I snorted in both humor and amazement at the tall tale she told about me until she spun to face me. She snapped, “Is there any part of that story that is not true?”
I simply shook my head in wonder at her turn of a word. Worse, maybe I had woken up stupid after Emma’s mental attack. The humor in the situation evaporated. The Slave-Master turned to Kendra and said, “Ask me anything. I’ll tell you the truth if you give me your word I’ll be set free if I satisfy you. Do we have a deal? You can go your way. I’ll go mine.”
She threw her hands into the air in disgust. “You are also a very stupid man, has anyone told you that?”
He shook his head in denial, his eyes narrowed, but said aloud, “Nobody has ever told me that who is still alive.”
Kendra climbed slowly to her feet. “Allow me to explain how you are stupid. You are so arrogant you do not listen. You think you can use brute force to have your way. Two can play that game, and you will be the loser.”
“So, you say. But you have not faced my anger.” His voice rose near the end and his face contorted.
“Tell me the truth, and I’ll set you free. I give my word. Those were your words to me. Your requirements. Is that still the deal you offer? Is that the best you can do? Because I will readily agree to it, however, an instant after I set you free as agreed upon, I will order my dragon to stomp on you into mush with one of her great feet. If you somehow remain alive, will you then agree that I was honorable and kept my word that I set you free but did not specify a time before recapturing you?” She flashed an evil grin his way. “Perhaps you want to reconsider.”
He smiled in the same way. “I would expect no less from you—and I have done what you suggest a hundred times. I lie, cheat, steal, and collect men to sell into slavery. I fight, swear, drink too much, sleep with other men’s wives, and once bit off the ear of a man and swallowed it to make him angrier. That’s the difference in us, little girl. You threaten me with violence. I have lived it.”
He was right.
I stepped closer to them. I looked at the Slave-Master. “Hear me well. You and I already have a bargain, and I will keep my part. After Flier is delivered here, you will be set free by me. What that agreement has not stated but you will understand now, is that after your release, should you return with men to attack us, or if you accidentally stumble across us at a stream crossing, or we spy each other across the vastness of a busy city market, you will die.”
Emma stepped beside me. She screwed up her little face, pointed her index finger between his eyes for so long sweat beaded on his forehead. Then, without an utterance, she shifted her finger to point at a small pile of dried leaves between his feet. It burst into flames, rising to his knees in an instant—and threatened to burn higher.
The Slave-Master leaped aside; his face drained of blood. Emma moved her finger and pointed it at his left eye. I held my breath, too scared for him to order her to lower the finger while knowing full well her finger had nothing to do with the flames she created with magic. I’d never used my magic in that way, which was to deflect reality and suggest my finger was a weapon. I wondered what else I’d learn from the little girl.
“Stop her! Ask me what you will,” he cried. “But get that finger away from me.”
Kendra glanced at me. Her worst threats, anger, and all the rest hadn’t scared the Slave-Master. He would have betrayed me, but in a way that kept his reputation intact. The easiest way would have been to kill me and leave my body for the ravens to peck and worms to eat.
However, now he stood and watched the last of the few leaves burn, and he said, “What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Princess Elizabeth
Even a princess of Dire can feel lonely. I found myself thinking as I stood and watched the restless sea to the south. The ship rolled over or through the gentle waves with little movement of the deck. I felt my throat constrict, not from any physical force, nor from magic. It was all in my mind. The fear of failing as a princess. Failing myself, my father, and my people. There was also the fear of a storm at sea. With Damon and Kendra off the ship, for the first time, I felt totally alone with an overwhelming task in front of me.
Despite my personal feelings, I held my chin higher, as any princess learned to do as a child. Life as a noblewoman often meant putting aside my wishes in favor of the needs of my kingdom. Aside from the endless food, expensive clothing, and luxury apartment, there were barriers to my life—some as difficult to navigate as the ship through the coming storm.
Will stepped quietly to my side as if appearing out of thin air and paused beside me as if innocently brushing a piece of lint off his jacket in case anyone watched the two of us. He stood far enough away that it didn’t look like we were together, but just two travelers who are leaning on the same railing. From the side of his mouth, he said, “Are you feeling well, Princess?”
That question further depressed me. I’d thought my feelings were hidden and snapped at him, “Do I look ill?”
“Yes, you do.”
There had been no equivocation in his response. He spoke softly, and the ring of truth had angered me. But an odd thing happened. That small exchange raised my spirits, if only because he had the good sense to tell me the truth when I asked him a question. As a princess, people had always told me what they believed I wanted to hear my entire life. Will stood at my side and spoke the truth, as only Damon and Kendra normally did. I gratefully said, “Not ill, just scared.”
He moved aside without answering as if he understood my needs, and I believed he did. The next time I looked around, he had disappeared again, but I felt his eyes on me. It wouldn’t do to pick my nose or scratch my behind even if either needed it. However, I stood at the railing knowing he was watching over me like a mother duck over her ducklings.
That idea of being watched might have insulted another. For me, it was reassuring. While traveling with a small royal entourage, Will was the exception. He did not owe allegiance to any but my father, and thus to me in a secondary fashion. He didn’t travel as one of us, didn’t wish to advance himself in any way, or impress anybody, and as a result, he was the only one aboard I totally trusted. Aside from Damon and Kendra, of course, but they were ashore and headed for Dagger via a land route if such existed.
The Gallant did not sail out of the Trager Bay and turn south as it would normally have done to reach the small city of Vin, the next port of call. Instead, it continued to sail directly east, away from Trager and also away from Vin. The captain knew and had already faced the endless storm to the south that lay between the ship and Vin. No headway would be made attempting to sail in that direction.
A man, a salesman of rare spices, stopped at the rail and watched the same storm from a few steps away. “I’m glad the captain has the good sense to search for a way around. I’ve never been so ill as the last time we sailed into that.”
“He’s a good man,” I muttered.
“Some call him a coward.”
I turned to face the dour little man. He never smiled, and his remarks were often rude in the past, but usually in the abrupt way used by those who sell their products for a living are. It was not intentional, just part of the trade. “I don’t.”
“Nor I,” he said. “Safety at sea is always a concern. An overzealous captain may get us there sooner or sink the ship. I can swim, but when land is not even within sight, what direction am I to paddle?”