by northwest, Captain, and that’ll put us on a tack for home,” said Kaspar.

They sailed all day and by dawn the next day saw coastal shipping sailing close to land. Kaspar had already worked out his strategy for getting ashore and finding Talwin Hawkins. He had spent no time with any member of the criminal element of Opardum, but he had hanged enough of them, listened to confessions under torture, and read enough reports by the City Watch to have a few ideas of how to contact the man he assumed was the new master of Olasko.

By midday, they saw the city of Opardum rising against the escarpment behind the citadel. “Impressive,” said Captain Berganda. “Tell me, Kaspar. How many ships leave from here bound to my city?”

With a grin, Kaspar said, “None.”

Berganda fixed Kaspar with a narrow eye. “Before I tell the lads they’re stranded and they chuck you overboard, owner or not, I assume you have a plan as to how we’re getting home?”

“Yes,” said Kaspar, his eyes now captivated by the rapidly-approaching city. “Keep the ship. Sell it again when you get back to Sulth. I just needed the passage home and it’s worth the price.”

“Well, then,” said Berganda, with a laugh, “you’re the finest man I’ve ever met and I’m proud to say I worked for you.” He shook Kaspar’s hand. “I think I’ll take that gold you gave me and load up on rare items to sell at home. Who knows? If I make enough profit from this, maybe I’ll get my brother-in-law to sell his caravan business and he’ll come work for me!’”

Kaspar laughed. “A word of advice; find someone who speaks a language called Quegan, for it is closest to your speech anyone here knows, and learn a bit of the local tongue, else the merchants of my homeland will send you home with nothing to show.”

“Advice noted,” said Captain Berganda.

Kaspar settled in, impatiently watching as they drew near the harbor mouth. He couldn’t believe the emotions that rose up within him, for until this moment he had no idea how much he had missed his homeland and how much he loved it.

Still, he realized he was returning as an outcast and an outlaw. If he couldn’t avoid being recognized, he faced the possibility of summary execution.

Kaspar went over what he knew of docking procedures and cautioned the Captain that things might be different since he was home. He neglected to mention to Berganda the reason for his absence or the fact he really knew little of docking procedures because as Duke of Olasko, whenever he sailed into the harbor, everyone got out of his way.

It was almost sunset when they entered the harbor. An assistant pilot in a customs boat waved the
Western Princess
over to a mooring buoy and by hand signals got them to heave to and drop anchor. The young man in the boat shouted up, “Anyone speak Olaskon?”

This was Kaspar’s first risk of being recognized, but he had to take it, for the Captain would want to know why he wasn’t willing to translate. He shouted back, “I do.”

“Stay here until morning. A customs officer will come aboard at first light. If anyone comes ashore, you’ll all be hanged as smugglers!”

Kaspar shouted back, “We understand!” He translated for Berganda.

The Captain laughed. “Is he serious?”

“He’s an earnest young officer in the duchy’s service, so of course he’s serious. But the threat, however, isn’t. Smuggling mainly takes place in the islands we passed to the south. Anyone bold enough to try to smuggle right in the main harbor probably deserves to get away with it. No, they’re just trying to ensure we don’t come ashore, get drunk and start a brawl, and end up in jail before you can sell your cargo so they can fine you.”

“If you say so, Kaspar,” the Captain said, “However, I think once you’re ashore, I’ll have the boys stay here until morning.”

“What will you do when the sailor who speaks Olaskon is missed?”

The Captain laughed again. “Nothing. We’ll work out a way to communicate, and if anyone here speaks that Quegan language you say is related to ours, we’ll get it across. That earnest young customs officer was obviously mistaken about which ship berthing this night had someone aboard who spoke your language. Must be a lot of foreign ships come into this harbor every day.”

Kaspar laughed. “Play dumb and they’ll buy it. Now, lower a boat as soon as it’s dark and I’ll tell your lads where to take me.” He reached into his tunic. “Here’s the other two hundred, and a hundred again. Just to make sure that if your brother-in-law decides to become a sailor, you’ll have enough gold to make your wives a little less furious.”

“Thanks for that,” said the Captain. He passed the word that a boat was going over the side away from the docks after darkness fell.

Kaspar returned to his cabin and waited.

The inn was out of the way and quiet. It was the sort of place Kaspar had never once set foot in throughout his entire life in this city. It was a favorite of dockworkers, stevedores, teamsters, porters, and other rough men. It was the sort of place where men would look the other way.

Kaspar and the Talnoy had entered the inn two days earlier and had taken a room at the back, on the lower floor.

Kaspar was keeping a low profile, sniffing around, and trying to make contact with someone from Opardum’s underworld. He had an idea about getting a message to the palace, to his sister, but he was still reeling from the news he had received earlier that day. He had just finished his midday meal when a pair of city constables entered the inn.

They had walked through the room, glancing here and there, and after a few minutes they had left. Kaspar was struck by one thing, and motioned the serving girl over.

“Yes, sir?”

“It’s been a while since I was last in Opardum, but what was that crest those constables were wearing on their shoulders? I don’t recognize it.”

“It’s a new coat-of-arms, sir. We have a new duke.”

Feeling a chill, Kaspar played ignorant. “Oh, really? I’ve been at sea. What happened?”

She laughed. “You must have been on the other side of the world.”

“Might as well have been,” he said.

“Well, we had a war, and old Duke Kaspar was run out. I hear they banished him to some hellish place, but you know how gossip is. He’s probably rotting at the bottom of his own dungeons. Duke Varian is in charge here now.”

“Duke Varian?” said Kaspar with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Had Leso Varen managed somehow to turn things to his own advantage at the very end?

“Ya, nice enough bloke, come over from Roldem. Married the old Duke’s sister, and now they’re expecting a baby.”

“Duke Varian Rodoski?”

“Ya, that’s him. Seems a fair man for a noble.”

After she left, Kaspar had almost laughed aloud. Half in relief, for despite his past attempts to kill Rodoski, Kaspar knew him to be a good man. He had been a loving husband before his wife had died, and he was a devoted father. It was a damned good state marriage as far as Kaspar could tell. It would bring stability to the region and make it nearly impossible for the vultures to try to pick at Olasko’s bones.

However, hours later the loss of his duchy was still nettling him. He sat back. It wasn’t
his
duchy. It was his home, true, but he no longer ruled here, nor would he reclaim his throne. What had begun as a mad plan for revenge had long since become a desperate race against an implacable menace that would destroy this city, his nation, his sister and her unborn child. No, Kaspar had to let old emotions go. Revenge was no longer viable…or even desirable. In fairness, had his and Tal Hawkins’ positions been reversed, he would never have forgiven Tal. He would have killed him.

Kaspar stood up to return to the room and saw a man in the corner looking at him. He had noticed the slender man when he had entered the inn earlier that afternoon, and had been struck by something vaguely familiar about him, but the man’s features had remained hidden under a large hat and in the corner he was shrouded in darkness. A few times Kaspar had cast a glance his way, and every time the man seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts as he contemplated the contents of his ale mug. This time, however, the man’s eyes locked with Kaspar’s for the briefest of instances, before he glanced away and looked down, hunching over.

Kaspar made his way toward his room, then at the last moment he turned and in two strides crossed the gap between them. The other man was fast, as Kaspar had known he would be. Very fast for someone having to stand up and draw a weapon.

Kaspar barely parried the dagger’s blow with his own dagger, then used his advantage in size and strength to push the man off balance. He went over the back of his chair and slammed his head against the wall.

Men were moving away, for brawls were common in this inn, and no one got involved until they knew who was fighting whom, especially when weapons were involved.

By the time the barman had come over, his cudgel striking the palm of his meaty hand, Kaspar had the man pinned to the wall, his dagger under Kaspar’s boot, while Kaspar’s blade was at the man’s throat.

“Hello, Amafi,” said Kaspar. “How would you like to arrange things so that neither Talwin Hawkins or I cut your throat?”

The former Quegan assassin, for more than a year body-servant to Talwin Hawkins before he had betrayed him and became a fugitive, said, “Magnificence! I barely recognized you.”

With a grin, Kaspar whispered so the others in the room couldn’t overhear. “But recognize me you did, and what were you about to do, barter my head for your freedom?”

“No, my lord, I never would have done such a thing,” whispered Amafi in return. “I am, like yourself, a man fallen on hard times. For nearly a year I’ve lived hand to mouth, forced to menial labor to survive. I was afraid you’d recognize me. I was but waiting for you to retire so I could slip out unnoticed.”

Kaspar stood up, and the barman sensed the fight was over, turned and went back to his station. Kaspar put out his hand and pulled the older man to his feet. “You’re a liar and a traitor and I don’t believe for an instant that as soon as I went to my room you wouldn’t have been off to the citadel to barter my life for your freedom. However, it happens I have a use for you, one which will benefit us both in keeping our heads on our shoulders. Come, this is not the place for the two of us to swap stories.”

“Agreed.”

Kaspar went to the bar and purchased a bottle of wine and two cups. He motioned for the assassin to proceed down the hall ahead of him. “Forgive me, but it’s going to be a while before I willingly turn my back on you.”

“You are a wise man, Magnificence.”

When they reached the room, Amafi opened the door when Kaspar indicated and took one step in, then froze. “It’s all right,” said Kaspar. “That’s my…servant.”

Amafi entered the room. “He…doesn’t move.”

“He’s very good at standing very quietly,” said Kaspar. “Sit on the bed.” He moved to the window and sat on the sill. There was only a small table in the room and a very dirty washbasin and a pitcher of tepid water. Kaspar poured a cup of wine and handed it to Amafi, then poured one for himself. “I’ve got a long tale to tell, Amafi, but I’d like to hear yours first.”

“There is little mystery. While I was in the service of Talwin Hawkins, I ensured I knew a quick way out wherever we were. It’s an old habit, and while I knew no details, it was clear to me that my master was involved in something beyond my understanding, which always means trouble, eventually. While my master was exploring the citadel for a means to defeat you when you betrayed him…”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Sir. But then, I think he expected it. I judged him to be a man unable to break an oath, so he was counting on you betraying him first when he took service with you.”

Kaspar laughed his barking laugh. “So, had I not sold him out to set up Rodoski’s murder, he might still be in my service and I might still be Duke of Olasko?”

“Possibly, Magnificence. Who am I to know such things? In any event, when it was obvious to me that the citadel was going to fall, I merely waited and stripped a dead Keshian soldier of his uniform. I left the citadel with the victorious troops, and I speak fair Keshian, so no one noticed. I was just another dog soldier with blood on his tunic. There was enough looting and drunkenness on the way out to the harbor that it was simple to vanish into an empty building, lie low for a few days, then emerge. I’ve been attempting to leave Opardum ever since you vanished, but unfortunately, I lack means.”

“A clever fellow like you? I would have thought it easy enough for you to get passage.”

Amafi sighed. “Magnificence, I am past fifty years of age, and by trade I am an assassin. In my youth, you would never have made it to the table, let alone pushed me back before I could kill you.