Queen's Hunt (River of Souls 2)

Alesso’s grin was unnerving, almost gleeful. “And I will come with you.”

* * *

IT TOOK THEM longer than Alesso liked, but Gerek only had the name of the ship and the captain, not where they had anchored, and they were both too wary to use these names indiscriminately. Eventually they found the ship—it lay well off shore—and hired a boat to take them over.

The argument with the captain took longer. At first the man would not believe Gerek. But when Gerek repeated the sum of money paid, named the presence of Ralf and Udo, and recited the exact instructions he had written to the agent, and finally remembered the code words passed along by Ralf and Udo to ensure just such an emergency, the captain relented.

“Have you read those instructions?” Alesso asked.

The captain shook his head. “My orders were to read them once at sea.”

“Do it now,” Gerek said.

The man took Kosenmark’s letter from a locked chest. Ran his hands over the paper and tried the wax seal. He shook his head. “No good, sir. I don’t know magic, but I know enough that it won’t open without the right spell.”

“Let me see it,” Alesso said.

He, too, tried a few spells but to no effect. While the other two muttered about secret orders, Gerek examined the letter. He was an amateur, he reminded himself. And yet, so was the captain. Kosenmark surely did not expect Gerek or an unknown captain to decipher such a key.

He went through all the instructions. They were simple, short. Read everything. How many ways could a man interpret that? Read the instructions. Every word. Wasn’t that obvious?

Oh. Now I understand.

“To the captain,” he said softly. “Read everything. Private orders.”

The envelope unfolded. Inside was a single short paragraph:

Sail to Hallau, Jelyndak Islands. Send a boat with six men into the old city. We will keep a watch for you, but if we are detained, have the men wait ten days. Return once more in three weeks. If that meeting fails, depart the region at once. Send word through the agent for further instruc

tions. Above all else, do not hail any other ships.

Alesso and the captain were both staring at him. He felt a bit shaken himself. He handed the letter to the captain, who read it through quickly. Gerek watched as a series of emotions passed over the man’s face—surprise, curiosity, and a measure of unease. “You have your orders, with one difference,” Gerek told him. “If our companions fail to show, you take your further instructions from me.”

And Lir help us if that happens.

But he would consider that difficulty later. For now, he only wanted to depart as swiftly as the winds allowed. “How soon can you set sail? At once?”

“The next tide,” the man answered. “Within the hour.”

“Then do it.” To Alesso’s unspoken question, he added, “We don’t have time to disembark. As you said, the ports will close any moment. Besides, you and I know too much.”

* * *

THE SHIP’S SURGEON saw to Gerek’s injuries at once. After that, though the hour was early, the captain fed them well at his table, while the crew ordered a cabin for their use. After they had dined, Alesso remained with the captain and Kosenmark’s two guards to discuss a course that would keep them away from any other ships. Gerek retired to their cabin. It was small—barely wide enough for two hanging cots, and a couple sea chests stacked in one corner. A covered lamp swung from its chain, sending a ripple of light and shadow over the walls.

Gerek climbed awkwardly into the cot nearest the porthole. Dinner and a quantity of good wine had done much, but his jaw still ached, and every movement reminded him of the slash across his chest. Tomorrow he would see the ship’s surgeon again for another application of herbs. Now … now he wanted nothing more than to lie quietly.

No, that was not the truth. The truth was that he wished himself back in Tiralien, in his own snug rooms. He wished for a quiet dinner, a book to read. He wished …

I wish I had one more chance to speak with Kathe.

That would come later. How much later, he did not know. It was the old conundrum of the magical journey, where you could not reach home before traveling through all the rest of the worlds first. Well, he did not have to travel through all the worlds, just to Hallau Island and Lord Raul Kosenmark. It was a long enough voyage, for all that, he thought and yawned.

He fell asleep to the creaking of the rigging and the rush of water against the ship.

CHAPTER TWENTY

THROUGHOUT THE NEXT ten days, Ilse and Raul and their companions traveled as a military company. It was an aspect of Raul that Ilse had never suspected before. She had known him as a sophisticated nobleman, trained in matters of state, someone gifted in both conversation and weaponry. She had not considered he knew anything about wilderness travel and commanding soldiers.