Jalia Prevails (Book 5) (28 page)

“You see, Jaliscia, by rotating the vase I collect the droplets and then they run down it to drip into the tumbler. Rotating the vase exposes new cold surfaces to the vapor making it more likely to condense.”

“I will turn the heat down in a minute or two, as I need to change the water in the vase for colder water from the tap. To try and collect as much essence as I can I will use my knife to push as many of the droplets as I can into the tumbler before I refresh it. Do you like the name Jaliscia, by the way? I think it suits you.”

Jalia felt the ring gently warm her finger in a series of pulses and she smiled. Daniel’s theory about magic objects being nearly alive was turning out to be true.

She was so busy working that she didn’t hear the first blasts of the horn from the Speedy Star. It was only when the Steam Dragon replied that she noticed.

“Well we can’t stop what we’re doing just to watch two boats go past each other, can we, Jaliscia? According to Hala, Captain Toren will signal the other boat to stop as he has messages he needs to deliver to them. Most probably, to tell them not to stop at Wegnar and pass the word up to the Flying Kite.”

Jalia hummed as she carried on her delicate work, fully content with life and the world in general.

Don took Daniel deeper into the Steam Dragon than he had on their previous trips. Finally, they reached a set of metal trapdoors at the bottom of a long shaft that appeared to go all the way up to the main deck of ship.

“The ship’s ballast is stowed below us and comes in or out through these trap doors,” Don explained. He pulled at one of the doors and asked Daniel to pull at the other. They were heavy and tipped over on their hinges reluctantly.

“I’m not even sure what ballast is for,” Daniel said as he stared into the dark hole below.

“The more decks there are above water the more ballast there has to be below, otherwise the boat would tip over like a bottle dropped into water neck first,” Don explained. He collected a lantern from the wall. Dropping to his knees, he hung the lamp down into the darkness. They could see by its light that the hold was filled with stones cut in the shape of rectangular bricks.

“Most boats use any old stones they can find, but the boat company has to be different and has its own specially shaped stones,” Don said, laughing at the thought of the unnecessary expense and effort involved. “Captain Toren claims that it allows them to get more weight into a smaller space. They had to bring in a lot of stone ballast to compensate for the fruit they loaded yesterday.”

“That’s what this shaft is for?” Daniel asked.

“Yes, they have a pulley system up on the deck to get the ballast in and out quickly. Of course, the lid above has to be watertight otherwise if water got in, it could sink the boat.”

The bricks were about twelve inches long, two inches high and three inches wide. As Daniel looked down at them, an idea formed. He grinned.

“Thanks Don, this may be the most important thing you’ve shown me since we’ve come onboard.”

Don looked puzzled, but before he could ask a question, they heard the Steam Dragon’s horn blasting out. Even at the bottom of the boat, the sound reverberated loudly.

“We had better get going if we want to see the Speedy Star and the exchange of mail,” Don said, all thoughts of asking what Daniel had meant driven from his mind by the thought of watching another steam boat go past.

The men closed the trapdoors and ran through the dark maze of corridors to the upper decks of the Dragon.

Lady Rotiln knocked on the door to Gally suite after it became clear that waiting for her to turn up for breakfast was going to be a fruitless exercise. She sent Halad to her suite to wait for her return and went to beard the dragon in her den.

At first, there was no response and Lady Rotiln felt she would have to try the Captain’s cabin. She had seen Toren up and about, but she supposed that Gally might still be lying in his bed. Then she heard sounds of movement and the door being unlocked.

“Can’t it wait?” a bedraggled Gally asked as she opened the door six inches. Her hair was in a state and she looked as though she hadn’t slept a wink during the night. She wore a dressing gown sufficiently carelessly for one of her breasts to be visible.

“I’m afraid it can’t,” Lady Rotiln said briskly and pushed her way into the room. She had never been comfortable as Gally’s second in command and deeply regretted that King Oto had talked her into it in the first place.

“Make yourself at home, why don’t you?” Gally said sarcastically. Her dressing gown had pulled open as Lady Rotiln pushed her way into the room, revealing Gally was naked underneath it. Gally made no attempt to cover up and flaunted her body at Lady Rotiln, who found her eyes drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Nudity was frowned on in Slarn and it was rare to see such a perfect young body so exposed.

“If you like what you see then I’ll see if I can fit you in. Though I must admit I like my men old and my women to be girls,” Gally said. She pulled a chair over. The dressing gown fell open from the waist down as she sat.

“I am not interested in your body, only in our mission,” Lady Rotiln snapped. “You have already jeopardized it with your actions.”

Gally’s eyes flashed at the insult and she sat up straighter, though she made no attempt to cover herself.

“And just how have I jeopardized the mission?” she asked in a snarl.

“By not giving al’Dare and al’Degar their damned possessions back,” Lady Rotiln shouted. “They might well have headed back to Bagdor if you had only been reasonable. Instead we have them on this boat doing the gods only know what.”

“They are still alive?” Gally asked in astonishment. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I had dinner with them last night. If you could wean yourself off sexual gratification long enough to attend an evening meal you would have seen them for yourself.”

“Damn.” Gally pushed herself out of the chair and started pacing the room. “Do you know what happened when they visited the Greenhouse?”

“They only mentioned it in terms of the fruit they had eaten. What was supposed to have happened?” Lady Rotiln asked. Gally’s anger had calmed her own and she wondered what the woman had been up to.

“I sent my father’s assassins against them,” Gally snarled as she paced. “Were they not even injured? What about the Marin’s and that stupid girl who dresses like a miniature Jalia, were none of them injured?”

“Jalia had a stomach-ache from the fruit. Though that was probably just a deception to give her the opportunity to leave and search my room,” Lady Rotiln said as she took a seat. Watching Gally pace the room was making her tired.

“They have the dagger and the ring?”

“Of course they have the dagger and the ring,” Lady Rotiln said viciously. “Haven’t you been listening?”

“They don’t matter.” Gally almost tripped over her dressing gown. She pulled the garment from her body, flinging it across the room as she continued to pace. “The thing that matters is that they must know I sent assassins against them. They are not the kind of people to let such a matter rest. They will seek revenge.”

“Then jump off this boat and swim for shore,” Lady Rotiln suggested. “Because I believe that either one of them could kill you without getting out of breath.”

“I can’t leave, you stupid bitch,” Gally snarled. “My whole life is tied up in this mission and it must succeed.”

“Insulting me will not help.”

Gally took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Sala. I apologize for the insult. This is not your fault.” Gally sat down again and started to rub her thighs as she thought; a sight that distracted Lady Rotiln considerably.

“If they were going to confront me over the mess in the Greenhouse they would have done so by now. Perhaps they killed my father’s men and couldn’t question them. It seems extremely unlikely, but then, so does either of them being alive.”

“Perhaps your men thought hard on their reputation and decided not to bother?” Lady Rotiln suggested. “It would explain why they have no injuries and didn’t mention a fight last night.”

“I ought to be whipped for trusting those men.” Gally slapped her thigh hard, as if as a prelude to taking such an action herself. She stood up again and looked hard at Lady Rotiln.

“Nothing has changed. Forgive me for putting you in a position where you were robbed. Was anything else taken?”

“Only a scent bottle, which I might have misplaced somewhere.”

At that moment, the distant horn of the Speedy Star floated through Gally’s windows, followed almost immediately by the deafening sound of the Steam Dragon’s response. More blasts on the Steam Dragon’s horn followed in short succession.

“I must get dressed, there may be a message from my father,” Gally said as she hustled Lady Rotiln to her door.

“Or from the king,” Lady Rotiln said with more enthusiasm on the matter than Gally had shown. “I will see you on the deck shortly?”

“Yes, but keep your distance from me. There are many spies onboard.”

Cara helped Hala to her feet, having just knocked her onto the deck with the force of her sword strike.

“You are only a child. You don’t yet have the strength to block those sorts of blows effectively. You must parry them away instead,” Cara explained.

Hala nodded. There was grim determination on her face as she stood and waited for Cara’s next attack. When it came, it was unexpectedly verbal.

“Are you having sex with Nin?”

“Not the full thing, but pretty close,” Hala answered reluctantly.

“I remember my first time. It wasn’t much fun at all,” Cara admitted. “But Nin seems nice, for a cabin boy.”

“What do you mean?” Hala asked, outraged.

“Well, he’s your first love and that’s pretty overwhelming. He must seem like everything to you.”

“He is important to me. He wants me to stay onboard and join the crew.”

“To do what, clean the tables after people have eaten?”

“I don’t really know,” Hala admitted.

“If you are going to spend the rest of your life with him, you should be sure you’re going to be doing what you want to do. I can’t imagine spending my life as a dishwasher. I want to see the world and have adventures.” Cara smiled.

“I’ve had rather a lot of adventures recently,” Hala replied. “They can get a bit wearing.”

“But here you are, practicing fighting with a sword and the crew of the Steam Dragon don’t even carry knives, except when they are stacking cargo. Nin doesn’t even own a knife, does he?”

Hala shook her head.

“Well, it’s your business, and none of mine, but you don’t seem to be the kind of girl who would end up living with a man who can’t defend himself.”

“I can defend both of us,” Hala said stoutly.

“I’m sure you can, but how would that make him feel? To know he had to rely on his woman to keep him safe.”

Hala shook her head because she had never considered such a possibility until Cara had brought it up.

The conversation was brought to an end by the sound of a horn in the distance. Hala put her hands over her ears as the Steam Dragon replied.

“Shall we go and watch the show?” Cara suggested

Hala nodded, keeping her hands over her ears because of the repeated blasts from the Steam Dragon’s horn.

The girls sheathed their swords and ran to the safety rails to await the arrival of the Speedy Star.

Prince Doran Dalk, youngest son of King Gillan the Fourteenth of the Trium of Dalk knocked on the door of the cabin of Tonas Mallow. Flanking him were Jant and Mal.

Tonas opened the door and looked at the men in surprise. He knew a deputation when he saw one and wondered what the men wanted.

“I have come to speak to you on a matter of increasing urgency and some delicacy,” Dor told Tonas grandly.

“Well then, you had better come in, hadn’t you,” Tonas replied, waving the men into the room.

Wilf and Tred sat at a table where they had been playing cards with Tonas. They stood in some alarm as three armed men entered the room.

“Anything you wish to say to me you can say in front of my partners,” Tonas said in an offhand manner. In the days that had passed since his father died, he had become more and more confident in his ability to deal with anything that might arise.