Chalcedony paused then went on. “The council is willing to offer you twenty-five percent of Kethril Torkay’s estate plus traveling expenses if you will identify him.”
Lucy studied the dwarf for a long breath. “And if we cannot make an identification?”
“You will still earn your fee.”
Ulin’s lips pursed in thought. This situation seemed rather odd, but then he’d always found lawyers a rather strange lot. He hoped Lucy was not seriously considering this. “Why does Flotsam’s council even bother with formalities? If they truly have their hands on Torkay’s estate, they could’ve kept it and saved themselves the expense of searching for his heirs.”
“True.” Chalcedony finished her spiced brandy and helped herself to another mug. “That would have been easier, but the elders of Flotsam’s council have some honor, and they are trying to polish a little tarnish from Flotsam’s image. They felt it was worth a try.”
Lucy nodded. She looked around at her small cottage, at the worn furnishings and the empty shelves in the pantry. The three-room house just outside of Solace was comfortable enough for one or two, but since her mother and two sisters moved in a few months ago, the place had become a little too crowded for Lucy’s comfort. “What do you think, Mother?” she asked Ellse. “We could certainly use the money.”
Ulin started in his chair. “Lucy, you’re not thinking-”
“Yes, I am,” she insisted. “I am the only one who can go.”
“Ulin can go with you,” Ellse spoke at last. She sat still, her eyes downcast.
Resentment flared in Ulin’s mind. He had just returned from one long, fruitless journey. The last thing he wanted to do was go on another. “I don’t want to go to Flotsam,” he blurted before he could stop the words.
Ellse lifted her head. Slow tears trickled down her seamed cheeks. “You will if you want to marry my daughter.”
As quickly as it flared, Ulin’s resentment died down. Lucy’s mother was right. Mothers usually were. If he wanted a place at Lucy’s side in the future, he needed to support her in the endeavors that meant the most to her. The gods knew she had supported him.
But he wasn’t ready to give in quite so easily. “Flotsam is in Malys’s domain. Reaching it will be difficult. Coming back with anything of value could be impossible.”
Lucy stopped pacing and put an arm around her mother’s shaking shoulders. “I know that, Ulin. Believe me, I have thought about that.”
“And you still want to do this?”
“No, I don’t want to go.” She hesitated and shook her head at her own foolishness. “But if I don’t bring back some token that my father is truly dead, we will never know. We won’t be able to close that part of our lives.” She slid her hand across the table and laid it over Ulin’s. “Believe it or not, in all the years that my father has been gone, we have never given up the hope that he might return. We need to know he is dead.”
Ulin’s weary face relaxed in a warm smile. If it meant that much to her … “All right. When do we leave?”
“We?” Lucy echoed. “You don’t have to come-despite what Mother said. You’re still exhausted from your last trip. And what about your father?”
He closed his eyes when he thought of his father. Palin was home now, thank the absent gods. For months he had been held prisoner by Knights of the Thorn, the magic-wielding faction of the newly named Knights of Neraka. The Knights, under the command of the green dragon overlord, Beryl, had tortured and interrogated him to learn the truth about the failure of magic. Eventually they had realized he knew no more than they did, and they had released him. He had come home a broken, bitter man who quarreled with his family and friends and sank deeper into depression.
Ulin opened his eyes to meet Lucy’s. “There is little I can do to help here. I’d like to go with you. I’ve been gone from you too long, and besides, two can accomplish more than one.”
They had been so engrossed in their conversation that they had forgotten the dwarf.
Chalcedony cleared her throat. “Arrangements have been made. If you can be ready, we should leave in two days.”
“Two days?” Ulin repeated. His bedroll hadn’t even been cleaned from the last trip.
Lucy bounced to Ulin’s side and put her lips over his mouth, cutting off his words with a deep kiss. When she straightened, the last traces of storm clouds cleared from her eyes, leaving them fresh and green. She grinned at her beloved and her mother. “This deserves a celebration. Let’s go to the Inn and tell Laura and Caramon.”
Chalcedony waved a negating hand. “No, I will just-”
“My grandfather makes the best ale this side of Flotsam,” Ulin informed the dwarf.
“And fried ham, spiced potatoes, fresh bread …” Lucy added.
The magistrate drained her third brandy and bowed her thanks. “In that case, I will join you.”
Still warmed by Lucy’s kiss, Ulin slid his bowl of soup under the table for the cat. Grabbing his cloak, he escorted the two women and the dwarf out the door and called Lucy’s sisters. Perhaps, he thought, something good would come of this. With luck, the journey might not be a total disaster.
CHAPTER ONE
Palin once said that if you could avoid pirates, marauding Dark Knights, sea dragons, the Dragon Overlords, the fickle storms, and the general vagaries of a sea voyage, a ship cruise through New Sea could be a restful and relaxing way to travel.
So far, Ulin mused, his father had been right. The weather had stayed calm, the sky had remained clear, and the ship still floated. Ulin felt more rested than he had in days, since all he had to do was loll around the deck in the warm sunshine and stay out of the crew’s way.
He was performing that task well as he leaned back against a bale of fleeces, stretched out his legs, and closed his eyes. Lucy had somehow talked the dour dwarf out of their cabin for a game of cards. The dwarf, who grudgingly admitted they could call her Challie, had been civil but not friendly, and this was the first time she agreed to any social entertainment. They sat on the deck nearby, engrossed in a game of Bounty Hunter that involved a lot of haggling and betting. Ulin paid little attention. He let his mind wander back over the course of their journey so far and decided that their little party had been lucky.
After leaving word for his parents with his aunt and grandfather, Ulin, Lucy, and the magistrate had left Solace and traveled south to New Ports. Chalcedony had already arranged for a berth on an Abanasinian freighter bound east across the New Sea with a load of foodstuffs for Sanction. The price of passage was exorbitant, but Chalcedony had paid it.
The council had sent her off generously funded for this journey, and she seemed determined to get it over as quickly as possible. Berths could be few and far between this time of year.
The freighter pulled out of New Port on a favorable wind and made the haul to the island of Schallsea where several passengers debarked, and Captain Tethlin traded a portion of his winter wheat for several bales of good fleece, a commodity in demand by the weavers in Khur. They left the next day, sailing north past the Citadel of Light and around the northern tip of the island. Once past Schallsea, the freighter sailed east along the coast of Throt to keep as much distance between it and the swampy realm of the great black dragon, Onysablet. Better to risk the unpredictable depredations of the hobgoblins than draw the attention of Sable. So far, they had been unmolested by anything larger than flies.
“Ulin,” Challie’s voice cut through his reverie. “Come play cards with us. I think Lucy’s cheating.”
With a groan and a stretch, Ulin pulled himself out of his musings and moved over to join the two at their card game. “Lucy doesn’t have to cheat,” he told Challie. “She’s too good at the game.”
Lucy looked up from dealing the cards and smiled at him-that spicy, slightly devilish smile that could melt his insides. She was not a beautiful woman, not like his mother or even his auburn-haired sister, Linsha. In fact, she had been given the name Plain Lucy at the Academy, an appellation Ulin detested. While it was true she was stocky, her features were rather large, and her face was too round for conventional beauty, she had gloriously green eyes like sunlight glowing through jade and a smile that radiated humor and joy. Several days in the clear spring sun had brought out bronze highlights in her chestnut hair and intensified the galaxy of freckles across her nose and cheeks. To others she was plain, but to him she was the light that kept back the darkness in his heart.