Kethril (33 page)

The common room of the inn was warm and
crowded with locals in for dinner. The innkeeper placed them at a
larger table in a corner away from the fire. Liselle pushed her
stool next to Vevin’s and leaned against him. It felt nice when he
wrapped his arms around her.

The captain continued the report in his
rapid-fire manner while they ate. “It sailed to the southeast. We
followed it as far as we could, but it was lost to our sight in the
foothills. It only stole the sheep from one farm, making away with
eighteen. As far as we could tell, the sheep went up the gangplank
of their own free will. I’m certain there was no crew aboard.”

Tathan interrupted. “Duchess, can I see that
map you have again?”

She stared at him for a moment, searching
for a way to refuse before pulling it out of a small pack she kept
with her at all times. Liselle knew the pack had valuables such as
items of magic and some of her jewelry in case they had to attend a
formal event. The map itself was worth a great deal.

Tathan moved his food aside and opened the
map. They all looked closely as he pointed at the villages that had
been attacked. He tapped a village called Uldram. “We need to start
here. The mountains to the south are a little lower and I think the
ship might be coming from them.”

“And just how did you come to that
conclusion?” the duchess asked testily.

Tathan disregarded Emmaoen’s dislike for
him. “A number of things led me to it. Uldram was the first village
hit and the first crimes are usually done close to home.”

“You would know,” Emmaoen muttered. Her
attitude was beginning to irritate Liselle.

Tathan ignored the comment. “North of these
villages are plains and small wooded areas and there’s no place to
hide a ship. It makes sense for it to sail . . . or whatever it
does . . . into hills and mountains, so it’s most likely in the
mountains south of Uldram.”

“It sounds logical to me,” Sir Danth said.
“The description of the ship gives me an idea that I’d like to
share.”

“Go on,” Tathan encouraged.

“Once we get to the ship. I can shift to the
deck. If it’s not close enough, I can do a series of shifts to make
it before it gets away,” he suggested.

“That’s an excellent idea. The fact that
it’s faster than a horse had me worried.” He turned to Vevin. “I
was hoping you would be willing to scout for the ship or track it
by flying above. If it’s offensive of me to suggest that, I
apologize.”

“Not at all,” Vevin replied eagerly. “I love
flying and I don’t mind tracking it or searching for it. I was
hoping you’d ask.” The captain looked at Vevin curiously,
apparently not knowing about the presence of a dragon in the
party.

“Excellent,” Tathan responded. He pointed
Vevin. “You be careful of those fire tubes though.”

“I agree,” Liselle declared, looking over
her shoulder at her mate.

“Oh, I will. There’s not much that can hurt
me in the air. Not even my daddy could outmaneuver me,” Vevin said
proudly.

“That leaves the question of what Liselle,
the duchess and I do.” He held Anilyia’s hand. “You’ll stay out of
danger. You’re an amazing woman, but I think you would be hurt in a
fight.” He put the crook of his finger under her chin. “However,
I’ll listen if you think you could help capture this thing.”

“So you
do
want to capture it then.”
Sir Danth said with a nod. “I was wondering if you might want to do
that instead of destroying it.”

“Wait,” Emmaoen interjected. “What do you
mean capture it?”

“It’s quite logical,” the knight said. “If
we destroy the ship, we’ll never know why it was stealing sheep and
attacking the villages. Why isn’t it killing anyone?” He leaned
forward. “If it shows compassion and mercy, then either the ship or
the entity controlling it should be shown the same compassion and
mercy.”

“Yeah,” Tathan agreed. “That’s . . . why.
Exactly my point. We want to . . . show compassion by not killing
it.”

“That and you want to steal it,” Anilyia
said, brushing a strand of hair from his face. “That’s why I like
you so much. You steal the nicest things, like me.” She kissed his
cheek, alarming the duchess and the captain. Liselle rolled her
eyes. “What do we do with it if we capture it?” the princess
asked.

“I’ll think of something,” Tathan answered
with a grin. “I don’t know what my part is going to be though.
Usually when there’s no clear course of action, I improvise. Until
my role becomes clear, I’ll provide support and protection for
anyone else, particularly when you’re casting spells.” He gestured
to Liselle and Emmaoen.

The duchess rubbed her temples. “It was my
intention to attack it with spells, but if we’re going to capture
it instead I’ll have to think about other options.”

“If I hold the ship with magic or create
barriers, you would be able to get on board, Cousin,” Liselle
offered.

“A net,” Emmaoen said. “I can cast a magical
net of great size that will prevent the ship from moving.” She
narrowed her eyes at Tathan. “If we capture it, it will belong to
Kethril, not you.”

“The task is to prevent the ship from
attacking villages and stealing sheep,” Tathan replied. “You wanted
to destroy the ship. If we prevent it from attacking, we will have
accomplished our task for Kethril. If we capture it, it becomes
spoils of adventure.”

The duchess pointed a finger as though to
zap him like a spider, but Vevin spoke first. “Oh yes! The ship
will be our treasure.” When Emmaoen turned her glare toward him,
Vevin gave her a toothy smile. “You were born a princess and are
not protected by the treaty. You look yummy and I haven’t promised
not to eat
you
.”

Emmaoen shrank back on her stool. The table
became very silent, though the rest of the common room was still
noisy. For some reason, no one was paying attention to them.
“Vevin,” Liselle started, not sure what to say to keep him from
eating her friend.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’m restraining
myself for your sake. But if she keeps being mean to Tathan, I’m
going to nom her,” Vevin threatened.

The duchess grabbed her map and stormed
upstairs. The captain had watched the exchange with wide eyes, not
sure what to do or how to handle it. When the duchess left, he took
his pardon.

Liselle was about to follow Emmaoen to
confront her about why she was being nasty. Tathan stopped her. “I
was hoping we’d get a chance to talk alone, Cousin. I want to go
over the plan without her.” Liselle was about to complain about his
behavior, but he held a hand up. “I’ve been nothing but polite to
her. I don’t care whether or not she has a problem with us.”

“Master Tathan
has
behaved well . . .
or as well as he ever behaves,” Sir Danth defended with a playful
wink. Liselle reluctantly grinned, though she was still worried
about Emmaoen’s behavior.

Tathan leaned forward. “I want you to try to
figure out how to communicate with the ship,” he told Liselle.

“Communicate with it?”

“Yeah. Listen, it’s obviously a magical
ship. That’s the only way it would be able to fly over land. It
doesn’t have a crew, so there’s a magical way of communicating with
it. I want you to figure out what that is and try to talk to
it.”

“You want me to talk to the ship?” Liselle
asked, wondering how to even try doing that.

“Yeah. You talk to flowers, rocks and the
world of Ryallon. I think you told me once that you could talk to
trees and bushes too,” Tathan said hopefully.

“I don’t talk to rocks, I just . . .
understand them.”

“It sounds like an excellent idea,” Sir
Danth joined in.

“Oh yes!” Vevin took their side. “Ships are
made of wood, which comes from trees. If it was made magically, the
wood may still hold life, which means you can talk to it.”

Liselle turned her head and kissed him on
the cheek. “I’ll give it a try.”

“Excellent.” Tathan smacked his hand on the
table. “There might be some kind of focus. Find the wheel of the
ship. It should be on the aft deck. There may be a bell or lantern
that you can focus your energy on, or it might be the wheel
itself.”

He went on to sum everything up, as he liked
to do. “Tonight we’ll get some sleep. We should reach Uldram by
nightfall tomorrow. We’ll rest again and then we’ll start asking
people about paths or ruins in the mountains. Locals always know
about those things. Once we have an idea where to go from there,
Vevin can scout from the air.”

He pointed at Vevin who nodded
enthusiastically. “Oh yes, I’ll definitely do that.”

“Excellent. Once we locate its home, if it
has one, then we’ll try to sneak up on it. The duchess can use her
net to keep it from going anywhere. Sir Danth can shift to the deck
and try to keep it from shooting fireballs at us, try to throw an
anchor, or . . . something.” Tathan gestured at the knight.

“I shall determine the best course of action
once aboard.”

“Perfect.” Tathan smacked his hand on the
table again. “Liselle will give us various boosts and protections
against magical fireballs if she’s willing.” When Liselle nodded,
he went on. “I think I’ll use a rope and grappling hook. I bought a
couple when we were in Larfa. With that, I can climb on board and
hopefully let the gangplank down for the ladies, though they might
have to climb the rope too.”

Liselle rolled her eyes. “I don’t know.
Climbing ropes sounds hard. I don’t think girls can do that.”

Tathan stuck his tongue out at her and
continued. “Anilyia, would you be willing to stay back and keep the
horses out of danger?”

“I don’t like taking care of horses.” When
the others stared at her, she relented. “Alright! I’ll take care of
the horses. Just don’t expect me to brush them or anything.”

“Excellent.” Tathan banged his fist on the
table. “We have a brilliant plan. I’m sure everything will go
entirely different, but that’s alright.” They laughed.

“What will we do with the ship if we capture
it?” Sir Danth asked.

Tathan leaned in. The rest did too. “I’m
hoping that it will sail overland and we can take it to
Mayncal.”

“Ohh, that’s a good idea,” Vevin said.

“That’s an excellent idea!” Anilyia
exclaimed, her face brightening. Liselle noticed that it darkened
just a moment later.

“I agree, a wonderful idea, Master Tathan.
Well done,” Sir Danth contributed.

“We have the plan. Let’s get some sleep
now,” Tathan suggested. They agreed and went off to their rooms
while the knight stood to take a walk. Tathan left a silver piece
for a tip. When he walked away, Liselle left two more.

***

“Innkeeper, which room did the duchess
take?” Liselle asked. He pointed to a door on their left. Liselle
turned to Vevin. “Darling, you go to bed. I want to talk to Emmaoen
for a few minutes.” He gave her a kiss and went to the room the
innkeeper escorted him to.

After noting their room, Liselle knocked on
Emmaoen’s door. When there was no response, she knocked again. It
finally opened. The duchess walked back into the room and flopped
down on the bed, leaving Liselle to close the door.

“Hi,” Liselle said.

“Hi.”

“What’s wrong? You’ve been hostile towards
Tathan since he arrived.” Liselle sat down on a stool near the bed.
“You’ve given me a cold shoulder as well.”

“What does it matter? You’re going to
capture the ship and sail away forever,” Emmaoen said
petulantly.

“That’s the plan, yes,” Liselle admitted.
“So you’re mad at me because I’m leaving?”

“Yes.” She wiped tears with the sleeve of
the nightrobe she had changed into and then sat up and faced
Liselle with their knees touching. “I don’t want you to leave.”
Emmaoen shrugged. “I like you more than I’ve ever liked
anyone.”

“I like you too, but . . .” Liselle didn’t
know how to respond. She could ask her to come along, but wanted to
talk to Tathan first and she would need to clear up the hostility
before that would happen.

“No. You don’t understand. I
really
like you.” Emmaoen leaned forward and kissed Liselle softly on the
lips.

Liselle froze, stunned by the move. Emmaoen
put her hands on either side of Liselle’s neck and kissed more
firmly. Liselle returned the kiss for a moment without knowing why.
Emmaoen’s lips were soft . . . and different.

Emmaoen sat back, looking into her eyes
lovingly. “That was beautiful. You’re beautiful, more than any of
the flowers that worship you.” She took Liselle’s hands into her
own, caressing them.

Liselle desperately tried to compose her
thoughts. Her heart was racing and breathing shallow. She had never
heard of women kissing each other and simply had no way to know how
to feel about it. “I . . . love Vevin,” was the first thing that
came to her mind. It was one thing she knew was true with all her
heart.

“I don’t understand how you can feel that
way. He’s a dragon. It’s not natural,” Emmaoen said in disgust.

The statement went a long way toward
clarifying Liselle’s feelings. She stood. “If you don’t like my
mate or my cousin, then perhaps you shouldn’t travel with us.”
Liselle walked to the door, her anger rising. Once there, she
turned. The duchess had tears in her eyes. “Whether you stay or go,
don’t ever kiss me again,” Liselle said furiously.

Liselle slammed the door on her way out and
stomped to her room. She went through the door and closed it behind
her before slumping against it and bursting into tears. Vevin’s
arms wrapped around her instantly and she buried her face into his
chest. In doing so, she didn’t see his eyes spinning in jealous
fury.

***

When they left the next morning, Emmaoen was
there. She didn’t say a word to anybody and rode next to Sir Danth
in the front, while Vevin and Liselle rode in the back. The sky was
cloudy the entire day, though it never made good on the threat to
rain. Sir Danth, Tathan and Anilyia started out the day in a
cheerful mood, but quickly tamped it down when they saw the dark
moods of the others.