Chapter 5
“What can I do for you, Wise?” Vorik called softly, spotting his lieutenant in an alley a half block from the glassworks factory. He’d been keeping an eye out for him all evening, a challenging task considering how many distractions there had been.
Vorik would have left the stormers sooner if he’d realized how much danger Syla was in from her own people.
All the time. She needed a legion of bodyguards.
If Wreylith hadn’t arrived, Vorik might not have slipped away to speak with Wise, but he had to find out if the lieutenant represented another threat to Syla.
Or to himself, for that matter. Was it possible his people had decided to punish—or even assassinate—Vorik for killing Jhiton?
Admittedly, the magic-lacking and somewhat academic Wise wouldn’t have been anyone’s first choice as an assassin.
“There you are, Captain,” Wise blurted in relief. “Hullo.”
That relief made Vorik lower his tense shoulders an inch. Whatever had brought Wise, it hadn’t been an assassination mission. When the lieutenant turned to face Vorik, his hands weren’t near his weapons.
“Here I am, yes, and here is where I need to stay.”
Wise digested that for a moment. He didn’t sound surprised when he said, “You’re not a prisoner.”
“No. I came to help Syla.”
“I figured that was the case, sir, and I’m not— I don’t blame… Well, what I think isn’t important. Still, if it matters to you, from what I know of the Kingdom history—its rulers, in particular—I believe she would be better for us to negotiate with than someone else.”
“I think so too.” Vorik cocked his head. “Are our chiefs thinking of negotiations now?”
Wise hesitated. “It’s complicated.”
“It usually is.”
“Since General Jhiton ordered you to stay back at the camp on the mainland—” a raising of Wise’s eyebrows, barely noticeable in the faint light from a streetlamp burning nearby, was his only acknowledgment that Vorik had not obeyed that order, “—I don’t know how much you know about how our forces did on Bogberry Island, but it was devastating. ”
“I’m aware. I was there when the flood started.”
“Ah. Then… is what Captain Lesva is saying true, sir? I had my doubts, but…”
Vorik rocked back. He’d seen Lesva swim away, so of course he’d known she might have survived, but she’d gone deeper into the flooding mine when he and Syla had been climbing out.
And, as far as he knew, there hadn’t been another way to escape.
The mine shaft had been guarded by Kingdom men, so he’d assumed…
Well, he and Syla hadn’t stuck around for long.
It was possible Lesva had climbed out later in the night.
And if she had… she could have handled the troops left guarding the shaft. Handled them by leaving them dead.
“When did she get back to the camp?” Vorik asked. “Her dragon was killed, so…”
“Chieftess Shi spotted her waving a burning brand on a beach and, er, she actually sent me in with a collapsible kayak with two seats.” Wise grimaced. “I got an earful after I picked her up. It didn’t take me long to paddle her out to the barrier, fortunately. Then Shi picked her up on her dragon.”
“I imagine that was an unpleasant ride.”
“She’s a hard woman. And she was giving Shi an earful, too, as they flew away.”
“I’ll bet.” Vorik closed his eyes.
Lesva hadn’t witnessed his fight with Jhiton, but he’d later battled her to protect Syla, which had also ensured that Lesva couldn’t destroy the shielder. By now, all the stormer tribes might have heard and be calling him a traitor.
“I understand that you have feelings for Queen Syla, sir,” Wise said, choosing his words carefully, “but I don’t understand… was Lesva telling the truth? That you helped keep her away from the shielder?”
“Syla had already gotten the door closed when I arrived, and she’d… she and Lesva were actually locked in a battle of wills—of magic and wills.”
“Oh, and you rescued the queen from Lesva? No wonder the captain is so pissed.”
“Actually, no. Syla had—she’s gotten quite powerful, and from what I could tell, she’d managed to get the best of Lesva and knocked her back. When I came to Syla’s defense, it made Lesva nuts, and she challenged me to a duel. I’m not positive Syla even needed me.”
“I hadn’t realized… I guess since I don’t have magic of my own, I can’t sense her power. I wouldn’t have guessed she was a match for Lesva.”
“She has her gods-gifted power—you’ve seen the moon-mark on her hand—and now she has the power from Wreylith’s bond too.
If I were you, I wouldn’t cross her again.
” Vorik blinked, realizing Wise might have been sent for the shielder components.
Did his people know that Syla had not only acquired them but was toting them around Castle Island with her aunt?
Were the components still a priority for his people?
“I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Is that why, er— Are you drawn to her power?”
Vorik remembered Syla naked in his arms the night before and her voluptuous curves on display for him, available for his hands, and barely caught himself from quipping that he was drawn to her boobs, not her power.
But Wise wasn’t a close confidant, nor did Vorik want to be crude about Syla.
There were many things about her that drew him.
“There’s a lot that I like about her,” Vorik said. “Did you know she’s had a number of opportunities to poison me or help others kill me, and she never has?”
He smiled, not expecting Wise to understand, but the lieutenant scratched his chin. “From the beginning, you were sent to plot against her. She should have poisoned you.”
“Yes, she should have. But she’s never taken advantage of those opportunities.”
“She could have killed me.” There was a note of realization in Wise’s voice. Either this hadn’t occurred to him before, or, more likely, he’d forgotten that moment when she’d been touching him—stopping him from sweeping her up. “In those ruins.”
“Yes.” Vorik nodded, wondering if this could be an opportunity to bring Wise over to his side.
Or rather Syla’s side. Not that Syla wanted Wise, but Vorik longed for his people to understand her value.
He hadn’t betrayed them for no reason. Syla was worth it.
“Even though you were going to kidnap her, she didn’t try to kill you. ”
“I wonder why not.”
“Because she’s a healer at heart. Trust me, it wasn’t your charm.”
“No, no woman has ever said I had that.”
“You might have more luck if you didn’t start your relationships with them by threatening kidnapping.”
“That’s good advice, sir. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Seeking advice on women isn’t what brought you here.
” Vorik looked in the direction that he could sense Wreylith.
She was still on the roof of the glassworks.
Keeping an eye on him with her senses? When he’d slipped away, Syla had been busy with the glassmaker, but she had probably noticed his absence.
He hoped she wouldn’t think he was out here colluding with Wise for nefarious purposes.
No, she knew him better than that. He was sure of it.
But he didn’t want to linger out here, especially not when people kept coming after her.
She needed him close. “What did bring you, Wise? Did Chieftess Shi send you?”
“No. I came on my own. Sort of to gather intelligence—that’s what I told Colonel Ankvorth—but kind of because… I needed to know, sir. If you’re… Lesva says you betrayed us all, but you’ve always been honorable and good to the men, sir. I didn’t want to believe her.”
“Thanks for coming to ask me. I never worked against our people. I’ve just been trying to help Syla. For the reasons I said, she deserves my help. She doesn’t deserve… what we gave her.”
“You mean killing the rest of the royal family?”
“Her family. Yes.”
“It might get worse again for her.”
“How so?” Vorik asked warily.
“There’s going to be a big meeting with all the chiefs soon, but Lesva has been talking, and so have Chieftess Shi and Chief Tenilor.
They’re trying to sway our people into attacking again, into taking everyone to Harvest Island, claiming it with brute force, and then using it as a launching point to get more islands. ”
Vorik leaned a hand against a cool brick wall. “Didn’t our people suffer enough at Bogberry Island?”
“I… some others do think that, sir. They’re starting to question everything, whether this was a good idea from the beginning.
We all want food and not to have to slash and claw so hard to survive, especially through the winters, and some want a sanctuary from the wyverns and dire vultures and manticores—badly—but it’s more than that.
Some of the tribes are saying that we underestimated the Kingdom.
We’re better fighters—nobody is arguing that—but they have so many more people than we do.
They can afford to lose soldiers. But we…
Like I said, sir. Bogberry was devastating.
Who could have foreseen that lake turning into an epic whirlpool and sucking people under?
It was like a tale from when the gods walked the world. ”
“I know.”
Vorik sensed an increase in magic coming from the direction of the glassworks, more than the tools he’d noted when they’d first reached the building. Had Tibby started doing whatever special engineering it would take to assemble the components into a working shielder?
“The big tribal meeting is going to be in three days.” Wise, who couldn’t sense the magic in the world around them, looked at Vorik. Expectantly?
“What? Do you think I should come? If Lesva has been telling everyone I’m a traitor and spreading her version of what happened in the mine… everyone with a bow will shoot me.”
“Yes, sir, a lot of them might.”
“So, naturally, I should attend that meeting.”
“While you were a prisoner of the Kingdom…” Wise raised his eyebrows as if to ask if he ever had been.
Vorik didn’t answer, only gesturing for him to continue.