Chapter 20

"I was hoping I'd get to see more of you," Demeter said one day as he and Nilsen sat in the shade under a tree in the palace gardens. "I heard about this trip you're going on. What's that all about? Nobody will say much about it other than it's far away. Why so secret?"

"It's a trade mission," Nil told his friend. He didn't like misleading Demeter but he understood why the real reason behind it had to be kept as quiet as possible. Besides, he was going on a trade mission; it's just that the trade goods had nothing to do with the knick-knacks and various sundries they were loading into the ship they were preparing. "It's to Lavender's people; we're hoping we find something new and interesting. Besides, they thought it might be a good idea to get us out from underfoot what with the situation in Salas and all that. Sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound that way."

"Hey," Demeter protested, "I understand. Actually the king and the queens have been wonderful to me. I don't think I could have been as nice considering the son of the person that ... ah ... did that to my daughter was living under my roof."

"It wasn't your fault and they know it," Nilsen offered. "Besides, you're helping Father out quite a bit from what I hear and that can't be easy."

"Easier than you think," his friend responded. "Sure I'd be called a traitor if my family ever heard about this, but fuck 'em. I find it difficult to worry about what a bunch of assholes think of me when they plainly wanted me dead.

"Even so," he continued, "I had to do a lot of thinking about it. I hope I'm not just fooling myself, but I don't really think I'm doing this for revenge. I wouldn't mind that, I admit, but I want to do it for Salas." Demeter paused for a moment, "And my sisters ... most of them, anyway.

"The way I see it, dear old Father essentially declared war on Jeevel when he allowed, if not helped, one of his allies to attack all of you. Now, I'm as proud of my country as you are of yours, but I'm not stupid. If it came to open war Salas would be crushed in less than a season. Our navy wouldn't last more than a handful of ten-days and after that..." He shrugged and held up his hands, "it would be just a matter of time before your troops would be marching through the capital.

"Unfortunately, my father is stupid," Demeter continued, "especially when it comes to something like this. He would fight to the bitter end and I'm afraid the only thing left would be smoking ruins. That's not something I really want to think about: my country in ruins, the people starving and dominated by a foreign power. Don't get me wrong; I think the world of your father but that doesn't mean I want him as our new Putram, or King, or whatever." Nilsen nodded his understanding.

"So instead I'm going to do whatever I can to overthrow my father and replace him with someone better. It shouldn't be difficult to find someone better; almost anyone would do."

"Maybe I'll be calling you King Demeter of Salas," Nil said with a grin.

"Bite your tongue!" Demeter gasped with unfeigned horror. "I thought you liked me? Gods, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!"

"Someone has to do it," Nil shrugged. "Who better than someone who really doesn't want it? Someone whose first thought is for his people and not himself?"

"Let's both hope not!" Demeter exclaimed. "You know as well as I do I'd be a terrible Putram! I'm incompetent and totally useless when it comes to things like that! Shit, I'd just be a puppet for whoever put me there!"

"I doubt that!" Nilsen snorted. "People always seem to be able to rise to the occasion when something is demanded of them. Besides, you'd have allies to rely on. I know Father: He looks for friends and allies, not puppets. But whatever happens, happens; no sense in worrying about that now. So anyway, tell me what all has been going on. Our trip is going to be easy and probably boring; I'm kind of sorry to be missing the excitement."

They talked at length about this and that as Lavender stood to the side partly listening but mostly watching. She knew their trip would be anything but easy. At the very least it would be dangerous and possibly deadly, especially for her. He knew that as well as she did, yet necessity and duty drove them even more than the lust for forgotten knowledge. "If a prince of Jeevel and his consorts are lost," he said, "it would be sad. But if even one of those crystal readers were to fall into the wrong hands; that would be a tragedy."

So she stood conflicted, just as she knew he was. Cursing the fates that made her a woman and carrying his child, but only because it pained her Lord, her master, her lover, her husband, because he had no choice but to take that child and its mother into grave danger. She cursed herself because of the pain she inadvertently caused him, and cursed her own weakness because she knew even if she had had the choice she would never give up what the fates had blessed her with.

Then the other thought she had been having and pondering over bounded uninvited into her mind again. She would be returning home! Back to the mighty Chief Xolan Bwejeri, head of the Zagwci clan, First Speaker for the Havila nation, first among equals of the Kushitic people: her father. Just what would Chief Xolan do when his runaway cull of a daughter returned to him: a slave, wife and mother of his grandchild?

He'll have a stroke, she thought. Her lips curled up into a little grin.

Suppressing his desire to speed them on their way as soon as possible, Nilsen dove into the preparation of the troops that would accompany them as guards. Actually very little of the preparation was for combat. Each and every one of the hand-picked men was a combat veteran, hard as nails and very good at what he did, maybe too good in fact. Looking at them together they could be instantly recognized as military. They may not be Guild Warriors but everything about them from their appearance down to the way they moved screamed fighter. The real trick was to teach them how to act like plain wagon teamsters, roustabouts and ordinary caravan guards. It was easier said than done but they had made acceptable progress.

Jarrah still bothered him, not so much that she was going ― he had come to accept that ― but more from the wildly inconsistent behavior she displayed near him. At times she was as sweet as she could be followed instantly by a neck-jerking full turn back to the bitch she normally was. Well, that wasn't entirely true he had to admit to himself. She wasn't ever as bad as she had been in the past but the seemingly random swings from one extreme to the other made him dizzy. When he complained to the others he was generally just laughed at. He handled it like any true man would: He ignored it and avoided her as much as possible.

The day finally came for their departure. The exact location of Lavender's homeland wasn't known; even Lavender had only an inkling. She knew from which direction she had run and was able to describe the original port from which she departed, but after that it all seemed pretty much the same. From her descriptions of the four subsequent ports-of-call prior to Salas they were able to narrow down the general area and one of the king's merchant captains was fairly confident he knew what the last port was. Consensus was it would be best to start there and work their way back along her escape route to its origin.

The ship placed at their disposal was one of the newer merchant/warship hybrids with their company and a small detachment of marines in mufti. There had still been a considerable amount of discussion about the desirability of sending three or four true warships as escorts. The need for secrecy won out in the end although it almost caused a mini-rebellion in the king's own living quarters. There were hurt feelings and unless Nil was completely wrong some hurt backsides during these "discussions".

The queens tended to lean towards the safety of their children. Even Nesho ― usually the most Machiavellian of the household ― had difficulty with sending them out so lightly protected. Shasta, of course, proposed a full invasion force with the idea that a trail of dead was better than any possible harm coming to their brood. Nobody was surprised.

Secrecy won out in the end. It was beyond hope that their leaving wouldn't be observed by their enemies' spies but multiple false leads and rumors were salted throughout the city and dock area in hopes of confusing or delaying any potential pursuit. To strengthen the deception that this was just a high-profile trade mission to a potentially lucrative new trading partner ― information that would be of interest to their "allies" as well as enemies ― they would be escorted by two frigates of the Jeevelian Navy as they made their way towards the king's vacation home in Safehaven. During the first night at sea they would leave the company of their two escorts and strike out on their own. Even the escorts wouldn't know where they were bound.

It was a tear-filled crowd on the pier as the last of their company boarded the Kelie's Pride. For a reason Lavender could never uncover, Queen Sosho seemed to have a problem with the name of their assigned vessel and frowned every time she heard it. She did discover it had been named for one of the wives of a high-ranking captain in the public arm of Queen Nesho's intelligence service, supposedly for service she provided during the rebellion that brought King Dent to power. Lav even went so far as to ask Queen Sosho about it directly but received little more than a blush and a mumbled explanation that they had "a history", whatever that meant.

"Our thoughts and our love go with you, son," King Dent said as he roughly embraced Nilsen. Quietly in Nil's ear he added, "Be sure that your mother's army also has its attention in that direction." Dent privately referred to Nesho's network of spies, thugs and assassins as her "army". He jokingly said they spent as much on these night-skulkers as they did on the army and navy. Nil doubted if it was actually that much but his father insisted it was true. "Worth every copper too," he insisted.

"We'll do you proud, Father," Nil replied, blinking back tears of his own.

"We know you will," Dent grinned. "Try not to have too much fun." Nilsen knew his father's idea of "fun" generally led to pitched battles and numerous bruised, battered or dead bodies. Nil would be just as happy if they didn't have any "fun" on this trip.

Dent moved on to stand in front of Lavender. He surprised her by grabbing her in a rough embrace before telling her, "And you, my beautiful mountain-maid of a daughter, have to keep my idiot son out of trouble; yourself too, for that matter. Remember that's my grandchild you carry; I would be sorely peeved to hear you allowed any of you to come to harm."

She blushed and mumbled her assurances as she looked down at the powerful monarch holding her like she was indeed his own daughter. Briefly she wondered what it would be like to actually have a father like him but then thought it was better not to since she was sleeping with his son. Immediately she laughed at herself since this didn't seem to be much of a problem.

The hugs, kisses and the tear-filled goodbyes completed, they were boarding the ship and soon the evening tide was pulling them away from the pier. They met up with their two escorts just outside the mouth of the harbor and soon they were on course towards Safehaven.

Nilsen and Lavender stayed up as the night descended; Nil to observe the break-off that would come sometime just after midnight and Lavender because she didn't want to let him out of her sight. Cerberus padded around sniffing everything in sight all the while the crew, not being familiar with him, gave him surreptitious glances from the corners of their eyes. The large dog seemed to be taking to ocean travel much easier than his mistress although she didn't feel anywhere near as nauseous this time as last. Nil was talking quietly with the mate on watch while she felt quite content to stand back and rest against the bulwark. She was drifting in and out of that half-dozing state warriors can achieve where they're not really asleep and yet not really awake when she was suddenly brought to full consciousness by a voice speaking softly next to her.

"A lovely night is it not?" Lavender turned her head and grunted when she saw Rabszolga squatting next to Cerberus and scratching his ear.

"Could be worse," Lavender admitted. It was dark due to a new moon but the stars were blazing in a cloudless sky and the only other light was from the bright lanterns their two escorts were showing on their stern, something Nil called "in company" lights.

"So our journey begins," the blonde said. "Are you nervous about going home?"

"It will be interesting," Lavender shrugged.

"Hmm, I know what I would feel like if we were pointed towards Durhorn. I do not think I would call it interesting. I never knew my mother or father," Zolga continued, "but I would think you would look forward to it. To have a home must be a good thing."

"We are only going to where I was born," Lavender corrected. "My home is standing over there."

"Yes," Rabszolga stood. "He does seem to grow on one. I never thought I could look at my ... master, without fear and hate, but he does seem to be different. It is a strange feeling."

"I never had to go through what you have so I would not know," Lavender admitted. "But that does beg the question: Why did you come? You could have stayed behind and been welcomed by the queen. Your knowledge would have been valuable to her."