"He ventures seldom from Watershade. The outer air seems to bite at his throat. He tires easily and goes to hard gasping, so that I fear for his life!"
"All his years he has been frail! In any case, you seem sound enough!"
"Sir, you also seem to enjoy the best of health."
"True, lad, and I will share with you my little secret. Every day at this very hour I take a cup or two of good red wine. It enriches the blood, brightens the gaze, sweetens the breath and stiffens the frontal member. Magicians search high and low for the elixir of life, and they already hold it in their hands, if only they knew our little secret. Eh, lad?" And Granice clapped Aillas on the back. "Let us invigorate ourselves."
"With pleasure, sir."
Granice led the way into a parlor hung with banners, escutcheons and trophies of war. A fire blazed on the hearth; Granice warmed himself while a servant poured wine into silver cups.
Granice waved Aillas to a chair, and settled himself into a chair beside the fire. "I summoned you here for a reason. As a prince of the blood it is time that you acquainted yourself with affairs of state. The surest fact of this precarious existence is that one may never stand static. In this life everyone walks on ten-foot stilts; he must move and hop and cause an agitation; otherwise he topples. Fight or die! Swim or drown! Run or be trampled!" Granice drank down a cup of wine at a gulp.
"The placidity here at Miraldra then, is no more than an illusion?" Aillas suggested.
Granice gave vent to a grim chuckle. " 'Placidity?' I know none of it. We are at war with Lyonesse and wicked King Casmir. It is the case of a small stopper holding back the contents of a tun. I will not recite the number of ships patrolling the Lyonesse coast; that number is a war secret, which Casmir's spies would be glad to learn, just as I would be glad to learn the number of Casmir's spies. They are everywhere, like flies in a barn. Just yesterday I hanged a pair, and their cadavers dangle high on Semaphore Hill.
Naturally, I employ spies of my own. When Casmir launches a new ship I am notified, and my agents set it afire while it lies at dock, and Casmir gnashes his teeth to the gum. So goes the war: at a stalemate until the sluggish King Audry sees fit to intervene."
"And then?"
" 'And then?' Battle and blood, sinking ships, burning castles.
Casmir is astute, and more flexible then he might seem. He risks little unless the gain is great. When he could not strike at us, his thoughts went to the Ulflands. He tried to suborn the Duke of Vale Evander. The ploy failed. Relations between Casmir and Carfilhiot are now at best correct."
"So what will he do next?"
King Granice performed a cryptic gesture. "Ultimately, if we hold him off long enough, he must make peace with us, at our terms.
Meanwhile, he struggles and squirms, and we try to read his mind.
We puzzle over the dispatches of our spies; we look at the world as it must appear from the parapets of Haidion. Well, enough for now, of plots and intrigue. Your cousin Trewan is somewhere at hand: a stern and earnest young man, but worthy, or so I hope, since one day, if events pursue their normal course, he will be king. Let us step into the dining hall, where no doubt we will discover more of this noble Voluspa."
At supper Aillas found himself seated beside Prince Trewan, who had grown to be a burly, darkly handsome young man, a trifle heavy in the face, with dark round eyes separated by a long patrician nose. Trewan dressed with care, in a style consonant with his rank; already he seemed to anticipate the day when he would become king: which would be upon the death of his father Arbamet, if Arbamet indeed succeeded Granice as king.
Ordinarily Aillas refused to take Trewan seriously, thus vexing Trewan and incurring his heavy disapproval. On this occasion Aillas restrained his levity, that he might learn as much as possible, and Trewan was more than ready to instruct his bucolic cousin.
"Truly," said Trewan, "it is a pleasure to see you down from Watershade, where time goes like a dream."
"We have little to startle us," agreed Aillas. "Last week a kitchen-maid went to pull greens in the garden and was stung by a bee. That was the most notable event of the week."
"Things go differently at Miraldra, I assure you. Today we inspected a great new ship, which we hope will augment our power, and cause Casmir a canker. Did you know that he wants to ally with the Ska and turn them against us?" "It seems an extreme measure."
"Exactly so, and Casmir may not dare so greatly. Still, we must prepare for any eventuality, and this has been my point of view in the counsels."
"Tell me about the new ship."
"Well, its design comes from the seas under Arabia. The hull is wide at the deck and narrow at the water, so that it is very easy and stable. There are two short masts, each supporting a very long yard at its middle point. One end of the yard is brought down to the deck, the other lifts high to catch the upper wind. The ship should move at speed even in light airs, in any direction whatever. There will be catapults fore and aft and other contrivances to foil the Ska. As soon as possible after shakedown—
mind you now, this is secret information—the King has required that I undertake a diplomatic mission of great importance. At the moment I can say no more. What brings you to Miraldra?"
"I am here at King Granice's command."
"For what purpose?"
"I'm not sure."
"Well, we shall see," said Trewan rather grandly. "I will put in a word for you during my next conference with King Granice. It may help your prospects and certainly can't hurt."
"That is good of you," said Aillas.
On the following day Granice, Trewan, Aillas and several others rode out from Miraldra, through Domreis, then two miles north along the shore to an isolated shipyard in the estuary of the Tumbling River. The group passed through a guarded gate, then walked along a trestle to a cove hidden from the sea by a bend of the river.
Granice told Aillas: "We attempt secrecy, but the spies refuse to oblige us. They come over the mountains to swarm among the shipwrights. Some come by boat, others think to swim. We only know of the ones we capture, but it is a good sign that they keep coming, which tells us something of Casmir's curiosity ... There is the vessel itself. The Saracens call this type a felucca.
Notice how low she floats! The hull is shaped like a fish and eases through the water without stirring a wake. The riggers are now stepping the masts." Granice pointed to a pole hanging from a derrick. "The mast is timberline spruce which is light and resilient. Yonder lie the yards, which are built of spruce poles scarfed, glued and seized with iron wire and pitch to make a very long spar tapered at each end. There are no better masts or yards on the face of the earth, and in a week we shall put them to test.
It will be named Smaadra after the Bithne-Schasian* goddess of the sea. Let us go aboard."
*One of the Third Era peoples to inhabit the Elder Isles.
Granice led the way to the after cabin. "We are not so commodious as on a merchantman, but the quarters suffice. Now, sit you two yonder." Granice waved Aillas and Trewan to a bench. "Steward, bring Sir Famet here and you may also give us refreshment."
Granice seated himself at the table and inspected the two young men. "Trewan, Aillas: listen now with all four of your ears. You are presently to make a voyage aboard the Smaadra. Ordinarily a new ship would be indulged with careful sea trials, and all its parts tested. We shall still do so, but very hastily."