It was like I was back in my catechism class when Brother Paedrig would walk in and give the signal for us to sit, but this time I was the one left standing as crew, soldiers, officers, lords, and haunts followed the Faena and, in one motion, seated themselves on the deck, waiting patiently as I redressed myself and put away my knives. Suiden propped himself against the mast, his arms folded, and I shot him a look. He once again gave me a faint smile. “I could stand to hear it again, Lieutenant.”
“Uhm, yes, sir—” Tabard in place, I turned back to look over the upturned faces as the wind gently circled around me, making my feather flutter once more against my cheek. I gave them a bewildered look.
Suiden’s smile widened. “Just start at the very beginning, Rabbit.”
“The very beginning?” I echoed.
“The absolute beginning,” the captain said. He opened his mouth, hesitated, then added, “Please.” So I stood before them all and recounted from the beginning as I understood it, starting with hearing laughter while lost on a mountain ridge and ending with the djinn storm. As I finished, the watch changed and I told it again. And again, and again, to a mixture of new and old faces, on into the night, the stars hanging dense and low over me, maybe to listen themselves as I spoke to all who would hear what it was like to be the wind and to soar.
I didn’t see the captain until the next day.
Chapter Fifty-five
Having just finished prayer and meditation with Doyen Allwyn, I was getting ready to begin meditation and talent work with Laurel, but we both rose at the shout. Trailing Jeff, Basel and the unicorn haunt, we hurried to the railing, my eyes straining for my first glimpse of the Border in five years. Home. Or almost home, as I’d never been to any of the coastal city-states.
We all reached the railing at the same time as Captain Javes, Chancellor Berle, and Lord Esclaur, both Javes and Esclaur with raised quiz glasses already aimed at the approaching shore. In the just risen sun it was nothing more than a thickened line on the horizon, but all gazed upon it with eager faces.
“Elanwryfindyll,” Chancellor Berle said, leaning out over the rail on tiptoes and shading her eyes. “Well, I guess we’d have to be closer to see anything.” She stood flat again and looked at me, ignoring the ghosts. “Glad to be going home, Lord Rabbit?”
I started to say yes, surprised at the sudden homesickness. But then Magus Kareste’s image arose, and I shrugged. “I don’t know, Chancellor.”
“Nothing like being certain, what?” Javes said, also ignoring the haunts behind me—until the unicorn pressed close to the railing next to him. There was a faint suggestion of a snicker, which quickly cut off when the captain glared about him, his quiz glass forgotten.
“She just wants to see also,” I said, addressing the air, my voice mild. “She is not making a statement on anyone’s love life.”
“Including yours, eh, Lord Rabbit?” Lord Esclaur asked, his eyes gleaming at me.
It was my turn to glare. “As I said, my lord—”
“It’s simplicity and purity she represents, honored folk,” Laurel said from over my shoulder, “not the lack of carnal knowledge. I’ve seen grandmothers walk with unicorns while those who were, hmm, physically untouched were shunned as if they were the plague.”
No one said anything, casting sidelong glances at the unicorn’s haunt and then at each other, the air suddenly thick with suspicions of hidden motives and unspoken agendas. I heard a faint purr.
“You are enjoying this too much,” I murmured to Laurel. The Faena gave me a bland look back, his whiskers twitching as Lieutenant Groskin joined us, followed by the leopard’s shade. The haunt threw himself down at Groskin’s feet as the lieutenant stopped at the rail, the cat’s sides heaving in a remembered pant as he too stared at the growing shore. Groskin watched the haunt for a moment, then raised his head, his eyes shifting between their normal brown and the gold of the panther, scanning the horizon.
“Elanwryfindyll,” he murmured, echoing Chancellor Berle. “Captain Suiden said we’re going before the Fyrst, Laurel Faena?”
“His Grace, Loran,” Laurel said. “The ruler of the city and its environs, but also head of the Confederation of City-States, and the Oldest One of the Gaderian of Deorc Oelfs—”
“The what?” Esclaur whispered to me. Javes and Berle leaned in to listen.
“Council of Dark Elves,” I whispered back.
“He’s a very old, very powerful elf,” Laurel finished. His tail lashed, though his face remained bland. “Very, very powerful.”
“More powerful than the High Council?” Berle asked.
“No,” Laurel said. “No one is.”
“Why are we going there, then, honored Laurel?” Groskin asked. “Why not go to where the High Council meets?”
“We are,” Laurel said, his face blander, though his tail lashed once more. “His Grace is also the High Council’s Dark Elf representative and it’s his turn to host the next session.”
“He sounds a right welcoming fellow, what?” Javes said, his eyes still on the horizon. He then cast me a look. “What’s it like there for people like us, Rabbit?”
“Who, sir? Humans?” At Javes’ nod, I almost shrugged again. “I really don’t know. I’ve never been to any of the coastal cities.” My mouth quirked. “In fact, they’ll probably consider me just as provincial as everyone in Iversly did.”
“Never?” Javes asked, turning fully to look at me. “How, then, did you get to Iversterre?”
“Through Veldecke, sir.”
Everyone else turned to stare at me. “But no one can go through there,” Berle said, frowning.
“Well, some can,” Groskin said, also frowning, “but only certain ones for very specific reasons. And never longer than a day or, at the most, two.”
“I remember the king saying that,” I said, this time yielding to a shrug. “I was let through, though, no problem.”
“Did you join the army there?” Javes asked.
“No, at Cosdale, sir,” I said, naming a town on the King’s Road a little to the south of Freston.
“Why not at Veldecke?” Esclaur asked.
“Because it was too close to the Border.” My mouth quirked again. “I was running away, my lord. I didn’t want to be in reach of anyone or anything that might come across.” I rested my hands on the railing. “I attached myself to a supply caravan going to Cosdale and was out of Veldecke almost as soon as I came into it.”
“I’m surprised the caravan leader allowed it,” Esclaur said, his brows creased.
I shrugged once more. “She was the one who said I could. Worked me hard too.” My smile widened. “I figured the army would be very easy after that. It was.”
“I know the caravan leader who makes the Cosdale run and I’m surprised that once she had you she let you go,” Groskin said.
“Oh? Likes them young, does she?” Berle asked.
I stiffened, giving the chancellor a hard look, and Groskin caught my elbow. “No,” he said. “Just as close to free labor as she can get. She has latched on to other lads in the past and they had a devil of a time getting loose.” He made sure I was staying still, then let go.
“She did say that I owed her for meals and my space by the campfire,” I said. “I told her to get stuffed—I mean, I told her I didn’t and left.”
“She didn’t sic her lump of a head guard on you?” Groskin asked.