Chapter 39

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The negotiations went faster than anyone imagined they would. The Northern Generals marched in through the pass with a small contingent of unarmed lieutenants. They announced their formal surrender and the collapse of the Northern government. The rebel leaders had disappeared, leaving the military to take command. They accepted the terms of surrender and when the High Chancellor offered to share the mountain’s wealth with them, they agreed to that too, with a great deal of confused wonder that it was being offered.

“After all these years of slaughter,” the Chancellor said at the end of it all, “it seems appropriate to me that some honor should be given even in loss, since the victory seems hollow after the great numbers we’ve thrown against each other.”

Dynan got a lot of credit for helping to bring the fight to a final end and the Northern Generals found out everything they wanted about him, about Cobalt and the High Chancellor’s vision of a happy future for Cadal.

The meeting and ceremony and the goodbyes took up over half the day, but finally the High Chancellor and all his entourage were back on the road for Carthage. Dynan and his entourage – he had to smirk at that notion – got underway not long later. It was a lesser group that headed out from Miriam. Col Eldin and his family remained with them. A larger contingent of guards trooped along the road with the men from the Gailorn, as they started the long village-by-village trek south toward Quilar. Dynan spent almost the entirety of the journey thinking about that place he was going to take his wife. After that one taste of what he had to look forward to, his mind was wholly occupied with thoughts of being with her.

“You understand she’s like my sister,” Marc said, startling Dynan and chasing away the graphic display playing through his head. Marc rode up beside him looking annoyed. “Right? I’d like to be able to look her in the eye again without reliving all the obscene things she’s capable of, which honestly, I’d rather not know about in the first place.”

Dynan waited for him to finish before glancing back to watch Loren. She rode beside Sheed, laughing at something the guard said. She wore a plain brown skirt and a white blouse, looking just as exquisite as she did when she had on all the finery with her hair up. He started thinking about her wearing the wedding gown, saw her in it as clearly as if she was really wearing it instead of a plain skirt. All that was followed by thoughts of taking her out of it.

“Oh for the love of ... Stop!”

Dynan only laughed. “Why don’t you go up front with Ralion and scout the road. He’ll love the help, and you need the distraction.”

Marc would have said no, but Dynan didn’t give him the chance, reining his horse back to go ride beside Loren. He stayed with her the rest of that day’s journey, which didn’t end until it was nearly dark. Finally, they came to a halt in a clearing on a flat hill inside a large forest. Just as Marc predicted, the girls’ tents were set up on the other side of the camp. Ralion fixed the problem only half way when he insisted the tents be close enough for him to guard, but that only got the tents moved across from each other. Col Eldin insisted. Perhaps he suspected there was some other intention. Maybe he heard something.

The end result was that Dynan didn’t sleep. He stayed out propped up against a log, watching the fire burn, talking to anyone else who happened by and that was just about the entire camp who wanted to meet him. Marc stayed up with him, except for when he fell asleep curled up on the ground. Ralion and Sheed took turns keeping watch. They seemed more relaxed now that they had gotten some distance from Miriam.

The rest of the long journey back to Quilar was much the same, with the exception of Trist, a town on the Poule River. There was an inn and it was large enough to house most of them. The guards got the barn. They didn’t mind. Everywhere they stopped it was the same in one other respect. There were hundreds of people waiting to see Dynan. He gave the same speech he’d given in Carthage, stayed to talk to anyone who wanted to meet him afterward, which generally meant everyone, and spent as much time alone with Loren as he could manage. The closer they got to Quilar the less he managed. Everyone seemed to think he should stay away from her, as if spending time with her would somehow spoil their wedding day.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said, when Geneal told him it was bad luck. She only smiled and sent him away.

“It’s not like you won’t see her tonight,” Ralion said as he pulled him away from the closed door.

“Not alone I won’t.”

“That’s the point. You lack the capacity to resist anymore. We’re just trying to help. You took that oath eight years ago, Dynan. It’d be a real shame to fail to uphold it at the very end. Besides, I don’t want to be around in case, for some inexplicable reason, you getting her before it’s all sanctified and right by the Gods somehow causes the end of the world.”

“I just want to talk to her, Ralion.”

“Uh-huh. We all know what kind of ‘talking’ you did the other night. You only have to put up with it a few more days. Speaking of. Have you decided where you’re going afterward? I need to know.”

“I’m taking her up in the ship,” Dynan said, reluctantly leaving the inn for the paddock.

“The ship?” Ralion shook his head a little. “Have you fixed the vertical drive yet?”

“No ... Shut up.”

The guard laughed. “So up in orbit for a few days. I suppose that fits.”

“Alone.”

“I figured that,” Ralion said and while he was frowning over the idea of it, he nodded. “I don’t guess anything life threatening can happen. I mean it can, but it’s unlikely. All right. That’ll be easier to set up than anywhere else at least. Make a list of what you think you might like to eat for those moments when you come up for air and I’ll get it stowed on board for you.”

Dynan had expected an objection to the being alone part, but Ralion only shrugged.

“I’m never certain we’re absolutely safe, but the odds of something happening to the ship are slim, even if the vertical drive is hardly functioning. The chance that Maralt is going to sneak up on you without the ship giving you time enough to get back on the ground, or get out of here, are higher, but again, slim, since we know Carryn would have sent us something over the link. The moment the Destroyer comes into the System, we should know it. My guess is we’re still all right and we have time.”

“I don’t really need to know the entire thought process,” Dynan said, biting back a smile. “But thanks.”

“I’ll just be glad when this circus is over and we’re back home,” the guard said. “I mean Quilar.”

It had gotten easy to feel like Quilar was home. Dynan supposed that was because of Loren and Marc, but as the circus pulled up to the Silver Star Inn a couple of days later, it was with a sense of relief that the journey was finally over, along with the odd sensation that he actually belonged here. Aleen Mendrel awaited their arrival on the front boardwalk outside the common room. Loren wouldn’t be returning to her home, they learned, but would stay at the inn. Dynan watched the frustration over her plans being changed hit her eyes.

“We’re going for a walk,” he said quickly while the carriages were emptied and took her by the hand before she could get into an argument with her mother.

“I can’t believe this,” she said as they headed down the porch to the corner. She turned around and saw Sheed following them. “Go away!”

“I know. I’m sorry. It won’t be for long.”

“They act like we can’t be trusted.”

Dynan agreed and then he pulled in a deep breath as they walked toward the water. “That’s probably because we can’t be. As Ralion put it, I lack the ability to resist any longer. For every moment that goes by that I’m not with you, it feels like days. If you said yes right now, I’d take you wherever I could find a place. I can’t stand it any more.” To prove his point, he dug his fingers into her hair and put his mouth over hers. She didn’t resist the force of the embrace even a little, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body into his.

“And this is exactly why,” Marc said some uncounted moments later as he came around the corner. That was likely at Aleen’s direct request. He had that look. Sheed was the only one laughing.

“I hate you,” Loren said when Marc took Dynan by the arm and started dragging him away.

He didn’t answer. Dynan yanked back and kissed her again, knowing it would be the last time for days. It was the last time he would hold her with restraint; unmarried, and the thought made him smile. He left her smiling back. Aleen took his place and he watched while she took her daughter in hand, walking her the other way.

Dynan turned to Sheed. “Stay with her.”

He only nodded and took up his guard of the future Queen of Cobalt.

Dynan turned to find Marc watching him with an expression bemused and slightly annoyed at the same time. “I’m going to Bail’s Tavern. I’ll be over later.” He turned for the wharf and walked away.

“Is that where you go to get the prostitutes?”

“Yep.”

“You about ready to go?” Ralion asked when Dynan came back to the front of the inn. Gazing inside didn’t help. Loren was nowhere to be seen.

“I need to get a load of hay out to the ship and grain too.”

“Let’s go get it,” Ralion said, nodding him to the street.

They brought the horse along too. Dynan hoped to get Gilraen used to the ship. She nuzzled at his pocket all the way out, but he was saving the treat for later. She wasn’t too happy when the XR-30 appeared in front of her out of nothing, or the dwindling hum the cloak made when it was powered down, but after a few prancy moments, she settled again.

“Go ahead and open the cargo ramp.”

Ralion looked like he expected Gilraen to bolt, but went ahead with it. The underside of the ship split open and lowered to the ground. Almost before it was all the way down, Dynan led the horse on board. She was nervous and trembled at the sound her hooves made on the grate, but she followed him. She got the sugar cubes the moment she got on board. He had hay and grain and water ready. Without too much difficulty she was settled in the makeshift pen he’d constructed, happily munching the food, looking around at the lights and noises.

“I guess this means we’re really taking her,” Ralion said, watching her eat.

“Didn’t think she’d get on board, did you?”

“I did not.” The guard heaved a sigh about it, grumbling under his breath, but he started loading the hay.

Dynan spent the rest of the day out with her, banging on the pipes and activating controls, making noises she’d have to get used to. The real test came when he led her off and let her free to eat the bits of grass in the clearing around the ship. He watched her for a few and went back on board to finish up getting the feed stores situated. He put an apple in her bucket and not long later, she came up the ramp on her own accord.

Ralion remained unimpressed and lacking in enthusiasm.

“Why don’t you go back to the house?” Dynan said, smiling over the accomplishment.

“No.”

“Go check the link and see if it’s doing anything weird.”

“I already did.”

When Dynan glared at him, he held up a hand, moving for the ladder up to the ship’s hold.

“I’ll go look again.”

Dynan joined him later, already knowing the answer to the question. The link was functioning properly and aside from that one spike in frequency, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The vertical drive still had problems he didn’t know how to fix.

They stayed at the ship until dusk and then went back to the house for dinner. Dynan found himself at odds, wanting to go into town to see Loren, knowing he wouldn’t be allowed to. He didn’t quite understand the point of the forced separation when he intended to be around other people at the same time. Ralion and Sheed certainly weren’t going to let him alone with her.

Dynan plopped down into the couch after dinner, disturbing Geneal out of the book she read, but she only smiled about it. Lately, everyone had been doing that, or outright laughing at him. It was starting to be annoying.

“What?”

Geneal smiled again. “Nothing.”

“What is so funny?”

“Besides you and the way you’re acting? Nothing at all. Are you nervous?”

“About getting married? No. Not at all. I suppose I should be, but, well, I feel like I already am. I know the ceremony is important, but really, the moment she said yes, I felt like it was permanent. Instantly. I know it seems fast to almost everyone else, but it isn’t to me. It’s like my life started the moment she said she would stay with me and I can’t wait for the rest of it.”

“And the eternity of the next two days stands between you and the rest of your life,” she said. “Just remember it’s her first time too and there are certain things you can’t rush.”

“I’m not talking about that, Geneal.”

“Yes, you are. You can’t help it, I know. It’s important that you pay attention to how this is going to be for her.”

Dynan nodded to that, already knowing it, and then guessed it was time to confess a few things to his doctor. “Every time Dain was with you,” he said, “I was there. From the first time to the last. It was impossible to avoid without my being on the other side of the planet. It was never more than in a peripheral sense, but I knew what was happening, how, and when, so thank you for the most excellent education and your concern.”

“Was that the case with all the other girls?” she asked and wasn’t shocked by his admission. She didn’t seem bothered either. Maybe Dain warned her about it.

“Mostly with Bronwyn. You remember her?”

“I’m surprised you do,” she said.

“She was the first girl he ever fell in love with. I don’t know why Maralt let me keep the memory. Maybe it didn’t matter for me. I don’t know why he made Dain forget her. Maybe it was for the better since Father had her sent away to who knows where. It’s interesting that you’re like her in a way. She was a caring, outgoing, giving lady, so it’s no real surprise Dain fell in love with you too. I’m glad he figured out that he wanted to spend his life with you and he had the chance to know this feeling.”

Geneal nodded and moved next to him, curled up, and hugged his arm, which was what she did when she wanted Dynan to be Dain for her. It wasn’t so terribly hard any more. He kissed the top of her head and then put a finger under her chin, lifting her face to his.

“He adored you,” he said and kissed her forehead.

“I know he did. He would have loved Loren. He’d be so happy for you right now.” She sat up, her eyes distant before snapping back to his. “You have to go out tonight and do something fun,” she said and Dynan laughed at her sudden enthusiasm. “Ralion, come here.”

“Geneal, I don’t—”

It was too late. The idea that Dain would have taken him out for a last night of freedom had too firm a hold. Ralion appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, a glass of water in hand. “What?”

“You have to take him out tonight. Go get him drunk or something.”

“What?”

Ralion laughed. “We’ve got it under control, Geneal.”

“You do?” Dynan said, surprised to hear that there was some sort of plan for Dain’s brand of fun. “Really, that’s probably not a good idea.”

“Sure it is. It’s not like we’re going to let you get into real trouble. If you want to change, go do it now. We’ll head out in about an hour.”

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

So it was settled. Geneal was happy. Dynan didn’t think any plans would include getting him anywhere near Loren. Still, he was curious how Ralion would interpret Dain’s idea of fun and started laughing over it.

Marc turned, a cold chill climbing his spine as he stood at the end of the pier where the Gailorn was berthed. The lamps were lit against the growing darkness, the flames as still as the water. It was a flat calm this night, so he didn’t understand the source of his unease. Sure, it would be a difficult task to drag the big ship out of the inlet and through the jetty, but not something that hadn’t ever been done before. They weren’t intending to actually sail anyway, so the lack of wind wasn’t an issue.

He turned again, jerking around this time at an imagined noise that sidled along the water like low laughter that echoed across the moonlit surface. Another noise on shore pulled his attention back, a door opening at the inn and letting out the clamor of the common room. More laughter filled the night, only this was a lighter tone and higher pitched. The girls were having a fine time for their part of the celebration. About twenty of Loren’s friends, women she’d known since she was a little girl and more recent friends from Quilar, crowded around her, giving her gifts and little mementos they thought she would like or need for the occasion.

Marc walked up to the back entrance, a little impatient to get underway, but had to wait for the crew to get there and get the ship ready. He peered in and saw the huddle of women near the front, sitting or standing around the guest of honor. Sheed was there too, stationed by the front windows, surveying the room, or occasionally glancing outside, stone-faced and still as a statue. A man Marc didn’t recognize attempted to come in, but the guard stopped him, refused him entry, and sent him on his way. Marc saw Alden and a couple of others from the town guard, posted at the other entrances. No one was getting in who didn’t belong.

Another noise from the walk made him turn, but it was only the inn’s newest manager and Loren’s replacement. Susan nodded at him, joining him at the window. “I thought you’d already be gone,” she said, glancing to the Gailorn.

“We’ll be underway soon. The crew will be here any minute now.”

“And we’ll know it when they arrive, yes,” she said, and leaned on the railing to look at the ship.

“I thought you’d be in there.”

“If I go back, all the things I have to do won’t happen. With all these people coming in and no place to put them, it’s getting more complicated than I ever imagined. Just this afternoon we had a group come in, who didn’t know anything about the wedding, which is odd right there. Everyone knows about the wedding. They wanted a set of rooms and we just don’t have them. While they seemed understanding, one of them was, I don’t know, more put out than was necessary. He took the bulletin about the wedding and – I don’t know. He started laughing about it. He was a bit off, but then I suppose a lot of people are right now, including me.”

“Send them to the Point.”

“I did, but there’s no room there either. We’re down to putting tents in the field behind the livery. You can just imagine how that’s going over with some of these bureaucratic types.” She paused and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m complaining and I shouldn’t.”

“A little overwhelming, isn’t it,” Marc said. “You’re helping to plan a Royal wedding after all. Doesn’t happen every day around here.”

Susan breathed again and Marc laughed. “I just want it all to be perfect for Loren. I don’t want anything to go wrong, or for her to worry about it.”

“It’s already perfect and she isn’t worried. Trust me. You’re doing an amazing job getting all of this together, Suse. Just this thing tonight. They didn’t even know about it. I’m not sure how you managed to pull it off.”

Saying so made her smile and she kissed his cheek. “Don’t stay out too late tonight. Tomorrow is another big day.”

“And the day after, yes. I’m looking forward to the day after that. Maybe we’ll get our lives back, right?”

“Oh, I don’t think after all this anything will be the same. Have a good night, Captain.”

Marc watched her go, thinking that she was right. Their lives would never be normal again. He didn’t necessarily think that was a bad thing. At the moment, he would settle for less busy. He wandered back down to the pier, thinking over the changes in his own life that had happened just for knowing Dynan and Loren. He found himself reliving the day they met, Loren so many years ago and Dynan barely a month. It all played through his mind, bringing him to the day Dynan asked Loren to marry him, through the discovery of his identity, the trip to Crey, Dynan nearly drowning.

He paused there, reliving it in greater detail, as if he wasn’t the one thinking about it, as if he’d not seen it before. It was an odd, out of control feeling that he suddenly started fighting against. He blinked. The sounds of the river came back, mingling with the experience of drowning until the creak of ropes intruded and placed him beside his old ship.

“Hey Marc.”

A pair of arms grabbed him as he swayed. The world tipped over. Jurdin Maithe kept him standing.

“Whoa. You all right?” Jurdin tightened his grip and the voices of the other crewmembers reached him, several of them laughing that he must have had a few too many drinks. “Marc?”

“I’m all right. You know I haven’t been getting any sleep, right? Let go of me, Jurdin. Thanks. Right. Shut up, all of you and get this ship underway.”

“Sure Captain.”

“Only he isn’t.”

“That’s right. He got himself fired.”

“Her Highness fixed that right up.”

“She saved your neck on that trip to Brent, Fender, so maybe you shouldn’t bring her into this.”

“Besides that her intended can totally kick your ass.”

Marc waited them out and then purposely turned to the Gailorn’s new Captain. Jurdin saluted smartly. “We’re going. How long do we have?”

“You’re late, so not much. Have fun rowing, boys.”

There was a good bit of groaning and cursing over the lack of wind. Marc watched them get the ship off in quick order and then turned for the sloop he would use to take the girls out later. Marc quickly thought of something else, not wanting to ruin the surprise. Considering Dynan’s inability to sleep, his guards figured it would be easier to arrange the usual tryst in public rather than try to hide it, or keep them separated. There wasn’t going to be any sleeping. For anyone.

He found avoiding that a little difficult as the night wore on, waiting for the ladies to emerge from the inn. An explosion of laughter as they came out some time later startled him out of a bad dream where he was held in a dark, stinking room, maybe a cell of some kind, and it took him a minute to get his bearings.

He’d learned a long time ago that when a woman drank more than she maybe should, inhibitions normally in place no longer existed. Sheed had two girls hanging on his arm as he escorted the party to the sloop. He never stopped being a guard, glancing into the dark as if there might be predators surrounding them. Then the future Her Highness rushed to Marc and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over.

“He’s on board, isn’t he? Not here. Out on the Gailorn?”

She’d had a few drinks herself, but she wasn’t as effusive as a couple of the others. “You’ll have to wait and see,” he said and helped Callie and Eliz on board. Gales of laughter erupted when they started staggering with the roll of the boat. Marc glanced to Sheed with a raised brow. “I have to wonder who thought this was a good idea.”

Sheed agreed, but he was smiling as he kept helping the girls on board. It took some negotiating to get them all settled. They finally managed it. Sheed helped in the labor intensive poling of the sloop by attaching a small, boxlike affair to the back of the hull, and once they maneuvered the boat free of the dock, he turned it on.

“Steer,” he said and the sloop sliced forward through the water at a clip normally reached only under full sail.

Marc swore, taking the till and navigating through the channel. “Is there any way to slow it down?”

“No. It isn’t designed as a propulsion system, but I thought it would help move us along,” Sheed said. “And I wasn’t interested in rowing us out to the middle of the river. We’re not going that fast, Marc.”

It wasn’t a normal way to move a craft, without sails, and it felt odd. No one else was bothered by it. Once they cleared the jetty, Marc relaxed a little. It still felt to him like they were flying across the water, until he finally couldn’t stand the sensation and raised the forward jib. The sloop almost jerked to a halt, swerving in an unnatural and alarming way, but he quickly trimmed the sail to provide just enough drag against the forward momentum the device was causing. The boat plied through the water at a more normal rate.

“Happy now?” Sheed said.

Marc pointed a finger at himself. “Captain.”

“Lt. Commander,” Sheed said, fingering his crest pin. “Captain.”

Marc laughed, but he didn’t take the jib down, leaving Sheed to grumble over how slow they were now moving. They arrived soon enough at the Gailorn, anchored off the last buoy marker that stood as sentinel between the shallows and the deep.

They’d rigged a kind of standing lift for the ladies so they wouldn’t have to climb a rope ladder, counterbalanced by bags of sand and ridden from water level to the deck in a crazed rush of wind amid squeals of laughter.

They made Loren wait to go last and Dynan rode down to get her himself. They turned it into a protracted, swinging ride with the help of a few of the Gailorn’s sailors, leaving Marc and Sheed to navigate the rope ladder. It was all worth it in the end, as a good time was had by everyone on board. There was music and dancing, provided by a few members of Marc’s old dance troupe who came in to help with the entertainment.

Marc joined in a brief performance of one of the numbers he usually did, but for the most part spent the night watching over the ship, taking turns with the rest of the crew. It would have been a flawless evening for Marc, except for the errant sense of nervousness that periodically came over him that had no explanation, or even a reason to be, and made him turn around more than a few times to see who was standing behind him when no one was there.