The Eye of Zuebrihn, page 16
part #1 of Eldenworld Series
Kiang shut his eyes. “Point taken.”
Chiu’s mother Shaw Sai-Bo was an imposing match for her father. Tall and stately, with the same facial structure as her daughter, her black hair hung very nearly to her waist, and was held back with a simple golden clasp. She smiled seldom, and radiated a calm composure that Gareth assumed was what made her an imposing diplomat. She did smile, however, when she first saw Chiu, and both women cried and laughed in equal measure. Now she watched with a kind of quiet fortitude as the wagon and carriages were loaded with people and equipment that would take her daughter from her once more. The day, like her apparent mood, was gray and dreary.
With the last of the baggage loaded, Gareth turned to face Kiang and Shaw. “Will you be accompanying us to the dock?” He asked politely.
The barest hint of a smile touched Shaw’s face as she replied. “Kiang will; I will not. I abhor farewells.”
Gareth reached out and taking her hand, raised it to his lips. Shaw’s eyes widened. “In my world this is a gesture of the highest respect between a man and a lady of station. When we return, we will endeavor to stay longer, if only to prevent further farewells.”
Surprising him further, Shaw burst out in a clear laugh. “Oh, you are terrible.” She stepped forward and kissed him firmly on the lips. Gareth reddened and Shaw laughed once more. “That is the way we say hello and good-bye in this family, Gareth.” She held his eyes for a long moment. “Get used to it.”
Kiang was laughing as they entered the carriage. “Shaw can be impulsive when you get on her good side, and apparently you have.”
Gareth sputtered something in reply as Chiu slid closer, and slipped her arm through his.
You’re doing fine. He could feel the laughter hidden below the surface of the woman who sat beside him. Mother is too much the diplomat to say anything, but she adores you.
She only just met me! How can she know me?
We talked, silly, and she can read my mind, and of course I can read yours, so….
Gareth groaned, while beside him Kiang chuckled. It was time to change the subject, and Gareth looked up, into the dark hood of the vampire. “Are you ready to leave, Zadra? I haven’t seen you out and about much.”
“I’ve been out… enough.” The vampire replied in his flat cultured voice. “And, yes, I am ready to leave; the sooner the better.” A thin smile touched his wintry face. “There is money to be made.”
Gareth frowned at the chill in the man’s voice. “You won’t have to wait much longer. The dockyard is up ahead.”
Chapter 9
COUP DE MAIN
The only difference in the dockyard now compared to the dockyard Gareth had seen every other day for the past two weeks was that the Spray was floating sedately at the wharf, her new red and white striped sails neatly furled, her rigging gleaming in the red sun. When the coach jerked to a stop while they were still two hundred meters from their destination, Gareth glanced out of the carriage window and saw a fish cart overturned, its contents spilled across the worn cobblestones, blocking their path. He frowned when he noticed a man’s feet protruding from beneath the fishy pile.
“I’ll see if I can help…” He began to open the door in the side of the carriage, when Chiu grabbed his arm, glancing to the other door.
“Where’s he going?” She pointed through the other open door, to the vampire’s back, already disappearing into the crowd of onlookers and dockworkers.
A cold wind of premonition suddenly blew down Gareth’s back, and it smelled of death. At the far edge of the crowd he could see a score of heavily armed men, pushing their way through the crowd. Jumping out of the carriage, he called up to the driver at the same time. “Take off now, if you want to save the Senator! Don’t stop for anything, or anyone!” Kiang called out a protest that Gareth pointedly ignored. Chiu was suddenly standing beside him, a snarling wolf on his other side. “Are you insane, Chiu, Lyndra? Get the hell out of here!” Over his head the driver snapped his whip like a gunshot, and the carriage began to roll, quickly gaining speed. Sensing imminent death, the crowd on the docks dispersed like fog in a brisk wind, leaving the armed men who were ignoring the coach, heading straight for Gareth and company.
Ambidextrous by training, Gareth drew the Colt with his left hand, loaded it and flipped the safety off in one motion. When that was done, he drew the kukri with his right hand. Chiu had taken two steps to his right, and drew a gleaming sabre with a polished brass hand guard. On a smaller woman the large sword would have been ludicrous, but on Chiu it fit. Two steps to his left hackles were rising on the wolf’s back as Lyndra began to pad toward the advancing men. Gareth sighed. “Since they’re playing our song… let’s dance.” He said as he moved forward. “There are two trying to flank you on your right.” Gareth called out to Chiu a moment later.
“I see them.” She called back. One of the two stepped toward Chiu and she feinted, then slashed him across the middle. The second man stopped when he saw the first man’s guts spill out across the cobblestones in iridescent purple loops. That was a mistake, as Chiu’s next thrust took him cleanly in the throat, spraying blood in a long arc as she jerked the sword free.
“Beware the noise, ladies!” he called, raising the Colt. The heavy pistol barked three times, and three men dropped. The mass of advancing men paused for a heartbeat, alarmed at the strange noise, and suddenly Gareth was among them, kukri flashing. He didn’t strike so much at the torso, as he did at the extremities, targeting knees, ankles, crotch, arms and face with the heavy Damascus steel blade. Where Gareth passed, attackers lay in heaps, some moaning, some screaming and blood flowed freely across the dark cobblestones. Pain tore his left shoulder and he stumbled as a crossbow bolt grew there as if by magic.
He nearly dropped the Colt, but he didn’t. Slashing his current opponent across the bridge of the nose with the kukri, he then tucked the bloody weapon into his waistband to take the Colt with his right hand. His first shot took a man about to slash Lyndra as she tore his companion’s throat out. The wolf’s muzzle and head were covered with dripping red gore. Three more shots blasted out rapidly, one taking the crossbowman who had shot him, in the stomach; the second and third shots felling two of Chiu’s three opponents. She threw him a quick wave as she turned to face the last, a rictus grin on her delicate face; her sword dripping blood. He reloaded and fired seven more times. The last man he shot in the back as he was trying to run away. Echoes of the gunshots slowly faded to silence, and Gareth turned to look for his companions. The entire engagement from start to finish had taken no more than four minutes, but then battles were often like that. He holstered the Colt and sheathed the kukri after wiping the gory blade on the shirt of a felled attacker. Somewhere one of the fallen assailants was groaning.
Chiu was sitting beside the overturned fish cart, her back to a wheel, bloody hands pressed to her side. Gareth touched her shoulder, and she looked up. How are you doing?
Peachy. She growled in return. I caught a bolt in the side. Her eyes moved to his shoulder, and her thoughts turned sympathetic. You look as bad as I feel.
Gareth glanced at his now blood-soaked side. The bolt must have nicked the brachial artery. He sank to a sitting position beside Chiu, as Lyndra limped up on three legs. Her once shiny gray coat was crisscrossed with bleeding lacerations, and she collapsed at Gareth’s feet, flowing back to her battered human form as she did so. She lay there for a moment before she looked up.
“I’ll be damned!” she said in a tone of sheer amazement. “We are still alive.”
Gareth began to laugh, and the more he laughed the more it hurt and the greater it hurt the more he laughed. Soon all three were laughing like crazy people, tears running down their faces from the pain. That was the way the squad of twenty-five Oseothan soldiers found them, led by a furious Senator Kiang Sai-Bo.
~~~
Three weeks after the altercation in the dockyard Gareth still wore his left arm in a sling, Lyndra hobbled around with crutches and a cast, and Chiu was still in bed; grumpy but getting better every day. Gareth was more than aware from the severity of the wounds that in an Earthly hospital he and Chiu would probably have died from blood loss and shock. There was much to be said for magical healing, but it couldn’t work miracles like repairing a torn artery, a punctured spleen or a broken leg overnight.
Spring was finally approaching the realm of Oseothan, and the early flowers like crocuses and snowdrops dotted the residential gardens along with the bright yellow clusters of daffodils. Since he couldn’t do much else, Gareth spent his days walking the gardens and enjoying the spring weather. He’d never had the time or the inclination to do so on Earth. He looked up at the sound of footsteps, smiling as he recognized Shaw.
She returned his smile, taking his one good hand in both of hers. “How are you today, Gareth?”
“I’m mending, Shaw,” he replied slowly. “And I’m as bored as hell.” He wiggled his left arm in its sling, flexing his left fist, and winced at the soreness he still felt in his shoulder. “I hope I didn’t offend you.”
Her smile widened. “I’ve heard worse, and I’ve used worse. No offense taken.”
“Have you seen Chiu today?” he asked the question that was foremost in his mind.
Shaw’s look was sympathetic. “Chiu is more bored than you, but she is responding well to treatments. We hope that she can go walking with you tomorrow.”
Gareth sighed. “So much time wasted.”
Shaw shook her head, and her long dark hair rippled in the sunlight. “Not really. By the time you are all healed and ready to leave your boat will be able to take the southern route, cutting weeks off your trip. In the end you will find you’ve lost only a few weeks of time.” She gave him a long look. “In return we’ve gotten to know you better, and what we’ve discovered has been most favorable.”
Gareth felt his cheeks heat. “I’m nothing special, ma’am.”
She shook her head. “You saved my husband’s life. I would say that you are very special. My daughter is also very taken with you,” she added, her deep blue eyes sparkling.
Gareth chuckled. “Your husband wanted to jump out and join us in the fight.” He gave Shaw a small crooked smile. “Is he always that impulsive?”
“You have no idea.” She returned in a flat voice, rolling her eyes. “It was the vampire Zadra Uavoo who set up your ambush.” She continued. “He sold you out to the Black Maggots Guild for a fat sack of gold.” Her eyes were bleak. “We found that out from the survivors.”
“Did you catch him?”
“No.” There was a snap to her voice, and Gareth vowed to never make her mad if could possibly help it. “We had a few reports of him taking a fast horse west toward a local fishing village. Later a small fishing smack was stolen and there his trail ends.” Gareth suppressed his desire to track and kill the vampire himself. “I suspect that his life won’t be a pleasant one.” Shaw continued. “The Black Maggots are sure to offer a substantial bounty for his head—just the head you understand. He did lead their assassins into an ambush, that’s how they’ll see it, and ran off with a substantial amount of money without delivering the goods. The reward Oseothan is offering for the capture of the person responsible for the attempted murder of a high government official is bringing out all the bounty hunters in the realm.”
“For the attempted murder of your husband?” Gareth frowned.
Her smile was sympathetic. “For the attempted murder of you and my daughter. When the Oseothan Council of Nine discovered the nature of your mission, they gave your quest formal recognition, and the attempted murder of a member of a government family is punishable by death.” She laughed at Gareth’s stunned expression. “Who do you think handled and expedited the repairs on the Spray?”
“But… what will the crew do while we’re laid up here?”
“They are being put to work in the dockyards. When you are healed your crew will probably be more than ready to leave.”
Gareth watched a lone hawk glide above the trees, his thoughts wandering. “You said there are survivors of the failed ambush?”
Shaw’s face hardened. “Speak of them in the past tense. The survivors have already been… debriefed, tried and executed. It wasn’t much of a trial. None of the public defenders would take their case.” She shook her head again. “Justice is swift in Oseothan.”
“Weren’t you worried they would give false testimony?”
“Their method of execution depended on their corroborated evidence.” Shaw murmured; her jaws tight. “Truthful testimony resulted in a swift pain-free death. No, or untruthful testimony resulted in a… less swift death.” Her look softened as she glanced up at him. “Don’t forget that if you had been one whit less proficient, you would have been dead, along with my daughter and your other companion. As it was—it was a close thing.” To Gareth the morning seemed suddenly bleaker, and the wind held a biting chill close to its breast. He shuddered, and Shaw looked immediately repentant. “I’m a poor hostess to be burdening you with such talk.” With her hand on his back, she gently guided him back toward the residence. “So, tell me, when will the ceremony be; before you leave, or after you get back?”
He frowned “Pardon? What ceremony?”
Shaw laughed. “Your marriage to my daughter, of course. It is expected for a familiar and her consort.”
“Now wait a minute! Kiang and I spoke of that, and I told him I wasn’t even from Eldenworld, so I wasn’t aware of you strange customs.” He winced to himself as he said it, but he didn’t withdraw the statement. Shaw’s look was thoughtful. “How can Chiu even know what I feel about her?”
“She can read your mind, that’s how.” Shaw’s smile was mysterious, and probably the result of many long mother-daughter talks since they’d arrived.
“Yeah, and it’s too bad I can’t read hers. I don’t even know if she likes me.” Gareth grumbled. “How am I ever going to even consider getting serious with her, let alone marry her if she can read my thoughts but I can’t read hers? A partnership like what you’re talking about has to be based on equality; an equal access to information, equal share of the danger and equal rewards.”
“Chiu blocks you from her thoughts?” She seemed surprised.
“She does. She taught me how to block my thoughts from others, and I do, except for her.”
He could almost see the light go on in Shaw’s mind. “So that’s why we can’t read you.”
“I suppose.” He grumbled. “Even after I opened up, she still wouldn’t share her thoughts with me, even a little.”
Shaw frowned. “You should go inside. The cook has a pot of fresh mushroom soup simmering on the stove and a cup of that will take away your chill.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later. I need to speak with Chiu.” She turned away.
“Wait!” Gareth called after her. “Don’t bother Chiu with my…” She was already gone. It was decided, somewhat later and without his presence, that the ceremony would be held immediately upon Gareth and Chiu’s return.
~~~
Frigid water stung Gareth’s freshly shaven cheek as the Spray heeled in the long swell. The Great Ocean, today the color of the North Atlantic and smelling strongly of strange tides and far lands, still held more than a little winter frost, but Gareth was happy; happy to be underway once more, happy to have Chiu by his side at the newly painted stern taffrail, and happy to see blue skies overhead, although there was an ominous ridge of black clouds on the distant horizon.
As he had suspected, after two and a half months in the Sai-Bo house, good-byes had been… difficult. Chiu’s mother had conveniently and suspiciously received an emergency request for her presence in a distant province three days prior to their departure, leaving the departure arrangements squarely on her husband’s shoulders. After speaking with the man nearly every day, Gareth knew that Kiang wasn’t nearly as composed as he appeared when their departure drew closer. In the end, standing on the wharf as the Spray cast off, Gareth thought he caught the glint of tears in the man’s eyes, or perhaps it was only the sun. Mairi, who had gotten the day off from school had stood weeping on the dock beside Kiang, after discovering that she was no longer the cabin boy on the Spray and Gareth was going on without her. Now Chiu was standing by his side, and like him was looking north toward Oseothan.
“Miss your folks already?” Gareth asked gently, as a small pod of dolphins slipped through the water beside the boat.
“Of course not!” Chiu returned, without thinking. A moment later she shot him a repentant look. “Actually, yes I do. During the past months I’ve rebuilt many of the bridges I thought I burned behind me, and for the very first time I’ve actually gotten to know my parents. They’re really nice people.” Her voice held a tone of amazement.
Gareth raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
She punched him in the arm. “Did you know that they forbade me from leaving the first time, three years ago?” She laughed dryly, and smiled. “I left anyway.” Her smile faded a little. “My companion Maggie was as wild as I was. We made a good, or bad pair, depending on how you look at it. Right up to the point where she died.” Chiu wiped at a tear and Gareth wordlessly handed her a handkerchief. She dutifully dabbed her tears, and finally smiling again took his hand. “We have a few things to talk about in private,” she murmured, pulling him toward the lower deck companionway.
Gareth kicked off his shoes as he sat on the corner of the bed. The air in the small enclosed room with the windows shut smelled of paint and freshly cut wood. To Gareth it smelled good. Sitting beside him, Chiu gave him an unreadable look. “Do you remember those tests mother and father gave you back at the house?”
Gareth chuckled. “Yeah, they wanted to see where I fit in, what I could and couldn’t do here in Eldenworld. They gave me a splitting headache.” His eyes glittered with mirth. “If I remember right, I scored exactly zero. Nada. No ability at all. I could have told them that.”
