Fire of the Soul (11 page)

The wooden walls of the cabin were
whitewashed. The single bunk, which was somewhat wider than the
bunks provided for passengers, was solidly built against one wall
and

covered with a bright red quilt that was
neatly tucked in around the wooden frame. The table was narrow,
bolted to the deck, with built-in benches on one long side and at
the head, and a movable bench on the other long side.

Captain Pyrsig sat on the short bench at the
head of the table, facing the door. His guests were served cold
roast meat, a hot vegetable stew, fresh bread, and cheese, all
washed down with a Morenian wine of remarkable character.

“How is food cooked aboard ship?” Mairne
asked from her seat next to Anders. “I didn’t expect a hot
stew.”

“The cook has a small stove,” Captain Pyrsig
answered. “He’ll show it to ye if ye ask him. When we run through
foul weather he douses the fire and we make do with uncooked food
until it’s safe to start a new fire. Few things are more terrifying
than a fire at sea.
The Kantian Queen
has been fortunate to
avoid that fate.”

“Perhaps you and your cook are just very
careful,” Calia remarked.

“I try to be.” Captain Pyrsig sent a bright
smile in her direction before he turned his attention to Lady
Elgida. “My lady, Garit has told me that ye lived at Kinath Castle
for many years, so I’m assumin’ ye haven’t forgotten how difficult
it is to reach the entrance from the beach below.”

“I have not forgotten,” Lady Elgida said, her
eyes flashing at the suggestion. “You need not fear for me,
captain. I shall ride a horse up the hill.”

“I do wonder,” Captain Pyrsig said, looking
now at Garit, “if ye understand the situation in Kantia these days.
After King Audemer died, King Dyfrig arrived in Kerun City with a
large number of friends who’ve been with him for years while he was
Prince of the Northern Border. One of the first things he did was
grant large tracts of land to those men.

“Now, no offense to ye and yer sister and
brother-in-law, Lord Durand, but while that kind of arrangement may
be fine for Sapaudia and Morenia, it doesn’t sit well with the
Kantians. They are a freer people and they don’t like the idea of
someone they consider a foreigner ownin’ and fencin’ in a piece of
land that used to be open for all men to travel on, or hunt across,
or cut down trees. From what I’ve heard on my last two voyages to
Kantia, I’d not be at all surprised if there were an uprisin’. Or
two. Or three. Ye’ll want to be on yer guard.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Durand said,
“and no offense taken, captain.”

“Now, Garit and my lady,” Captain Pyrsig went
on, “the seven men-at-arms ye brought along all look to be sturdy,
well-trained soldiers. But, d’ye think ye brought enough of them? I
don’t much like the idea of transportin’ ladies to a place of
danger.”

“No one in Kantia has any cause to wish us
harm,” Lady Elgida said. “I want only to see my little grandsons
and to assure myself that they are well and happy.”

“Are young people supposed to be happy?”
Captain Pyrsig asked. “When I was a lad, I was told to be quiet and
obedient. No one ever said anything about happiness.”

“I will not discuss this matter with you,”
Lady Elgida told him. “I know exactly what I am doing. Come now,
Calia, Mairne; it’s time we were abed. Good night to you, Lord
Durand. Captain Pyrsig, I thank you for the delightful meal.”

All of the men stood as the women rose.
Anders hastened to open the cabin door. Lady Elgida swept out with
her chin in the air and her eyes straight ahead. Calia cast a quick
glance at Garit and shook her head as if to express regret over
Lady Elgida’s recalcitrance in the face of all good advice.
Meanwhile, Mairne paused to smile at Anders and whisper a few words
to him.

“Ye’re no fool,” Captain Pyrsig said to Garit
as soon as the women were gone, “so ye must know I spoke only the
truth.”

“I do know.” Garit sat down again to finish
the cup of wine that Captain Pyrsig had just poured for him. “My
grandmother is so determined to make this trip that I can only
conclude she has some unmentioned business to see to, beyond
visiting my brothers. She is no fool, either.”

“Ah.” Captain Pyrsig swallowed a long gulp of
wine. “Well, then, I’ve a suggestion for ye.”

“Which is?” Garit regarded the captain with
respectful interest.

“For a small extra fee,” the captain said,
“I’d be willin’ to keep
The Kantian Queen
anchored offshore
for an extra day or two after we reach Kinath. Just in case ye
decide after ye make yerselves known there that ye want to leave
quickly.”

At these remarks Durand uttered a sharp bark
of laughter that drew the eyes of the other men to him.

“The captain offers good advice,” he said.
“But do bargain with him over the cost of following it.”

“Thank you, my lord. Pyrsig and I are old
acquaintances. Have either of you any reason to think something’s
amiss at Kinath?” Garit asked, looking from one man to the other.
He was well aware that Durand was attempting to extract information
from Pyrsig.

“As for me, I have only a suspicion,” Durand
said, “with no solid proof at all except for my brother-in-law’s
dislike for the new guardian of Kinath Castle.”

“I have no special reason, either” the
captain answered, speaking slowly. “It’s just that durin’ my last
stop in Kantia, I heard a few interestin’ rumors about the man who
has married the lady of Kinath.”

“What rumors?” Garit pressed him.

“He’s heartily disliked by the Kantians. ‘Tis
a small country and gossip travels fast, as ye know. That’s how I
heard the stories. But then, as I said earlier to yer grandmother,
the Kantians have no love for these newly made nobles. Now, d’ye
not find it interestin’ that even Lord Mallory’s supposed friends
at King Dyfrig’s court are suspicious of him?”

“My brother-in-law is a Kantian noble by
birth,” Durand said very carefully. “I’ve heard nothing of this
from him.”

“
What stories, Pyrsig?”
Garit spoke
between clenched teeth, his fingers gripping the silver wine cup
that he carried with him wherever he went. His mother had given it
to him when he was a boy, in anticipation of the day when he’d
leave home to begin his training to become a knight. He treasured
that cup and always kept it with him wherever he went.

“They say,” Captain Pyrsig told them, “that
this Lord Mallory fellow has a rough temper, that he killed a
stable boy and a groom the first week he was in residence at
Kinath. I don’t know why. At the time, I paid no real attention to
the details, if they were ever told to me. I had a red-haired lass
squirmin’ in my lap that evenin’, and a mug of good ale in one
hand, ye see.”

“I do see.” Garit forced himself to relax his
grip on the cup. “Don’t repeat this story to my grandmother. Or to
either of the other women.”

“I won’t,” Captain Pyrsig promised.

“Nor I,” added Durand.

“That order includes you, too, Anders,” Garit
said, turning to the squire, who was sitting next to him on the
bench. “Not a word of this to Mairne.”

Anders didn’t respond, but Garit’s thoughts
had already moved on to a more important issue.

“Thank you for your very sensible offer,
captain. Yes, do keep
The Kantian Queen
waiting near Kinath
for, let us say, two nights and two days. Will that delay you
overlong in reaching Kerun? I know you have a cargo to pick up
there. Lord Durand, will you be inconvenienced?”

“Not a bit,” Durand replied affably. “My
voyage is taken for pleasure, after all.”

“I can always say I was blown off course,”
Captain Pyrsig replied to Garit’s question with a wink and a
piratical grin. “From the clouds I saw gatherin’ in the west late
this afternoon, that claim may prove to be simple honesty. Yer a
decent man, Garit, and ye’ve always dealt honestly with me. I’ll
hold
The Kantian Queen
as long as ye want, and we can
arrange a signal of some kind, so if ye decide to leave Kinath
quickly, I’ll know to send a boat ashore to pick ye up and ye won’t
have to wait on the beach. I can recall a few times in my own life
when it was best to be at sea as fast as possible. Of course, ye
understand the waitin’ will cost ye a bit extra above the original
fare that we arranged.”

Durand laughed softly at that speech, leaving
Garit to wonder if Durand knew from his own experience what the
captain meant about wanting to leave a port as quickly as he could.
Garit knew better than to question Durand about his secret
activities though, so he directed his next remarks to Captain
Pyrsig.

“Of course,” said Garit. “I do understand.”
And he did, and was grateful to the captain who sat near him
drinking an excellent wine that he had likely not come by honestly.
Whether the captain practiced smuggling or not, Garit was confident
he’d do his best to pick up his passengers quickly, if a hasty
leavetaking should become necessary. And he knew full well from
past experience that Durand would also prove helpful if he were
needed.

Kinath Castle, Eastern Kantia

Mallory, originally seneschal of Catherstone
Castle and current guardian of Kinath, frowned as he regarded the
woman who sprawled naked on his bed. He was undressed, too, so she
had no trouble in grabbing his most private organ and beginning to
rub and stroke it. He stood without moving, still frowning at her,
yet knowing her deft fingers would soon succeed in her purpose.
Then he’d be capable of doing his marital duty. Continuing to
perform that duty was essential to his plan, which was why he
allowed the miserable creature to make so free with his body.

His wife apparently didn’t perceive his
distaste for what she was doing. She wasn’t looking at his face,
but at the results of her very determined caresses. Mallory noticed
how flushed her cheeks were, while her breathing was short and
quick. She moaned softly in erotic anticipation. Mallory’s frown
vanished, to be replaced by a smile of grim purpose. He’d make her
wait. He always did, just to show her who was her master.

The widowed Fenella had agreed to marry him
in order to protect her two young sons and their considerable
inheritance from the rapacious clutches of other nobles.

So far as those same nobles were concerned
Mallory had married Fenella because King Dyfrig wished it. No one
but Mallory himself knew of his secret purpose in accepting
Dyfrig’s suggestion that he wed this particular woman. Nor, he was
certain, did anyone guess how carefully he had manipulated his
friendship with the king until the marriage with Fenella was
offered to him.

The lady of Kinath was short and sturdy, with
reddish hair and many freckles. Freckles, in the name of heaven!
Mallory, who preferred fair hair and pale, clear skin, usually
closed his eyes when he bedded her. Which was far too often for his
taste. The woman’s appetite was voracious; she drained him. He
sometimes wondered if her elderly first husband had died of
exhaustion.

His body was reacting to his wife’s eager
touch, though he experienced no emotional warmth toward her.
Fenella was merely the means to an end. Mallory needed to get her
with child and he was annoyed that so far her womb had not
quickened to his seed. A legitimate heir was important to him.
Mallory hated the fact that he was a bastard, begotten upon a
maidservant when his father was just fifteen years old. Walderon,
the very young lord of Catherstone, had proudly acknowledged his
first son and, when Mallory was old enough, had made him seneschal
of Catherstone. But Mallory had lost that position when Walderon
died a traitor’s death and Catherstone was confiscated by the
crown.

It wasn’t fair, Mallory thought, not fair at
all that he had been born illegitimate. He’d been an obedient son
and a good seneschal. He deserved better than to be dispossessed so
abruptly and with no recourse. No one had cared about his claims
that he was ignorant of his father’s treason. The man sent to
confiscate Catherstone for King Henryk had actually dared to accuse
him of lying and then, when Calia insisted he was speaking the
truth about his parentage, the man had told him that he was
fortunate not to be imprisoned or executed for the crime of being
Walderon’s son. Shortly thereafter Mallory had been unceremoniously
cast out of the only home he’d ever known. Only the pleas of the
sister he despised had allowed him to keep a single horse, his
armor and his sword.

Mallory’s unpleasant thoughts, along with his
lofty disinterest in what his wife was doing came to a sudden end
when Fenella tugged at him urgently. With a sigh of impatience with
her that he made no attempt to hide, he knelt on the bed. Fenella
seized his right hand and placed it on her rather large breast. He
squeezed the soft flesh and pinched her nipple. Fenella began to
writhe.

At least it never took her long to be ready
to receive him. He wasn’t sure he could bed her at all if she were
reluctant, or if she needed a lot of preparation, like some other
women he’d known. Mallory closed his eyes and imagined several of
those other women, their lovely faces and graceful, slender
figures. Feeling himself grow harder at the thought, he pushed
against Fenella’s yielding moistness.

“Oh, Mallory.” Fenella clutched at him,
pulling him closer still. “Oh, yes. How strong you are. Don’t stop.
Oh, I do love you, Mallory, my handsome, wonderful lover.”

He pounded against her until she screamed
with pleasure. Then he was free to find his own release, which
didn’t take long because she didn’t mind if he was rough with her.
Afterward, he stayed with her for a time, knowing she’d protest and
try to arouse him all over again if he withdrew too soon. He gave
her a hard, tooth-grinding kiss, the first kiss he’d offered during
this encounter, and felt her relax beneath him.