Tempest (16 page)

Chapter 19

There was a small fishing village that doubled as a seaport just below the cliff. The dirt and stone path we followed eventually joined a network of cobblestone streets and wood frame houses built upward into an opposite cliff face. Another unpaved road led to the ocean. Most of the Sadeemians ran for the sea, modesty forgotten as they stripped off their tunics and trousers, leaving only their undergarments on as they ran into the waves.

Daegan pulled his tunic up over his head.

Maeve gasped. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed.

Daegan shrugged. “Who am I to argue with foreign tradition?”

And with that, he ran for the waves.

Reenah chuckled. “The ocean means much to the Sadeemians, and it’s good to wash off the sands of the desert.”

Maeve stared. “I think I’d rather take a bath.”

I followed the Sadeemians to the beach, pulling off my boots before digging my bare feet into the sand. It felt soft and damp against my toes.

“I’m not stripping,” Maeve said stubbornly.

I grinned up at her. “Come on, Maeve. When will we get a chance like this again?”

Maeve crossed her arms over her chest while Reenah began unstrapping some of the supplies from Lochlen’s back. Rations had dwindled on our march through the desert, and there wasn’t much to remove. After a few moments, Lochlen just shook the rest off, letting them fall haphazardly into the sand, and then he transformed.

Oran ran for the waves, and I unlaced my tunic.

“You have less reason to be embarrassed than I do,” I told Maeve pointedly while gesturing at her chest.

Maeve’s lips twitched, and I pulled the tunic over my head, letting it drop to the sand before moving to the trousers. The short chemise and trouser-like braies underneath kept everything covered, although they were a bit thin.

The splashing from the ocean had grown loud and raucous. Many of the women were scrubbing their hair with crude lye soap while the men dunked each other.

I scratched my own dirty, itchy scalp and looked longingly at the bubbles as the women ducked down to rinse. It was the soap that convinced Maeve. She pulled off her tunic and trousers hurriedly, as if she were afraid she’d change her mind, and together we ran for the beach.

The ocean was colder than it appeared, and Maeve shrieked as we pushed into the waves, each of us staying to the shallow water. I didn’t know about Maeve, but I couldn’t swim. There were few chances to learn in Medeisia. My family had been invited several times to a manor on Gulling Lake, but I’d been left behind at my own request.

“By Liqueet,” Maeve gasped as one of the Sadeemian women threw us a bar of soap.

I whispered my own praise to the Goddess of Water as I scrubbed my short hair before sinking into the sea to rinse it.

“The Sea of Rollinthia,” Lochlen sighed as he joined us in the ocean, his human legs unsteady in the rolling water.

“Why did you transform?” I asked.

Lochlen nodded at the waves, and I looked up to find the prince of Sadeemia swimming in the sea, his tunic removed. The tattoo on the right side of his chest wrapped around his side and ended on his back. Like the pendant that swung around his neck, the tattoo was of Henderonian origin. Lots of complicated circles and knots.

“The prince fears I would startle the villagers,” Lochlen said.

“In other words, he doesn’t want to start a mob,” Maeve teased.

Lochlen grinned before lifting his hands and diving into the waves. Within moments, he was gone. Maeve and I stared as Oran splashed into the water next to me.

“Dragons swim like a fish no matter their form,” Oran complained.

Water dripped from the wolf’s fur, weighing it down so that the weight he’d lost in the desert was more prominent. I reached for him, running my fingers down into his pelt and along his spine before lifting the soap in my hands. He groaned as I scrubbed his coat.

“Do you miss the forest?” I asked him.

The wolf’s head swung in my direction.

“Don’t you?” he asked in return.

I rinsed him, my eyes lifting to watch the Sadeemian revelers. Most of them were leaving the sea now, walking to the rocks by the cliff so that they could dry in the sun. This sun wasn’t as punishing as the one in the desert. It was warm, but not overpowering. In Medeisia, it would be snowing.

“Are the seasons so different in Sadeemia?” I asked Reenah as we exited the sea.

The consort was dripping wet, her pale undergarments translucent, and I tried my best to keep my flaming face averted.

“We have winter here,” Reenah answered, “but they are milder. Generally, the worst temperatures come at night.”

“I like it. I hate the snow,” Daegan said as he joined us. He had blankets folded over his arm, and he held them out to us. “Not that I’m complaining, but those undergarments aren’t hiding anything.”

Maeve and I both snatched the proffered blankets quickly, our cheeks burning. Daegan chuckled.

“I’m too much of a gentleman to look,” he insisted.

Both of us threw him doubtful glares. He ignored them.

“Dress quickly,” he said instead. “The prince has ordered a camp made on the beach, but only his soldiers will remain. His personal guard, the servants, and our group will be going into the village.”

Reenah’s eyes crinkled as Daegan offered her a third blanket. “As the Prince of Sadeemia, Cadeyrn will be required to take shelter within the town. Rolleen is a prosperous port for us, and it would be seen as a slight if the prince was not to stay in their best inn. You go with him because he does not trust you yet,” she said.

I clutched the blanket against my chest. “He’s a good leader not to trust us. We are still strangers.”

Daegan snorted. “Strangers who have lost two men trying to prove that our king means his country harm.”

I placed a placating hand on Daegan’s arm. “And if you were he?” I asked.

Daegan didn’t answer me. He simply stared over my head at the sea.

“Come,” Maeve said softly, “let’s change.”

No one argued, and we found our pile of sand-stained clothes, pulling them on quickly over our damp undergarments. The prince was waiting when we finished.

“Will the wolf be allowed to stay with me?” I asked Cadeyrn as we approached him.

The prince glanced at the wolf before his gaze moved to mine. “Aye.”

I exhaled, unaware that I’d even been holding my breath. I’d come to depend on Oran’s presence. Having him with me was reassuring, and it reminded me of home.

Cadeyrn led our group into the village. People lined the streets. They were cheery folk; healthy, with rosy cheeks and wide smiles. Many of the women waved colorful handkerchiefs and shouted praise to the prince. The men bowed their heads while children weaved in and out of adult legs, their faces peering between bulky skirts and trousers to get a glimpse of the travelers.

Cadeyrn nodded at them, his gaze assessing the village. It was a clean town with freshly painted homes. Women wore patch free gowns with low necklines that were laced tightly from the waist to just above the chest. An open surcoat draped over the gowns and trailed all the way to the ground. They were much more intricate and elegant than the dresses available back home, and we gawked at them. Peasants who wore clothes as fine as the nobility? It was unheard of.

 
Oran sniffed the air beside me. The town smelled nice, like fresh bread and roasted meat mingled with the salt of the sea. There were no urine buckets for the dyers to collect along the side of the road, and I saw nothing that suggested the women here threw stale water or waste out of their windows. Glass casings with glowing candles hung from hooks by the door of every house and shop, lighting the way as we marched.

Dogs barked furiously at Oran, and I thumped him on the top of the head when he bared his teeth, his chest rumbling.

“Mangy animals,” Oran grumbled.

“They’re your cousins,” I pointed out.

Oran didn’t reply.

The prince stopped at a particularly large, box-like building. It was whitewashed with blue trim and a swinging wooden sign that read
King’s Hall Inn
. A portly, flushed woman met him at the door, bowing low before stepping back so he could enter.

“Sara,” Cadeyrn acknowledged.

The woman waved a pretty white lace handkerchief at a large room beyond.

“Everything has been made ready, Your Highness. We have been preparing the inn since your man came with news of your arrival,” Sara said cheerfully.

Cadeyrn smiled at her before moving past.

The room we entered was large with polished wooden tables and chairs. A large hearth made up the entire back wall, and a dancing, popping blaze burned brightly within it. It wasn’t cool enough yet for a fire, but Reenah had indicated the temperatures tended to drop at night. Steaming food covered the tables, and I saw Daegan rub his stomach absently as Cadeyrn took a seat at the head of one of the larger ones.

He gestured at the chairs.

“Sit,” he ordered.

We joined him. Sara glanced at us warily as she passed, our foreign appearance room for unease.

“The wolf, sire?” Sara asked.

Cadeyrn waved his hand dismissively. “He can sit by the hearth. Feed him meat. Fresh if possible.”

I heard Oran groan. His mouth hung open, and drool pooled around his tongue. He loped over to the fire, circling three times before lying down, his eyes on the kitchen.

Cadeyrn waved at the table.

“Feel free to serve yourselves.”

We didn’t wait to be told twice. We piled our plates with foods we’d never dreamed of eating, fruits we’d never heard of, and sweets we’d never tasted. Servers brought chalices full of watered down ale, and we drank them greedily. Only Lochlen restrained himself, eating just the meat available at the table.

Cadeyrn watched us.

“Tell me,” he said, “is food so hard to come by in Medeisia?”

We froze, our bellies full, and our faces flushed with embarrassment. It was Maeve who spoke first.

“We ate better in the desert, Your Majesty, than we did in the villages back home.”

Cadeyrn leaned back, his plate only half empty as his eyes roved over our faces.

“And the nobility?” he asked.

Maeve and Daegan looked at me, but I didn’t meet their gazes. Out of all of the rebels, I held the highest rank after Kye, even with my illegitimacy.

“Not much better, Your Highness. We didn’t starve, but the best food was always reserved for the noble families in the capital as well as the king.”

Cadeyrn nodded, his eyes pausing on each of us before he glanced up at the attending servants.

“Leave us,” he ordered. “And make sure the building is secure. There are guards posted out front and in the back. I want no one in these rooms. My people may retire, the Medeisians remain.”

Sara scrambled to comply, shooing everyone out of the room who wasn’t a part of the prince’s party before showing Reenah and the other female servants to the stairs leading to the rooms above.