Chapter 39

The small parchment roll in his hand, Jabbit returned to the others. He looked at each of them and finally at the little queen.

“Will you allow us to travel with you on your ship?” Jabbit asked her.

“Ouh,” Nahseyra expressed her thoughts and turned to look at Agon. “Poppa, can we all go on the same ship, please.”

Agon also had to redirect his gaze - away from Jabbit and onto his daughter. “Ouh,” he replied, proving their kinship. A moment past and then he frowned. “I don’t want you to...”

“Agon.”

His sister calling his name interrupted him. He spun around to look at her. While he stared at Anjatta, his wife Irja gently whispered in his ear, “Nahsie is our little daughter but at the moment you’re talking to the Queen of Ibanee.”

Agon sighed and looked at Jabbit. “All of you? Even those...”

“ ... Imperial Alorian guards and soldiers of the new Alorian navy,” Evanis completed the sentence. “That’s what you wanted to say, I assume.”

“I bet once you watch the patch-men handling the oars of your galley, you’ll want to keep them as your crew forever,” Anseyla predicted.

“But my officers aren’t familiar with such a ... ah ... a foreign crew and I need my officers to... , “ Agon replied.

“Kuwasi and I are both versed captains,” Shinta interrupted.

“You and Kuwasi ... Kuwasi?” He asked, furrowing his brow. “I remember the name Kuwasi. Kuwasi var Cannas was...”

“And most of these Alorians aren’t as foreign as you think,” Sybelien overran his attempt to recall a memory.

“Besides, it’s almost uncanny how easily they grasp even difficult commands without the need for a lengthy explanation,” Rhaseris added her opinion.

Agon’s eyes wandered along the line of the opposing alliance. He sighed and turned to his daughter.

“As you command, my Queen,” he bowed before Nahseyra. “Your guests will accompany you aboard the royal flagship Storm’s Bride.”

The Queen of Ibanee rewarded her subject’s obedience with a happy giggle.

“All right, I’m sure we all are looking forward to this joint adventure,” Evanis declared and then turned to face Jabbit. “Now that that’s cleared, why don’t you finally read the message you hold in your hand?”

“I can’t read,” he answered.

“What?” Rhaseris gasped, “You’re a god but you can’t read?”

Jabbit shrugged.

“Momma can teach you to read,” Nahseyra excitedly offered. “Momma is teaching me, too; we can learn together!”

“Really?” Jabbit asked. “I would like that very much.”

Agon looked at the sky and groaned.

“That’s great and I’m sure you three will have lots of fun,” Evanis approved. “But for now, I suggest you give the message to me and I’ll read it.”

“Thank you,” Jabbit replied, “But this message isn’t for you.”

“The parchment is rolled-up and sealed and you just told us you can’t read,” Shinta stated. “How do you know... , “ she continued but dropped the end of her sentence and shook her head instead.

“Just give me the bloody message,” Evanis growled. “I want to read it!”

“No,” Jabbit declined.

As the warrioress made a step toward Jabbit, Anseyla yelled, “Don’t, Eva!” and jumped on her sister’s back, clasping her tightly. “Help me, Kuwasi!”

“Why do you even try to stop her?” Rhaseris asked, laughing as Kuwasi rushed past her and joined the wrestling match. “It would be better for everyone if she would finally learn this lesson.”

Sybelien snorted. “This is not about learning, it’s about fighting - and Eva will never stop fighting.”

Jabbit ignored them all and stepped in front of Anjatta. “This message is for you and I want you to take it.”

The Ibanee Princess looked from his face to the small scroll he held out to her. With a trembling hand, she reached for the parchment. “Please forgive me, my Lord,” she whispered before she took the rolled-up letter.

“Why do you call me your lord?” Jabbit asked. “Look at Evanis; she’d never call me her Lord. Not a single day passes without her wanting to strangle me and still I know I can trust her. You call me your lord but it doesn’t mean anything - not for you, not for me, and not even for your mother.”

Anjatta ran away - crying, of course.

A little while later, standing behind a storage house, Shinta whistled through her fingers. She was good at it, which meant the sound was shrill and loud. Only a moment passed and Anseyla appeared around a corner; soon followed by Rhaseris and they both ran toward the Ibanee warrioress.

“You can stop searching,” Shinta announced. “I found our runaway oracle.”

Anjatta sat on the ground with her back against the outer wall of the building, between a stack of wood planks and a tipped-over cart. Combined with her tear-streaked face and running nose, it was a picture of utter misery.

“Here we go again,” Anseyla sighed as she saw it. “Dammit, Anja, the last time you pissed-off Jabbit, you looked exactly like this as well and that was only two days ago. If you can’t stand his anger, then why do you do it?”

“I didn’t want to anger him,” Anjatta answered, sobbing. “I didn’t know... , “ she trailed off.

“Come on!” Anseyla shouted. “You’re an expert in igniting his fury; my sister can only dream about being as good as you. You damn well know what you are doing but you do it anyway!”

“No, I didn’t know,” Anjatta denied. “Why do you even care; just leave me alone.”

“I can’t leave you alone,” Shinta answered. “I’ve to take you back to board our ship. I’m an Ibanee and my Queen issued a royal decree. ‘Why did aunty Anja run away? She has to come with us.‘ The Queen even emphasized her command with a pout. I’m still trembling.”

“Yeah, that was gruesome,” Anseyla confirmed. “I’m not an Ibanee but I felt an obligation to find you before Evanis would. At the moment her anger towards Jabbit is distracting her but I know Eva. Once her mind clears again, she’ll hunt for you to get her hands on that letter. Besides, she’s already furious that your mother ignored her command to accompany us to Katerra.”

“If Evanis reads the letter she’ll become even more furious,” Anjatta said, sniffling. “And if Evanis doesn’t kill my mom, Sybelien will kill her. Dammit! I want to kill my mom!”

“Anja, may I see the letter, please?” Rhaseris gently asked.

The Ibanee Princess looked up at Jabbit’s First Priestess. She sniffed once more then nodded and held the enfolded parchment out to Rhaseris. Shinta and Anseyla looked over Rhaseris’ shoulder. All three women read the message and after they had read the letter, all three women cursed.

“Thank the gods, you found my sister!” Agon exclaimed as Shinta, Anseyla, and Rhaseris returned with Anjatta.

“Where are the others?” Rhaseris asked.

“Princess Sybelien is still searching for Anja, I guess,” he answered. “Before they left, Commander Danjala told me to take the captain’s cabin for my family. My wife and children are aboard the Storm’s Bride preparing it for our stay. Kuwasi is busy organizing the accommodation of your guards and sea soldiers.”

“And where did Jabbit and Evanis leave to?” Anseyla asked.

“I don’t know,” Agon curtly answered.

Anselya raised a brow. “Was Evanis still furious at Jabbit?”

He nodded.

“Screaming from the top of her lungs?”

He nodded.

“Balled fists and face flushed?”

“Yes and then she commanded him to follow her and they left,” Agon soberly reported, “but I’ve no idea where they went to and the way it looked to me, I also don’t want to know where they are.”

“You prude!” Anseyla exclaimed and burst out laughing.

Rhaseris rolled her eyes. “Whatever; we need to talk to the Queen, Prince Agon.”

“You need to talk to the Queen? You mean my daughter? Nahsie?” He asked.

“Yes, Prince Agon,” Rhaseris answered. “We need to talk to the Queen of Ibanee, your daughter, whose name is Nahseyra or Nahsie for short.”

“Ouh ... may I ask what you need to talk about with my daughter?”

“Please, Agon, we need her help,” Anjatta pleaded.

“Again?” He asked, sounding fearful for some reason.

“You can come with us when we talk with your daughter,” Anseyla suggested. “It’s about the letter Jabbit gave your sister. You know he likes Nahsie and we need someone of your family he likes or this will become a bloody disaster.”

Agon drooped his head. “My mother wrote that message, didn’t she?”

Anjatta stroked her brother’s cheek. “Yes, the message was from mom,” she gently answered.

“Alright, go,” he sighed. “I won’t come with you, though. I don’t want to know anything about it because I can’t stand any more lies and deceit.”

So only the four women boarded the Storm’s Bride for an audience with the Queen.

“It’s strange,” Anseyla mentioned as they walked up the gangplank.

“It sure is,” Shinta agreed. “But which particular strangeness are you talking about at the moment?”

“I’m wondering if Sybil is really still searching for Anja,” Anseyla replied. “She’s usually very quick with such tasks.”

“Maybe she decided on a different approach to search for Anja,” Rhaseris proposed. “I also thought about it while I was searching for her. We could have asked Jabbit; he always knows where we are as long as we wear his gifts.”

“Really?” Shinta asked. “Then why didn’t you ask him?”

“Because she didn’t want to disturb Eva. That’s very dangerous.” Anseyla smirked but suddenly she froze and gaped at Rhaseris.

The Princess shrugged. “Sybil is invisible and doesn’t need to worry about disturbing Evanis.”

“Sybil would never... , “ Anseyla claimed but hesitated to finish the sentence.

“Maybe you were a bit overly successful in convincing Sybil that watching can be fun,” Rhaseris answered, giggling.

“That doesn’t sound so strange actually,” Shinta was finally able to answer her initial question.

Then they entered the captain’s cabin for their audience with the Queen of Ibanee.

Jabbit and Evanis had not gone very far. Trying to resolve their relationship issues, they visited a storage house they knew of from a previous encounter. They had made some progress but over an hour later they still were busy solving the problem.