Chapter 9

As she walked with her wolves on either side of her and the castle guards behind her, Wahleia wondered why she was considering the king’s offer to stay while she waited for a ship. At the fair, the king and his chamberlain; had made their offer to her. At the time, Wahleia thought the offer was fair and sounded good were she to be delayed, for however long the war lasted, or until a captain became desperate enough to risk being discovered by a warship out on the open water.

The alternative to staying was to return to her village and, she did admit to herself, there was some appeal in the idea, but some in her village would be thinking she had returned to stay, then in the spring the drama would return, when once again she would start on her voyage hoping the new year brought an end to the war. There were no guarantees either way, but if the war ended while she stayed in Greenwater she could be on her way towards her future as soon as passage could be booked.

These thoughts were still going through her mind as she entered the castle proper with the royal children who had befriended her or she she thought more accurately befriended her wolves, their own escorts left behind outside the castle once the children were safe inside. The girls, during their walk to the warehouse and back, had done their best to convince her to stay for their own reasons, the most important to them being having someone close to their own age to talk with who did not curry favor with her parents. They thought that even though she had a number of years on them and their lives had been totally different they could learn from her.

Although they were young, Wahleia found their knowledge better than hers when it came to what the war was about. Even their brother Renn who was older than they and third in line for the throne after their oldest brother, was not as knowledgeable as his sisters when she tried to involve him as they walked through town. She found that somewhat puzzling, until Anni let it slip the walls in the castle were not solid stone but had numerous passages complete with hidden doors and openings giving anyone who knew these openings the ability to spy on anyone inside the walls, and the girls made sure they found time during the day to do just that. Saying nothing to suggest she heard Anni’s admission about the walls and the tunnels inside, Wahleia put that piece of information away, to be saved for another day.

The stone hallways looked solid enough to her as they followed the servant to the room called the small dining room. To Wahleia, the room was anything but small. In addition to the rest of the king’s family and servants, there were men there who were dressed similarly to the men to the men she had fought with the previous day when they tried to take her to the city council by force. Now the men seemed pleasant enough, nodding to her in what she had been told previously was a greeting and acknowledgment of someone’s presence and not meant to be an insult. She returned the gesture assuming that sooner or later she would be introduced to them.

For Wahleia the meeting with the king was as informal as her previous one but without the kidnappers. The purpose now was to determine if she was going to accept the king’s offer. Having decided to stay and wait for a ship going south, she agreed having found most of the supplies she needed for her medicines. Acquiescing to the king’s request for her services as a healer for Greenwater, details were worked out and she was pleased to find in addition to the pay she would receive from the king’s service, she would be allowed to keep any gifts given to her by the town folks. Walking home once the dinner was over she thought that if she was not traveling to meet her future husband, she could stay and be the healer for Greenwater living very well.

At the meeting she had been asked how she wished to work. Her reply was that, in her village, most people came to the shaman’s hut to be seen, for those severely injured the shaman would travel as needed if the sick or injured was in another village. What was agreed upon for Greenwater was a wagon to be taken to the square set up there for the people who could come by during the day if they needed to be treated.

Unfortunately, secrets in Greenwater like most cities were currency and the knowledge of a healer, even if only an herbalist was worth too much to let others spread the word. By the time the sun rose on a new day, the news of a healer had spread like wildfire through the city.

The unease of her wolves in the morning let Wahleia know something was wrong. Looking though the upstairs revealed nothing out of place. Esai and Tuda were both getting ready to accompany her in their quarters. At the base of the stairs the unease of her wolves only increased letting Wahleia know something was not right. Letting her senses merge with Moon’s, Wahleia could feel her unease in not understanding what was happening though she could detect nothing out of the ordinary. Moving through the house the feelings continued until they made it to their kitchen where the feeling was not as strong though she could still feel something.

With the front door the only door she had not opened and the wolves’ agitation rising as they moved closer, Wahleia decided she wanted her spear with her. Taking it up she felt reassured as she moved to the door with her wolves to either side of her. Opening the door she was surprised, before her a crowd stood waiting for her. Stepping outside, she was shocked to find the street filled with people; all waiting patiently for what they had been told was the king’s new healer. Wahleia made it back into the house before she was recognized, bringing along with Shadow and Moon in with her. Their agitation spelled trouble for anyone moving in towards her or them. Seeing how the people were acting outside all wanting to see the healer, she was sure some would not take heed of her warnings, causing some people as well as her wolves to get hurt.

Sending Tuda out the back way to the castle for help brought relief in the form of troops who soon had the gaggle of people dispersed without injuries. At first not many were willing to leave and it took the promise that once a place was found for the healer criers would be sent forth to announce to all where the king’s healer would be.

The first day nothing could be found available for her use. That was until one of the guards suggested maybe one of the large traveling wagons would work. For the town folks they did not care the healer worked out of a wagon and before noon that first day, Wahleia was known as the wagon lady. After the first day, Wahleia was known as the wagon lady to the people inside the walls of the city. Even the outlying villages learned of her title as the wagon lady as farmers who came in to sell their goods learned of her spread the word when they returned home.

Handing the signed paper back to his scribe, King Nogar reached for the cup of wine sitting on the table, his chamberlain, his brother-in-law, and friend sitting across from him joined him in the wine as the scribes left the room. Once they were alone, the king asked, “How goes the interrogation of the men who tried to abduct my daughters?”

Taking a drink from his wine cup, Nugo answered, saying, “Someone, and I don’t know who is going to attack Greenwater.”

“None of the six know who?” the king asked.

“No, I don’t think they do, they were hired for their muscle not their brains. Realizing the position they’re in currently they’ve been more than helpful, trying to keep themselves alive. One even gave up his brother hoping his life would be spared at his trial.”

“Who is this brother?”

“A smuggler mostly, he’s the owner of one of the larger coastal craft that moves between here and up the bay. He also from time to time includes the larger rivers, usually with the spring floods.”

“So what does he smuggle?” the king asked.

Smiling at the king, the chamberlain replied, “You’re drinking it.”

Looking over the edge of his cup at his chamberlain, Nogar asked, “You’re saying my spirits merchant, put his brother in charge of kidnapping my children? Is he making any demands that I release his brother?”

“Not at this time, I don’t think he knows of his brother’s treachery as his ship sailed north in the spring and has not returned to Greenwater. As for the traitor’s brother, I do not think your supply of drink will be adversely affected. The word on the street is that between the two of them, they saw the troubles coming and laid in a goodly supply of drink during the winter. When their ship left in the spring, the younger brother was left behind, though why he was willing to take up a sword against you, we do not yet know, but I will.”

“So what should I do with him, I hope you have not promised him anything?” the king asked.

Taking another drink from his glass, Nugo offered, “I promised nothing other than I would give you the information. Before I say anything else, I think you too should take another drink.” As the king did, Nugo continued, “I think we give them a choice, between the king’s justice for the brother and jail for the other for avoiding taxes or as a second choice, the older one continues to do what he has always done plying his trade only now he will feed us information as spirits as to what is happening in the other city-states. All this of course is while his brother sits in jail until he has given us ten or maybe twelve good pieces of information. Once he has accomplished being a spy then his brother is either put on a ship bound for where I do not care or maybe a not so fast horse with a weeks food and sent on his way.”

“What is to keep him from sailing away and leaving his brother behind?”

“We hold all of his property and from what he has been charging if we were to sell his stores then he can leave with my blessing as they are worth more than what he would have had to pay in taxes to you.”

Adding as he saw the king’s mood darkening, Nugo added, “Sire, you’re giving them a chance at saving their lives versus being taken to the square and beheaded.”